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 ISAAC FOOT 
 
 11BRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 RIVERSIDE
 
 
 
 J 
 
 
 ^
 
 THE LIFE 
 
 MAE TIN LUTHER.
 
 THE LIFE 
 
 MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 BY 
 
 HENEY WOESLEY, M.A., 
 
 RECTOR OF EASTON, SUFFOLK, LATE MICIIEL SCHOLAR OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL. IT. 
 
 LONDON: 
 BELL AND DALDY, 186, FLEET STREET; 
 
 CAMBRIDGE : DEIGHTON, BELL, & CO. J DUBLIN : HODGES & SMITH ; 
 EDINBURGH : J. MENZIES. 
 
 MDCCCLVI.
 
 
 
 IONDON : 
 
 WILLI iM STKVENS, PRINTER, 37, BELL TAB 
 TEMPLE BAK.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 FROM THE SPRING OF 1523 TO THE 24TH JUNE, 1526. 
 
 Opening of a new era— Social changes — General desertion of the 
 convents— Luther's poverty— Eeply to the Elector on the re- 
 cent Eecess— The fate of Sickingen and Hutten— Luther's In- 
 dulgence Letter — Efforts against the Bethaven of All Saints — 
 Persecution increases — The martyrs of Brussels— Luther's re- 
 marks on the four Articles of the Eecess— Development of the 
 Lutheran Church— Second part of the German Bible published 
 — Carlstadt's fanatical movements— Second Diet of Nuremberg 
 — Luther's judgment on the Eecess — First rising of the pea- 
 santry — Popish convention at Eatisbon — Imperial proclamation 
 — The Lutherans driven to counter-measures — Convention of 
 the cities — Luther's labours and writings— Determination of 
 questions about the Mosaic law — Educational exertions — Apo- 
 theosis of Benno — Luther writes to Erasmus— Conversion to 
 Lutheranism of Philip of Hesse— And of Albert of Prussia — 
 Eiots of Munzer and the fanatics— Carlstadt at Orlamunde— 
 Luther visits Jena and Orlamunde — Carlstadt banished by the 
 Elector — Beginning of the Sacramentarian Controversy — Fall 
 of the Bethaven of All Saints— Eesignation of the Augustine 
 Convent to the Elector— Death of Staupitz— The Peasant In- 
 surrection — Luther at Seeburg — Suddenly recalled to Witten- 
 berg — Death of the Elector Frederic — Luther writes against 
 sedition — The tragedy at Weinsberg — Luther's violence — 
 Munzer made prisoner and put to death — The peasant insur- 
 rection subdued — Effects of the insurrection — Firmness of the 
 Elector and Landgrave— Luther's letter on matrimony to the 
 Archbishop of Mentz — Luther marries Catharine von Bora — 
 His motives to such a step — Luther proposes a plan of univer- 
 sity reform — Implores a visitation of the Electorate— Suppli- 
 cates for Carlstadt — Disunion in tbe reforming camp — Luther
 
 VI CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 writes his Bondage of the Will against Erasmus — His humble 
 letter to Henry VIII. — And to Duke George — His domestic 
 happiness — Popish confederation at Dessau for Northern Ger- 
 many — The Imperial letters — The Evangelical Princes meet at 
 Fridewald — The Diet adjourned to meet at Spires in May — 
 Evangelical Alliance at Magdeburg — Luther appoints general 
 prayers for peace — His order for public worship published — His 
 recreations — He stands sponsor to Carlstadt's child — Birth of 
 Johnny ........... 1 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 FROM THE 24TH JUNE, 1526, TO THE 3RD APRIL, 1530. 
 
 Dangers to the Reformation at this crisis — The Diet of Spires — The 
 Recess — Ferdinand obtains the thrones of Bohemia and Hun- 
 gary — Luther's justification of defensive warfare — His com- 
 mentaries on the Prophets — Cardinal Colonna plunders Rome — 
 Luther's letter to Mary of Bohemia — His pecuniary difficulties 
 — His opposition to rapine — His sickness— His reply to Emser's 
 calumnies — His amusements and good nature — Marriage of 
 John Frederic — Frundsberg marches into Italy — The sack of 
 Rome — Luther's severe illness — The plague— Birth of Elizabeth 
 Luther — The Visitation Articles — Carlstadt quits Saxony for 
 good — Luther's use of returning health — Apprehensions of the 
 Diet of Ratisbon — The Otto Pack plot — Luther and Duke 
 George at war — The Visitation — The Saxon Church modelled — 
 Spiritual and moral destitution under Romanism — Importance 
 of this epoch — Conversions to the evangelical cause— Luther 
 suffers from giddiness — Birth of his daughter Magdalene — 
 Second Diet of Spires — The Recess— The first Protestants — 
 The appeal — Views of the Landgrave — Melancthon's distress — 
 Luther's letter to the Elector — Deliberations of the Lutheran 
 princes — The Marburg Conference proposed — Luther's reluc- 
 tance — The journey to Marburg — The three days' disputation — 
 The sweating sickness — Luther offers the Zwinglians the hand 
 of charity — The Marburg articles — Luther's Letter to Kate — 
 His Battle Sermon — The Turk retreats — The three ambassadors 
 — The Emperor's movements— Conferences at Schwabach and 
 Schmalkald — Luther's advice to the Elector — Luther prevails— 
 The spread of the Gospel — Mathesius at Wittenberg — Luther's 
 publications — Dangerous sickness of John Luther — The Re- 
 formers at Torgau ......... loo
 
 CONTENTS. \ M 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 FROM THE 3RD APRIL, 1530, TO THE 30TH MAY, 1536. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The journey to Coburg — Luther at Coburg — The Diet of the Jackdaws 
 — Luther's writings — Letter to his son Johnny — The Protes- 
 tants at Augsburg and the Romanists at Innspruck — Gattinara's 
 death — The question of free preaching — Luther's visitors — The 
 Emperor enters Augsburg — The first interview in the Palatinate 
 — The interview the next morning — Luther's prayer fulness and 
 faith — The preachers on both sides silenced — The Diet is opened 
 — The Apology read — Luther's joy and gratitude — The Augs- 
 berg comedy — Trials of the Elector John — Luther's letters to 
 Bruck and Melancthon— His idea of the result to be gained 
 from the Diet — His differences from Melancthon — The Confuta- 
 tion read — The Landgrave's flight — The Commission of Four- 
 teen — The Pope the author of schism — The Commission of Six 
 — The last effort of the Papists— Luther's infirmities — John 
 Frederic at Coburg — The Elector leaves Augsburg — The Recess 
 — The results of the Diet — Luther returns home — Ferdinand 
 elected King of the Romans — Luther's dread of War, and warn- 
 ing to his deal* Germans — " Notes on the Edict of Augsburg " 
 —The wrath of Duke George— Birth of little Marian— The illness 
 and death of Luther's mother — Luther on the right of patronage 
 —He forbids Henry VIII.'s divorce — The fall of Zwingle — Ne- 
 gotiations at Schweinfurt— Luther with the Elector — The Sultan 
 retreats — Death of John the Constant — Luther and Duke George 
 — The second Saxon Visitation — The Pope's Council rejected by 
 the allies— The Duke of Wirtemburg restored to his Duchy — 
 Luther and the sceptics — The birth of Margaret Luther — 
 Luther and Duke George at feud again — Luther's letters to tbe 
 Archbishop of Mentz — The plague at Wittenberg— New era in 
 Romanism — The Papal Nuncio at Wittenberg — The Schmalkald 
 Alliance rejects the Council — Luther's salary increased — The 
 Wittenberg Concord— Luther on preaching — The great progress 
 of the Reformation .... .... 198 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 FROM THE 30TH MAY, 1536, TO THE 18TH FEBRUARY, 15^6. 
 
 Paul III. convokes a council — The Schmalkald Articles — Luther at 
 Schmalkald — His severe illness — Luther journeys to Tambach
 
 \ 111 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 — He reaches Wittenberg 1 in improved health — Bugenhagen in 
 Denmark — Little Grickel the Antinomian — The verses of Lem- 
 nius — The Papist league — Luther's change of sentiment as to 
 the Emperor — Luther's predictions — Death of Duke George of 
 Saxony — Luther in Leipsic — The Brandenburg Reformation — 
 Concessions of the Archbishop of Mentz — Luther's work on 
 Councils and the Church — The estate of Zuhlsdorf — Kate's dan- 
 gerous illness— The Landgrave's double marriage — The con- 
 ference at Eisenach — Melancthon at death's door — The power of 
 Luther's prayers— The conference at Hagenau — The Ratisbon 
 Diet — Luther and Henry of Brunswick — The deputation to 
 Luther — Luther's decision — The Recess of the Diet — The ex- 
 pedition against Algiers — The Bishopric of Naumburg-Zeitz — 
 The Diet of Spires — The Protestants seize the Duchy of Bruns- 
 wick — Johnny Luther sent to school — Death of little Magdalene 
 — Luther writes against the Jews — Luther's disappointments 
 and hopes — The Diet of Nuremberg— The Imperial party — The 
 Diet of Spires — Charles beguiles the Protestants by flattery — 
 A council convoked at Trent — The " secret betrothals " — Lu- 
 ther's letter to the Electress Sibylla — Luther visits the Bishop 
 of Naumburg-Zeitz — Luther ill with " the Cardiac " — The 
 butchery begins — Luther's satires — The Diet of Worms — Ru- 
 mour of Luther's death — Luther quits Wittenberg in indigna- 
 tion — Peace between the Emperor and the Turk — Henrv of 
 Brunswick in the hands of the Landgrave — The Council of Trent 
 is opened— Deliberations of the Schmalkald allies at Frankfort 
 — Luther goes to Eisleben — His sudden illness — And death . 299 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The great principles of Luther's system of doctrine — His personal 
 appearance — Contradictory faculties — Luther as a writer — And 
 preacher — Luther's character — His domestic life — His change 
 of sentiment on the sacraments — His failings — Luther com- 
 pared with Melancthon, Erasmus, Zwingle — His conduct in the 
 Landgrave's second marriage — His body conveyed to Witten- 
 berg — His funeral — Melancthon's oration — Luther's widow and 
 children .......... 378
 
 THE LIFE 
 
 MAETIN LUTHEE. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 FROM THE SPRING OP 1523, TO THE 24TH JUNE, 1526. 
 
 The Recess of the first Diet of Nuremberg divides two dis- 1523. 
 tinct periods in the history of the Reformation — the period of 
 caution and backwardness, when ardent aspirations were kept 
 in check, and overt changes discountenanced, from that of 
 open separation and energetic warfare against papal preten- 
 sions. " For four years," Luther subsequently said, " I taught 
 faith and love, before I carried into execution the deductions 
 consequent from such teaching." But it was now necessary 
 that theory should be followed by practice, and obedience 
 should be grafted upon faith. He declared, that sufficient 
 indulgence had been shown to the weak ; that both kinds in 
 the Lord's Supper must henceforth be freely given and re- 
 ceived ; the Gospel must have free course ; and those who 
 opposed it could no longer be deemed weak but perverse. 
 He appears, in the transactions now to be recorded, as a 
 spiritual father in the midst of converts, who from all parts, 
 and of all ranks, look up to him for guidance. Like an apostle 
 in the primitive time, he writes letters to the various evangeli- 
 
 VOL. II. ' B
 
 2 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1523. cal communities to confirm and strengthen their faith ; impor- 
 tuned on all hands, he yet finds leisure to arrange the mul- 
 tifarious points of dispute on which his judgment is con- 
 sulted ; he consolidates the acquisitions to the Gospel ; he 
 regulates the distribution of church property ; frames for- 
 mulas for the ordination of ministers and the celebration of 
 worship, and organises the entire system of the Lutheran 
 Church. 
 
 Social changes, as might be supposed, took the lead of 
 liturgical and ecclesiastical. On the 28th March, Luther ad- 
 dressed his " Admonition to the Teutonic Order to shun false 
 continence, and cling to the true continence of the married 
 state." He told the Teutonic knights that he trusted they 
 would set the other orders a great, excellent, and powerful 
 example, by being the first to violate the rule of celibacy, 
 whereby incontinence would be diminished, and the fruit of 
 the Gospel increase and ripen. Greater acceptability and use- 
 fulness would redound to the Teutonic Order; for, whilst 
 celibacy remained in force, every husband had to watch 
 over the honour of his wife and daughters. What confidence 
 could be placed in the unmarried, when even married men 
 had enough to do to stand firm in their plighted faith ! The 
 treatise then insisted on the scriptural obligation to matri- 
 mony from the primary declaration of God — " It is not good 
 for man to be alone." If councils sanctioned celibacy, God 
 must be allowed to be older than all councils ; and if custom 
 were appealed to, the example of Adam constituted the oldest 
 custom. Nearly about the same time Luther published some 
 strictures, in the same spirit, on a sermon which had been 
 preached on occasion of a nun's taking the veil. These de- 
 cided views on the subject of matrimony had called again 
 into the field an old antagonist, Faber, the Vicar of the 
 Bishop of Constance, in favour of celibacy, who indited a
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 3 
 
 great Latin book, which obtained the patronage of Duke 1523. 
 George. The task of replying to "the archfool Faber, that 
 notorious fornicator," Luther delegated to Jonas, with the 
 expression of his hope that his wife would love him warmly, 
 in proportion to the warmth and cogency of argument with 
 which he defended the married state. But in the month of 
 August he himself gave to the world an exposition of the 7th 
 chapter of the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, which formed, 
 what the Papists conceived to be, their scriptural stronghold 
 in this matrimonial controversy. 
 
 The return to social life which had begun with the paro- 
 chial clergy, and thence, extended to the monks, was soon no 
 longer restricted to the male sex ; nuns, in their grated cells, 
 read the works of Luther, and conceived an abhorrence of their 
 cloistered seclusion. Tuesday in Easter week, the 7th April, 
 nine nuns from the convent of Nimptsch^ near Grimma, were 
 conveyed by Leonard Koppe, and two other citizens of Tor- 
 gau, who had aided their escape, to Wittenberg, and placed 
 under the protection of Luther. The Papists exclaimed that 
 " it was a thing unheard of, against all laws and canons, ren- 
 dered more audacious by Torgau being the usual residence of 
 the Elector ; and worst of all, it was the sacred week, 
 during the commemoration of Christ's passion, that the ra- 
 vishment" — so Cochlseus denominates the escape — " had been 
 perpetrated ! " The Lutherans on their side, and the Re- 
 former, declared that such a release could not have been 
 accomplished at a more appropriate season than that comme- 
 morative of the Saviour's breaking for ever the yoke of servile 
 bondage. In a justificatory letter addressed to Koppe, he 
 proclaimed the facts of the escape to the world, in justice to 
 the maidens, to Koppe, and to himself, and published the 
 names of the nuns, who were all of noble birth — Magdalen 
 Staupitzin, Elizabeth Kanitzin, Bronica and Margaret Zes- 
 
 b 2
 
 4 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1523. chau, Laneta Golis, Ave Grotschin, Catherine Bora, Ave and 
 Margaret Schonfeld. The Word of God, he insisted, was not 
 read in the monasteries, and therefore how was it possible 
 that continence should flourish there ? Continence was not 
 so common as cloisters were ; on the contrary, it was a gift of 
 such peculiar, nay, of such extraordinary rarity, that prayers 
 could not be offered to obtain it, except with great caution, 
 without tempting God. The friends of the nuns were imme- 
 diately informed by Luther of their escape from the cloister, 
 and their present place of sojourn, in order that they might 
 send and fetch them home. Those whose friends should not 
 be willing to receive them, Luther resolved to settle in ho- 
 nourable marriage, with such pecuniary help as he could find, 
 and maintain them until their destiny should be determined. 
 He wrote to Spalatin to beg assistance from the Elector for 
 this purpose, and, anticipating Fredericks reluctance to contri- 
 bute openly to such an object, promised to " keep it nicely 
 snug, and tell no one, if he would but aid those apostate 
 virgins." * 
 
 The example of the nine noble nuns of Nimptsch was not 
 likely to be without its effect ; and in June of the same year, 
 sixteen nuns escaped from the convent of Widerstetten, in 
 the dominions of the Counts of Mansfeld. " What will hap- 
 pen next !" Luther exclaimed, in a letter relating the circum- 
 stances to Spalatin. ' ' You must begin at last, and take a wife ! 
 I marvel at the counsels of God : I — who thought I knew 
 something of his way — am compelled to go back to my rudi- 
 ments." The Abbot of Hirsfeld, although a Romanist, won 
 golden opinions from Luther, by issuing an order that what- 
 ever monk or nun under his jurisdiction might desire to quit 
 
 * " O ich wills fein heimlicli halten und niemands sagen." — Letter 
 of April 22.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 5 
 
 the monastery, should be at liberty to do so. Most of the 1523. 
 liberated or escaped monks and nuns bent their steps to Wit- 
 tenberg, and sought the help of Luther, who quickly found 
 this new care, superadded to his other labours, besides the 
 encroachment on his scanty means, far from being an easy 
 burden. " I am immersed in business little worthy of me," 
 he wrote to Wolfgang Stein, in a letter requesting him to in- 
 terest himself with the Elector for the bearer, a monk. "The 
 monks and nuns who have deserted their convents," he wrote 
 to CEcolampadius, " steal many hours of my time to serve 
 their necessity." And a little later he complains to Spalatin, 
 " It is most troublesome to me that such a crowd of runaway 
 monks flock to Wittenberg, and what is worse, immediately 
 marry, without aptitude for any sort of employment." 
 
 The Prior and himself, the only tenants of the old Augus- 
 tine monastery, were both so poor, that there is a letter of 
 Luther's of this period, soliciting from Spalatin the payment 
 of a bill for malt, which the Prior could not discharge. " The 
 money-bag has a great hole in it and will not be mended ;" 
 and " I," he added, c( have fooled away so much money on 
 the fugitive monks and nuns, that I cannot offer any contri- 
 bution." And indeed he was indebted to electoral liberality, 
 measured through the dilatory fingers of treasurers and 
 agents, for whatever luxuries he enjoyed in diet or dress. 
 His writings he never sold ; but, on the contrary, speaks on 
 one occasion of publishing a treatise, " though weary of 
 writing to feed Luke's printing press." And the Wittenberg 
 people, his " Capernaumites," as he styles them, were so 
 close-fisted, that he bitterly complained of not beiug able 
 even to borrow ten florins to help a poor citizen. 
 
 Such accumulated anxieties and toil — for all the while the 
 translation of the Bible was going forward, and Deuteronomy 
 was finished in May — overwrought the Reformer's bodily
 
 O THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1523. powers : and in March or April his correspondence apprises 
 us that he is suffering from a fever — a fever caught in leaving 
 the bath — and wishing that God would grant him the release 
 of death. His feelings generally, at this time, are expressed 
 by him in these words : " I nauseate public life, and sigh with 
 all my heart for a desert.'" But the illness was not of long 
 continuance. A little later he made a brief journey from 
 Wittenberg to honour the nuptials of Wenceslaus Link by his 
 presence, and at the end of April he was at Borna, and 
 thence he proceeded to Weimar, and before the 17th had re- 
 turned home. Wherever he went some business demanded 
 his attention, or crowds assembled to hear him preach. Re- 
 engaged in his routine of academical duties, we find him com- 
 plaining of the unhappy influence of the multiplicity of busi- 
 ness on his spiritual state. The inroads made on his time 
 scarcely allowed him space for prayer; and he exhorted his 
 friends to pray earnestly for him, for he "was in danger, after 
 having begun in the Spirit, to be consumed by the flesh." 
 
 The Elector had made a communication to him of the 
 Article in the Recess of the Diet against anything new being 
 written or printed in the interval before the meeting of the 
 Council, with a request that Luther and his adherents would 
 comply with this decree. To this communication the Re- 
 former returned answer on the 29th May, that it was not 
 his wish to write, teach, or preach anything tending to 
 disunion or tumult, against which he had often written and 
 preached, but only what might conduce to the establishment 
 and honour of God's Word, and of the holy true faith, and 
 the love of one's neighbour. He had returned from his 
 Patmos to Wittenberg at his own hazard, without the Elec- 
 tor's knowledge. He should himself be well disposed to 
 abstain from all further writing, especially of an acrimonious 
 kind, but his adversaries continued to assail him ; in parti-
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 7 
 
 cular, John Faber had written " a big Latin book" against him, 1523. 
 recently printed at Leipsic ; and Emser had published a book 
 in German, full of manifold blasphemy, not only of his 
 christian name, but of the holy Gospel. His Grace, and all 
 christian men, might estimate how unfair it was that his ad- 
 versaries' writings should be allowed, and his own writings in 
 answer should be forbidden. He trusted that his Grace would 
 graciously receive his reply, and if it pleased his Grace, suffer 
 it to go further. His dealings might be exposed to the whole 
 world, and he was not ashamed of his cause, or of God's 
 Word. But in a letter, two months later, to Spalatin, he 
 says, " I have not and shall not publish anything till it has 
 been examined and approved by others, that I may not 
 infringe the mandate." 
 
 In the midst of these varied cares and labours, tidings of 
 the death of Sickingen were received by Luther, and filled him 
 with grief and awe of the divine judgments. In the preced- 
 ing autumn Sickingen had been compelled to abandon his 
 attempts against Treves, and had retreated with his followers 
 within his own dominions, and shut himself in his fortress of 
 Landstein. Here he was besieged in turn by the fiery young 
 Landgrave of Hesse, accompanied by the Elector of Treves 
 and the Palatinate ; and a cannon was pointed by the hand of 
 the Landgrave himself with so much dexterity, that the whole 
 of a newly-built tower was reduced to a heap of ruins ; and, 
 whilst Sickingen, leaning on a battering-ram, was surveying 
 the work of demolition, a bolt from a culverin struck him, 
 and forced him with great violence against an obtruding 
 beam. The castle was surrendered; and the victorious 
 princes, entering its shattered walls, found Sickingen disabled, 
 and dying in the donjon. " What had I done, Frank," 
 exclaimed the Elector of Treves, as he walked up to where 
 the humbled chieftain lay, "that you attacked me and my
 
 8 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1523. poor subjects in my See?" "And what had I done/' in- 
 quired the Landgrave of Hesse, "that you plundered my 
 land ere I had attained man's estate ?" "I shall soon 
 answer/' the dying man replied, " before a higher tribunal j" 
 and not long afterwards expired, having refused to confess 
 to a priest, on the plea that he had already confessed to God 
 in his heart. 
 
 This catastrophe broke up the confederacy of the warlike 
 party of the Reformation, and dispersed the principal mem- 
 bers of it in various directions. Hutten fled to Switzerland; 
 tried, but in vain, to interest Erasmus at Basle in his behalf; 
 and as his last literary effort, vented a bitter writing against 
 that summer-friend, alike an apostate from faith and friend- 
 ship. Wandering from spot to spot, ill and dejected, carry- 
 ing with him only a pen, he had nothing for his subsistence 
 beyond the pittances which some literary friends bestowed. 
 Disease preying with increased violence upon him, having 
 tried by the advice of Zwingle the warm baths of Kussnacht, 
 but in vain, he sought the aid of a pastor, skilled in the 
 healing art, residing at Ufnau, on the Lake of Zurich. It 
 was the close of his wanderings; for in the island of the 
 lake he breathed his last. Such lamentable events sufficiently 
 proved the wisdom of Luther in rejecting the intervention 
 of the sword, "I have just heard," he remarked in a letter 
 to Spalatin, " the true and piteous tale of Sickingens disasters 
 and end: God is a just Judge, but unsearchable." 
 
 On the 10th June Luther published, in contrast to the 
 system of papal extortion, what he entitled, " Christ's Letter 
 of Indulgence." Christ says, " If ye forgive men their tres- 
 passes, your heavenly Father will forgive your trespasses." 
 No one can complain that his sins may not be forgiven him ; 
 no one need have a bad conscience. Christ does not say, 
 " For thy sins thou shalt fast so long, thou shalt pray so
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 9 
 
 often, thou shalt give so much, do this or that. Wilt thou give 1523. 
 satisfaction and payment for thy guilt and be absolved from 
 thy sins, listen to my counsel, nay my command j do no 
 more than this, let all alone, and turn thy heart where none 
 can hinder thee, and be gentle to them who injure thee. 
 Only forgive." Why is not this indulgence preached ? Is the 
 counsel and are the promises of Christ less than the dream of 
 a preacher? It is true such an indulgence will not build St. 
 Peter's Church ; and the devil cares not how soon it be built, 
 for wood and stone harm him not ; but gentle, pure hearts — 
 these cause him the heart-ache ! Not that I reject Romish 
 indulgence, but that I would have each thing rated at its true 
 worth ; and when thou canst have good gold for nothing, do 
 not prize copper as more precious than gold -, beware of mere 
 paint and glitter. 
 
 Various attacks at different times had been made by the 
 Reformer against the " Sanctification of Amaziah," " The 
 Bethaven of All Saints/' or " The Abomination of Tophet," 
 as he termed the Elector's favourite endowment at Witten- 
 berg, and styled the canons themselves "the priests of 
 Jeroboam." A portion of the ecclesiastics connected with 
 this cathedral establishment were opposed to the idolatry of 
 the votive mass, and the other Romish rites which were still 
 maintained there after all the other churches of Witten- 
 berg had adopted the evangelical worship. And even as 
 early as October, 1521 — when Luther thundered against the 
 mass from the Wartburg — complaints had been made to the 
 Elector that there was a deficiency in the complement of 
 the priests for chanting masses. Luther continued to warn 
 both Spalatin and the canons themselves against the main- 
 tenance of this most objectionable feature in Popery. In 
 February, 1523, the Dean of the greater choir, who had been 
 devotedly attached to the old ritual, died ; and then Jonas,
 
 10 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1523. the Provost, declaimed from the pulpit against the chanting 
 the vigils and the votive masses, quoting many letters of 
 Luther on the subject. On the 4th March, application was 
 made to the Elector to know his pleasure on the abroga- 
 tion or retention of the ceremonies and services which 
 occasioned so much offence ; to which it was answered, that 
 they must either be retained, or sufficient grounds shown for 
 their abrogation. Thus the old rites were continued. But 
 on the 11 th July Luther addressed a solemn letter to the 
 canons, calling on them to " obey God rather than man/' and 
 reminding them that it was no satisfactory answer that the 
 Elector prohibited any alteration or did not prohibit it. It 
 was an awful thing to bear the name of Christ, and not to be 
 Christians; for God, the jealous God, could well endure the 
 blasphemy and mockery of aliens ; but if his own people did 
 not hearken, he was terrible in judgment. Henceforth, if they 
 did not prove themselves Christians, he should pray against 
 them, as he had hitherto prayed for them. But this letter 
 producing no effect, he publicly inveighed against the Betha- 
 ven and its priests from the pulpit, on the 2nd August, 
 and threatened to break off all communion with the canons, 
 insisting that the civil sword which God had entrusted to the 
 Elector gave him no authority in divine things. The Elector 
 was now directly called upon to interfere ; and his delegates 
 had an interview with Luther, and reminded him of his ac- 
 quiescence in the decree of the Diet, by which any further 
 innovation in religion was prohibited, and stated the Elector's 
 objections to the marriage of two of the canons, Carlstadt and 
 Jonas, and urged that the vacant canonries had been filled up 
 without any expression of a wish to that effect on his part. 
 Luther answered that the prohibition of innovations must be 
 restricted to such as were contrary to God's Word, and that 
 he should ever preach and pray to God, and warn the people
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 11 
 
 against the mass. After this, Jonas addressed a long letter to 1523. 
 the Elector, insisting that the prejudices of the weak had been 
 considered long enough ; that, with his Grace's consent, the 
 abuses complained of at All Saints had been already abolished 
 in the parish church ; and their retention anywhere was a 
 scandal and detriment to the Reformation. He proposed that 
 at matins, in place of the Legends of Saints, a chapter of the 
 Old Testament should be read ; instead of hymns to saints, 
 hymns should be sung to God j at vespers, a chapter should 
 be read from the New Testament ; vigils and masses should be 
 abolished, and the Lord's Supper should be celebrated on 
 Sundays and festivals, if there were communicants. The Elec- 
 tor, however, remained fixed in his previous decision, and only 
 suggested that the dissatisfied canons might resign their 
 canonries. Thus far Luther's efforts on this point still failed 
 of their purpose. 
 
 But step by step, with the advance of the Reformation, the 
 adverse efforts of intolerance increased in severity and fury. 
 In Belgium the persecution was the hottest, where Aleander, 
 the papal emissary, found active coadjutors in the Inquisitor 
 Hochstraten, and Nicolas the Carmelite, and the Regent, 
 Margaret of Savoy. The Augustine convent at Antwerp had 
 become a stronghold of Lutheranism ; and here Jacob Spreng, 
 the prior, and a monk named Melchior Mirisch, were first 
 seized and thrown into prison. Under the terrors of 
 immediate death Spreng recanted, and thus obtained his 
 release; Melchior Mirisch acted, it appears, throughout 
 the whole affair collusively, and was not called upon 
 to recant at all. Spreng, however, after his release from 
 confinement retracted his retractation, and preached the 
 Gospel at Bruges, and being apprehended, was again incar- 
 cerated at Brussels, but, by the assistance of a Franciscan, 
 managed to effect his escape, and fled for refuge to Witten-
 
 12 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1523. berg, and, subsequently, at the invitation of the Count of 
 Embden, taught the Gospel in Friesland. Meanwhile, 
 others of the Augustines had been imprisoned and sentenced 
 to death, and among them Henry von Zutphen; but some 
 women forced the prison doors, entered his cell, and released 
 him from his chains. He escaped to Bremen, and there 
 preached the Gospel. The women were punished with 
 banishment. Three of the remaining monks, Voes, Esch, 
 and Lambert — the last the newly-elected provost in the 
 place of Spreng — escaped immediate apprehension, and by 
 wandering in desert tracts eluded for some time the search 
 of their pursuers; but at length, their place of concealment 
 being discovered, they were arrested and brought before the 
 inquisitional tribunal. Henry Voes, although the youngest, 
 being possessed of most learning, was the spokesman. He 
 asserted that he preferred the Scriptures, which the works of 
 Luther had led him to study, to the decrees of popes and 
 all the writings of Doctors : and he stated that there was no 
 scriptural proof of the popes and prelates being entrusted with 
 any office beyond that of ministering the Word. He de- 
 clared that the mass was no sacrifice, and christian faith could 
 not be dissevered from christian charity. In reply to various 
 questions that were put to him, he acknowledged that the 
 writings of Luther had been the means of his arriving at a 
 knowledge of the Gospel ; and when he was asked " whether 
 Luther had the Spirit of God," he refused to give any 
 answer. Upbraided with being seduced by Luther, " Yes ! " 
 he said, " I was seduced by him as the apostles were seduced 
 by Jesus Christ." The sentence of death was pronounced 
 against him and his fellow culprits, and four days afterwards, 
 on the 1st July, it was executed upon Voes himself and 
 John Esch. With all the formality of ceremony they were 
 stripped of their priestly attire, and then fastened to the
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 13 
 
 stake, and the pile of wood set on fire ; all of which they en- 1523. 
 duredj not only with patience, but with christian cheerfulness 
 and joy, continuing to sing hymns to God from the midst of 
 the flames, till the fury of the fire choked their speech. 
 Lambert had obtained a short respite by recantation; but, 
 resuming fortitude, he again professed the faith of Christ, and 
 a few days later died by the same fate as his brother monks. 
 
 Luther received the tidings of this martyrdom with the 
 triumphant joy of faith. He wrote, on the 26th July, to 
 the schoolmaster of Erfurth, " We have good tidings from 
 Flanders ; two monks have been publicly burnt there in the 
 market-place for the Word of God. Thanks be to God 
 through Christ." To Spalatin he forwarded a more detailed 
 account, written in the same strain. And in a letter intended 
 for the public eye he drew attention to the fury and cruelty 
 of the Papists, and their reproachful and blasphemous writ- 
 ings, as a strange way of rendering obedience to the decree 
 lately promulged from Nuremberg. " We," he added, " have 
 hitherto acted quietly ; but if they go on as they have begun, 
 we too shall bid farewell to the imperial edict — not to imitate 
 their example, and burn and bind or act with violence (for 
 this is unbecoming Christians), but to defend the glory of the 
 Word with tongue and pen, and chastise yet further the papist 
 abominations." He anticipated an increase of converts to 
 the Gospel from the flaming piles at Brussels, and trusted 
 that even the wavering and faithless conduct of such as had 
 been terrified into recantation, would heighten the violence of 
 the Papists, and thus bring down on them the speedier and 
 more dreadful vengeance of Heaven. A hymn which he 
 wrote in the ballad style in German, in celebration of the 
 Brussels martyrdom, breathed the resigned and triumphant 
 spirit of the martyr, and predicted that the ashes of the 
 Brussels martyrs would be scattered to all lands — no sea,
 
 14 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1523. mountain or barrier would be able to sbut them out, and they 
 would in every place take a " mouth and tongue." In a brief 
 but glowing epistle to the Christians of Holland, Brabant, 
 and Flanders, he repeated his conviction that " the winter was 
 past, the voice of the turtle was heard, and the flowers were 
 appearing on the earth." " Oh ! how ignominiously were 
 those two souls condemned, but how gloriously in eternal joy 
 shall they come again with Christ to judge those by whom 
 they were unrighteously adjudged to death ! " " We, in these 
 parts," he said, "have not yet been deemed worthy to be 
 made such a precious offering to Christ, although many of 
 our members have not been, and still are not, without persecu- 
 tion." The preaching of the Gospel had previously produced 
 little or no impression at Brussels, but many traced their 
 conversion to the spectacle of the christian fortitude of Voes 
 and Esch. 
 
 The persecution had also gained strength in Germany. 
 Duke George proceeded against the Lutherans in Thuringia 
 and Misnia by fines, imprisonment, and banishment, until 
 he at last had recourse to capital punishment. His brother 
 Henry, who secretly wished well to the Reformation, was 
 compelled to banish from his Castle of Friburg three ladies of 
 his wife's retinue, who had been convicted of the enormity of 
 reading Luther's writings. " It is a godly cause for which you 
 suffer," Luther wrote to them, " and none save God himself 
 may decide or avenge it, and his words are, l He who 
 toucheth you, toucheth the apple of mine eye/ " 
 
 To the Christians also of Riga and Bevel, of Worms and 
 Augsburg, he addressed epistles animated by the same spirit. 
 " The Word and the Cross must ever go together. Nothing 
 were sweeter in heaven and earth than the Word without the 
 Cross. But the pleasure would not last long, for nature 
 cannot bear long unmixed joy and pleasure. The vinegar and
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 15 
 
 the myrrh must sharpen the flavour of the wine." It was 1523. 
 commonly observed that all the efforts of persecution only 
 extended the faith which they aimed to destroy. Such une- 
 quivocal infractions of the Recess of the late Diet were justly 
 condemned by the reforming party ; and in the month of 
 August Luther addressed what must be regarded, under the 
 circumstances, as a mild and measured remonstrance to the 
 Electors and States of the Empire. He divided the decree of 
 the Diet on the subject of religion into four Articles, and 
 appended his own remarks to each. The first Article declared 
 that the Gospel should be preached according to the interpre- 
 tation of teachers received and approved by the Christian 
 Church. By these teachers the Romanists understood 
 Thomas, Scotus, and the Schoolmen : but he understood the 
 old divines, Augustine, Cyprian, Hilary, and such like. The 
 words were, " by the Christian," not ' ( by the Roman Church." 
 And that such was the true meaning of the Article, the 
 mandate for a free Council was itself evidence ; for if he and 
 his adherents were to hold their tongues, or only preach the 
 babble of the schools, what occasion for a free Council? 
 The second Article declared that the Bishops should appoint 
 persons acquainted with the Holy Scriptures, to observe 
 and warn such preachers as erred in their teaching; and if 
 they would not be amended, to impose fitting punishments. 
 Where were men acquainted with the Scriptures to be found, 
 when for hundreds of years, in the cloisters, the cathedrals, 
 and the high schools, the Scriptures had not been read? 
 The third Article prohibited the printing anything fresh in 
 the interval before the meeting of the Council, unless sub- 
 mitted to the examination of intelligent judges appointed by 
 the civil power. A decree of the same nature as this had been 
 passed the year before in his own University : and he would 
 readily obey it, excepting always that the Word of God must
 
 16 
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1523. not be bound. The fourth Article prohibited the marriage of 
 spiritual persons, and subjected offenders to deprivation of 
 their freedom, privileges, and benefices. This Article was too 
 hard — at least on parish priests ; for monks and nuns had no 
 benefices to lose, but only their freedom to regain. Unless 
 God worked a wonder, continence was in most cases an 
 impossibility to human nature, the law of which was, 
 " Increase and multiply." The princes and bishops had not 
 acted in an imperial, prince like, or bishop like way (to say 
 nothing of Christian like or God like) in seizing with tyran- 
 nical force offenders against this Article, and handling them 
 worse than if they had been murderers, robbers, or adulterers : 
 — they had disobeyed the laws both of God and of man, and 
 followed only their own wantonness and lust of blood in 
 putting them to torture and martyrdom before God and the 
 world. They had apprehended, without hearing, fined, ban- 
 ished, and inflicted every species of torture : and let them, to 
 their heartfelt shame, compare the words of the mandate with 
 their clamorous pretensions. To suffer wrong was painful, 
 but it was a disgrace to perpetrate it. For himself, the world 
 had had enough of him, and he enough of the world ; he 
 recked not for himself; but he would implore that they would 
 graciously hear him in behalf of the poor people ; and his 
 petition should be simple justice. Since those who did not 
 observe the first three Articles, and would not observe them, 
 were let go unpunished, he would beseech them to deal merci- 
 fully with those poor pitiable men who observed the first 
 three, but in the obstinacy of human nature paid less regard to 
 the fourth, appertaining only to man's law. Surely it was a 
 cause for wailing and pity, when poor weak and sinful men 
 were so roughly handled for an Article of man's ordaining, 
 whilst strong and great people openly broke the first three 
 Articles, nay, violated all the laws of God, (for their whore-
 
 THE LIFE OF .MARTIN LUTHER. 17 
 
 doras were notorious, and they raged with every kind of vice,) 1523. 
 and yet proudly, freely, and confidently not merely went 
 unpunished, but lived in greater honour and power. 
 
 The persecution on which the Romanists had now greedily 
 entered, not only animated Luther in his career, but hastened 
 the development of his evangelic church economy. Leysnick 
 bore a prominent position in these changes. A desire was 
 felt to reduce " the ordering of (Jod's service " to the apo- 
 stolic model, and to create a common fund for spiritual and 
 charitable uses. To establish this fund, the goods and reve- 
 nues of the convents, chauntries, and cathedrals were 
 brought into a common chest. The project afforded very high 
 satisfaction to Luther, who addressed a letter to the commu- 
 nity of Leysnick in regard to the distribution of the common 
 church property thus collected, which he intended should 
 serve as a rule for other churches in the redivision of their 
 ecclesiastical wealth. He proposed that those who might 
 wish to remain in the cloisters, aged persons and others, 
 should be allowed a sufficient proportion for their maintenance ; 
 those who preferred quitting their convents should have a 
 certain proportion granted them for starting them in life, and 
 for their temporary support ; to those who had brought their 
 patrimony or some pecuniary endowment to the convent, he 
 suggested that the larger part or the whole should be returned. 
 What was left in the common chest was to constitute a fund 
 for the relief of the poor and distressed, whether of the noble 
 or burgher class, as had already been done with the revenues 
 of the Wittenberg convents. The wealth would thus be 
 reclaimed to a charitable and christian use, according to the 
 intention of the founders, who, although deceived in the mode 
 of promoting God's honour, yet had proposed that, as the aim 
 of their endowments : if the founders' families in the lapse of 
 years had sunk into poverty, a considerable portion of the 
 vol. it. c
 
 18 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1523 property derived from their ancestors was to be awarded to 
 ameliorate their condition. He proposed that bishoprics and 
 cathedral chapters, owning lands, states, and other goods, 
 " temporal lordships under spiritual titles," should be con- 
 verted into purely temporal tenures, or their revenues be 
 applied to the relief of the poor. The convents themselves, 
 he suggested, should be turned into school establishments for 
 boys and girls. Luther was himself at Leysnick on the 11th 
 of August, endeavouring to arrange the disputes which money 
 always involves, and addressed two letters to the Elector, one 
 from Leysnick, the other after his return to Wittenburg, to 
 request his confirmation of the distribution which had been 
 made. 
 
 The subject of the ordination of ministers had been pressed 
 upon his attention by some delegates from the Calixtine sec- 
 tion of the Bohemian Church, who, whilst differing from 
 Romanists in the matter of communion in both kinds, were 
 in the habit of sending to Home those intended for the 
 ministry to receive ordination. In his treatise on Ordination, 
 addressed to the Senate of Prague, Luther expressed the 
 strongest condemnation of this practice, and denied Romish 
 priests to be ministers of Christ at all, inasmuch as their 
 principal office was declared to be to " offer sacrifices in the 
 mass for the quick and dead," which was doing away with 
 the one all-sufficient sacrifice of Christ, and trampling the 
 Saviour under-foot. The Christian priest was not made by 
 the episcopal tonsure or anointing : he was not born of the 
 flesh, but of the Spirit. Christ being the great high priest, 
 all Christians, as his brethren, were priests also with him. 
 To preach the Word, the noblest and most important office of 
 the priest, to baptize, to consecrate the Eucharist, to grant 
 absolution, to offer their bodies a spiritual sacrifice — the only 
 sacrifice they could offer — to pray for others, to exercise judg-
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 19 
 
 merit on points of doctrine, were privileges appertaining to all 1523. 
 true Christians in common. But still, though the right to the 
 public ministry was common to all, the functions must not be 
 undertaken by any one at his individual discretion, without a 
 call from the general body of the faithful, in order that, in har- 
 mony with St. Paul's precept, all things might be done 
 " decently and in order/' The Church had the power of 
 selecting from its own bosom, by common voice, one or more 
 fit persons, and by prayers and imposition of hands 
 appointing them to the work of the ministry. And what the 
 society of believers thus did by common consent, must be 
 undoubtedly held to be done by God himself. In conclusion, 
 he told the Bohemians that if this " primitive and apostolic 
 mode of ordination " was unacceptable to them, they might 
 use the priests ordained at Rome to ordain others ; for it was 
 not outward ordinances, but the living Word of God, which 
 constituted a Church of Christ, even if no more than ten, or 
 six of its members were in possession of that Word. 
 
 He had written a popular treatise in German on " the 
 Abomination of the Roman mass," and he followed this by 
 " a Formula of the mass, or communion, for the use of the 
 Wittenberg Church." All the superstitious parts were 
 rejected from the Offertory and the whole of the Canon, and 
 the words of Jesus Christ in institution of the Sacrament of 
 his body and blood were to be recited in a loud voice : the 
 bread and the cup were to be elevated after the established 
 rite ; but both kinds were to be administered : and a hope 
 was expressed that the mass, like the sermon, would ere long 
 appear in the simple garb of the vernacular tongue. With 
 regard to divine service generally, a chapter of the Old Testa- 
 ment and of the New were to be read, one in the morning, 
 the other in the evening, with an exposition from the minister 
 in German. A large discretionary power was allowed the 
 
 c 2
 
 20 THE LITE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1523. minister in the selection of the chapters to be read and the 
 psalms to be used ; and it was specially enjoined that needless 
 wearying of the congregation should be avoided. The fes- 
 tivals to be observed were restricted to those connected with 
 remarkable incidents in the life and sufferings of Jesus Christ. 
 The remodelled church sendee was rendered more complete 
 by the publication in the same year of " a Formula for Bap- 
 tism/' and a tract on " the Institution of Divine Worship.'" 
 It was the earnest desire of Luther that the singing of 
 hymns in the German language should form an essential and 
 considerable part of public worship ; and, as few hymns of a 
 scriptural character existed, cotemporary poets were urged to 
 direct their talents to supply this deficiency : and with this 
 view, Luther himself began to compose about this date some 
 of the noble hymns in the series collected under his name. 
 Spalatin and Dolzig were his principal associates in the com- 
 position of his Hymn-book ; and John Walter, who presided 
 over the Elector's choir, set the music. The hymns were 
 admirably adapted to public worship, striking from the simple 
 grandeur of the ideas, and, as brief expositions of the essen- 
 tial doctrines of Scripture, formed an excellent medium of 
 popular instructiou. They were welcomed with enthusiasm. 
 But it must not be supposed that the alterations introduced 
 into the system of public worship at Wittenberg, were arbi- 
 trarily imposed on the congregations in other towns where 
 the doctrines of Scripture had been embraced. Luther care- 
 fully guarded against converting Christian liberty into a 
 formal and unbending ordinance; the doing so had been one 
 of his indictments against the Papacy and Carlstadt's party ; 
 and in his dedication of " the Formula of the Mass " to 
 Hausmann, the pastor of Zwickau, he left him the alternative 
 of copying the model presented to him, or of instituting a 
 system of worship for his own church from which Witten-
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 21 
 
 berg might borrow with advantage. Although, therefore, 1523. 
 from the field of teaching the captain of the movement had 
 himself now advanced into the field of action, each step was 
 taken with the moderation of prudence and the forbearance of 
 charity. Indeed, at Olnitz the minister was proceeding pre- 
 cipitately in effecting changes, and was reproved by Luther. 
 " He is throwing off his old shoes," said he, " before he has 
 got on his new ones." In the blindness of reforming zeal, 
 force had been recommended to further the work of reform ; 
 and in his rooted abhorrence of such an instrument, Luther 
 warned the city authorities of Olnitz to suppress the first 
 risings of tumult by imprisonment and severe measures. The 
 concession he habitually made to human weakness as to the 
 reception that might be given to his suggestions on points of 
 practice, where alteration was the most peremptorily called 
 for, is strikingly shown in the caution which, in varying forms 
 of expression, closes many of his treatises at this period. 
 " I have done what I could. It is enough for me if one or 
 two follow me, or fain would follow me. The world must 
 after all continue the world, and Satan its prince." 
 
 He was again in correspondence with the Moravian Bre- 
 thren towards the close of 1523. He wrote to them by their 
 own delegates, who had again visited Wittenberg j and his 
 approval of their doctrinal sentiments excepted only their 
 denying the corporeal presence in the Eucharist. He also 
 wrote a tract to show that Christ was a Jew, in answer to a 
 very singular accusation laid against him by the Papists, and 
 even paraded at the Diet, that he had been guilty of affirming 
 Christ to be the seed of Abraham ! Such was the ignorance 
 of the Word of God among the Romanists ! His weariness 
 of life continued as great as the multiplicity of his occupa- 
 tions ; and the compass of his correspondence was widening 
 with his fame and the propagation of his tenets. A letter to
 
 22 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1523. Charles of Savoy, who had a leaning towards the Reformation, 
 or Albert, the Grand Master of Prussia, engaged him at one 
 moment ; at another, a letter to a fencing-master of Halle, 
 or a Guide of Borna, or to a nun who had consulted him 
 about her marriage ; or he wrote a petition for some fugitive 
 monks who were starving, or for a forest-keeper who had 
 been disabled by a wild boar in the Elector's service. The 
 poverty of himself and the Prior in the deserted Augustine 
 cloisters was so extreme, that, being unable to liquidate their 
 own debts, or to obtain any payment from the debtors to the 
 convent, of whom Staupitz is named as one, they sued to the 
 Elector to take the convent and its affairs into his own hands, 
 and grant them only the maintenance which they had here- 
 tofore enjoyed. 
 
 But amongst all Luther's interminable engagements, the 
 translation of the Old Testament was sedulously carried on; 
 and it appears that he continued to be harassed by the illu- 
 sions of Satan. One night, it is related, he suddenly awoke, 
 and saw the Saviour standing by the wall of his cell with the 
 five wounds marked on his body : his first impulse was to rush 
 from his couch and throw himself at his feet ; but recollecting 
 the visions of the Zwickau sectaries, he pronounced the 
 name of Christ, and the apparition vanished. With such 
 energy did he prosecute the translation, that in the beginning 
 of December the second part was ready for the press, and 
 
 1524. before the end of February, 1524, the third part, which 
 included the difficult book of Job, had been committed to the 
 printers. 
 
 New troubles were springing up. For a time the ferment 
 excited in Carlstadt's breast by the Zwickau fanatics had been 
 allayed, and might seem to have expired : he had resumed 
 academical lecturing, and Luther himself pronounces his lec- 
 tures excellent. But this quiescent frame of mind had been
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 23 
 
 only apparent, or at least was very transient. Carlstadt left 1524. 
 Wittenberg and repaired to Jena, where lie established a 
 private printing press for the dissemination of his opinions on 
 the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and on other topics in 
 which he disagreed with the Wittenberg divines. The writ- 
 ings thus privately printed were not submitted to any censor- 
 ship or examination in contravention of the Recess of the Diet. 
 There is a letter from Luther of the 7th January to the 
 Chancellor Bruck, informing him of Carlstadt' s movements, 
 expressing his strong apprehension that " one so ready to 
 teach, whether with a call or without one, and only obstinate 
 in never holding his tongue, would bring obloquy on the 
 Elector and the University," and requiring that his treatises, 
 before they were printed, should be subjected to the recog- 
 nised inspection, according to the decree of the Diet and the 
 regulation of the Elector and the University. From Jena 
 Carlstadt shortly afterwards removed to Orlamunde, and 
 undertook the office of pastor of that town. It seems that 
 the principles of Thomas Munzer and the Zwickau sectaries 
 had infected the moral creed of Carlstadt ; for in a letter to 
 Bruck of the 13th January, Luther touches on the mooted 
 point of polygamy, which these fanatics defended as not con- 
 trary to the Word of God. "I confess," wrote Luther, 
 " that I cannot prevent any one from taking more wives than 
 one, if it be not repugnant to Scripture ; but Christians ought 
 to avoid much that is lawful, in order to give no ground to 
 scandal, and preserve that decency of life which St. Paul 
 everywhere insists upon. I suppose at Orlamunde they will 
 shortly be circumcised, and go with Moses the whole hog." 
 
 At this period the course of political events began to attract 
 the Reformer's attention ; for, on the day subsequent to the 
 date of this letter, the 14th January, the second Diet of 
 Nuremberg was opened, under circumstances not very auspi-
 
 24 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1521. cious to the cause of the Reformation. The well-meaning 
 Adrian had breathed his last on the 14th September, 1523, 
 to the undisguised joy of the city and the priests; and the 
 Cardinals, entertaining the principle which Pallavicini openly 
 professes, that " a pope of little piety but great prudence is 
 preferable to a pope with much piety but less prudence," 
 elected to the vacant chair the Cardinal de Medici, whose 
 claims to diplomatic ability were incontestable, whatever might 
 be thought of any pretensions to piety. The new Pontiff 
 assumed the name of Clement VII. In addition to this 
 event, which might reasonably be regarded by the Lutherans 
 as untoward, the Council of Regency, in which the reforming 
 section had gained a decided preponderance, was threatened 
 by a very powerful coalition, the various parties to which, on 
 dissimilar grounds, alike desired its extinction. The Council 
 had proposed a system of import duties, the proceeds to be 
 applied for the maintenance of the executive power ; in other 
 words, for its own maintenance : and, indeed, the most en- 
 lightened German historians are of opinion, that, if this project 
 had passed into law, the best results would have followed, and 
 the unity of Germany in all probability would have been 
 attained. It met, however, with violent opposition from the 
 cities, deputies from which had visited Charles in Spain in 
 the month of August of the preceding year, and, by exerting 
 their short-sighted efforts to overthrow the plan, had com- 
 menced the attack against the Council. Charles objected to 
 the petitioners, that the cities were infected with Lutheranism ; 
 but this they denied, and threw out in return a hint, which 
 was soon seen to answer its end, that the Council might, at 
 some future day, furnish efficient support to the ambition of 
 his brother Ferdinand. Charles needed money for his cam- 
 paigns, and the cities were willing to buy off the obnoxious 
 project by a liberal gratuity ; and thus a union was cemented
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 25 
 
 to serve an object to which the Emperor's arbitrary maxims 1524. 
 must in themselves have easily disposed him. Hannart, the 
 Imperial envoy to the Diet, started for Germany with an 
 explicit understanding of his master's will in the matter of 
 the Council of Regency. Unfortunately, too, the Princes 
 who had demolished Sickingen's stronghold, and broken the 
 power of the knights, having been led by their successes into 
 various illegal acts, had provoked the animadversions of the 
 Council, and, in their resentment of this check on their 
 licence, were eager to add their influence in aid of the 
 machinations of its opponents. The patron, and in fact the 
 originator, of this representative scheme was Frederic of 
 Saxony. A central executive power — a starting-point for 
 national unity and constitutional government — had been the 
 day-dream of his life ; but such patronage was not adapted to 
 conciliate the feelings of the Papists, particularly at the pre- 
 sent conjuncture of religious disturbances. The Duke of 
 Bavaria and the Elector of Treves, who had instituted a per- 
 secution in their principalities so rigid that blood was shed 
 with little compunction, besides personal motives, were far 
 from bearing good will to a body the acts of which had tended 
 to toleration, or even more directly to promote reform. It 
 was thus evident that the combination arrayed against the 
 Regency was excessively powerful, and, if the Council fell, it 
 remained to be seen what effect its overthrow would produce 
 on the fortunes of the evangelical faith. 
 
 The astute policy of Leo was revived under his nephew 
 Clement VII. The new Pontiff appointed as his nuncio to 
 the Diet, Campegio, the ablest of the college, and in a cour- 
 teous epistle besought Frederic to grant his nuncio a gentle 
 hearing, as became the scion of a house which had enjoyed 
 the advocacy of so many of his predecessors in St. Peter's 
 chair.
 
 26 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1524. Such was the clouded aspect of public affairs, when, more 
 than a month before the Diet was opened, the Elector of 
 Saxony, although in a state of infirm health, made his entrance 
 into Nuremberg. But it was soon made manifest that the 
 Council of Regency, supported as it was by Ferdinand, the 
 house of Brandenburg, the knights, and the reforming party, 
 could not nevertheless bear up against the enmity of its power- 
 ful assailants. Previously to taking into consideration the 
 mode of maintaining it, it was resolved that its composition 
 should be altered ; and this was really tantamount to a sen- 
 tence of annihilation. Full of chagrin and sorrow, Frederic 
 of Saxony, in the middle of February, quitted Nuremberg, 
 unwilling any longer to be a witness of the stormy scenes 
 of debate ; and he never appeared again in a Diet of the 
 empire. Before the beginning of March Ferdinand had de- 
 sisted from any attempt to uphold a falling cause. It was 
 agreed that an entirely new Council of Regency should be 
 formed ; that the Imperial chamber should undergo a purifi- 
 cation; and one of its members was at once dismissed for 
 having eaten meat on a fast-day. So far the Romanists seemed 
 to be carrying everything their own way in the Diet. 
 
 But out of doors the evangelical cause had not lost, but 
 was gaining ground. Campegio entered Nuremberg soon 
 after Frederic had left it; and this gave occasion to the 
 rumour that it was to avoid seeing the Pope's representative 
 that the Saxon Elector had departed with so little ceremony. 
 Along his whole route so many impressive signs of the dis- 
 affection of Germany to the Papacy had presented themselves 
 to the nuncio, that, although an assembly of ecclesiastics was 
 awaiting his arrival with closed doors in St. SibakVs Church, 
 he judged it best, by the advice of the princes, to shun any 
 parade that might occasion open contempt, and rode in his 
 travelling attire direct to his hotel, " The Golden Cross." The
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 27 
 
 season of Easter came, and no palms were strewed on Palm- 1524. 
 Sunday; the ceremonial mummeries usual in Passion- week 
 were omitted ; the Word of God resounded in the churches, 
 from the lips of Osiander and other evangelical preachers, 
 and crowds of eager hearers thronged the sacred buildings j 
 the Sacrament was publicly administered in both kinds to 
 more than 4000 communicants, and even Queen Isabella of 
 Sweden, Ferdinand's sister, partook of it in this form at the 
 castle without any disguise. Several members of the Diet 
 might be marked in the crowd of listeners to the discourses 
 of the evangelical ministers, who declared that Antichrist had 
 entered Rome the year that Constantine left it. 
 
 These demonstrations of popular feeling roused the indig- 
 nation of Ferdinand, and, in conjunction with the nuncio, he 
 made them the subject of formal complaint against the 
 Nuremberg Senate, and demanded that the Edict of Worms 
 should be put in force. The all-important topic of religion 
 was thus brought into discussion ; and evidence was not long 
 wanting, that, if the Council of Regency had fallen, the con- 
 victions of numerous members of the Diet were not the less 
 decidedly in antagonism to Popery. It was inquired what 
 reply the nuncio had to make from the Pope to the catalogue 
 of grievances which had been forwarded to Rome. Campegio 
 was ready primed with the hypocritical answer, that he had 
 indeed seen a copy of the document in question, but that no 
 official communication had directed the late Pontiff's atten- 
 tion to it, and it was incredible that a writing in such a strain 
 could have proceeded from the German States. Such scenes 
 of angry debate as followed, it was commonly said, had 
 never been witnessed in any preceding Diet ; and out of 
 doors murder and mutilation showed the excited temper of 
 the populace. Ferdinand's life was threatened. At length, 
 on the 18th April, the Recess was published. It enacted,
 
 28 THE LIFK OY MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1524. that the Edict of Worms should be carried into execution " as 
 far as was possible ; " * that a Council should be summoned 
 with all speed ; but, in the interval, a meeting of the States 
 should take place in the ensuing November, on St. Martin's 
 day, at Spires, to arrange preliminaries, to settle what books 
 might or might not be circulated, and to reconsider the 
 grievances charged against the Pope and the German clergy ; 
 and that, meanwhile, the Gospel and the "Word of God 
 should be preached according to the interpretation of writings 
 approved by the Church. 
 
 It is now very clear that these articles of the Recess were 
 highly favourable to the cause of religious reform; but at the 
 time they were decried by Luther as much as by Hannart, 
 Campegio, and the Papists. This is explained by the fact 
 that, the mandate framed from the Recess being drawn up by 
 the imperial Chancery, the clause for carrying into execution 
 the Edict of Worms was repeated again and again, whilst, 
 amongst the books to be examined, Luther's were specified 
 by name, and nothing was said about preaching the Gospel 
 and the Word of God. This mandate was sent to Luther by 
 the Count of Mansfeld, but not a copy of the Recess itself. 
 The Reformer published it, with marginal glosses, and a pro- 
 logue and epilogue, and at the same time gave the world the 
 Edict of Worms, pointing to the contradictory statements in 
 the two documents. The Princes must have been drunk, he 
 said, when they enacted such contradictions ! By the Edict 
 of Worms his books were all to be burnt ! By the mandate 
 from Nuremberg they were to be examined, that it might be 
 seen whether they were good or bad ! Hannart and Cam- 
 pegio took a far juster view of the real purport of the conclu- 
 sions of the Diet. The nuncio engaged to use his iufluence 
 
 * So vicl mojjlich.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 29 
 
 with the new Pontiff to procure the summoning of a Council ; 152 1 
 but he energetically opposed the preparatory lay convention 
 of Spires, so monstrous in eyes which regarded the ecclesiasti- 
 cal estate as alone qualified to judge of religious doctrines; 
 and, in their subsequent resistance to this early proof of the 
 great spread of the Lutheran ideas, he and his partisans dis- 
 membered the German nation, and invited all the horrors of 
 war. Clement, in his disgust, turned to Henry of England 
 and the King of Portugal, entreating them to break off com- 
 mercial dealings with Germany ; and plans were set on foot in 
 the Papal conclave to strip Frederic of the Saxon electorate. 
 
 Early in June, not two months from the signing of the 
 Recess of the Diet, the wretched internal condition of Ger- 
 many fully revealed itself by the rising of the peasantry, in 
 the first instance at Bamberg, against the ecclesiastical power. 
 Since the beginning of the century popular insurrection had 
 been frequent, the result of the pitiable serfdom in which the 
 poor were held, and the self-inflicted punishment of the dis- 
 organization of society. The present insurrection was more 
 formidable from the religious element mixed up with it. It 
 quickly spread amongst materials on all sides ready to nurse 
 the sparks into a flame. Before the end of June symptoms 
 of the mutinous spirit declared themselves at Alstadt; and 
 in July the seditious temper broke out into deeds of violence 
 at Thurgau, in the Bishopric of Constance, where the op- 
 pressed classes rose against the Abbot of Richenau. All this, 
 however, was but a few big drops before the storm which fell 
 in the ensuing year. No conviction or experience of the woes 
 which their precipitate violence was hastening upon Germany 
 could stay the papistical faction in their mad career of 
 bigotry, or moderate their fury against the vindicators of the 
 Gospel. A remarkable compact, cemented by mutual con- 
 cessions, had been formed between the Pope and the Dukes
 
 30 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1524. of Bavaria, through the agency of John Eck. The Dukes, on 
 their part, had commanded all their subjects, under grievous 
 penalties, to adhere to the faith of their fathers, and declared 
 their resolution, if need were, to take up arms against heretics 
 as well as against the Turks ; and Clement, on his part, had 
 made over to the Bavarian princes one-fifth of the Church 
 revenues throughout their dominions. It is thus that Rome 
 is justly chargeable with having itself set the example of that 
 church spoliation which is so often made an exclusive charge 
 against Protestantism. The Pope would move heaven and 
 earth, and, much more, was willing to dismember Germany 
 and deluge its plains with blood, to prevent the meeting of 
 the assembly appointed to be held at Spires in November; 
 and he had now an ally amongst the German princes on 
 whose cordial co-operation he could confidently reckon. That 
 the majority at Spires would side with Luther might be anti- 
 cipated with some degree of certainty : reports were already 
 in preparation from various cities and universities on the sub- 
 jects to be discussed, and the greater part of them — those 
 from the Brandenburg territory in terms which Luther 
 characterised as " coinage of the right stamp" — supported the 
 evangelical views. Besides, therefore, the flagrancy of a lay 
 tribunal passing sentence in spiritual matters, it was of the 
 utmost consequence to the Papal faith that an assembly, the 
 direct results of whose deliberations were so much to be 
 dreaded, should never be allowed to hold its session. The 
 Archduke Ferdinand had been fixed in his adhesion to the 
 Popish side, by a grant made him of a third of all ecclesiastical 
 revenues for levying troops against the Turks. The way thus 
 smoothed, Campegio proposed, before he left Nuremberg, and 
 succeeded in gaining, the assent of the Popish princes to his 
 proposition, that a Congress should previously meet at Regens- 
 berg, to consider the proper remedy for the disastrous evils
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 31 
 
 which afflicted the Church. This Congress assembled in the 1524. 
 Town Hall of Regensberg towards the end of June. Ferdinand 
 was present, with the Dukes of Bavaria, the Archbishop of 
 Salzburg, and the Bishop of Trent : many other bishops had 
 sent their deputies : and the nuncio, summoning all his elo- 
 quence, drew a picture of the perils with which religious dis- 
 turbances threatened the civil power, and exhorted the princes 
 and delegates before him to dismiss all minor differences, and 
 unite in a league for the extirpation of heresy. The confer- 
 ence lasted for sixteen days ; and the results of the discussion 
 are generally known as the Ratisbon Reformation. Jerome, 
 Augustine, and Gregory were constituted the standard divines 
 by whom Scripture must be interpreted : a commission, com- 
 posed of lay members as well as clerical, was appointed to 
 exercise a supervision over the clergy; the preachers were 
 warned not to teach fables ; the priests were admonished to 
 lead a chaste life ; the number of holy days was diminished ; 
 and several petty exactions of the Church were restrained. 
 But these concessions to popular feeling and well-grounded 
 complaints were only a set-off against the rigorous articles 
 which proscribed the least leaning to heresy; throughout 
 the dominions of the Archduke, the fourth penny, and, in the 
 territories of the Duke of Bavaria, the fifth penny, were granted 
 those princes by their respective clergy, on the condition that 
 they would, " with a strong hand," exterminate the Lutheran 
 opinions. And on the 6th July a mandate in conformity 
 with the resolutions passed at this meeting was published. 
 
 The next point was to secure the co-operation of the Em- 
 peror, and prevail with him to prohibit the appointed con- 
 vention of Spires. The Pope used all his influence to that 
 effect : the services of Henry of England were enlisted in the 
 same cause; and as, on the 1st May, 1524, war had been 
 formally declared against France, and in the Italian campaign,
 
 32 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1524. which was immediately commenced, the alliance of the Pope 
 was of some moment, little difficulty was found in procuring 
 from Charles all that the warmest partisans of Rome could 
 desire. On the 27th July the Imperial proclamation was 
 issued, in terms of much vehemence, denouncing Luther, after 
 the example of Adrian, as a second Mahomet, reprobating the 
 neglect which had prevented the Edict of Worms from being- 
 carried into execution, objecting to the demand for a future 
 council, and forbidding the appointed convention at Spires 
 under penalty of the guilt of high treason, and sentence of 
 ban and reban. Thus all disguise was thrown to the winds ; 
 and the Lutherans were clearly informed what they might 
 expect from the powerful league of bishops and princes, 
 headed by the Emperor himself, formed for their overthrow. 
 
 As the persecution had begun before this League had been 
 combined, so it subsequently raged with aggravated fury. 
 In Bavaria, Bernard Tichtel was compelled to revoke his 
 Lutheran tenets under the alternative of death. In the ter- 
 ritory of the Archbishop of Salzburg, two peasants, who had 
 released a Lutheran priest from his bonds, whilst his guards 
 who were conveying him to prison were carousing, were be- 
 headed outside the city walls without any formal trial. At 
 Vienna, on the Virgin's Nativity, great crowds were collected 
 in the churchyard of St. Stephen's, to witness the recantation 
 of Caspar Tauber, a Lutheran ; but Tauber, from the pulpit 
 in which he had been placed to make his retractation, pro- 
 fessed his faith in the Gospel, and with great heroism suf- 
 fered death by decapitation. In Waldshut, the efforts of the 
 persecuting party were only restrained by a body of Swiss 
 volunteers from Zurich entering the town, and threatening to 
 reply to force by force. From Pomerania the Gospel mis- 
 sionaries were expelled. In Holstein, at Meldorf, in Dit- 
 marsch, Henry Zutphen, who had escaped the fate of his An-
 
 THE LIFE OF MAKTIN LUTHER. 33 
 
 gustine brethren of Antwerp, and had subsequently preached 1524. 
 the Gospel at Bremen, whence he had been invited to discharge 
 the same office at Meldorf, was dragged one night in the 
 month of January from his bed, hurried, amidst the yelling of 
 a Popish rabble, led on by monks, to the stake, and burnt 
 with every atrocity of torture. So furious was the zeal of 
 the League, that in various parts of the country Lutheran 
 preachers were nailed by their tongues to trees, and in that 
 deplorable condition abandoned to their fate. 
 
 Such cruelties naturally inflamed the rebellious temper of 
 the peasantry, and provoked a counter-demonstration and de- 
 fensive measures on the part of the Lutheran governments. 
 The cities, indignant that a few princes should arrogate the 
 power of passing laws, which belonged only to the Diet, held 
 a meeting at Spires on St. Margaret's Day, and resolved that 
 their preachers should proclaim, not the sentiments of the 
 Latin fathers, but the doctrines of the Gospel, of the pro- 
 phetical and apostolic Scriptures. It was determined that a 
 confession of faith should be prepared on the part of each 
 city, by their approved divines, to be presented to the con- 
 gress to assemble at Spires in November, when one common 
 confession should be framed by a comparison of individual 
 ones, to serve as a declaration of faith till the summoning of 
 the appointed Council. And when these cities found all their 
 plans disconcerted by the peremptory letter of the Emperor 
 from Burgos, their irritation knew no bounds. At the same 
 time, the indignity of giving the Emperor's sister, the affi- 
 anced bride of the son of John Frederic of Saxony, in marriage 
 to John III. of Portugal, wounded to the quick the pride of 
 the Ernestine branch of the house of Saxony ; and the letters 
 of Charles, which Ferdinand had been privately enjoined not 
 to transmit unless the temper of the princes would bear it, 
 but which he at once delivered in his indiscreet religious 
 
 VOL. II. D
 
 34 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1524. ardour, raised such a storm of indignation amongst the nobles 
 and princes, who concurred with the Recesses of the two Nu- 
 remberg Diets, that even the deposition of the Emperor was 
 talked of as a not improbable event : and, from among the 
 Papist faction, William of Bavaria, notwithstanding the part 
 he had taken at Ratisbon, forgetting religion in politics, as- 
 pired to the imperial crown for himself. 
 
 The spirit of dissatisfaction was daily growing; and after 
 the assembly at Spires had been prohibited, the imperial 
 cities held a second meeting at Ulm, at which deputies from 
 the nobles joined the city delegates, and discussed with them 
 the question of war in defence of the Lutheran cause. Nor 
 did the meeting break up until a determination had been 
 mutually agreed upon, that the nobles and cities should " not 
 act separately in such momentous affairs, and such perilous 
 times." Everything pointed to that complete division of 
 German nationality which soon followed, which exists to 
 this day, and dates from the Ratisbon League. 
 
 Whilst these important events were transpiring, Luther 
 was engaged as arduously as in the preceding year in his 
 translation, his writings, and his routine of labours. With 
 his numerous other avocations, academical lecturing became 
 so onerous that he addressed an entreaty through Spalatin to 
 the Elector, that Melancthon, instead of lecturing in Greek, 
 might be directed to lecture in theology, and the same 
 stipend be allowed him ; but as Melancthon himself strongly 
 objected to this arrangement, urging that literature and 
 theology always nourished and decayed together, the trans- 
 fer was not made. The poverty of the Prior and Luther 
 continued extreme. "I wish to know," he wrote to Spa- 
 latin in April, " in the name of the Prior, whether the Elec- 
 tor has despatched to Bressen his mandate to pay the debt he 
 owes us. We have not received or heard anything as yet,
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTTN LUTHER. 35 
 
 and our difficulties weigh heavier on us every day. I shall be 1524. 
 compelled at last to find a maintenance elsewhere." He had 
 written several times to Staupitz, whom, notwithstanding 
 his estrangement, he still styled " his Father in Christ," and 
 at the end of April he at length received one letter from his 
 earliest instructor in reply. 
 
 A nun named Florentina had been driven to make her 
 escape from a convent at Eisleben, by the harsh and cruel 
 treatment she had experienced, and the Reformer pub- 
 lished the history of her case, " that the world might 
 know what nunneries are," and prefaced it with a letter 
 to the Counts of Mansfeld. " Not only," he wrote, " in 
 the case of this Florentina, but in many more, we may easily 
 see how satanical a thing conventualism is, which uses per- 
 secution, force, and blows, to drive people to God, although 
 God will have no compulsory service, and says none shall be 
 his but by his own free consent. Christ says, 'No man 
 cometh unto me, except the Father which hath sent me 
 draw him.' Have we neither understanding nor ears? Is not 
 this clear enough, dear Lord God ? The Father must draw : 
 but instead of this, man would drive ! There are princes and 
 nobles who are enraged at my censures of the convents ; but 
 did they know all that I know, they would think that they 
 could not praise and honour me enough for what I have done." 
 Letters asking his advice reached him from priests who were 
 compelled to say mass, to whom he uniformly replied, that 
 it was their duty to quit their monastery if their conscience 
 could not be satisfied; if it could, in the name of God, he 
 said, ' ' remain where you are." A portion of the " Postils " 
 was committed to the press ; the preface to the Old Testa- 
 ment, recommending its study, as showing " what we owe to 
 God, as the Gospel shows Christ's grace to us," was inditing 
 at this time; and the Commentary on Deuteronomy had 
 
 d 2
 
 36 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1524. been begun, but was proceeding slowly, from the vast amount 
 of his other employments. His correspondence alone, he 
 said, was more than enough to engross his full time. 
 
 Beyond the more customary questions of debate, it had 
 now been mooted to what extent a Christian was bound to 
 obey the law of Moses. Luther communicated on this sub- 
 ject with Spalatin, and decided that the judicial as well as the 
 ceremonial laws of the Jews were not obligatory upon Chris- 
 tians. " Neither Naaman, nor Job, nor Joseph, nor Daniel, 
 nor any other Jews, observed their own laws out of their own 
 country, but those of the nations amongst whom they were. 
 If the judicial is binding, why not the ceremonial law too, 
 and why should we not be circumcised?" One of the cen- 
 sures which he had applied to Romanism was, that it was a 
 vile aping, in its sacerdotalism and ceremonial punctilios, of Ju- 
 daism. But the moral law, he averred, was strictly binding on 
 Christians; for " it is the law of nature, written," as St. Paul 
 declares, c ' upon the heart." Together with Bugenhagen and 
 Melancthon, he signed a statement of his sentiments on this 
 point, to the effect that " the law must be preached, because 
 Christ says, ' The Holy Ghost shall convince the world of 
 sin ;' which could not be, without the proclamation of the law. 
 The law was for the disobedient, the temporal sword also was 
 appointed for their restraint and punishment ; but the works 
 of the law could not procure grace, which is God's free, un- 
 merited gift." The obligation of the whole of the Mosaic 
 law was even maintained at the Saxon Court by Wolfgang 
 Stein ; and Luther, in May, wrote to Frederic at his request 
 his verdict, to the effect that " temporal law is an outward 
 thing, like eating and drinking; and since faith and love 
 can well remain under the imperial laws, we are bound to 
 maintain the imperial laws." 
 
 Connected with this dispute was the question of interest
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 37 
 
 upon money, which Strauss, the pastor of Eisenach, and others, 1524. 
 strongly reprobated, as forbidden by the Old Testament, and 
 advised the non-payment of it, excepting on the application 
 or threat of force. Luther wrote to Strauss that he could not 
 concur with this opinion, and he recommended the payment 
 of interest without compulsion, on demand merely. " The 
 world abuses the Gospel, and is not ruled by the Gospel." 
 On moral as well as civil grounds the subject seemed of mo- 
 ment ; he therefore published a treatise on " merchandise and 
 usury," in German, in which he dealt faithfully with both 
 parties, denouncing the avarice of the merchants, and tracing 
 it in many instances to the Princes themselves as the source 
 and head, lamenting that, as Isaiah said, " The princes were 
 become partners with thieves," or, as the proverb went, " the 
 big thieves hang the little ones." He objected to a rate of 
 interest so high that it became usurious, and requested the 
 Elector's interference in prohibition of a rate exceeding four 
 or five per cent. But where only such moderate interest was 
 asked, he left the matter to the conscience of the creditor, not 
 of the debtor, until, at least, " God should put it in the heart 
 of the princes to effect an alteration with one consent." 
 
 But the most urgent question of the day, in his judgment, 
 was the education of youth. " I see," he wrote to Strauss, 
 " that the ruin of the Gospel is imminent from the neglect of 
 education. It is of all things the most necessary." He re- 
 marked with Melancthon that the increase of learning has ever 
 been accompanied by the increase of scriptural knowledge, and 
 the wider dissemination of the Gospel. He was earnest in his 
 endeavours that a portion of the convent and chauntry re- 
 venues might be appropriated to this purpose, so much 
 in unison with the founder's intentions ; and he further ad- 
 dressed letters to several of the parochial pastors — even to 
 Brismann in Prussia, and to the church of Riga — to urge
 
 38 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1524. them to supply the educational wants of the period as a 
 matter of the first importance. To the Elector he wrote 
 that " he might see how schools were everywhere falling, to the 
 great detriment, not only of Germany, but of Christendom ; 
 and that it ought to be a prime object with every prince to 
 uphold letters/' Not satisfied with these efforts, he published 
 a treatise in German, addressed to all the senators of all the 
 states of Germany, pressing on them the necessity of erect- 
 ing seminaries for christian instruction, and providing espe- 
 cially for the education of " those children whose parents, like 
 the ostrich, neglected their young." " A boy," he said, " of fif- 
 teen or eighteen years of age might now know more than here- 
 tofore all universities and all monasteries. In those stalls of 
 asses and gymnasia of devils, many had studied twenty or forty 
 years without acquiring either Latin or German." He had 
 rather the conventual establishments should be sunk to the 
 bottom of the sea than ever revived ; but the convents 
 ought to be converted into christian schools. A notion 
 had arisen that Latin and Greek were a needless study for 
 Christians, and that the attainment of Hebrew and German 
 was sufficient, or even all languages might be dispensed 
 with. He combated this idea with all the force of his supe- 
 rior sagacity. " If the study of languages cease, we shall be 
 unable either to write or speak in Latin or in German. Lan- 
 guages are the scabbard in which the sword of the Spirit is 
 sheathed. Oh, Germans ! buy, whilst the market is at your 
 doors ; gather, whilst the sky is bright and the air serene ; 
 use the grace and the word of God whilst you may. The 
 word and grace of God is a shower that passes on and returns 
 not again. ,} 
 
 The Popish League on its side, at the same time that it 
 dealt largely in persecution, was resolved to try also the influ- 
 ence of pomp and ceremonial on the popular imagination.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 39 
 
 Benno, who had been Bishop of Misnia in the age of Gre- 1524. 
 gory VII., had been canonized by a bull of Adrian, dated 
 the 31st May, 1523. Duke George had exerted all his in- 
 fluence to obtain this honour for a district subject to his 
 jurisdiction, and the Bishop of Misnia had gone to Rome to 
 further the suit, with commendatory letters from Duke 
 George and most of the princes of the Papist party. The 
 bishop had the gratification of publishing the bull in Germany 
 on the 7th September. The merits of Benno consisted 
 in his having been a faithful partisan of Hildebrand in his 
 dissensions with Henry IV., when the surrounding prelates 
 had espoused the cause of the Emperor. The bull enumerated 
 his various miracles — that the keys of his church, which, 
 rather than surrender them to the Emperor, he had thrown 
 into the Elbe, had been found in a fish's belly and restored to 
 him ; that he had crossed the river dry-footed ; had turned 
 water into wine ; a fountain had gushed out where his foot 
 had trod ; he had celebrated mass in two places at one time ; 
 and, when the Marquis of Misnia struck him on the face, his 
 prediction that he should die at the expiration of a year had 
 come to pass. The apotheosis of this votary of the Papacy 
 was celebrated on the 16th May, 1524. His remains were 
 raised from their lowly sepulchre, and placed in a marble 
 monument : the Dukes George and Henry, and the Bishop of 
 Merseburg, with others of the nobility, were present ; and the 
 confluence of humble spectators — some urged by curiosity, 
 others by lingering superstitious motives — was so numerous as 
 to excite the boasts of the Romanists. Before, however, the day 
 of the grand ceremony had arrived, Luther inveighed against 
 the egregious folly and credulity of the whole proceeding, in 
 a tract entitled, "Against the old Idol and new Devil 
 of Misnia/' warning the people not to be witnesses of an im- 
 pious spectacle. " Whom/' he asked, " do they elevate into
 
 40 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1524. a saint? A robber and a murderer, an enemy to Germany, 
 a foe of the Gospel, and an ally of Antichrist ! Gregory VII. 
 himself was a wicked and traitorous man ; he sowed dissen- 
 sion between father and son, and suffered the Emperor to die 
 under sentence of excommunication, goaded on to act as he 
 did by a craving for worldly power, pomp, and glory. Yet, 
 by a happy fatality, the Satan of Misnia has been made a 
 saint by Pope Adrian, who has murdered and exalted to 
 heaven two real saints at Brussels. Thus, at Constance, 
 Thomas Aquinas, the source and sink of heresy, was exalted 
 to saintship, and two really holy sons and martyrs of God, 
 Huss, and Jerome of Prague, perished in the flames." The 
 whole warmth of Luther's impetuous nature was drawn out 
 by this Popish jubilee ; and he dated many of his letters from 
 before or after the Feast of St. Benno. 
 
 About this time Melancthon, who had begged a short holi- 
 day from the court, paid a visit to his mother, who resided 
 near Frankfort, with Joachim Camerarius for one of his com- 
 panions. And from Frankfort Camerarius, with two more of 
 the party, pressed on to Basle, full of curiosity to see Erasmus, 
 and delivered into his hands a letter from Luther. Hutten's 
 expostulations had been answered by Erasmus in his "Sponge," 
 and several expressions had fallen from the scholar in depreci- 
 ation of Lutheran sentiments, and of those who professed them ; 
 and between many of the Lutherans and Erasmus open war 
 had begun. The letter of Luther intimated regret that such 
 differences should have arisen, and in dignified terms of expos- 
 tulation declared his hope that harmony might yet be main- 
 tained ; but withal implied that nothing was to be feared from 
 the worst that Erasmus could do. "Although," Luther 
 wrote, " irritable as I am, 1 have been too often irritated to 
 write too bitterly; yet I have never done this excepting 
 against the perverse and obstinate. I have hitherto curbed
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 41 
 
 my style, however much you galled me ; and in letters to 1524. 
 friends that were read to you, I stated that I should do so, 
 until you openly assailed me. For, however much you may 
 differ from us, and impiously or feignedly condemn many 
 points of Christian doctrine, yet I cannot and will not charge 
 you with obstinacy. I could wish to be mediator between 
 you and those whose opposition you have provoked, and in- 
 duce them to let your old age sleep with peace in the Lord. 
 In my judgment, they are bound to do so, in consideration of 
 your moral weakness of character, and the magnitude of the 
 cause, which has long since outstripped your standard; so 
 that, were you to put forth your utmost strength, there 
 would be no ground to dread your sting or hardest bite. Yet 
 I confess it would be far worse to be once bitten by Erasmus, 
 than ground to powder by all the Papists. May the Lord 
 grant you a spirit worthy of your fame ! if not, may the Lord 
 enable you to be only a spectator of our tragedy ! Do not 
 join forces with our foes ; at least, do not write against me, 
 and I will not write against you." The Reformer knew that 
 the Papists, especially the Pope and Henry of England, had 
 been plying the scholar with their utmost entreaties and 
 largest promises to wield the pen against Luther ; and such an 
 assault from the prince of letters against the champion of the 
 Scriptures was by all means to be avoided, if possible. By the 
 same bearer Luther wrote to (Ecolampadms, " I have ad- 
 dressed a letter to Erasmus, praying for peace and concord. 
 Do you co-operate with me." But these labours for peace 
 failed. The reply of Erasmus to Luther was the harbinger 
 of the treatise which followed from his pen in the autumn, 
 and which he was then meditating. He tried to vindicate 
 himself from the accusation of timidity, and then asked, 
 " Why deplore a disputation for the sake of eliciting know- 
 ledge? Perhaps, Erasmus writing against you will profit
 
 42 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1524 the Gospel more than some fools writing for you. These will 
 not suffer me to be a spectator of your tragedy, which I pray 
 may not have a tragical ending." In his more friendly cor- 
 respondence with Melancthon, Erasmus excused his conduct 
 on the ground of the bad morals of many of the Lutherans, 
 the division in their camp, and the bloody doctrines incul- 
 cated by some of their doctors. Melancthon gently but 
 firmly replied, that doctrines could not be tested by the con- 
 duct of some who professed them, and that there was not a 
 man in the world more unlike " the bloody doctors " he com- 
 plained of than Luther. 
 
 Luther's desire for peace was again demonstrated in a 
 letter to Capito towards the end of May. A former epistle, in 
 which he had freely reproved the pusillanimity of truckling 
 to the whims and notions of the Court of Mentz, although 
 never intended for publication, had been maliciously printed, 
 and had now appeared in a German version. There were also 
 rumours in circulation, joyfully caught up and whispered by 
 the Romanists, that Strasburg and Wittenberg were not at 
 one in all points of doctrine. " I am almost deterred from 
 writing letters at all," Luther wrote, "when I see such as 
 were meant to be private hurried to the press, and such free 
 and familiar expressions as are allowable amongst friends ex- 
 posed to the public eye. You were then another man, the 
 servant of the Court ; now you are Christ's freed man, the 
 servant of the Gospel. I am delighted with the marriage of 
 the priests, monks, and nuns at Strasburg ; with the appeal of 
 the husbands from the excommunication of the Bishop of 
 Satan, and with the appointments made to the parishes. 
 Sufficient indulgence has been shown to the weak : they now 
 harden day by day, and therefore the utmost freedom of 
 acting and speaking becomes necessary. I shall myself at 
 last lay aside the cowl, which I have worn so long in support
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 43 
 
 of the weak, and in mockery of the Pope. The dead must 1524. 
 be left to bury their dead : they are blind, and leaders of the 
 blind. Luther would hardly allow that differences existed 
 between Strasburg and Wittenberg, probably because their 
 doctrines on the Lord's Supper, in which they occupied a sort 
 of middle ground between Luther on the one side and Zwingle 
 and Carlstadt on the other, although they had no sympathy 
 with the Zwickau fanatical principles, had not yet been clearly 
 and decidedly stated. " May Christ so reign in you, that if 
 there be diversities of opinion between us, the bond and union 
 of the Spirit may be sincere and perfect. I am wont to dis- 
 semble and conceal as far as I can real differences of opinion 
 — (and by what a spirit are some possessed !) —how much 
 more this intolerable scandal and injury to christian concord 
 and spiritual peace. Were my occupations less onerous, I 
 would testify by a public writing to our candid agreement in 
 christian doctrine against whispering surmises." 
 
 It was as Philip Melancthon was returning from the visit 
 to his mother, already mentioned, that not far from Frankfort 
 he was met by a party of knights, and amongst them young 
 Philip the Landgrave of Hesse, bound for a cross-bow match 
 at Heidelberg. Thirteen princes were to be there, and Car- 
 dinal Campegio also was expected. The Prince rode up to 
 the scholar, and inquired whether he was Melancthon. 
 Melancthon was beginning to dismount in sign of respect ; 
 but the Prince begged him "not to do so, but to turn 
 his horse's head and go with him and spend the night at his 
 lodging; he was anxious to talk over several matters Avith 
 him, and he need be under no alarm for his safety." 
 Melancthon answered that " he was under no fear of the 
 Prince of Hesse, and indeed he was of too little consequence 
 to be under fear of any one." " And yet/' replied the Prince, 
 smiling, " were I to place you in the power of Campegio, he
 
 44 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1524. would, I think, thank me for the service." Melancthon 
 earnestly begged to be permitted to continue his journey ; and 
 after they had remained conversing together for some little 
 while, the Prince exacted of him the promise to compose a 
 treatise for his perusal on the religious questions which were 
 engrossing the public attention. They then parted; the 
 Prince giving his new friend " a pass " through all the places 
 in his dominions. In the fulfilment of this promise, Melanc- 
 tlion composed his " Sum of the revived Christian Doctrines/' 
 which proved acceptable to the Landgrave, who not long 
 afterwards professed himself a convert to the evangelical faith, 
 and was jocularly known at Wittenberg by the name of 
 " Philip's disciple." 
 
 The accession of Albert, the Grand Master of Prussia, to 
 the ranks of the evangelical party, was a yet more valuable 
 acquisition. Prussia enjoyed the singular blessing of having 
 one out of her four bishops, George Polentz, Bishop of 
 Samland, sincerely attached to the Gospel of Christ, by 
 whose invitation evangelical preachers from Wittenberg 
 spread over Prussia, and taught the people the doctrines of the 
 Bible. That Luther entertained on this account, as well as 
 others, a hope of influencing the Teutonic Order for good, has 
 been already seen in the letter which nearly a year and a half 
 ago he had addressed to the knights on the subject of false 
 and true continence. At Nuremberg, the Grand Master had 
 been a frequent auditor of Osiander ; and the leaven of 
 scriptural truth working in his mind, he submitted, in a letter 
 of that period to Luther, five articles of Christian doctrine, on 
 which he desired the Reformer's explanation. Luther, in his 
 reply, dwelt at some length on the Papist pretence that the 
 Church is founded on Peter, which, on the contrary, he said, 
 " is founded on Christ, and is an invisible and spiritual thing; 
 for we declare in the creed, ' I believe in the Holy Catholic
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 45 
 
 Church ; ' but we none of us believe in what we can behold." 1524. 
 Albert left Nuremberg in company with Planitz, to whom he 
 had communicated the doubts and perplexities which harassed 
 him, and received from the Saxon counsellor the advice that 
 he should pay a visit to Luther himself at Wittenberg, and in 
 a personal conversation open his heart to him. Albert 
 did so, and proposed the question, "Was the vow of the 
 Teutonic Order lawful? " Without any reserve the Reformer 
 declared that he regarded it as entirely repugnant to the Word 
 of God, and with much warmth urged the Grand Master to 
 have done with false, and to espouse real chastity, by taking a 
 wife, and to convert his hermaphrodite principality into a 
 temporal sovereignty. There were, of course, many obstacles 
 to an immediate execution of this counsel; but the Grand 
 Master smiled, and withdrew. From that time there was an 
 understanding between Luther and Albert ; and the former 
 enjoined Brismann and the other evangelical teachers, who, 
 encouraged by the favour of Albert, traversed his dominions 
 preaching the Gospel, to prepare the minds of the people for 
 the contemplated change, and induce the Commendators of the 
 Order to solicit Albert to adopt a step to which he was him- 
 self well inclined. The menaced position of Prussia, unable 
 to match the power of Poland, and hopeless of assistance 
 against her old foe from the German States, rendered the 
 measure, in a political point of view, highly expedient, and the 
 next year the metamorphose was actually accomplished, with 
 only one dissentient voice among the knights, that of Eric of 
 Brunswick. Albert, from being Grand Master, became Duke 
 of Prussia, and consented to pay homage to the King of 
 Poland as his feudal superior. On the same occasion, George 
 Polentz resigned his castles, towns, villages, and all the tem- 
 poralities of his See to the newly constituted Duke ; pro- 
 claimed that the office of a Bishop is to preach the Word
 
 46 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1524. of God, not to live like a secular prince, and only demanded 
 an honourable maintenance sufficient to the discharge of the 
 real episcopal functions. An amended ritual for church ser- 
 vices was introduced, and the Reformation was established in 
 Prussia, which was thus the first principality of any large 
 extent that publicly professed the Lutheran principles, and 
 conformed to her ecclesiastical institutions. 
 
 Many other princes joined the cause of the Reformation 
 about the same time : amongst them Albert's two brothers, the 
 Margrave Casimir of Brandenburg, and George, who was 
 residing in the Hungarian Court at Ofen. The Dukes of 
 Luneburg and the Dukes of Mecklenburg also espoused the 
 evangelical tenets; and the banished Duke of Wurtemberg 
 had Lutheran chaplains at Mumpelgard. Luther recounted 
 with joyful gratitude that "the Gospel had already taken 
 possession of Magdeburg and Bremen, and would soon mi- 
 grate to Brunswick, for Duke Henry had become another 
 man/' The Reformer visited Magdeburg himself, and 
 preached in St. John's Church to such a crowded audience 
 that many who could not obtain standing-room inside the 
 walls, stood outside upon the window ledges. Other princes, 
 moreover, who were as yet deterred by fear or some selfish 
 motive from openly professing the Lutheran faith, such as 
 Duke Barnim of Pomerania, and the Elector Palatine, yet 
 proclaimed the duty of religious toleration. 
 
 Encouraging as such successes were, they did not divert 
 Luther's attention from the gradual progress of a danger which 
 he had long foreseen. He kept a steady and watchful eye 
 upon Munzer and the fanatics. In June, reports reached the 
 Elector of Saxony from Alstadt, to which the prophets had 
 transferred their head-quarters from Zwickau, that the par- 
 tisans of Munzer had begun their riots, were forcing the 
 doors of churches, demolishing images, and committing other
 
 THE LIFE OF MA11TIN LUTHER. 47 
 
 excesses. The magistrates of Alstadt sentenced them to 1524. 
 punishment, but not having sufficient authority to inflict it, 
 the delinquents were cited to appear at Weimar, where on 
 the 1st August Munzer himself was subjected to trial, and 
 denied many charges, but acknowledged some seditious 
 expressions attributed to him, and that he had told some 
 peasants of the neighbourhood and some miners from Mans- 
 field, who had complained of being prohibited from hearing 
 him preach, that they might lawfully form a league to secure 
 the liberty of hearing the Gospel. 
 
 It was resolved to banish him from the electoral dominions ; 
 but, anticipating his sentence, he effected his escape by night to 
 Mulhausen, in which town, by the influence of the populace, 
 against the will of the Senate, he was appointed preacher. 
 Luther immediately addressed a warning letter to the citizens 
 of Mulhausen : — " Beware of false prophets who come to you 
 in sheep's clothing. He has shown in many places, especially 
 in Zwickau and Alstadt, what kind of tree he must be, 
 yielding no other fruit than murder, tumult, and bloodshed. 
 If he says that God and his Spirit have sent him like the 
 Apostles, let him show, as they did, signs and wonders, or 
 forbid him to preach. I have never preached, and never will 
 preach, without an urgent call from men, and cannot boast, 
 as they do, that God has sent me, without any human medium, 
 by a voice from heaven. But, as Jeremiah says, ' I have not 
 sent these prophets, yet they run.' " 
 
 Carlstadt, moreover, had now left Jena, and had become 
 pastor of Orlamunde, a cure in connexion with Wittenberg 
 All Saints, but simply on the appointment of the people. It 
 appears from Luther's correspondence, that the disasters which 
 " such a muddled head" as Carlstadt, "giddy with vanity and 
 an itch for celebrity/' would be sure to bring on the reviving 
 cause of the Gospel, were never absent from his mind. At
 
 48 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1524. Orlamunde the images had been removed, and the doctrine 
 inculcated that the eucharistical bread and wine were nothing 
 but simple bread and wine ; or, as Luther expresses it, " the 
 same as bread and wine bought in the market-place." The 
 method adopted in the first instance to recal the recreant Pro- 
 fessor to the sphere of duty, was a summons from the Uni- 
 versity that he would return to his proper post from the cure 
 which he had undertaken, without any call, with an intimation 
 that if he refused, a formal complaint would be lodged with 
 the Elector. Carlstadt obeyed the summons, so far at least as 
 one Sabbath in the month of May to enter Wittenberg ; and 
 in a letter of the 21st May to the Elector, Luther says, 
 " I trust matters at Orlamunde will be well attended to, since 
 Dr. Carlstadt has surrendered the cure." This, however, was 
 but for a time : the flock at Orlamunde regretted the Pro- 
 fessor, and he soon returned to them. And then the citizens 
 of Orlamunde addressed the Elector and the Chapter of All 
 Saints Cathedral, maintaining their right to appoint their own 
 minister; to which Frederic replied by ordering Carlstadt 
 back to Wittenberg to discharge his proper duties ; but this 
 mandate was not obeyed. With the exception of a visit to 
 Magdeburg in July, already alluded to, Luther had remained 
 stationary, throughout the year, at Wittenberg, engrossed 
 with his writings and ministerial functions ; but the urgency 
 of the case now drew him by the Elector's request to the 
 district where Carlstadt continued his fanatical teaching. 
 On the 14th August he was at Weimar, whence he de- 
 spatched the warning letter to the inhabitants of Mul- 
 hausen already spoken of. On the 21st he arrived at Jena, 
 and with a mind more fully awake than ever to the dangers 
 of fanaticism he wrote to the Elector and Duke John, en- 
 treating them to use the power entrusted them by God to 
 check the unruly spirit which, stimulated by fanatical preach-
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 49 
 
 ing, was already displaying itself in violent acts, as they 1524. 
 would have to answer before God and the world. " Satan, 
 driven out for a year or two, has been going about through 
 dry places seeking rest, but finding none ; but now he has 
 established himself in your dominions, and built a nest at 
 Alstadt, and thinks to fight against us under our own shelter 
 and protection. Duke George, your neighbour, has been far 
 too good and soft towards him." He described the hatred of 
 the fanatics to God's Word, against which they exclaimed, 
 " Bible ! Bubel ! Babel ! " and exposed their seditious and 
 revolutionary projects of personal aggrandisement based on 
 the overthrow of the existing powers, in contradiction to the 
 Saviour's declaration, " My kingdom is not of this world." 
 " It must be a bad spirit which can show its fruit only by 
 breaking open churches and cloisters, and burning images of 
 saints, which creeps into a corner and shuns the light ! The 
 Jews had an express command from God to break down the 
 altars and symbols of idolatry ; we have no such command : 
 we must imitate not their acts but their faith. Indeed, if it 
 is right to break images, it is right to kill unbelievers, as the 
 Jews destroyed the Canaanites and Amorites. But what use 
 to do away with outward defilements if the unbelief of the 
 heart remains? And therefore in the New Testament the 
 true method of driving out the devil is revealed, viz., the 
 Word of God, which has only to convert the heart, and the 
 devil must fall, and all his practices and power. Such men 
 cannot be Christians who, besides the Word, would use the 
 hand, and not, on the contrary, rather endure any suffering, 
 let them boast as they may, that they are full of ten Holy 
 Ghosts." On Monday, the 22nd, he preached at Jena, at an 
 early hour in the morning, against insurrectionary tumults 
 and iconoclastic violence, and the denial of the real presence 
 in the Eucharist. After the sermon Luther was seated at 
 
 VOL. II. e
 
 50 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1524. dinner with the pastor of Jena and several city functionaries, 
 when a scene is related to have occurred, the details of which 
 are only found in the records of the party adverse to Luther, 
 and which Luther has himself charged with gross exaggera- 
 tions and inaccuracies. 
 
 It is stated that as Luther sat at table, a paper was handed 
 to him from Carlstadt, who, having been present at the 
 sermon, in which his doctrines had been assailed, was now 
 waiting outside the door, and desirous of permission to enter. 
 " If," Luther replied, " Dr. Carlstadt wishes to come in, let 
 him come ; if not, I have no desire to see him." The 
 entrance of Carlstadt occasioned great excitement, and the 
 meal was suspended in the eagerness of witnessing the 
 combat which was expected to ensue. Carlstadt began by 
 saying, " You attacked me to-day, Doctor, as an author of 
 sedition and assassination : the charge is false." " I did not 
 name you," Luther answered ; " but, nevertheless, if the cap 
 fits you may put it on." " I am able to show," Carlstadt said, 
 after a short pause, " that you have stated contradictions on 
 the subject of the Eucharist, and that since the Apostles' 
 days the true doctrine of that Sacrament has never been 
 explained so fairly by any one as by myself." " Write, then — 
 prove your assertion." "■ I am willing to hold a public dis- 
 putation with you, either at Wittenberg or at Erfurth, if you 
 will grant me a safe-conduct." " Never fear that ! " " You 
 tie my hands and feet, and then you strike me," Carlstadt 
 exclaimed, in a deep voice, with unsuppressed warmth. 
 " Write against me ; but what you do, do openly." " I would 
 willingly do so, if I knew you to be in earnest." " Here," 
 said Luther, " take this florin to convince you that I am in 
 earnest." " And I willingly accept the gage," Carlstadt 
 replied, taking the gold florin which Luther offered ; and then, 
 turning to those present, and holding up the coin, said, " You
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 51 
 
 are my witnesses that this is my pledge and authority to write 1524. 
 against Martin Luther." He bent the florin, and put it into 
 his purse, and extended his hand to Luther, who replied by 
 pledging him in some wine. They drank to one another. 
 " The more vigorously you assail me/' Luther said, " the 
 better you will please me." " It shall not be my fault," 
 Carlstadt answered, " if I fail ; " and with these words, 
 shaking his hand again, Carlstadt withdrew. 
 
 A letter was brought Luther, whilst he was still at Jena, 
 from the inhabitants of Orlamunde, ' ' written with such a large 
 mixture of fanatical rudeness" that it seemed the composition 
 of Carlstadt himself. It stated that Luther had already, at 
 Wittenberg, reproved Carlstadt to his face, in a sermon, for 
 doing away with images, and threatened him with the dis- 
 pleasure of the Elector : " yet he might come if he would and 
 hear what their articles of faith were, and, if he found fault 
 with them, teach them better." In company with Stein, 
 preacher to the Court of Weimar, Luther next proceeded to 
 Kahla, the pastor of which village was an adherent of Carl- 
 stadt; and, on ascending the pulpit of the church, Luther 
 found it bestrewn with the fragments of a crucifix ; but re- 
 straining his resentment, and collecting the broken pieces into 
 a corner, he preached on the necessity of faith and a good con- 
 science, with submission to " the powers that be." From Kahla 
 he advanced to Neustadt-on-the-Orla, remained there the 
 night, and preached on the morrow, St. Bartholomew's Day, the 
 24th August, and then set out for Orlamunde. Here Luther 
 assembled the town council and the citizens, and informed 
 them that Carlstadt was not their pastor, for neither the Uni- 
 versity nor the Elector would sanction his appointment ; to 
 which they replied, that it was enough that they had chosen 
 him. Presently Carlstadt himself entered, and, walking up 
 to Luther, saluted him with, " Dear Doctor, if you please, I 
 
 e 2
 
 52 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1524. will induct you." " You are my antagonist," Luther an- 
 swered, " I have pledged you with a florin." " I shall ever 
 be your antagonist/' Carlstadt rejoined, " as long as you are 
 an antagonist to God and his Word." Luther then insisted 
 that Carlstadt should quit the apartment, as he could not re- 
 cognise him as pastor of the town, or transact the business 
 about which he was come at the Elector's command, in his 
 presence. Carlstadt refused to withdraw, and urged that " it 
 was a free meeting, and, if right was not for, but against him, 
 why should his presence be feared ? " On this Luther, turn- 
 ing to his attendant, ordered him to put-to the horses at once, 
 for if Dr. Carlstadt remained he should depart. Carlstadt 
 then withdrew. Luther then, turning to the assembly, de- 
 manded proof from Scripture for the abolition of images. 
 One of those present quoted the words of the second com- 
 mandment. "That," Luther answered, "is directed against 
 the worship of images, which is idolatry; but if," said he, 
 " there be a crucifix in my room, it does not follow that I 
 must therefore worship it." A shoemaker of .the company 
 remarked, "that he had often touched his hat to an image 
 standing on his mantel-piece." " But that," Luther replied, 
 "is the abuse of images. Does it follow, because wine and 
 Avomen are abused, that wine must be poured down the gutter 
 and women be put to death?" Another member of the 
 assembly answered, " There is no command from God to 
 destroy wine and women." The argument continued until it 
 was interrupted by a scene of extreme turbulence, so that 
 Luther declined altogether to preach, and, reproaching the 
 townsmen for the uncourteous language of their letter, de- 
 parted from Orlamunde. "I was right glad," he said, "to 
 get away without being forcibly expelled with stones and dirt 
 thrown at me. As it was, the townspeople cried after me, 
 ( Go, in the name of a thousand devils, and may you break
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 53 
 
 your neck before you get out of the town." With reference 1524. 
 both to the conversation at Orlainunde, and the scene at the 
 dinner-table in Jena, it is but fair to add Luther's own state- 
 ment to the fact already mentioned, that the accounts are en- 
 tirely from Carlstadt's party. " Their book pleases me much/' 
 he wrote, " for I see that men of bad faith and conscience 
 fear for themselves, and have therefore been beforehand with 
 their publication, and are eager to injure my reputation. It 
 contains mingled falsehoods and truths ; but as it is anonymous 
 it must be conquered by patience, and must be swallowed, 
 that I may not seem to seek glory or revenge, and, leaving 
 the principal matter, to write about myself. The day will 
 come when Christ will judge my cause." "I have been 
 amongst Carlstadt's Christians," he told his friends, " and 
 found out right well what sort of seed he has sown." By the 
 1st September Luther had returned to Wittenberg. 
 
 It appears from a letter of Luther, that Carlstadt soon after- 
 wards made some communication relative to a public disputa- 
 tion at Wittenberg, to which no objections were raised; but 
 he must have done so only to gain time, or at least, with the 
 fickleness of his enthusiastic character, he quickly changed 
 his purpose. On the 17th September the Elector banished 
 him from his dominions. The congregation at Orlamunde 
 was gathered to the sound of the bell to hear the valedictory 
 letters addressed, one to the men and the other to the women, 
 and subscribed "Andrew Bodenstein, expelled unheard and 
 unrefuted by Martin Luther." Carlstadt sought refuge first 
 at Strasburg, and there published some books, which were 
 greedily caught up by the Anabaptists. But his roving fana- 
 ticism could not long endure the restraint of confinement to 
 one spot. Everywhere he vilified Luther as the author of 
 his calamities, who was thus compelled to write to the inha- 
 bitants of Strasburg in his own vindication. " If an ass had
 
 54 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1524. horns," he said, " in other words, were I Elector of Saxony, 
 Carlstadt should not be expelled." And this was no more 
 than he always professed in reference to the duty of religious 
 toleration; for even the teaching of Munzer and the most 
 infuriated fanatics he advised should be tolerated, as long as 
 it did not trench on the authority of the magistrate. But he 
 had formed the worst opinion of Carlstadt's spiritual condi- 
 tion. " He is given over," he told Spalatin, " to a reprobate 
 mind, so that I despair of him. He ever has been alien from 
 the glory of Christ, and perhaps ever will be so, all out of bis 
 insane lust of glory and praise. I fear the wretched man is 
 possessed by more than one devil : may God have mercy upon 
 his sin, whereby he is sinning unto death." Martin Rhein- 
 hard, the pastor of Jena, was also expelled from his cure by 
 the Elector's command; and the same sentence was pro- 
 nounced on the pastor of Kahla ; but the latter made a public 
 acknowledgment of his errors, and obtained the benefit of 
 Luther's intercession with the Elector in his behalf. 
 
 It was just about this period that the differences which 
 were springing up between the different sections of the 
 reforming party — as, for instance, between Switzerland and 
 Saxony, and again between Saxony and Strasburg, which 
 town rather inclined to the Zwinglian view of the Lord's 
 Supper — began to show themselves more prominently. Eras- 
 mus made these dissensions an argument against the Re- 
 formation ; and as Carlstadt's visit to Strasburg had aggra- 
 vated the tendency to disunion, and he had made a convert 
 of Otho Brunsf'eld, the editor of the works of Huss, Luther 
 addressed an epistle to the Christians of Strasburg, warning 
 them against Carlstadt's fanatical tenets on the Sacrament, 
 images, and baptism, and expressly denying that he had been 
 the instrument in his expulsion from Saxony. " Had Dr. 
 Carlstadt," he said, " or any one else, informed me five
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 55 
 
 years earlier that there is nothing but mere bread and wine 1524. 
 in the Sacrament, he would have done me a great service. I 
 have undergone many hard struggles, and would fain have 
 forced myself into believing a doctrine whereby I could have 
 struck a mighty blow at the Papacy. But the text of Scrip- 
 ture is too potent for me ; I am a captive to it, and cannot 
 get away." The great antidote, he said, to Carlstadt's fanati- 
 cism was, for each one to ask himself, " What is it makes a 
 Christian ? " But when a meeting or council of the churches 
 which had embraced the Reformation w r as proposed, with a 
 view to the settlement of the questions at issue between them, 
 especially the sacramental controversy, Luther overruled such 
 a proposal by a decided veto. " Even in the Council of the 
 Apostles," he insisted, " works and traditions, rather than 
 faith, were handled ; and in later councils faith has never 
 been treated of at all ; so that the name of council is almost 
 as odious to me as that of free will." 
 
 Notwithstanding, however, the discouragements of fanatical 
 teaching and of growing dissension, the Reformation was daily 
 advancing in its career. It may be regarded as a proof of 
 this, that on the 9th October, the twentieth Sunday after 
 Trinity, Luther laid aside his cowl and friar's garb, and 
 appeared in a preacher's gown, made out of stuff sent him as 
 a present by the Elector, with the message that " it might be 
 worked up into any fashion he pleased." Moreover, the 
 abomination of " the Bethaven of All Saints " now at last 
 fell. In July three canons had resigned from scruples of 
 conscience ; and, seizing the opportunity thus offered, Luther 
 had requested of the Elector that the salaries thus relin- 
 quished might be appropriated to the establishment of pro- 
 fessorships in the University. Jonas the Provost manfully 
 fought by Luther's side ; but the Dean and two of the canons 
 remaining rooted in their superstitious practices, calumniated
 
 56 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 152 1. Jonas to the Elector, and his name in consequence being 
 mentioned in a letter of Spalatin with censure, Luther un- 
 dertook the defence of his friend with great warmth, and 
 severely recriminated on the avarice, the lukewarmness, and 
 the worldly policy of the Saxon Court. In November, Beskau 
 the Dean administered the Sacrament to a sick woman in one 
 kind only, and this act decided Luther to enter on a more 
 determined line of conduct. He accordingly addressed a 
 letter to the Chapter, entreating them to have done with their 
 "devilish ways and idolatry," to abandon the mass, abolish 
 vigils and everything repugnant to the Holy Gospel, and so 
 order the services that their consciences might answer to God, 
 and their name to the world, that they desired to fly and 
 shun society with Satan. " Give me in return to this demand 
 a plain, straightforward, and unequivocal answer, yea or nay, 
 before next Sunday." As no satisfactory answer was re- 
 turned, Luther assailed them next Sunday from the pulpit. 
 General opinion was very decided against them ; the windows 
 of the dean's house were broken in at night with stones, and 
 the rector of the University, with ten principal men of the 
 City Council, renounced all communion with them until they 
 should abolish their popish usages. The Elector was now 
 referred to by the Chapter, but he spoke with much doubt 
 and hesitation. At length, on the 24th December, the dean 
 and the canons who had aided his resistance finally gave 
 way, and from the Christmas Day following the popish mass, 
 the vigils and superstitious ceremonials had ceased in the 
 Cathedral of All Saints. It was somewhat about the same 
 time that Luther and the Prior — the latter from an intention 
 of entering the married state — jointly resigned the Augustine 
 Convent, with all appertaining to it, to the Elector of Saxony 
 as the last heir, and sent him the keys. Luther stated in his 
 letter of resignation that he should no longer tenant the con-
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 57 
 
 vent when the Prior had deserted him, but should find some 1524. 
 spot where God would nourish him. A legal instrument of 
 resignation was soon afterwards drawn ; and on the part of 
 the Elector it was proposed that some provision for the re- 
 mainder of his life should be legally secured to the Reformer ; 
 but he himself would not hear of the insertion of any such 
 stipulation in the document. " If," said he, " I have not 
 flesh and wine, at least I can live on bread and water." But 
 until God's providence had called him to some other dwelling, 
 he continued to reside in the old convent. 
 
 These changes must be regarded as consummating the 
 establishment of the Reformation in the Saxon Electorate. 
 The overthrow of '.' the Bethaven of All Saints " was like 
 the surrender of the citadel after the town had capitulated. 
 And as if to mark more strikingly that a new era had 
 begun, and the transition-stage had been completely passed, 
 the venerable Staupitz, the link between Luther and the 
 earlier Reformers, who had transmitted to the monk of 
 Wittenberg what he had himself received from John Proles, 
 breathed his last on the 28th December. He had served to 
 guide Luther to the entrance of his high vocation; but, as if 
 his own office there terminated, had halted himself at the 
 threshold. His last days were spent at Salzburg, where he 
 had been promoted to be Abbot of St. Peter's Church by the 
 Archbishop, his intimate friend and a determined Papist. 
 Like Erasmus, and many others, he had pointed with his 
 staff for many years in his earlier life to the promised land, 
 and when he had reached its borders had recoiled from setting 
 foot within it. 
 
 The opening of the year 1525 found Luther busily employed 1525. 
 upon a work in refutation of the fanatical and sacramental 
 doctrines of Carlstadt, entitled " Against the Heavenly Pro- 
 phets." Amongst the common people there were numerous
 
 58 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1525. converts to the doctrinal view of the Lord's Supper, which Carl- 
 stadt and the Swiss Divines had taken ; but, independently of 
 one another, by their separate study of the Scriptures. " The 
 Swiss," said Luther, *' thought the same before, but now that 
 they have found an authority, they state their opinion more 
 freely. I was myself strongly tempted to that error; but 
 whether I or all fall away, it is a certainty that my present 
 position is true." Already, whilst Luther was engaged in the 
 composition of this treatise, the popular disturbances had 
 commenced, and were by him at once set down to the account 
 of the fanatical teaching : " Carlstadt is exciting dire tumults 
 in Upper Germany." At this critical period a Polish Jew, a 
 doctor of medicine, was apprehended at Wittenberg, who had 
 come thither with the intention of poisoning Luther, for 
 which work he had been hired at the sum of 2000 gold pieces. 
 Luther had been suffering from an inflamed ulcer in the leg, 
 and it was anticipated that an opportunity would thus be 
 afforded to the Jewish practitioner* to test his skill. But 
 private affairs did not occupy much of the Reformer's atten- 
 tion. His eye was upon Carlstadt, who was reported to be 
 at Nordlingen ; and along the line of his travels it was but 
 too probable that fanatical and seditious harangues would stir 
 up a peasantry, ripe for rebellion, to join the insurrection 
 which had already raised its head in many places. Portents 
 of the coming commotion were carefully noted and timorously 
 reported. It was said, with the credulity of superstition, that 
 at Babenberg a boy was born with a lion's head; and that 
 figures of the cross were observed to flit in the air over the 
 
 * It appears, from Luther's letter of February 11, (De Wette, II. 
 p. 626,) that more than one Jew was apprehended under the charge 
 of intending to poison him : but he refused to let them be put to the 
 torture ; and, although " every sign agreed with the information he had 
 received," they were finally dismissed.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 59 
 
 towers and domes of Vienna. With his unvarying assiduity, 1525. 
 Luther laboured at his reply to Carlstadt, and on the 2nd 
 February wrote to Hausmann, " I have answered Carlstadt' s 
 Devil in two books." This effected, he returned with vigour 
 to the continuation of the " Postils," and his commentary on 
 the book of Deuteronomy, which last was finished in April, 
 and dedicated to the excellent Bishop of Samland. 
 
 The mutterings of discontent which had been heard in the 
 preceding year from the peasants who groaned under the 
 rigid and avaricious rule of bishops and prelates, gathered 
 louder and louder, and the storm, which sundry signs of more 
 certain indication than portents had prognosticated, now fell 
 in torrents of fury and blood. Tn Suabia, and all along the 
 Lake of Constance, at Waldshut and at Kempten, the revolt 
 first attained to a formidable height. Thomas Munzer had 
 travelled through Nuremberg to the borders of Switzerland, 
 and sown the hearts of the peasantry with his fanatical and 
 seditious doctrines. At the same time the banished Duke 
 of Wurtemberg collected his followers to attempt the recovery 
 of his hereditary dominions, and pushed his way nearly as far 
 as Stuttgard; and although his plans ultimately failed of 
 success, they were a most seasonable diversion for concen- 
 trating and augmenting the bands of the peasantry. The 
 leaders of the people put forth twelve Articles, comprising the 
 objects for the attainment of which they had risen in rebel- 
 lion. These were the free toleration of the evangelical 
 preaching ; the right to appoint their own pastors ; the doing 
 away with all small tithes, and distribution of the great tithes 
 amongst the clergy, the poor, and the state ; the liberty of 
 the chase, of fishing, and of hewing wood ; compensation for 
 damage inflicted by game ; and relief from oppressive burdens. 
 The claims of a religious kind were placed first, for the demand 
 for deliverance from feudal serfdom was founded on the plea
 
 60 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1525. that Christ had redeemed all alike, noble and peasant, by his 
 blood. In the Black Forest, John Muller, of Balgenbach, 
 caused the twelve articles to be read in every village through 
 which he passed at the head of his adherents, and subjected 
 all those who dissented from them to the band of the peasant 
 confederation. And when the soldiers of the Suabian League, 
 under George Truchsess, having disposed of the forces of the 
 Duke of Wurtemberg, found leisure to direct their march 
 against the peasantry, it was with surprise they learnt that 
 the organization of the peasant bands was sufficiently com- 
 plete to render their coercion a difficult and doubtful work. 
 
 From Suabia the insurrection quickly spread to Franconia, 
 and here Carlstadt was present among the insurgents. He had 
 been compelled to leave Strasburg, and was wandering about 
 without any settled home, sometimes at Carlstadt-on-the- 
 Mayne, the seat of his mother's family, whence he had derived 
 his appellation, and then at Rothenburg-on-the-Tauber, where 
 the guilds and the patricians were at war, the former pressing on 
 a vigorous reform, which the latter resisted. He renewed his 
 proposal for a public disputation with Luther at Wittenberg, 
 who begged of the Elector, about the end of February, to grant 
 Carlstadt a safe- conduct to come to Wittenberg for that pur- 
 pose. He at the same time wrote to Spalatin on the subject; 
 and, subsequently, his letter to the Elector not having met 
 with any reply, he complained to the chaplain of the slight 
 shown him by the court. On the 20th March Luther received 
 intelligence that the safe-conduct would not be granted, and 
 with the honesty of his character he expressed his sense of 
 the propriety of this denial. Tales, much to the disparage- 
 ment of Carlstadt, had gained circulation at Wittenberg ; in 
 particular, that he had kept in his house a monk as his chap- 
 lain, who, in his dealings with the common people, had been 
 employed to play the part of a supposed spirit, and by mutter-
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 61 
 
 ings from some concealed spot, had revealed mysteries to the 1525. 
 amazement of the auditory. " Oh ! the wretched misery of 
 man/' Luther exclaimed, " if Christ leaves us. I divined the 
 truth about Carlstadt. What a world in which satanical pos- 
 sessions are so common \" Carlstadt, however, was in a more 
 congenial locality than a hall for disputation at Wittenberg. 
 In a peasant coat and hat of white felt, he poured forth his 
 eloquent invectives against images and crucifixes to the popu- 
 lace of Franconia, with a wild vehemence which might be 
 taken either for inspiration or mental derangement, declaim- 
 ing against Luther, and recapitulating the wrongs he had 
 undergone. He would have established his head-quarters at 
 Schweinfurt ; but the Count of Henneburg wrote to the 
 Senate, and prohibited his admission to that town. It must 
 be allowed that the best answer to Carlstadt's furious abuses 
 of Luther is the sequel of his own story. And it is no light 
 proof of the confidence reposed in Luther by those who knew 
 him well, that, after wearying of his perambulations and 
 harangues in Franconia, and warned by tumult and bloodshed 
 that the time for words had passed, Carlstadt fled in disguise to 
 Wittenberg, and took refuge in the Augustine convent with 
 Luther himself, by whom his place of concealment was not 
 divulged.* 
 
 In Franconia there was no armed body like the soldiery of 
 the Suabian League to oppose the insurrection, and the 
 peasantry were carrying everything before them. It was 
 here that doctrines were propagated on political subjects more 
 levelling and radical than any that were publicly broached 
 elsewhere. Towards the end of April the flame of revolt 
 extended itself to Thurin°;ia. Mulhausen was the head- 
 
 * " Fuit homo miser apud me clanculo aervatus — Tractavi hominem 
 quantum potui humaniter atque juvi." — De Wette, III. p. 21.
 
 62 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1525. quarters of the insurgency, for there Munzer had succeeded 
 in gaining over the Senate, as well as the populace, to his 
 fanatical opinions; but on all sides, at Erfurth, Eisenach, 
 Salza, Sangerhausen, and the neighbouring towns, the rioting 
 and pillage were commenced. 
 
 Schemes were formed for the reorganization of society, 
 based on the universal equality and natural brotherhood of 
 all men ; and it was anticipated that, far from being confined 
 to Germany, these " enlightened ideas" would penetrate Italy 
 and France, and lead to the regeneracy of human nature in 
 all parts of the world. Munzer, who had returned to Mul- 
 hausen as a heaven-inspired prophet, was civil ruler and 
 generalissimo. " From simple Doctor," said Luther, " he 
 has become King and Emperor." In other places the real 
 tendency of his religious creed was beginning to evince 
 itself in a reactionary spirit of abject infidelity. At Antwerp 
 there were those who maintained that the only Holy Ghost 
 is human intellect and natural reason; and at Nuremberg, 
 some citizens were put in prison for denying the truth of the 
 Scriptures and the doctrines of Christianity altogether; in 
 short, everything, except a rationalistic Deism. 
 
 All these occurrences proved with what foresight Luther 
 had warned the princes and nobles of the impending dangers, 
 and with what penetration he had fathomed the depths of the 
 fanatical tenets. The reports of tumults which reached him 
 awoke his deepest regrets, and roused not a little his lively 
 indignation. On the 3rd April he wrote, " The world has 
 hitherto been full of excarnate spirits ; now it is full of incar- 
 nate spirits : Satan is raging against his stronger, Christ." 
 
 But later in April more appalling tidings arrived. The 
 districts bordering on Saxony, and the territories of the 
 Counts of Mansfeld, were in open revolt. At this moment 
 Luther did not doubt for an instant the course which it was
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 63 
 
 incumbent upon him to pursue. On Easter Sunday, April 16, 1525. 
 he preached as usual; but, after returning to his cell, he 
 dressed himself in his travelling garb, to the astonishment of 
 his friends, and the same afternoon started for the territory of 
 the Counts of Mansfeld, taking Melancthon with him. He 
 was about to establish a school at Eisleben, to which work he 
 had been invited by Count Albert ; but this alone could not be 
 the cause of his sudden departure on the afternoon of Easter 
 Sunday. In reality, he was resolved to be present amongst 
 the discontented peasantry, and himself, a miner's son, to 
 address the miners of the Counts of Mansfeld's dominions, 
 on the sin of rebellion, and the Christian duty of civil 
 obedience. He preached at Seeburg, and with such effect, 
 that his exhortations prevailed on the miners there to remain 
 quiet. Thence he proceeded to Eisleben, Stollberg, Nord- 
 hausen, Erfurth, Weimar, and the districts infected with 
 Carlstadt's doctrines, Orlamunde, Kahla and Jena, disregard- 
 ing all personal danger; and he twice nearly lost his life, 
 preaching everywhere the obligation of submission to " the 
 powers that be," and generally with the happiest results. 
 On the 3rd May he was again at Weimar, on the 4th at 
 Seeburg, whence he wrote to Ruhel the councillor of the 
 Counts of Mansfeld, by whom he had been consulted on his 
 masters' account as to the proper mode of dealing with the 
 infuriated peasantry. " The peasants/' he wrote, " are robbers 
 and murderers : they have grasped the sword in wanton 
 bloodthirstiness, wishing to drive out princes and nobles, 
 and to establish a new order of things, for which they 
 have no command, might, right, or precept from God. 
 Mildness towards them is therefore most unseasonable." 
 But before this advice could have reached Count Albert, he 
 had already, with sixty horsemen, dispersed a large body of 
 peasant insurgents at Osterhausen, putting two hundred of
 
 64 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 ]525. them to the sword. But when he had reached this point in 
 his missionary tour Luther was recalled to Wittenberg by a 
 messenger suddenly despatched to him with melancholy tidings. 
 The communication which thus abruptly called Luther and 
 Melancthon home was the alarming illness and approaching 
 end of Frederic the Wise of Saxony, who was anxious before 
 leaving the world to receive from Luther's own lips the con- 
 solations of religion. The Reformer returned to Wittenberg 
 with all speed, but it was not permitted him to speak with 
 Frederic again on earth ; indeed, the messenger had scarcely 
 summoned Luther to the death-bed of his prince before death 
 itself had rendered the summons useless. All, however, had 
 been peace in the chamber of the dying Elector. On the 4th 
 May he had written by an amanuensis his last political man- 
 date, addressed to his brother. It had reference to the 
 demands of the peasantry, and directed Duke John to use all 
 forbearance and mildness towards them, and to remit the 
 duties on wine and beer. " Be not afraid," he added ; "our 
 Lord God will richly and graciously compensate us in other 
 ways." In the course of the evening Spalatin entered the 
 apartment, and was warmly welcomed by his old master with 
 the words, " It is right that you should come to see a sick 
 man." The interview lasted till eight o'clock, and exhibited 
 the serenity of the Elector's mind in a remarkable manner, 
 and the composure, under the influence of Divine grace, with 
 which he regarded the peculiar trials of the period. His low 
 chair was rolled to the table, and placing his hand in Spala- 
 tin's he spoke for the last time of the things of this world, of 
 the peasant insurrection, and the Reformation, and Martin 
 Luther. But all was clear and easy to his apprehension, 
 1 ' for the providence of God would be sure to bring everything 
 to a happy issue in the best way." Amongst other remarks 
 he repeated an observation of Luther's, expressing his cordial
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHEK. 65 
 
 assent to it, that " as a prince must be guilty of a great deal 1525. 
 of wrong unwittingly, he ought to be extremely diligent to do 
 a great deal of good wittingly." On the morning of the fol- 
 lowing day he confessed himself, and then received the Lord's 
 Supper in both kinds with such fervour of devotional spirit, 
 that those who were present were dissolved in tears. After 
 this his attendants and servants were called into the room, 
 and he addressed them in the following words : " My dear 
 children, I entreat you, for God's sake, if I have done any 
 injury to any of you, in word or deed, that you will graciously 
 forgive me, and that you will implore others for God's sake 
 to do the same." After bidding them all farewell, he turned 
 from worldly things to the consideration of his approach- 
 ing dissolution, and took into his hands the treatise of 
 Christian Consolation, which having been requested first of 
 Melancthon and then of Luther, in vain, on their refusal, had 
 been composed for his use by Spalatin, which was worn by 
 his hands, and which he was anxious to peruse once again. 
 Spalatin, however, entered the room, and seeing how unequal 
 he was to the self-imposed task, read it to him. The business 
 of the will now demanded attention, and when such arrange- 
 ments as he desired had been effected, he seemed to grow 
 suddenly much feebler, saying, with a sigh, in considerable 
 pain of body, " I can now do no more," and very shortly 
 afterwards, without any struggle, he peacefully breathed his 
 last about two o'clock in the afternoon. His physician, bend- May 5. 
 ing over him, was first conscious that the great change had 
 taken place, and exclaimed, " He was a child of peace, and he 
 has died in peace." 
 
 The character of Frederic is best displayed by events 
 already recorded. His liberality to the poor, which was so 
 bountiful that he once observed of a person whose character 
 was the theme of conversation, " He cannot be a good man, 
 
 VOL. II. F
 
 66 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1525. for he is not kind to the poor folk" — and his fondness for chil- 
 dren, whom he delighted to gratify with the present of play- 
 things, showed his amiable disposition as much as the affec- 
 tion with which his subjects regarded him proved his public 
 worth. The Reformation of Luther had produced a gradual 
 but a decided change in all his religious views. This, as 
 Seckendorf remarks, was particularly observable in his treat- 
 ment of his two illegitimate sons, and in the moral strictness 
 of the latter part of his life. The zealous Papist who went 
 on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and sent far and wide 
 to gather relics for his cathedral church, latterly became 
 a constant student of the Scriptures, and was accustomed to 
 say that " the Word of God ought to be pure as an eye."* 
 No one had laboured more assiduously to establish consti- 
 tutional government in Germany, but this day-dream of 
 his life had turned out a failure : his own schemes, how- 
 ever, had not been more signally disappointed than the 
 purposes of God had been eminently fulfilled in him. His 
 character peculiarly adapted him to be the nursing father of 
 the Reformation ; and although his advances in the evangelical 
 faith were made with the caution and prudence of his charac- 
 ter, his summoning Luther to his death-bed, and his last act 
 of receiving the communion in both kinds, cannot leave a 
 doubt as to the religious principles in which he died. " Oh, 
 bitter death ! " Luther exclaimed, on receiving the mournful 
 intelligence, " not to the dying, but to those who are left 
 behind ; " and he addressed consolatory letters, both to the 
 new Elector and his son John Frederic, to remind them that 
 " affliction is the school wherein God trains his children, that 
 
 * On the margin of Frederic of Saxony's Bible was written with his 
 own hand — " Verbura Dei manet in aeternum " — The word of the Lord 
 abidethfor ever ; which his successors took as their motto, and bore on 
 their banners. — See Juncker's "Luther," pp. 66-71.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 67 
 
 their faith may not be iu tongue or in ear, but in the ground 1525. 
 of the heart. The departed Elector was in act, as in name, 
 a lover of peace." 
 
 On the 9th May the corpse was conveyed from Lochau to 
 All Saints Church, Wittenberg. A funeral service, stripped 
 of every superstitious usage, was employed on the occasion ; 
 and then Melancthon, standing by the body, delivered the 
 funeral oration in Latin ; after which Luther from the pulpit 
 addressed the immense crowd who filled every part of the 
 cathedral, in German, taking for his text 1 Thess. iv. 13-18. 
 The next day the same service was performed again, and the 
 body was lowered into its tomb in front of the altar ; the whole 
 concluded with another sermon from Luther on the same text. 
 
 Immediately on his return to Wittenberg, Luther continued 
 his endeavours to still the popular commotion, using his pen 
 as energetically as he had previously laboured in the same cause 
 with his tongue. He had before published "A faithful Admoni- 
 tion to all Christians to beware of Sedition and Rebellion," to 
 which he had been urged by an appeal made directly to him 
 from the peasantry to espouse their cause; but he now re- 
 viewed the entire case, as between the nobles and the peasants, 
 in a book divided into three chapters, and entitled, " An Ex- 
 hortation to Peace on the Twelve Articles of the Peasants of 
 Suabia." This, however, was rather the subject of the first 
 chapter, which thus gave its name to the whole. The second 
 chapter was employed in a refutation of the Twelve Articles 
 of the Peasants ; and the third contained an admonition to the 
 princes and the peasants of their respective errors and rela- 
 tive duties. To the claim of the people to appoint their own 
 pastors, he objects that it could not be allowed if the right of 
 patronage is vested in the magistrates. To the refusal to pay 
 the small tithes, he answers that the settlement of that ques- 
 tion is no business of the peasants but of the nobles ; and 
 
 f 2
 
 68 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1525. against the argument that serfdom is contrary to Scripture, 
 he alleges the examples of Abraham and the patriarchs, and 
 the precept of Paul, " Servants, be obedient unto your own 
 masters." In the impartial spirit of a mediator, he concludes 
 his address by frankly reproving the princes for their pro- 
 hibition of God's Word, and the heavy burdens imposed on 
 their subjects, the peasants for their rebelling against their 
 masters. To either party, he says, the contest must be an 
 awful one ; for if the princes would defend their intolerance 
 and cruelty, they are acting against God ; and in drawing the 
 sword at all, the peasantry are guilty of a crime everywhere 
 loudly condemned in the Scriptures. 
 
 When he wrote this book, Luther had not received accounts 
 of the bloodthirsty cruelty in which the peasantry were revelling 
 in Franconia, where one deed had been enacted of such an 
 atrocious dye, that it stands out in individual prominency 
 amidst the records of the horrors even of this period. On 
 Easter Sunday, the 16th May, a band of peasants advanced 
 against the town of Weinsberg, which was held out against 
 them by the Count of Helffenstein, at the head of a body of 
 seventy knights. The garrison were confident in their re- 
 sources, but the populace, who in most towns sided with the pea- 
 santry, opened communications with the insurgent force, and 
 by secret means admitted them into the town. The Count of 
 Helffenstein was seized by the rebels, and a line of men being 
 drawn up with lances extended, he was thrust, to the sound of 
 music and shouts of exultation, on the spear-points, and 
 thus inhumanly put to death. His wife, with her little 
 son in her arms, sued upon her knees, with all the violence 
 of female grief, that her husband's life might be spared, but 
 her entreaties only aggravated the rage of the rabble. 
 
 The recital of this tale of horrors turned all the milk in 
 Luther's nature to gall, and he forthwith published another
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 69 
 
 book, written in a very different temper from the preceding, 1525, 
 and entitled, "Against the plundering, rioting, and murdering 
 Peasants, who, under pretence of the Holy Gospel, rebel 
 against their Superiors." It combated on scriptural grounds 
 the notion advanced by the peasants that " goods are common," 
 and branded with just reproaches the iniquity of veiling the 
 most abominable crimes under a pretended regard for God's 
 Word and the love of the Gospel. " The peasants had broken 
 their oaths to their lords ; they had robbed, burnt, and de- 
 stroyed castles and monasteries ; for these and other inhuman 
 atrocities they were to be struck down without compassion 
 by all true men, as though they were mad dogs ; and such 
 only were to be spared as had been ensnared into guilt by the 
 craft of demagogues." The impetuosity of the Reformer's 
 nature, hurried on by detestation of cruelty, appeared in 
 every line of this treatise ; its severity gave umbrage to many 
 of his friends ; so much so, that Luther felt himself called 
 upon to defend its language, which he did in an apology to 
 Caspar Muller. " Those/' he said, " who refrained from 
 plain speaking, or palliated the enormities of the peasantry, 
 were their partners in iniquity." And he wrote to Amsdorf 
 that "he had rather all the peasants should be slain, because 
 they had grasped the sword without authority from God, than 
 the princes and magistrates, who, guilty as they were, yet 
 bore the sword of God." 
 
 Happy was it for Germany that, at this crisis, it possessed 
 amongst its princes one who brought into the field the same 
 determination, and wielded his sword with the same ardour, 
 with which Luther fulminated his addresses from his celL 
 The new convert to the Gospel, Philip of Hesse, who had 
 been the chief instrument in the overthrow of Sickingen, had 
 now united his forces to those of the Elector John, Duke 
 George of Saxony, and Henry of Brunswick. On the 15th
 
 70 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1525. May they came upon the rebel camp at Frankenhausen, 
 where Munzer presided in person. A kind of barricade had 
 been formed round the encampment, with waggons and such 
 incumbrances as were likely to prove an obstacle to an attack. 
 The princes sent to the peasants to demand their surrender, 
 and on that condition promised them mercy ; but Munzer had 
 sufficient influence to have the herald who brought this over- 
 ture put to death. He taught them to expect a miraculous 
 deliverance, and pointing to a circle round the sun, which 
 resembled the device borne on their banners, declared it was 
 God's standard lifted up in heaven for their rescue. As 
 for the cannons which the princes had arranged against 
 the position, he averred that he would catch the balls in his 
 hands. He exhorted the multitude to await the shock of 
 their opponents unterrified, with the singing of hymns, whilst 
 "the sword of the Lord and of Gideon" fought for them. 
 But on the very first onset the people fled on all sides in the 
 utmost hurry and confusion; and amongst the foremost 
 Munzer himself, who took refuge, it was commonly reported, 
 to mark more pointedly the Divine retribution, in a convent, 
 but really in a private dwelling-house, whence he was dragged 
 out by the pertinacious search of his pursuers. The carnage 
 was terrible; all within reach of their weapons were cut down by 
 the soldiers. Munzer himself was committed to the custody of 
 Duke George and Ernest of Mansfeld — the latter of a different 
 family from Luther's friends, and a Papist — who subjected him 
 to an examination, but not of so rigid and strict a kind as Luther 
 could have wished, in his anxiety to free the Reformation from 
 the least imputation of connexion with the seditious spirit of 
 Munzer and his partisans. Munzer and an ex-monk Pfeiffer, 
 who had acted as his second in command, were both executed. 
 Pfeiffer remained to the last firm in his denial of Popish 
 doctrine ; but Munzer exhibited a mingled picture of brutality
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 71 
 
 and cowardice in his last moments. He laughed at the 1525. 
 
 bloodshed which he had caused; "the peasants," he said, 
 
 " would have it so :" he received the Sacrament in one kind, 
 
 and declared that he died in the Catholic faith. In this 
 
 massacre rather than encounter, about 5000 peasants were 
 
 slain, and ten days later Mulhausen surrendered to the May 25. 
 
 princes. 
 
 Philip of Hesse was now in a condition to move his forces 
 into Franconia, whither George Truchsess also, who had 
 partly subdued, and partly come to terms with the rebels 
 in Suabia, had pushed on the troops of the Suabian League. 
 With united forces they came to the relief of the Castle of 
 Wurzburg, which had still been able to keep the insurgents 
 at bay, after they had forced almost every other strongly 
 fortified place in the Duchy of Wurtemberg and Franconia 
 to a capitulation. Their combined forces compelled every 
 stronghold along their line of march to surrender: they 
 fell in with a band of peasants on the Miihlberg, who 
 had barricaded their post with waggons, and put them 
 to the rout with great slaughter; they next conquered an 
 insurgent troop who had moved from their position near 
 Wurzburg under a false report of victory ; and on the 7th 
 June the town of Wurzburg was in their hands. The re- 
 maining insurgency was easily put down, now that its chief 
 seats had been captured, and its best and largest bands routed 
 or slain; and before the beginning of July, the veteran 
 George Frundsberg having hastened from Italy, and added 
 his counsel to the arms of Truchsess, the outlying districts 
 had for the most part been tamed into submission, or pacified. 
 
 On both sides the enormities of this war were frightful. 
 In Franconia alone 300 castles and monasteries were burnt 
 to the ground; and it was computed that, in all, as many 
 as 100,000 peasants perished. The guilt of the insurrection
 
 72 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1525. was of course laid at Luther's door by the Papists; Luther 
 himself attributed it to the harshness and exorbitant rapacity 
 of many of the nobles, especially the prelates, and to their 
 prohibition of the Word of God. That the Reformer's mode 
 of reasoning was the more correct is demonstrated by the 
 facts that, in the districts under ecclesiastical rule, where the 
 persecution of the Lutherans had been the most bitter, as in 
 IVanconia, for instance, where the ecclesiastical possessions 
 were very large, and in Wurtemberg, which was governed by 
 Austria, the seditious spirit was the most violent and san- 
 guinary; whilst the Saxon Electorate, although surrounded 
 in all its borders with a circle of fire, escaped unscathed. 
 The war resulted so far in benefit to the Reformation, that 
 many of the prelates came forth from the ordeal with their 
 power abridged, and their resources crippled. In many cases, 
 cities, towns, and districts had effected compacts by which 
 greater individual freedom was secured ; and in other cases, 
 even Popish nobles, the Dukes of Bavaria for example, had 
 taken advantage of circumstances to extend the temporal 
 authority at the expense of the ecclesiastical. 
 
 At first, however, it seemed as if the eruption of the popular 
 volcano had swallowed in its sanguinary abyss the cause of 
 spiritual freedom. In the Popish territories the persecution 
 was renewed with aggravated fury ; and when some fell vic- 
 tims to it, who had not in any way been implicated in sedi- 
 tious enterprises, ' ' Never mind," it was said, " they are 
 Lutherans, and that is crime enough." In "Wittenberg, 
 indeed, the progress of the Reformation continued unchecked, 
 and on the 14th May, George Rorarius, whose services had 
 been considerable in the translation of the Bible, was set 
 apart to the ministry, simply by the imposition of the hands 
 of the Presbytery, being the first who was ordained according to 
 the model prescribed by Luther in his treatise on ordination.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 73 
 
 But against the Reformer the loudest outcries resounded from 1525. 
 all sides, on account of his last vehement declamation against 
 the peasants, " My book," he wrote to a friend, " has greatly 
 offended the rustic faction, but if it did not offend them, it 
 could not please me. How they betray, what it was they sought 
 for in the Gospel !" The loss, too, of Frederic the Wise at such 
 a conjuncture was a change in the political world, the influence 
 of which could not be foreseen. His successor, the Elector 
 John, had defeated a body of the peasant insurgents on the 
 Bidberg, near Meiningen, and had signalized his victory by 
 clemency, in obedience to the dying injunctions of his brother. 
 He was inferior to Frederic in abilities. Overtures were at 
 once made to him, and also to the Landgrave of Hesse, by 
 Duke George, who was resolved to try his utmost to convert 
 the zeal they had shown against the rebellion into a channel 
 hostile to all religious innovations. And he certainly had a 
 specious ground of support to his arguments. "Look/' he 
 said, " at the carnage of the battle-fields, and there see what 
 Luther has done." At first, the two princes made little reply 
 to these solicitations. They had met at Wurzburg on the 
 20th March, principally to concert measures against the 
 insurgents ; but their conference had been communicated to 
 Luther and the Wittenberg Doctors, and it was with extreme 
 joy that John Frederic related to Dolzig, the Marshal of 
 Saxony, the strong words which had fallen from the Land- 
 grave in this interview. "I had rather lose body, wealth, 
 dominions and everything, than abandon the Word of God." 
 Philip of Hesse, prior to the overthrow of the peasants, had 
 even laboured to bring over his father-in-law, George of 
 Saxony, to his own religious views, but had been met by the 
 answer, " We shall know who is right a hundred years hence." 
 The marked antipathy which had been displayed in the 
 recent peasant insurrection against the rule of the ecclesiasti-
 
 74 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1525. cal princes was inclining, at this time, the Cardinal Arch- 
 bishop of Mentz to follow the example of his cousin, Albert of 
 Prussia, and to convert his archiepiscopal into a temporal elec- 
 torate. This design was communicated to Luther by Ruhel, 
 the councillor of the Counts of Mansfeld and a member also 
 of the Council of Albert ; and, seizing at once the opportunity 
 thus opened, the Reformer, on the 2nd June, wrote a letter 
 to the Archbishop, which he gave him the liberty, if he 
 pleased, of making public, earnestly exhorting him to the step 
 which he had in contemplation. " God has declared," he wrote, 
 " ' It is not good that the man should be alone ; I will make him 
 an help meet for him : ' when on the last day we shall all stand 
 before His judgment throne, He will say to each one of us, 
 * Where is thy help meet ? ' I speak of an ordinary man, who 
 is not the subject of a miracle, and transformed into an 
 angel." And the next day Luther wrote also to Ruhel, " If 
 my marriage should prove a strengthening to his Electoral 
 Grace, tell him that I am ready to set him the example, for 
 1 purpose, before quitting this world, to place myself in the 
 estate of matrimony, according to God's requirement." But 
 notwithstanding Luther's zeal his exhortations had no effect 
 upon Albert of Mentz : the design passed from his mind as 
 the popular tumult subsided, and the next fact to be recorded 
 of him will be, that the Popish League succeeded in drawing 
 him completely into its net. 
 
 Luther's own marriage, from an early date in the spring, 
 had been a frequent topic of jesting in his correspondence, 
 until at last the jest grew into earnest. Somewhile before, an 
 exhortation had been addressed to him by Argula von Staufen, 
 the christian heroine of Ingoldstadt, herself a married woman, 
 to put the seal by his own example to his doctrine of matri- 
 mony; bat he had replied to her in these terms: "1 am a 
 creature in the hands of God, whom he can kill or make
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 75 
 
 alive, change or rechange, every hour of the day ; but iu my 1525. 
 present state of mind I shall not take a wife. I hope rather 
 that God will not suffer me to live much longer/' But on 
 the 25th April we find him writing to Spalatin in a somewhat 
 different strain. " Why do not you proceed to marriage ? I 
 have urged so many to the step that I am almost moved to 
 it myself." "It is singular," he wrote a little later, con- 
 tinuing his observations on the same subject, " that inditing 
 so much on matrimony, and being forced constantly into 
 female society, I have not become a woman myself, or at 
 least married one. And yet, with feelings so much averse 
 as mine are from wedlock, I shall perhaps be beforehand with 
 many of you who have been on the eve of marrying a long 
 while. I say this to urge you to push the matter beyond a 
 joke." Indeed, most of Luther's intimate friends were already 
 married men, or on the point of becoming so. He had him- 
 self bestowed the nuptial benediction on Wenceslaus Link ; 
 and Spalatin was deferring his own marriage from month to 
 month only out of regard to the Elector Frederic, who, feeling 
 himself gradually sinking, and having been long accustomed 
 to Spalatin, could not bear the thought of a new secretary in 
 his room. But soon afterwards the Prior himself of the 
 Augustines of Wittenberg entered the married state, and left 
 Luther alone in the desolate convent. Still the terms on 
 which he wrote of matrimony were in a tone of jesting. " I 
 have been given in marriage to three women already; but 
 two of them are now wedded to others, and the third I only 
 hold by the left arm." This third, however, was not Catherine 
 von Bora, who alone remained unmarried of the nine nuns 
 who had escaped from Nimptsch ; for she had been offered 
 first to Baumgartner, and, on impediments occurring to pre- 
 vent her union with him, to Dr. Glatz of Orlamunde. If 
 Luther himself felt any predilection for Kate it was chiefly
 
 76 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1525. shown by his more frequently making her the subject of his 
 jests in Wittenberg society than others, and jokingly calling 
 her " his Kate." And there was nothing but this joking, by 
 no means an unusual thing with Luther, to prepare the public 
 mind for the information, which, writing to Ruhel from See- 
 burg, in the midst of the peasant riots, he abruptly gave him, 
 " I shall yet take my Kate to wife before I die." 
 
 The fact is, that Kate herself all on a sudden adopted a step 
 which determined Luther as suddenly to a resolution quite 
 contrary to his long and strongly expressed intentions. Kate 
 sought an interview with Amsdorf, on the subject of her own 
 contemplated marriage, and stated that t( she knew Luther 
 was intent on uniting her to Dr. Glatz of Orlamunde, but 
 that she would never consent to marry him ; she did not like 
 him. She was quite ready to marry Amsdorf or Luther him- 
 self, but she would have nothing to say to Dr. Glatz." These 
 words were reported to Luther by Jerome Schurf, accom- 
 panied by the entreaty on his own part, and that of his other 
 friends, that Luther would not be moved by the message, and 
 would by no means think of marrying at such a time. When, 
 however, he next saw Kate, he reprimanded her for the lan- 
 guage which she had used. She hung down her head and 
 blushed; and Luther, under the influence of her previous 
 words, or present looks, consented to relieve her from her 
 embarrassment and stand himself in the place of Dr. Glatz. 
 
 As for the objection interposed by the condition of the 
 times to any project of matrimony, motives of such a kind, 
 instead of dissuading, forcibly impelled him, from the peculiar 
 qualities of his own character, to enter the marriage bond 
 with, as little delay as possible. His conduct in the matter of 
 the peasant insurrection had subjected hitn to popular obloquy. 
 Most persons would have thought it very unwise to afford 
 fresh ground for calumny. The malice of persecution had
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 77 
 
 gained a fresh edge from the taunts against the Reformation 1525. 
 which the peasant riots had furnished. Duke George threat- 
 ened to tear him away from the midst of his Wittenberg 
 adherents, and wreak his just vengeance on him, as he had 
 done on Munzer. But Duke George, the malice of persecution, 
 and popular obloquy, were to Luther's apprehension so many 
 forms of Satan's wrath. He was, therefore, according to his 
 settled habit and principles, determined to spite openly and 
 deliberately the arch enemy. In his own language, " his 
 marriage would make all the angels smile and all the devils 
 weep." And as he, moreover, believed his death to be very 
 near at hand, he felt it to be the more incumbent on him to 
 lose no time in obeying the behest of Scripture and leaving 
 the world the benefit of his final example. 
 
 Accordingly, on the 11th June, Trinity Sunday,"* in the 
 evening, Luther was united in marriage to Catherine von 
 Bora, by the pastor Bugenhagen, in the house of Reichen- 
 bach, the town clerk, who had been constituted Kate's guar- 
 dian, and in the presence of two witnesses, Luke Cranach the 
 painter, and Dr. Apel the lawyer. On the 15th June, Luther 
 says, in a letter to Ruhel, " I have made the determination to 
 retain nothing of my papistical life ; and thus I have entered 
 the state of matrimony, at the urgent solicitation of my 
 father." The purport of the letter was to invite Ruhel to the 
 marriage feast, which was intended to be given on Tuesday 
 the 27th June, and at which the old couple from Mansfeld, 
 
 * Mathesius and Melancthon both agree in this date. Spalatin, on 
 the contrary, states that the marriage took place on the 13th June : 
 and on the espousal-ring, preserved at Berlin, a ruby set in gold, it is 
 stated that the latter date is marked. On this and another nuptial 
 ring, inscribed with D. M. L. and K. V. B., preserved at Helmstadt, 
 gold set with a ruby and a diamond, and so made as to become two 
 rings at pleasure, see Walch. XXIV. pp. 147, 148.
 
 78 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1525. John and Margaret Luther, were to be present. As Ruhel 
 was wealthy, it was intimated that any present he might 
 choose to bring with him would be acceptable. Wenceslaus 
 Link was also invited to the wedding entertainment, but, as 
 he was poor himself, it was insisted that he should bring no 
 present. Spalatin was to come himself, and send some veni- 
 son. Amsdorf also was to be one of the wedding guests. It 
 is not surprising that the world was exceedingly startled by 
 the sudden announcement of this marriage. The Papists 
 vociferated the charge of incest against the Reformer. "A 
 monk himself, he had married a nun ! from such a union 
 Antichrist was to spring ! " " How many Antichrists," Eras- 
 mus exclaimed, " must there not be then in the world 
 already ! " But not only was the world up in arms : many 
 of Luther's chosen friends, amongst them Melancthon him- 
 self, deeply regretted the period which had been selected for 
 the marriage of the greatest of the Reformers. The world's 
 censure Luther cared not for : it was, on the contrary, a 
 proof to him that his purpose had been answered, and Satan, 
 speaking by the month of his organs, overflowed with wrath 
 at his bold defiance of his power; but he was dejected by 
 Philip's expressions of disapprobation. But Melancthon, when 
 he observed that his judgment weighed heavily on Luther's 
 spirits, with the true kindness of a friend changed his tone, 
 and, as the step was now irrevocable, consoled Luther under 
 the reproaches of many of his other friends, and vindicated 
 his conduct publicly to the world.* 
 
 * Melancthon's letter to Camerarius is the best commentary on the 
 whole transaction. (See Bret. II. p. 754.) "It may seem strange," 
 he says, "that Luther should marry at such an unpropitious time, 
 when Germany has especial need of his great and noble mind. But I 
 think the case was as follows. You are aware that Luther is far from 
 being one of (hose who hate men and fly their society. You are ac-
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 79 
 
 The Augustine convent became the residence of the newly- 1525. 
 married pair, which thus itself afforded an image of the 
 blessings of the Reformation on the conditions of social life : 
 the cloisters, which a few years before had sheltered in ease 
 and laziness a flourishing society of monks, echoed ere long 
 to the voices of a numerous family of happy children. Luther 
 was himself forty-two years of age, and Catherine twenty-six, 
 at the period of their union. The Reformer did not pretend 
 to any ardour of youthful attachment. " I am not on fire 
 with love," he said, " but I esteem my wife." He lived, 
 however, with his Kate in the utmost harmony, and in the 
 enjoyment of more conjugal bliss than falls to the ordinary 
 lot of married existence. He smiled at being told that he had 
 sunk into a private station, and from a hero had degraded 
 himself to a common-place character. " It is enough forme/' 
 he replied, " that I have obeyed God's command." The calum- 
 nies which the Papists circulated, without stint or conscience, 
 relative both to Luther and to Kate, on the opportunity thus 
 offered them, they lived to disprove by the whole tenour of 
 their conduct during the twenty years of their union.* 
 
 The first application which Luther preferred to the new 
 Elector was in behalf of the University of Wittenberg. The 
 League of Popish princes had been successful in recalling from 
 it, by the manifesto which they had issued, such students as 
 
 quainted with his daily habits, and so may conjecture the rest. It is 
 not to be wondered at that his generous and great soul was in some 
 way softened." 
 
 * The portraits of Kate in her Life by Hoffmann, in Juncker and 
 elsewhere, are all from originals by Luke Cranach, and agree in repre- 
 senting her with a round full face, a straight pointed nose, and large 
 eyes. Komanist writers generally describe her as very beautiful, and 
 Protestant as rather plain. Erasmus wrote, " Lutherus duxit uxorem 
 puellam mh*e venustam, ex clara familia Born?e, sed, ut narrant, indo- 
 tatam."
 
 80 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1525. had repaired to it from their own dominions ; the professors 
 were very badly paid; and Melancthon himself was con- 
 tinually invited, with the promise of a larger stipend, to other 
 universities, and was only retained in his post by his own 
 strong sense of honour and duty. Others of the professors 
 were already dispersing in various quarters on labours of 
 evangelization : Caspar Cruciger had undertaken academi- 
 cal duties at Magdeburg ; Bugenhagen had been invited to 
 Dantzic. All these causes of anxiety conspired to render 
 Luther full of apprehension lest his university, whence the 
 Gospel had anew sounded forth to the world, should fall to 
 pieces by the neglect of its friends and the envy of its oppo- 
 nents. He therefore prepared a plan of university reform, 
 which he submitted to the new Elector, imploring him to 
 undertake in earnest the support and furtherance of the cause 
 of learning. The Zwickau fanaticism, and the fearful peasant 
 insurrection, had deepened the impression, both on his mind 
 and on Melancthon' s, of the prime importance and necessity 
 of education ; and he warned the Elector John that the realm 
 of ideas was so contiguous to that of politics, that princes 
 would be wholly unable to control their subjects without the 
 influence and support of men of learning. Some alarm was 
 felt lest the Elector John might imitate the conduct of his 
 brother Frederic in his declining years, and suffer the Uni- 
 versity of Wittenberg gradually to sink into decay; and 
 under this idea, on the 15th September, Luther addressed a 
 most urgent appeal to him in behalf of the University, which 
 immediately met with a response. He found, indeed, the 
 Elector John ready to co-operate with him to the fullest 
 extent in his educational scheme, and blessed God for a 
 prince as exactly fitted to foster the Reformation in its more 
 adult age as Frederic had been in its earlier stages. Two 
 electoral commissioners were despatched to Wittenberg in
 
 THE LIFE OE MARTIN LUTHER. 81 
 
 October, to arrange the matter of University lectures, settle 1525. 
 the salaries of the professors, and institute such changes as 
 were desirable in the church ritual. The number of canon- 
 ries that were found to be filled up in the cathedral was 
 only eighteen out of eighty in all, and thus there was a large 
 fund at hand which could be devoted to the augmentation of 
 the salaries of professors. Luther, indeed, did not hesitate 
 to assert, that the care expended on the University at this 
 period saved it from total ruin. Since the end of March a 
 mass service arranged by Luther, partly in German, had 
 been used in the parish church ; and from the 29th October 
 it was determined that the mass should be solemnised in All 
 Saints Cathedral on Sundays in German ; on week days the 
 Latin formula was to be still adhered to. The two points of 
 university reform and church ceremonial having been arranged, 
 Luther did not allow the Elector's zeal to cool ; but, on the 31st 
 October, addressed a letter to him, praying that the subject of 
 the incomes of the parochial clergy, who, in many cases, were 
 in the extreme of poverty from the cessation of offerings and 
 the downfall of the system of the mass, might be carefully 
 considered, and a visitation of the whole Saxon Electorate for 
 this and other ecclesiastical objects be instituted. These 
 commissioners were to traverse the whole province, examine 
 into the conditions and characters of the clergy, obtain in- 
 formation on the ancient and present revenues of the 
 churches, and introduce such alterations in the services as 
 the Scriptures demanded. Somewhat later this commission 
 was appointed, and entered upon its most important functions. 
 But, indeed, so resolute was John himself in the cause he had 
 espoused, that at the end of August, before quitting Weimar, 
 he had warned the clergy to " teach the pure Word of God 
 only, without human additions." And when some of the elder 
 ecclesiastics inquired, " May we not say mass for the dead, or 
 
 VOL. II. G
 
 82 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1525. consecrate water ? " " Everything," he replied, " must be 
 conformed to the Word of God." The civil government of 
 John was less strict than Frederic's had been, and the courtiers 
 took advantage of his mildness, and, in revenge for the over- 
 throw of the monasteries, which bowed the pride of many 
 noble houses, put such impediments as they could in the way 
 of the progress of the Reformation. They were even so hos- 
 tile to Luther personally, that he made it an excuse to Spa- 
 latin for not attending his marriage in December, that he 
 dared not travel, " for his Kate retained him with her tears." 
 But, notwithstanding the disposition of the Court, the new 
 Elector, as characterised by Luther, was " a most excellent 
 and christian prince." "Frederic," the Papists said, "did 
 at least keep the monk under some kind of check, but with 
 John he has everything his own way." 
 
 Luther was gratified by John's acceding to his request on 
 a very different subject, on which he certainly could not have 
 obtained the same favour from Frederic. It is not stated at 
 what time Carlstadt had quitted the safe asylum which he 
 had found with Luther during the riots of the peasantry; 
 but after he had done so, he could find " no rest for the sole 
 of his foot," but wandered about destitute of resources, and 
 uncertain of a night's lodging. In this wretched plight he 
 appealed again to Luther, and besought his supplication to 
 the Elector in his favour, that he might be permitted to 
 return and live within the bounds of Saxony. Luther ob- 
 tained from John all that Carlstadt asked, on the condition 
 that he would abstain from preaching and writing for the 
 rest of his life. Carlstadt accepted the condition, and took 
 up his residence first at Segren, and soon afterwards at Kem- 
 berg, and engaged in the cultivation of land, of which 
 Cochlseus states he quickly gave convincing proofs of his 
 utter ignorance. He abjured, in a letter addressed to the
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 83 
 
 Elector, the religious opinions imputed to him, stating, that 1525. 
 what he had advanced relative to the Lord's Supper had been 
 with a view to eliciting information not to declare his own 
 belief, and he solemnly asseverated that he was quite innocent 
 of having ever intended to incite the peasants to revolt. This 
 retractation was published with a preface from Luther, who 
 was now fully satisfied of Carlstadt's innocence on his solemn 
 assurance, and requested the public to give the same implicit 
 credit as he had himself given to his protestations. 
 
 But Carlstadt's sacramental doctrines were rapidly spread- 
 ing, and the disunion thus caused in the reforming camp 
 occasioned Luther a great deal of uneasiness. The Papists 
 were laying hold upon such disunion as an argument with 
 the wavering and weak-minded against the Reformation. 
 Zwingle maintained that, whereas three bodies were spoken 
 of in Scripture as appertaining to Christ — the body in which 
 he suffered, his glorified body, and his mystical body, or the 
 Church — no one of these could be said to be present in the 
 Lord's Supper. He considered that the word "is," in the 
 proposition, " this is my body," was synonymous, with " this 
 signifies or denotes my body." GEcolampadius, agreeing 
 with Zwingle in his doctrine of the presence of Christ in the 
 Eucharist being only spiritual, explained the Saviour's words 
 by finding a metaphor in the word body. On the other hand, 
 Bugenhagen had defended Luther's view of the corporeal pre- 
 sence ; and Dr. Brentz, or some other theologian of distinc- 
 tion, had composed, on the part of fourteen preachers of Halle, 
 the " Syngramma" on the same side, which was translated 
 into German by Bugenhagen, and published with a preface 
 from Luther himself, who greatly admired it. The Strasburg 
 theologians occupied a middle position, and endeavoured to 
 prevent that separation in the reforming party which was so 
 much to be apprehended, by representing the divergency as 
 
 g 2
 
 84 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1525. trifling and unimportant. But Luther himself would by no 
 means consent to such a view of the subject; he reprobated, 
 moreover, Zwingle's ideas on original sin, and declared that, 
 zealous as he was for peace, he would have no peace that was 
 not built upon truth, and that "either he or his opponents 
 must be the ministers of Satan — there could be no middle 
 ground." 
 
 For the present, however, he had enough upon his hands 
 in a controversy of a different kind. Erasmus had been gra- 
 dually separating himself more and more from the Lutheran 
 party, and had had some angry passages about his treatment 
 of Hutten, and various other proofs of timidity, which his 
 conduct had afforded, with Brunsfeld, the editor of the works 
 of Huss, Farel, and others of the more extreme section of the 
 Reformers. This, added to the entreaties of many crowned heads 
 that he would use his pen against Luther, had induced him 
 to compose a treatise on " the Freedom of the Will," in oppo- 
 sition to the evangelical tenet on the subject, which had been 
 so severely censured by Duke George, and by the Papist party 
 generally, as tending to confirm men in sin, and which natu- 
 rally enough grated very harshly on the notions of a ration- 
 alistic divine such as Erasmus. The controversy was much 
 the same as that which had before been waged between Eck 
 and Carlstadt in Pleissenburg Castle. Erasmus' work had 
 been published a year before, and a month after its publica- 
 tion, Luther had only read three or four pages of it. Indeed, 
 the controversy seemed very reluctantly entered into on both 
 sides. Erasmus professed that he had never written anything 
 so much against his free will, as his tract on Free Will ; and as 
 it was generally supposed the movement of his pen had been 
 facilitated by presents and promises, he was bantered by the 
 Reformers as a Balaam hired to curse Israel. Luther, on 
 his part, regretted to have to reply to " the so learned work of so
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 85 
 
 learned a man/' and declared, " I abhor the very name of free 1525. 
 will." He now spent some weeks, and, if Erasmus' statement 
 may be credited, his honey-moon, in composing his counter 
 treatise on " the Slavery of the Will." On no previous com- 
 position had he bestowed so much pains, and to none had he 
 imparted such a scholar-like finish, so that when Erasmus 
 perused it, he pronounced that it was too polished for Luther, 
 and must have been the joint labour of the Wittenberg Pro- 
 fessors. But Luther's own word is quite sufficient, and he has 
 declared that he was the sole author of it.* He started with 
 conceding to Erasmus the palm in eloquence and genius, but 
 his arguments he regarded as contemptible. They had been 
 already, he said, completely crushed by Melancthon's " Com- 
 mon Places," which seemed to him " not only worthy of 
 immortality, but of a place in the ecclesiastical canon." 
 Erasmus' matter, as contrasted with his diction, he compared 
 to peasepods or pieces of dung served up in vessels of gold 
 and silver. For himself, he acknowledged he was rude in 
 speech : he did not much value words : he had spent his time 
 in the study of things : and Erasmus' treatise was so void of 
 everything that could recommend it on this score to one who 
 enjoyed the teaching of the Holy Spirit, that from sheer 
 weariness of the subject he had long delayed answering it. 
 " Free will as to spiritual things," he continued, " is a mere 
 lie, and, like the poor woman in the Gospel, the more it is 
 patched up by physicians, the worse it fares." And he pro- 
 ceeded to intimate his conviction that Erasmus was really a 
 
 * There is, however, Melancthon's statement, also to the same effect. 
 He told Erasmus that the Scriptures were with Luther ; but he re- 
 gretted the bitterness of his tone, and that he had not treated the 
 prince of letters with the respect due to him. But that, on the other 
 hand, Erasmus had disfigured Luther very unfairly : and the Luther 
 who appeared in his violent writings and the real Luther were two 
 different persons. — See Bret. II. pp. 794 and 946.
 
 86 THE LTFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1525. sceptic, who regarded Christianity as nothing higher than 
 philosophy, but laughed in his sleeve at all religion, like Lucian 
 or Epicurus. " But the Holy Ghost is no sceptic ; he writes on 
 the heart a great mighty certainty, that our very existence is 
 no greater certainty, nor that two and three make five, than 
 that God's Word is eternal truth." But Erasmus wrote, as if 
 the subject under discussion were " not such an awful thing 
 as the souPs salvation, but a business about eight or ten 
 guilders." Luther reiterated with copious scriptural proofs 
 what he had always taught, that the natural depravity of every 
 man is not only intense, but total ; that the first dawn of true 
 light in the soul is the entrance of grace, and salvation from 
 first to last is of God alone. If any spiritual freedom were 
 allowed to the will, then he felt that justification could not be 
 entirely of Christ through faith "the gift of God." And 
 thus he regarded, and Melancthon with him, this question on 
 the freedom or bondage of the will as underlying the whole 
 difference between the Christianity sanctioned by the world, 
 and the Christianity revealed in the Scriptures. " You have 
 struck at the throat of the beast," he told Erasmus. But the 
 sarcasms in which the work abounded wounded Erasmus' 
 pride severely ; so that, finding his remarks had cut deep, 
 Luther laboured subsequently to mollify the irritation by 
 amicable epistles. 
 
 It was ever his lot first to inflict the wound, and then to be 
 busy in applying the balsam to heal it. With a pen the most 
 bitter and caustic of any writer of the age, his heart was 
 without a tincture of malice or ill-will. On the 1st Sep- 
 tember, he addressed an epistle to no less a personage than 
 his old antagonist Henry VIII. of England, in a strain in 
 which honesty and humility were as conspicuous as his de- 
 votedness to the cause of Christ. An English version of the 
 New Testament was printing at Cologne by the toil and
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 87 
 
 endurance of Tyndale, who, it is averred by Foxe, had himself 1525. 
 an interview with Luther : and according to information 
 received from Christian II. of Denmark, some symptoms of a 
 leaning to the Reformation had appeared on the part of " Bluff 
 King Hal" himself. Without delay Luther addressed that 
 monarch, in order to erase from his mind any impressions of 
 a less propitious kind which his treatise might have infixed 
 and left rankling with its sting. He had published, he said, 
 his former book in a foolish and precipitate spirit, not by his 
 own spontaneous inclination, but at the instigation of those 
 who were ill-disposed towards his Majesty : and he had heard 
 that the treatise published under the name of the King of 
 England was really the production of the Cardinal of York 
 (Wolsey), " that pest of the realm." He therefore must im- 
 plore his Majesty not to harbour any resentment against one 
 like himself, the scum of men, and a worm who deserved to 
 be treated only Avith contempt. The cause of his using such 
 an abject style was that he had been apprised that his Majesty 
 was beginning to favour the Gospel. This was indeed a 
 Gospel, good news to him. He threw himself at his 
 Majesty's feet, and implored him by the love, the cross, and 
 the glory of Christ, according to the prayer of Jesus, to for- 
 give one who had trespassed against him. He would will- 
 ingly offer a recantation, and publicly do honour to his 
 Majesty by addressing to him a writing upon the Gospel if 
 he would grant him leave, whereby fruit would accrue to 
 God's glory. The doctrine of the Gospel was faith in Jesus 
 crucified and risen, and built on this charity towards one's 
 neighbour, obedience to the magistrates, and the crucifixion 
 and mortification of the body of sin. He trusted that Christ 
 would grant his Majesty of England grace to be enrolled 
 amongst the mighty princes who had embraced this doctrine. 
 The reply of Henry to this letter ungraciously harped on the
 
 88 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1525. Reformer's recent marriage. " By heathen law the vestal he 
 had espoused deserved to be buried alive, and Luther himself to 
 be beaten to death with clubs." The time was not quite ripe 
 for England to thrust from her weary feet the shackles of 
 Popery, and take the lead, as a nation, amongst the vindi- 
 cators of God's Word. " I was deceived," Luther said, in 
 defence of his conduct on this occasion, " by Christian II. of 
 Denmark, who made me so brimful of hope in regard to the 
 King of England, that by writing submissively to him I 
 should advance the Gospel, that I was intoxicated and bewil- 
 dered with the prospect." If, however, his rashness is blame- 
 worthy, where, at least, could a man be found so little regard- 
 ful of his own reputation, in comparison with the cause for 
 which he desired to ' ' spend and be spent ? " 
 
 Undaunted by repulse, Luther addressed a conciliatory 
 letter on the 22nd December to his inveterate foe Duke 
 George of Saxony. It can hardly need to be stated that 
 there was never any retractation or compromise of doctrine in 
 the epistles of this nature which the Reformer was in the 
 habit of writing. So far was this from being the case in the 
 present instance, that a short time previously he had been 
 instrumental in accomplishing the release of nine nuns 
 from a convent in Duke George's territory. The brother 
 of Duke George, Duke Henry, had already been won to 
 the Reformation : but all the efforts of his son-in-law, 
 Philip of Hesse, to convert Duke George himself, had proved 
 entirely fruitless. On the contrary, he raged more than ever 
 against the truth ; he was the instigator of the Popish alli- 
 ance in the north of Germany ; and he had lately beheaded 
 two Lutherans at Leipsic. Perhaps it was this very dogged- 
 ness of purpose which inspired Luther with some hopes, even 
 yet, of his conversion : or, at all events, disposed him to 
 make one more trial whether he could not be checked in his
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 89 
 
 violent career by a gentle admonition. " It is declared," he J.525. 
 wrote to him, " ' the Lord killeth and maketh alive.' God 
 deals first sharply and harshly with men ; then like a friend 
 and father. The law comes first, the blessed Gospel follows. 
 I have given you a taste of hard and sharp writings, and then 
 presented friendly supplications. And I am resolved once more, 
 probably for the last time, submissively and gently to beseech 
 you. I am thinking that God may shortly call some of our 
 masters hence : Duke George or Luther, either must alike 
 go. Let me admonish you on the topic of your soul's salva- 
 tion. I fall with my heart at your Grace's feet, and in all 
 submission entreat you to cease from your undertaking of 
 persecuting my doctrines. Not that your persecution can do 
 me much harm : I can only lose a bag of worms which is 
 hastening to the grave every day. The persecution has, in 
 fact, benefited my cause ; and I have reason to thank my 
 foes. And were I not concerned for your soul, I should 
 implore you to go on persecuting ever more. But as I 
 know my doctrine to be true, I am constrained, at the peril 
 of my own salvation, to care, pray, and entreat for the soul 
 of your Grace. Look not at my mean person. God once 
 spoke by an ass. I pray your pardon whereinsoever I 
 may have offended you by word or writing ; and I freely for- 
 give your Grace all that you have done against me. I have 
 prayed for you fervently, and would not be compelled to pray 
 against your Grace. It is a very different thing to contend 
 with Munzer from contending with Luther. For the 
 prayers of me and mine are more powerful than Satan him- 
 self, otherwise i{ would have been done with Luther a long 
 while ago. I would have your Grace to answer me gra- 
 ciously and christianly, more with living act than with dead 
 letters." Duke George returned a prompt but bitter reply, 
 and accused the Reformer of having opened an asylum at
 
 90 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1525. Wittenberg for all the refugee monks and nuns of Christen- 
 dom. But this did not dishearten Luther : his conscience was 
 satisfied ; and he said of both Henry VIII. and Duke George, 
 " I despise their god Satan and themselves. I have lost my 
 humility; but why should I not bear with Duke George 
 when I have to bear with my own Absaloms ? " From the 
 bowlings of the world without, he turned to the peace of his 
 own home. His Kate, as he said, was " either feigning, or 
 preparing really to fulfil, the denunciation in Genesis, ' In 
 sorrow thou shalt bring forth children/" He frequently 
 found amusement with Wolfgang, his servant, at the turning- 
 lathe : and was anticipating the pleasures of his garden in 
 the spring. To Link he wrote at the end of the year, " I 
 shall laugh at Satan and his members : send me some seeds 
 for the spring ; I shall attend to my garden, that is, to the 
 blessings of my Creator, and enjoy them in his praise." 
 
 A dispute had occurred between Duke George and John of 
 Saxony, which was, perhaps, among the reasons which had 
 prompted Luther to address the former. Schneeberg was 
 under the common jurisdiction of both cousins, and a preacher 
 there being accused of exciting the people to sedition, had 
 been removed at the desire of Duke George. Another 
 preacher, recommended by Luther, was installed in his place, 
 which gave the greatest offence to the Duke, and a corres- 
 pondence passed between him and the Elector John, in which 
 Duke George advised that Luther should be dealt with in the 
 same way as Munzer : and the Elector, after deliberating with 
 Philip of Hesse, replied that " he agreed with Luther only as 
 far as the Reformer agreed with the Word of God." This 
 was answered by actual threats on the part of Duke George. 
 A disagreement had also taken place between the cousins re- 
 garding the state of religion in the district of Sonnewald, 
 which was subject partly to the King of Bohemia and partly
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 91 
 
 to Duke George, where Minkwitz, a counsellor of the 1525. 
 Elector of Saxony, had established the Reformation. 
 
 But in fact George of Saxony seemed in a condition to 
 carry his threats into execution. A confederation for north- 
 ern, similar to that combined at Ratisbon for southern Ger- 
 many, had been formed under his auspices at Dessau, and the 
 Electors of Mentz and Brandenburg, and the Duke of 
 Brunswick had conspired to take up arms, if necessary, in 
 defence of the Papacy. Afterwards the alliance was renewed 
 at Halle, where Duke George and Henry of Brunswick met 
 in consultation at the residence of Albert of Mentz, and a 
 memorial was framed to the Emperor, which it was agreed 
 the Duke of Brunswick should in person convey to him to 
 implore the imperial intervention in repressing the Lutheran 
 " damnable doctrines " which were every day spreading. It 
 was at a most propitious juncture for the success of his mis- 
 sion that Henry of Brunswick arrived at Seville. The battle 
 of Pavia, which had left Francis I. a prisoner in the hands of 
 Charles, had been fought February 24, 1525 ; and a treaty 
 concluded with Francis, January 14, 1526, by which the 
 French monarch promised to defray half the cost of a war 
 either against the Turks or against the heretics, seemed to 
 leave Charles at liberty to direct his attention to the affairs of 
 Germany. The banks of the Guadal quiver were resounding 
 not only with the notes of triumph celebrating the rapid 
 successes of the imperial arms, but with the rejoicings of yet 
 more genial festivities preceding the union of the Emperor with 
 Isabella, sister of John III. of Portugal. At such a season 
 in the peculiar position of political affairs, the memorial of 
 the Pi'inces drew from Charles such assurances of sympathy 
 as might content the most ardent Papist. On the 23rd 
 March, 1526, eleven days after his marriage, Charles V. 
 addressed letters to the most influential Princes and States
 
 92 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1525. who still adhered to Rome, expressive of his approbation of 
 their constancy : and he also notified, through the Duke of 
 Brunswick, to all the princes and nobles of the Papist party, 
 that he was shortly about to repair to Rome to concert mea- 
 sures with the Pope for the suppression of heresy, and after 
 that should himself pass on to Germany, and exert his utmost 
 power, in person, in behalf of the orthodox faith, and mean- 
 time if the Lutherans by guile, force, or the sedition of their 
 subjects, laboured to compel them to join in their impiety, 
 they were to unite their forces and stoutly resist them. 
 
 On the other hand, the princes of the evangelical party, 
 alarmed by the threats of their opponents, and warned by other 
 presages of danger, had formed a counter compact for their 
 common safety, and the maintenance of scriptural truth. 
 John Frederic, as the representative of his father the Elector 
 John, and Philip of Hesse, who ever since the conference at 
 Creutzburg had found their friendship becoming more and 
 more close, held a consultation on the 7th November, in 
 the Castle of Friedewald, in the Sullinger Forest, when it was 
 determined that their deputies should act in concert at the 
 coming Diet : and that the well-affected princes and citizens 
 should be invited to join their confederacy. 
 
 The Diet, which had been summoned to meet at Augsburg 
 by imperial letters dated May 24, but not received in Germany 
 till August 13, was at last opened on the 11th December, but 
 the only ecclesiastical prince who was present was the Elector 
 of Treves. The recent peasant war, and the dread of feudal 
 disturbances in the unsettled state of Germany, the absorption 
 of interest in the formation of religious leagues, all contributed 
 to make the members stay away, and to render the session of 
 the Diet little more than a state ceremonial. On the last day 
 but one of the year, the Diet was adjourned to meet at Spires 
 in the May following, when it was stated that the questions of
 
 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 93 
 
 holy faith, justice and peace, should receive a full discussion ; 1525. 
 and meanwhile, the rescripts of the foregoing Nuremberg Diets 
 were re-enacted. 
 
 It was foreseen that the Diet to assemble at Spires must 1526. 
 have an important influence by its decision on the future of 
 Germany, and probably of the world, in regard to the great 
 religious controversy, which their enemies wished to crush 
 and tear from the hearts of men. The expected presence of 
 the Emperor seemed to render their peril more imminent and 
 palpable to the evangelical party ; and his known inclination 
 towards the side of the Pope, with whom he was in alliance, 
 inspired the Papist princes with sanguine expectations, and 
 drew from Duke George the inconsiderate boast that " he 
 might be Elector of Saxony any day he pleased." Had the 
 military enterprises of Charles been disastrous instead of vic- 
 torious, he might have trembled for his imperial throne, 
 instead of being in a position to strike terror into the 
 Lutherans : but the march of events — particularly if the crafty 
 temperament of the Emperor, which would naturally dis- 
 pose him to continue any intestine disagreement that might 
 conduce to his own supremacy, were left out of the account — 
 had been more adverse to the Reformation than could have 
 been predicted by the exactest calculation of probabilities. 
 
 In the intervening time the preparations of the Lutheran 
 princes for the coming struggle were matured. In the month 
 of February, the Elector and the Landgrave held a conference 
 at Gotha, when a defensive alliance in contemplation of their 
 mutual danger was agreed upon between them, which was 
 afterwards ratified at Torgau. They turned their eyes on 
 every side to find confederates. The Landgrave addressed 
 himself to the Electors of Treves and of the Palatinate, his 
 associates in the war with Sickengen, of both of whom some 
 hopes were entertained, more especially of the latter. But
 
 94 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1526. they were deaf to his solicitations. The Elector of Treves 
 had accepted a pension from the Emperor, and the Elector 
 Palatine, whose secret wishes drew him to the Gospel, was 
 too weak and irresolute to risk the imperial displeasure. But, 
 notwithstanding this disappointment, the union of the evan- 
 gelical princes and nobles, who in politics had commonly fol- 
 lowed in the wake of Saxony, was concluded at Magdeburg 
 on the 12th June. The Elector John of Saxony and his 
 son John Frederic, Philip, Ernest, Otho, and Francis, Dukes 
 of Luneburg, Henry Duke of Mecklenburg, Wolfgang Prince 
 of Anhalt, and Gebhard and Albert, Counts of Mansfeld, 
 reciprocally engaged, " esteeming the Scriptures the greatest 
 treasure on earth, to preserve to their people the Word of 
 God, by aid of their substance, their lives, the resources of 
 their states, and the arms of their subjects, not trusting in 
 their armies but in the Almighty arm of the Lord." Two 
 days afterwards the city of Magdeburg joined the evangelical 
 alliance by an interchange of diplomas : and by a separate 
 treaty, dated from Konigsberg the 29th September, Albert, 
 the Duke of Prussia, entered into the same solemn covenant. 
 There was one, however, who kept still unfurled the ensign 
 of peace. " See," Luther wrote to Frederic Myconius, 
 about the beginning of April, " that the people strenuously 
 fight with faith and prayer to the Lord, that, overcome by the 
 Spirit, they may be compelled to observe peace in the flesh. 
 It is of the utmost moment to pray, for Satan is meditating 
 his wiles. We are in the midst of swords and the fury of 
 Satan." About the same time he wrote to Spalatin — " You 
 cannot credit what horrors Satan is plotting through the 
 agency of Duke George and the bishops. Unless God pre- 
 vent, the slaughter of the peasants will be but a prelude to 
 the ruin of Germany. I earnestly pray you to beseech with 
 all your might the Father of mercies to stay these plots, and
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 95 
 
 break the fury of Duke George, who is almost Satan himself, 1520. 
 and is so grieved that Luther should not be put to death, that 
 it is feared his grief may prove fatal to his life." It was 
 with undissembled displeasure that the Reformer perceived 
 preparations making for so fortifying Wittenberg that it could 
 resist a sudden attack. He had received intelligence of the 
 Popish conspiracy which had been concocted in the palace of 
 the Cardinal of Mentz, and informed Spalatin that, at the time 
 he was writing to him, a tract which he had indited against this 
 conspiracy was in the press. But the extent to which con- 
 federacies had been formed on both sides, must have been 
 unknown to him, as well as the more threatening compacts 
 which the Emperor had entered into with Clement VII., 
 Henry of England, and the King of France, respectively, for 
 the effectual suppression of the Reformation. 
 
 The Bishops were beginning to raise their heads again. 
 The peasants had been quelled, and support seemed to be 
 tendered to the Papist cause by powerful princes who had 
 pledged their honour and resources to its defence. Luther 
 wrote a prologue and epilogue to a work consisting of a series 
 of representations of the dignitaries of the Romish Church, 
 with humorous allusions under the figures, to the pomp, 
 luxury, avarice, and licentiousness of the personages depicted. 
 At the beginning of the year the evangelical " Mass Book, and 
 Order for Public Worship," was published ;* but the Reformer 
 
 * The Preface speaks of the importance of a Catechism for children, 
 which he supplied a little later. " Christianity," he goes on to say, 
 " may all be put up in two bags — Faith and Love. Each bag has two 
 pockets. Into the first pocket of Faith children are to drop such texts 
 as, ' In sin did my mother conceive me,' and ' By one man came sin 
 into the world' — two Rhenish gold-pieces. The other pocket is for 
 Hungarian gold-pieces, such as, " Christ died for our sins,' and * Behold 
 the Lamb of G-od.' Into the first pocket of Love they are to drop 
 silver groschens, such as, ' Forasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least
 
 96 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1526. did not desire the Latin formula to be entirely superseded, 
 which was not, he thought, without its utility in reference to 
 the instruction of youth : he even went still farther, and wished 
 that a Hebrew and Greek liturgy should be framed and some- 
 times used with the same object. Early in June he finished 
 his Psalter or version of the Psalms in German metre, and was 
 at that period busily engaged in a commentary on the pro- 
 phet Habakkuk. The sacramental dispute was continued 
 with a brisk exchange of controversial writings between the 
 partisans of Zwingle and Luther; but, although the latter 
 took a lively interest in this paper war, and regarded the 
 Swiss interpretation as an inspiration from Satan, he had not 
 leisure to add to the list of treatises with his own pen. He 
 addressed the Elector also in reference to the celebration of 
 the mass in the cathedral of Altenburg, which was still re- 
 tained, with other corrupt usages, against the urgent endea- 
 vours for its abolition made by Spalatin and the evangelical 
 preachers : but with much moderation he suggested a public 
 disputation, for the better instruction of the canons ; and 
 that for the present their ignorance should be tolerated. And 
 by a rescript of the Elector from Torgau, dated the 24th 
 June, such ministers as were incompetent for the office of 
 preaching were directed to read to their congregations the 
 Postils printed at Wittenberg. Luther's labour at this period 
 was continuous in finding schoolmasters and schoolmistresses, 
 and, above all, pastors, to meet the numerous applications that 
 reached him from all quarters. 
 
 Luther's private life was flowing with even and peaceful 
 tenour, and his garden was a principal source of amusement. 
 
 of these, ye did it unto me ; ' and into the other pocket Schrecken- 
 bergers, such as, ' If ye be persecuted for righteousness' sake, happy 
 are ye ! ' For, • If Christ became man to draw men to God, we must 
 become children to draw children to Christ.' " — Walch. X., p. 274.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 97 
 
 He had planted it, and erected a fountain to his entire satisfac- 1526. 
 tion, and invited Spalatin to be a witness of his happiness — 
 " Come and you shall be crowned with lilies and roses." A 
 vase had been presented to him, which excited the admiration 
 of a friend, to whom Luther, with his characteristic liberality, 
 at once gave it : the messenger was waiting to bear it away, 
 and the letter to accompany the present had been written, 
 when the vase could not be found : Kate, who had taken an 
 equal fancy to it, had found means of secreting it. From his 
 ample mansion the refugee was never excluded; and the 
 claims of hospitality and charity were never forgotten. In a 
 letter of this period he entreats the Elector to befriend some 
 Carmelite monks, who were aged and in great want, " one of 
 whom," he said, might " be their judge at the last day." In 
 another letter he implores the Elector's bounty in behalf of 
 his old schoolmaster, " whom he was bound ever to hold in 
 reverence." In the review of the salaries of the Professors, 
 Melancthon as well as Luther had been awarded 200 florins 
 (i. e., about £20) a year for lecturing in Greek and Divinity, a 
 sum which Philip scrupled to take, on the ground that, in his 
 feeble health, his lectures could not be worth it, and " the 
 post assigned him by God " was not to lecture in theology, 
 but in the classical languages : and Luther, by a direct appli- 
 cation to the Elector, took care that the scruples of his friend 
 should be satisfied, and the salary not lost to him. With 
 Carlstadt, the old intimacy had become so far renewed, that 
 Jonas, Philip, Luther, and Kate, stood sponsors to the ex- 
 Professor's son ; and after the baptism tasted his hospitality 
 at his residence, at Segren, beyond the Elbe. Thence, 
 shortly afterwards, Carlstadt removed to Berquiltz, near 
 Kemberg, not much more than a mile from Wittenberg ; 
 and Luther, whose forgiving disposition was easily changed 
 from thinking the worst to hoping the best, mentions him in 
 
 VOL. II. H
 
 98 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1526. his correspondence of this period with kindness, and anticipates 
 his complete and settled amendment. In the next year Carl- 
 stadt petitioned the Elector to allow him to reside in Kem- 
 berg, as he could not endure the iniquity of the peasants in the 
 outlying hamlet. 
 
 The correspondence of the Reformer is no longer replete 
 with melancholy forebodings of death, and prayerful aspira- 
 tions for its relief. About Whitsuntide, as he informed his 
 friends, he expected to be made a father; and ere the child's 
 appearance, Gerbel of Strasburg, and Muller, Chancellor of 
 Mansfeld, were bespoken as godfathers, if the child should 
 be a boy, and likely to live. Amidst these domestic expec- 
 tations and household cares, the nature of Luther expanded 
 with all its genuine and warm-hearted German kindliness. 
 If a fit of spiritual despondency came over him Kate charmed 
 away the black mood by the solace of reading; if Duke 
 George scowled at him, or the " viper Erasmus" darted his 
 malicious tongue, he forgot both in Kate's smile. At length, 
 on the 7th June, just within the year from his marriage, 
 the event long expected took place, and a healthy boy, 
 " sound in every sense and limb/' was born to the rejoiced 
 father. He communicated the interesting intelligence to his 
 friend Uuhel the next day — " My dear Kate, of God's grace, 
 brought me a John Luther yesterday at two o'clock." John 
 was the grandfather's name, and had therefore been fixed 
 upon for his first-born son. In yet warmer terms he wrote 
 to Spalatin — " I have received from my most excellent and 
 dearest wife a little Luther, by God's wonderful mercy. Pray 
 for me, that Christ will preserve my child against Satan, who, 
 I know, will try all he can to harm me in him." There are 
 some complaints in Luther's letters, that at first the infant 
 did not obtain sufficient nourishment, and Kate had a de- 
 ficient supply of milk ; but, after a time, matters fell into
 
 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 99 
 
 the right trim, and all went on prosperously. Profuse were 1526. 
 the congratulations and inquiries of friends, and Luther's 
 bulletins were singularly explicit. In answer to Spalatin's 
 good wishes, who was in expectation of a similar boon from 
 his partner, he wrote — " John my fawn, together with my 
 doe, return their warm thanks for your kind benediction ; 
 and may your doe present you with just such another fawn, 
 on whom I may ask God's blessing in turn. Amen." 
 
 h 2
 
 100 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 FROM THE 24TH JUNE, 1526, TO THE 3RD APRIL, 1530. 
 
 1526. The dangers which at this period of its career menaced the 
 reviving Gospel, according to the view taken by Luther, were 
 chiefly twofold. The Reformation had first seen the light, 
 like little Johnny Luther, in the Augustine Convent of Wit- 
 tenberg, and had been nursed amidst homely faces, books, 
 and poverty, until it had grown into reputation with the 
 world. But it had now been transferred to a new sphere, it 
 had passed to courts and palaces, it had become the subject 
 of the engagements and leagues of sovereigns, its defence had 
 been vowed by one of the most warlike of the German 
 princes : and it could not but be a matter of anxiety how it 
 would fare with the child of such lowly origin in the higher 
 air and soil to which it had been transplanted. Again, there 
 was an unhappy division in the ranks of those who had been 
 its earliest guardians : and whilst the Papists availed them- 
 selves of this disunion to throw discredit on the arguments 
 and claims both of the Lutherans and Zwinglians, the worldly 
 element, now in alliance with the Reformation, was seeking 
 to heal the breach, rather on account of the obstacle thus 
 opposed to secular interests, than from any true love of 
 Christian unity. There was, therefore, much to be feared 
 from a continuance of dissension, and yet more to be feared 
 from the worldly policy which aped Christian feelings and 
 motives for party and political ends. Alive to the hazards of 
 the period, and convinced that his own sacramental doctrine
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHKR. 101 
 
 was scriptural, Luther was sustained by faith in the divine 1526. 
 promises, and felt assured that Christ would be hidden only 
 for a time. 
 
 The Diet which had been appointed to be held at Spires in 
 May, was not opened until the 25th June. John of Saxony 
 entered Spires with a retinue of 700 horsemen; and his 
 style of living marked him out as the wealthiest and most in- 
 fluential Elector of the Empire. He had brought with him 
 as his chaplains, Spalatin and Agricola, who were sedulously 
 employed in proclaiming the Word of God, for the pulpits 
 of the city churches were barred against the evangelical 
 preachers; but this led to their desertion by the populace, 
 who assembled by thousands, every day, in the hotels of the 
 Elector of Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse, to hear the 
 Word of God and join in the Lutheran worship. It is men- 
 tioned, that on one Sunday as many as 8000 united in reli- 
 gious worship after the evangelical ritual. Tracts, too, from 
 Luther's pen were busily circulated in the city, and produced 
 their usual fruit in clearing the mind from prejudice, and in- 
 ducing the study of the Scriptures. Both the Elector John 
 and the Landgrave were sensible of the importance of their 
 position ; and whilst they discarded all attention to the Ro- 
 mish regulations about feasting and fasting, were strict in 
 requiring of their followers such demeanour as would not 
 bring dishonour upon the Gospel. And it was soon manifest 
 that the popular sympathy with the Reformation found a 
 powerful echo in the Diet itself. The Committees drew up 
 their several Reports : and the Report of the Committee of 
 Princes in particular, owing in some measure to the influence 
 of the Landgrave, who argued points of theological doctrine 
 with the Bishops, and easily confuted them, was singularly 
 favourable to religious freedom, and, amongst other things, 
 spoke of explaining Scripture by Scripture. But just at this
 
 102 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1526. point, when everything was turning against Rome, Ferdinand 
 suddenly produced the instructions which he had received 
 from the Emperor, and which it had been left to his discre- 
 tion to publish or suppress ; and the harsh tenor of the im- 
 perial instructions excited mingled surprise and indignation. 
 
 The Lutherans now talked of quitting Spires without 
 delay; and the business of the Diet seemed likely to come 
 to a standstill. But quickly more cheering intelligence dis- 
 sipated this sudden gloom. It transpired that a common 
 Treaty of league had been entered into against the Emperor, in mutual 
 May 22. dread of his power, by Milan, Florence, Venice, Piedmont, 
 and France, and that Pope Clement VII. himself had ab- 
 solved Francis I. from the obligations he had incurred by the 
 Treaty of Madrid, and was the author and patron of this 
 " most holy confederation." Thus the relation of Charles 
 to the Papal See was unexpectedly and completely changed. 
 The new instructions issued by the Emperor to his brother 
 Ferdinand, under this influence of altered circumstances, 
 were diametrically counter to those previously despatched ; 
 they suggested the abolition of the penal clauses in the 
 Edict of Worms, and the submission of the Lutheran con- 
 troversy to the decision of a Council. The Pope, on the 
 other hand, had advanced so far in his enmity to Charles V., 
 as to fix on his substitute to the imperial throne, and destine 
 William of Bavaria, whose ambition was unbounded, for the 
 supreme dignity. Ferdinand, using again the discretionary 
 power with which he was invested, suppressed his brother's 
 new instructions : having already incensed the Lutherans, he 
 dreaded in the present state of feeling the effect of alienating 
 the Papists also ; but the disunion which the rupture of 
 the Pope and Emperor had caused in the Papist ranks, and 
 the strong combination of the evangelical Princes, to which 
 the tone of public sentiment added great weight, naturally
 
 THE LIFE OE MARTIN LUTHER. 103 
 
 led to a vote of the Diet on the question of religious tolera- 1526. 
 tion, to which Ferdinand himself, under the apprehension, as 
 Cochlaeus and Maimburg affirm, of tumult and sedition, felt 
 himself obliged to yield a temporary assent. 
 
 The Recess declared, that "until a general or national 
 assembly of the Church should be convened, each state 
 should live, govern, and bear itself, in such a way as it could 
 best answer to God and to the Emperor :" a decision, which 
 conferred its first legal settlement on the Reformation in 
 those States in which it had already been established, and 
 granted to other States the liberty of entering on similar 
 religious changes, as their inclination might prompt them. 
 History does not furnish many instances of a more signal 
 interposition of Providence in behalf of the Church of Christ : 
 for just at the moment when the Reformation was enveloped 
 with dangers, and there seemed no path of escape, a straight 
 road was opened before it, and Rome itself was made the 
 point of attack to the imperial resentment. 
 
 The Recess had scarcely been agreed upon when the Arch- 
 duke Ferdinand was hurried from councils to camps. His 
 brother-in-law, Lewis, the young King of Hungary and 
 Bohemia, flying before the arms of Sultan Soliman from the 
 fatal field of Mohacz, perished in a morass on the 29th Au- 
 gust. Ferdinand had an incontestable right to both thrones, 
 as far as treaties could be relied upon ; but Hungary was laid 
 claim to by John Zapolya, the "Woiwode of Transylvania, and 
 Bohemia had been swallowed, in anticipation, by the greedy 
 Dukes of Bavaria, and the resources of the French monarchy 
 were at the command of whatever competitors against the 
 claims of the House of Austria. Acting, however, with great 
 energy and prudence, Ferdinand secured his succession to both 
 kingdoms, and was very much indebted for his success to the 
 Anti-papist or Lutheran party. He was elected by the three
 
 104 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHEK. 
 
 1526. Estates to the throne of Bohemia ; and although Zapolya 
 had actually been crowned King of Hungary, Ferdinand 
 succeeded in taking from him his strongholds, and driving 
 him beyond the borders, and was then himself crowned King 
 of Hungary in Stuhlweissenburg. 
 
 But the importance of these events was not appreciated at 
 the time : and from the extreme difficulty of communication, 
 and the mantle of mystery with which public affairs were 
 systematically shrouded, the progress of affairs at the Diet 
 was little known, and when the Decree was published, the 
 victory, which the evangelical party had gained, was very in- 
 sufficiently estimated. "I know nothing about the Diet/' 
 Luther wrote to a friend on the 11th August, "except that 
 the Bishops are labouring to restore their ancient sove- 
 reignty." "The Diet at Spires," he wrote to Link on the 
 28th, " is true to the old German fashion ; there is drinking 
 and gambling, but little else." There is no expression in the 
 Reformer's correspondence of gratitude for the triumph of 
 the evangelical cause at Spires, clearly as its value was recog- 
 nised in after years. Luther's mind was rather occupied with 
 dismal presentiments of approaching war. Wittenberg was 
 assuming the aspect of a garrisoned town : and he very much 
 disliked such a metamorphose. And when the question was 
 referred to him, whether, in his opinion, a defensive league in 
 behalf of the Reformation could be justified on grounds of 
 Scripture, he replied — " The Elector has no superior except 
 Csesar ; he may therefore resist his enemies, provided they 
 first attack him, and may use means for defending his sub- 
 jects ; but e they that take the sword, shall perish by the 
 sword.'" He exhorted the Elector John to break off all 
 alliance with the Landgrave, as soon as symptoms should 
 appear of his disposition for offensive warfare. But in a 
 treatise in answer to the question, "Can a soldier hope for
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 105 
 
 salvation?" he determined that to bear arms at the command 1526. 
 of the magistrate is not unlawful ; but " a soldier, if his cause 
 be just, may think of God and his soul without being dis- 
 mayed by his profession of arms/' and that " with a good 
 conscience he must make a better soldier." 
 
 His pen was actively employed on other subjects also, 
 but he granted the Papists, as Seckendorf observes, " a re- 
 spite this year." He followed up his commentary on Habak- 
 kuk, by a commentary on the prophet Jonah ; and then 
 commenced a commentary on Zechariah. At the same time 
 he was engaged in a commentary on the book of Ecclesiastes, 
 which he found an extremely arduous task, on account of the 
 difficult Hebrew idioms ; and when he had " overcome the 
 obstacles by the grace of God," and his exposition was ready 
 for publication, he withdrew it in deference to Brentz, whose 
 theological sagacity he greatly admired, and who had anti- 
 cipated him in a commentary upon the same book. The 
 Sacramental controversy next engaged his attention, ffico- 
 lampadius, whom he respected, and whose declension into the 
 sacramentarian heresy he lamented, had published an answer 
 to his preface to the Syngramma ; and Luther, regarding 
 this as a challenge, entered with zeal and joy on the work of 
 " professing to the world his faith," which, he said, he 
 " should have done long ago, had not leisure been wanting, 
 and Satan hindered him." " See what the Sacramentarian 
 arguments are ! " he wrote to Stiefel ; " Christ is at the right 
 hand of the Father, therefore he is not in the Sacrament : 
 the flesh profiteth nothing, therefore Christ is not in the 
 Sacrament ! How much safer to trust to the simple and 
 plain letter of Scripture, ' This is my body.'" He entitled 
 his tract — " Against the Enthusiasts, that the words of Christ 
 remain firm, 'This is my body.'" It was published in the 
 ensuing year.
 
 106 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1526. The year was rich in pulpit discourses, in which he treated 
 likewise of the Sacramentarian topic; but he complained 
 that a coldness in spiritual things had crept over the Wit- 
 tenberg people; "they were lukewarm in the Gospel, and 
 seemed satiated/' But with less reason he complained of his 
 own supineness. " Pray for me/' he wrote to Hausmann, 
 " who am so torpid and cold : I know not how it is, whether 
 I am overborne by weariness, or oppressed by Satan, that I 
 do so little." Tidings now came in apace in anticipation of 
 events not far distant. It was reported that the Pope was a 
 prisoner in the hands of the imperial faction. The rumour 
 was premature ; but the Pontiff had written a severe brief to 
 the Emperor on the 23rd June, and had followed this up by 
 a milder brief the next day, in which he had implored Charles 
 to keep "the unbridled ambition of his partisans within some 
 bounds ;" and he had cited Cardinal Pompeo Colonna in par- 
 ticular to appear before him at Rome, under the most heavy 
 penalties, to answer for his impious conduct. The Cardinal 
 in reply entered Rome at the head of his troops on the 
 19th September, and forced Clement, who had fled to the 
 Castle of St. Angelo, to come to terms, and then retreated,- 
 carrying with him 300,000 ducats as booty. But Clement, 
 as soon as he was released from his immediate dangers, threw 
 his engagements to the winds, degraded Colonna, and ex- 
 communicated his whole family; and, after retaliating se- 
 verely on their lands, directed his forces against Naples, 
 which was at the same time menaced by the French fleet. 
 On the other hand, the excited temper of the Emperor was 
 exhibited, not only in his respective replies to the Pontiff's 
 two briefs, but in the letter dated the 6th October, which he 
 addressed to the Consistory of Cardinals, exhorting them to 
 admonish the Pope of his duty, and persuade him to con- 
 voke a Council; but, if he refused to do so, to convoke
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 107 
 
 a Council with all speed themselves. In the awful events 1526. 
 daily transacted, or rumoured, Luther was delighted to be- 
 hold signs that the end of the world was near at hand; 
 and he attributed the commotions and wars which were 
 shaking all Europe to the rage and fury of Satan, who 
 was conscious that he had but a short time. But notwith- 
 standing the variance of Pope and Emperor, persecution 
 had not relaxed its vigour, and the sword of Duke George 
 and other princes was continually dripping with fresh blood. 
 There is thus repeated allusion in Luther's commentaries on 
 Habakkuk and Jonah to the fate of persecutors, and the 
 true meaning of the Divine forbearance in suffering their 
 virulence to exhaust itself without check or restraint. " God/' 
 he wrote, in his characteristic style, " is a great cook : his 
 kitchen is vast : he fats for it great beasts, kings and poten- 
 tates ; he places them in rich pasturage, amid wealth, glory, 
 and pleasure ; he suffers them to exult and tyrannise over the 
 necks and bodies of his servants, as the daughter of Herodias 
 danced over the head of John the Baptist, and as the world 
 rejoiced when the Apostles mourned ; till at length all in an 
 instant destruction from God cometh." 
 
 It was a period when, in a peculiar degree, the combat be- 
 tween Christ and Satan was fought out, as in the primitive 
 days of Christianity, in the bosom of each family ; and father 
 and son, husband and wife were at variance, by their adhesion 
 to one or the other of two conflicting masters. Lewis, King 
 of Hungary and Bohemia, one of the persecutors of the 
 Gospel, had perished with the sudden stroke of destruction of 
 which Luther spoke; but his widowed queen, Mary, the 
 sister of the Emperor, had for some time been attached to the 
 Gospel, and had laboured to extend the knowledge of it in 
 her husband's dominions. The Turkish arms had driven her 
 for refuge within the walls of Vienna : and in the day of her
 
 108 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1526. distress Luther presents to her his exposition of four con- 
 solatory Psalms— the 37th, 62nd, 94th, and 109th. "The 
 Holy Scripture," he told the afflicted Queen, " is a comfort- 
 ing Scripture, and teaches us patience, and to trust in the 
 true Father in heaven, and the true Bridegroom Jesus Christ, 
 who is our brother, our own flesh and blood, and to rejoice 
 with our true friends and companions, the dear angels, who 
 are round about us, and take care of us. It is hard to be so 
 early a widow, and to be robbed of a dear husband ; but the 
 Scriptures, especially the Psalms, will afford you much com- 
 fort, for they show the dear Father and the Son, in whom 
 certain and eternal life is hidden. Whoso sees and feels in 
 the Scriptures the Father's love towards us, can easily bear 
 any earthly sorrow : whoso feels it not, can never be truly 
 happy, though he swim in the abundance of worldly pleasure. 
 We should be more patient if we thought less of our light 
 crosses, and more of Christ's cross." 
 
 There is a letter of the Reformer at this period, which 
 allows an insight into his financial condition. His old friend 
 the ex-Prior of the Augustine Convent, had applied for a 
 loan of eight florins ; and in answer to this request, Luther 
 enters into a statement of his pecuniary circumstances. He 
 was in debt 100 florins ; three silver drinking cups, the pre- 
 sents of friends, were placed in pawn for the payment of a 
 moiety of this sum ; and another cup was in pledge for twelve 
 florins more of it, " due to Luke and Christian." In such an 
 embarrassed condition he was unable to do anything by loan 
 towards relieving the straits of another ; but he was willing 
 to do all that he could, and would use his influence to pacify 
 the Prior's debtors, if he wished him to do so, with the 
 utmost alacrity. " The Lord," he said, " is punishing me for 
 my imprudence, and then he will help me out of my diffi- 
 culties again." The imprudence thus chastened arose entirely
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 109 
 
 from a liberality which knew no bounds in relieving the 1526. 
 distresses of others. But poverty did not preclude great do- 
 mestic happiness. " Johnny/' Luther wrote to Spalatin, " is 
 cutting his teeth, and prattles pleasantly, in his way, to 
 everybody : Kate says, that he has taught her the joys of 
 matrimony, of which the Pope and his minions are un- 
 worthy." 
 
 The absence of the Elector John at the Diet had retarded 
 the execution of Luther's plan for the visitation of the 
 churches and parishes in his dominions by commissioners. 
 This obstacle was now removed; but a more serious one 
 remained in the opposition made to such a project by the 
 courtiers, who had, wherever they could, seized on the pro- 
 perty of the fallen convents with the greediness of harpies, 
 and were now most reluctant to have their depredations 
 checked, and themselves called to account. The tendency to 
 rapacity had been much increased by the mild and concilia- 
 tory rule of the Elector John, which had been so grossly 
 abused by many of his nobles as to cause Luther to exclaim 
 with vehemence, that " a tyrant alone was fitted to be the de- 
 pository of authority." " There are not a few," he declared, 
 " who with loud professions of zeal for the Gospel, are the 
 greatest enemies the Gospel has." But resolute in requiring 
 the execution of his plan, he wrote on the 22nd November, a 
 very strong letter to the Elector, requesting that a visitation 
 should be forthwith instituted of the parishes in his electorate 
 by four commissioners, of whom two should examine matters 
 of finance, and the other two investigate the characters of the 
 clergy, the condition of the schools, and the nature of the 
 doctrines in which the people were instructed. " He would 
 himself warrant," he told the Elector, "that if such affairs 
 were properly looked into, everything would thenceforward go 
 right with the peasantry, who had been left too often without a
 
 110 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1526. clergyman or preacher, living like the sow." The nobility, he 
 warned his princes, were carving a goodly portion for them- 
 selves out of the convent wealth. But as this entreaty did 
 not accomplish all that Luther could wish, he took care to 
 bring the case in person before the immediate attention of 
 the Elector, when he happened to be, not long after, at Wit- 
 tenberg. He first addressed himself to John Frederic, who 
 expressed warm indignation at the rapine of the nobles ; and 
 then, overruling every objection which the domestic officers 
 of the Elector could interpose, he forced his way into John's 
 bedchamber, and laid before him, in a private interview of 
 some length, the fraudulent and griping selfishness of his 
 courtiers. Spalatin also, and the University, were stirred up 
 to intercede with the Elector for the same object : and under 
 the influence of these entreaties and remonstrances the com- 
 mission was appointed, and the visitation commenced the 
 following year. 
 
 Towards the close of this year the plague fell on Wit- 
 tenberg with more than ordinary severity; and continued 
 throughout the greater portion of the next year, increasing in 
 1527. virulence as the summer advanced. The opening of the new 
 year proved a season of sickness also to Luther himself. In 
 January he suffered much from hemorrhage ; and after that, 
 " a sudden collection of blood around the heart," as he de- 
 scribes the attack, produced such violent compressions as 
 almost extinguished life, when he was unexpectedly relieved 
 by drinking the water of the carduus benedictus. 
 
 The weakness consequent on this illness delayed for a time 
 his commentary on Zechariah ; but early in January his 
 treatise against the Enthusiasts appeared, which, he mentions 
 with lively joy, had the effect of " confirming many in the 
 true faith of the Lord's Supper." But all his spare time was 
 devoted to his German version of the Prophets ; and he was
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. Ill 
 
 now engrossed with the stud}' of Isaiah. A German transla- 1527. 
 tion of the Sacred Prophets had already heen published at 
 Worms, and in many respects was approved by Luther : but 
 the phraseology seemed to him less simple than the work 
 demanded in order to be generally useful, and he continued 
 his own version. His commentaries on the prophetical books 
 was a natural sequel to the work of translation. Cordially 
 enamoured of such peaceful theological researches, he was 
 rejoiced to forego controversy with the Romanists : and the 
 signs of the times seemed to him to dispense with the neces- 
 sity of returning to this old warfare. " Everywhere/' he 
 exclaimed, " the Pope is visited for his destruction : and 
 although persecution is raging on all sides, and many are 
 burnt, the end and hour of Antichrist approaches " But as 
 before, so now, he found his old opponents incapable of 
 observing silence. Emser, with equal mendacity and malice, 
 published copies of Luther's letters to Henry VIII. and 
 Duke George, with the answers respectively made to them, 
 and represented the gentle terms of the Reformer's addresses 
 as equivalent to a recantation of his doctrines. More was 
 added which malevolence had dictated. Luther felt himself 
 compelled to reply to a charge which might possibly obtain 
 credit, and which glanced at his consistency ; and vindicated 
 his character effectually from the allegation of a recantation, 
 but with great dignity of feeling he was silent as to the spon- 
 taneous calumnies of Emser. " I erred," he said, " and I 
 grieve for it, for I cast my pearls before swine. A fool I 
 have been, and a fool I remain, for looking for a John the 
 Baptist in kings' courts." 
 
 The recreations before spoken of continued to be resorted 
 to in his moments of leisure. Amsdorf and Link were the 
 instruments in supplying the means of these amusements. 
 Both were written to for garden seeds, and the Reformer,
 
 112 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1527. somewhat later, gives a glowing description of his melons and 
 cucumbers, which promised to succeed to the utmost of his 
 expectation. The turning-lathe was a great source of grati- 
 fication j but he wanted one, he said, which would turn of 
 itself whilst Wolfgang was snoring or idling. The presents 
 he received were numerous : vases, money, eatables, radishes 
 from Erfurth, &c. A gift of a wooden clock, which he re- 
 ceived from an unknown admirer through the hand of Link, 
 exceedingly delighted him ; he studied its mechanism, in 
 which, within a few days after its receipt, he pronounced 
 himself perfect. The gift he considered opportune : " My 
 drunken Germans want to be taught what time of clay it is." 
 Domestic matters progressed as smoothly as Luther's genial 
 temper and Kate's conjugal devotedness could make them. 
 Before the close of the year an account of the antics of 
 " Johnny" concluded many letters on matters of business, or 
 religious bickerings. Perhaps his habitual good nature does 
 not display itself more forcibly in anything than the readiness 
 with which, notwithstanding the extraordinary weight of oc- 
 cupation devolving on him, he acted the part of go-between 
 for various clergymen who wished to publish religious trea- 
 tises, or Scriptural commentaries, and the proprietors of the 
 Wittenberg printing presses. Frequent were the complaints 
 if the printing went on languidly : but Luther never lost his 
 temper. The works to be published demanded the introduc- 
 tion of a celebrated name, and Luther did not refuse to write 
 an infinity of prefaces. For his own writings he never re- 
 ceived the value of a farthing in money, although they were 
 the chief support of the printers, and the ordinary remunera- 
 tion was a gold piece a sheet : but he took gratis copies of 
 such works issued from the Wittenberg presses as pleased 
 him ; and by this means was enabled to supply impoverished 
 but deserving students with works which they could never
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 113 
 
 have procured for themselves, and which materially aided 1527. 
 their industry. 
 
 In Germany itself no political event occurred this year of 
 any moment ; expectation was on the watch for the first au- 
 thentic tidings of something definite from Rome. So strong 
 was the conviction that the future course of affairs in Ger- 
 many would be determined by the fortune of the Imperial 
 arms in Italy, that scarcely a noble was present in the Diet 
 which met at Ratisbon in the spring ; and the deputies parted, 
 after voting a humble petition to the Emperor, to honour 
 Germany with his presence. On the 2nd June the young 
 Saxon prince John Frederic was wedded to the Princess Si- 
 bylla of Cleves ; but the influence of this union, for the pre- 
 sent, was only felt in its interposing another cause of delay to 
 the execution of the promised visitation of the Saxon parishes. 
 
 No war had ever been more popular with the Germans, 
 than that now levied by Charles against Clement VII. The 
 Emperor had directed his brother to march himself, with his 
 troops, into Italy ; but as Ferdinand's absence was objection- 
 able on many grounds, particularly in the present condition 
 of his own kingdoms, he commissioned the veteran George 
 Frundsberg, whose welcome to Luther at Worms had been 
 followed by a cordial acceptance of the evangelical doctrines, 
 to gather an army in the Imperial name, and lead it across the 
 Alps with all speed. The reputation of Frundsberg as the 
 hero of the fields of Bicocca and Pavia, was not more effective 
 in attracting recruits to his standard, than his well-known 
 hostility to the Papacy and admiration of Luther. In his 
 ardour he pawned his wife's jewels, and offered his own lands 
 for mortgage ; and it is related that he carried about in his 
 hand a rope twisted with gold and silver thread, and threat- 
 ened that he " would treat the Pontiff as the Eastern monarchs 
 treat their brothers." But Charles himself by no means 
 
 VOL. II. I
 
 114 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1527. disdained the enthusiasm, which he was aware would be in- 
 spired in his German subjects by the knowledge of the desti- 
 nation of this levy of troops. " Say/ 5 he enjoined Ferdinand, 
 " against the Turks : every one will know what Turks are 
 meant." The boldest hearts in Germany throbbed with ex- 
 ultation at these evidences of an anti-papal spirit in the 
 Imperial councils. In November the army numbered 11,000 
 men; on the 17th of that month the command to commence 
 the march was given — " For the Alps and Italy; " and every 
 day the army under Frundsberg received new accessions of 
 recruits, many enlisting without pay, attracted simply by the 
 popular destination of the enterprise. 
 
 Over crags and the tops of precipices, down which the sol- 
 diers trembled to look, pursuing its course with the agility of 
 the wild goat, his landsknechts steadying the steps of their 
 veteran chief with a rail of spears, the army arrived on the 
 evening of the 17th at Aa; and two days later it reached the 
 foot of the Alps. The Duke of Urbino, commander of the 
 forces of the League, was on its right flank ; but he did not 
 venture to make an attack. A smart affair took place at 
 Mantua, in which Giovanni de' Medici, in whom the utmost 
 confidence was reposed by the Papal troops, was slain, and his 
 loss proved a material injury to the Pontiff : thence Frunds- 
 berg pushed on to the Po, which he crossed at Ostiglia, and 
 a junction was effected on the 12th January not far from 
 Firenzuola, with such troops as the Duke of Bourbon could 
 lead from Milan. The united army, on the 22nd February, 
 20,000 strong, received the welcome order to take the high 
 road to Rome. 
 
 It is possible that if Clement VII., shortly after this, had 
 offered the generals, from his large store of treasure, an ad- 
 equate sum to satisfy the soldiers' claims, his capital might 
 have remained unmolested. But his offers were marked by
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 115 
 
 the niggardly propensity of his character; the generals had 1527. 
 exhausted all the resources at their command for liquidating 
 the arrears of payment; and the only means of authority 
 that remained to them was their personal influence. Frunds- 
 berg, in a mild and rational address, tried to allay the risings 
 of disorder. But the resentment had attained too high a 
 pitch. In reply to his considerate language the cry " Gelt, 
 Gelt," resounded, and spears were even levelled at himself 
 and officers. Frundsberg could not bear this treatment from 
 his brave landsknechts, who were " his children, to whom he 
 had been true in success and in distress," and in the vehe- 
 mence of his overwrought feelings he sank down upon a dram 
 in an apoplectic fit. He was unable to regain his speech for 
 four days afterwards; and then the shock which he had re- 
 ceived was too great for his advanced age and worn-out frame. 
 He was conveyed to Ferrara, where he lingered for a year and 
 some months. 
 
 This catastrophe to their chief stilled the tumult, but did 
 not stifle the ardour, with which the soldiers burned to gain 
 possession of the Holy City : on the contrary, it seemed rather 
 to inflame it. Bourbon, who had now the sole command, 
 made some demonstrations against Florence; but that city 
 was too strongly fortified to be taken before the Duke of 
 Urbino could come to its relief; and on the 28th April, 
 after a seasonable supply of necessaries from the city of 
 Siena, which was in alliance with the Emperor, the combined 
 Spanish and German forces pressed on for Rome itself. On 
 the 5th May, through the mist of the evening, they descried 
 the walls and towers of the Papal city. There was no time 
 to be lost, as the Duke of Urbino was already in Tuscany. 
 Bourbon accordingly issued the command, that early the 
 next morning the army should be ready, in battle array, to 
 commence the assault; and at six o'clock of Monday the 
 
 i 2
 
 116 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1527. Gth May, under cover of a dense fog, the soldiers advanced 
 to escalade the walls round the Vatican. At first, the scaling 
 parties were repelled; and on seeing this Bourbon himself 
 taking a ladder in his hand, applied it to the wall, and ad- 
 vanced his foot on the lowest round, when a bullet struck 
 him on the ribs and precipitated him mortally wounded into 
 the fosse beneath. A covering was hastily thrown over the 
 body, to conceal the loss from the soldiers ; but contrary to 
 what had been conjectured, the misfortune becoming known, 
 stimulated their courage to avenge their commander. The 
 parapets were now mounted on all sides, the Spaniards being 
 the first to effect a successful lodgment : and the band of 
 defenders being greatly outnumbered by their assailants, the 
 Avhole line of fortifications rapidly fell into the hands of the 
 Imperialists. After this success they rested for four hours. 
 Towards nightfall a door leading across the Tiber was ob- 
 served by one of the soldiers to be unguarded ; he entered it, 
 and others followed him, and, pressing on without opposition, 
 the German and Spanish troops crossed the bridges, which 
 were scarcely defended, and spread through all parts of the 
 interior of the city. An hour after sunset the Imperialists 
 had possession of every quarter of Rome. Clement had fled 
 to the Castle of St. Angelo only just in time to secure his 
 personal safety ; but his treasures, as well as the wealth of the 
 cardinals, and all the resources of a capital famed for its dis-r 
 soluteness and luxury, lay at the feet of the victors. Pillage 
 and brutality succeeded to the struggle of arms. There is no 
 tale of horror, either described or conceivable, which cannot 
 be matched by some of the deeds that were perpetrated by the 
 sanguinary Spaniards ; and they were even exceeded in fero- 
 city by the Neapolitans. The vault containing the remains 
 of Julius II. was torn open, and a ring taken from the finger 
 of the corpse : the churches were plundered : everywhere
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 117 
 
 search was made for gold : and no pity shown to age or sex, 1527. 
 Guelph or Ghibelin. Meanwhile the German soldiers turned 
 to the harmless recreation of raillery and satire. A proces- 
 sion of them, arrayed in cardinals' robes and mounted on 
 mules, wound their way through the principal streets of the 
 city, until they halted in front of the Castle of St. Angelo ; 
 where the representative of the Pontiff, a man of the name 
 of Grunwald, eminent for his lofty stature and majestic form, 
 flourishing a large drinking-cup, harangued the right reverend 
 assemblage on the vices and abominations of former Pontiffs ; 
 that he himself, unlike his predecessors, would ever be obe- 
 dient to the Emperor, and by will would make over the 
 See at his death to Martin Luther ; and ended by requiring, 
 in a loud voice, of those present, if they assented to what 
 he had said, to signify their concurrence by raising their 
 hands. The whole crowd of soldiers raised their hands, and 
 shouted with all their might, " Long life to Pope Luther." 
 A representative of the Reformer, in the solemn garb of the 
 ecclesiastic of Wittenberg, was then paraded on the shoulders 
 of the cardinals through the streets, and conveyed with the 
 wildest mirth and rejoicing, to St. Peter's Church and the 
 palace of the Pontiff. 
 
 When Charles heard the news of the sack of Rome, he dis- 
 sembled his joy at the success of his arms ; he even wrote to 
 the Catholic princes to protest, that what had occurred had 
 not proceeded from his orders ; he put himself and his court 
 into mourning, although a son, afterwards the bigoted Philip 
 II., had recently been born to him ; and he appointed that 
 prayers should be offered in all the churches, that the Pope 
 might recover his liberty. His secret acts were in direct con- 
 tradiction to these noisy protestations. On the 15th June 
 Pompeo Colonna arrived in Rome, and took the command of 
 the Imperial troops, whose excesses were now subjected to
 
 118 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1527. some kind of restraint : and negotiations were opened with 
 Clement, which issued in the agreement, on his part, to pay 
 400,000 ducats to the army, to surrender his stronghold, and 
 to give hostages in pledge of peace on condition of regaining 
 his liberty, when these articles of submission had been fulfilled. 
 But before the time of his stipulated liberation arrived, he 
 managed to effect his escape in the disguise of a merchant. 
 The old amity was, not long afterwards, restored between 
 Pope and Emperor, and Clement was united to Charles more 
 firmly than ever, by the conviction that the retention of 
 Florence by his own family was dependent on his will; but 
 the Imperial letters to the Pope and Cardinals, impressions of 
 which were struck off by thousands, and were everywhere cir- 
 culated, and all the circumstances attending the sack of 
 Home, following just upon the first Diet of Spires, gave an 
 impetus to the Keformation such as perhaps could hardly have 
 resulted from any other concatenation of events. a Rome," 
 Luther wrote, " has been miserably laid waste, Christ so truly 
 reigning, that the Emperor, wishing to persecute Luther, has 
 been compelled to prostrate not Luther but the Pope. All 
 things obey Christ, for the safety of his people and the de- 
 struction of his adversaries." 
 
 But the Reformer had small leisure to contemplate the turns 
 in the tide of politics ; his element was action, doing, or en- 
 during. He was now called upon to approve his faith in God 
 in his own sufferings, in the prospect of death. For some 
 time the melancholy to which he was subject — the cause of 
 which he declared was quite preternatural — had preyed upon 
 him, when, on the morning of the 6th July, he felt exceed- 
 ingly depressed, and " a stroke from Satan" weighed him to the 
 ground. In this condition he sent his servant Wolfgang to call 
 Bugenhagen, who promptly obeyed the summons, and found 
 him in company with Kate, but more composed than he had
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 119 
 
 anticipated. Luther took his friend apart into his study, and, 1527. 
 when they were alone, opened his sorrows at some length, and 
 requested to be allowed to make confession of his sins. This 
 he did ; and Bugenhagen pronounced the absolution ; after 
 which Luther asked him to offer up prayer in his behalf, and 
 Luther also prayed himself. He expressed to his friend his 
 resignation to the divine will, and spoke of the trials, little 
 suspected by his adversaries, which he endured from the buf- 
 fetings of Satan, and solicited that Bugenhagen would admi- 
 nister the sacrament to him the next day — Sunday. The 
 conversation was protracted till the hour of dinner had nearly 
 arrived, when Bugenhagen, hoping to dissipate the apprehen- 
 sions which clouded Luther's spirits, reminded him of an en- 
 gagement they had both made to dine with some noblemen, 
 and urged him to keep the appointment. Luther accord- 
 ingly went with him; and at dinner-time the flow of his 
 spirits seemed returned, and his humour and vivacity were the 
 life of the entertainment. After dinner, about twelve o'clock, 
 however, he retired, and walked with Dr. Jonas in his garden 
 for two hours, conversing on a variety of subjects, and labour- 
 ing by such means to obtain some relief from his depression. 
 He left Jonas after extracting the promise that he would be 
 his guest, together with his wife, at supper in the evening. 
 Returning to Kate, he laid himself down to get some repose, 
 and was resting on his bed, when the guests came in at five 
 o'clock. He rose to partake of supper with them, but com- 
 plained of a singular sensation in the left ear and down the left 
 back — a kind of roaring, like the rushing of the sea — which he 
 knew to be a precursor of an entire prostration of strength. 
 A fainting fit came upon him, and he was obliged to leave 
 the apartment and return to his bed, Jonas accompanying 
 him, whilst Kate stayed behind for a moment to give direc- 
 tions to the servant. In his bedroom he again fainted away,
 
 120 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1527. and called to Jonas to give him water, or he must die. Jonas 
 threw some cold water on his face and neck. Believing his 
 hour to be come, Luther turned to his God in earnest prayer, 
 and repeated the sixth Psalm, expressing occasionally his re- 
 signation. "Thy will, O Lord, be done/' When Kate 
 entered, she was horror-struck at her husband's deathly 
 pallid countenance, and sent the maidservant to hasten the 
 physician, and meanwhile laboured to infuse animation by 
 rubbing his limbs and administering cordials. Bugenhagen 
 also was sent for, and arrived about six o'clock. He found 
 Luther, as he informs us,"* in bed, crying out, first in Latin 
 and then in German, to God and to Christ, commending, in 
 the near prospect of dissolution, the holy Gospel to the Most 
 High, and regretting that he had not been found worthy to 
 suffer in its behalf, but comforting himself with the reflection 
 that neither had the beloved Apostle been admitted to this pri- 
 vilege, although St. John had written a far more powerful book 
 against Popery than ever he had. Bugenhagen exhorted him 
 to join with them in supplication that he might yet be spared to 
 render consolation to others. Luther replied that death to 
 him would be gain ; but his continuance in the flesh might 
 be advantageous to others. " Gracious God," he added, 
 "thy will be done." Then, apprehensive that his enemies 
 would circulate the calumny after his decease, that in his last 
 moments he had retracted his doctrines, he called upon those 
 present to bear witness to his solemn asseveration that he 
 fully believed all that he had taught ; nay, knew that what he 
 had written and preached on faith, love, the Cross, and the 
 Sacraments, was the plain truth. He went on to speak of 
 the censures heaped on him by many, for his harsh and bitter 
 
 * See his account, followed by that of Jonas, Walch. XXI., pp. 159* 
 —175*.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 121 
 
 writings against the Papists and Fanatics ; but protested that 1527. 
 whatever he had written against them had been from love 
 to their souls, and for their real good : he had intended to 
 write more against them, " the dear God, however, had de- 
 termined otherwise respecting him." After praying with the 
 utmost fervour, he turned to Kate, assured her that let the 
 licentious world scoff as it might, she was his true and right- 
 ful wife, and exhorted her to put her trust in God, and make 
 his word her guide. Whilst warm blankets and cushions 
 were applied to his chest and feet, he inquired, " Where is 
 Johnny ? " The child was brought and smiled on his father, 
 on which Luther exclaimed that he commended him and his 
 mother to God. His possessions only amounted, he said, to 
 a few silver drinking-cups ; but he was persuaded God would 
 provide for his beloved Kate, and for dearest Johnny; and 
 he gave his Will into Kate's hands. It was as follows : — " I 
 thank thee, my all-dear God, from the heart, that thou hast 
 made me poor and a beggar upon earth : I have no house, 
 fields, money, or property to bequeath to my wife and child. 
 Thou hast given these to me, to thee therefore I restore them. 
 Thou rich, faithful God, feed, teach, preserve them, even as 
 thou hast fed, taught, and preserved me, thou Father of the 
 fatherless and Judge of the widow." With great presence of 
 mind Kate suppressed every exhibition of her alarm, and with 
 serene countenance answered that she trusted God would yet 
 restore him, not only for the sake of herself and child, but of 
 the many Christians who still needed his counsel. Soon after 
 this he fell into a profound sleep; a profuse perspiration 
 spread over his frame, and when he awoke the next morning 
 the malady was gone, leaving only extreme weakness behind 
 it. He was even so much relieved as to be able to rise from 
 his bed in the evening, and partake of supper with his friends. 
 Four days later he wrote to Spalatin : " My strength had
 
 122 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1527. completely sunk ; I had no hope, but expected to die in the 
 arms of my wife and friends : but the Lord in mercy has 
 raised me up speedily. Pray the Lord never to forsake his 
 sinful servant." 
 
 The effects of this illness were for a long time felt by 
 Luther ; and, in consequence of the incapacitated state of his 
 head, he was compelled to keep " a long holiday from reading 
 and writing." His spirits were still depressed : but there is 
 a cheering entry in a letter dated the 13th July. "The 
 visitation has begun. Eight days ago Jerome Schurff and 
 Philip set out on that mission. May Christ direct them ! 
 Amen!" In a letter to Melancthon, of the 2nd August, he 
 refers to his dreadful sickness. " He seemed to have lost 
 Christ," he said, " and was driven about with waves and 
 storms of despair, and blasphemy against God ; and was thus 
 laid in death and hell for more than a week." The final 
 attack of the malady had been so terrible, that he was still 
 trembling in every limb after the storm was past. In answer, 
 however, to the prayers of his saints, God had delivered him 
 from the nethermost hell. " The plague," he adds, " is truly 
 here, but we trust it will be mild." 
 
 Indeed, Wittenberg soon became a deserted city. The Uni- 
 versity and Professors took wing to Jena by the Elector's 
 command; the magistrates quitted the pestilential circle; 
 commerce, and all business transactions were interrupted; 
 even Dr. Jonas, in whom more firmness might have been ex- 
 pected, fled to Nordhausen with his family, leaving a son 
 plague-stricken, who subsequently died. Luther and Bugen- 
 hagen, with the deacons, were left alone to perform all that 
 zeal and piety could dictate for those who yet remained in 
 their homes. If any one could have justly advanced the plea 
 of recent sickness and debilitated health for retiring out of 
 reach of danger, it was Luther; but he proved himself the last
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 123 
 
 to listen to the counsel of timidity in preference to the voice of 1527. 
 duty. His little son and Kate, who was again advanced in 
 pregnancy, remained with him ; and even their danger did 
 not appal the father and husband, so rooted was his faith in 
 God. On the 10th August the Elector addressed an earnest 
 entreaty to Luther to provide for his own safety and that of 
 his household, by quitting Wittenberg; but he returned a 
 decided answer in the negative. Strong in the protection of 
 Heaven, he was amongst the sick and the dying, offering con- 
 solation, or administering the sacred elements. The plague at 
 length invaded his own dwelling : three young women in the 
 convent were struck with it, one of them with such severity, 
 that her life was long despaired of : but Luther and his imme- 
 diate family altogether escaped the contagion. All trade 
 being suspended, it was difficult to obtain the necessary sup- 
 plies of life ; and in this exigency the Reformer applied to 
 the Elector, from whom he received this kind answer: — 
 " Dear Doctor, take anything of mine you like." The only 
 composition of any account which proceeded from Luther's 
 pen during the whole of this sickly autumn, was a brief pro- 
 duction which he was requested to write by some of the 
 clergy of Breslau in elucidation of the question, " How far 
 it may be allowable for a Christian to fly from the plague." 
 He insisted that, to avoid danger was not only justifiable but a 
 duty, unless a higher duty demanded the boldly encountering 
 it. He corresponded regularly with Dr. Jonas, and repeated 
 again and again the assurance that the violence and spread of 
 the pestilence were greatly exaggerated. The depression of his 
 spirits was much augmented by the pusillanimity which he 
 witnessed on all sides, and he never doubted that the malice 
 of Satan was at the bottom of the rumours and the apprehen- 
 sions which were robbing of its students that University which 
 the arch-fiend had " most reason to hate of all upon the face
 
 124 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1527. of the whole earth ;" and he complained with deep dejection 
 that even " where the devil could not reign by death, he yet 
 reigned by the fear of death." 
 
 In the midst of these trials, the replies of Zwingle and 
 GEcolampadius to his work against the Enthusiasts reached 
 his hands ; and somewhat later Erasmus's two books, entitled, 
 " Hyperaspistes : *' " Hyperasp," or " Hyper- viper/' Luther 
 called them. A letter from Zwingle, " in very fierce style," 
 preceded his treatise. And from the letter Luther turned to 
 the tract; but up to the 10th November he had only read a 
 few pages. The other productions he did not even open at 
 present. It afforded him, however, pleasure that the sarcas- 
 tic bitterness of Erasmus was beginning to unclose the eyes 
 of many who had persisted in praising the scholar of Rot- 
 terdam, and amongst others of Dr. Jonas, to the spirit which 
 really animated him, and in this gratification Kate partici- 
 pated with lively sympathy. 
 
 A more welcome and encouraging sound than the din of 
 controversy were the prayers of patient resignation and ex- 
 ulting faith poured forth by martyrs, together with their life's 
 blood, in the cause of Christ. On the 16th August Leonhard 
 Caesar, who had been for some months imprisoned at Passau — 
 where, in a public dispute with Eck, he had persevered in 
 maintaining the doctrines of Scripture — being taken to 
 Scherdingen, the place of his birth, was burnt at the stake, cry- 
 ing with his last breath, " I am thine, Jesu, save me ! " " What 
 am I, wretched man ? " Luther exclaimed, on welcoming the 
 news ; " a wordy preacher compared with this mighty doer ! " 
 Cologne, too, had its martyrs by the inquisitorial zeal of 
 Egmond and Hochstraten ; and Luther composed a hymn in 
 memory of their constancy. George Winkler, who had been 
 summoned to answer before the Cardinal of Mentz for his 
 tenets, after dismissal from the Archbishop's tribunal, being
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 125 
 
 put on the horse of the court fool, and made to start on his 1527. 
 journey homewards without an attendant, was set upon by 
 ruffiaus in a wood, near Asehaffenburg, and murdered. This 
 dark tragedy had occurred at the end of May ; it drew from 
 Luther a brief consolatory epistle in the autumn to the 
 people of Halle, where Winkler had been preacher, in which 
 he prayed that " the murdered blood, like Abel's, might call 
 from the ground to God for vengeance ; or rather, like divine 
 seed shed by wicked hands, might start up into life, instead 
 of one murdered George a hundred preachers of the Gospel." 
 " The world," he said, " is a tavern of which Satan is the 
 landlord, and the sign over the doorway is Murder and Lying." 
 Meantime the plague was spreading consternation at Wit- 
 tenberg. In the fishermen's suburb the fatality was greatest ; 
 but in all, up to the 19th August, there were only eighteen 
 deaths, men, women, and children. Very few grown-up persons 
 fell victims to it, and so far only two are mentioned, the wife 
 of Tilo Dene, who expired almost in Luther's arms, and the 
 sister of Eberhard, the ex-prior. The spiritual dejection of 
 Luther — driven as it were more deeply into his soul by the 
 dispersion of the University, the translation of the Prophets 
 being at a stand-still, and the Word of God hindered in its 
 course — attended him as he roamed the abandoned city, 
 visited the sick, and cheered the timid. " Satan," he wrote 
 to Agricola, ' ' is raging against me with all his force : the 
 Lord has set me as a sign like another Job. My hope is, 
 that my agony has reference to others besides myself, although 
 there is no evil which my own sins have not deserved; my 
 life is, that I know I have taught Christ's Word purely and 
 sincerely, and this vexes Satan. I know the tyrants of this 
 world will not touch me; others will be slain, and burnt for 
 the testimony of Christ; but I shall undergo spiritual and 
 worse tortures from the prince of this world himself." (t May
 
 126 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1527. the rumour of pestilence," he wrote to another, " meet Christ 
 the great physician, so that our friends may again assemble 
 to fulfil our important task." On the 19th October the in- 
 telligence communicated to Jonas was, that up to that date 
 no more than fifteen had died out of more than a hundred 
 cases of plague in the hospital, and that of forty-eight patients 
 whom Dr. Bohem had received under his care, in the plague, 
 only eight had died. "You see that prayers to Christ are 
 not void." The bulletin of the 1st November, sent to 
 Amsdorf, was less satisfactory. Lnther's house had been 
 turned into a hospital. Three young women, residing in 
 the convent, had been seized with the plague; one of them, 
 Margaret Mochinna, was labouring under a very violent 
 attack; Kate, too, was near her confinement, and Johnny 
 had eaten nothing for three days, from the pain of teething. 
 The wife of George, the Chaplain or Deacon, who was ex- 
 pecting her confinement, was just struck with the pestilence. 
 " Battles without and fears within," Luther said ; " but 
 Christ visits us." The mighty christian spirit, who was 
 the support of the tried at this conjuncture, was himself 
 sorely beset with spiritual temptations : " like Job or Peter, 
 tossed by Satan ;" but he added, " May Christ say to the 
 tempter, ' Touch not his life ;' and to me, ' I am thy salva- 
 tion/" In this state of things, however, he looked beyond 
 present trials, and burned to write again against the Sacra- 
 mentarians; but, immediately feeling his bodily weakness, 
 relinquished the project. His great comfort, as he reiterates 
 in his correspondence, was, "We have the Word of God, a 
 shield against Satan :" and with fervent gratitude for what 
 that word had already achieved, he dates a letter to Amsdorf, 
 " Wittenberg, All Saints Day, the Tenth Anniversary since 
 Indulgences were trampled underfoot." 
 
 Three days later the tidings conveyed to Jonas were, that
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 127 
 
 the wife of George the Chaplain, struck with the pestilence, 1527. 
 had been prematurely in labour: the child was dead; and 
 she had followed it — "in hearty faith departed to Christ." 
 This event had diffused a general panic, and Bugenhagen and 
 his wife had taken up their quarters with Luther and Kate, 
 in the convent, in order that the two pastors' families might 
 mutually aid and solace one another. Kate was still "firm 
 in faith;" but Johnny continued ill, and the cause of his 
 malady was dubious. Beyond the convent walls, however, 
 the intelligence was more cheering. In the fishermen's 
 suburb the plague had exhausted its force, and marriages 
 were recommencing ; but even this improvement, it was feared, 
 might be delusive, for eight days earlier the plague had seemed 
 spent, when it suddenly returned with a change of wind, and 
 twelve deaths occurred in one day. A few days later, how- 
 ever, the state of things was much improved, and Margaret 
 Mochinna was getting better ; but Luther was very anxious 
 on Kate's account, and Johnny was " so ill that he could only 
 ask for Dr. Jonas' prayers." " I trust," Luther said, pouring 
 out his heart to his friend, " that we shall yet be together 
 again, and finish the version of Ecclesiastes. I deem myself 
 the last of men. Would that Erasmus and the Sacramenta- 
 rians could for one quarter of an hour feel the misery of my 
 heart ! I could say for certain they would be sincerely con- 
 verted and made whole. How my enemies persecute him 
 whom God hath smitten ! But it cannot be but that one 
 whom the world and its Prince so hates is pleasing to Christ. 
 May Christ, whom I have purely taught and confessed, be 
 my rock and strength." "It is no common soldier of 
 his troop, but the captain of devils himself," he wrote to 
 Hausmann, " who has risen against me." " As for what the 
 world may be about, the Pope, the Emperor, and the Kings, 
 I care not," he said to Link ; " I am sighing for Christ and
 
 128 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1527. his grace. Satan would have me never write again, but 
 descend with him to hell. May Christ trample him under- 
 foot, Amen." On the 29th November, Luther addressed a 
 letter to Jonas, informing him that the plague had nearly 
 disappeared, marriages were again solemnized, and business 
 was beginning to resume its ordinary routine. Margaret 
 Mochinna, it was hoped, would recover; but as yet her 
 hearing had not returned, and she could only speak with 
 great difficulty. The wife of John the Chaplain, Luther had 
 placed in Jonas' house, as that quarter of the town was free 
 from the pestilence ; and the fate of the wife of George, her 
 husband's associate, had impressed her mind with the deepest 
 alarm. But, if the plague should break out in that quarter, 
 he promised Jonas to remove her immediately from the asylum 
 which his empty house had afforded. The intelligence of the 
 10th December reported that only two cases of plague re- 
 mained in the hospital, and they had ceased to be serious : 
 Margaret Mochinna was recovering ; but, as it were in ransom 
 for the lives of the household, the pestilence had destroyed 
 five pigs of the convent : nothing had been heard of the plague 
 for two months in the fishermen's district ; the students 
 were even beginning to return, and Jerome Schurff was 
 expected by Christmas. 
 
 On the day of such joyful tidings a daughter, who received 
 the name of Elizabeth, was born to Luther, at 10 o'clock in 
 the morning, and both the infant and the mother seemed pro- 
 tected from above. " Glory and praise," he exclaimed, " be to 
 my Father in heaven, Amen." Johnny too was well again, 
 and in high good-humour. Four days later the plague was 
 pronounced to have disappeared totally : but Luther's spiritual 
 trials were of a more inveterate nature, and he continued to 
 disclose his anguish to his friends. " I have hurt Satan by many 
 books, and therefore he rages against me ; but let him rage
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 129 
 
 against Christ, who has really hurt him, through me, his 1527. 
 weakest vessel." "I seem to hang to Christ by a thread, 
 but Satan is drawing me to him with a cable." His health 
 was now so far re-established, that he could once more employ 
 it in completing his commentary on Zechariah, which his ter- 
 rible illness had interrupted when it was only half accom- 
 plished. He intended to have this commentary published 
 before the Leipsic fair; and then to exert all his powers 
 against the Sacramentarians in a second and final confutation. 
 He also "challenged" the Anabaptists in a brief epistle. 
 The arguments against the Sacramentarians and the Ana- 
 baptists were adapted to the understanding of the simpler 
 sort, who were particularly obnoxious to the plausibility of 
 their rationalistic tenets. 
 
 At the end of November, when the virulence of the plague 
 had spent itself, Luther left Wittenberg for a short time, and 
 repaired to Torgau, to the Electoral palace. The object of 
 this visit was to adjust some difference which had arisen 
 between Melancthon on one side, and Agricola on the other, 
 in regard to " The Visitation Articles," framed by the pen 
 of Philip, and comprising, together with the formula of public 
 worship, instructions to the ministers in regard to what they 
 should teach the people. Agricola objected to these "Articles," 
 that Melancthon had contradicted in them one of Luther's 
 foremost principles, that Repentance must proceed from love 
 to God and not from fear ; and he complained also that the 
 law of Moses was prescribed to be rehearsed to the people, 
 although Christians were no longer under the Law. Melanc- 
 thon replied that Repentance included in it both fear and 
 love, fear of God's wrath on account of sin, ending in the 
 acceptance of Christ's salvation and the consequent love of 
 the Saviour; and, as to the Ten Commandments not being 
 obligatory on Christians, there was not one of them which 
 
 VOL. II. K
 
 130 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1527. had not been re-established and enforced by the Saviour and 
 his Apostles, and therefore the Decalogue supplied a concise 
 and comprehensive summary of a Christian's duty. Luther 
 was well aware that personal conceit and jealousy of Philip 
 lay at the root of Agricola's strictures ; he had himself pre- 
 viously examined the Visitation Book and given it his ap- 
 proval; he listened accordingly, together with Bugenhagen, 
 with great patience to what was advanced on both sides, and 
 then gave an interpretation of his own meaning in his state- 
 ments as to Repentance and Faith, which satisfied both 
 parties : and having thus effected a peaceful settlement, for 
 the present at least, on the subjects of debate, he returned to 
 Wittenberg. 
 
 The plague which had desolated Wittenberg, and swept 
 through the Reformer's dwelling, without being permitted to 
 destroy life, had visited some other towns with greater fury ; 
 and at Dresden, Emser, the Papist champion, had fallen a 
 victim to it in November, after publishing in the preceding 
 August a version of the New Testament in opposition to 
 Luther's, stolen piecemeal in reality for the most part from 
 the latter. To this version Duke George had prefixed a preface, 
 replete with abuse of Luther and the Elector ; and the Re- 
 former was meditating a reply to it, when the death of Emser 
 stayed his hand. The loss of his Professor was much felt by 
 the Duke, who installed Cochlaeus, a worthy successor, in 
 the vacant chair. But, besides the contagion of pestilence, 
 the season had everywhere been sickly. Spalatin had been 
 seriously ill, and Duke George himself was ailing. 
 
 Among the fugitives, driven by the dread of the plague from 
 the neighbourhood of Wittenberg, was Carlstadt; but before 
 this he had distinctly and openly returned to his sacramenta- 
 rian errors, which, it would seem, he had never in reality re- 
 linquished, but had hypocritically dissembled; for in the
 
 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 131 
 
 statement which he gave to Chancellor Brack of his doctrinal 1527. 
 sentiments, and the arguments by which he supported them, 
 mention occurs of the composition having occupied him 
 a whole year. Luther remarks, in his correspondence about 
 the end of October, "For some weeks Carlstadt has been 
 absent from his place; let him go to his own place, for 
 no kindness can reclaim him." But as yet the ex-professor 
 had no intention of quitting the Saxon territory : he returned 
 towards the close of November, when Luther, in a courteous 
 and even kind letter, made a fresh overture to him for recon- 
 ciliation, pointing his attention to the feeble ground of sylla- 
 bles and letters on which his reasoning was built. But this 
 elicited no direct reply from Carlstadt; and, on the 28th 
 November, Luther writes, "We have been nourishing him 
 thus far in our bosom in the hope that he would return to 
 the right way ; but the wretched man grows more hardened 
 day by day." The following year, however, Carlstadt made 
 his answer to Luther's letter, not in a direct way, but in an 
 epistle to his friends and allies, Crautwald and Swenkfeld, 
 written in a vein of excessive vanity, in which, in an air of 
 triumphant superiority, he ridiculed some of Luther's asser- 
 tions,* and thanked God that he had "given him such a 
 sharp pen." This conduct the Reformer regarded as mean 
 and unmanly, and, being much incensed by it, sent word 
 to Carlstadt that for the time to come he must renounce 
 all discussion or communication with him. Carlstadt, in 
 reply, entered a complaint with the Elector against Luther's 
 treatment of him in a letter to Chancellor Bruck, and 
 craved the protection of the Saxon Court; but as it ap- 
 peared that he had broken the promise on which a return 
 to Saxony had been granted him, not only by his letter 
 
 * " This Luther," he wrote, " says that we drink forgiveness of sins 
 out of the cup. Oho ! " 
 
 k 2
 
 132 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHEK. 
 
 1527. to Swenkfeld, but by the secret publication of other con- 
 troversial writings, the Court was meditating measures of 
 a more stringent nature, and was deliberating on retaining 
 him in Saxony under a species of custody, to prevent the dis- 
 semination of his noxious principles. But whilst this was in 
 contemplation Carlstadt himself, towards the winter of 1528, 
 broke up camp for good, and secretly betook himself to 
 Schleswig Holstein, to raise, as Luther and Melancthon ap- 
 prehended, ' ' some new tragedy there." The authorities, how- 
 ever, were on their guard, and drove him beyond the boundaries. 
 The remainder of Carlstadt' s history may be best added in this 
 place. In the spring of 1529 he turned his wandering steps 
 to Friesland, and sent for his wife from Saxony, who mean- 
 while had found in Luther her chief friend and support, and 
 who now made application through him to the Court that her 
 husband might again be permitted to return to Saxony. This 
 application was rejected; and then Carlstadt directed his 
 fugitive steps to Switzerland, where, in a country of religious 
 sentiments congenial to his own, a cordial reception greeted 
 him : he first went to Zurich, and was made dean of the 
 Cathedral Church by Zwingle. After Zwingle's death he 
 removed to Basle, where he preached in St. Peter's Church, 
 and was installed in a professor's chair, and died there on 
 Christmas Day, 1541. 
 
 The plague having disappeared, and Luther's health being 
 re-established, he returned to his writings with the fullest 
 determination to make amends for lost time ; and, before the 
 close of 1527, his Commentary on Zechariah was published. 
 
 1528. Before the 5th February of the next year his " Epistle against 
 the Anabaptists, or Katabaptists," as he denominated them, 
 " written with a good deal of haste," made its appearance ; 
 and about the same time the Visitation Articles, composed, 
 as has been said, originally by Melancthon, but increased by
 
 THE LIFE OF MAltTIN LUTHER. 133 
 
 additions from Luther's pen on matrimonial questions, and 1528. 
 the communion in both kinds, were in the press, but delayed 
 by scarcity of paper. In March, just in time for the Frank- 
 fort fair, his " Great Confession,"* in opposition to the Sacra- 
 mentarian tenets, was given to the public; and about the 
 same period his " Sermons on the Book of Genesis" were 
 published, which had been taken down from his lips by some 
 of his audience, and then submitted to him for revisal. One 
 of the principal objects of these discourses was to oppose the 
 fanatical spirit, which, notwithstanding Munzer's execution, 
 and the ruin of his partisans, was still labouring, as Luther 
 complained, to "turn Christians into Jews, and to put a 
 false interpretation upon the Old Testament/' and which, 
 unhappily, from the licentious principles which it encouraged, 
 continued to be on the increase among the lower orders. 
 Before the end of May the translation of Isaiah was progress- 
 ing favourably; before the end of October it was published. 
 
 * It consisted of three parts. 1. That the Sacrarnentarians have 
 never answered a letter of his arguments. 2. The statements of Scrip- 
 ture on the subject of the Lord's Supper. 3. A general confession of 
 his faith. — Under this last head he declared his belief in the Trinity ; 
 the Corruption of Human Nature ; the Redemption by Christ applied 
 to the heart by the Holy Ghost ; one Baptism, the virtue of which as 
 God's ordinance cannot be lost, although faith be wanting ; the sacra- 
 mental bread and wine, Christ's very body and blood to all commu- 
 nicants, because God's ordinance cannot be broken by want of faith in 
 the priest or people ; the Church the commonwealth of Christians, not 
 only under the Pope, but in all the world, the one bride and mystical 
 body of the one bridegroom, Jesus ; in that true Church Forgiveness 
 of sins ; Papal Pardons mere roguery ; Prayer for the Dead condition- 
 ally not sinful; Purgatory not spoken of in Scripture; Christ the 
 only Mediator; Repentance only the "use and power of Baptism;" 
 Images, surplices, altar-candles, &c, indifferent ; the Resurrection of 
 the just to live for ever with Christ, and of the unjust to die for ever 
 with Satan.
 
 134 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1528. Rarely has the first vigour of returning health been sub- 
 jected to a severer ordeal of intellectual energy. 
 
 With full occupation the burden of spiritual trials became 
 lighter; and on the 25th February Luther wrote to Link, 
 " My Satan, by your prayers, is at length more supportable." 
 At the close of the year 1527 his patriotic solicitude had been 
 excited by the progress of the Turks, who, in conjunction 
 with the forces of John Zapolya the Woiwode, and backed by 
 the King of France, were threatening to overrun the south of 
 Germany. "The Turk is making vast preparations for a 
 return to Hungary, and will shed, I fear, much German 
 blood." But shortly afterwards an anxiety nearer home 
 was added to the dread of the Ottoman scimetar. A Diet 
 had been summoned to meet at Ratisbon in the spring : 
 it was understood that the Papist party were already straining 
 every nerve to attain their aims by a powerful combination : 
 King Ferdinand was proscribing heresy under every deno- 
 mination throughout his kingdoms, to the joy of the bishops ; 
 and a rupture with the Pontiff could not be expected a second 
 time to relieve the evangelical cause from its perils just when 
 they had reached their height. At such a conjuncture even 
 the arms of the Sultan seemed to some a seasonable diversion 
 rather than an object of terror : so that Luther indited a 
 treatise on the "War against the Turks," to show that he 
 at least had no share in such lack of national spirit and 
 counsels of expediency. " Satan," he said, "rages with such 
 fury that I think the day of the saints' redemption must 
 be nigh." On March 2nd he wrote to Hausmann, "The 
 threats of the mass-priests are very big in expectation of the 
 Diet at Ratisbon. Pray diligently with your church for the 
 princes of Germany, that God may give them his grace." 
 But the storm blew over for this year : the sitting of the 
 National Council was postponed, not by the Turkish invasion,
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 135 
 
 but by unexpected events, which to some judgments remain 1528. 
 to this day involved in mystery. 
 
 Otto Pack, sprung from a noble family in Misnia, and a' 
 doctor of laws, was one of the councillors of Duke George of 
 Saxony, and had sometimes discharged the functions of Chan- 
 cellor to the Court of Dresden. He had gone to Cassel in 
 1527 on business in connexion with the Count of Nassau, 
 and having gained the confidence of Philip of Hesse, had dis- 
 closed to him a momentous treaty, entered into by Duke 
 George and his Popish partisans, for no less an object than 
 the extermination of the evangelical doctrines, and the sub- 
 version of the states and princes who adhered to them. The 
 parties to the league were King Ferdinand, Albert of Mentz, 
 Joachim of Brandenburg, the Archbishop of Salzburg, the 
 Bishops of Bamberg and Wurzburg, the Dukes of Bavaria, 
 and Duke George himself. The league had been formed at 
 Breslaw, and the instrument of confederation bore date the 
 12th May, 1527. It declared that, unless the Elector John 
 delivered up Martin Luther, Saxony and Thuringia were to be 
 occupied by King Ferdinand, Franconia by the Bishops of 
 Bamberg and Wurzburg, and Moravia, Silesia, and Lusatia 
 by Duke George ; but, after the ends of the confederacy had 
 been attained, a different partition of the occupied territories 
 was to take place between the combining parties for per- 
 manent possession. And it was set down in the instrument of 
 compact what amount of forces the several partisans should 
 contribute. The Landgrave's case was made the subject of 
 a special agreement : he was to be forced to submission ; but, 
 in consideration of his youth, and the relationship in which 
 he stood to Duke George, his dominions were to be restored to 
 him on his renouncing the Lutheran heresy. The obstacle op- 
 posed to such a league by the existing treaty of confraternity 
 between the Elector of Saxony and his near kinsman Duke
 
 13G THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1528. George was considered and removed by reference to the 
 terms of "the Saxon Union," which especially excepted 
 those cases in which the Pope or Emperor might be con- 
 cerned. Pack assured Philip that if he would pay a visit to 
 Dresden, he would place the very instrument of federation in 
 his hands. And, on the Landgrave's complying with his 
 request, on the 18th February, he produced a copy of the 
 document, taken, as he said, from the ducal chancery, and 
 signed with the name of Duke George, but cut into strips and 
 inserted in another parchment, round which a silken thread 
 was tied, stamped with the ducal seal. Pack insisted that 
 the original instrument to the same purport existed, duly 
 signed and attested, but that the seal of Duke George was 
 broken, which showed that he had ceased to be a party to the 
 confederation; and he promised, on the payment of 4000 
 florins, to procure this autograph itself for the Landgrave's 
 inspection. Philip, according to his own assertion, paid down 
 this sum, and shortly afterwards quitted Dresden, his sus- 
 picions ripened into conviction, and his military ardour in- 
 flamed to an irrepressible degree. 
 
 He was not long in acquainting his allies with the formidable 
 conspiracy to their common detriment which had come to his 
 knowledge. He had a meeting with the Elector at Weimar, 
 and succeeded, by the promise of exhibiting the autograph 
 treaty, in persuading him that his fears of a Popish plot were 
 well grounded, so that the two princes entered into a formal 
 compact, on the 9th March, to " protect, with body, dignity, 
 possession, and every means in their power, the sacred deposit 
 of God's word for themselves and their subjects." They next 
 looked around for allies from amongst their evangelical neigh- 
 bours, and trusted, by means of the Duke of Prussia, to be able 
 to incite the King of Poland against King Ferdinand, to keep 
 the Franconian Bishops in check by the arms of George of
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 137 
 
 Brandenburg, to obtain auxiliaries from the Dukes of Lune- 1523. 
 burg, Pomerania, and Mecklenburg, and the city of Magde- 
 burg; and, for themselves, they agreed to equip a force of 
 6000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry. They likewise proposed 
 forming a league with the King of Denmark. But, at this 
 stage of the proceedings, sounder councils came to the aid of 
 one of the confederating parties : and the Elector was ad- 
 monished by the strong sense of Luther to beware of playing 
 an aggressive part. Various papers of advice were drawn up 
 by Luther, and signed by himself and Melancthon, in which 
 they warned the Elector against being carried away by the 
 Landgrave's heat and impetuosity, and implored him to bear 
 no part in the terrible drama of shedding blood, but to send 
 an embassage to the Emperor and to Ferdinand to apprise their 
 Majesties of the plots of the murderous princes, and by all 
 means to put a stop to the muster of their forces, "who would 
 be sure, once met, to make some work to their hands. "Even 
 the holy King Josiah," the Reformers said, c ' when he went out 
 against Pharaoh and fought against him, was slain. By this 
 world's law no one is punished till he has first been heard; so 
 Porcius Festus declared in St. Paul's case ; and God did not 
 condemn Adam before he had called him to answer for himself 
 — Adam, where art thou? There is strife enough uninvited, 
 and it cannot be well to paint the devil over the door, or ask 
 him to be godfather. Battle uever wins much, but always 
 loses much, and hazards all : meekness loses nothing, hazards 
 little, and wins all.""* And when Luther was at Weimar 
 
 * DeWette,III. pp. 314—323. " Considerations of Luther and Me- 
 lancthon," without a date. De AVette would assign May ; but the true 
 date of the first paper is clearly April or March. Cf. Seek. II. p. 95. 
 There is a letter of Melancthon to Bruck, dated May 17, thanking the 
 Elector for listening to their counsel, (Bret. II. p. 728,) in which he 
 states that to make war when God offered means of peace could never 
 be right, and that Luther agreed with him.
 
 138 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1528. and Torgau a little later, with Melancthon — at which time he 
 was so oppressed by spiritual trials that he could not for- 
 bear, as Philip relates, opening his heart to him in private — 
 he personally assured the Elector, that, sorry as he and his 
 fellow professors would be to quit Wittenberg, the first clash 
 of arms would be the signal of their leaving it. Such repre- 
 sentations, ably seconded by Brack, addressed both to the 
 Elector and his son, had so much influence, that, on the 
 23rd April, John entered into another convention with 
 Philip in mitigation of the former, and sent first his son 
 John Frederic, and immediately afterwards one of his coun- 
 cillors, the Baron Wildenfels, to check the Landgrave's haste, 
 who was already at the head of an army, and meditating an 
 irruption into the ecclesiastical dominions. The Elector, 
 however, suffered part of his forces to assemble at the foot 
 of the Thuringian forest; and, perhaps, such conduct was 
 more prudent than holding back entirely, which might have 
 incensed the Landgrave into immediate operations. 
 
 On the 17th May Philip wrote to his father-in-law, and 
 ironically thanked him for the exceptional clause which his 
 kindness had inserted in the treaty in his favour; he sent 
 him a copy of that document ; assured him that, for his part, 
 he should " never return to the devil's worship ; " and finally 
 implored him that he would recede from the league, in which 
 case his son-in-law and all his resources would ever be at his 
 command for his defence and safety. Duke George imme- 
 diately replied that the treaty was an entire fabrication. But 
 the Landgrave had not waited for his father-in-law's answer, 
 or for the Elector's co-operation, but, on the 22nd May, pub- 
 lished a manifesto of the causes which had moved him to 
 take up arms : to which he annexed a copy of the treaty 
 which the bishops and princes had concocted " for the suppres- 
 sion of the living and blessed word of God, and the destruc-
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 139 
 
 tion of its adherents : " a conspiracy the execution of which 1528. 
 he was resolved to anticipate by striking the first blow. He 
 pitched his camp on the borders of Hesse and Franconia, 
 near the monastery of Herren Breitungen, on the banks of 
 the Vierre. 
 
 But the secret of the plot was now out, for Duke George 
 had published the Landgrave's letter and his own reply ; 
 and from all quarters there appeared letters from those impli- 
 cated by Pack's accusation, in unequivocal denial of any par- 
 ticipation or knowledge of the alleged confederacy, and de- 
 nouncing the forger of the pretended document as a villain. 
 Messengers also passed between the Elector and Ferdinand, 
 and the latter unhesitatingly declared the whole an invention. 
 The Landgrave himself was now unable any longer to hold 
 out in his warlike determination. One difficulty, however, 
 still stood in the way of peace. Philip of Hesse persisted in 
 demanding pecuniary satisfaction, on account of the expen- 
 diture which his military preparations had involved ; and it 
 was to no purpose that Luther and Melancthon requested of 
 the Elector that considerations of such a nature might be no 
 obstacle to such a blessing as public quiet. Whatever expense 
 may have been incurred, they said, let it be regarded in the 
 light of a casualty from fire or tempest, or as if it were a loss 
 sustained in the late peasant rebellion. The Elector himself 
 was satisfied, and relinquished every demand ; but the Land- 
 grave was obstinate, that remuneration should be made him. 
 Very bitter letters were exchanged between him and his father- 
 in-law. At length a settlement was accomplished in regard 
 to the Elector of Mentz and the Bishops of Bamberg and 
 Wurzburg, by the assiduous mediation of the Electors of 
 Treves and the Palatinate, according to which Albert con- 
 sented to pay 40,000 florins, the Bishop of Wurzburg 40,000, 
 and the Bishop of Bamberg 20,000, rather than subject their
 
 140 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1528. territories to the infliction of an armed invasion. The differ- 
 ences with the Suabian League were not arranged until the 
 very close of the year, when the good feeling and perseverance 
 of the Elector Palatine triumphed over this impediment to 
 concord. His efforts, also, were at last successful in effecting 
 a reconciliation between the son and father-in-law; and, in 
 the month of September, the angry correspondence ceased, 
 and they met again on amicable terms. Thus all possible 
 means were employed to preclude any bad consequences to 
 the cause of religious truth from this unfortunate affair ; but 
 the Landgrave's violent temper, and hasty adoption of un- 
 founded suspicions, supplied a ready handle for misrepre- 
 sentation to the enemies of reform ; and a letter from Charles 
 to the Elector of Saxony, dated from Toledo, the 19th 
 November, rated John, in harsh language, as the fomenter 
 of dissension, and, in arbitrary terms, designated as high 
 treason the levying an army without imperial warrant. 
 
 The Landgrave would not consent, from personal consider- 
 ations, to deliver Pack out of his own keeping to undergo a 
 trial : but he had him examined on the 20th June and for 
 several successive days at Cassel, in the presence of delegates 
 from Ferdinand, the Electors of Treves, Brandenburg, and 
 the Palatinate, and Duke George. The councillor of Duke 
 George was the accuser. Pack persisted in asserting that 
 the plot was a reality. His own letters from Hesse, recount- 
 ing that Philip had been deceived by the pretence of a con- 
 spiracy, were adduced against him ; and the copy he had 
 shown to the Landgrave was not forthcoming from the Dres- 
 den Chancery. He replied that he had destroyed it to avoid 
 suspicion, because he had been unable to re-insert it as 
 it was before in the parchment which had been rolled and 
 tied round it; and his letters had been indited with the 
 express object of throwing dust in the eyes of Duke George's
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 141 
 
 chancellor, that no hinderance might intervene to his gaining 1528. 
 possession of the autograph itself. The copy, he said, had 
 been made by Wurisyn, an amanuensis frequently employed 
 by the Duke ; but it turned out that this referee was a 
 person of no character, and had been banished from the 
 Court. The only support on which his defence could be 
 rested with any show of probability was the idea current in 
 all quarters, that some such bond had been entered into 
 by the Papist princes, and the fact that, some years before, 
 meetings had been convened in various places in which the 
 extirpation of the Lutheran heresy had formed the topic of 
 deliberation. Pack alleged anxiety to serve Duke George as 
 the motive of his conduct, and would not allow that he had 
 received any money from the Landgrave. Thus the exami- 
 nation terminated. Pack was for some time detained in cus- 
 tody by the Landgrave, and then banished from Hesse, and 
 was indebted for some time to Luther's influence for the pro- 
 tection of an asylum. Afterwards he wandered about in 
 various parts of Belgium for some years ; but the persecution 
 of Duke George still tracked his footsteps, and he was in 
 1536 apprehended by the Duke's agents, brought to trial, and 
 suffered death by decapitation. He denied having fabricated 
 the plot to the last ; some of his statements reflected discredit 
 on the Landgrave and the Elector, but the latter did not think 
 it necessary to make his defence, and refused to permit the 
 affair to be re-opened. 
 
 It must be attributed to the Christian principles and saga- 
 city of Luther that the Reformation was not shipwrecked on 
 the hidden shoal of the "Otto Pack league;" but the Reformer, 
 on the other hand, was far from assenting to those who could 
 see in the alleged confederacy nothing but a chimera, which 
 only the impetuous blood and excitable fancy of the Prince of 
 Hesse had conjured into existence. Pack, indeed, might have
 
 142 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1528. manufactured the copy of the treaty which he showed to 
 Philip ; but he pronounced it to be his firm conviction that a 
 confederacy for the definite purpose of exterminating evan- 
 gelical truth did exist ; and that the popular rumours so widely 
 circulated were not groundless. How was it to be supposed 
 that those princes would shrink from a wholesale and effectual 
 accomplishment of their wishes, who were constantly mur- 
 dering by detail, and attempting to drown the Gospel in the 
 blood of its adherents ? " You see what commotions," Luther 
 wrote to Link, on the 14th June, " that league of impious 
 princes, which they deny, has excited. I interpret the cold 
 excuse of Duke George into a confession. But, whatever 
 denials, excuses, or fictions they may offer, I know for certain 
 that the league was not a mere nothing, or chimera, monster 
 sufficiently monstrous as it is. Every one knows that they 
 would extinguish the Gospel if they could. We do not believe 
 such godless men, although we joyfully give them peace. God 
 will confound that fool of fools who, like Moab, is bold beyond 
 his power." In several other letters he declared his judg- 
 ment of the matter with equal distinctness ; and spoke of 
 Duke George, in similar language, as " that ass of asses," or 
 " that clown." " All their acts, edicts, and endeavours show," 
 he repeated, " that the league is not a fiction." " May the 
 plot fall on the head of the clown who plotted it ! There 
 are strange mysteries in that league : but let it be ; there 
 is nothing covered that shall not be revealed." 
 
 It is certainly no proof of consciousness of innocence on 
 the part of Duke George that, far from forgiving and forget- 
 ting the exiled Pack, he continued the pursuit till his emis- 
 saries hunted him down and then put him to death. Later 
 in the year the letter of Luther to Link came to the Duke's 
 knowledge. Indeed, Luther recited it from the pulpit to make 
 public his own opinion of a transaction which was the
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 143 
 
 general topic with all classes. Full of indignation, Duke 1528. 
 George wrote to the Reformer to inquire whether he 
 acknowledged the letter in question as his own. The epistle 
 of Duke George was in a vein of great arrogance : and 
 Luther replied to it that he was not the Duke's prisoner; 
 his patience had been sufficiently tried by the preface to 
 Emser's version of the New Testament, and his Grace had 
 better seek the information he desired from those whom 
 he had a right to command ; but he added, more mildly, 
 "I pity your great afflictions, and would willingly, with 
 your leave, pray that they may be averted." The Duke's 
 secretary was despatched to Nuremberg to obtain, by fair 
 or foul means, the letter in question to Link, who acknow- 
 ledged to the Senate that it was really Luther's. But 
 though many manoeuvres were resorted to by the ducal emis- 
 sary, Link would not himself show him the letter: he 
 placed it in the hands of Scheurl, the town clerk, by whom 
 permission was granted to read it, and take a copy. This was 
 not contrary to Luther's wish, but he expressed his surprise 
 that Scheurl should be on such an intimate standing with 
 the Romanist faction : Melancthon imputed a good deal of 
 blame to Link himself, and wrote him a sharp admonition to 
 use caution and judgment, so much needed in dealing with the 
 private correspondence of such a writer as Luther. On the 
 return of the secretary with the copy, Duke George wrote a 
 statement of his grievances to the Elector, complaining with 
 deeply wounded pride of the light esteem in which Luther's 
 answer to his letter proved that he was held by him. The 
 fault, Luther replied, in his own vindication, is that Duke 
 George is "held in too high esteem by himself," which 
 made him forget to write to me " as Duke George." 
 The Elector laboured to appease his enraged cousin, and it 
 might at length be hoped that the matter would be
 
 144 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHElt. 
 
 1528. suffered to sleep. But Duke George's irascibility was not 
 so easily quieted. A treatise published by Luther against 
 the Bishop of Meissen, on " Communion in both Kinds/' 
 made mention of " a treacherous plot of which it ought to 
 shame those who had had a hand in it." The Duke took 
 fire at the expression : there was the idea of the " Pack 
 plot " running in his head, and he supposed that that must 
 be meant. He therefore resolved to publish the cele- 
 brated letter to Link, with an apology annexed, in which the 
 authorship of the plot was ascribed to the Reformer himself, 
 and Pack was represented as playing an underpart to a 
 mightier hand : eight thousand impressions were struck off. 
 The intention of publishing the " Letter and Apology " 
 at the next fair became known to Luther, who accordingly 
 furnished himself with a counter missive, in a tract on " Pri- 
 vate Letters surreptitiously obtained," which he contrived 
 should be ready for publication at the same time. But as 
 Duke George seized every mode of venting his spleen on the 
 Elector of Saxony, and had scurrilously assailed him in the 
 " Apology," Luther addressed his patron with the request 
 that he would " with confidence expose him to a trial, for he 
 had far rather hazard his own neck than that his Grace's 
 person should on his account incur a hair-breadth of danger. 
 The Christ in him would be man enough against the malig- 
 nant devil, both in right and speech." 
 
 The Duke's Apology appeared on the 29th December, and 
 in the beginning of the next year Luther's tract on Stolen 
 Letters followed; but the Reformer's violence of language 
 displeased most of his friends excepting Amsdorf, and Me- 
 lancthon lamented that age instead of mitigating added to 
 his vehemence. He complained to Myconius, after reading 
 a copy of the tract sent him by John Frederic before it had 
 been seen in Wittenberg, " In two days the booksellers will
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 145 
 
 have dispersed thousands of copies amongst us j and even now 1528. 
 nothing else is talked about." The letter to Link had been ex- 
 hibited in a German version,* and the Reformer, besides expa- 
 tiating on the meanness of scrutinizing, searching out, and 
 copying private letters, charged the translation with incorrect- 
 ness, which he imputed to the Chancellor, but for which the 
 Duke himself was really answerable. Luther said much of the 
 origin of his opposition to Popery, a path on which he had 
 been forced undesignedly by the influence of events : he at- 
 tacked the edict of Worms as illegal, inasmuch as it was framed 
 and signed by the Emperor on his own authority without the 
 consent of the States; and he declared himself plenarily 
 acquitted by the Recess of the recent Diet of Spires. As to 
 the Pack business, he said that he held Duke George publicly 
 excused, but he must be allowed to entertain what suspicions 
 on the subject he pleased, for his thoughts were free. The 
 tract moved Duke George's temper to a far greater pitch of 
 fury than had possessed him before. He sent two of his 
 councillors to the Elector to represent his grievances. John, 
 on his side, acted as an impartial umpire ; he reproved Duke 
 George for his warmth, and charged Luther thenceforth 
 to publish nothing in reference to himself or the Duke unless 
 it had previously been sanctioned by the Court, and to sub- 
 mit all his theological treatises to the judgment of the 
 University, as his brother had ordained. But Duke George 
 was not satisfied with this : he insisted that Luther should 
 be punished. At length, on the 18th February, the Elector 
 wrote to him to request that their correspondence on the sub- 
 ject might cease, and the matter be dropped. 
 
 The absorbing importance of the Pack plot, whilst it pre- 
 vented, as has been said, the meeting of the Diet for this 
 
 * See Herzog Georgs Verantwortung. Walch. XVI., pp. 506-521. 
 
 VOL. II. L
 
 146 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1528. year, did not interrupt the progress of the visitation. For 
 this purpose the Electoral dominions were divided into four 
 districts. Electoral Saxony and Misnia were appointed to 
 Luther, aided by a council of laymen ; and, whenever the 
 Reformer might be impeded by any other of his multifarious 
 engagements, Jonas and Bugenhagen were to act in his stead. 
 Osterland, in which were situated Altenberg and Zwickau, and 
 Voigtland, were distributed to Spalatin and two more clergy- 
 men, with several lay assistants, among whom were Wiidenfels 
 and Feilitsch. Thuringia was assigned to Melancthon, Jerome 
 Schurf, Planitz, and others, who had partially entered upon 
 their duties in the preceding autumn. And for the part of 
 Franconia under Saxon jurisdiction, two lay and four clerical 
 commissioners were nominated. In each of the four districts 
 the principle of blending civilians and clergymen in the com- 
 mission was maintained, according to Luther's advice, in 
 order that the purely spiritual matters, and such business as 
 was rather of a temporal and financial nature, might be kept 
 distinct, and devolve respectively on separate and duly quali- 
 fied officials. All the expenses were defrayed from the Elec- 
 toral treasury. 
 
 The commissioners were to allow a subsistence to such 
 ministers as, being very aged and unfit for any secular em- 
 ployment, persevered in attachment to Popery : such younger 
 ministers as held bad doctrine, they were to instruct in bet- 
 ter, and if their teaching had no effect, to punish and remove 
 them from their parishes ; such as taught well and lived ill, 
 they were also to remove; they were to preach against all 
 sedition, and exhort the people, in lieu of the offerings and 
 the money paid for masses under the Romanist system, to 
 make contributions towards the salaries of the ministers; 
 they were to take a strict account of the revenues of parishes 
 and monasteries, excepting the benefices in the patronage of
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 147 
 
 the Elector ; where the parish was too poor to support a 1528. 
 minister, they were to appoint the necessary stipend to be 
 drawn from the Electoral coffers; and, if possible, to set 
 apart one-third of the revenues of churches under private 
 patronage, in aid of the poverty of patrons, and for placing 
 out their daughters in marriage. The commissioners were 
 also to catechise the poor in the Christian faith ; and were to 
 compel such as retained their old Romish opinions, as well as 
 the disseminators of seditious principles, if admonitions ad- 
 dressed to them from time to time proved fruitless, to sell 
 their goods, and quit the country. The commissioners were 
 likewise to appoint superintendents from among the pastors 
 of the principal parishes, to serve the office of a standing 
 board, to which matrimonial questions, and matters of church 
 discipline could be referred, as well as to exercise a general 
 supervision over the clergy, and report delinquents to the 
 Elector. 
 
 The early part of the year had been devoted by Luther to 
 translating into German, with a few additions, Melancthon's 
 Latin text of the Visitation Articles, and prefixing a preface of 
 his own. The Articles in their vernacular dress appeared in the 
 summer ; and the autumn was devoted to the active duties of 
 a commissioner. The visitation was Luther's principal object 
 of attention throughout the year ; and he was several times 
 called from home to arrange with the Elector different points 
 of detail. On the 18th March, in a pelting storm, he jour- 
 neyed to Borna, breakfasted with Spalatin at Altenburg the 
 next morning, and afterwards stayed with the Elector at 
 Torgau from March 28 till April 7, when he returned to 
 Wittenberg. On the 1st May he was again called from home, 
 and, as has been already mentioned, was the Elector's guest 
 at Weimar. Just as his labour in revising, translating, and 
 superintending the printing of the Visitation Articles was gra- 
 
 l 2
 
 148 THE LTFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1528. tified by success, a severe domestic trial — the death of his in- 
 fant daughter — broke for a time his spirits, but without sus- 
 pending his industry. On the 5th August he wrote to Haus- 
 mann — " My little Elizabethula is dead : it is strange how 
 weak and womanlike my heart is at the loss. I could never 
 have supposed a father's feelings to be so tender towards his 
 child." A month later the joyful notice appears: "The visitation 
 is all arranged : the Prince has informed me that the com- 
 missioners are to set out immediately." And so Philip and 
 many others did. But Luther was still detained. On the 25th 
 October he paid a flying visit to Lochau, to marry his friend 
 Michael Stiefel, who had, by his recommendation, been in- 
 stalled there as pastor, to the widow of his predecessor in the 
 cure : and Isaiah having been printed, at the end of October 
 he proceeded on his visitation with his four fellow commis- 
 sioners. He speaks of himself at this period as overwhelmed 
 with occupation. " I am visitor, lecturer, preacher, writer, 
 auditor, actor, courier, and what not I" 
 
 The most remarkable feature in this visitation, as far as it 
 exemplifies the character of Luther, is the extreme modera- 
 tion with which everything was conducted : through fear of 
 going too far, he scarcely went far enough ; an instance, to be 
 added to many others, in proof of the fact, that, violent and 
 headstrong as he was in controversy, in action he was all 
 peace and calmness. The revenues of the abbeys and cathe- 
 drals were left untouched, beyond being made to contribute 
 to the salaries of the parish ministers, and to the support of 
 schools. The appropriation of endowments was rarely dis- 
 turbed ; and it was chiefly in reference to the vacant benefices 
 that the commissioners interfered. In dealing with individuals, 
 Luther was charitable beyond the letter of the visitation book, 
 and, in opposition to the expulsion clause, pleaded with the 
 Elector in several instances, that it was far better to let the
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 149 
 
 obstinate Romanists remain, than force them from the country 1528. 
 to do mischief where their opportunities would be greater. In 
 some convents the nuns were permitted to remain : and several 
 old Romish monks were not driven from their chimney cor- 
 ners, but allowed the retreat of their monasteries, with a suffi- 
 cient maintenance for the rest of their lives. The phrase 
 " commended to God" was applied to such cases, and denoted 
 that the desirable change was left to time. " We will leave its 
 hours to the day, and commend the cause to God," was Luther's 
 favourite verdict in a doubtful question ; and no less moderate 
 were the doctrinal views insisted upon. Faith was not to be 
 separated from Repentance. The ministers were to preach 
 Christianity rather than fling stones at Romanism from their 
 pulpits. At the same time that the spiritual impotence of 
 the will was to be enlarged upon, the moral freedom of the 
 will was also to be vindicated ; that a man can, if he choose, 
 abstain from murder, adultery, and robbery, according to St. 
 Paul's declaration — " The Gentiles do by nature the things 
 contained in the law." The people were to pray to God, not 
 to saints. The real presence in the Sacrament was to be in- 
 culcated, and it was to be administered, by all means, in both 
 kinds; yet exceptional cases might possibly be permitted. 
 Luther applied himself, with a deep sense of the importance 
 of the work, to catechising the poor. He heard them pray, 
 and questioned them as to their faith, with the greatest 
 gentleness and patience. It is related by Mathesius that on 
 one occasion he asked a peasant to repeat the Belief, who 
 
 began, " I believe in God Almighty" Here Luther 
 
 stopped him. " What do you mean by ' Almighty ? ' " "I 
 know not," the peasant replied. "True, my good man," 
 said Luther ; " neither I nor any learned men do know that. 
 Only believe that God is thy dear and true Father, who 
 will and can, and knows, as the Allwise Lord, how to
 
 150 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1528. help thee, thy wife and children, in time of need. That is 
 enough." 
 
 Another striking feature of Luther's character, as exempli- 
 fied at this time, but which might be expected, from the 
 strong sense of a mind used to influence and govern others, 
 is the preference shown by him in such a marked way to the 
 practical and useful over the merely theoretical. He might 
 have given the Saxon Church a democratic development, 
 after the example of the Hessian Church, as organised a 
 little earlier by Francis Lambert ; and his own ideas of 
 Christianity were not at all at variance with the most demo- 
 cratic framework of a church establishment, as his tract on 
 the Institution of Ministers sufficiently proves. But his pene- 
 tration at once saw that such an ecclesiastical system was 
 unsuited to the peculiar condition of society in Saxony. So 
 far from there being a large amount of well-directed religi- 
 ous feeling among the lower orders, he had continually to 
 lament its deficiency, and commonly spoke of the mass of his 
 countrymen as " my drunken Germans." He regarded the 
 strong hand of restraint and government as quite essential for 
 such " a wild rough race — half devil and half man." On the 
 other hand, the higher classes, and the nobles, and especially 
 the Electoral house of Saxony, not only listened to the Word 
 of God, but studied, and in many cases desired to act upon 
 it. Luther, therefore, dismissed all vexatious and unsatisfac- 
 tory questions as to the right of patronage and the power of 
 the Christian congregation ; and finding the ablest and best- 
 disposed supports of the Reformation in the higher ranks, mo- 
 delled his ecclesiastical establishment according to the guid- 
 ance of surrounding circumstances, and placed it in alliance 
 with, and in some measure in subordination to, the State. 
 In his judgment, the Church, viewed as a human institution, 
 the creation of the law, was simply a standing instrument
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 151 
 
 for the diffusion of true scriptural doctrine ; and therefore that 1528. 
 Church establishment which answered this object the most 
 effectually, whatever its ideal imperfections, must really be 
 the best. And his wisdom was conspicuously shown in the 
 comparative results of the Hessian and Saxon Church organi- 
 zations. In Hesse the most sweeping and radical changes had 
 taken place. So far as endowments might be concerned, 
 there was considerable advantage in this ; for the foundation 
 of the University of Marburg — one of the first names entered 
 at which was that of John Knox, the Scottish Reformer — as 
 well as of four large hospitals and two seminaries for the 
 education of female children of noble birth, was the happy 
 result of the decree of the Homberg synod. But the demo- 
 cratic basis on which ecclesiastical institutions were built in 
 Hesse, was found by experience so unsuited to the soil and 
 the times, that within four years from its establishment the 
 democratic church system was pulled down to make way for 
 the Saxon edifice as modelled by Luther. 
 
 The visitation demonstrated how completely the profession 
 of Lutheran doctrine had superseded Popery amongst all orders 
 and degrees in the dominions of the Saxon Elector. To take 
 the instance of the Altenberg district, which Seckendorf has 
 particularised : — Out of one hundred parishes only four of 
 the clergy were found to continue the celebration of the mass, 
 as many as twenty retained the concubiues allowed them by 
 the Pope, whom they were now compelled to marry, or to put 
 away, and only one of the nobles adhered to Popery. But 
 beyond this the results of the inquiry were less satisfactory : 
 for too generally the Lutheranism which had been substituted 
 for Romanism, was no more than profession; and, as such a 
 fact would show, there was a great need of efficient pastors. 
 " We find everywhere/' said Luther, " poverty and penury. 
 The Lord send labourers into his vineyard ! Amen." " The
 
 152 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1528. face of the Church is everywhere most wretched," he wrote 
 to Spalatin ; " sometimes we have a collection for the poor 
 pastors, who have to till their two acres, which helps them a 
 little. The peasants have nothing, and know nothing ; they 
 neither pray, confess, nor communicate, as if they were ex- 
 empted from every religious duty. What an administration 
 that of the Papistical bishops ! " In about six weeks Luther 
 despatched his visitation duties in Electoral Saxony, and re- 
 turned home. He could not at once proceed with the visita- 
 tion of Misnia, but was obliged to accomplish it, by deputy, 
 in the May and June of the following year. 
 
 A new epoch in the annals of the Reformation commences 
 from this period. The investigation, which had been most 
 industriously prosecuted, made a disclosure of the moral and 
 spiritual nakedness of the land, and evidenced how bare the 
 Romish system had left the poorer sort of all culture, whether 
 of mind or soul. And this knowledge was of the utmost con- 
 sequence, as a preliminary step to improvement. The map 
 of spiritual destitution accurately delineated, showed where 
 money, or schools, or pastors were required. And so gross 
 was the ignorance thus brought to light that Luther, imme- 
 diately on his return home, set to work to prepare his well- 
 known Catechisms.* But it was not in Saxony only that the 
 opportunity was seized, to give a standing form and outward 
 organization to doctrinal truth. On all sides was seen the 
 spectacle of a revived Christian Church, which, throwing 
 traditional forms and hierarchal precedents back to the dust 
 
 * His Small Catechism comprised simple and brief explanations of 
 the Ten Commandments, the Belief, the Lord's Prayer, and the Sacra- 
 ments, with Forms of Prayer for night and morning, and Grace before 
 and after meals, and a " House-table" (Haustafel) or collection of 
 Scriptural texts for the ordering of life in its different states and rela- 
 tions •. his Large Catechism treated the same subjects more thoroughly : 
 and both appeared early in the ensuing year.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 153 
 
 whence they had sprung, modelled itself immediately on the 1528. 
 scriptural standard, and looked for its past only to primitive 
 antiquity. Christianity refined from its dregs, or rather a new 
 life bursting into vigour from a mass of decomposition, now 
 found its representation in a regularly ordered Church establish- 
 ment. And thus the contest was no longer that of principles 
 unembodied in any visible form against an established and 
 powerful system, but that of a vigorous institution, young, 
 but really more primitive than its antagonist, taking for its 
 rock the only Word of God, and for its head Jesus Christ, in 
 alliance with civil power and under shelter of the law, against 
 an effete hierarchal body corporate, bending to the ground 
 from the weight of its crimes, in which the human element 
 had almost quite effaced the Divine. And as before the 
 Reformation of Luther had stimulated the Romanists to the 
 mock Ratisbon Reformation, and Luther's German version of 
 the New Testament had been copied or distorted by Emser, 
 so Luther's zeal in the Evangelical Church economy produced 
 its Romish counterpart, and a visitation was instituted in 
 Bavaria and in most of the Romanist States. 
 
 In other respects the year 1528 added strength to the 
 evangelical cause. Hamburg, and Brunswick, and Goslar, 
 were henceforth ranked amongst the Lutheran cities. And two 
 conversions in high life attested how deeply society was 
 penetrated, by the scriptural doctrine. The Duchess of 
 Miinsterberg, by the study of Luther's writings, conceived a 
 disrelish to the conventual life, and effected her escape from a 
 convent at Friburg, in the month of October, and with two 
 of her companions, took refuge under Luther's roof. She was 
 first cousin to Duke George. Earlier in the year (in March), 
 Elizabeth, the sister of the expelled King of Denmark, and 
 wife of Joachim, Elector of Brandenburg, was convicted by 
 her husband of studying Luther's works, and of receiving the
 
 154 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1528. Lord's Supper in both kinds, and so hardly dealt with by him 
 as to be confined to her own apartment, and threatened 
 with imprisonment unless she relinquished the new religion. 
 In order to exercise her faith in peace, she secretly fled from 
 Berlin in a waggon used by the country people, and when 
 the wheel broke in a difficult road, she took off her head- 
 dress and threw it to the driver, to bind the wheel together. 
 She was met on the Saxon boundary by Christian II., her 
 brother, to whom the Elector, his uncle, had graciously allotted 
 an asylum at Torgau, and she was herself granted permission 
 to reside in the Castle of Lichtenberg. In her absence from 
 her husband and home she found a chief solace in Luther's 
 instruction; and at one period spent three months in the 
 Augustine convent, to enjoy the benefit of his spiritual guid- 
 ance, until in 1546 she returned to Berlin. 
 
 1529. Towards the end of January, Luther was again very ill and 
 suffering from a strange giddiness in the head, which ren- 
 dered him unfit for his usual studies and exertions. " I know 
 not," he said, " whether it proceeds from over-fatigue, or is a 
 temptation from Satan." It lasted up to the middle of Feb- 
 ruary, for up to the 13th of that month, when he enclosed the 
 German Litany to Hausmann, he complained that he was "still 
 labouring under giddiness of the head, besides buffetings from 
 the angel of Satan." The end of February he was left 
 almost alone at Wittenberg, and the giddiness had been suc- 
 ceeded by a severe cough, which at last compelled him, from 
 extreme hoarseness, to discontinue both lecturing and preach- 
 ing -, and the only friend whom he had with him to substitute 
 in these duties was Caspar Cruciger, who had returned in 
 1527 from Magdeburg. In his letters of this period he 
 speaks of himself as "a sinner exposed to many devils in 
 much infirmity," and complains bitterly that " the voice of 
 Theology is no longer heard from the chair." Melancthon
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 155 
 
 was gone to the Diet with the Elector ; Jonas was deputed in 1529. 
 Luther's stead to carry on the visitation; and Bugenhagen 
 had passed from Hamburg into Holstein. Deprived for a 
 while of the society in which he delighted, and incapacitated 
 for his customary duties, Luther was resolved that the 
 time should not be altogether lost to himself or the 
 world; and he translated in this interval of sickness the 
 Book of Wisdom. It was subjected to Melancthon's 
 emendations on his return, and then printed. A mis- 
 fortune had befallen the finished treatise against the 
 Turk. In the hurry of preparation for the visitation tour, 
 or in Luther's absence on that mission, several of the 
 sheets had been mislaid, and could not be discovered by 
 the most anxious search. The whole conception of the work 
 was so much marred by this deficiency, that Luther prepared 
 another treatise, which was published in the course of the 
 spring. At length, on the 3rd May, the hoarseness was so 
 far removed that he was able to resume his lectures on 
 Isaiah, and shortly afterwards again to occupy the pulpit. 
 A bright ray of joy was granted him on the 4th, by the 
 birth of a daughter, whom he named Magdalene — a gift in 
 lieu of the one recalled; and it enhanced his delight that 
 Kate was " as well and happy as if she had suffered nothing. 
 To Christ be praise and glory." 
 
 During this period of sickness and solitude, the same two 
 subjects as before continued to harass his mind : the Turks 
 and the Diet. And it excited his undisguised astonishment 
 that the King of France, the Pope, the Venetians, and Floren- 
 tines should be abettors of the arms of the False Prophet. 
 " You may see from this," he wrote to Jonas, " what the world 
 thinks of God. The Turk will be a Reformer, I fear, sent in 
 divine wrath." But all that was passing on the theatre of 
 politics, as well as signs on the earth and in the sky, earthquakes
 
 156 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1529. and meteors, confirmed him in the persuasion that the end of 
 all things was rapidly approaching. " The day of Christ is at 
 the door ; it cannot be postponed ; the cry will soon resound, 
 ' The Bridegroom cometh/ " In reference to the Diet, there 
 were not wanting alarming tokens of the disposition of many 
 of the Princes ; and it could not be concealed that the Pack 
 mystery had exerted an influence highly prejudicial to the 
 cause of the Reformation. Notwithstanding the progress 
 which the Turkish arms were making, King Ferdinand was 
 resolved to be present at Spires, fresh from his proscriptions 
 of the Lutherans in Hungary and Bohemia. The Elector of 
 Brandenburg, too, had lately signalized his zeal by decoying 
 some of the evangelical preachers into a trap which he had 
 laid for them, and making them his prisoners. And it was 
 boastfully rumoured by the popish faction that John of 
 Saxony had not only been interdicted from entering the city 
 of Spires, but had even been deprived of his electoral dignity. 
 The second Diet of Spires, which had been summoned to 
 meet in February, did not enter upon its deliberations until 
 the 15th March. The very manner in which the papistical 
 Princes made their public entrance into the city marked their 
 confidence in the success of their policy, and the pride which 
 elated them. On the 5th, King Ferdinand entered the city 
 with 300 armed knights ; the Dukes of Bavaria came attended 
 by an equally large retinue ; and the Electors of Mentz and 
 Treves were both accompanied by troops of horsemen. But 
 on the 13th (the eve of Palm Sunday) the Elector of Saxony 
 appeared in the streets of Spires, quietly riding with 
 Melancthon at his side. The Landgrave of Hesse, however, 
 would have put too much force on his nature, had he followed 
 this example; and on the 18th he made his entry at the head 
 of 200 horsemen. The Diet was opened by a speech from 
 the Elector Palatine, as lieutenant of the empire, after which
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 157 
 
 a letter from the Emperor, dated August 1st, from Valladolid, 1529. 
 was read aloud in profound silence. It abolished altogether 
 the Recess of the previous Diet of Spires, and imputed the 
 alarming progress of the Turks to the growth of the 
 Lutheran heresy. The bitter tone of the Imperial mandate 
 prepared the minds of most of the members for a decision 
 adverse to the Reformation, and immediately determined the 
 courtiers as to the side which they should take in the 
 subsequent debates. And the strong current of feeling, 
 among the aspirants to favour with the King, was quickly 
 shown by the timid and time-serving Elector Palatine 
 prohibiting his followers from attending the evangelical 
 worship in the hotels of the Elector of Saxony and the 
 Landgrave. "The Elector Palatine," said the Count of 
 Mansfeld, "will not know a Saxon." "We are the off- 
 scouring of all things," Melancthon wrote to Camerarius. 
 And John Faber and the Romanist preachers proclaimed from 
 the pulpits that the Turks were better than the Lutherans ; for 
 the Turks observed fast- days, but the Lutherans despised them. 
 But popular opinion was as staunch as ever in favour of 
 the Reformation ; and on Palm Sunday, whilst the 
 Romanist Princes were playing at dice, or drinking, no less 
 than 8000 persons assembled twice in the day, in the Elector 
 of Saxony's lodging, to worship God and to hear his word. 
 It was at once proposed to the Diet, in obedience to the 
 Imperial mandate, to abolish the Edict of 1526. The Elector 
 of Saxony and his friends stoutly resisted such a proposition ; 
 but their objections were overruled by the votes of the majo- 
 rity. There was no time for lengthened discussion ; the 
 Turks were in possession of the greater part of Hungary, and 
 their continued progress warned Ferdinand of the imperative 
 necessity of his presence in the field of battle. Early in 
 April, therefore, the terms of the Recess were arranged.
 
 158 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1529. They ordained, that wherever the Edict of Worms had 
 hitherto been obeyed, it should still be obeyed ; and wherever 
 innovations in religion had taken place, and the old ritual 
 could not be restored without disturbances, such innovations 
 might be retained till the meeting of a general or national 
 council ; but no further innovations must be made. The 
 Sacramentarians were to be punished with banishment, the 
 Anabaptists with death. The sacrament of the mass was to 
 be solemnized without let or hinderance ; the Gospel was to 
 be explained according to the interpretations of Fathers 
 received by the Church ; the public peace was not to be vio- 
 lated, and no one was to molest another or interfere with his 
 subjects on the ground of religion. 
 
 Such an edict, if it were allowed, not only reduced the 
 Reformation to a stand-still, but virtually re-established 
 Romanism. The Evangelicals were fully aware of this, and 
 were determined, if possible, to prevent the proposition from 
 passing into law; but at least, if it should pass into law, 
 never to accord their consent to it. The Saxon envoy Mink- 
 witz, on the 12th April, ably argued the cause of the Luther- 
 ans, contending that, in cases of conscience, the force of a 
 majority was null, and the minority would never consent to 
 the sentence of their own condemnation. But his represent- 
 ations were of no effect. The Elector desired Luther's 
 opinion on the prominent question of the power of a majority, 
 and this was given, in opposition to any acknowledgment of 
 such a power being vested in a majority of the Diet as was 
 now claimed ; and he insisted on the contempt into which the 
 Clergy had everywhere sunk, the total downfall which 
 threatened the empire, and the destruction of all religion 
 which must have ensued, if the revival of Scriptural doctrine 
 had not renewed the Church and regenerated the nation by 
 teaching faith in Christ, and obedience to the magistrate.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 159 
 
 " If the old state of things had been suffered to reach its } 529. 
 natural termination, the world must have fallen to pieces, 
 and Christianity have been turned into Atheism." But it 
 was of no use to urge unimpeachable truths to a confident 
 and triumphant majority. On the 19th April, King Fer- 
 dinand thanked his coadjutors for "their faithful and assi- 
 duous services," and, repudiating the arguments of the Evan- 
 gelicals, insisted that the will of the greater part of the 
 Electors and Princes, according to ancient usage, must be 
 deemed conclusive. The Lutherans requested a brief delay, 
 but Ferdinand replied that the commands of the Emperor 
 were explicit, and he abruptly left the house with the com- 
 missioners. 
 
 The behaviour of Ferdinand was judged by the Lutheran 
 party a contempt of their dignity and persons — an insult 
 added to an injury; and, on constitutional as well as on reli- 
 gious grounds, they felt the necessity of making a firm stand. 
 If it were conceded that the majority of the Diet had 
 the power of directing the internal affairs of each separate 
 principality, as was now demanded, it was clear that a new 
 order of things had commenced in Germany; a collective 
 central authority had usurped the rights of every local admi- 
 nistration, and in that usurping court the weightiest affairs 
 were henceforth to be regulated by counting hands. But the 
 emergency which had now arisen had been foreseen, and 
 was provided for. The Evangelical Princes returned to the 
 chamber where the States remained sitting, and caused a 
 protest which they had previously prepared to be read aloud 
 in their name, and requested that it might be incorporated in 
 the Recess. The protest, with a few additions, was delivered 
 to the King the following day, but Ferdinand refused to accept 
 it, and sent it back to them. The Diet, however, with more 
 courtesy and better sense, made an attempt at reconcilia-
 
 160 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1529. tion,* and deputed Henry of Brunswick and Philip of Baden to 
 act as mediators. But the attempt failed ; for the Bishops, who 
 had now gained what they wanted, and King Ferdinand, who 
 was much irritated at what had occurred, were indisposed to 
 accede to any arrangement short of the decision arrived at by 
 the majority. The majority of votes in their favour was an 
 argument with them that answered every objection. Thus 
 the Evangelical Princes were driven to the publication of their 
 protest as the only alternative that remained : as King Ferdi- 
 nand refused to have it inserted in the Recess, they in their 
 turn declined to comply with his unreasonable request that 
 they would refrain from publishing it altogether. And by 
 circulating such a document, they in fact appealed from one 
 majority to another, from that of the Diet to that of the 
 German people. 
 
 On Sunday, April 25, the first Protestants met in the house 
 of Peter Muterstadt, the Deacon, near St. John's Church, 
 in St. John's Lane, in the little room on the ground-floor, 
 with their notaries, the Chancellors of the Princes and States, 
 to give the instrument of Appeal the form and force of a legal 
 document. Immediately afterwards it was made public. 
 The Appeal was to the Emperor, to a free Christian or 
 National Council, or to whatsoever competent judge, in behalf 
 of themselves and their subjects, and all who now or hereafter 
 should adhere to the holy Word of God. In this Appeal they 
 stated that they were only doing what they owed to their 
 conscience and to God, and intended no injury or contempt to 
 
 * Melancthon wrote to Camerarius (Bret. II., p. 1060) — " Our adver- 
 saries are now courting us to remain : they say they will moderate the 
 bitterness of the edict. I know not what will come of it all." He 
 blamed the Lutherans for not being more accommodating in the matter 
 of the tax for the Turkish war ; and dedicated his exposition of Daniel 
 to King Ferdinand, using every effort to pacify him.
 
 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 161 
 
 any one. It was lawful for any one to appeal for another 1529. 
 who had been condemned to death ; how much more, then, 
 must this be lawful for themselves — the members of the one 
 spiritual body of Jesus Christ, and sons of one heavenly 
 Father, in behalf of themselves and their neighbours, in a 
 cause affecting everlasting salvation or condemnation. In 
 such a cause majority of votes had no place. By the decrees 
 of the Diets of Nuremberg, a Council had been unanimously 
 demanded, and before it should meet they could not be 
 required to recede from the convictions of their conscience. 
 They had never consented to the Edict of Worms, and never 
 could consent to it; much less would they restore in their 
 territories the mass, refuted by their preachers from the Word 
 of God, for neither did the adverse party allow the holy 
 communion in both kinds in their dominions. The Edict 
 of Worms had been abrogated or suspended by the 
 decree of the Diet of 1526. They were much aggrieved 
 by the charge of innovation, which could not rightly 
 apply to those who conformed to Scripture, and it was not 
 to be endured that no one henceforth should be permitted to 
 embrace the evangelical doctrine. The Word of God was 
 not by them interpreted according to the Doctors of the 
 Church, for it was a question what was meant by the Church : 
 but Scripture was explained by Scripture. This Appeal was 
 signed by John Elector of Saxony, George Margrave of 
 Brandenberg, Ernest and Francis Dukes of Luneberg, Philip 
 Landgrave of Hesse, Wolfgang Prince of Anhalt, and by four- 
 teen imperial cities — Strasburg, Nuremberg, Ulm, Constance, 
 Lindau, Memmingen, Kempten, Nordlingen, Heilbronn, 
 Beutlingen, Isny, St. Gall, Wissenburg, and Windsheim. 
 The Protestants included in their number all the cities who 
 upheld Zwiuglian doctrine. They stood pledged to mutual 
 defence in resisting any attempt at compulsion on the part of 
 
 M
 
 162 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1529. the majority, in things appertaining to faith ; but at the same 
 time expressed the hope that no such interference would be 
 tried. "Protestant," says Pallavicini, "signifies traitor to 
 the Pope or to the Emperor." It may more truly be said 
 that it denotes one who takes Scripture, and Scripture only, 
 as the one guide in faith and conduct and, in heartfelt sub- 
 mission to that Divine rule, discards all human traditions and 
 human authority that conflict with it. " It is a No, which 
 is the rebound of a Yes" — that Yes the Yea and Amen of God 
 himself. Negative in form, it is in substance as positive a 
 term as any to be found in language. 
 
 Before the Appeal was published, indeed the day after the 
 attempts at mediation proved fruitless, a secret agreement 
 had been concluded by Saxony and Hesse with the cities of 
 Nuremberg, Ulm, and Strasburg. The agreement was to the 
 effect that they would defend themselves, and one another, if 
 any attack on religious grounds should be made upon any of 
 them, whoever the aggressor might be, whether the Suabian 
 League or the Emperor himself, and delegates were to be sent 
 by them in June to Rothach in Franconia, to mature the 
 plans of this warlike alliance. After the Appeal had received 
 its legal form, and had been published, the thoughts of the 
 Protestants, as was natural, were more powerfully directed to 
 the importance of a defensive alliance ; and the scheme was 
 communicated to the Theologians. It was then for the first 
 time distinctly felt, what an obstacle the difference of religious 
 principles between the Lutherans and the Zvvinglians, which 
 in the imminent jeopardy to the Word of God, had been for 
 the moment quite overlooked, must interpose against any 
 general Protestant alliance of this kind: and Melancthon, 
 now awake to what he had before little thought of, began 
 severely to reproach himself for having made joint cause 
 with the Sacramentarians, and to consider the unfavour-
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 163 
 
 able issue of the national councils as a retributive punish- 1529. 
 raent. But he did not offer any opposition to the pro- 
 posed alliance whilst at Spires. It was determined that an 
 Embassy should be sent to the Emperor, and with this view 
 a meeting was to be held at Nuremberg. The alliance was 
 to be arranged at Rothach. Thus the Protestants parted; 
 and, on the 6th May, Melancthon reached Wittenberg again * 
 The Appeal was published by the Landgrave on the 5th, by 
 the Elector of Saxony on the 13th May, in their respective 
 dominions. 
 
 The prospect which now opened before the mind's eye of a 
 military prince like the Landgrave of Hesse, can be denomi- 
 nated scarcely by a less word than magnificent. He had 
 before been too eager to grasp the sword; it now seemed 
 forced into his hand. And allies from all quarters were 
 ready to start up and unite in the contest against the Papis- 
 tical faction which had prevailed in the Diet. Philip had 
 dived deeply into the recesses of diplomatic negotiations, and 
 had alike sounded the intentions of courts and of town- 
 councils. He was, like his friend the exiled Duke of Wur- 
 temburg, and the Marquis of Baden, on intimate terms with 
 the Swiss Protestants and the great Reformer, Zwingle. It 
 
 * They heard with joy at Wittenberg of the preservation of Simon 
 Gryneeus. He had come to Spires to see Melancthon, and had im- 
 plored John Faber of Constance to cease persecuting the Gospel. A 
 man of venerable appearance stood at the door of the priest's house 
 with whom Melancthon lodged, and inquired for Grynseus. He was 
 not within. " I am come," the messenger said, " to warn him to fly 
 this place : his foes have laid snares for him." When Grynseus re- 
 turned, Melancthon persuaded him to immediate flight, and accom- 
 panied him to the Rhine. Soon afterwards a band of soldiers appeared 
 before the priest's house to apprehend Gryna?us. — Camerar., p. 113. 
 Melancthon wrote to Camerarius that he regarded the interposition as 
 miraculous. " Omnino est ille divino auxilio ereptus quasi e faucibus 
 eorum, qui sitiunt sanguinem innocentum." — Bret. II., p. 1062. 
 
 M 2
 
 164 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1529. is singular to observe the different language in which Luther 
 and Zwingle spoke of the Landgrave: with the Saxon he was 
 "a young and hot-headed prince/' with the Swiss Reformer 
 he was " magnanimous, steadfast, and wise." But Zurich 
 was in negotiation not only with Philip, but with the King 
 of France ; and it could not be a matter of doubt with what 
 avidity the impetuous Francis would seize the opportunity of 
 stirring up strife against his rival the Emperor in Germany 
 itself, and therefore how welcome to him a bond with a 
 congenial spirit such as the Landgrave could not fail to be. 
 Venice, and some also of the German cities, would easily be 
 drawn into the anti-imperial alliance. Then there were the 
 kings of Denmark and of Sweden, and Albert of Prussia, all 
 sworn Lutherans. King Ferdinand had enough to do already 
 in opposing Sultan Soliman. With such a powerful coalition 
 arrayed against them on every side, the Papistical German 
 princes might be undoubtedly reduced to the most compliant 
 submission, and be made to pay dearly for their haughty 
 carriage and intolerant decisions at the recent Diet. A far 
 less sanguine character than Philip the Magnanimous might 
 easily have been entranced with such a prospect as now pre- 
 sented itself; and it cannot excite astonishment that he sub- 
 sequently toiled with all his energies to reconcile the diver- 
 gencies of the Evangelical and Reformed Churches. 
 
 With far other feelings, dejected and desponding, Melanc- 
 thon returned to Wittenberg. His conscience upbraided 
 him with having been an accomplice in an unholy league with 
 those who had divested the Eucharist of its awful mystery, 
 and who held many other unscriptural dogmas. He was 
 half dead with the sense of his error; his studies and the 
 claims of private friendship were neglected, and death seemed 
 preferable to the tortures of self-recrimination. His de- 
 spondency was soon afterwards deepened by a domestic afflic-
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 165 
 
 tion, the death of his younger son George. It may readily 1529. 
 be conjectured what Luther thought of an alliance with the 
 Swiss, and with what condoling sympathy he welcomed the 
 repentance, or rather the self-recollection, of Melaucthon. 
 Of the importance of the protest he had no conception : he 
 only recognised in the account of what had passed at the 
 Diet, that " the spiritual tyrants and buffeters of the Saviour " 
 had been withheld by a Divine hand from satiating their fury 
 against the Gospel. And he was now resolved to warn the 
 Elector of the guilt of concluding the proposed alliance with 
 heretics, chargeable with setting aside the plain words of 
 Scripture, and trampling under foot the Sacrament of the 
 altar. But this was not all. He had allowed the right of an 
 Elector of the Empire to form a defensive alliance against a 
 brother elector or potentate, only ranking on the same level 
 with himself; but it was a very different thing for a subor- 
 dinate prince to engage in a compact even for self-defence 
 against the imperial authority itself. Loyalty was with him 
 a plain Christian duty. Obedience to the powers that be, 
 under whatever circumstances, he regarded as enjoined in 
 every page of the Scriptures. But from his correspondence 
 it seems probable that the antipathy to the Sacramentarian 
 error was even yet stronger in his mind than his conviction 
 of the doctrine of passive obedience. 
 
 "Master Philip," Luther wrote to the Elector, on the 
 22nd May, "has brought me intelligence from the Diet 
 which has moved me not a little, that a new league is in 
 hand between your Grace, and the Landgrave, and several 
 States. It is only a year ago that God in his wonderful 
 mercy delivered us from the perils of a terrible plot. As I 
 hope that God will henceforth watch over and give your 
 Grace spirit and counsel to abstain for the time to come 
 from such like compacts, so I cannot satisfy the appeals and
 
 166 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1529. violence of my conscience, without approving to your Grace, 
 with what knowledge and experience I have, that no one can be 
 too industrious in anticipating the devil and his temptations. 
 Christ our Lord will grant our prayer that your Grace may 
 beware, and however the Landgrave may advance in his 
 league-making, avoid all partnership and oonnexion with 
 such designs. For the folly that will proceed therefrom, we 
 cannot think of it all. In the first place, such leaguing does 
 not proceed from God, nor from confidence in God, but from 
 human wisdom, and from seeking human help wherein to 
 trust, which has no sure ground, and never yields good fruit. 
 Secondly, it is awful to reflect, that in such a league we com- 
 prise those who strive against God and the Sacrament, 
 whereby we bring all their iniquity and profaneness upon our 
 own heads, and make ourselves partakers in their guilt. 
 Rather than this, so help us God, your Grace had far better 
 abandon the Landgrave, as I hear the Margrave George has 
 declared and done. For our Lord Christ, who has hitherto 
 wonderfully helped us without the Landgrave, yea, against 
 the Landgrave, can help and counsel us still. Thirdly, in the 
 Old Testament God has ever condemned such a leaguing 
 of human help : as in Isaiah, vii., viii., and xxx. ; and he 
 proclaims, ' Your strength is to sit still. 5 We must be the 
 children of faith in God, in sure confidence in Him. ' Cast 
 all your care upon him. Who art thou that thou shouldest 
 be afraid of a man that shall die ? } M 
 
 Afterwards he forwarded a paper of considerations to the 
 Elector, in which he answered the arguments of those who 
 upheld the league, and stoutly maintained that to deny any 
 siugle Christian doctrine is to deny the Christian faith alto- 
 gether. " The whole virtue of a compact consists," he said, 
 " in faith and a good conscience : but how can there be such a 
 groundwork in conjunction with those who hold unworthy
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 167 
 
 views of the Sacrament?" He recommended that in sending 1529. 
 an embassy to the Emperor the Evangelicals should act 
 quite distinctly from the Sacramentarians. He wished the 
 merits of the Elector towards the Church to be dwelt upon at 
 length in the representations of the ambassadors, particularly 
 that he had caused Jesus Christ, and faith in Him, to be 
 taught most purely, and as they had not been taught for 1000 
 years; had abolished mass-marketings, indulgence- traffick- 
 ings, excommunications, and a host of evils condemned by the 
 Diet of Worms ; had resisted the violation of churches and 
 images ; had opposed Munzer, and preserved the public peace ; 
 and had done his utmost to suppress the heresies of the Sacra- 
 mentarians, and of the Anabaptists, as well as the vile doc- 
 trines of Erasmus and others on the Holy Trinity. For the 
 time, however, another influence was in the ascendant : 
 Luther's admonitions were disregarded, and on the 27th May 
 a meeting was held at Nuremberg, at which it was resolved to 
 send three ambassadors to Charles, in the combined cause of 
 Lutherans and Zwinglians ; and their instructions were not 
 exactly in the submissive tone advised by Luther, but dwelt, 
 as the protest had done, on past decrees of Diets, and the 
 constitutional maxims of the empire, which Charles had in- 
 fringed in abolishing the decree of 1526, and petitioned ear- 
 nestly for the promised Council. But it was not long that 
 the Elector John trod in the worldly footprints of the Land- 
 grave : Luther's scriptural exhortations after a little while 
 again prevailed ; and the career of the Reformation at a cri- 
 tical period was once more determined, and probably recalled 
 from imminent ruin, by the firmness with which he resisted 
 every argument of expediency, and acted on simple faith in 
 God. 
 
 The meeting took place, as had been agreed, at Rothach on 
 the 1st June, but the result proved how much the arguments
 
 168 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1529. of Lutlier had weighed upon the Elector's conscience in the 
 interval. John directed his delegate Minkwitz to hear all 
 that was said, but to be no party to any definitive agree- 
 ment ; and thus the meeting broke up with no fruit be- 
 yond the repetition of formal expressions of sympathy and 
 vague assurances of support. This was anything but satisfac- 
 tory to the Landgrave. Various letters passed between him 
 and the Elector, and Philip strove to persuade John that the 
 point of the Lord's Supper was not an essential article of 
 religion, like faith and some other doctrines ; and that 
 u theologians would for ever be disputing." But as time 
 advanced, the influence of Luther's sentiments on the Elec- 
 tor's judgment continued to be on the increase. There was 
 a meeting at Zerbst on the 7th August, at which deputies 
 of most of the Protestant princes were present, but again no 
 arrangement could be agreed upon. The Elector of Saxony, 
 George, the Margrave of Brandenburg and the city of Nu- 
 remberg, were especially firm and decided in adhering to 
 Luther's sacramental doctrines and his pacific policy : and 
 the two former afterwards entered into a mutual stipulation 
 that they would never assent to forming a compact with such 
 as differed from the evangelical tenets on the subject of the 
 Lord's Supper and Holy Baptism. But it had been settled 
 that a general Protestant conference should take place in the 
 middle of October, at Schwaback, and the Landgrave did not 
 remit anything of his usual ardour in labouring so to settle 
 doctrinal diversities, that before that congress the path to a 
 defensive combination might be made smooth. 
 
 The plan conceived by Philip was that the rival theologians, 
 who he found, from the recesses of their modest dwellings 
 ruled the counsels of princes, and with the pen determined 
 the action of the sword, should hold a meeting under his 
 protection and in his presence : and he trusted that by
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 169 
 
 calmly talking over the arguments in support of their adverse 1529. 
 views the differences might be adjusted, or at least all ill- 
 feeling quieted. Indeed, this plan had occurred to his mind 
 before the Diet broke up, and he mentioned it to Me- 
 lancthon. Luther did not refuse to accede to this proposal, 
 but from the very first he, and Melancthon with him, so 
 wrote and acted as to show that they expected little or no 
 good from any disputation or conference with adversaries who 
 had published such bitter writings in maintenance of their 
 heretical opinions. On the 23rd June he replied to the 
 Landgrave's invitation that he would go to Marburg, and 
 give the meeting to (Ecolampadius and his partisans, for his 
 opponents should never be able to say that they loved peace 
 and unity better than he did : but he had no hope whatever 
 from argument ; he had well studied his own ground, so had 
 his opponents theirs : he feared Satan might find his own 
 advantage in the disputation : he certainly should not himself 
 yield, and if his opponents proved as obstinate, the Land- 
 grave's expense and trouble would all be lost, although his 
 diligence to heal divisions was highly praiseworthy. But if, 
 as his Grace hinted, disunion should be followed by shedding 
 of blood, which the depraved heart naturally thirsted for, he 
 and his would be guiltless of any such result. What shedding 
 of blood led to had been witnessed in the instances of Sickin- 
 gen, Carlstadt, and Munzer : from all whose enterprises he had 
 kept himself clear, and from all similar enterprises he would 
 ever keep himself clear, with the help of God. 
 
 In a paper of considerations of about the same date — the 
 composition either of Luther or Melancthon * — it was pro- 
 
 * It has no signature attached. De "Wette (III. p. 475) ascribes it to 
 Luther; Bretschneider (II. p. 1066) to Melancthon. It was first pub- 
 lished by Miiller, in his "History of the Augsburg Confession," from 
 the Weimar Archives.
 
 170 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1529. posed that some honest Papists should attend the disputation 
 as a third and impartial party, both to preclude the possibility 
 of any rumour that the Reforming party were hatching some 
 conspiracy, and to serve as a check on the proneness of the 
 Sacramentarians to palm off on the public a false and inte- 
 rested statement of the arguments adduced. Such a proposal 
 is itself a sufficient proof of the extreme reluctance with 
 which the Wittenberg divines yielded to the importunity of 
 the Landgrave. Even the gentle Melancthon reiterates, in 
 his correspondence, that he had ' ' rather die " than be con- 
 taminated by alliance with the Swiss : " they separated the 
 divinity of Christ from his manhood : they spoke of sin as 
 only in the outward act, like the Pelagians and Papists ; and 
 they made faith a mere historical belief." Zwingle was per- 
 sonally odious to the Lutheran chiefs; he is described by 
 them as " rude, violent, and insolent ;" and it was thought 
 that the success of his doctrines in the famous conference at 
 Bern, when it was decided to abrogate the mass, and from 
 which he had been brought home in triumph by his country- 
 men, the boys shouting in the streets, "Down with a God 
 of bread — a baker God," had contributed to inflame his na- 
 tive pride and roughness. Luther repeated in a stronger 
 tone all that he had ever said against disputations ; he spoke 
 of the Leipsic disputation as having produced more evil than 
 good : he referred to the disputations in past ages of the 
 Arians and orthodox as having never been attended with any 
 benefit : and he complained of the unruly spirit of the Land- 
 grave, and the bad designs he was harbouring. " I know well 
 what Satan is about in this business : God grant I prove not a 
 true prophet." He even requested of his friends that prayers 
 might be offered in the churches for public peace, for " Satan 
 was meditating a great bane to Germany, and an intolerable 
 scandal to the Gospel, by tempting the Reforming party to 
 take up arms."
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 171 
 
 It was the Elector's care that the great Doctor should 1529. 
 appear at the conference apparelled in a manner worthy of his 
 patron, and he therefore sent him a present of a handsome suit 
 of clothes, and cloth for a gown. In a noble letter Luther 
 returned his thanks. "His Grace must not believe those 
 who said that he was in want. He had received more from 
 his Grace than in his conscience he could well bear ; for as a 
 preacher he ought not, and fain would not have a superfluity. 
 He would not willingly be found amongst those in this life to 
 whom Christ says, ' Woe unto you that are rich, for ye have 
 received your consolation/ Besides, he would not be bur- 
 densome to his Grace, as knowing what demands he had on 
 his charity, and how much he required to keep up his state : 
 and ( too much bursts the bag/ Although it would not be- 
 seem him to wear the liver-coloured cloth, yet he would wear 
 the black coat out of honour to his Grace, though far too 
 costly ; and were it not his Grace's present, he never could 
 wear such a coat at all. His Grace must wait until he en- 
 treated a gift, that he might not be shy to intercede for others 
 far worthier than himself." 
 
 The conference was fixed for St. Michael's Day. Luther, 
 accompanied by Melancthon, Cruciger, and Jonas, left Wit- 
 tenberg the 23rd October, and took the road by Erfurth, 
 Gotha, and Eisenach ; but as soon as he reached the frontiers 
 of Hesse, be refused to proceed any farther until a safe-con- 
 duct from the Landgrave had been sent him. When this had 
 been received, he advanced to Alsfeld, and rested there for the 
 night, and on Thursday, the 30th September, before mid-day, 
 made his entrance into Marburg. The Swiss had arrived the 
 day previously; and very different were the feelings with 
 which they had undertaken the journey, and prepared to en- 
 gage in the discussion. Zwingle, apprehensive of impediments 
 and delays, and urged by a fourth messenger from that " most
 
 172 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHEK. 
 
 1529. pious hero and Christian prince the Landgrave," quitted 
 Zurich secretly the beginning of September, leaving a letter to 
 be delivered to the Small and Great Council, explaining his 
 departure, and telling his wife that he was going to Basle on 
 business : on the 5th he was at Basle, in CEcolampadius' 
 house ; and on the 6th the two theologians, with Rudolph 
 Fry, senator of Basle, and Ulric Funk, senator of Zurich, de- 
 scended the Rhine in company with some merchants, and in 
 thirteen hours reached Strasburg, where they remained some 
 days, and towards the end of the month, with Hedio and 
 Bucer, and a Strasburg senator of note, James Sturm, under 
 an escort of soldiers or horsemen accomplished their route to 
 Marburg. The Lutheran party, besides Eberhard, the pre- 
 fect of Eisenach, and some others who had joined them at 
 that town, were increased by the subsequent arrival, after 
 the controversy had commenced, of Osiander of Nuremberg, 
 Brentz of Halle, and Stephen Agricola of Augsburg. It 
 had at first been intended to assign the disputants of the 
 two contending sides lodgings in the town : but this scheme 
 was abandoned ; and they were all most courteously received 
 by the Landgrave in his castle, an ancient fortress standing 
 on the brow of a hill, surrounded with woods, and com- 
 manding a noble view of the valley of the Lahn. The theo- 
 logians sat at the same table with the prince, and were 
 entertained with royal magnificence. On the 30th, Luther 
 conversed familiarly for some time with CEcolampadius in 
 the castle yard ; but when Bucer drew near to him, he ex- 
 claimed, shaking his hand at him, " You are a good-for- 
 nothing knave." 
 
 The next day, Friday, October 1, it was arranged that 
 there should be a separate conference in private, two by two, 
 of the heads of the opponent sentiments — Luther apart 
 with CEcolampadius, and Melancthon with Zwingle — the im-
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 173 
 
 petuous matched against the gentle. After divine service the 1529. 
 pairs of disputants withdrew into the apartments allotted 
 them, and carried on the discussion until they were inter- 
 rupted by the summons to dinner. Zwingle complains that 
 Melancthon was "so slippery, and such a Proteus, that he 
 was obliged to take a pen and conduct the controversy on 
 paper, in order to fix him." But this preliminary interview 
 proved that on all subjects, save the Sacrament of the Lord's 
 Supper, the disputants were agreed. The Swiss allowed the 
 radical and total depravity of the heart; that the Sacraments 
 are channels for communicating grace; that by baptism, the 
 infant has original sin forgiven him; that the Holy Spirit 
 acts not independently of, but through the written word ; and 
 that justification is to be distinguished from those good works 
 which are its fruits and effects. After dinner Melancthon and 
 Zwingle resumed their discussion for three hours longer, and 
 and entered more fully on the debated point of the Lord's 
 Supper ; but Luther did not return to his conference with 
 (Ecolampadius. The theologian of Basle had whispered into 
 Zwingle's ear, on joining him to proceed to the dinner table, 
 that " he had a second time lighted on Eck." Luther only 
 mentions in his correspondence the mutual suavity of manner 
 observed in the interview. 
 
 The following day, Saturday, October 2, the more public 
 conference was to take place. An apartment in the interior 
 of the castle, near the Prince's bedchamber, had been chosen 
 for the discussion, for much care was used to prevent the in- 
 trusion of the idly curious or ill-disposed. Carlstadt had re- 
 quested permission to be present, but Luther at once negatived 
 such a proposition ; and many who had come from Switzerland 
 or the Rhine, full of anxiety to be witnesses of the controversy, 
 knocked in vain at the castle gate, and implored to be let in. 
 Early in the morning the Landgrave entered the hall and
 
 174 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1529. took his seat, with his courtiers, and counsellors of the 
 first mark, professors of his university, and the nobles and 
 deputies who had been granted admission; about twenty- 
 four spectators in all, according to the Zwinglian account, as 
 many as fifty or sixty according to the Lutheran. The Prince 
 was very plainly attired, and thus appeared eager to ignore 
 his rank on the occasion, and to do homage to theology. 
 Of an intelligent mind, and well versed in the Scriptures, he 
 listened with fixed attention to the arguments advanced by 
 either side. A desk, covered with a velvet cloth, divided 
 Luther and Melancthon from Zwingle and CEcolampadius, 
 and the other theologians were seated behind the chiefs of 
 their respective parties. But, before the controversy began, 
 Luther stepped forward, and with a piece of chalk wrote on 
 the velvet cloth, in large letters in Latin, the text of Scrip- 
 ture on which he depended — " This is my body/' It was a 
 token that, as long as that text was found in Scripture, he 
 would not abandon the doctrine of the corporeal presence. 
 
 The conference was opened by Feige, the Chancellor of 
 Hesse, admonishing the disputants of the object for which 
 they were met, viz. the establishment of concord. Upon this 
 Luther declared, that he must protest against the opinions 
 entertained by his opponents on the Lord's Supper, and ever 
 should protest against them, for the words of Christ were 
 simple and conclusive, " This is my body." CEcolampadius 
 replied, that the words of Christ thus quoted were figurative, 
 and to be explained by similar texts, such as, I am the true 
 vine, I am the door of the sheep, John is Elias, &c. Luther 
 acknowledged a figure in the passages adduced, for the 
 simplest understanding must at once perceive them to be 
 figurative ; but he denied that there was anything parallel 
 to them in the declaration, " This is my body." CEcolampa- 
 dius then had recourse to Christ's own statement of the
 
 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 175 
 
 manner in which eating his flesh and drinking his blood 1529. 
 were to be understood, as contained in John vi., where, 
 in answer to the inquiry, " How can this man give us his 
 flesh to eat ? " he says, " It is the Spirit that quickeneth ; the 
 flesh profiteth nothing : the words that I speak unto you, 
 they are spirit, and they are life." Luther insisted that that 
 passage of Scripture did not refer to the Sacrament of the 
 Lord's Supper, but to feeding on Christ spiritually : but even 
 if it did refer to the Sacrament, by Christ's words in that 
 place must be understood not his flesh, but our flesh ; in other 
 words, that the body of Christ is to be received not with a 
 carnal but with a spiritual heart. For what blasphemy to dare 
 to say, " The flesh of Christ profiteth nothing ! " Christ him- 
 self saith, " His flesh bringeth life." CEcolampadius continued 
 to press him on this point, — " But if there be the spiritual 
 manducation, what can the oral avail ?" " That," said Luther, 
 " is a mere rationalistic question ; it ought to be enough that 
 the word of God says so; what that word states we are 
 bound to believe without a doubt, or a cavil, or objection. 
 The world must obey God's precepts ; we must all kiss his 
 word. Worms, listen ! It is your God who speaks ! " Here 
 Zwingle came to the aid of his friend ; and the controversy 
 quickly assumed a sharper and more excited tone. "The 
 devil," Luther repeated, " shall not drive me from simple de- 
 pendence on Christ's words, ' This is my body.' " You keep 
 on singing the same song ! " Zwingle exclaimed. This 
 Luther resented as rough and arrogant language ; and when 
 Zwingle continued, " Pardon me, my dear sir ; the Saviour's 
 explanation of the meaning of his words is decisive : Christ 
 tells you at once " — " Your language," Luther retorted, 
 " savours of the camp and of bloodshed," glancing at the 
 ulterior designs which he supposed to be veiled by the eager- 
 ness for unanimity, and yet more obviously alluding to the
 
 176 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1529. preparations for battle which had been made by Zurich and 
 Bern against the Forest Cantons in the summer, and all but 
 brought to the test of actual conflict. It was a relief to the 
 Landgrave, and all who had harmony and concord at heart, 
 that, at this heated turn in the discussion, when the argument 
 had degenerated into personal allusion, the combatants were 
 parted by dinner being announced. 
 
 After dinner the discussion was renewed, and the fore- 
 Sunday, noon and afternoon of the next day * were devoted to 
 Oct. 3. , . . . - . 
 
 the controversy, but without any impression being made 
 
 on either party by the representations of the other. Luther 
 stood throughout on the defensive, repeatedly quoting the 
 text which he regarded as decisive, and the account of 
 the institution of the Lord's Supper as given by St. Paul 
 in 1 Cor. xi. His adversaries assailed him with other 
 arguments. " You will not allow a metaphor, yet you ad- 
 mit a synecdoche," urged (Ecolampadius, " in the words, 
 'This is my body. 5 " "There is a great difference," Luther 
 replied, " between metaphor and synecdoche ; synecdoche 
 does not involve a sign as metaphor does; but every one un- 
 derstands what is meant by drinking a bottle, that it is the 
 beer in the bottle. The body of Christ is in the bread as the 
 sword in the scabbard, or the Holy Ghost in the dove." " The 
 term sacrament," (Ecolampadius continued, "is synonymous 
 with a sign or token, which is as good as an acknowledgment 
 that metaphor is employed." Luther answered, that he could 
 not accede to such an inference; "the body and blood of 
 course are signs in one sense ; they are signs of our redemption, 
 and of the promises of God, which hang upon them." Zwingle 
 tried another argument. A body, he said, cannot be without 
 
 * Lingke states (D. M. L.'s. Reisegeschichte, p. 180), that Luther 
 pi-eached a sermon at Marburg this Sunday, on Christian Justification, 
 or Forgiveness of Sins.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 177 
 
 place : the body of Christ is like our own, for he took the 15 v 2 ( .> 
 form of a servant ; it is now only a glorified body, such as we 
 shall share; and that body is in heaven, for it is written " He 
 ascended into heaven ; " it therefore cannot be at the same 
 time in the bread. " I will have nothing," Luther exclaimed, 
 " to do with your mathematics ; God is above mathema- 
 tics; I never stated that the body of Christ is in the bread as 
 in a place." But when it was attempted to lead him to a 
 more precise statement of what his doctrine really was, he 
 drew back in abhorrence. To affect precision in such a case 
 was, in his judgment, the height of irreverence and impiety ; 
 and to talk, as Zwingle did, of Christ's body being " finite," 
 was to degrade the Godhead to the level of our ignorant un- 
 derstandings, and to separate the two indivisible natures of 
 Christ. " The whole Christ, God and man, was in the Sacra- 
 ment." Zwingle proceeded to charge him with bringing back 
 Popery by the doctrine which he held on the Lord's Supper. 
 He replied that he did not in any way recognise the papistical 
 opus operatum ; but believed the sacrament to be effectual 
 only because of Christ's institution " by the word," like the 
 divine word itself, not losing its virtue by unbelief either in 
 the priest or people, but to the unfaithful " a savour of death 
 unto death," and to the faithful " a savour of life unto life." At 
 last he tore the velvet cloth from the table, and held up before 
 all the assembly the large letters, " This is my body," as an 
 unassailable warrant for persisting in the plain literal inter- 
 pretation of Scripture against every cavil. It was evident to 
 both parties that the disputation could not be protracted with 
 any advantage ; it was therefore closed, after the Swiss had 
 read aloud several quotations from fathers of the church in 
 support of their views, " not to add tradition to the founda- 
 tion of Scripture," but to vindicate their doctrine from the 
 charge of novelty. And the Evangelicals in reply collected 
 
 VOL. II. N
 
 178 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1529. various passages from the fathers in defence of their senti- 
 ments, and gave the document into the hands of the Land- 
 grave. Throughout the sojourn of the theologians in his castle, 
 the Landgrave was assiduously bent on effecting a recon- 
 ciliation ; he had frequent interviews in private with Zwingle ; 
 he also sent for each of the disputants, and remained closeted 
 with them for some time, exhorting, urging, and imploring, 
 that, out of regard to the Christian common weal, the scandal 
 of discord should be removed. 
 
 What was to be done ? All hopes of unanimity had proved 
 abortive. Nor was a long delay possible ; for the sweating 
 sickness, which had previously spread its ravages and terrors 
 through other parts of Germany, in a most sickly season, 
 when there was a blight on the corn and vintage crops, so 
 that the wine could neither be drank, nor yet converted into 
 vinegar, had already made its appearance at Marburg. Before 
 departing from Wittenberg, Luther had been mourning over 
 the devil's machinations, that " he struck some with disease, 
 and yet more with panic/' Aurogallus, Bruck, and Christian 
 Beyer had all to be roused to more manly resolution, or 
 they would have sweated themselves to death from the 
 sheer force of fancy ; and now, at Marburg, on the last day 
 of the disputation, fifteen persons were seized with the Eng- 
 lish malady, of whom one or two died. A speedy with- 
 drawal to a more healthy locality was absolutely necessary. 
 But injury instead of benefit must result to the Refor- 
 mation if, by an unfriendly parting, the Protestants wit- 
 nessed to the whole world that the division in their ranks, 
 which could not be closed, was reciprocally judged of such 
 importance as to make the Saxons and Swiss avowed aliens 
 from one another on religious grounds. Accordingly a gene- 
 ral meeting took place. It was now to be decided whether, 
 if there could not be perfect doctrinal union, there might
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHEH. 179 
 
 not be union in essentials, with allowed diversity in other 1529. 
 points. Luther held that there might be a difference of 
 opinion among Christians on images, crucifixes, priestly vest- 
 ments, and such externals of religion ; but declared that no 
 article of faith could ever be a matter of indifference. Zwingle, 
 on the other hand, decided that images, the cowl, and exter- 
 nals were by no means indifferent; but Christians might be 
 permitted to entertain dissimilar sentiments on the Lord's 
 Supper. The Swiss were the less powerful side, partly on 
 account of the animosity of most of the nobles and princes 
 to their tenets, and partly because Lutheranism was a faith 
 already recognised by German Diets. Zwingle and OEcolam- 
 padius therefore implored that the two divisions of Pro- 
 testants, disagreeing only on one article of doctrine, should 
 unite in concord, and the Reformed be owned by the Evange- 
 licals as Christian brothers. Philip of Hesse added his voice 
 to theirs in urging this concession ; and the Hessian divines, 
 Lambert, Snepf, and others, called upon Luther to renounce 
 every feeling which barred the way against this desirable con- 
 cord. But Luther, against every entreaty, stood firm. He 
 could not acknowledge those as brothers who thought lightly 
 of the sacrament of the altar, and conceived that to prefer 
 such a request argued a want of confidence in their own 
 opinion, or an inadequate value of truth. Zwingle was so 
 much affected by this coldness, that he could not disguise 
 his emotions, but burst into tears. Luther came forward 
 and said, "We cannot accept you as brothers, but we are 
 willing to hold out to you the hand of charity." With the 
 warm-heartedness of their nature the Swiss rushed forward 
 to clasp the extended hand, and the theologians of the ad- 
 verse sides, Luther and Zwingle first, and the rest after them, 
 shook hands in token that they regarded one another with 
 gentle and kindly feeling. This was no light point gained. 
 
 n 2
 
 180 THE LIFE OF MAKTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1529. It was resolved that henceforth no angry or bitter writings 
 should be exchanged. And the Swiss, like the Saxon monas- 
 teries, whose inmates still clung to Romanism, were " com- 
 mended to God," and "dismissed in peace." "Let us all 
 pray fervently/' said Luther, "and by God's grace our friend- 
 ship will be changed to brotherhood." 
 
 But before the theologians separated, it was important that 
 a document should be drawn up to testify to the world the 
 cordiality of feeling which prevailed between the Evangelical 
 and the Reformed branches of the Protestant Church, and 
 their agreement on every point of faith excepting one. The 
 Landgrave started this proposal : and every eye turned to 
 Luther as the fittest person to execute the task. Luther 
 acquiesced in the general wish, and retired to his chamber 
 to prepare the document. He had two dangers to shun : he 
 would not be needlessly severe upon the Swiss; but, above 
 all, he must not infringe on the sacred truths of God's Word. 
 He drew up a record of faith, with a strict regard to accuracy, 
 in fourteen articles, known as the Marburg Articles, and re- 
 served the contested subject of the Lord's Supper for the last. 
 
 The Articles declared the entire unanimity of the Protestant 
 belief: — 1. On the Trinity. 2. The incarnation of the Son 
 of God. 3. His meritorious death, resurrection, ascension, 
 and second advent. 4. The universality of original sin. 
 5. Remission of all sin, both original and actual, through the 
 merits of Jesus Christ alone by faith. G. Faith not earned 
 by works or service, or of our own strength, but the gift of 
 God wrought in the heart by the Spirit. 7. Such faith our 
 justification by the imputation of Christ's merits without any 
 works of ours; and hence all monastic vows to be condemned. 
 8. Faith ordinarily through the word of God preached or read, 
 how and in whom God will. 9. Baptism not a bare sign or 
 token among Christians; but a sign and work of God, wherein
 
 THE LITE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 181 
 
 our faith is required, and whereby we are regenerated. 1529. 
 10. Faith the parent of good works ; viz., charity, prayer and 
 patience under persecution. 11. Confession to, or asking 
 advice of, a pastor not obligatory; but very useful for the 
 sake of absolution and consolation. The only true absolution 
 from the Gospel. 12. Magistracies and worldly laws, judg- 
 ments and appointments, lawful and Christian ordinances, 
 in opposition to the teaching of some Papists and Anabap- 
 tists. 13. Traditions and ordinances of the Church, if not 
 repugnant to God's word, free to be used or rejected; but 
 the prohibition of matrimony " a doctrine of devils." The 
 14th Article was as follows: — "We all believe and hold, 
 concerning the Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ, that it 
 must be administered agreeably to its institution in both 
 kinds ; that the mass is not a work whereby one can procure 
 grace for another, dead or living ; that the sacrament of the 
 altar is a sacrament of the true body and blood of Jesus 
 Christ ; and that the spiritual feeding on the body and blood 
 is peculiarly necessary to every Christian. In like manner 
 we agree as to the use of the sacrament, that, like the word, 
 it has been transmitted and ordained by God, to excite weak 
 consciences to faith and love, through the Holy Ghost. And 
 although we are not at present agreed whether the true body 
 and blood be present corporeally in the bread and wine of the 
 Lord's Supper, yet the one party shall declare to the other 
 their Christian love, as far as each individual conscience shall 
 bear, and both shall diligently beseech Almighty God to esta- 
 blish us by his Spirit in the truth. Amen/' When Luther, 
 entering the Hall in which the divines were assembled, offered 
 these Articles for perusal, anxiety was seated on every coun- 
 tenance. They were twice read aloud, and Swiss and Saxons 
 learnt with eager joy how nearly they were agreed even in 
 the judgment of Luther. The signatures were affixed to the
 
 182 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1529. two copies, the Swiss signing one first, the Saxons the other. 
 The Hessian divines and the Landgrave did not append their 
 signatures, in order to maintain the character which they had 
 supported throughout, of impartial witnesses. 
 
 On the evening of the 4th October, when the articles had 
 been signed and the document was ready for the press, 
 Luther sat down to write two letters, one to his wife, 
 the other to his friend Gerbel of Strasburg, with a brief 
 account of what had passed at the conference. To his wife 
 he wrote as follows — " Grace and peace in Christ. Dear 
 lord Kate, — Know that our friendly conference at Marburg 
 is at an end, and we are quite one on all points, except that 
 the opponent party will have that it is mere bread in the 
 Sacrament, and Christ is only spiritually present. To-day 
 the Landgrave has been endeavouring that we should be 
 one, or if that could not be, at least should own one another 
 as brethren and members of Christ. He has laboured for this 
 with all his might. But we will not accept them as brethren 
 and members; we wish them well, and hold them as friends. 
 . Tell Master Bugenhagen, that Zwingle's best argument 
 has been, that a body cannot be without a place ; and (Ecolam- 
 padius', that the Sacrament is a sign of Christ's body. I 
 think God has blinded them, that they have nothing better to 
 bring forward. I have much to do, and the messenger is in 
 haste. Say good night to all, and pray for us. We are all 
 sound and hearty, and live like the princes. Kiss little 
 Lena and Johnny for me. Your willing servant, Martin 
 Luther." The letter to Gerbel stated that " the Swiss had 
 receded from their tenets on many points, and remained 
 obstinate only on the Sacrament of the altar. They had 
 been told that unless they came to their senses on this point 
 also, they might be counted as friends, but could not be 
 deemed brethren and members of Christ. More had been
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 183 
 
 effected than could have been hoped, for controversy in writing 1529. 
 and disputing was to cease, and thus not the least part of the 
 scandal would be removed. Would that the Lord Jesus 
 might at length remove the only remaining scruple." 
 
 Early in the morning of Tuesday, the 5th October, the 
 Landgrave quitted Marburg, and Luther and his party took 
 their departure in the afternoon. The Reformer hastened to 
 Scklaitz, agreeably to an invitation from the Elector, who was 
 there waiting his arrival with the Margrave of Brandenburg 
 to discuss the project of the alliance. On the 12th he was at 
 Jena ; but the only town in which he preached in his return 
 journey was Gotha, where he yielded to the wishes of his 
 friend Frederic Myconius, and ascended the pulpit. He was 
 very ill during part of the journey, "plagued by the angel 
 of Satan;" and did not reach Wittenberg till the middle of 
 October. 
 
 His mind was now kept on the rack with anticipation of 
 the fury with which the Turk, as the scourge of God, was 
 about to avenge " the blasphemies of the opponents of the 
 Gospel, and the intolerable ingratitude everywhere displayed 
 by the populace." On the 19th, he wrote from Wittenberg 
 to Amsdorf. " Yesterday evening I was dreadfully vexed in 
 mind. The angel of Satan, or whoever is the demon of death, 
 harasses me beyond measure, the fury of the Turks perchance, 
 which is at the door, co-operating with him. May Christ 
 pity us. Amen. Exhort your Church to repentance and 
 prayer. It is high time ; the necessity presses." He deli- 
 vered it as his opinion that all Germans ought to unite against 
 the Sultan for the common defence : it was no question about 
 leagues or offensive war ; the Turk was at their hearth homes ; 
 and Protestants should aid Papists, as one neighbour would 
 help another if his house were in flames, or give food to 
 an enemv who was starving. The translation of the book of
 
 ]84 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1529. Daniel was just ready for the press; and it was resolved to 
 give it to the world with an explanatory treatise, the joint 
 product of Melancthon and Jonas, in which passing events 
 and the terrible invasion of the Ottoman forces were cited as 
 the fulfilment of prophetic foresight* " The scourge of God," 
 Luther exclaimed, "is about to wreak his just wrath on us, on 
 account of our sins : it will be no child's play, but God's 
 final indignation : the world will have an end, and Christ will 
 come to take vengeance on his foes and deliver his people." 
 Animated with his subject, Luther sounded forth his trumpet 
 notes to his countrymen to muster their armies and do 
 battle against the Turks and the Turks' devil ; the Church, 
 in sackcloth and ashes, was to sink upon her knees before 
 God in repentance, tears, and prayer, if peradventure He 
 would show pity and be gracious, and leave a blessing 
 behind him. 
 
 On the 26th October, welcome news reached Wittenberg. 
 After a siege of twenty-one days, the Ottoman host, on the 
 16th October, had suddenly retired from the walls of Vienna; 
 the clouds of light cavalry rapidly receded, from the straits 
 of scarcity and the snow which lay round their camp, to the 
 plenty of a warmer clime. But this memorable deliverance 
 was hailed by the Germans with feelings far short of the 
 gratitude which it ought to have inspired, and the tidings 
 were received by some with indifference. " We Germans are 
 always snoring," Luther exclaimed, in patriotic indignation ; 
 
 * In his Battle Sermon against the Turk Luther dwelt on the same 
 subject. The Antichristian power spoken of in Dan. xii. 39, &c., was 
 the Pope ; that in Dan. vii. 8, &c., the Turk. The Ten Horns of the 
 last or Roman kingdom were Spain, France, Italy, Africa, Egypt, 
 Syria, Asia, Greece, Germany, &c. The Little Horn coming up among 
 them, or Mahomet, plucked up three of them by the roots, viz., Egypt, 
 Asia, and Greece. — Walch. XX., pp. 2691, &c.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 185 
 
 " and there are many traitors amongst us." " Pray," he 1529. 
 wrote to Myconius, " against the Turk and the gates of hell ; 
 that, as the angel could not destroy one little city for the 
 sake of one just soul in it, so we may be spared for the sake 
 of the few righteous that are in Germany." He recognised, 
 in the wide devastation which the Sultan's army left behind 
 it, the print of God's wrath on account of the persecuting 
 malignity of the Popish princes, their interdiction of God's 
 Word, and the sinfulness and supineness of the people even 
 where the Word was allowed to be preached. He gathered 
 from the prophecies of Daniel that the incursion would be 
 renewed, and although Germany would not fall to the posses- 
 sion of the False Prophet, yet his scourge would still be in- 
 flicted on guilty Christendom till the end of time. The deli- 
 verance he ascribed to the power of prayer, and " the great 
 miracle of God ; " and he exulted in the conviction that the 
 day of God's judgment was at hand, when he would " destroy 
 Gog the Turk, and Magog the Pope, the political and eccle- 
 siastical enemies of Christ." It soon appeared, however, that 
 one danger had vanished only to make way for another ; and 
 writing a few days afterwards, he remarks, " We have two 
 Csesars, one of the east and one of the west, and both our 
 foes." 
 
 Shortly after the evacuation of Vienna, intelligence was 
 conveyed from the west, fraught with more special and immi- 
 nent danger to the lives and doctrines of the Protestants than 
 could be apprehended from the fellest havoc of the Turks. The 
 Protestant ambassadors found the Emperor at Placentia, and 
 submitted their suit to him on the 12th September, but were 
 not vouchsafed an answer till the expiration of a month. 
 They petitioned that the decree of the first Diet of Spires 
 might be observed in the matter of religion, and they pre- 
 sented Pope Adrian's confession of ecclesiastical abuses, and
 
 186 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHEK. 
 
 1529. the Centum Gravamina of the Nuremberg Diet of 1522. 
 The tardy imperial reply maintained that the will of the 
 majority, which had sanctioned the decree of the last Diet, 
 was binding on all ; and added " the gracious warning," that if 
 the Elector of Saxony and his associates did not please to 
 obey it, " his Majesty, to uphold obedience in his sacred 
 kingdom, would impose serious punishment on them ; but 
 this, it was hoped, would be unnecessary, especially at a time 
 when the Turk, the hereditary foe of the Christian name and 
 faith, had seized upon Hungary, meditating with his wonted 
 fury to extend his reign farther." Upon this answer being 
 returned through the imperial secretary, the ambassadors 
 placed in his hands the Appeal of the princes and states. The 
 secretary at first declined, but at length consented to receive it : 
 but at midday he returned with the message that his imperial 
 Majesty was highly incensed by the Appeal, and commanded 
 the ambassadors not to move a foot from their lodging, nor 
 communicate by letter or by messenger with their friends in 
 Germany. One of the three ambassadors, Michael Caden, 
 was intentionally absent when the secretary returned with this 
 order, and, " before writing should be forbidden to himself as 
 well as to the others," related all that had passed in a letter 
 to the Senate of Nuremberg the same day. The next day the 
 ambassadors had another Appeal drawn up and signed against 
 the answer which the Emperor had transmitted to them, to 
 "a free common Christian Council." Charles pursued his 
 route to Bologna, where he was to be solemnly crowned by 
 the Pope, and gave orders that the ambassadors should follow 
 him ; but, on the last day of October, on arriving at Parma, 
 Ehinger and Frauentraut were dismissed.* Caden was still 
 detained, on the plea that he had offered to the Emperor a 
 
 * See the whole account, Walch. XVI., pp. 542—621.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 187 
 
 Lutheran book, in which doctrines were inculcated sub- 1529. 
 versive of the civil authority. The authority which the 
 book really impugned was that of the bishops in civil matters. 
 The fortunate retreat of the Turkish forces did not deter 
 Charles from prosecuting his plan of proceeding to Germany : 
 on the confrary, it offered an opportunity, such as might 
 never recur, of directing all his attention to the one object of 
 quelling religious differences, for the accomplishment of which 
 the treaties concluded at Barcelona with the Pope in June, 
 and at Cambray with Francis in August, were likewise most 
 propitious. 
 
 This state of affairs — the suit of the ambassadors rejected 
 and themselves put in custody; Charles on his way to Ger- 
 many, where he might be expected the following spring; 
 his dislike to the anti-Papist doctrines, which the retreat of 
 the Turks and his peace with Francis and with the Pope all 
 seemed to conspire to enable him to gratify — all portended ex- 
 treme peril to the Protestants, and caused Philip of Hesse to 
 redouble his exertions for effecting the armed coalition. The 
 meeting held at Schwabach October 15, postponed the consi- 
 deration of the Protestant league to a larger meeting, to be 
 held at Smalkald : and the threatening intelligence which the 
 letter of Caden had conveyed, caused the Smalkald convention 
 to be summoned for the 29th November, earlier than had been 
 anticipated. But meanwhile, the Elector of Saxony requested 
 of Luther his opinion on the true course of action in the 
 present menacing attitude of the Emperor and the Papist 
 princes and prelates. If there was any man in Germany who 
 had reason to dread for himself individually the advent of 
 Charles to his imperial dominions, and the execution by his 
 authority of projects which the partisans of Rome had long 
 cherished, it was Luther. Duke George had boasted he would 
 tear Luther from the midst of his sectarian uuiversitv : he had
 
 188 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1529. wanted power adequate to the enterprise : but the Emperor 
 was armed with the sword of the Empire, and a ready pre- 
 text, the Edict of Worms, for suffering its weight to descend 
 on one convicted and condemned. It was now to be seen 
 whether, under circumstances of such terror to his cause and 
 person, Luther would adhere steadfastly to the maxims he had 
 before laid down, or allow his principles to swerve with his 
 interest. And there was much that might give a plausible 
 colouring to a change of counsel. The conference at Mar- 
 burg, if it had not effected all that could have been wished, 
 had at least terminated so amicably, that Philip of Hesse 
 might well hope to make it a stepping-stone to the accom- 
 plishment of his designs. 
 
 Such was the aggravation of circumstances under which 
 Luther was again called upon to deliver his sentiments on the 
 proposed defensive alliance ; and his answer, dated the 18th 
 November, was to this effect: — "We cannot in our con- 
 science approve or counsel such a compact ; but had rather 
 die ten times over, than that the Gospel should be a cause of 
 blood or hurt, by any act of ours. Let us rather patiently 
 suffer, and, as the Prophet says, be counted as sheep for the 
 slaughter ; and instead of avenging or defending ourselves, 
 leave room for God's wrath. Our Lord Christ is mighty 
 enough, and can well find means and ways to rescue us from 
 danger, and bring the thoughts of the ungodly princes to 
 nothing. The Emperor's undertaking is a loud threat of the 
 devil, but it will be powerless, and at last will turn to the ruin 
 of our adversaries. As the Psalm says, ' It will fall on his 
 ow r n pate.' Christ is only trying us whether we are willing 
 to obey his Word or no, and whether we hold it for certain 
 truth or not. The cross of Christ must be borne. The cause 
 is not ours, but God's. And we shall still find, as we have 
 hitherto found, that with prayers and entreaties to God we
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 189 
 
 shall avail more than they, with all their haughtiness. Only 1529. 
 let us keep our hands clean of blood and guilt ; and if the 
 Emperor demand that I or the rest be surrendered to him, we 
 will with God's help appear in our own cause, and not expose 
 your Grace to peril on our account, as I formerly often informed 
 ray gracious Lord, your Grace's God-fearing brother. Your 
 Grace shall not defend my faith, or another's ; you cannot do 
 it : but you must defend your own faith, and believe or not 
 believe at your own risk, if our Supreme Ruler the Emperor 
 demand it at our hands. Meanwhile he has much water to 
 cross, and God will easily devise counsel whereby matters will 
 not go quite as they think. Christ our Lord and our trust 
 strengthen your Grace richly/' 
 
 It now remained to be seen whether the influence of 
 Luther with the Elector was sufficiently strong to overbear 
 the continued solicitations of the Landgrave, backed by the 
 urgency of the crisis and the obvious prudential arguments 
 for self-defence. And it Avas not long before the Elector 
 became decidedly of Luther's views; and saw the scriptural 
 line of policy exactly as he saw it. Not only, however, the 
 Elector, but the Margrave of Brandenburg also and the city 
 of Nuremberg, stoutly maintained the obligation of warring 
 with no carnal weapon, but only with the sword of the Spirit. 
 The meeting at Smalkald was largely attended by the parties 
 to the protest. The Elector of Saxony and his son, the 
 Dukes of Luneburg, the Landgrave, the legate of the Mar- 
 grave George, and deputies from Strasburg, Ulm, Nurem- 
 berg, Heilbronn, Reutlingen, Constance, Memmingen, 
 Kempten, and Lindau, together with the ambassadors who 
 had lately experienced the imperial rigour, debated on the 
 eve of momentous events the awful question of peace 
 or war. There was a sharp dispute between the strictly 
 Lutheran party and the Landgrave, whether or no it was
 
 190 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1529. lawful to resist the Emperor, the former insisting on the 
 negative. The same section, animated with the very spirit of 
 their Reformer, persisted that before any alliance could be 
 agreed to, it should be distinctly understood that there was no 
 diversity of sentiment on any article of faith ; and they 
 carried this point against the Zwinglian party and the Land- 
 grave, who strove to act as mediator. Seventeen articles 
 which had before been brought forward at Schwabach were 
 again adduced : they are known as the Schwabach or Smal- 
 kald articles ; and it was required that the princes and depu- 
 ties should declare their assent by affixing their signatures. 
 These articles are nearly the same with the Marburg, except- 
 ing that they declare under the tenth head, without any am- 
 biguity, that the very body and blood of Christ are really 
 present in the Sacrament, and condemn the notion that the 
 bread is simply ordinary bread.* This was enough to break 
 up the meeting, for the cities of Strasburg and Ulm could 
 not accede to the Lutheran dogma on the Sacrament. It 
 was arranged, however, that another convention should be 
 held at Nuremberg in the beginning of the ensuing year, 
 but the invitation to this conference was limited to such 
 as could concur with the seventeen articles. Accordingly, 
 the whole scheme of the alliance was split upon this rock 
 of doctrinal disagreement ; for the convention at Nuremberg, 
 which met on the 6th January, was thinly attended, and 
 the deputies parted with the understanding, that at present 
 no settlement could be effected, the arrival of the Emperor 
 must be awaited, and meanwhile each should deliberate at 
 home on the plan of defence which seemed most expedient, 
 and, within the space of a month, forward his advice to the 
 Elector. Thus by his own policy, founded on religious con- 
 
 * See them, Walch. XVI., pp. 681, &c.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 191 
 
 viction, Luther was abandoned to the Emperor and the Pope, 1529. 
 and refused the protection of man for himself or the cause of 
 the Gospel. 
 
 The Reformation was about to undergo a new trial. It 
 had long since conquered Rome in popular opinion : but its 
 triumph had been subsequently much impaired by internal 
 differences. If Luther had understood better the true spirit 
 of Christian unity, the unanimous phalanx of Protestants 
 could have set despotism, whether civil or ecclesiastical, at 
 defiance ; but in such an event an appeal to arms, from a 
 sense of human strength, might have earlier sullied the cause 
 of enlightenment and the regeneration of the Christian world 
 with the foul blots of blood. Throughout its annals the lead- 
 ership of the movement had been contested between two 
 principles — one represented first by Sickingen and afterwards 
 by Philip of Hesse, the other by Martin Luther ; neither, it is 
 true, thoroughly enlightened : but victory most providentially 
 rested with the side which, with however much of lingering 
 bigotry and prejudice, bore on its banner, not Man's Might, 
 but God's Word. Such Christian faith, so deeply rooted in 
 the heart, was now about to be brought into collision, unde- 
 fended by man's arm, and renouncing such defence, with the 
 leagued despotism of State and Church, prepared to second 
 its pretensions with cannon, sword, and every available weapon 
 of force or fraud. Charles himself intended to continue his 
 route to Germany, and honour the Diet which had been 
 appointed to meet at Augsburg with his presence ; and mean- 
 while he was spending his hours at Bologna in the society 
 of Clement, residing in the same palace with him, talking 
 over political affairs, above all, planning the extinction of 
 heresy. 
 
 The mention of the Diet of Augsburg suggests by asso- 
 ciation the Diet of Worms, which had met nine years before.
 
 192 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1529. Those nine years have no parallel save in the apostolic age. 
 At Worms, one man, charged with opposing Scripture to 
 tradition, had been arraigned and condemned : at Augsburg, 
 the one condemned man having in the interval grown into 
 the nation, Germany, in his place, was about to answer the 
 record of indictment. In so short a period, ideas, principles, 
 and institutions had been revolutionized. Not only in Ger- 
 many had the doctrines of Scripture spread with a rapidity 
 as marvellous, and a force as irresistible, as the light of day 
 itself; but in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Prussia, the evan- 
 gelical teaching had been everywhere disseminated, and was 
 perpetuated in well-organized establishments. Switzerland 
 only complained that Germany was not sufficiently anti-papal. 
 England was wavering; and as early as 1527, an evangelical 
 society had established itself at Corpus Christi College, 
 Oxford. In Italy, at Faenza and among the old literary 
 associations; in Spain, among the Franciscan fraternity, the 
 scriptural revival had commenced with vigour. In France, 
 at Meaux, at Metz, and in Dauphiny, the Gospel had been 
 warmly embraced ; persecution had now driven its heralds to 
 Basle : but Margaret of Navarre still cherished the Reformed 
 tenets at her brother's court. In many countries and pro- 
 vinces, where the sword was the unanswerable champion for 
 Rome, the people sighed in secret for the liberty of proclaim- 
 ing their adhesion to the Word of God, and hearing it pub- 
 licly preached : and now and then, one bolder or more deeply 
 influenced than the rest, spoke out his convictions, and paid 
 the forfeit of his life. It seemed at this crisis as though all 
 Europe would have turned from the papal chair to the Word 
 of God, if the ruling powers would have granted freedom 
 of religious belief. And with such triumphs already Avon, 
 Luther might indeed well disclaim any aid except the power 
 of that Word, which had alone accomplished, in spite of per-
 
 TUE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 193 
 
 secution, " with the unresistible might of weakness/' all that 1529. 
 he heard and witnessed. 
 
 Before concluding the chapter, and passing to a new epoch, 
 it is incumbent to visit again the domestic circle in the Au- 
 gustine convent, and tread the streets of the Saxon town, 
 which had attained a celebrity so disproportioned to its size 
 and antecedent fame. Wittenberg, the focus of illumination, 
 the centre of those religious ideas which were agitating 
 society, from the Emperor to the serf, was itself a quiet, 
 studious retreat, with not much to attract the outward eye. 
 It was in the autumn of the year 1529, that Mathesius, the 
 contemporary biographer of Luther, became a student of 
 " the renowned university/' " the praise of which, and of its 
 good people," he says, that " he trusts, if God will, to divulge 
 at the last day, and to all eternity." The next Sunday after 
 his admission to the University, at vespers, he heard " the 
 great man, Dr. Luther, preach/' from the Acts of the Apos- 
 tles, ii. 38 — the words of St. Peter enjoining repentance and 
 baptism: — What a sermon from the lips of "the man of 
 God ! " — " for which all the days of his pilgrimage on earth, 
 and throughout eternity, he should have to give God thanks." 
 At that period Melancthon lectured on Cicero's " De Ora- 
 toribus," and his oration "Pro Archia/' before noon on the 
 Epistle to the Romans ; every Wednesday on Aristotle's 
 Ethics : Bugenhagen on the Epistle to the Corinthians : 
 Jonas on the Psalms : Aurogallus on Hebrew Grammar : 
 Weimar on Greek : Tulich on Cicero's " Offices :" Bach on 
 Virgil : Volmar on the theory of the Planets : Mulich on 
 Astronomy : Cruciger on Terence, for the younger students. 
 Perfect concord prevailed between the students and towns- 
 people. The private schools were vigorously conducted ; and 
 Mathesius had for his host Wolf John von Rochlitz, and 
 enjoyed the elevating associations connected with the memory 
 
 VOL. II. o
 
 194 THE LIFE OF MARTJN LUTHER. 
 
 1529. of " the dear martyr Leonhard Csesar," who had sat at the 
 same table before him, the history of whose patient imprison- 
 ment and courageous martyrdom had been published by 
 Luther. 
 
 1530. The new year found Dr. Luther energetic as ever in his 
 studies and writings. A second edition of the Battle sermon 
 had been issued ; a treatise on " the rights of matrimony" 
 was under composition ; a book on the rites and religion of 
 the Turks, a reprint of a work seventy years old, was in the 
 press : the German New Testament had undergone another 
 revision, and a careful explanatory preface was prefixed to the 
 Apocalypse ; and, after the publication of this fresh edition, 
 the translation of the Prophets was to be resumed. Indeed, 
 before the end of February the translation of Daniel, dedi- 
 cated to John Frederic, was in the press, and Jeremiah was 
 in hand. To these unremitting toils of the closet must be 
 added addresses from the pulpit. But the proficiency of " the 
 Capernaites of Wittenberg" was by no means in proportion 
 to the pains and assiduity bestowed on their instruction. 
 Mathesius relates, that about this time Luther was so much 
 offended with the practical ungodliness of his townspeople, 
 that he preached a vehement call to repentance, and warned 
 them that thenceforth he should no more speak to them in 
 the name of the Lord. And this assurance, says his bio- 
 grapher, he kept for some time, " till his violent zeal cooled 
 a little, or rather, till God's Word burnt in his heart as 
 fire, and he could no longer forbear/' 
 
 The sickness of his aged father, of which he received intel- 
 ligence from his brother James, in February, drew from him 
 a letter which places his filial devotion in a striking light. 
 He could not wait at Mansfeld, he stated, on his father in 
 this illness, because the journey would be attended with 
 much personal danger from the enmity of many lords, and
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 195 
 
 even peasants, whom he had provoked by his behaviour in 1530. 
 the late insurrection ; he therefore entreated his father and 
 mother, were it possible, to come to him ; and he sent his 
 servant Cyriacus to make the necessary preparations, or re- 
 port to him how matters stood. Kate, and all at the convent, 
 besought them to come, with tears. For himself, he desired 
 to be " in bodily attendance on them, and, according to the 
 fourth commandment, to show his gratitude to God and 
 them, with childlike truth and service." He goes on to 
 express his joy that his father had been released from the 
 wretched darkness and error of Popery, and his hope that 
 God's work by Divine grace was begun in him. All the scorn 
 and contumely he had endured on his son's account were 
 so many true tokens of resemblance to the Lord Jesus. The 
 whole world, he continues, is a valley of woe, and the longer 
 we live in it the more of sin and wickedness, misfortune and 
 misery, do we see and suffer, which never cease till the sex- 
 ton's shovel scoops us another chamber, where we repose 
 peacefully in Christ's rest, till he comes and wakes us up 
 with jubilee. And the separation, till all would meet again 
 in Christ's kingdom, would be a very brief interval, much 
 shorter, to God's reckoning, than the time spent in the jour- 
 ney from Mansfeld to Wittenberg. " Kate, Johnny, little 
 Lena and aunt Lena, and the whole house, greet you and 
 pray for you. Greet my dear mother and all my friends. 
 God's grace and strength be with and abide with you for 
 ever. Amen." 
 
 The approaching Diet now engrossed the public mind. 
 Resistance to the Turks would occupy a large space in the 
 deliberations; and the ample grants the Pope would make 
 the Emperor, were the subject of angry rancour; but such 
 concessions, every one knew, meant more than met the ear, 
 and it was concluded that the chief article of deliberation 
 
 o 2
 
 196 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1530. would be the settlement of religious variances. In the begin- 
 ning of March , Luther received a communication from the 
 Elector, putting the question to him in the most direct 
 form — "Whether armed resistance to the Emperor were jus- 
 tifiable ? " Luther consulted with Jonas, Bugenhagen, and 
 Melancthon, and replied — " No one, who would be a Christian, 
 could oppose his ruler, but must endure patiently, right or 
 wrong. If the Emperor should break all the commands of 
 God, nay, should be a heathen, he would still be the Em- 
 peror. For the Elector of Saxony to arm his subjects against 
 the Emperor, would be as if a burgomaster of Torgau should 
 arm his boroughmen against the Elector of Saxony." The 
 lawyers differed from Luther in the decision of this nice 
 point of casuistry, the determination of which the history of the 
 world has so often forced on the mind ; and, taking rather a 
 constitutional than a theological view of the question, denied 
 that the relation of the Elector of Saxony to the Emperor 
 was similar to that of a burgomaster of a town in Saxony to 
 the Saxon Prince. But it was evident from experience whose 
 verdict would weigh the most with the Elector John. On 
 the 14th, Luther received from the Court the gracious request 
 that himself, Bugenhagen, Jonas, and Melancthon would 
 concert measures in reference to the Diet, which was close at 
 hand, and then come to Torgau. Jonas was absent on a 
 visitation tour, but Luther immediately wrote to him to urge 
 his return ; and the Elector having despatched another letter 
 to request that the deliberations might be conducted at 
 Torgau, the Reformers went thither at the end of March, and 
 reviewed there the Schwabach Articles, which hence are some- 
 times called the Torgau Articles, and gave them their sanc- 
 tion, as well adapted to serve as the basis of a more extended 
 and systematic statement of the evangelical tenets. It had 
 now ceased to be a question whether the Elector and his
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHEK. 197 
 
 Lutheran allies should boldly meet the Emperor at Augsburg, 1530. 
 and face the fury of the storm, or dare the worst their enemies 
 could do against them at a distance : Luther's admonitions to 
 obedience and courage had conquered ; and, before his de- 
 parture with the Elector, he implored that the Church would 
 diligently pray for a blessing on the national consultations. 
 " Only let us pray, and the gates of hell will never prevail/ 5
 
 198 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 FROM THE 3RD APRIL, 1530, TO THE 30TH MAY, 1536. 
 
 1530. On Sunday the 3rd April (Judica) the Elector of Saxony, 
 with the nobles and theologians who were to accompany him 
 to the Augsburg Diet, assembled in the Castle Church to 
 join in devout prayers to God, and hear from the great Re- 
 former an exhortation to that courage and constancy which 
 their situation and the crisis so peremptorily demanded of the 
 first Protestant champions. Luther took for his text Matt. x. 
 32, " Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I also 
 confess before my Father which is in heaven ;" and rarely has 
 the spirit of a sermon been evidenced with such power by the 
 subsequent conduct of those who heard it. In the afternoon, 
 the Elector John, with his son John Frederic, Francis Duke 
 of Luneburg, Wolfgang Prince of Anhalt, and Albert Count 
 of Mansfeld, with other noblemen and gentlemen, to the 
 number of seventy, which was increased by attendants to a 
 cavalcade of 160 horsemen, quitted Torgau, and took the 
 road to Grimma. Luther, Jonas, Melancthon, Spalatin, and 
 Agricola, were the theologians who had been chosen to 
 accompany the Elector, and by their instructions, and their 
 example, aid the steadfastness of his testimony to Christ. 
 The notes of Luther's hymn of unshaken confidence in God, 
 that well-known paraphrase of his favourite forty-sixth Psalm, 
 frequently resounded along the troop of horsemen, as well as 
 animated the hearts of the evangelical worshippers throughout 
 their churches during this season of anxiety. On Monday
 
 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 199 
 
 morning the Elector and his retinue proceeded to Altenburg, 1530. 
 and on the following Wednesday advanced to Eisenbcrg, and 
 on the eve of Palm Sunday reached Weimar ; and on Palm 
 Sunday the whole company received the communion in both 
 kinds, and listened to more than one address from Luther. 
 On Tuesday, the 12th, they again set forward, and rested 
 that night at Saalfeld, where Luther again preached. On 
 Maundy Thursday they reposed at the Castle of Grafenthal ; 
 on Good Friday at Neustadtel, at the entrance of the Thu- 
 ringian Forest; throughout each day of the sacred week 
 Luther continuing his discourses from the pulpit. On Easter 
 Eve they halted before the Elector's fortress of Coburg. 
 
 The Elector remained at Coburg until the afternoon of 
 Saturday, the 23rd April, and then proceeded on his journey, 
 passing through Bamberg, Nuremberg, and Donauwerth ; 
 and on Monday, the 2nd May, to the surprise and admira- 
 tion of the Protestants of Augsburg, made his entrance into 
 that city before the arrival of any of the Papist princes. 
 Luther had been left at Coburg, as had been intended from 
 the first ; for the Edict of Worms was regarded by the Em- 
 peror as still legally in force, and it would have been not 
 more impolitic than unjustifiable, on moral grounds, to rouse 
 the resentment of the Romanists by any act of temerity and 
 defiance. The Castle of Coburg, Luther's second Wartburg, 
 stands on a high hill above the town, in a pleasant situation 
 overlooking the river Itz. It was placed entirely at Luther's 
 command, the keys of every room were given into his hands, 
 and the inmates, fourteen in number, of whom twelve kept 
 guard by night and two acted as watchmen by day, and as 
 couriers, paid him all the respect that could be rendered to a 
 master. Cyriacus, his own servant, waited on him ; and his 
 friend Veit Dietrich was at once his companion and amanu- 
 ensis. But it was not thought desirable that Luther should
 
 200 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1530. spend much time in study ; his constitution, naturally of the 
 strongest mould, had lately shown symptoms that the im- 
 mense toil and endurance of his whole lifetime were begin- 
 ning to tell on it, and Dietrich was enjoined to restrain his 
 ardour for writing, and amuse him with conversation and 
 such other means as offered themselves. Meanwhile Melanc- 
 thon was busily engaged with the celebrated " Confession/' 
 which had been partly begun at Coburg with Luther's aid, 
 and was now prosecuted at Augsburg with great vigour ; and 
 a brisk correspondence was maintained between the Re- 
 formers. 
 
 Shortly after he was left alone, Luther wrote to Melanc- 
 thon, " We have at last come to our Sinai, dearest Philip ; 
 but we shall make a Sion of this Sinai, and rear three taber- 
 nacles : one to the Psalms, one to the Prophets, and one to 
 iEsop; the last only temporary." Strange juxtaposition; 
 highly emblematical of Luther's almost contradictory tastes 
 and faculties ! These studies, however, could not be under- 
 taken immediately, for the requisite books and papers had not 
 arrived from Wittenberg, and indeed did not come to hand 
 until the end of the month ; and therefore Luther spent the 
 first shafts of his zeal in an Admonition to the Ecclesiastics 
 assembled at the Diet of Nuremberg. Thoughts, he said, 
 like landsnechts, came rushing fierce and dense upon him, 
 as he sat at his work, and he found difficulty in restraining 
 the impetuosity of his ideas, and tempering his caustic style. 
 From the Papists he turned to the Turks, the other arm of 
 Satan ; and translated the two chapters of Ezekiel containing 
 the prophecy of Gog and Magog, and prefixed an expository 
 preface. But the emotions which these subjects kindled 
 were too vehement for mind or body to bear long ; he sought 
 refuge in his flute : this required mending ; and applying 
 himself to this task seemed to divert his anxiety. Then the
 
 THE LITE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 201 
 
 scenery around the castle was full of interest : a sloping 1530. 
 lawn in front of his window, environed with woods, was the 
 chosen resort of rooks and jackdaws, which were " screaming 
 in his ears all day and all night" — "all the fowl of that 
 feather in the world seemed congregated there ;" and he found 
 relief from the internal tragedy by framing their antics into 
 a comedy. 
 
 " I have no need to go to the Diet of Augsburg/' he wrote 
 to his messmates at Wittenberg, and to Spalatin at Augsburg, 
 " I have a diet immediately in front of my own window. 
 Here I see magnanimous kings, dukes, and nobles, consult 
 over the affairs of their realm, and with unremitting clang 
 proclaim their decrees and dogmas through the air. They 
 do not meet in caves or dens of courts called palaces ; but 
 the spacious heaven is their roof, verdant grass and foliage 
 their pavement, and their walls are wide as the ends of the 
 earth. They are not arrayed in gold and silk, but all wear 
 a vestment of black, have eyes of a gray hue, and speak in 
 the same music, save the diversity of youth and age. Horses 
 and harness they spurn at, and move on the rapid wheels of 
 wings. As far as I understand the herald of their decrees, 
 they have unanimously resolved to wage this whole year a 
 war on barley, wheat, oats, and every kind of grain; and 
 great deeds will be done. Here we sit, spectators of this 
 diet ; and, to our great joy and comfort, observe and hear 
 how the princes, lords, and estates of the empire are all sing- 
 ing so merrily and living so heartily. But it gives us espe- 
 cial pleasure to remark with what knightlike air they swing 
 their tails, stroke their bills, tilt at one another, and strike 
 and parry ; so that we believe they will win great honour 
 over the wheat and barley." Looking, however, more atten- 
 tively at the spectacle in front of the castle, he was better 
 pleased with a more close and special application of the
 
 202 THE LIEE OF MARTIN LUTHEK. 
 
 1530. comedy. " It seems to me that these rooks and jackdaws 
 are after all nothing else but the sophists and Papists, with 
 their preachings and writings, who will fain present them- 
 selves in a heap, and make us listen to their lovely voices and 
 beautiful sermons." In his letter of the 28th April, he 
 notes, " To-day, for the first time, we have heard the night- 
 ingale ; the weather is bitterly cold/' He dated his cor- 
 respondence from " Gruboc " inverting the letters of Coburg, 
 or else from " the Region of the Birds/' or " the Diet of 
 the Jackdaws." 
 
 The end of April the books arrived from Wittenberg, and 
 he returned to his translation of the Prophets, resuming his 
 version of Jeremiah, and applied with such energy to the 
 the work, that he indulged the hope of completing the ver- 
 sion of the Prophets before Whitsunday. The translation of 
 some of iEsop's fables, for the edification of youth, was to 
 engage his attention afterwards. But he quickly found that 
 he had reckoned on the abilities of the mind, without taking 
 into the calculation the wear and tear of the body ; for a 
 very few days of severe intellectual toil laid " the outward 
 man, unable to bear the force and vigour of the inner and 
 new man," quite prostrate. His head resounded with noises, 
 claps like thunder dinned through it; and the work was 
 compelled to be laid aside, and for some weeks his eyes could 
 not endure the sight of a letter. " My caput," he wrote to 
 Melancthon, " is turned to a chapter (capitulum) , it will soon 
 become a paragraph, and then dwindle to a period." And 
 he availed himself of the opportunity to warn Philip, by his 
 example, to " take care of his own precious little body, and 
 not commit homicide." "God," said he, "is served by 
 rest, by nothing more than rest, and therefore he has willed 
 that the Sabbath should be so rigidly kept." In this state 
 of weakness and prostration of body, spiritual temptation
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 203 
 
 supervened; "an embassage from Satan" waited on hhn, 1530. 
 and he sighed and groaned for the day when the power of 
 the tempter should be destroyed. When he was able to 
 resume his studies, he used great caution and moderation, 
 but was able to complete the version of Jeremiah before the 
 end of June. Ezekiel was then taken in hand, but it proved 
 a very onerous task, and was laid aside for a time ; but was 
 subsequently resumed and finished. Before the middle of 
 August, the Minor Prophets,- " leisurely and by way of 
 recreation," had all been translated, with the exception of 
 Haggai and Malachi. But translation was not the only 
 fruit of Luther's Coburg retirement. He wrote an admirable 
 discourse on the necessity of schools for children ; an exposi- 
 tion of the 113th Psalm (Confitemini), "an alms-giving to 
 the poor printers;" expositions of the 117th, and of the 2nd 
 Psalms, the latter addressed to the Archbishop of Mentz, and 
 also of other passages of Scripture. In the latter part of July 
 he composed a tract on the Papist lies about Purgatory, which 
 he followed up by a tract on the Papist lies about the Keys ; 
 and in September he wrote an Epistle on the Interpretation 
 of Scripture, and on the Intercession of Saints. 
 
 The letter-carriers from Wittenberg passed by, for the 
 most part, Luther's beacon tower on their way to Augsburg, 
 and thus the Reformer generally learnt the news from home 
 before the theologians who were in attendance upon the Diet. 
 Luther had heavy tidings to break to Jonas — the death of a 
 son born since their departure from Wittenberg, and weak 
 from the birth — the second domestic affliction which had 
 lighted upon the same family in a brief space of time. On 
 the 19th May, Luther wrote a letter of consolation to his sick 
 father, and lamented that he could console him no better, 
 " being, like the region round him, parched and arid." 
 " Remember," he said, " the blessings you still enjoy, for a
 
 20-1 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHEH. 
 
 1530. virtuous woman is a crown to her husband, and do not wish 
 like a glutton to have every delight of life, and so resemble 
 in no respect the brethren of Christ, who must through much 
 tribulation seize the kingdom of God by violence." Luther 
 had to deal out his consolations on all sides. The Elector 
 had sent him a message to request he would take the poor 
 accommodation he found at the castle in good part, and not 
 think his sojourn there very tedious. He replied that " he 
 lived like the Lords," and the weeks which he had spent at 
 Coburg had flown so rapidly that they had scarcely appeared 
 three days. But, having heard from the theologians that 
 John was much depressed in spirits because the Emperor 
 still delayed his entrance into Augsburg, whereby the 
 rumours of his ungracious feelings towards himself seemed 
 confirmed, and the expenditure of his table, which was very 
 great, was necessarily enhanced, the Reformer directed the 
 eye of his Prince to a more cheering and encouraging picture 
 than immediate circumstances afforded. " Your trials," he 
 said, " are tokens that God is gracious towards you. Think 
 how good he is to you. Your Grace's land has the best 
 teachers and preachers in the whole world, who proclaim the 
 pure Gospel, and preserve the blessings of peace. A tender 
 youth of boys and girls is there growing up, nurtured with 
 the Catechism and Scriptures, who can pray, believe, and 
 speak of God and Christ, as no cathedral, cloister, or school 
 has hitherto been, or is now able. Such a youth is a fair 
 Paradise, the like whereof is not to be seen upon earth else- 
 where. And God builds it in your Grace's bosom. It is as 
 though he said to you, ' Here, dear Duke John, I commit to 
 thee my most precious treasure, my gladsome Paradise : thou 
 shalt be father over it ; I place it under thy shelter and rule, 
 and do thee such honour as to make thee warden of my 
 garden.' All these children must eat your Grace's bread,
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 205 
 
 which is as if God himself was your Grace's guest and pen- 1530. 
 sioner. On the other hand, the Papist Princes give not a 
 draught of cold water to God of all their goods — nay, to the 
 thirsty Christ upon the cross they hold out vinegar, myrrh, 
 and gall. The young children will bring a blessing on your 
 head, who with their innocent tongues cry so heartily to 
 heaven, and so truly commend your Grace to the tender- 
 hearted God as their dear father." 
 
 Turning his thoughts homeward, whence he received good 
 tidings of his son Johnny, from Weller his tutor, he indited 
 a letter to the child to encourage him in learning. " Grace, 
 and love in Christ, my dear little son. I see with delight 
 that you learn well, and love to pray. Go on so, my little 
 son, and when I return home, I will bring you a pretty 
 fairing. 1 know a beautiful, delightful garden, where many 
 children go in, and have on golden jackets, and gather beau- 
 tiful apples under the apple-trees, and pears, and cherries, 
 and plums ; sing, and jump, and are merry : they have 
 beautiful ponies with golden bits and silver saddles. I asked 
 the man to whom the garden belongs, Whose children are 
 these ? He said, ' They are children who love to pray, and 
 learn well, and are good.' So I said, ' Dear man, I have a 
 son, called Johnny Luther, may not he come into this garden 
 and eat such beautiful apples and pears, and ride such pretty 
 ponies, and play with these children ? ' Then he said, ' If he 
 loves to pray, and learn, and is good, he may come into the 
 garden, and Lippus and Jost too; and if they all come 
 together, they shall have pipes, drums, lutes and every kind 
 of stringed instrument, and dance, and shoot with little 
 cross-bows.' So he showed me a lovely meadow in the 
 garden, prepared for dancing, where were many golden pipes, 
 drums, and beautiful silver cross-bows. But it was too 
 early for the children to come ; so I could not wait to see
 
 206 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHEIl. 
 
 1530. the dancing, but said to the man, f Dear sir, I shall soon 
 come again, and I shall write all this to my dear little son, 
 Johnny, that he may love to pray, and learn well, and be 
 good, so that he may come into this garden. But he has 
 an aunt, Lena, who must come with him.' So the man said, 
 ' Yes it shall be so ; and go and write to him.' Therefore, 
 dear little son Johnny, learn, and pray cheerfully, and tell 
 Lippus and Jost to do so too, and so you shall all come 
 together into the garden. Herewith, I commend you to 
 Almighty God, and greet aunt Lena, and give her a kiss 
 from me. Your dear father, Martin Luther." It was about 
 the time of writing this letter that the Reformer received 
 intelligence of the death of his aged father, whose removal to 
 Wittenberg in his failing state of health had not been pos- 
 sible, and he was overwhelmed with the keenest sorrow at the 
 tidings. "Whatever I am, or have," he said, "I owe under 
 God to him, who made and fashioned me such as I am, by the 
 sweat of his brow ; and though I am much comforted that he 
 has sweetly fallen asleep in Christ, the recollection of his 
 society has so shaken my soul, that I scarcely ever had such 
 a contempt of death. But the righteous is taken away from 
 the evil to come. We so often die, ere we die once ! I am 
 now the old Luther of my family." 
 
 The Landgrave of Hesse, who only attended the Diet at 
 all in compliance with the advice and example of the Elector 
 John, had entered Augsburg on the 12th May, accompanied 
 by 120 horsemen. On the 15th, the deputies of Nuremberg, 
 with Osiander, made their entrance, and took up their quar- 
 ters nearly opposite to the Landgrave's lodging. But consi- 
 derable apprehensions were entertained in regard to Philip's 
 constancy by the strict Lutherans : he was continually assailed 
 with letters on the sacramentarian controversy by the Swiss; 
 his chancellor Feige (Ficinus) avowed his sympathy with
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHEll. 207 
 
 Zwingle; and Snepf, who remained attached to Luther, was 1530. 
 doubtful Loth as to his prince's maintenance of the pure 
 evangelical faith, and of the maxims of peace. By order of 
 the Elector and Landgrave, Protestant preachers immediately 
 proceeded to hold their discourses in the principal churches ; 
 those selected by the Elector preached first in the Dominican 
 church, afterwards at St. Catharine's, and were all strict 
 Lutherans ; those appointed by Philip were of the Reformed 
 or Evangelical church indiscriminately, and preached at first 
 in the Cathedral, afterwards at St. Ulric's. The Lutheran 
 preachers, Osiander and Agricola, were extremely popular; 
 and the citizens of Augsburg, in unprecedented numbers, 
 flocked to the temples of God. Meanwhile the Emperor con- 
 tinued to delay his advent : he had moved in the sacred week 
 from Mantua, and in the beginning of May had advanced as 
 far as Innspruck, but there he remained stationary. One of 
 the first princes, who tendered him his homage at Innspruck, 
 was his brother-in-law, Christian, the ex-king of Denmark, 
 and one of the earliest pieces of intelligence from the imperial 
 court was, that this banished monarch, who had become a 
 Lutheran to appease his subjects, had now returned to Popery 
 to please the Emperor. This seemed a prognostication of the 
 personal interest of Charles in the religious conflict. Pre- 
 sently the Elector of Brandenburg, the Duke of Bavaria, and 
 Duke George of Saxony, arrived in Augsburg ; but finding 
 that the Emperor was still at Innspruck, hastened on from the 
 contaminating vicinity of the Elector of Saxony and the 
 Landgrave, to breathe orthodox air in the imperial court, 
 which was honoured by the presence of the Legate Campegio. 
 Thus the Protestants at Augsburg and the Romanists at 
 Innspruck lay, like two hostile armies in adverse camps, pre- 
 paring for battle, making their reconnoissances and maturing 
 their own plan of operations. At Augsburg the " Apology,"
 
 208 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1530. or rather "Confession/' which Melancthon had been appointed 
 to draw up, had assumed shape and polish under his unflag- 
 ging diligence, which scarcely knew intermission by day or 
 night; and on the 11th May it was forwarded for Luther's 
 examination to Coburg, with a letter from the Elector, and 
 also a letter from Melancthon, in which he intimated that he 
 had been mindful in its preparation of the calumnies which 
 Eck and Cochkeus were reiterating against the evangelicals. 
 Luther returned it with his approval, and without a single 
 alteration, and spoke of it in his letter to the Elector in the 
 following terms : — " I have read over Master Philip's Apology : 
 it pleases me right well, and I know not how to better or alter 
 anything in it, and will not hazard the attempt ; for I cannot 
 myself tread so softly and gently. Christ our Lord help, that 
 it bear much and great fruit ; as we hope and pray. Amen." 
 After receiving back his work, Melancthon still toiled on with 
 his revisions and emendations. At Innsprnck, on the other 
 hand, Duke George and the extreme Papists were bent on 
 persuading the Emperor that the Elector of Saxony was me- 
 ditating snares against the imperial person, and spoke of the 
 multitude of armed retainers whom they had seen round his 
 hotel, in their passage through Augsburg. The upshot of 
 these complaints was, that the town-council of Augsburg were 
 commanded to remove the chains and bolts which had been 
 fixed to some of the street walls, and to disband the troops 
 which they had enlisted, with a view to maintaining order. 
 But in the Emperor's cabinet, as well as among the Pro- 
 testants, there were two parties; and Charles' chancellor, 
 Cardinal Gattinara, who sincerely entertained the moderate 
 sentiments which Glapio had professed at Worms, served as 
 a counterpoise to the extreme faction, and looked forward to 
 a Council as the only means of abolishing abuses in the 
 Church, and restoring the purity of the faith. His health,
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 209 
 
 however, had for some time been drooping, and his death, 1530. 
 which took place on the 4th June, gave preponderance to the 
 violent Papists, and was lamented as a real affliction by 
 Melancthon. 
 
 The first subject of direct collision between the Papists and 
 Protestants was the question of free preaching. Before the 
 Emperor took any overt step in this matter, rumour antici- 
 pated his intention of putting an end to the Protestant dis- 
 courses, which attracted large audiences, and served to keep 
 the zeal of the party at a high temperature. The Elector 
 John, therefore, required of his theologians their opinions as 
 to the propriety of yielding to the Emperor, and desisting 
 from preaching, if he should demand it. They all delivered 
 it as their judgment, that the Emperor ought to be implicitly 
 obeyed. In his written judgment Melancthon distinguishes 
 between public and private preaching, and argues that the 
 former might certainly cease if the latter were allowed ; but 
 he goes on to affirm, that if the Emperor should prohibit the 
 latter also, that point too must be surrendered to him. "We 
 are," he said, " under necessity, like those cast into chains." 
 " We are in the Emperor's city," he wrote to Luther, " and, 
 as it were, his Majesty's guests." Strange to say, the verdict 
 of Luther coincided with Melancthon' s, and he declared " The 
 Emperor is master ; the State and all are his ; and to oppose 
 his will would be as if any one should contend against the 
 Elector in his town of Torgau." But he suggested that fit 
 and prudent representations should be offered to induce his 
 Imperial Majesty not to condemn the preaching unheard, 
 with the assurance that nothing whatever tending to tumult 
 or fanaticism was inculcated. But if this would not help, 
 then " might must go for right," and the Evangelicals, having 
 done their duty, must leave results to God. The Elector, 
 however, remained still firm — in Melancthon's language, " an 
 
 VOL. II. p
 
 210 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1530. obstinate old man ;" and Brack, with his usual sagacity, per- 
 ceiving the importance of the subject in dispute, and the effect 
 which yielding on the first point attacked must have in in- 
 flating the confidence of the Romanists, advised him by all 
 means to resist the Emperor's demand, " for it was a question 
 of preferring the command of God, or that of man." The 
 Elector accordingly sent Dolzig to present his reply in the 
 negative to the order which the Counts of Nassau and Nuenar 
 had delivered to him from Charles, and at the same time to 
 some accusations insinuated against him in their words with 
 something like a threat ; and although a second embassage 
 repeated the command that the preaching must be discon- 
 tinued, John was not to be moved. It was then debated 
 among the Lutherans what reply should be made, if the 
 Emperor demanded, according to expectation, that the fast- 
 days of the Romish Church should be observed; and Luther 
 and Melancthon again counselled obedience. This, however, 
 was a question of a different nature. 
 
 The Emperor still lingered on at Innspruck. Ambassadors, 
 who had implored him to come to Augsburg, received a 
 courteous answer, but could not quicken his movements. It 
 became noised abroad that Charles had no intention of visit- 
 ing Augsburg at all ; that his purpose was to waste the sub- 
 stance of the Protestant princes by keeping them and their 
 large retinues in lengthened expectation of his arrival, at a 
 time when the pric. vfi all commodities was most exorbitant. 
 Luther, in his castle, received these floating reports, but was 
 not dismayed by any of them. He only complained that 
 although letter-carriers frequently passed, his friends at Augs- 
 burg had failed to write to him for three weeks ; and when at 
 last letters from Melancthon arrived, he would not for some 
 time open them. But he resolved to be in good spirits. 
 " God," said he, " is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 211 
 
 He is the God not of sorrow, but of joy. If birds will fly 153 °- 
 over your head, at least let them not nestle in your hair. If 
 cares flock in, be sure that they flock out again." The tones 
 of his voice or the notes of his flute echoed along the massive 
 walls of the fortress, and put " that proud, melancholy spirit 
 Satan," with all his rout, to flight. Finding an old piece of 
 music in the castle, he patched it up, and made additions, and 
 exulted in the jest of palming it off as an exquisite composition, 
 on a friend who fancied himself a connoisseur in the art. 
 The abodes of the rooks and jackdaws were visited by him in 
 person ; to his amusement, they were in consternation at his 
 approach ; he clapped his hands, and threw up his cap, and 
 enjoyed their terrors : it seemed to him that they were " the 
 harpies of the Papists trembling at the word of God." He 
 complained, however, bitterly of being himself disturbed in 
 his retirement, like the poor rooks, by intruders. Afgula 
 Von Stauffen paid him a visit on the 2nd June ; and at a 
 later period Urban Regius, who as a youth had been the pro- 
 tege of the great lawyer Zasius, and as a man under the very 
 wing and patronage of Eck, at Ingolstadt, had warmly em- 
 braced the Lutheran opinions when they were first promul- 
 gated. Urban Regius has left it on record : — " The most 
 pleasant day I spent in my whole life I passed with Luther, at 
 Coburg. He is a greater theologian than any previous age 
 has produced ; and I am astonished at the folly of those who 
 can put Carlstadt in competition with him, who does not come 
 up to his shadow. Luther's books show his genius ; but if 
 you see him face to face, and hear him speak of godly matters 
 with apostolic spirit, then will you say, it is true Luther is 
 too great for any sciolist to be able to comprehend him." 
 Another of the numerous visitors to his retreat was his old 
 playmate John Reineck, with whom, thirty-seven years before, 
 he had travelled on foot to the choral school at Magdeburg. 
 
 r 2
 
 212 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1530. But the greater part of his visitors were only an interruption 
 and annoyance ; so that he formed the plan of counterfeiting 
 a flight, to put curiosity on the wrong scent, and of then re- 
 turning unobserved to his lair. Yet he was sometimes to be 
 seen in the town, where he was pleased with the society of 
 John Sternberg, and of the pastor of the place, who often 
 gave him absolution and administered to him the holy com- 
 munion, as well as of others of the good people of Coburg. 
 On one occasion he was invited to a wedding entertain- 
 ment in Coburg ; he declined to attend personally, but 
 sent his nuptial gift — a figure of a child made out of tin, 
 filled with salt, with a ducat attached, bearing the words, 
 " In marriage are three things — pain and toil, joy and 
 delight, care and woe." His love of humour — which per- 
 haps necessity, as at the Wartburg, brought into more 
 active exercise than was even his wont — pervaded all his spe- 
 culations in his private hours on the threatening aspect of 
 public affairs. He represents in his correspondence, the Ve- 
 netians, the Florentines, Mr. Par-ma-foi, or the King of France, 
 and Mr. In-nomine-Domini, or the Pope, as making a most 
 holy league, and contributing largely from their coffers to 
 help forward their design, so that it became a very costly 
 affair ; but that, he said, belongs to the chapter of Non-cre- 
 dimus. Mr. Par-ma-foi could never forget the defeat at Pavia : 
 Mr. In-nomine-Domini was, first, a born Italian, bad enough; 
 next a Florentine, yet worse ; thirdly, born of harlotry, that 
 is, the Devil himself; and moreover had never relieved his 
 memory of the sack of Home. The Venetians were Vene- 
 tians, sufficient in itself; but they had also grounds for revenge 
 on the blood of Maximilian ; and thus the dreadful league all 
 went to pieces ; and this belonged to the chapter Firmiter- 
 credimus. But occasionally the gloomy forebodings of others 
 cast a passing shadow on his own mind. His " lord Kate "
 
 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 213 
 
 wrote him word that the Elbe had overflown its banks in a 1530. 
 season of continued drought, and prodigies and portents were 
 related from all sides. 
 
 Augsburg was now filling fast with the members of the 
 Diet. On Tuesday, the 17th May, the Archbishop of 
 Cologne had made his entrance, and on the following day the 
 Archbishop of Mentz ; and a few days later the Elector of 
 Saxony's firm ally, the Margrave George of Brandenburg, 
 passed through the streets with 200 horsemen, all clad in 
 green ; and a waggon followed with his learned men and 
 preachers. On the 27th May, Duke George of Saxony re- 
 turned to Augsburg from Innspruck ; and it was whispered 
 that he was not altogether satisfied with all that he had seen 
 and heard at the Imperial Court. These tidings put spurs to 
 curiosity : and at last on the 1 9th June, Luther learnt from a 
 traveller, who passed through Coburg fresh from the spec- 
 tacle, that the Emperor had made his public entrance into 
 Augsburg four days earlier. Charles quitted Innspruck on 
 the Gth June, and arrived at Munich, the streets of which 
 were gay with tapestry for the occasion, on the 10th ; and early 
 in the morning of the 15th imperial commissioners appeared 
 in Augsburg, and apprised the princes that the Emperor 
 would make his entrance into the city on that clay, and that 
 it was his pleasure that they should meet him a little beyond 
 the city gates. Accordingly, at three o'clock in the afternoon 
 the princes and deputies proceeded from the city as far as the 
 little bridge spanning the precipitous current of the river Lech, 
 and there on some rising ground awaited the arrival of the 
 Emperor. The aspect of the road gave full indications that 
 something extraordinary was going forward ; horses and bag- 
 gage trains, waggons and passengers on foot, officers of the 
 Emperor's household, and strangers hastening to enjoy a novel 
 spectacle, from an early hour in the morning, and some days
 
 214 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1530. previously, had been rolling amidst clouds of dust, to the sound 
 of whip and horn, or slowly wending their steps into Augs- 
 burg. The princes, however, for some tedious hours looked in 
 vain for signs that the Emperor himself was at hand. At 
 last, towards eight o'clock, a large mass of dust moving on 
 towards them, and presently the notes of music and the 
 sound of voices, intimated his near approach. The princes, 
 as soon as he could be recognised, dismounted their horses, 
 and on their side, the Emperor and King Ferdinand leapt from 
 their saddles, and greetings were interchanged with every 
 demonstration of regard and cordiality. The Archbishop of 
 Mentz addressed the Emperor in the name of the princes, and 
 Frederick Count Palatine, in the absence of his brother, the 
 Elector Louis, replied in behalf of Charles. Three only of 
 the company had continued on horseback, the Legate Cam- 
 pegio, with the Archbishop of Salzburg, and the Bishop of 
 Trent, and when the addresses were closed, the apostolic 
 Legate pronounced his benediction on the Emperor and 
 princes, which the Romanists received on bent knees, whilst 
 the Protestants, with studied indifference, remained standing. 
 Charles, who rode a Spanish horse of the purest white, was 
 now helped to his seat by the younger princes : the procession 
 formed, and slowly advanced. The households of the electors 
 in order, with the households of the dukes of Bavaria, who 
 had forced their way before the Margrave George and his 
 retinue, preceded the Emperor : and immediately before him 
 rode the Elector of Saxony, bearing a naked sword as grand 
 marshal of the Empire, with Joachim of Brandenburg on one 
 side, and a representative of the Elector Palatine on the other. 
 A rich damask canopy, red, white, and green, was borne over 
 the Emperor's head by six of the principal citizens of Augs- 
 burg ; the Elector of Mentz was on Charles' right hand, and 
 the Elector of Cologne on his left : the Papists had desired a
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTIIEK. 215 
 
 different arrangement ; but King Ferdinand and the Legate 1530. 
 were obliged to be content with bringing up the rear. The 
 procession was preceded and closed by troops of soldiers both 
 on horse and foot. The cannon roared from the ramparts, the 
 bells pealed from the cathedral and churches, and kettle drum 
 and trumpet mingled their welcome with the applause of the 
 populace, who admired the stately form and dexterity in 
 horsemanship of their youthful emperor, and his handsome 
 countenance, in which amiability and gravity seemed equally 
 blended. The procession moved on to the cathedral, at the 
 doors of which the Bishop and the clergy were waiting in 
 their white robes. During the chanting of the Te Deum, 
 Charles was observed to be conversing in a low tone with the 
 Archbishop of Mentz, and nodded once familiarly to Duke 
 George; but when the Te Ergo Qusesumns liegan, rising from 
 his seat and rejecting an embroidered gold cushion which was 
 offered him, he knelt down on the bare stones, raising his 
 hands to heaven. The whole crowd throughout the cathe- 
 dral now fell upon their knees, with the exception of the 
 Elector of Saxony and the Landgrave ; and the Margrave 
 George, although he had at first followed in the general 
 movement, observing that his associates remained standing, 
 rose from the ground and imitated their firmness. After the 
 service the procession formed anew, and Charles was con- 
 ducted to the Palatinate, the palace of the Bishop of Augs- 
 burg, which had been prepared for his reception. 
 
 Here he dismissed the other princes, for it was past ten 
 o'clock : but made a sign to the Elector of Saxony, the 
 Landgrave, the Duke of Luneburg, and the Margrave George, 
 to attend him into his private apartment. There, using 
 Ferdinand as his mouthpiece, who communicated with the 
 princes in German, and with the Emperor in French, Charles 
 demanded of them to impose silence on their preachers, and
 
 216 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1530. to join in the procession of the body of Christ on the follow- 
 ing day ; but was met with a respectful but firm refusal to 
 both these requests. The Landgrave urged, that their 
 preachers proclaimed nothing "either new or bad, but simply 
 the doctrines of Augustin, Hilary, and other early fathers of 
 the Church." And when the Emperor still laboured to con- 
 quer their repugnance, the Margrave George, with great ani- 
 mation, exclaimed, " Rather than let the Word of God be 
 taken from me, and deny my God, I would kneel down and 
 have my head struck off." And suiting the action to the 
 words, he struck his neck with his hand. The Emperor him- 
 self was moved, and replied with vivacity, "Not the head off, 
 not the head off" (nicht kopf ab), — the only words which he 
 was heard to utter in German. When, at the close of the 
 interview, Ferdinand declared that " his Imperial Majesty 
 could not brook their disobedience/' the Landgrave answered 
 that "his Majesty's conscience was not lord and master over 
 their consciences." The princes were then dismissed, with 
 the often repeated threat that they would call down upon 
 them the Emperor's severest displeasure if they persisted in 
 their obstinacy : and they were directed to reflect more 
 maturely upon his Majesty's requests, and to report their 
 answer in person early the next morning. After the 
 princes had departed, Charles was so violently agitated by 
 the resistance which had been shown to his authority, that he 
 could obtain no rest ; he paced up and down his apartment, 
 and in the middle of the night despatched a messenger to the 
 Elector of Saxony, desiring his immediate attendance. The 
 Elector John, however, made his advanced age and the state 
 of his health a plea for disregarding the summons, and replied 
 that his Imperial Majesty should have the answer of the 
 evangelical princes at the time which he had appointed. 
 At seven o'clock the following morning, the princes met in
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 217 
 
 private, and having unanimously agreed upon the reply to be 1530. 
 made to the Emperor, proceeded together to the Palatinate ; 
 but John Frederic attended in place of his father, the Elector, 
 who alleged the infirmities of age in excuse of his absence. 
 The Margrave George was their spokesman, and stated that 
 they held it to be most objectionable that the bread only, 
 without the cup, was carried in the procession of the host ; 
 but that, further than this, there was no scriptural authority 
 whatever for exposing to view, or carrying about in proces- 
 sion, the sacramental elements. And on the other head of 
 preaching, an equally direct negative was returned ; and allu- 
 sion was made to the lateness of the hour at which the Em- 
 peror had preferred his demands. After delivering the 
 common answer, the Margrave George said a few words for 
 himself personally. He briefly touched upon the services 
 rendered by his father and himself to the House of Austria, 
 and implored the Emperor not to credit the calumnies circu- 
 lated against him by his enemies : " but/' he continued, "the 
 divine command is immutable, and at the risk of whatever 
 suffering, even at the cost of my head, I must obey God 
 rather than man." The Emperor, after awhile, changed his 
 ground, and, laying aside the argument of authority, requested 
 them to comply with his wishes, as a tribute of personal de- 
 ference to himself; but here, too, the princes remained firm ; • 
 and the audience having been protracted almost up to the 
 very time when the procession was to commence, they were 
 dismissed with the understanding that they would let the 
 Emperor have a written statement of their views relative to 
 the question of free preaching. The procession began about 
 ten o'clock, the streets being lined with soldiers to keep off 
 the crowd. The host was carried by the Archbishop of 
 Mentz, with uncovered head, beneath a superb canopy. The 
 Emperor himself immediately followed, his head bare, and a
 
 218 
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTIIEK. 
 
 1530. burning torch in his hand. But much as there was in such a 
 spectacle to attract the curious, it was computed by lookers on, 
 that not more than a hundred citizens of Augsburg were 
 present. Charles himself returned to the Palatinate disap- 
 pointed and incensed ; not only the evangelical princes, but 
 the inhabitants of his imperial city, recoiled from a supersti- 
 tious ceremony, in which he himself bore the most prominent 
 part. With a hurried and indignant step he paced his apart- 
 ment, a prey to conflicting thoughts : and did violence to his 
 own feelings in refraining from at once forwarding safe con- 
 ducts to the Protestant Princes, with the command that they 
 should depart from Augsburg without delay. 
 
 Luther, in his castle, received the tidings of the firmness 
 and constancy of the princes with lively gratitude to God ; and 
 from the repeated accounts transmitted to him that the 
 Emperor himself, and his secretary Alphonso Valdeso, were 
 the best disposed of all the court towards the evangelical 
 cause, felt the hope revive that Charles might yet be won over 
 to the Gospel. "The Papists/' said he, "rage and are ter- 
 rible ; but our Prince, endued with marvellous courage, 
 confesses Christ boldly ; so does the Margrave George : on 
 the other hand, the Emperor's clemency is so incredible, that 
 he must be provided with a good angel from God." The 
 Coburg fortress had now been converted into a temple, for 
 Luther felt that the battle was begun. Three hours at the 
 least of every day, and those not such as could be most readily 
 spared, but the most appropriate for study, were consecrated by 
 him to prayer ; and thus, while the conflict against Amalek 
 was going on in the valley, says Mathesius, Moses himself re- 
 mained on the hill, with his hands uplifted to Jehovah. Over 
 his bed, and around the walls of the castle, Luther had 
 written with his own hand some of his favourite texts, the con- 
 stant sight of which gave fresh strength and steadfastness to
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTIIEK. 219 
 
 his faith, such as — "This just man cried, and the Lord heard 1530. 
 him " — " God is nigh unto all them that call upon him " — 
 " Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee " 
 — " I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the 
 Lord." The words, " I will both lay me down in peace, and 
 sleep, for thou Lord only makest me dwell in safety," afforded 
 him such especial comfort, that in a letter to the celebrated 
 Bavarian musician, Louis Senfel, he requested him to set them 
 to music for him, and obtained from him this favour, and also 
 chants to several other scriptural texts. Luther composed at 
 this time a paper of Consolatory Reflections, drawn from the 
 Holy Scriptures, in which he expresses his grateful joy that 
 " the cause is not in our hands, but in God's ;" — that " He 
 who is in us, is greater than he that is in the world ;" and 
 that, " if we go to the ground, Christ himself must go with 
 us '" that the trials of Christians under Maximian and Dio- 
 cletian, and in the time of John Huss, in Germany itself, were 
 far greater, and more full of peril, than the present trials j and 
 that, with heartfelt sighing and Christian prayer, Christian 
 people in many lands were imploring the succour of Almighty 
 God. " You are furnishing arms to Satan against yourself/' 
 he wrote to Melancthon, whose timidity had already taken the 
 alarm, and was every day gaining ground. " "What can the 
 devil do more than strangle us ? Christ died once for sin ; he 
 now lives and reigns for justice and truth. What can harm 
 the truth, if Christ is reigning ? I find my own hopes better 
 than I had hoped. If we are not worthy to be God's instru- 
 ments in this work, He will provide himself with others. 
 Cast all your care upon Him." 
 
 As had been promised, on the morning of the 17th, the 
 reasons of the evangelical princes for declining assent to the 
 Imperial command in regard to their preachers, were placed 
 in the Emperor's hands. They were to the effect, that the
 
 220 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1530. evangelical preachers proclaimed the true gospel, in accord- 
 ance with the decree of the Nuremberg Diet, as it had been 
 understood by the ancient fathers of the Church ; that they 
 could not in their conscience forego this spiritual nourish- 
 ment; that the discourses forbade all sedition and tumult, 
 and were followed by prayers for the happy issue of the Diet. 
 From the hour of noon the Emperor, Electors, and Prelates 
 deliberated on this topic. And the next day it was proposed 
 to the Lutheran Princes to settle the question by a compro- 
 mise, viz. : that the preachers of both parties should for a 
 time desist from their office, and none preach but such as had 
 been nominated by the Emperor, who should carefully abstain 
 from touching on anything that could give offence to either side. 
 The evangelical divines declared in favour of this compromise : 
 " It is as good as a promise," they said, " that the Emperor 
 will hear our cause ; we are called to confess our faith, not to 
 preach — we are not the parish ministers of Augsburg." And 
 the princes informed the Emperor of their acquiescence in 
 the proposal, and the same evening the inhabitants and so- 
 journers in Augsburg were apprised by proclamation of the 
 Imperial decision. Expectation was on the qui vive to see 
 " what sort of chimera or tragelaphus " the Emperor's nomi- 
 nees would prove; the congregations,* French, Spaniards, 
 Italians, iEthiops, and Stratiots, intermingling with the Ger- 
 mans, stood in the churches the next morning with erect ear, 
 but they heard neither Evangelical nor Papist, but " a tex- 
 tualist or scribe," who read off Scripture without adding a 
 word of comment. 
 
 Another question now arose. On Monday, the 20th June, 
 the solemn mass of the Holy Ghost was to be performed in 
 
 * " Ibi videas hie Gallos, illic Hispanos, hie iEthiopes, illic etiam 
 iEthiopissas, hie Italos, illic etiam Turcos, aut quos vocant Stratiotas," 
 &c. — Brentz Letter to Isenmann.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 221 
 
 the cathedral. Would the Elector of Saxony, the Papists 1530. 
 inquired, in his capacity of grand marshal, bear the sword 
 before the Emperor at this high ceremonial ? The theolo- 
 gians, Luther among them, were consulted on the subject ; 
 and they agreed that the Elector might attend in the cathe- 
 dral, provided he took no part in the service, in his simple 
 capacity of grand marshal, just as Naaman the Syrian was 
 permitted to hold his arm for his master to lean upon, when 
 he worshipped in the house of his god Rimmon. Before the 
 offertory, from a high stool in front of the high altar, 
 Pimpinelli, Archbishop of Rossan, delivered a Latin oration of 
 an hour's length, urging the assembled princes to unanimity 
 against the Turk, and calling on St. Peter and St. Paul to 
 use their keys and sword to exterminate heresy ; and on the 
 conclusion of the service, the Emperor and princes rode to the 
 Town Hall, and the Diet was opened. It was the subject of 
 querulous remark among the Protestants, that King Ferdinand 
 took his seat on a very high throne opposite to the Emperor, 
 arrayed in a gold robe, and wearing the crown of Hungary. 
 Frederic Count Palatine, in a long speech, declared the 
 Emperor's sentiments, both in reference to the Turkish war 
 and the religious dissensions; after which the proposition 
 was read by Alexander Schweitz, the imperial secretary, 
 which, in its first article, spoke of the Turk ; in the second, 
 of the gravamina of the temporal rulers against the eccle- 
 siastical, and of the ecclesiastical against the temporal ; and 
 in the third, of the necessity of removing religious divisions. 
 The States, by the mouth of Joachim of Brandenburg, 
 returned thanks to the Emperor, and requested permis- 
 sion to take copies of the proposition, with a view to deli- 
 berating on its contents. Three hours, accordingly, were 
 allowed for the secretaries of the several princes and states to 
 copy the proposition, which was read aloud by the secretary
 
 222 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1530. of the Cardinal of Mentz. It was agreed on both sides that 
 the religious question, as underlying every other, should 
 be first taken into consideration by the Diet; and on the 
 22nd the Emperor requested of the Elector of Saxony and his 
 allies to be favoured, in the space of two days, with the sura 
 of the opinions entertained by them in the matter of religion, 
 the ecclesiastical abuses they complained of, and the remedies 
 which they proposed to apply. On the 23rd the Protestants 
 assembled in a private meeting, the deputies of Nuremberg 
 and Reutlingen being present among the evangelical princes, 
 and the Apology was read aloud, and unanimously approved 
 of. The next day Campegio, the papal legate, about three 
 o'clock in the afternoon exhibited his letters of credential, 
 and then from the throne, which at the opening of the Diet 
 had been occupied by King Ferdinand, delivered a speech of 
 more than half an hour's length, exhorting the Emperor, 
 Electors, and Princes, as members of the TLoraan Church, not 
 to fall off from their allegiance to her, but to maintain stead- 
 fastly the faith of their ancestors. After the speech he left the 
 Town Hall, and rode back to his lodging. Then deputies from 
 Carynthia, Styria, and other provinces which had suffered 
 grievously from the Ottoman inroads, appeared before the 
 imperial throne, and implored succour for their countrymen. 
 When these had retired, the Elector of Saxony, the Margrave 
 George, the two Dukes of Luneburg, and the Landgrave of 
 Hesse, rose from their seats, and took their station in front of 
 the throne, and by the mouth of Bruck petitioned with all 
 submission, "that, inasmuch as all the new sects, heresies, 
 and errors," which had arisen in the sacred German empire, 
 were imputed to them as the occasion and source, his Majesty 
 would be pleased to hear the articles of faith which were held 
 by them, and were preached in their dominions. Charles 
 requested, in reply, that the document might be given into
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 223 
 
 his own hands, in order that he might read it over with his 1530. 
 council, and grant them a gracious answer. Brack persisted 
 in the entreaty that his Majesty would be pleased to hear it 
 publicly read. The Emperor consulted with his brother, and 
 the Electors and Princes, and by the mouth of Count Nuenar 
 replied that the document must not be read publicly in the 
 Diet, but he consented to hear it read in the Palatinate, in 
 the presence of the Electors and Princes ; and he appointed 
 the next day for the reading. 
 
 The next day, at three o'clock in the afternoon, the Emperor, Saturday, 
 King Ferdinand, the Electors and Princes were assembled in ^ une ^°- 
 the chapel of the Palatinate, which was capable of holding 
 about 200 persons, to hear the declaration of the articles of the 
 evangelical faith. John, Elector of Saxony ; George, Margrave 
 of Brandenburg ; Ernest, Duke of Luneburg ; Philip, Land- 
 grave of Hesse ; John Frederick, Duke of Saxony ; Francis, 
 Duke of Luneburg ; Wolfgang, Prince of Anhalt, and the 
 deputies of Nuremberg and Reutlingen, advanced in front of 
 Charles' throne, the old chancellor Brack holding in his hand 
 the Latin version of the Apology, and the other chancellor, 
 Christian Beyer, the German version. " Read it," the Em- 
 peror said, " in Latin." John the Constant coming forward, 
 said, " We stand on German ground, and we trust your 
 Majesty will permit us to use the German tongue." Charles 
 signified his assent, and Beyer read the " Augsburg Confes- 
 sion " in German, in a voice so firm and distinct that his 
 words could be intelligibly heard as far as the lower gate of 
 the court-yard. The reading exceeded two hours in length ; 
 and when it was finished, Chancellor Brack delivered both the 
 copies to the imperial secretary. The Emperor roused him- 
 self from the nap in which he had indulged during the read- 
 ing, and took into his own hand the Latin version, and 
 courteously dismissing the evangelical princes, assured them
 
 224 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1530. that he and his council would give the matter due deliberation ; 
 but he insisted that the Apology should not be made public. 
 
 The Protestants returned to their lodgings full of thank- 
 fulness to God that so far their cause had been triumphant. 
 Accounts of all that had passed were transmitted to Coburg, 
 and Luther replied with the most cordial assurances of his 
 joy. " It delights me," he wrote, " to have lived to the pre- 
 sent hour, when our Lord Christ has been proclaimed pub- 
 licly by an army of confessors. The evangelical preaching 
 was prohibited, and the scriptural confession has preached 
 Christ with more power than any ten preachers. We see, as 
 Paul said, that God's Word cannot be bound. Forbidden in 
 the pulpit, it is proclaimed in the palace. If all else should 
 be silent, the stones would cry out." Luther's delight over- 
 flowed in expressions of gratitude towards the Emperor per- 
 sonally, of whose courteous bearing he was informed by Me- 
 lancthon: "He is an excellent youth, worthy of the love of God 
 and men." And it was very soon evident that the Confession 
 was yielding happy fruit, both in confirming the Lutherans, 
 and drawing over many of the Romanist party to the side of 
 truth. The Count of Nassau, who had before shown symp- 
 toms of indecision, now declared himself a convert to the 
 evangelical faith. The Archbishop of Cologne, it was also 
 known, gave his approval to the Lutheran tenets. The Bishop 
 of Augsburg spoke of the Apology as "the truth, the pure 
 truth :" and a Spanish monk, confessor to the Court, main- 
 tained that the doctrine of "justification by faith alone " had 
 always been the doctrine of the Catholic Church. Even the 
 legate Campegio, who took care to be absent from the read- 
 ing, but had the document submitted to him for examination 
 by the Emperor, pronounced that " the differences were 
 chiefly verbal ; the great point was to prevent further discus- 
 sion." " All that they say," observed the Archbishop of Salz-
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 225 
 
 burg, who had been peculiarly bitter in his reproaches against 1530. 
 Melancthon and the other Reformers, " is right enough. 
 The mass ought to be reformed : liberty as to feast days and 
 fast days ought to be conceded, and the yoke of human ordi- 
 nances to be removed : but that a miserable monk should be 
 the Reformer — that is intolerable." And it was a subject of 
 congratulation among the Lutherans, at the same time, that 
 their confession had been kept free from any Zwinglian tinc- 
 ture, that Philip of Hesse, who had acknowledged to Urban 
 Regius that he inclined to Zwingle's view of the Sacrament 
 of the Lord's Supper, and who had been engaged while at 
 Augsburg in a correspondence with Melancthon and Brentz 
 on his old subject of a general Protestant alliance, had 
 nevertheless finally taken his post by the side of the Elector 
 and the Margrave George, and, though he still said " he was 
 not quite satisfied about the Sacrament," would scarcely 
 recede from a faith to which his signature was now annexed. 
 
 It was, of course, absolutely necessary that an answer 
 should be written to the Apology. Most of the Romanist 
 Princes had brought their learned men with them to the Diet. 
 " Some," Jonas said, " have brought their ignoramuses ; 
 for Cochlseus, Usingen, Wimpina, and Mensingen are here." 
 Faber and Eck, however, were really possessed of learning, 
 although their ability scarcely rose to second-rate ; and it 
 was felt by the Romanists themselves that it was beyond the 
 power of their learned men to produce anything that could in 
 the least match the clearness and terseness of the Apology. 
 Erasmus, indeed, had been invited to Augsburg, both by the 
 Papists and by Melancthon, but he saw the wisdom of 
 staying away, and pleaded his feeble health as a sufficient 
 reason for keeping quietly at Basle. " Ten councils," he re- 
 plied to Melancthon, " could not unravel the deep plot of 
 your tragedy, much less could I. If any one starts a propo- 
 
 VOL. II. Q
 
 226 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1530. sition that has common sense on its side, it is at once set down 
 as Lutheranism." To the Romanist invitations he replied 
 with his stereotyped abuses of the Lutherans. However, 
 something must be done ; and the Romanist Doctors, twenty- 
 four in number, were formed into a committee, with Eck at 
 their head, to take the Apology into consideration, and draw 
 up a confutation. Their first attempt was not successful : it 
 spread to the length of 280 pages ; but was vapid in propor- 
 tion to its bulk, breathed blood and cruelty, and was sent 
 back by the princes to the committee to be retrenched and 
 improved. Meanwhile, Charles was refreshing himself after 
 the fatigues of opening the Diet, with sports and recreations. 
 On the morning of Monday, the 27th June, he received in 
 front of the town-hall the homage of his good citizens of Augs- 
 burg : and afterwards he and Ferdinand, and several of the 
 lords spiritual and temporal, rode out for a day's hunt in the 
 neighbourhood, and in the evening " the two Queens of 
 Hungary and Bohemia, Mary and Anna/' joined the royal 
 hunting party, and the night was spent at the Castle of Wel- 
 lenburg. Moreover, the Augsburg citizens employed their 
 best efforts to afford diversion to his Imperial Majesty with 
 the pageantry and mysteries in fashion in that age. On one 
 occasion, when the Emperor and his Court were seated at 
 table, a man in the garb of a doctor entered, bearing in his 
 arms a number of straight and crooked sticks, which he laid 
 on the hearth ; and withdrawing as soon as this was done, 
 showed upon his back Reuchlin, inscribed in large letters. 
 Then another entered, also in the habit of a doctor, -who 
 walked to the hearth, and busied himself for some time in 
 adjusting the straight and crooked sticks, but all to no pur- 
 pose, and retired with a sardonic laugh on his countenance. 
 Erasmus was the name on his back. Next entered a friar, 
 wearing the Augustinian frock and cowl, with a chafing-dish
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 227 
 
 full of live coals ; he raked the sticks together, threw the 1530. 
 coals among them, and blowing the flame, quickly raised a 
 blazing fire. An Emperor next rushed in, who in his impa- 
 tience to extinguish the flame, thrust his sword into the fire, 
 and thereby made it burn the faster. The Pope followed, 
 with Peter's keys suspended from his girdle, and the triple 
 crown on his head, and seizing a bottle of water with one 
 hand, and of oil with the other, and hurrying to the hearth, 
 threw the oil on the fire instead of the water, and made 
 the flame burn so fiercely that he was obliged to retreat with 
 all speed from its fury. Charles made inquiries whose in- 
 genuity had devised the comedy, but the author could not be 
 discovered. 
 
 But the conduct of the Emperor towards the Protestants 
 had now undergone a manifest change. At first he was so con- 
 descending that Melancthon was full of complaints to Luther 
 of the ill requital made by the evangelical princes to so much 
 complacency, and requested a letter from Coburg to John 
 Frederic in inculcation of gentle and more humble deport- 
 ment. But not only was the imperial visage clouded : every 
 kind of rumour and mode of threat, studied neglect, and 
 direct opposition, were brought into play to shake the stead- 
 fastness of the Elector John. The Emperor never spoke to, 
 or noticed him : his wishes and interests were always disre- 
 garded : and Charles would not even accede to his request to 
 grant him infeudation, or confirm the marriage articles be- 
 tween his son and Sibylla of Cleves. And so much did all 
 this work upon the Elector, that in his dreams he used to 
 conceive himself buried under a high mountain, at the top of 
 which stood his cousin Duke George : but after he had been 
 harassed by this dream several consecutive nights, at last he 
 dreamed that he saw Duke George roll from the summit of the 
 mountain, and lie dashed to pieces at his feet. None, how- 
 
 q 2
 
 228 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1530. ever, of the evangelical party felt the difficulties of their situ- 
 ation so sensitively as the timid Melancthon. " The monks," 
 he wrote to Luther, " are every day inflaming the Emperor's 
 hate against us ; the hishops detest us cruelly ; our friends 
 forsake us ; we are here alone and desolate, tossed by innu- 
 merable perils." "Very few are on our side," wrote Spalatin, 
 " all are Papists or Sacramentarians." It was just that crisis 
 in which Luther's faith was peculiarly called upon to impart 
 some of its own confidence to the drooping hearts of his 
 friends. "1 was lately looking out of my window," he 
 wrote to Brack, " when I beheld two wonders : there were 
 the stars of heaven, and all God's bright firmament ; but I 
 could discern no walls on which the Master had based such a 
 firmament : yet the heaven does not fall in, and the firma- 
 ment stands quite fast. Now, there are some who are seek- 
 ing and groping about to find where the walls are. The 
 other wonder was, that I beheld a great dense cloud float over 
 us — such a mass ! as though it were a mighty sea ; but I could 
 not descry any pavement on which it rested, or coffer in which 
 it was inclosed : yet it did not fall on our heads, but greeting 
 us with a black frown passed on. When it had passed, a 
 rainbow appeared, but a weak, dim, subtle bow, which soon 
 vanished into the clouds. Now, there are some who think 
 more of the dense cloud and the mass of waters, than of the 
 slender and dim rainbow, and are in terror lest the clouds 
 should pour down an eternal deluge." " Be confident," 
 Luther wrote to the Elector John, " Christ is with you, and 
 will in turn own you as his father, as you have confessed 
 him before this wicked generation ; " and he recommended 
 him to study the 37th Psalm, as an excellent antidote against 
 the wiles of Satan. The Elector John heartily reciprocated 
 such counsel : he had too much of Luther's own faith to 
 recoil from danger : Bruck and the theologians were also
 
 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 229 
 
 convinced that Luther was right in his unwavering trust in 1530. 
 God ; Melancthon alone continued to be agitated with every 
 kind of doubt and apprehension. " "What is the meaning," 
 Luther wrote to him, " of fearing, trembling, caring, and 
 sorrowing? Will He not be with us in this world's trifles, 
 who has given us his own Son ? In private troubles I am 
 weak, and you are strong : if, at least, I can call private the 
 conflicts I have with Satan ; but in public trials I am what 
 you are in private. The cause is just and true; it is Christ's 
 cause. Miserable saintling as I am ! I may well turn pale 
 and tremble for myself; but I can never fear for the cause." 
 "Our cause is deposited in a common place not to be found in 
 your book, Philip ; that common place is faith." " I pray, 
 have prayed, and shall pray for thee, Philip," he wrote in 
 another letter, " and I have felt" the Amen in my heart." 
 " Our Lord Christ," he wrote to Jonas, " is King of kings, 
 and Lord of lords. If he disown the title at Augsburg, he 
 must disown it in heaven and earth. Amen." 
 
 " The constancy of ' our dearest father,' Veit Dietrich wrote 
 to Melancthon, " his cheerfulness, faith, and hope are won- 
 derful : it is because he studies God's Word so diligently. I 
 have once heard him praying, communing with God as a 
 father and friend, and reminding him of his own promises 
 from the Psalms, which he was certain would be made good. 
 ' I know, O God, thou art our dear God and Father : there- 
 fore am I certain that thou wilt destroy the persecutors of thy 
 Church. If thou dost not destroy them, thou art in like 
 danger with us. It is thy own cause. The enemies of the 
 cross of Christ assault us : it appertains to thee and the 
 honour of thy name to protect thy confessors at Augsburg. 
 Thou hast promised ; thou wilt do it ; for thou hast done it 
 from the beginning. Let thine help shine forth in this ex- 
 tremity.' " Luther's prayer was the struggling of a wrestler
 
 230 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1530. in the grips of conflict : sighs and tears escaped him ; he 
 groaned and cried aloud, and often rose from his knees over- 
 come by the vehemence of his supplications : and for some 
 time afterwards " his head was very weak " from the fervour 
 of his soul. 
 
 There was a wide divergency between his views and those 
 of Melancthon as to the results to be desired from the deli- 
 berations of the Diet. Melancthon hoped for concord, and 
 even union, with the Papists, and with this object had re- 
 stricted the evangelical ultimatum to three points : the Com- 
 munion in both kinds, liberty to priests and monks to marry, 
 and the Reformation of the Mass. He had conferences with 
 Valdeso, the Spanish secretary to the Emperor, and with 
 Campegio ; and if sometimes he was cast down with the perils 
 of the situation and the weight of his own responsibilities, at 
 other times he wrote encouraging accounts of the affability of 
 the secretary and cardinal, and the fair promises which they 
 held out. Luther, with far more insight into human nature, 
 smiled at Philip's credulity, and answered, "I would not 
 believe any Italian in a single My." The Elector of Bran- 
 denburg, the Duke of Bavaria, and " the Clown/' Melancthon 
 represented as full of rage and sanguinary counsels ; but the 
 Emperor's sister was labouring to pacify her brother, the 
 Archbishop of Mentz was favourable to peace, and the Le- 
 gate was extremely courteous. Philip was miserably mis- 
 taken as to the last ; for it is now ascertained that Cam- 
 pegio was one of those who most zealously admonished the 
 Emperor to " root out the noxious plant of heresy with fire 
 and sword." On the 9th July the evangelical Princes were 
 summoned into the imperial presence ; and it was demanded, 
 first, whether they had touched on all the controverted points 
 in their Apology, and were ready to abide in all respects by 
 that document; and secondly, whether they were willing to
 
 THE LIFE OF MAKTIN LUTHER. 231 
 
 accept the Emperor as judge. The answer to the first ques- 1530. 
 tion was returned two days later, that " the Apology had 
 confined itself to essentials, — such errors and abuses as had 
 proved a burden to the conscience." In reference to the 
 second the Elector of Saxony consulted Luther, who replied, 
 " that no verdict against Scripture could be admitted : to 
 believe a doctrine on any ground saving that of Holy Writ 
 would be the same as to be a Christian without Christ, a lord 
 without land, rich without money, or learned without know- 
 ledge." Luther was beginning to be more and more discon- 
 tented with the long continuance of the Diet, and with Melanc- 
 thon's fits of melancholy, and alternate hopes and fears. " As 
 for concord," said he, " I have never prayed God for it ; it is 
 an impossibility : ' What concord hath Christ with Belial ? ' " 
 All he desired was religious toleration, or, as he termed it, 
 political peace. " May God scatter the nations that delight 
 in war." And by exhibiting the confession of their faith, he 
 regarded the evangelical princes as having discharged their 
 duty to the full. " You have now," he wrote, " done enough : 
 you have confessed Christ in the Assembly of Masks ; would 
 that I had myself shared such an honour. I absolve you in 
 the name of the Lord from the Diet. Home ! Home ! " 
 
 Melancthon, at one time depressed, at another elated, was 
 recounting to Luther the various publications, new or re- 
 printed, with which the Romanist doctors were filling Augs- 
 burg, and which they were offering to the Emperor to inflame 
 his resentment against the Lutherans. Then, on some fresh 
 pretext, the Protestant princes were summoned before Charles, 
 and threats and promises alternately tried to shake their 
 firmness. The Augsburg citizens had succumbed to the 
 influences of various kinds brought to bear on them ; and 
 their preacher, Urban Regius, offended by the little value 
 they set on the Gospel, had engaged to accompany the Duke
 
 232 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1530. of Luneburg, to superintend the Churches in his Duchy, as 
 soon as he should leave the Diet. On the other hand, the 
 Confession had been forwarded to Rome, and the Papal reply 
 had not yet arrived ; and in the meantime Campegio still 
 smiled, and Valdeso was as friendly as ever. Supposing 
 concord should be attainable, Melancthon's mind was put to 
 the rack to determine what conclusions could be assented to 
 by the evangelicals, on the subject of traditions ; and he was 
 of opinion, that for the sake of good order it might be con- 
 ceded that none but an ordained priest should administer the 
 sacrament ; that the order of prayers in the Mass should 
 be retained, &c. ; that fast days and feast days might be 
 allowed, as a bodily discipline ; that as the Encaenia was in- 
 stituted by the Maccabees to testify gratitude to God, so 
 ordinances appointed with the same object by bishops might 
 be acquiesced in — bishops being " of authority by human 
 right." Luther stated that " the first point was to be agreed 
 on the principles of the Christian faith ; when that agreement 
 had been accomplished, it would be time enough to look 
 further; and for his own part he could endure any outward 
 restriction that his conscience would permit, but to load his 
 conscience his Christ would not suffer it." * Then the subject 
 of the mass was more attentively considered, and the 
 Romanists endeavoured to give a specious colouring to the 
 most objectionable of their practices, by representing the 
 private mass as merely an eucharistical worship. Melancthon 
 was debating the question on learned grounds; but Luther, 
 with his practical good sense, at once tore the flimsiness of 
 such an argument to tatters. " It is not enough," he wrote, 
 " that the intention of any practice be presumed good ; the 
 
 # See Bedenken. De Wette, IV., p. 95. Ccelestin regards the 
 paper as a reply to questions proposed by the queens Anne and Mary ; 
 but there seems no ground for such a supposition.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 233 
 
 only question is, ' Is there the Word of God for it ? ' A man 1530. 
 may be a monk, as an eucharistical worship, or anything 
 whatever may be justified by such a pretence. The only 
 place for a thief is the gallows." 
 
 In July Bucer and Capito came to Augsburg with the con- 
 fession of the four cities, Strasburg, Constance, Lindau, and 
 Memmingen, which was presented to the Emperor. A separate 
 confession of faith was also delivered in by the city of Ulm ; 
 and Zwingle forwarded his own private confession of faith to 
 the Diet, which, in the judgment of the Lutherans, revived 
 his old heresies on human depravity, and the use of the sacra- 
 ments. It was not until the 3rd August that the Confutation 
 was at last read, in the chapel of the Palatinate, in the German 
 version. It was read as the authoritative decision of the 
 religious questions; and before the reading, the Emperor 
 declared that he should firmly abide by the sentiments con- 
 tained in it, and that if any of the princes persevered in con- 
 trary tenets, as defender of the faith he would no longer 
 brook such schism : and with these words he composed him- 
 self for a sound nap. After the reading, the votes of the 
 Diet were called for, and a considerable majority signified 
 their approval of the Confutation. The Emperor then turn- 
 ing to the Protestant princes demanded that they too should 
 concur in the decision of the majority, and give in their 
 adhesion to the doctrines comprised in the document which 
 they had just heard read. The Lutherans, in reply, requested 
 that a copy of the Confutation might be given into their 
 hands. The Romanists demurred to this request ; it seemed 
 to them decisive that the majority had declared their verdict, 
 and that, therefore, further argument or difference of opinion 
 was not to be allowed. But, on being hard pressed to grant 
 a copy, they at length consented, on the condition that it 
 should not be seen by any one except the evangelical princes,
 
 234 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1530. deputies, and theologians, then present, themselves, and after 
 perusal should be returned to the Emperor. The Protestants 
 declined to accept a copy under such restrictions ; and the 
 Emperor stated that he required time for deliberation, before 
 he coidd accord them the favour they sought on any other terms. 
 Two days later Charles again summoned the Protestants into 
 his presence, and renewed his command that they would accept 
 the Confutation ; as to the copy, the reluctance he felt to grant 
 it arose, he said, from apprehension that it would be published 
 or transcribed. This led to altercations, which were pro- 
 tracted until eight o'clock in the evening, when the Electors 
 of Mentz and Brandenburg, and Henry of Brunswick, 
 approaching the Protestant princes implored them to relin- 
 quish the dispute, and to avoid irritating the Emperor any 
 further, for they had hopes of offering them such proposals 
 as would have the effect of terminating all variances. A 
 private conference followed; but the mode of terminating 
 variances, which the Romanists resorted to, was rather to 
 menace than to conciliate ; so that Philip of Hesse, whose 
 hot temper had long been chafing at the conduct pursued by 
 the Emperor and his court towards the Protestants, having 
 previously applied to Charles for leave of departure without 
 success, effected his escape on the night of the 6th August 
 with great wariness, by a secret postern, from Augsburg, and 
 departed home, leaving his excuses in a letter to the Elector 
 John, viz., the ill state of his wife's health, and the facility 
 with which the remaining business could be conducted by 
 his chancellor. That very same night the Emperor posted 
 guards of soldiers at all the city gates, anticipating, it would 
 appear, the Landgrave's intentions, who had requested an 
 audience, and received the reply that his Majesty could not 
 sue him until the Sunday following. Philip, however, had 
 made his escape in the dusk before the gates were shut,
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTJX LUTHER. 235 
 
 with only five or six attendants, and having assumed a dis- 1530. 
 guise to avoid being recognized. 
 
 Early on Sunday morning the Protestant princes were Aug. 7. 
 called into the Chapter House, where they found George 
 Truchsess, Duke George of Saxony, Henry of Brunswick, the 
 Bishops of Augsburg, Salzburg, and Spires, and many more, 
 who addressed them on the necessity of religious union, in 
 failure of which, " bloodshed and destruction of land and 
 people, oppression of subjects, dangers and injuries of all 
 kinds " would inevitably light upon the unhappy German 
 nation. The Protestant Princes, on their side, expressed their 
 willingness to lend their heartiest efforts towards an accom- 
 modation consistently with the dictates of their consciences. 
 But at midday the evangelical Princes were summoned to 
 appear before the Emperor himself, who had now heard of the 
 flight of the Landgrave, and was the more vexed and irritated 
 that the measures he had taken to prevent such a movement 
 had been forestalled. The Princes alleged in their behalf, 
 that the Landgrave's departure had been without their know- 
 ledge, and did not meet with their approbation, but that it 
 must have been occasioned by weighty reasons : and for 
 themselves, that they were ready to co-operate with all their 
 power for "a just, profitable, and good termination of the 
 Diet." But they complained of sentinels being posted at the 
 city gates ; and begged that in consideration of the heavy cost 
 which the long continuation of the Diet had involved, his 
 Imperial Majesty would expedite matters as far as he could. 
 The Emperor replied, that the guards had been placed at the 
 gates to repress disorders in the city, a Spanish soldier having 
 lately been killed in an uproar ; and he dismissed the Princes 
 with more than ordinary courtesy. The Protestants found 
 that the decided conduct of the Landgrave had made the 
 llomauists less hauyiitv and more tractable.
 
 238 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1530. On Saturday the 13th August, it was decided that seven 
 delegates should be appointed by either side, two princes, two 
 lawyers, and three theologians, to whom the task should be 
 committed of recombining Lutherans and Papists into one 
 church. The delegates appointed on the Papist side were 
 Henry of Brunswick, and the Bishop of Augsburg, the Chan- 
 cellors of Baden and Cologne, Eck, Msnsingen, and Coch- 
 lrcus; on the Protestant, the Margrave George, and John 
 Frederic, Bruck and Heller, Melancthon, Brentz, and Snepf. 
 The demands of the Evangelicals were simply stated : that 
 Rome should allow them to preach the same doctrines as 
 they had hitherto preached ; should concede the communion 
 in both kinds, the reformation of the Mass, and the marriage 
 of priests and monks ; and they, on their part, were prepared 
 to yield jurisdiction to the bishops, and submit to traditions 
 and ceremonies as far as their consciences would permit. On 
 Tuesday the 16th matters were proceeding very smoothly, and 
 a reconciliation was effected ou ten articles of the Lutheran 
 Confession : but on the 18th Henry of Brunswick quitted 
 Augsburg, being sent by Charles to watch the proceedings of 
 the Landgrave, whose warlike tendencies were, not un- 
 naturally, a subject of apprehension ; and Duke George of 
 Saxony was substituted as delegate in his place. The Pro- 
 testants did not like the change ; although Brentz states, that 
 in some points the Duke very decidedly snubbed Dr. Eck. 
 Melancthon on one side and Eck on the other were the prin- 
 cipal speakers, and Spalatin was the secretary. But on the 22nd 
 the Conference ended ; for although, on many points, agree- 
 ment had been attained, there remained a difference of opinion 
 on fourteen articles. The Romanists would not allow that 
 justification is by faith alone; that our good works do not 
 earn grace ; that it is not necessary to make special enumera- 
 tion of sins in confession ; that to repentance faith is neces-
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 23? 
 
 sary as well as contrition, and satisfaction on our part is not 1530. 
 requisite ; that the Sacraments are ineffectual without faith ; 
 that for church-union all that is essential is doctrinal harmony; 
 that human ordinances and vows, if supposed to earn grace, 
 are diametrically opposed to the Gospel; that men's ordi- 
 nances are only to be kept in a spirit of love, to avoid 
 divisions ; that there is but one Mediator ; that it is unscrip- 
 tural to forbid communion in both kinds, and the marriage 
 of priests and monks ; and that the Mass is not a good work 
 to earn grace but must be received in faith, and through faith, 
 not ex opere operato, grace is increased in it. 
 
 No one was more deeply grieved than Melancthon that the 
 conference should have proved fruitless : he was haunted by 
 the apprehension of war and bloodshed as inevitable, if the 
 breach were not closed ; and letters from Erasmus, which 
 spoke of the Diet as "the prelude of a fearful drama," con- 
 firmed him in this idea. He generally suffered much from 
 wakefulness in the few hours of the night which he allotted 
 to rest, but during this period he could obtain scarce any 
 sleep at all; and his anxiety and want of repose had brought 
 on a dreadful cough, which shook his slender frame convul- 
 sively, as though it would tear it in pieces. His terror of war 
 had even led him to acquiesce in the government of the Pope 
 over evangelical Christians, which he compared to the domi- 
 nion of Pharaoh over the Israelites in Egypt; a stretch of 
 concessional amiability which excited the surprise of Bruck, 
 who inquired " How then can we aver that the Pope is Anti- 
 christ ? " There cannot, indeed, be a doubt that the true 
 cause of the attempts at reconciliation proving abortive must 
 be laid at the door, rather of the Papists than of the Pro- 
 testants : letters had arrived from Rome declaring the Pon- 
 tiff's positive refusal even to vouchsafe that minimum of 
 concessions which the Lutherans had demanded, not out of
 
 238 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1530. regard to abstract truth, but in simple deference to their 
 own consciences, in their anxiety to heal divisions and pre- 
 serve peace : and hence the conference terminated as it did. 
 Thus the Pope is himself the author of that schism which 
 has rent western Christendom in two ; first, by his Bull ex- 
 communicating Luther, and, secondly, by his refusal, in the 
 conference at Augsburg, to come to any terms with Melanc- 
 thon and the evangelical Church at all compatible with the 
 doctrines of Scripture. But it is no less certain that the 
 Pope's decision in this respect was really overruled by God to 
 the safety of the Reformation : and Roselli and the Pro- 
 testants of Italy, and the numerous Protestants of Germany, 
 who had implored that the truth should not be sacrificed 
 from want of trust in God, " who would not fail them in 
 temporal things if they continued to cleave to Him in spi- 
 ritual," were as much rejoiced at this issue, as Melancthon 
 was dismayed by it. 
 
 The Papists were now resolved to see whether the Luther- 
 ans would not succumb entirely. The delegates were reduced 
 to three in number on either side ; Bruck, Heller, and Me- 
 lancthon, against Dr. Eck, and the Chancellors of Cologne 
 and Baden : and on the 24th August negotiations were 
 resumed. But, meanwhile, many of the Protestants had 
 vehemently denounced the timid concessions of Melancthon, 
 which were frittering away the Gospel ; the deputies of 
 Nuremberg repudiated Episcopal jurisdiction : Philip of Hesse 
 wrote to his representatives not to recede a hair-breadth from 
 the truth, and that the bishops were in doctrine and life such as 
 Annas, Caiaphas, and Pilate ; and his theologian Snepf asserted 
 that " bishops ought to be shunned like wolves." Even John 
 Frederic took part against Melancthon ; who on his side 
 complained in private, that a fatal blindness was cast upon 
 Germany, and few had a love of peace. The Papists spread
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 239 
 
 their snares artfully ; tliey represented that they were quite 1530. 
 willing to concede the cup to the laity, provided the Luther- 
 ans would allow that the contrary practice was not against the 
 institution of Christ ; and Eck suggested that an agreement 
 should be arrived at upon as many articles as possible, and 
 the rest be referred to a Council. But on the 30th August the 
 Commission ceased their sittings : the Romanists would not 
 surrender satisfaction as a part of repentance, or the meri- 
 toriousness of good works ; above all, the mass presented dif- 
 ficulties that were insurmountable. However, the Papists 
 did not even thus resign every hope. Henry of Brunswick, 
 and a prelate and councillor of the Emperor, supped with the 
 Elector of Saxony the very evening that the efforts of the 
 Commission of Six had failed, and threw out many hints, in 
 the course of conversation, about fresh attempts at reconcili- 
 ation. The Protestants, however, had had enough of negoti- 
 ation. Luther and Philip of Hesse were for once of the same 
 mind, and both reiterated their conviction that the Papists 
 were " only duping them with lies and deceit." 
 
 The Elector of Saxony and the Margrave George now re- 
 quested permission of the Emperor to leave Augsburg, and 
 Charles was forced to play his last card. Several Diets had 
 held out the promise of a Council : Charles himself had 
 treated on the subject with the Pope at Bologna, he had re- 
 discussed it in letters from Augsburg, and although he knew 
 that Clement VII. was decidedly opposed to summoning a 
 Council on personal grounds, both as a bastard and as having 
 reached St. Peter's chair by simoniacal means, which made 
 it possible that a Council might deal with him as the Council 
 of Constance had dealt with John XXIIL, yet Charles felt 
 that the Pope was very much at his mercy. Accordingly 
 the Protestant Princes, on the 7th September, many threats 
 having been played off upon them in the interval, were sum-
 
 240 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1530. moncd into the Imperial presence, and the promise was made 
 them that his Majesty would demand of his Holiness to con- 
 vene a Council, if in the mean time they would return to the 
 bosom of the Church. They requested time to deliberate, and 
 the following day returned their answer, which was to the 
 effect that they " had never seceded from the Church," that 
 they were no new sect, but the Papists were the innovators, 
 and that a Council had been already decreed by the last Diet 
 of Spires. Late in the evening the Protestants were again 
 summoned to the Palatinate, and were warned by Count 
 Truchsess to reconsider their answer. The Emperor had 
 diligently read their Confession, and found that it differed 
 materially from the Catholic doctrine. They were to reflect 
 how few they were, and to give their consent to further 
 negotiations, or the Emperor " would know what course to 
 adopt." At the expiration of two days, the Protestant Princes 
 gave their answer in a most respectful tone, to the effect that 
 from the paramount obligation of God's Word it was impos- " 
 sible that they could make any farther concession ; that all 
 they implored was political peace until the meeting of the 
 Council, about which they were well disposed to treat. The 
 Romanists were boiling with rage; and Charles himself in 
 his indignation proposed to force the Lutherans to return to 
 the old religion, and either restore the ecclesiastical property, 
 or deliver it into his keeping as sequestrator, till the deter- 
 mination of the Council should be given. Riot and conster- 
 nation reigned in the streets of Augsburg, and swords were 
 drawn in the tumult. The Elector of Saxony now renewed 
 the demand for permission to quit the city, and on the 12th 
 September his son, John Frederic, abruptly took his de- 
 parture. 
 
 But even so, the Papists were most reluctant to see the prey 
 escape from their grasp. They approached Melancthon, and
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 211 
 
 proposed that trial should be made of a private discussion, 1530. 
 to avoid even yet the impending horrors of war. Jerome 
 Wehe, Chancellor of Baden, and Count Truchsess, met 
 Bruck and Melancthon at six in the morning in the church 
 of St. Maurice. The old topics were rehandled, and some 
 ill-fangled concord was suggested until the settlement of 
 doctrinal and ceremonial differences by the Council. But the 
 Protestants were no longer in the mood to make concessions, 
 and Melancthon himself had so far isolated himself from bis 
 party that his name was used as a sign of contempt or distrust. 
 It was said that an advocate, hired by Clement VII. himself, 
 could not have pleaded the Papist cause with more zeal ; he 
 was compared to Ahithophel or Erasmus : his friend Camer- 
 arius heard nothing at Nuremberg, " the eye and ear of Ger- 
 many," as Luther termed it, but abuses of his dear Philip, 
 and his character seemed to his co-religionists very feebly 
 retrieved by the Apology for the Confession which he drew 
 up a few days later, and which exhibited in every line charac- 
 teristic traits of his singular ability. 
 
 Luther, on the other hand, had revived in popular estima- 
 tion the glories of his early stand for the Gospel at Worms. 
 His private correspondence circulated on all sides : copies 
 were sent by Brentz to the citizens of Halle, that they might 
 see " what an incomparable man Luther was ! " Some of Lis 
 correspondence even fell into the hands of the Papists, by 
 whom it was immediately sent to the press, and a laugh was 
 raised at the terms in which Philip's timidity was spoken of. 
 His tracts were sold in front of the hotel of the Saxon Elector : 
 his Admonition to the Ecclesiastics was read to the members 
 of the Diet by the Bishop of Augsburg : and whilst the Pa- 
 pists were ransacking his books to find "contradictions" and 
 " heresies," he sent them a list of doctrines which he was 
 "ready to maintain against the whole synagogue of Satan." 
 
 VOL. II. R
 
 242 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1530. " Remember/' he wrote to the Elector on the 26th August, 
 " that the very principle of our faith is, that what God's Word 
 has determined can never be a matter of indifference. Com- 
 munion, therefore, in one or both kinds, cannot be indifferent. 
 Can the Romanists themselves hold anything indifferent for 
 which they burn, banish, persecute, and anathematize ? If 
 we allow private masses we must give up the whole Gospel ; 
 for if we concede one human fiction, why not another, or why 
 not all ? It is not in our power to adopt ceremonies, gar- 
 ments, gestures, fasts, feasts, which, without God's Word, 
 are made a part of God's service." " You have begun," he 
 wrote the same day to Spalatin, " a wonderful work to make 
 the Pope and Luther agree ; the Pope had rather not, and 
 Luther deprecates it. If, against the will of both, you suc- 
 ceed in your purpose, I will undertake to reconcile Christ 
 and Belial." " You write me word," he said to Melancthon, 
 " that Eck allows that we are justified by faith. Can you go 
 one step farther, and persuade Eck not to be a liar ? In the 
 Church of God, and in the worship of God, we will not ordain 
 or permit anything save what can be defended by the Word 
 of God ; and beyond measure do I abhor that sacrilegious 
 word ' indifferent.' They call themselves ' the Church;' the 
 Word of God is more than the Church. I know that in 
 your concessions you always make express reservation of the 
 Gospel ; but beware of their treachery. Their intention is 
 to accept your concessions in a sense very large, more large, 
 most large; to interpret their own in a sense very rigid, 
 more rigid, most rigid. All their offers are deceit and lies. 
 The only possible mode of concord is for the Pope to resign 
 his papacy." " Believe me," he wrote to Jonas, " if I am 
 any part of Christ, that Campegio is a great and pre-emi- 
 nent devil. I am greatly moved by your concessions, by 
 which you suffer demons to sport and mock at our cross.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 243 
 
 The devil would be a lion if he could; if not, he will be a 1530. 
 serpent." In a letter of the 28th August to Spalatin, he 
 stated that he should have something to say to any pretended 
 harmony with Rome. " If you yield anything against the 
 Gospel, and put the eagle in a sack, doubt it not, Luther will 
 come, will come, and release the eagle gloriously. As sure 
 as Christ lives, so shall it be." But it was his consolation, 
 that <f if the theologians were snoring to their own shame, 
 Christ was awake to his own glory." 
 
 He was consulted by an inquirer, probably the widowed 
 Queen Mary of Bohemia, what a Christian's duty would be, 
 in the event of the cup being refused in the sacrament, or 
 communion in both kinds being proscribed by the magis- 
 trates. " If/' Luther replied, " there is a firm conviction 
 that the sacrament ought to be partaken of in both kinds, 
 it is far better to abstain from receiving it, and to feed 
 on Christ spiritually, confirming the conscience by his Word, 
 and meditating on his passion, than to disobey the Word of 
 God. Nor can the most severe mandate of the magistrate, 
 the dread of punishment, or the plea of obedience to the 
 civil power as divinely enjoined, justify disobedience to the 
 revealed Word. The creature must always be postponed to 
 the Creator." 
 
 The whole time that the Diet continued, Luther was la- 
 bouring under bodily infirmity as much, or more, than Me- 
 lancthon : he suffered a great deal from constant singing in 
 the head ;* so that he said, " the winds that beat on the tower 
 
 * John Mannlius relates that " by three torches flashing before his 
 eyes in the night, Luther was convinced that one of his swooning fits 
 was near. He therefore called his servant, and made him drop almond 
 oil into his ear, and oil of nutmeg, and rub his feet with warm cloths ; 
 after which he desired him to read the Epistle to the Galatians to 
 him, and during the reading he fell asleep. These preventives suc- 
 
 R 2
 
 244 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1530. were all in his head." Then he complains of violent tooth- 
 ache ; and he had an attack of the gravel, which he attri- 
 buted to the Coburg wine ; but his first seizure with this 
 disease, from which he afterwards suffered so much, had been 
 in the summer of 1526. His words, however, were never 
 more cheerful. He had procured for his " Emperor Kate " 
 some oranges, her favourite fruit, from Nuremberg; and he 
 wrote, on the 15th August, that on that day the singing 
 in his head had left him, and notwithstanding the wetness of 
 the summer, he was enjoying some ripe grapes. His various 
 infirmities, which pointed out to him old age as near at hand, 
 and made him fix on the spot in which he should wish his 
 remains to rest—" in the chapel under the cross" — rendered 
 the tedium of his confinement more irksome, and he renewed 
 his solicitations to his friends to hasten home. " Would that 
 you would return, even under the bann of Pope and Emperor, 
 for there is one greater than Pope and Emperor." He had 
 approved of the flight of the Landgrave; and with much joy, 
 on the 15th September, in a letter to Melancthon, he com- 
 municated the intelligence of John Frederic's arrival at Co- 
 burg, " a sudden guest," the day before. The Prince " had 
 offered to take him home in his train, but he had re- 
 fused, wishing to see Philip and his other friends, and wipe 
 off their sweat on their exit from the bath." " The Prince," 
 Luther relates, "gave me a gold ring; but it was never 
 intended that I should wear gold ; for soon after I had put 
 it on my finger it fell off, being too large. I exclaimed, 
 'I am a worm, and no man/ It ought to have been given 
 to Faber or Eck : lead or a rope would suit me better." 
 " Be like Lot in Sodom," he goes on to urge Melancthon, 
 " and leave God to work now. You have all of you done 
 
 ceeded ; and Luther said, ' Come, let us, in contempt of Satan, sing 
 the De Profundis with four voices.' " — Keil. III., p. 6.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTIIEli. 245 
 
 enough. You have confessed Christ, offered peace, obeyed 1530. 
 the Emperor, borne injuries, been saturated with blas- 
 phemies, returned good for evil ; in fine, God's saintly work 
 you have handled as beeometh saints. I will canonize you 
 as faithful members of Christ : what glory can you want 
 greater than that ? " But after this letter the final ne- 
 gotiation with Wehe and Truchsess was reported to Luther 
 by Link and others, with severe reproaches on Melancthon's 
 pusillanimity. Luther forwarded these letters — "thunders 
 and lightnings," as he called them — at once to Melancthon, 
 and stated in what way he had replied to them. But to 
 Jonas he wrote without any restraint : " I will brook no 
 concessions, although an angel from heaven should com- 
 mand them. Our adversaries have no idea of yielding them- 
 selves : We are to yield the canon, the mass, one kind, celi- 
 bacy, and a jurisdiction unheard of before, and to confess 
 that they did right in murdering us. To surrender a single 
 point is to deny the whole Gospel. It is well to keep peace 
 in view, but the Author and Arbiter of peace and war is 
 more than peace. I pray you leave off negotiating, and 
 return." 
 
 Some days before this letter reached Augsburg, the 
 Elector's resolution to return home had been formed; but he 
 had been prevented from doing so on the 17th September, 
 by Henry of Brunswick entering his apartment in the night, 
 and requesting him to wait upon the Emperor in the morn- 
 ing, between seven and eight o'clock ; when Charles implored 
 him to remain two, four, or six days longer. But four days 
 later, every arrangement had been made again for the jour- 
 ney home, and the baggage and cooks had been sent on 
 before, when an express message from Charles requested a few 
 days' further postponement. On the 22nd, late in the evening, 
 after candles had been lighted, the Emperor convened the
 
 246 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1530. evangelical princes in the Palatinate, and had the project of 
 the Recess read to them; it was a muffled sound of the 
 Recess which fulminated its terrors afterwards, which even in 
 this suppressed form breathed war and tyranny. In addition 
 to the deputies of Nuremberg and Reutlingen, the deputies of 
 four other cities, Kempten, Heilbronn, Windsheim, and 
 Weissenburg now appeared in the Protestant ranks, having 
 added their signatures to the Augsburg Confession. Up to 
 the very last, however, space was left open for fresh nego- 
 tiation, for a paper was privately slipped into the hands of 
 the Protestants, conveying the assurance that if a prolong- 
 ation of the term, on the expiry of which the Recess was 
 to take effect, which had been fixed for the 15th April next, 
 should be desired, the Emperor would not prove inexorable. 
 After the reading of the project Bruck stepped forward, and 
 having stated, in reply to the assertion that the Confession 
 had been refuted from Scripture, that the Confession was 
 " grounded in the Word of God, the godly truth, which they 
 should stand to at the last judgment," offered the Apology 
 for the Confession. The Count Palatine took it into his 
 hands, but the Emperor refused to receive it, and returned it 
 to Bruck. The next morning the Protestants held a private 
 meeting in the hotel of the Margrave George; when the 
 project of the Recess was again read, and it was unanimously 
 agreed that it was impossible to accede to it. It now only 
 remained to notify their rejection of the project, pay a fare- 
 well visit of respect to the Emperor, and hasten away from 
 Augsburg. Accordingly, with the exception of the Elector 
 John, who refreshed himself at his hotel previous to his 
 journey, and followed the rest a little afterwards to the 
 Palatinate, the evangelical princes and deputies assembled by 
 eight o'clock in the morning for the final audience ; and after 
 being kept an hour in suspense, they were admitted to the
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 2 17 
 
 Imperial presence and declared that they could not give their 1530. 
 consent, to the Recess. Joachim of Brandenburg made reply : 
 " The Emperor, too, has a conscience ; and since you refuse 
 to submit to the will of the majority, his Majesty will unite 
 his forces to those of the States of the Empire, and utterly 
 root out this new error and sect •" and with a good deal of 
 menace he proceeded to charge the princes with originating 
 the peasant insurrection, " in which 100,000 men were slain/' 
 They denied that they had given any occasion to the peasant 
 rebellion ; and answered that " they put their trust and hope 
 in the matter only in God, and looked to the Emperor to be 
 their all-gracious lord." Meanwhile, the Elector John had 
 entered the room, and they all advanced in a body to take 
 their farewell of the Emperor. " Uncle, uncle," Charles ex- 
 claimed, with visible emotion, as he gave his hand to the 
 Elector, " I had not expected this from you." John, on his 
 part, was unable to refrain from tears : he was personally 
 attached to his Sovereign ; but feelings with him had long 
 been made subordinate to principle. Late in the afternoon 
 of the same day, the Elector and his retinue quitted Augs- 
 burg : a joyful release from a scene of protracted and se- 
 vere trial, which Luther in his congratulations compared to 
 " getting loose from hell." " We are in God's hands," he 
 said to the Elector, " and so are they : I have committed 
 the cause to my Lord God. He has begun it, that I know ; 
 He will bring it to pass, that I believe." 
 
 A new Recess was framed, which was at length read in 
 the Diet the 19th November, in more bitter terms than the 
 preceding project. It re-established Popery in the full ; con- 
 demned the errors of Lutherans, Zwinglians, and Anabaptists ; 
 made restitution to the Church of all her property ; declared 
 Catholic subjects of heretical governments to be under the 
 protection of the Empire ; and promised that a council should
 
 248 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1530. be convened within six months, to commence its sittings 
 within a year. The carrying out this Recess was to devolve 
 upon the Imperial Chamber, which was re-organised : and 
 before this tribunal, such princes or cities as should be guilty 
 of disobedience to the edict, were to be indicted by the 
 Imperial fiscal. Five days afterwards Charles and his Court 
 quitted Augsburg, and descended the Rhine to Cologne, 
 where he intended to have his brother Ferdinand elected 
 King of the Romans — a provision of the utmost importance 
 in order to consolidate and perpetuate the power of his house, 
 which his own frequent and lengthened absence from Ger- 
 many gave a ready pretext for demanding. With such an 
 object in view, Charles might well regret that he had es- 
 tranged from him the Elector of Saxony : but, on the other 
 hand, the asperity of the Recess, and the devotion with which 
 he professed to surrender himself, " body and soul/' to the 
 defence of the Catholic Church, had served to secure in other 
 influential quarters a more ready compliance with his des- 
 potic schemes. 
 
 The Romanists and Protestants were now at leisure calmly 
 to survey the course of events down to the final issue of the 
 Augsburg Diet, and to weigh in the scales of cool reflection 
 the advantages reciprocally obtained. On the one hand, the 
 voice of authority had proclaimed its sentence : the Pope, the 
 Emperor, and the majority of the princes had inscribed their 
 condemnation of " the Elector and five princes and six cities" 
 in letters of blood. But notwithstanding this union of po- 
 tentates,* and their authoritative sentence of condemnation, 
 
 * It was part of the bargain between Pope and Emperor that 
 Clement's son Alexander should marry Charles' natural daughter 
 Margaret. Alexander was received at Augsburg with great pomp. 
 Luther commented on the news — "Does not the Pope set priests a 
 public example of taking wives, or rather strumpets ?" — De Wette, IV. 
 p. 191.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 249 
 
 the solid advantages of the struggle almost exclusively re- 1530. 
 roained with the Protestants. The working of the national 
 mind was more decidedly than ever in their favour; and 
 signs of this were continually rising to the surface in the 
 conversion of nobles and priuces to the faith of Scripture. 
 In argument, the Protestant party had gained an indisput- 
 able and signal triumph. Both the Confession, and the 
 Apology for the Confession, in matter and in style, were 
 masterpieces of reasoning and eloquence ; while the Confuta- 
 tion, as Melancthon said, was " so utterly puerile," that its 
 authors feared nothing so much as its publication — " such 
 a bat," Luther said, that its strength and vitality consisted 
 in not seeing the light. There was a swarm of anecdotes in 
 ridicule of the Romanist logic. The words of God to Eli, 
 that He would " raise him up a faithful priest," to whom 
 " every one that was left in his house should come and crouch 
 for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and say, Put me, 
 I pray thee, into one of the priests' offices, that I may eat 
 a piece of bread," had been quoted in the Confutation to 
 prove that communion in one kind is scriptural. The Jews 
 having their " loins girded " when they ate the Passover was 
 cited as a reason for priests abstaining from matrimony. 
 And when they were at great straits in the conference for a 
 biblical justification of the invocation of saints, Eck sug- 
 gested, as applicable to the subject, the text in which Jacob, 
 speaking of Manasseh and Ephraim, says, " Let my name be 
 named on them, and the names of my fathers •" but, some 
 more relevant passage being demanded, Cochlseus exclaimed, 
 " How can you expect to have saint worship proved to you 
 from the Old Testament, when the saints were yet in the loins 
 of their fathers ?" " There," said John Frederic, turning to 
 Eck, " you have got the answer to your text." Admissions, 
 too, of the necessity of a reformation of the Church from the
 
 250 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1530. highest authorities were in universal circulation. The Em- 
 peror had declared, " If the clergy had done their duty, there 
 would have been no work for Luther." " What do you want 
 to do with us ?" the Archbishop of Salzburg had said to 
 Melancthon ; " we ecclesiastics always were a good-for- 
 nothing set." And, in fact, the very violence and sanguinary 
 tone of the Recess sounded too much like exaggeration, to 
 produce the effect intended by it. Sixteen cities, and amongst 
 them Augsburg, which had before displayed such submissive 
 docility to the Emperor's will, refused their assent to its 
 rigorous enactments. And before quitting Augsburg, the 
 Electors of Mentz and of Treves both declared that " they 
 would have nothing to do with taking up arms ; " and the 
 former was bold enough to put the question in its prudential 
 form to Charles himself — " Our subjects are all Lutherans : 
 is it to be expected that they will fight for us against their 
 own faith ?" Risings, too, amongst the peasantry in Fran- 
 conia, even whilst the Diet was sitting, gave a practical de- 
 monstration of what might be expected from an attempt to 
 put down Lutheranism by the sword : and it was whispered 
 that even the Emperor spoke of the words used by the Elector 
 of Brandenburg, in the final interview with the Protestant 
 princes, as " sharp, and more than he was bidden to say." 
 
 It was, moreover, a happy prognostic that the fury and 
 hatred of their opponents were beginning to impress the 
 German Protestants with the importance, and even necessity 
 of internal concord. Bucer and Capito corresponded with 
 Melancthon, Brentz, and Bruck ; and Bruck on the one side 
 stated Luther's doctrine to be, that " Christ is present in the 
 bread and wine, not locally, but in the same way in which he 
 is present in his Church, and in all creatures :" and Bucer on 
 the other side affirmed, that Christ is present in the Sacra- 
 ment by " the contemplation of faith," that " the pure heart
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTTN LUTHER. 251 
 
 by faith is raised to heaven, where, as the old fathers, and as 1530. 
 Luther himself taught in the Postils, his best book, Jesus 
 Christ, man and God, is seated at the Father's right hand :" 
 and Bucer spoke with some satisfaction of the more recent 
 works of Luther and Brentz on the Sacrament. The Tetra- 
 politan Confession was read by Luther with approval, and it 
 stated on the Sacrament, that " the bread and wine were the 
 true body and true blood of Christ, for the food and drink of 
 the soul." And a little later Bucer proceeded to Coburg, 
 and succeeded in mitigating the prejudices which Luther, 
 who generally styled him " the fox," entertained against him 
 personally, and in making some nearer approach to doctrinal 
 agreement. " Bucer had a familiar colloquy with me," Lu- 
 ther wrote to his friend Brismann, communicating the results 
 of the Diet, " while I was at Coburg ; and, if he is not de- 
 ceiving us — and I told him in plain terms not to act the 
 hypocrite — I have no little hope of reconciliation with Stras- 
 burg. We must all pray against Satan." 
 
 With a glad heart and a bright countenance, John the 
 Constant rode from the scene of his courageous confession of 
 the Gospel. He had departed from Augsburg too late in the 
 afternoon to travel beyond a neighbouring castle that night. 
 On the 27th he entered Nuremberg, and Melancthon had the 
 exquisite pleasure of supping with Camerarius, and venting 
 by word of mouth his displeasure against the deputies of that 
 city, and the councillors of Hesse and Luneburg. On the 
 3rd October the cavalcade reached Coburg. On the 5th or 
 6th the prophet of Germany descended from his tower, and, 
 in company with his Prince began the long-wished-for jour- 
 ney home. On the 8th the party reached Altenburg ; where 
 the theologians were accommodated in Spalatin's house ; and 
 Luther preached that evening, and the following Sunday 
 morning, before the Elector, as he had indeed done on all
 
 252 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1530. the previous days of the journey. Sunday evening the 
 Elector proceeded to Grimma; and on the 10th was once 
 more securely lodged in his palace of Torgau, where Luther 
 remained until after the following Sunday, when he preached 
 in the chapel of the palace. Before the 18th, Luther had 
 received the greetings of Kate in the Augustine Convent, and 
 her hearty congratulations that the Papists had been disap- 
 pointed in their design to " send the monks and nuns clean 
 back to their cells." But she did not find Luther improved in 
 health. During his six months' residence at Coburg, " Satan 
 had sorely buffeted him in his wilderness •" and he com- 
 plained of a considerable decline of strength, and a sense of 
 advancing age; and the ringing in the head was still at times 
 troublesome, particularly in the early hours of the morning. 
 Instead, however, of relaxing his industry, on Bugenhagen's 
 being summoned in November to establish the Reformation 
 in Lubeck, Luther at once undertook his duties in the Church, 
 and the care of the parish. 
 
 The Elector's attention was now directed to two points espe- 
 cially: the demand of the Emperor to have his brother Ferdi- 
 nand elected King of the Romans, and the obvious necessity of 
 some united plan on the part of the Evangelicals in resistance 
 to the proceedings soon to be instituted against them before 
 the Imperial Chamber. As usual, Luther was consulted on 
 both subjects. But in reference to the election of Ferdinand, 
 he delivered it as his decided opinion that the Elector of 
 Saxony should not oppose his veto to it. He regarded this as 
 the true course, because it was the path of peace and obedience ; 
 he reminded the Elector, moreover, that it would be very 
 unwise to augment the Emperor's displeasure, which had 
 displayed itself so strongly, in refusing him investiture ; and 
 as to Ferdinand's notorious antipathy to the Gospel, and per- 
 secuting blood-thirstiness, Luther observed, "Our Lord God
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 253 
 
 will still remain master and controller of events." In his own 1530. 
 language the Emperor had proved himself to be " the mere 
 tool of the biggest rogue in Christendom," (the Pope ;) 
 Ferdinand had never shared Luther's sympathies : but not- 
 withstanding all this, " the only true course was to stand 
 by God, and not run into uncertain peril without need." 
 Brack, however, and the lawyers, took the opposite side. 
 They saw through the Emperor's designs, and warned the 
 Elector to resist the nomination of a King of the Romans 
 in Charles' lifetime as an unconstitutional act. Again, in 
 regard to the question of a defensive alliance, Luther and 
 the lawyers drew their verdict from different sources, and 
 viewed the subject from opposite points. Luther regarded 
 the German Empire as directly descended from the Empire 
 under which Christ himself and his Apostles lived, to which 
 they were obedient, and enjoined others to render obedience 
 also. The lawyers insisted that the prerogatives of the 
 Emperor as much as the privileges of the Electors were 
 derived from law, that the whole political system was purely 
 a matter of compact, and that the Emperor was no more to 
 be permitted to infringe this compact than an Elector or 
 noble. Into legislative and constitutional researches Luther 
 was unwilling to descend : the utmost that he would allow 
 was, that supposing Brack's view of the case to be just, then 
 a citizen, at the command of his own immediate Sovereign, 
 as a citizen, would be justified in bearing arms to resist an 
 unlawful demand of the Emperor. He had before endea- 
 voured to reconcile prelatical episcopacy with Scripture by a 
 similar distinction : the bishop and prince were, he said, 
 incompatible ; but the same man might bear two characters, 
 that of bishop and that of prince, to be carefully kept apart : 
 and so now he maintained that, as a Christian, no one must 
 form leagues or take up arms against the Emperor ; as a
 
 254 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1530. citizen, a man might take up arms at the behest of the 
 magistrate. 
 
 It seemed to the Protestants that no time was to be lost. 
 Ferdinand and the Pope were in correspondence, and troops 
 were levying in Italy. Accordingly, on the 22nd December, 
 the evangelical princes held a memorable meeting at Schmal- 
 kald, in which it was agreed that ' ' the cause of one should 
 be the cause of all," and that a joint appeal from the Augs- 
 burg Recess should be drawn up, and the Augsburg Confes- 
 sion should be translated into the other languages of Europe, 
 for circulation in all lands, and more particularly amongst 
 the princes and delegates at that time assembled at Cambray. 
 The Landgrave cordially concurred with the Elector in the 
 necessity of " putting a bit in Ferdinand's mouth," by resist- 
 ing his elevation to be King of the Romans ; and the other 
 princes and deputies were ready enough to follow in the 
 wake of Saxony and Hesse, with the exception of the Mar- 
 grave George, who was now with Charles at Cologne, and of 
 the deputies of Nuremberg, who adhered steadfastly to the 
 pacific policy marked out by Luther. It was likewise agreed 
 that if the verdicts of law should be enforced by arms, as 
 the Recess declared, and any one of the confederate princes 
 or cities should be assailed, the rest would contribute their 
 aid, and ward off the attack. But here, again, the deputies 
 of the Margrave dissented ; and out of the deputies of fifteen 
 evangelical cities that were present, only the deputies of two, 
 Magdeburg and Bremen, went heart and hand with Saxony 
 and Hesse, and signed the defensive alliance. The hills 
 around the little town, to which this alliance has given an 
 immortal name, were capped with snow, whilst the Protest- 
 ant princes and deputies were keeping their Christmas there ; 
 the season of the year, as well as the urgency of the occasion, 
 demanded speed, and on the 31st December the deliberations 
 were closed.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 255 
 
 Meanwhile, the electoral prince John Frederic was at 1530. 
 Cologne, opposing the Saxon protest to the election of Ferdi- 
 nand. The opposition of Saxony had been foreseen; and 
 at first the idea had been to deprive the Elector John of 
 the right of voting, as under the bann of the Augsburg 
 Diet : but the other electors, and especially the Elector Pala- 
 tine, had rejected such a measure as a dangerous precedent 
 tending to the dishonour of their order. A papal brief, 
 therefore, had been provided, as an effectual answer to John 
 the Constant's Appeal to the Golden Bull. But the Elector, 
 on his part, was not so rash as to conceive for a moment that 
 his veto would prevent the will of the Emperor from being 
 carried into effect : he relied, and, as events proved, with 
 sufficient reason, on the moral weight of his protest. The 
 Dukes of Bavaria were instigated by personal motives to 
 make common political cause with Saxony. And, although 
 Ferdinand was elected King of the Romans at Cologne on the 
 5th January, and crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle on the 11th, he 1531. 
 soon found that his new dignity was no better than titular : 
 public opinion went with the Protestants, both on religious 
 and constitutional grounds ; Ferdinand was not allowed his 
 new title by Saxony, Bavaria, or the majority of the cities ; 
 and before long he complained to the Emperor that he had no 
 more authority in the empire than any other prince. 
 
 At this crisis, with angry feelings on all sides, leagues, and 
 rumours of leagues, and his own Prince in deliberate resist- 
 ance to Csesar, Luther felt his responsibility, and raised 
 high a voice of warning to his " dear Germans/' " We are 
 reviled," he said, " as Lutherans ; but we have without 
 ceasing prayed and implored for nothing else but peace 
 and quiet : and lately at the Diet we desired peace to the 
 utmost, and in the most humble form entreated it. If, 
 then, war or tumult arise, let no man say, ' Lo ! here is
 
 256 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1531. the fruit of the Lutheran doctrine :' on the contrary, let 
 him exclaim, f Behold ! the fruit of the Papist doctrine : the 
 Papists could neither have peace themselves, nor let others 
 have it.' They may, if they please, kill me; but what will 
 that avail their Pope and monks ? for I in the name of God 
 shall go to heaven, and they in the name of all the devils 
 will sink to hell. If they must have war, yet they will meet 
 with no good fortune in it, for their consciences are loaded 
 with gross lies, bitter blasphemies, with innocent blood, 
 wilful murder, and every atrocity, above all with hard impeni- 
 tent hearts, and sins against the Holy Ghost." So if the 
 thirsty bloodhounds must have war, he for his part should 
 keep still and be silent, and not mix himself up with it ; but, 
 as he had done in the peasant rebellion, let things take their 
 own course. Their joy was his confidence — their wrath his 
 laughter; for all they could take from him was a sackful of 
 sickly flesh; but what he could take from them — that they 
 should learn in their hearts. How every German must turn red 
 with shame to think of the Diet of Augsburg ! What must 
 the Turk and his whole kingdom say to it ? What Tartar 
 and Muscovite? Who under the whole heaven could assert 
 ought honest in behalf of the Germans, when he heard that 
 they had suffered the accursed Pope and his masks to mock 
 them, treat them as fools and children, as clods and blocks, 
 by their handling of his blasphemous, sodomitish, and scan- 
 dalous doctrine and living — scandalous, yea, over and above 
 scandalous, in open Diet, against all right and truth. What 
 German but must blush to have been born a German, and to 
 bear the name ? The Confession had been acknowledged, even 
 by the Papists, to be the plain truth in accordance with 
 Scripture ; but as to the Reply to it, they must hang the 
 head, and own by their gestures, it was a weak frivolous thing, 
 so paltry that a woman, a child, a layman, a country boor was
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 257 
 
 quite man enough — God be praised ! — to stand up against it 1531. 
 with good ground of Scripture and truth. If their Reply were 
 not a paltry thing, why should it be mewed up that it should 
 not see the light ? As Christ said, " Every one that doeth evil 
 hateth the light." Then came a commission, which took for 
 the basis of examination not the Reply, but the Confession. 
 Here they gave up the one kind in the communion : yet be- 
 fore they had shed blood in behalf of it. This in plain German 
 was truly to blow hot and cold from the same mouth. Had 
 the Lutherans made any such concession, the whole world 
 would have heard the news — " Dear people, see, these 
 Lutherans are recanting;" but like Reply, like Commission. 
 The Reply was a midnight bat ; the Commission a mere cheat 
 and fraud. And since he was called " the German Prophet/' 
 as became a true teacher he would warn his dear Germans of 
 their shame and danger, and give them Christian counsel 
 how they must act, if the Emperor, instigated by his devil 
 the Papists, should summon them to arms against the evan- 
 gelical princes and states. Not that he thought the Emperor 
 would follow such poison-blowers, but he would satisfy his 
 conscience. In such a case they must not hearken to the 
 Emperor; and whoever should hearken, must know that he 
 would be disobeying the dear God, and bringing ruin on him- 
 self, body and soul, eternally. For the Emperor, if he called 
 to arms, would break not only God's law, but the law of his 
 own empire, his oath, his obligation, his own seal and letters. 
 And if they should take up arms in obedience to the Emperor, 
 they would be acting against God's truth, and would be re- 
 storing the sins and abuses of Popery, and be subverting 
 the blessings which had already sprung from the Reforma- 
 tion. In conclusion, he dwelt upon the great doctrine of 
 justification by faith alone, which, he said, would "prevail 
 against all the gates of hell." 
 
 VOL. II. s
 
 258 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1531. He promptly followed up this address by " Notes on the 
 Edict of Augsburg/' asserting that the Edict was not the 
 genuine product of the Imperial will, but language forged by 
 the Pope and the monks. He reviewed its numerous doc- 
 trinal errors, and affirmed that, " if the Church failed to obey 
 God's word, she was no longer the Church, the bride of 
 Christ, but became the harlot of Satan." As to the Papist 
 pretence that the Church could not err, " the whole Church 
 had reason to cry every clay — ' Forgive us our debts.' Yet a 
 return to Scripture was branded as innovation, when in truth 
 all Popery was an innovation. Where were the two canons, 
 cassock and cup, tonsure and cowl, mumbling and howling, 
 selling the Mass for sixpence to buy the soul in purgatory, &c. 
 to be found in the Scriptures ? Eagles and lynxes were reputed 
 acute of sight, but they must be stone-blind in comparison 
 with the doctors who could descry such things in Holy Writ. 
 In declaring that the will is not bound, the Augsburg Idols 
 had handled a topic they did not understand : in human mat- 
 ters, indeed, the will was not bound ; but in divine matters the 
 will was by nature bound and lifeless. The will was by 
 nature a captive to Satan, death, and sin." He concluded by 
 reverting to the doctrine of justification by faith alone, on 
 which, he said, the entire controversy really hinged. " I see 
 that this doctrine in particular, the Devil is ever blaspheming 
 through his swinish doctors, and cannot leave alone. There- 
 fore I, Dr. Martin Luther, unworthy evangelist of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, hereby declare that this article — that faith with- 
 out any work justifies before God, the Roman Emperor, the 
 Turkish Emperor, the Tartar Emperor, the Persian Emperor, 
 the Pope, all cardinals, bishops, priests, monks, nuns, kings, 
 princes, lords, the whole world, and all devils, shall leave firm 
 and unshaken, and in reward of their blasphemy shall have 
 the fire of hell upon their heads. I, Dr. Luther, declare this
 
 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 259 
 
 by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost ; and this is the true 1531. 
 gospel. Amen." 
 
 These two compositions, and two others, falsely ascribed to 
 Luther, raised the bile of Duke George, and he again applied 
 to the Elector to prohibit the violence of the Reformer's 
 writings. These complaints were transmitted to Luther, and in 
 a letter to the Elector received the following reply : — " I never 
 intended that the edge of my writings should be dull, and only 
 grieve that it is no sharper. Have the deeds of our opponents 
 been dull and gentle? Is the Edict of Augsburg gentle? 
 They have shed our blood like water ; is that their gentleness ? 
 But if they dislike keen writings, why does not King Ferdi- 
 nand restrain Faber, and the Dukes of Bavaria Eck, and Duke 
 George himself Cochlseus ? Their writings have not spared 
 your electoral Grace ; and Duke George has written of me in 
 a strain that would disgrace Cochlseus or Emser. If on their 
 side a hundred thousand were writing, nay, every leaf and 
 blade of grass could take tongue, and vilify me most foully 
 and falsely, all would appear to them just and right. They 
 may do anything, and I nothing ; they are to babble as they 
 like, and I must be silent. Every act of ours is wrong, though 
 we could raise the dead ; all they do is good, although they 
 have deluged whole provinces with innocent blood ! These 
 gentle people must be touched with a finger of cotton, and be 
 told — f Well done, my masters ! what sweet, nice people you 
 are V 1 did not write drunk, or in my sleep ; but I know that 
 a hard knot requires a sharp wedge." Luther did not much 
 mend the matter by publishing immediately afterwards another 
 tract "Against the Assassin of Dresden." But shortly after- 
 wards, when the Elector and Duke George were reconciled, 
 Luther came forward and professed that he should be most 
 reluctant to be a cause of dissension ; he would be satisfied 
 that Duke George's back bore " memorable knots and lumps" 
 
 s 2
 
 260 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1531. from the encounters between them, and thenceforward he 
 would spare him ; but this immunity was not to extend to 
 the Papists generally. 
 
 Luther published this year a new edition of the Psalter, 
 which he intended should be the last, and some sermons and 
 expositions of some of the Psalms. He continued to suffer 
 severely from the old malady in the head, and was in a state 
 of continued weakness, which obliged him more than once to 
 seek change of air and recreation. On the 5th May, by the 
 Elector's command, he preached before Duke Henry of 
 Saxony, at Torgau. A month later he was at Lochau with 
 his children, whose health he wished to benefit as well as his 
 own by the trip, having previously informed Stiefel, the pastor 
 of the place, that " he should be with him about church 
 time." The next month he was again at Torgau on business ; 
 and towards the close of the year he paid a visit, for the sake of 
 his health, to John Loser, hereditary marshal of Saxony, in his 
 castle of Pretsch, on the Elbe, and accompanied his host with 
 a hunting party to the chase. Whilst horsemen and hounds 
 were busy with the sport, Luther's meditations were directed 
 to the 147th Psalm, and he composed an exposition of it, 
 which he committed to writing on his return, and published 
 with a dedication to John Loser. His weak state of health 
 made him feel the weight of his labours and duties as more 
 than ever onerous. "To do all that is required of me, 
 the time," he said, " ought to be three-fold longer than 
 it is." " I am only able to give a seventh part of myself," 
 he says, in writing to a friend, " to this letter." His 
 prefaces to his own Expositions, and to the publications of 
 others, become unusually brief: the details of his domestic 
 life are omitted from his correspondence ; and in communi- 
 cating the birth of his second son on the 7th November, his 
 words are simply, "God has given me from my Kate another
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 261 
 
 son, Martin." His longing for death breaks out repeatedly 1531. 
 — " Overwhelmed with toil I have been, am, and ever shall be, 
 until that happy release \" Yet with all the harassing fatigue 
 of mind and body which he endured, two hours of every day 
 were devoted to perfecting his version of the Prophets. 
 
 He received intelligence in May, from his brother James, 
 of the dangerous illness of his mother, and immediately wrote 
 to console her : — He would willingly be present bodily with 
 his heart-loved mother, but as that could not be, he would be 
 present by letter. She knew from God's grace that her sick- 
 ness was his fatherly and gracious rod ; she knew, too, the 
 essential of salvation to repose her trust on in every need — 
 Jesus Christ, the corner-stone, the Saviour of all poor sinners. 
 His words must be her comfort — " Be not afraid, I have over- 
 come." " He has overcome Satan, sin, and death. You may 
 therefore, with confidence say to death, f Knowest thou not, 
 O Death, that thou art conquered, and art dead ? Knowest 
 thou not Him who has said, I have overcome ? O Death ! thy 
 victory, sting, and power, are swallowed up in Christ's victory ; 
 and though thou mayest gnash thy teeth, thou canst not harm 
 me !' What thanks are due, dear mother, that God has not 
 left you in Papist darkness, to build on your own works, the 
 monk's holiness, and run to Mary and the Saints, away 
 from Christ, as from a judge and tyrant ; but that you know 
 Him as the only comfort, our Saviour. That God has called 
 you to this salvation, you have the seal and letters in the 
 Gospel, Baptism, and the Sacrament. So rejoice in the 
 words, ' Be not afraid ; I have overcome.' " This proved 
 the death -illness of Margaret Luther, who thus survived her 
 husband only a year ; and, deprived of both parents, Luther 
 was increasingly sensible of his advancing years. 
 
 Twice in the year Luther wrote to the Margrave George, 
 who appeared, from deference to the Emperor, to be rather
 
 262 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1531. wavering in the profession of the truth, and had declined 
 into conformity with Popery in the article of one kind in the 
 Sacrament. A constant subject of annoyance was the treat- 
 ment which the pastors received from the people, the insuffi- 
 cient maintenance allowed them, and the fewness of pastors 
 in proportion to the wants of the population. The year was 
 one of pestilence, as well as of scarcity and high prices, and 
 such trials seemed to sour the German temper. The town 
 council of Zwickau, acting on the democratic principle of the 
 right of the congregation to elect their own minister, expelled 
 the minister of St. Catherine's, contrary to the wish of Haus- 
 mann, and placed another in his office. Luther addressed to 
 the town council a thundering letter, and requested Haus- 
 mann, whom, as principal pastor of the town, he styled Bishop 
 of Zwickau, to deal candidly with the council, represent to 
 them plainly the wickedness of their disorderly behaviour, 
 and in default of their returning to a sense of duty, to leave 
 the place, shaking off the dust of his feet for a testimony 
 against them. The town council, in their turn, addressed 
 various letters to Luther, who, however, returned them their 
 epistles partly unread and partly unopened, with the observa- 
 tion that " they were not worth the waste of either words or 
 time." Hausmann complied implicitly with Luther's direc- 
 tions, and expostulated in strong terms with the council ; and, 
 on their refusing to amend their ways, quitted Zwickau, and 
 after a time sojourned with the Reformer in the Augustine 
 convent, to which he had at first been very averse, on account 
 of Luther's poverty, until the continued entreaties to " come 
 and share his plenty, till the Elector could provide for him 
 elsewhere — God would be all-sufficient," overcame his re- 
 pugnance.* The dispute as to the right of patronage was 
 
 * Hausmann was recommended by Luther to the Princes of Anhalt, 
 as " a true heart and good man, who would teach God's word quietly
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 263 
 
 referred to the Elector; and it was arranged, with Luther's 1531. 
 reluctant consent, that in this one instance the caprice of the 
 town council should be gratified, but that thenceforward no 
 infringement of the right of patronage should be attempted. 
 The whole transaction made Luther more eager in pressing 
 for another visitation, which proceeded on its duties rather 
 more than a year later. 
 
 In the autumn of 1531, Robert Barnes arrived at Witten- 
 berg, sent from England by Henry VIII. to consult the 
 Lutheran doctors on the subject of his contemplated divorce 
 from Catherine of Arragon. The reference of this important 
 case to Wittenberg, as well as Rome, affords an opportunity 
 of contrasting Clement VII. and Martin Luther. The dilatory 
 time-serving conduct of Clement is generally known. Luther, 
 without a thought of expediency, and the obvious interest 
 that would accrue to the Reformation, from humouring a des- 
 potic monarch such as Henry in his favourite whim, gave his 
 opinion unambiguously in opposition to the proposed divorce. 
 The Jewish law, he stated, was obligatory on Christians, only 
 so far as it was identical with the law of nature. But even 
 supposing it to be valid, he denied that Leviticus xviii. was 
 more binding than Deuteronomy xxv. His sentence was, 
 that the King of England had erred in marrying his brother's 
 widow, but that he would be guilty of a much more heinous 
 crime if he put her away, and so rendered both her and her 
 daughter incestuous. Of the progress of the Gospel in Eng- 
 land, and Henry's conniving at the zeal of the evangelical 
 missionaries, Luther received accounts from Barnes, which 
 filled him with joy and gratitude to God. 
 
 and chastely, and loved it." For some while he was preacher at Des- 
 sau, and of great service in establishing the Reformation there. After- 
 wards he was raised to the office of superintendent in Freyberg ; but 
 in his first sermon was struck with the death-stroke, to Luther's ex- 
 treme regret. Hausmann became pastor of Zwickau in 1521 .
 
 264 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1531. A little later news arrived, which dimmed the eyes and 
 sorrowed the hearts of many of the German Protestants, but 
 was not at all unexpected intelligence to Luther. On the 11th 
 October, Zwingle had fallen at Cappel. In the dreadful con- 
 flict against the warriors of the Five Cantons, he had been at 
 his post in his capacity of chaplain ; and, when the battle was 
 over, he was found quite dead under a pear-tree, " lying on 
 his back with clasped hands and eyes upturned to heaven." 
 After a short interval CEcolampadius, wasted with sickness 
 and anxiety, followed him to the tomb. " Such is the end of 
 that glory/' Luther exclaimed, " which they sought by blas- 
 phemies against Christ's Supper. The leagues with the 
 Landgrave and foreign princes are all ended now. It is 
 written, ' Whose glory shall be turned into shame.' " ' ' We 
 see the judgment of God," lie wrote to Link, " now for the 
 second time — first in Munzer, then in Zwingle. I was a true 
 prophet when I said, c God would not endure those raving 
 blasphemies.' " 
 
 All talk of war had for some time been subsiding. " King 
 Ferdinand," said Luther, " has more reason to dread an attack 
 from the Landgrave, than the Landgrave from King Ferdi- 
 nand." The evangelical confederates had met in June, atFrank- 
 fort, when it was resolved that the defence before the Imperial 
 Chamber should be made in the name of all the Protestants 
 conjointly; and Duke Barnim, of Pomerania, who had deter- 
 mined to establish the Reformation in his dominions, his brother 
 George being now dead, requested admission into the alliance. 
 At the same time the Dukes of Gueldres and Cleves, who were 
 highly incensed with the Emperor, on account of private 
 wrongs, were in correspondence with the Landgrave. The 
 Turk might be expected again in the neighbourhood of Vienna 
 in the ensuing year; the King of England and the King of 
 France were both in negotiation with the Schmalkald confe-
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 265 
 
 derates, and the Pope, although his compact with the Emperor 1531. 
 had been cemented by the union of their children, was, after 
 all, very suspicious of the overweening greatness of an old 
 rival. Moreover, Ferdinand could never be King of the 
 Romans except in title, until the Saxon protest was with- 
 drawn; and on that subject, so important to Charles, Bavaria 
 had combined with Saxony. In this state of things the 
 Electors of Treves and the Palatinate offered their mediation 
 to the Protestants, with a view to procuring peace ; and their 
 mediation being accepted on the condition that proceedings 
 before the Imperial Chamber should be suspended, delegates 
 from the Emperor, who was now in the Low Countries, ap- 
 peared in Saxony in the month of August. Everything showed 
 how correctly Luther had estimated the pacific influence of so 
 many discordant elements in the atmosphere of politics. 
 
 Without going the same lengths as Melancthon, Luther 
 was prepared to go a great way to avoid what he always re- 
 garded as the heinous sin of schism. " The Bishops," he 
 declared, "are wolves, foes, and tyrants; but the Jews, as 
 Josephus writes, received their chief priests even from Herod 
 and the Romans. The Bohemian brethren, to the present 
 day, have their bishops consecrated at Rome ; the holy 
 prophets were obedient to the kings of Israel, who persecuted 
 them ; the father of John the Baptist received his ministry 
 from Annas and Caiaphas. The bishops are wolves and 
 tyrants, but, as they sit in the Apostles' seat, we may accept 
 their jurisdiction, provided they suffer our doctrine to remain, 
 and do not force us to do ought against God/' Matrimonial 
 causes, which had occasioned him great trouble, he was quite 
 ready to resign into the bishops' hands. He was most eager 
 for a specific truce, and with as little delay as possible. 
 " The delay of one day," he wrote to the Elector, expressing 
 strongly his approval of the mediation of the Electors of
 
 266 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1531. Treves and the Palatinate, " often brings after it the delay of 
 a year." 
 
 Meantime it was resolved, by delegates of Saxony and 
 Hesse, who met at Nordhausen, that the Elector and Land- 
 grave should not attend the Diet, which had been transferred 
 from Spires to Ratisbon, and summoned to meet in the latter 
 town in the following spring. It was also determined that 
 aid against the Turks should be refused; that the protest 
 against Ferdinand's election, and the correspondence with 
 the Dukes of Bavaria, should be continued, and negotiations 
 should be opened with the Waywode. And at a meeting of 
 the Schmalkald confederates, held at Frankfort on the 19th 
 December, John Frederic and the Landgrave were conjointly 
 appointed the leaders of the alliance. 
 
 But the Electors of Mentz and the Palatinate were still ac- 
 tive in the work of peace, and early in the spring negotiations 
 were recommenced at Schweinfurt. The main obstacles to 
 an accommodation were, on one side, the claims that Fer- 
 dinand should be recognised as King of the Romans, and that 
 the Church property should be restored ; on the other, that 
 • all future adherents to the Augsburg Confession should be 
 included in the terms of peace, and that the processes before 
 the Imperial Chamber should be at an end. Luther's opinion 
 was required on the various questions. He ridiculed the 
 demand for the restitution of Church property : " Let the 
 Papists," he said, " first restore the innocent blood which they 
 have shed." But he entreated the Elector to acknowledge 
 Ferdinand as King of the Romans. "It is true," he wrote to 
 
 1532. him in February, 1533, " that Ferdinand was elected against 
 the Golden Bull ; but you have sufficiently marked your 
 sense of that violation of law. In this world many wrong 
 acts will ever be done, which oftentimes, when done, we must 
 allow, to prevent greater wrong. God is holding out Lis
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 267 
 
 gracious hand to you; let him not hold it out in vain." It 1532. 
 would be an awful thing, he said, to go to war " for a little 
 article of the Golden Bull." He denied that the cities would 
 ever fight in earnest for the princes; and hinted that the 
 " Dukes of Bavaria had made a sop for Saxony to sup up, 
 whilst they intended to look on :" above all, he objected funda- 
 mentally to the Schmalkald alliance : " It was a relying on 
 human help in neglect of the arm of the Almighty." 
 
 Whilst these negotiations were pending, the Elector John 
 was seized with violent inflammation in the right foot ; mor- 
 tification was apprehended, and the physicians thought it 
 necessary that the great toe should be amputated. For 
 twenty weeks the good Elector was unable to stand upon his 
 foot, and endured great pain with remarkable patience ; and 
 was consoled by letters from Luther, and twice visited by 
 him, and greatly cheered by his prayers and conversation. 
 At the end of February, Luther was staying with the Elector 
 at Torgau, and wrote thence to his wife : " My heart-loved 
 Kate, I trust to be again with you to-morrow, or the day 
 after. Pray God to bring me home brisk and well. I sleep 
 over well, sometimes six or seven hours together. It is the 
 fault of the beer ; but I am now more sober, as at Witten- 
 berg. Give Johnny a dressing for me : and tell him, Mag- 
 dalen, and Cousin Lena to pray for the dear Elector and for 
 me. I cannot, although it is the fair, find anything here to 
 buy for the children. Tell me what I shall do about it." A 
 little later the Elector was much better, and able to write 
 Luther a letter with his own hand. But Luther spoke of 
 himself as still suffering in his head ; ' ' the devil tilted through 
 it, so that he could neither read nor write." In May he 
 visited the Elector again ; and about the same time he was 
 relieved from some of his laborious duties, by the return of 
 Bugenhagen from Lubeck. His letters cease to be subscribed
 
 268 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1532. " Martin Luther, sick in my head ; " and in June he informs 
 Amsdorf : " By your prayers I am at length released from 
 my malady." In July, he paid another visit to John Loser, 
 the hereditary marshal, and stood god-father to his son. 
 
 The negotiations had failed of their object; principally 
 because the Protestants insisted on the peace embracing all 
 those who thereafter might join the evangelical ranks. Lu- 
 ther objected to their claiming such a stipulation. "Every 
 one," he said, " is bound to believe and acknowledge the 
 Gospel at his own peril : it is enough that we do not for- 
 bid, but offer the Gospel to all. The Emperor of his grace 
 permits us the free celebration of our faith and worship, 
 and cannot by right be compelled to extend the same 
 favour to those who as yet are not of our creed." How- 
 ever, John Erederic and Chancellor Brack took the oppo- 
 site view of the question, and carried their point. But on 
 the 17th April the Diet was opened; and nine days after- 
 wards Sultan Soliman, having mustered his hosts, set out 
 for the scenes of his former ravages. In June he crossed the 
 Hungarian frontier at the head of 250,000 men. A little 
 longer, and his myriads would cover with their tents the plains 
 around Vienna. Luther was full of patriotic indignation : 
 " What a portentous age ! the Pope and the King of the Erench 
 are unwilling to succour the Emperor against Mahomet. What 
 has become of the money gathered by the Pope, for ages, 
 against the Turk ?" Sultan Soliman, however, thought more 
 of Luther than of the Pope or the King of Erance : as each 
 day's march drew him nearer to his prey, he continued to 
 ask the question, " Has the Czar Charles made peace with 
 Martin Luther ?" Charles on his side felt how powerless 
 he was to make any head against the hereditary foe of 
 Germany, without the contingents of the Protestant Princes. 
 The cities which were the manufacturers and capitalists of
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 269 
 
 the day, with more of worldly wisdom than of the simple 1532. 
 faith of their Reformer, would not forward the cannon and 
 ammunition, or supply the specie. Had the Sultan been 
 disposed to treat, the evil might have been staved off in 
 that way; but Soliman would listen to no overtures. In 
 this dilemma, Charles fell back on the only alternative that 
 was left him, and resolved to come to terms with the evan- 
 gelical princes, and persevered in this resolution against 
 the will of the majority of the Romanist States. Luther 
 on his side reiterated his injunctions to the Evangelicals to 
 accept peace. " Opportunity/' he warned John Frederic, 
 " has a forehead full of hairs, but its head behind is bald." 
 Peace was signed at Nuremberg. In the Recess, which July 23. 
 was published the 27th July, no mention was made of it ; 
 but Charles proclaimed it by an edict published a week later. 
 The Lutherans, on their side, relinquished the demand of pro- 
 spective toleration; and Charles, on his side, gave a private as- 
 surance that the legal proceedings before the Imperial Chamber 
 should cease. And, under the shade of the peace of Nuremberg, 
 the Reformation took a new start, and spread its branches 
 with increased vigour far and near, as it had before done 
 under the shelter of the first Diet of Spires. But the Emperor 
 had received such vexatious proofs of the impracticable 
 doggedness of the German temper, that he governed by his 
 own authority through his brother, without summoning 
 another Diet until eight years afterwards. 
 
 With internal peace the ardour against the common foe 
 revived on all sides ; and most of the cities emulated, accord- 
 ing to their ability, the zeal of Nuremberg, which doubled 
 her contingents in men, money, and flour. And in a short 
 time, Charles, just recovered from a tedious illness, was 
 before the walls of Vienna at the head of an army of 75,000 
 men, who shared his own eagerness to do battle for the Cross.
 
 270 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1532. Luther addressed to the Margrave Joachim of Branden- 
 burg, the imperial lieutenant, a spirited letter, commending his 
 "Christian heart and enterprise/' and engaging that he "would 
 himself fight with his ' our Father ' under the banner of the 
 dear Charles, against Satan and his members." But before 
 the armies could meet, Soliman had received a repulse from 
 the ruined walls of Guntz, which convinced him that the God 
 of battle was no longer on his side. When the Turks were 
 sure of victory, a horseman in complete armour descended in 
 the air, brandishing his sword, and forbidding the Moslem to 
 approach Jurischitz and his devoted band. The Sultan with- 
 drew his troops, and, sending about 20,000 light armed sol- 
 diers into Austria, who were eventually almost all cut to 
 pieces, pressed on himself with the bulk of his army into 
 Styria, and appeared before Gratz. But news of the suc- 
 cesses of Doria, the imperial admiral, reached him soon 
 afterwards, and confirmed his despondency, and he beat a 
 hasty and inglorious retreat. The Emperor was now anxious 
 to employ his magnificent army in recovering Hungary from 
 John Zapolya: but the Princes regarded the object for which 
 they had enlisted their followers as achieved by the Sultan's 
 retreat, and declined any share in an attempt to regain a 
 throne for Ferdinand, and aggrandise the house of Austria. 
 
 But before this glorious result to the efforts of united 
 Germany, within a month of the signing of the peace of 
 Nuremberg, John the Constant had been suddenly removed 
 from the turmoil of negotiations, wars, and jealousies. He 
 had repaired, on the 12th August, with his two daughters 
 and the Electress of Brandenburg, to his castle of Schweinitz, 
 thinking that the sport of hunting might prove of service to 
 his health; and on the morning of the 14th, when he went 
 out for the chase, his temper, always serene, was observed to 
 be more than usually cheerful. But about four o'clock the
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 271 
 
 next morning he was seized with pains in the head, followed 1532. 
 by an apoplectic stroke, which deprived him of the power of 
 speech. A messenger was immediately despatched to sum- 
 mon Luther : and the Reformer, with Melancthon and 
 Augustin Schurf, the physician, left Wittenberg about five 
 o'clock on the morning of the 16th, and arrived at Schweinitz 
 five hours later. "When Luther and his companions entered 
 his apartment, the Elector made an effort to raise himself on 
 both his hands, but fell back exhausted, and within a little 
 time afterwards expired. " It has happened to him," Luther 
 said, " as to children, who are born, live, and die without 
 forethought ; and when he shall awake at the last day, he will 
 think he has just returned from the chase in his forest of 
 Lochau." 
 
 His remains were interred at Wittenberg ; and two sermons Aug. 18. 
 were preached on the occasion by Luther, who took for his 
 text the passage from which he had preached at the funeral 
 of the Elector Frederic. He described the Elector John as 
 " a right good friendly man, without any falsehood, in whom 
 he could never discern the least pride, anger, or envy ; ever 
 ready to forgive, nay, too mild." He spoke of his " bitter 
 death at Augsburg," his manful confession " of the death and 
 resurrection of Christ, at the peril of loss of land, body and 
 life." Compared with that, " the death of the reason and five 
 senses was a child's death." He had not, indeed, been exempt 
 from errors in government : " but every prince," he con- 
 tinues, f ' has ten devils about him, when a private man has 
 only one." Simple, childlike, unpretending, pure from his 
 youth, and full of earnestness of moral purpose, in Luther's 
 words, " without guile and without bile," the Elector John, 
 in act and motive, may vie with the most unsullied characters 
 on the page of history. He was not gifted with the abilities 
 of his brother Frederic; but Frederic only preserved the
 
 272 THE LTFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1532. adherents of the Gospel from those who sought their ruin ; 
 John embraced the Gospel from its first revival, and gave 
 up all for it. At Augsburg, when his theologians proposed 
 to present the Confession in their own names, to save him 
 from the perils which hemmed him round, he indignantly 
 refused, exclaiming, " I too would confess my Christ." " Wis- 
 dom died," Luther declared, " with Frederic the Wise, and 
 honesty with John the Constant : the nobles will reign 
 now."* 
 
 It is probably to be attributed to the loss of a Prince after 
 his own heart that Luther endured another attack of the 
 ringing in his head in September. Somewhat later in the 
 autumn he was very anxious about Kate, who was again 
 advanced in pregnancy, and suffering from fever. On the 
 10th November, however, matters wore a more cheerful as- 
 pect, and Luther, Kate, and a party of guests sat down to 
 a repast on a boar, a present from one of the Princes of 
 Anhalt, to celebrate the anniversary of St. Martin, and the 
 
 1533. natal days of the two Martin Luthers. The first month 
 of the new year made the Reformer again a father by 
 the birth of his fourth living child, and third son. The 
 infant was born late in the night of Tuesday the 28th 
 January, St. Paul's day : and at one o'clock the following 
 morning a letter was written by the Reformer to John Loser, 
 the hereditary marshal, to ask him to " lift the new born 
 infant from the baptismal water." The baptism was to take 
 place in the evening, that the child might " remain a heathen 
 as short a time as possible j" and the name to be given was 
 Paul. Luther implored his Lord God to make of his infant 
 son " a new foe to the Pope and the Turk." 
 
 * The Prince Consort of England is lineally descended from John 
 the Constant, the progenitor of the Saxon houses of Weimar and 
 Gotha.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 273 
 
 Luther was now again involved in a contest with Duke 1533. 
 George. In the preceding year eighty families had been 
 driven out of Leipsic, because they communicated in both 
 kinds, and had taken refuge under the Elector's safeguard at 
 Holzhausen : a consolatory letter had been addressed to them 
 by Luther ; and, some time afterwards, an exhortation to 
 patience and fortitude. In this latter epistle the Reformer 
 spoke of Duke George as " an Apostle of the Devil." Many 
 copies were made, which passed from hand to hand ; and one 
 travelled in a goldsmith's pack from Nuremberg to Leipsic, 
 and was detected by the town council. Duke George im- 
 mediately inquired of Luther whether he was the author? 
 and the Reformer replied with no little asperity. The Duke 
 then complained to John Frederic of an infraction of the 
 treaty entered into between them, and that Luther was stimu- 
 lating the lower orders to rebellion. The Reformer stated in 
 his defence that "he had never encouraged sedition; if it 
 could be proved he had, he would revoke on Balaam's ass, 
 and on all the asses aud cows in the world. Duke George, 
 as a prince, was entitled to the obedience of his subjects; but 
 in the sight of God he was f an Apostle of the Devil,' and no 
 better than Pilate, Herod, or Judas Iscariot." Not satis- 
 fied with this, Luther addressed another consolatory epistle to 
 the banished Leipsickers, in which he taxed, with his usual 
 keenness, the cruelty and bloodthirstiness of Duke George, 
 contrasting him with the gentle Emperor, and uttered what 
 has always been reckoned among his prophecies — " What 
 has not occurred within twelve years from the Diet of 
 "Worms ! what will not have occurred within ten years from 
 the Diet of Augsburg ! The fury of Duke George will not 
 last for ever ; it will have an end, sooner than he thinks, or 
 any one may imagine." He had ceased, he said, to pray for 
 Duke George ; his persecutions had been repaid more than 
 
 VOL. II. T
 
 274 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1533. tenfold on his own head ; he was hurrying visibly to the pit 
 of hell. The old smouldering embers of strife were now 
 effectually stirred into a blaze. Cochlseus replied for Duke 
 George. Luther received from the printers some sheets of 
 the work, as it was going through their hands, and contrived 
 that his answer should be exposed for sale with Cochlseus' 
 " Reply/' at the Leipsic fair in the autumn. As the tract 
 bore Duke George's arms, Luther, who despised Cochlseus, 
 whom he nicknamed "Dr. Snivel-spoon," or "Dr. Gawk," 
 entitled his answer, " Against Duke George's Last Book." 
 It discussed the accusation that he was " a runaway monk, a 
 perjured man." " Yes !" said Luther, " such a runaway, as a 
 Mameluke who should turn Christian, or a sorcerer who 
 should renounce his compact with the Devil for repentance 
 in Christ." " For twenty years," he continues, " I have 
 been employed with prayers and watchings in the study of 
 the sacred writings : I have lectured and written on the 
 Scriptures for twelve years amidst daily trials and persecu- 
 tions, with incredible toil, and yet I find myself still only a 
 novice, learning the rudiments of Divine knowledge." But 
 before the end of the year the Elector and Duke were recon- 
 ciled at Grimma, and Luther wrote in December — "The 
 princes are again friends ; for this, and the preceding peace 
 with the Emperor, praise be to God. Amen." 
 
 A treatise on the Private Mass and the Ordination of Priests 
 was also published by Luther at this time, by way of chal- 
 lenge to the Papists. He observed in it, that at Augsburg 
 the Papists had implored the Emperor to beg of the Pope to 
 issue no more Indulgence letters : he had once offered to be 
 silent on that question, but they would not let him : if it 
 should go with the rest of Popery, as it had gone with 
 Indulgences, whose would the fault be ? " We cannot acknow- 
 ledge," he said, " the Papacy as the Church, or even a part
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 275 
 
 of it, but only as its corruption and desolation ; Antichrist 1533. 
 invading the Church, the word and order of God, and raising 
 himself above God. "We cannot locally separate ourselves 
 from Antichrist, for Christ teaches that until the end of the 
 age he shall sit in the holy place : but spiritually let us 
 separate ourselves, avoid his corruptions, renounce his abomi- 
 nations, and maintain the pure faith." " The bishops of the 
 early times," he said, "were only presbyters, the principal 
 pastors of towns, as Augustin was Bishop of Hippo, a town 
 not larger than Leipsic or Torgau ; yet he was greater than 
 any pope or cardinal, and consecrated many bishops and 
 pastors. The Christian Church is where the Gospel is 
 purely preached." 
 
 In the second visitation of the Saxon churches, which com- 
 menced in the spring, Luther took no part beyond recom- 
 mending to the commissioners a superannuated clergyman for 
 a pension ; another clergyman for pecuniary compensation, on 
 account of the destruction of his parsonage by fire; and a 
 schoolmistress for maintenance, who had been removed from 
 her school. By direction of the visitors, the Larger Catechism 
 was to be taught on Sundays, the Smaller on the other days 
 of the week ; fines were imposed on the idle or profane, such 
 as bought indecent books, or sang obscene or blasphemous 
 songs. But it was again proved how much the efficiency of 
 the Church system was impaired by the covetous disinclina- 
 tion of the laity to contribute to the support of their clergy. 
 On the whole the visitation had good results, and the example 
 of Saxony was followed in other parts of Germany. 
 
 The Emperor in the beginning of the year was with 
 Clement again at Bologna, and persuaded him to send a 
 nuncio, in company with his own ambassador, to carry his 
 proposals to the six Electors and the six circles relative to a 
 council. The Pope proposed that " the council should be 
 
 t 2
 
 276 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1533. a free Christian council, as from the beginning, according 
 to the custom of the Church." Whilst the ambassadors 
 were at Wittenberg, John Frederic removed thither, and at- 
 tended Luther's preaching every day. Luther regarded the 
 proposed council as a mere delusion. "A council as from 
 the beginning/' he said, " must decide upon Scriptural war- 
 rant ; a council according to custom would be Constance, 
 Basle, Pisa, over again; or, worse than all, the last Lateran. 
 Here was half angel half devil." " Moreover, the Pope was 
 a party to the cause, and could not therefore be judge : the 
 question was, Scripture or the Pope." But, on maturer 
 reflection, Luther and his colleagues judged it better not 
 positively to decline the council, but to state objections, and 
 then, whether the council should be or should not be, " with 
 the day counsel too would come." The Schmalkald con- 
 federates held a meeting on the 24th June, and on the last 
 day of June the proposed council was rejected by them, and 
 three conditions were stated as essentially requisite to any 
 council which they could accept — 1. That it should be con- 
 vened in Germany ; 2. That the Pope should not be judge ; 
 3. That the decision should be according to Scripture. It 
 was also debated among the Protestants, whether they, on 
 their part, should summon a council. But Luther's voice was 
 raised against it : — "It would only," he said, " declare their 
 disunion. God's Word was enough ; compared with his Word, 
 what were councils ? a drop against the sun ! Christ had 
 the whole Holy Ghost without any devil." 
 
 Clement had been overawed by Charles to make overtures 
 relative to a council, but his contradictory offers had impe- 
 rilled nothing, and he was able to congratulate himself that 
 he had satisfied the Emperor without compromising his own 
 interests. In March, Charles embarked for Spain, and his 
 departure was felt by his Holiness much as a second re-
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHEU. 277 
 
 lease from captivity. Accordingly, in the autumn Clement 1533. 
 set out for Marseilles, taking with him his niece Catherine 
 de* Medici, the bride elect of the heir to the French throne. 
 What may have been the exact nature of the consulta- 
 tions between Clement and Francis, at Marseilles, has never 
 transpired ; but there is scarcely a doubt that they concerted 
 schemes to the detriment of their common rival the Emperor; 
 that Francis communicated to Clement the negotiations which 
 he had entered into with the Landgrave, and that the project 
 of exciting the Schmalkald confederates against Charles, and 
 thus giving him enough to do in Germany, received the appro- 
 bation of his Holiness. 
 
 Nor was the Prince of Hesse the man to suffer the oppor- 
 tunity to slip for maintaining the cause of independent 
 sovereignty in Germany, striking a blow at Ferdinand, and 
 adding strength and extent to the Reformation. The old 
 Duke of Wurtemburg had been deprived of his duchy by the 
 Suabian League, and the investiture of his hereditary rights 
 and dominions had been bestowed on King Ferdinand at the 
 Diet of Augsburg. Long had Philip revolved the project of 
 restoring an ancient house to its rightful sovereignty; but 
 never before had every circumstance seemed propitious to such 
 an enterprise. The Nuremberg peace was no hindrance to 
 his plans, because the Protestants had long been complaining 
 that the Emperor had not been true to his word, and the 
 judicial processes before the Imperial Chamber had not ceased. 
 The Dukes of Bavaria made common cause with Wurtemburg ; 
 the Suabian League was tottering ; Brandenburg, Cologne, 
 and the Palatinate, were so far on an understanding with the 
 Landgrave, that their neutrality was promised. Treves even 
 afforded succours ; and the only remaining desideratum, 
 money, was obtained from Francis I., with whom the Land- 
 grave had an interview in January, at Bar-le-duc. Philip 1534.
 
 278 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1534. completed his preparations with his usual promptitude, and 
 with 15,000 foot and 4000 horse, early in the spring ap- 
 proached the forces of King Ferdinand, which, being inferior 
 in numbers, awaited his attack at Laufen, on the banks of the 
 Neckar. The first conflict took place on the 12th May, and 
 the Landgrave had the advantage ; in consequence of which, 
 Ferdinand's troops the next morning made an attempt to 
 gain a better guarded position. Philip observing the move- 
 ment, dashing on with his cavalry, charged them in flank, and 
 was enabled to keep them at bay until his artillery had time to 
 come up ; and this effective arm soon put the Austrians to a 
 complete rout. The success was sufficiently rapid and complete 
 to astonish even the sanguine Landgrave : one after another 
 the castles throughout the Duchy surrendered to him, and in 
 less than a month Duke Ulric and his son Christopher were 
 masters of their hereditary dominions. The German princes 
 and nobles, for the most part, sympathized with the resto- 
 ration of a sovereign house ; and the Pope silenced every 
 murmur of disapprobation with the inquiry, " Where, then, is 
 the Emperor?" Duke George of Saxony alone appreciated 
 the importance of the blow which had been struck, and di- 
 rected his rage against the recreant Pontiff, accusing him of 
 being the abettor of strife and confusion, in order to prevent 
 the summoning of a council. By this revolution a new ter- 
 ritory was added to the Evangelical side : the Suabian League 
 shortly afterwards fell to pieces ; the cities, which had be- 
 longed to it, subscribed the Augsburg Confession, and trans- 
 ferred their allegiance from the defunct Romanist League of 
 the south, to the Protestant Confederacy of the north. But 
 the most surprising effect of the Landgrave's triumph is, that 
 on the 29th June peace was signed at the village of Cadan, 
 near Annaberg, in Bohemia, between Ferdinand and the 
 Protestants. On the one side Ferdinand was acknowledged
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 279 
 
 as King of the Romans, and on the other side it was agreed 1534. 
 that the Duke of Wurtemburg should hold his territories in 
 fief of Austria, with a seat and voice in the Diet ; that the 
 judicial processes should cease ; that investiture should be 
 granted to John Frederic, and his marriage articles should be 
 ratified. Religious differences were to be no ground for war. 
 And thus the peace of Cadan was the supplement to that of 
 Nuremberg. 
 
 The Landgrave had found no more strenuous opponent to 
 his undertaking than Luther ; and John Frederic and Melanc- 
 thon had echoed Luther's censures. " Your enterprise will 
 disturb the public peace," the Reformer warned the Land- 
 grave, " and will affix a stain on the Gospel." Luther and 
 Melancthon had recently been full of congratulation that dif- 
 ferences which had arisen between the town of Erfurth and 
 John Frederic had been adjusted, and that amity had been 
 restored with Duke George. When they heard of the " Mace- 
 donian," as they called the Landgrave, grasping the sword, 
 they deemed that a new fountain of innumerable troubles 
 had been unsealed. But as soon as Luther found his fore- 
 bodings not realized, and that war had issued in peace and 
 the advancement of the Reformation, without exonerating 
 the Landgrave, he gratefully recognized the hand of God. 
 " God's hand is to be traced in the whole matter ; and, con- 
 trary to the expectation of all of us, our fear is turned to 
 peace. He who has begun will carry through. Amen." 
 
 But Luther was himself engaged in a contest of another 
 kind. In 1533 an Exposition of the 84th Psalm had been 
 published by Erasmus, with the object of reconciling Romanists 
 and Protestants. Luther discerned in the Exposition many 
 symptoms of a sceptical tendency, a low value for doctrinal 
 truth, and a time-serving deference to custom and human 
 authority. Erasmus had been answered by a Zwinglian
 
 280 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1534. divine and by a Lutheran ; and to the work of the latter 
 Luther had written a preface, in which he spoke strongly of 
 Erasmus' mistake in confounding the union of charity with 
 the union of truth. But Amsdorf persuaded Luther that he 
 was further in duty bound himself to assail Erasmus in a 
 specific treatise, as the true source and fountain-head of error, 
 under whose authority Faber and Cochlseus, and the minor 
 tribe of Papist writers, sheltered their own impotence. It 
 was, moreover, to Erasmus that Luther imputed the rapid in- 
 crease of sceptical opinions in Germany. At Munster, Ana- 
 baptism had raised its stronghold, and the tenets of Munzer 
 and the Zwickau fanatics were carried out to their full poli- 
 tical and moral consequences, under the government of a 
 tailor from Leyden, John Bockelson, more commonly called 
 John of Leyden, who had been proclaimed king. Community 
 of women and goods of all kinds had been established, and 
 a filthiness degrading human nature below the brute was 
 defended by the pretence of immediate inspiration. Happily, 
 in June of the following year, the efforts of the Bishop of 
 Munster were seconded by the Landgrave and the Elector of 
 Saxony ; the city was surrendered ; and the ringleaders of 
 fanaticism were made a terrible example for the warning and 
 instruction of others. In other parts of Germany, the doc- 
 trines of the incarnation of the Son of God, of the Trinity, 
 and all the distinctive articles of the Christian faith, were 
 called into question, or exposed to ridicule. In all this Luther 
 perceived so many proofs of the depraved influence which the 
 scholar of Basle was exercising on public taste and religious 
 ideas. " Erasmus/' he said, " was the palmer-worm, who 
 had crept into the paradise of the Church, and had filled every 
 leaf with his maggots." Accordingly, in the spring of 1534 
 he assailed this prop and pillar of scepticism, in a tract pub- 
 lished under the form of a letter to Amsdorf. " It was the
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 281 
 
 levity/' he said, <c with which Erasmus treated the most sacred 1531. 
 subjects which had induced him before to give him a sharp 
 prick, in the hope of rousing him from his snoring, and 
 awakening him to sober reflection. But all had been in vain, 
 aud he had only provoked the viper to produce the viper-asp. 
 He had now learnt that Erasmus 5 defect was not simply levity, 
 but far worse, malice and an entire ignorance of Christianity. 
 To Erasmus, the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus Christ, the 
 depravity of man, the redemption of man, the resurrection of 
 the body, and all the peculiar doctrines of the Christian faith, 
 were matter for jest. His catechism for children contained 
 the question — f Why in the Apostles' Creed is the Father 
 called God ; the Son, not God but Lord ; the Spirit neither 
 God nor Lord, but only Holy?' This was to children ! Why, 
 here was Satan himself! as of old, disputing God's word, and 
 insinuating the doubt — ' Thou shalt not surely die !' " * He 
 then reviewed other writings of Erasmus, pointing out their 
 sceptical tendency; and concluded by saying that Erasmus 
 himself was unworthy of an answer : he had enough to do in 
 teaching others, above all in translating the Scriptures, a 
 work which itself required his full energies, to forsake important 
 duties to catch at clouds and emptiness. But he would leave 
 his testimony concerning Erasmus. Erasmus replied to this 
 letter with his habitual acerbity. And Melancthon lamented 
 " the petulance of old age " in both his great contemporaries. 
 The following memorandum appears among Luther's corre- 
 spondence — " Erasmus, the foe of all religion, and the pre- 
 eminent adversary of Christ, is the exact pattern and copy of 
 Lucian and Epicurus. I, Martin Luther, with my own hand 
 enjoin thee, my dearest son John, and through thee all my 
 children, and all the children of Christ's holy church, to lay 
 this deep in your heart. It is no light thing."* 
 
 * "I have sometimes thought of writing a Dialogue of the Dead, in
 
 282 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1534. The infirmities of age were creeping fast upon the Reformer, 
 so that his sermons for the year were given to the world by 
 Caspar Cruciger, as editor; and besides these, his lectures on 
 Isaiah, taken down from his mouth in previous years by some 
 of his audience, and Expositions of the 44th and 100th Psalms, 
 were the only additions to his works. In the spring he was 
 again attacked with the ringing in the head, and Kate suf- 
 fered much from fever, to which she was very liable from the 
 damp and exposed situation of Wittenberg, the north and 
 east winds blowing with penetrating keenness over " the sand 
 and marshes." In the autumn Luther had a severe cough, 
 with a great huskiness, which, like the ringing in the head, 
 had now become a periodical visitor. 
 
 In the month of June Luther paid a visit to Prince 
 Joachim, of Anhalt, at Dessau, who was labouring under 
 lowness of spirits and debilitated health. The Reformer 
 recommended him, in order to drive away melancholy, to 
 resort to pastimes, hunting, &c, always to maintain a cheerful 
 air and countenance, so as to shame the Devil, and, above all 
 things, frequently to resort to music. Luther promised the 
 Prince a second visit as soon as he had supplied the printers, 
 whose importunities were most clamorous, and to "bring 
 Bugenhagen with him, and remain eight days." And this 
 promise he kept about the end of July : a little afterwards he 
 was the Elector's guest at Torgau, whence he wrote to Kate 
 that " the Court beverages did not suit him ; he thought of 
 the good wine and beer he had at home, and of his good wife, 
 or rather, he ought to say, lord." Of John Frederic himself 
 he spoke in the highest terms of eulogy, but the spirit of his 
 courtiers was as antagonistic as ever to the Gospel. 
 
 which Lucian, Erasmus, and Voltaire should mutually acknowledge 
 the danger of exposing an old superstition to the contempt of the blind 
 and fanatic multitude." — Gibbon, Miscell. Works, I. p. 269.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 283 
 
 On Thursday, the 17th December, at twelve o'clock, his 1531. 
 " lord Kate " was safely delivered of a daughter ; aud the 
 same day and hour Luther wrote to Prince Joachim, of An- 
 halt — "The Almighty God has given me this hour, by my 
 dear Kate, a little daughter. I told your Grace before that I 
 should ask of you to undertake the Christian office of god- 
 father ; and I pray you, for Christ's sake, not to think this 
 humility a burden to help the poor heathen from her sinful 
 birth of death, to a new, holy, and saving second birth by the 
 sacred laver of baptism. But as the weather is cold, and little 
 suited to your Grace's state of health, I would gladly spare 
 your Grace's own person, and suggest to you to depute in 
 your place some one from Dessau or hence. Philip and 
 Franciscus are absent. However, your Grace will well know 
 how to accomplish your pleasure. God will reward it ; and 
 wherewith I can with all submissiveness serve you, I am in 
 duty bound. I would fain have the babe baptized to-morrow. 
 Christ be with your Grace unto salvation. Amen." Not- 
 withstanding his increasing number of children, pecuniary 
 straits or worldly difficulties of any kind were no trial to 
 Luther. Three days after the birth of his daughter Mar- 
 garet, he writes to his old friend Eberhard Brisger, the ex- 
 prior, who had offered him the purchase of a house which 
 he owned in Wittenberg, and was anxious to part with for 
 the benefit of his family, for a very moderate sum. Luther 
 writes that he could not raise half the price, or give so 
 much as 200 florins for it ; he would have him sell it to 
 Bruno, who was in negotiation for it, and not be hard on 
 him, but let him have it for 440 florins. " Why torment 
 yourself," he adds, ' ' about providing for your children ? I am 
 poorer than you, and so far ought to be providing for mine ; 
 but I know all my care would be fruitless. I commend them, 
 therefore, to Him who up to this day has granted abundance,
 
 284 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 X534. an( j jf j am J eserv i n g vvill still grant it." A few months 
 later lie speaks of his intention to purchase a small dwelling 
 for his old servant Wolfgang, who was past service, and had 
 lost the use of his left arm, and Luther could not bear to 
 think of his becoming an inmate of an hospital, or living on 
 alms. And from the incidental mention subsequently in his 
 correspondence of " the debts he had contracted, and his 
 obligation to maintain many domestics," there can be little 
 doubt but his generous intention was carried into effect.* 
 
 From scepticism Luther turned in a very acrid mood to 
 Romanism. Preaching on the festival of All Saints, he is 
 reported to have warned his congregation to " pray no more 
 for the bloodhounds, the Elector of Mentz and Duke George 
 of Saxony, but rather to pray that God would hurl them into 
 hell. They might still pray for the Elector of Brandenburg." 
 Luther had every provocation to such language, that could 
 be given by virulence of persecution redoubling in activity in 
 consequence of the rapid progress of the Gospel ; but a com- 
 plaint was immediately lodged against him, with the Elector, 
 by Duke John, the son of Duke George. The Reformer 
 acknowledged that he had applied the term " bloodhound" to 
 the Archbishop of Mentz, against whom he intended soon to 
 publish a tract : but ' ' he had no recollection of having included 
 Duke George in his denunciation. He had dined, however, 
 after the sermon, with the Electress of Brandenburg, and had 
 repeated at her table what he had declared in the pulpit, and 
 he might perhaps then have added the name of Duke George. 
 But Duke George was not to be softened by mildness, 
 or to be satisfied by any answer ; the Elector Frederic had 
 
 * Luther's humorous " Petition of the Birds against his Servant, 
 Wolfgang Siebergern," that they might not be dislodged from his 
 newly-acquired property, or be neglected, is a more conclusive proof. 
 — Walch. XIV., p. 1358.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 285 
 
 said of him, ' my cousin is a rude, gross man, and with such 1534. 
 heads the first indignation is ever the best/ " John Frederic 
 in reply, gently requested that Luther would be more guarded 
 in his expressions from the pulpit for the future. The Re- 
 former brought a very grievous subject of complaint against the 
 Archbishop of Mentz in the next year, that he had put Hans 1535. 
 Schanz to death by hangiug, without any legal condemnation 
 or trial. The affair was much talked of at Wittenberg, and 
 in the Augustine Convent at Luther's table, with whom 
 Louis Rabe, a subject of the Archbishop, happened to be on a 
 visit. The Archbishop at once suspected that Rabe had 
 turned informer, and threatened him with punishment, which 
 caused Luther to take up the pen very warmly in his 
 defence. " Louis Rabe," he said, "sat over his platter as 
 meek and modest as a maid : he did not run up and down 
 the streets, but remained quietly in his own chamber. Rabe 
 had indeed spoken more good of his hellish Cardinal than he 
 for his part should ever credit, and he hoped the Archbishop 
 would not be for hurrying him to the gallows quite so fast as 
 he had hurried poor Schanz. If all were straightway to be 
 hanged who spoke evil of the Cardinal, soon there would not 
 be hemp enough in Germany. But, as thought was free, the 
 Archbishop must not be surprised to find his acts freely can- 
 vassed in spots where he could not erect his gibbet." And 
 before closing the letter Luther alluded to the atrocious 
 murder, by the Cardinal, of George Winkler. In the March 
 of the following year another letter followed in a more solemn 
 tone. " Be assured," he wrote to the Cardinal Archbishop, 
 " that Abel lives in God, and cries louder than Cain, the 
 murderer, may think. I inclose to your Grace fresh intelli- 
 gence, that the blood of John Schanz is not so silent in 
 Germany as in your Grace's palace, amidst the buzzing flattery 
 of your courtiers. Your Grace's conscience must sing a fine
 
 286 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1535. descant in such tenor, and against your will, must cry, Amen. 
 You will say Schanz was a thief: I think not. But who was 
 it stole the goods of St. Maurice ? If every thief is to hang, 
 then the Cardinal of Mentz ought to hang ten times, on a 
 gallows raised to the height of three gibbets. You plunder 
 churches and pilfer cloisters, as though they were a Car- 
 dinal's peculium at Rome, and then squander your thefts on 
 gluttony and profligacy. As to harlots, I know, that from the 
 poor miserable Elsa at Magdeburg you took, as she said on 
 her death-bed, what you could not restore to her. Not to 
 say what wrong and robbery it is to persecute the burghers 
 of Halle without right or cause. I tell you what I will do : 
 I will take the last words of Hans Schanz as Shrove-tide 
 music for your Grace. So let your Grace's feet itch for the 
 dance, and I will be your piper. If Cain can say, ' Am I my 
 brother's keeper?' so can God say, 'Cursed art thou from the 
 earth.' " But the threatened Treatise against the Archbishop 
 was delayed until nearly four years later. 
 
 In the summer of 1535 the plague again fell upon the town 
 of Wittenberg : and John Frederic wrote to Luther to request 
 him to lose no time in repairing with his wife and family to 
 a place of safety. But the Reformer, though " old in strength, 
 but not in years/' was as little disposed to retreat before 
 " the devil and his pestilence," or rather his " clamour of a 
 pestilence," as he had before been in 1527. His reply to the 
 Elector ran in his peculiar vein of humour. " My weather- 
 gauge is the prefect of Saxony, John Metsch, who has such 
 a keen nose for a pestilence, that, were it five ells under 
 ground, he would scent it out. He is still at Wittenberg, 
 and as long as he remains here, there is no fear of a pesti- 
 lence. But since the dog-days are at hand, to allay appre- 
 hensions I have made my rounds through the town, to search 
 out about the pestilence, and the following are the results
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 287 
 
 of my investigations : — There is a good deal of sickness. 1535. 
 Some have got bad sores in their purses; others have the 
 colic in their books ; some the scurvy in their pen ; others the 
 gout in their paper : and many complain of mould in their 
 ink ; others have the heartache to see their fatherland. The 
 fear is, that if our heads and elders do not labour with all 
 their surgical and medical skill to cure and stay these dis- 
 orders, the whole land will die out, and there will be neither 
 preacher, pastor, nor schoolmaster." Luther makes a similar 
 statement in a letter to Dame Jorgerin, acknowledging the 
 gift of 500 florins for the relief of poor students; that, "un- 
 less his inquiries had made him acquainted with the facts, he 
 never could have supposed that there were at Wittenberg 
 such a multitude of impoverished students, toiling on, despite 
 penury, in their eagerness to study the Scriptures, and ac- 
 quire the languages in which they are written." 
 
 However, there was another plague at Wittenberg, besides 
 the intellectual and spiritual one, which Luther could alone 
 detect, and, in the middle of August, the university, as before, 
 was removed to Jena. Melancthon followed with his scholars. 
 Jonas fled from the contagion. Luther remained at his post in 
 the deserted town. His health was very infirm ; but, in the 
 absence of his friends, he put his own admonitions in practice, 
 maintained a cheerful face, and scared away the devil with 
 music, mirth, and good cheer. In September, the degree of 
 Doctor was to be conferred, and the Professors intended to 
 return for a day or two for the occasion. Luther prepared 
 the theses for disputation, and provided a handsome enter- 
 tainment. Jonas was to send a supply of game and fowl, 
 and a dollar was sent to him for this purpose; and Kate 
 brewed her best ale, to the joy of her husband, whose stock 
 of his favourite beverage had for some time before been run 
 dry. The 19th October was the twenty-third anniversary of
 
 288 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1535. Luther's own promotion to the academical rank of Doctor, and 
 he was invited by Kate to a repast, which she had prepared in 
 commemoration of the day. He wrote with great glee to his 
 friends of the intended feast : " I hope/' he adds, " that I 
 shall not survive another anniversary, but shall enter heaven 
 this year. Amen." The plague had now revealed itself un- 
 mistakeably ; in one house husband and wife had both fallen 
 victims to it, and Matthesius relates that Luther at once took 
 the orphan children into the Augustine convent, and smiled 
 when he was told that he was tempting God. About this 
 time he writes to his friends — " My charioteer has been 
 struck from her seat ;" the plague was suspected to be at the 
 root of Kate's malady, but it turned out to be no more than 
 the fever to which she was subject. 
 
 Luther's lectures on the Epistle to the Galatians, taken 
 down from his lips by some of his audience, were published 
 this year ; but though his mental vigour continued unim- 
 paired, his application was no longer what it had been ; he 
 had ceased to read Latin, and confined his attention to 
 Hebrew, and the German books and poems of the day, which 
 he carefully studied from love of the national literature, and 
 also with a view to perfecting his translation of the Scriptures. 
 His interest in the diffusion of Christianity led him to trace 
 the triumphs of the Emperor over the Saracens in Africa with 
 zealous interest, and he expressed his hope that the arms of 
 Charles would not pause in their career of victory until Con- 
 stantinople had been wrested from the Mussulman, and re- 
 united with the western Empire. On the other hand, the 
 decease of Clement VII., which had taken place on the 25th 
 September in the foregoing year, is unnoticed in Luther's 
 correspondence. Yet the elevation of Cardinal Farnese, 
 under the title of Paul III., to St. Peter's chair, marked an 
 entire change of policy and a new era in Romanism. The
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 289 
 
 new Pontiff created, at his elevation, a number of cardinals, 1535. 
 all of them more or less disposed to a reform of abuses, and a 
 reconciliation with the Protestants ; and the principal person 
 among the newly elected, was Contareni the Venetian, a firm 
 maintainer of Luther's sentiments on justification by faith 
 alone, and the spiritual bondage of the will. It was not long 
 before Paul III. adopted measures to arrange the long-agitated 
 question of a council; and the Elector communicated to 
 Luther the information which had reached him on the subject. 
 Luther, however, retained his incredulity. He replied, " I 
 am like unbelieving Thomas ; I can never credit the Pope's 
 sincerity, unless I put my hand in the side and feel the nail 
 prints. A council really free and Christian, I should welcome 
 with joy, but such a council the Pope can never summon. To 
 do so would be to renounce his Papacy." 
 
 However, on Saturday the 6th November, Verger, the 
 nuncio of his Holiness, with twenty-one horses and an ass, 
 arrived at Wittenberg, and was honourably received by the 
 Prefect of Saxony, and lodged in the castle. The nuncio's 
 instructions were to offer a council without any conditions; 
 but it was hinted that he might, if circumstances should war- 
 rant it, suggest Mantua as the fittest place for meeting 
 within the Imperial dominions : but his main efforts were to 
 be directed to removing every suspicion of the insincerity of 
 the Pontiff's professions on this long debated question. There 
 was, however, one condition carefully concealed, but in itself 
 tantamount to all the rest, which the Pope could never 
 relinquish : viz., that the decisions of former councils, par- 
 ticularly of more recent ones, must be deemed sacred. The 
 very evening of the nuncio's arrival, Luther was invited to 
 sup with him ; but he declined the invitation for that even- 
 ing, and agreed to breakfast at the castle the next morning. 
 Sunday morning, accordingly, he sent for his barber, and 
 
 VOL. II. u
 
 290 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1535. informed him with a smile, that he had been summoned 
 to wait upon the nuncio of the most Holy Father, and 
 he was very anxious to appear in his best looks, and to 
 seem as youthful as possible, that his adversaries might 
 say, "Luther has yet a long time to live." After his 
 hair had been arranged, the Reformer equipped himself 
 in his best attire, and put a gold chain, a present from the 
 Elector, round his neck. Master Henry, the barber, objected, 
 that such costly array would give offence. " It is for that I 
 wear it," Luther replied ; " they have offended us more than 
 enough : this is the way to deal with serpents and foxes." 
 Ascending the carriage, which had been sent from the castle 
 to fetch him, and having Bugenhagen seated by his side, he 
 exclaimed, " Behold the German Pope, and Cardinal Bugen- 
 hagen; this, too, is the work of God !" His reception was 
 most courteous from the nuncio, whom in return he greeted 
 with great politeness, but with none of the ceremonial respect 
 generally paid to a papal emissary. Luther insisted that 
 " the Pope was not in earnest in desiring a council. He 
 was in joke; but even if a council should meet, the matter 
 for deliberation would be of the most frivolous kind ; they 
 would talk about tonsures and copes and such like fools'-play, 
 and omit the essentials of Christianity, justification by faith 
 alone, and the unity of spirit and of faith." " And yet," he 
 continued, " of these points of doctrine we are assured by the 
 Spirit of God, and need no council to enhance our cer- 
 tainty : but it is important that the true doctrine should 
 reach even to the Papists ; so come, if you will, call a council, 
 and by God's grace I will appear at it, at the peril of being 
 burnt." 
 
 Nuncio. — " Where would you wish the council to meet?" 
 Luther. — "Anywhere; at Mantua, Padua, Florence, or 
 where you like."
 
 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 291 
 
 Nuncio. — " What ! would you assent to Bologna V 1535. 
 
 Luther. — " In whose territory is Bologna ?" 
 Nuncio. — " It belongs to his Holiness the Pope." 
 Luther. — " Indeed ! Good Heavens ! What ! has the Pope 
 succeeded in getting Bologna too within his grasp ? Well, I 
 will go even to Bologna." 
 
 Nuncio. — " But what should you say if the Pope himself 
 were to come to Wittenberg ?" 
 
 Luther. — " We should all give him a hearty welcome." 
 Nuncio. — " Would you have him come with an army, or 
 without an army ? " 
 
 Luther. — " Just as he might prefer. Come as he would, 
 we should welcome him." 
 
 The conversation now turned to the consecration of minis- 
 ters, and Luther pointed to Bugenhagen as the Bishop of 
 Wittenberg, consecrated by the Wittenberg Presbytery. A 
 private interview followed this more public one, and the 
 Reformer maintained his doctrine against a good deal of 
 flattery, and implied promises of promotion, even to the papal 
 chair itself, declaring " that it was more likely that the 
 nuncio and the Pontiff would embrace the evangelical faith, 
 than that he himself should ever forsake it." And these words 
 proved in part prophetical, for Verger subsequently became a 
 Lutheran. But the nuncio was in haste to be gone ; he had 
 suddenly arrived, and he as suddenly departed. " He flies," 
 Luther said ; " he does not ride." The nuncio, as he 
 mounted his horse, smiled on the Reformer, as he said to 
 him, " Be sure and be ready for the council." " Do not 
 fear," Luther answered, " I shall bring my neck." Luther 
 wrote to Jonas, " I played Luther during the whole break- 
 fast, and answered the nuncio in terms most Verger-like." 
 The nuncio wrote to Rome, of his interview with the 
 Reformer, in strong terms of contempt for his rudeness and 
 
 u 2
 
 292 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1535. insolence. From Wittenberg the nuncio urged his way 
 with all haste to the Margrave of Brandenburg, and thence 
 prosecuted his route to Prague, and on the last day of 
 November had an audience of the Elector of Saxony, who 
 had reached that city on his return journey from Vienna, 
 where, in accordance with the stipulations of the Cadan 
 peace, he had received investiture at the hands of Ferdi- 
 nand. Verger, with every protestation of sincerity, made 
 John Frederic the offer of a " free, pious, universal, and pure 
 council : the mode of the proceedings/' he said, " would be 
 dictated by the Holy Ghost when the council met ;" and he 
 stated his conviction that " the Protestants had done right in 
 refusing the former proposals for a council." John Frederic 
 deferred his final answer until it could be given conjointly 
 with his Schmalkald allies. This alliance, which now num- 
 bered fourteen princes, two counts, and twenty-two cities, 
 met shortly afterwards at Schmalkald, and took into con- 
 sideration the nuncio's written propositions, offering a 
 council without any express condition, excepting the place 
 of meeting, which, it was suggested, should be Mantua, 
 the fury of the Anabaptists and Sacramentarians being made 
 an objection against holding it in Germany. On the 21st 
 December, the Protestant answer was given in rejection of 
 the offer. " How was it," the Schmalkald league inquired, 
 " that enmity and persecution still dogged the heels of the 
 evangelical preachers ? No council could be free unless it 
 were held on German ground, the form of proceedings duly 
 arranged, and the Pope emphatically excluded from being 
 either judge or referee. A council was not intended to be 
 merely a pontifical or sacerdotal tribunal ; it appertained to 
 the Emperor, to Kings, Princes, and Rulers, to amend the 
 false worship and doctrines of Popery." 
 
 1536. Luther was in very feeble health at this period. In Janu-
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 293 
 
 ary a severe attack of cold and hoarseness incapacitated him 1536. 
 for his public duties, and interfered even with his correspond- 
 ence. But early in the year the University was recalled 
 from Jena ; this was a source of great joy, and soon afterwards 
 its endowments were increased by the appropriation of the 
 funds of All Saints Cathedral to educational uses. The 
 annual stipends both of Luther and of Melancthon were thus 
 raised from 200 to 300 florins, and the former, in considera- 
 tion of his past services, and many and increasing infirmities, 
 was exempted from the burden of lecturing, and from all 
 other academical functions. But Luther was so far restored 
 to health at the end of February, that he was able to 
 be the Elector's guest at Lochau, and on Quinquagesima 
 Sunday, the 27th, to preach before him and his court, and the 
 same evening perform the ceremony of uniting in marriage 
 Philip, Duke of Pomerania, and Maria, the Elector's sister. 
 It is related that by some accident one of the spousal rings 
 slipped from his fingers, and rolled along the chapel floor. 
 Luther exclaimed with emotion, " Satan ! Satan ! but thou 
 shalt not attain thy wish," and then turning to the princely 
 couple he pronounced with great emphasis the benediction, 
 " Increase and multiply." It was customary that a blessing 
 should be prayed for on the wedded pair the morning after 
 the marriage, but Luther was prevented from the discharge 
 of this duty ; in the interval he had been suddenly seized with 
 a swooning fit, and Bugenhagen acted as his substitute. 
 
 The Reformer had often said, that if union on the subject 
 of the Lord's Supper could be accomplished between German 
 Protestants, he should then be able with joy to say, "Lord, 
 now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace." Endeavours 
 for this important union had never for a moment slumbered. 
 In 153^, a conference between the Divines of the two parties 
 had been held at Cassel, and had been attended by Melanc-
 
 294 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1536. thon. In the October of 1535, Luther had himself addressed 
 separate letters to the preachers of Strasburg, Augsburg, 
 Ulm, and Eslingen, inviting them to a conference, and he had 
 communicated with John Frederic on the same subject. The 
 cities, with the jealousy of democratic bodies, had objected to 
 the Princes being mixed up with the affair at all ; but Luther 
 replied, that the approval of the Princes must have the effect 
 of giving to the projected union greater stability : if, however, 
 the Princes should be unwilling to bear their share in the mat- 
 ter, that should not stand in the way of achieving such a bless- 
 ing as concord. Luther proposed in the first instance, Eisenach 
 as the place of meeting; but as the time approached, he 
 found himself ' ' still faint and worn with his last illness," and 
 requested, in a letter to Capito, that the theologians of the 
 cities would not refuse to come as far as Grimma, three miles 
 beyond Leipsic. But even so, he feared that the state of his 
 health would prevent his attendance ; but in that case, said 
 he, " I shall be able to send and receive letters every day." 
 In fact, his strength proved too feeble even for a journey to 
 Grimma ; and the theologians paid him the tribute of respect 
 to extend their travels to Wittenberg itself, which some of 
 them were curious to see, where, on the 22nd May, the 
 conference was opened. Several of the Lutheran preachers 
 had joined the Oberland theologians at the different towns 
 they passed through, and by this means the controverted 
 points were familiarly talked over in the friendly discussions 
 of fellow travellers, the explanations of Myconius and Menius 
 cleared away difficulties, and before arriving at Wittenberg, 
 the way to harmony had been made plain. Melancthon 
 could hardly believe the good news which Myconius and his 
 other friends told him, and took them to Luther ; and the 
 Sunday, evening of their arrival the theologians supped at the Augus- 
 May 21. ^ ne conveu t^ a nd the conversation was protracted till mid-
 
 THE LIFE OF MAKTIN LUTHER. 295 
 
 night. The next day Capito and Bucer, at seven o'clock in 1536. 
 the morning, paid a visit to Luther, and gave into his hands y 
 a statement of their doctrines. At three o'clock in the 
 afternoon Bucer and Capito returned : the principal mem- 
 bers of the Lutheran party were also present. Luther was 
 resolved that nothing should be done except on free convic- 
 tion; he stated that he would not touch on other points of 
 Christian doctrine until concord had been attained on the 
 Lord's Supper ; that the question was not about words ; the 
 true doctrine was, that " the bread is the body of Christ, 
 given and received in hand and mouth, as well by the god- 
 less as the godly." He condemned the epistles of Zwingle 
 and (Ecolampadius, recently published, and warned Bucer 
 and his adherents to ' ' act sincerely as in the sight of God, 
 without guile." He required them to renounce their former 
 error ; and as they had been for some time advancing step 
 by step towards the truth, so as to believe, first, that the 
 elements were spiritually the body and blood of Christ, then, 
 that they were Christ's true and natural body to his faithful 
 followers, so now to acknowledge plenarily that " the godless 
 as well as the godly takes in his heart and with his mouth, the 
 true body and blood of Christ." On the 23rd the discussion 
 was resumed; and Luther demanded, first of Bucer, and 
 then of each of the other theologians of Bucer's party, a 
 declaration of his faith on the Sacrament of the Lord's 
 Supper. Bucer stated, and the rest concurred in his state- 
 ment, that " the true body and the true blood of Christ are 
 in the Lord's Supper ;" and that " the Sacrament depends 
 not on the worthiness or unworthiness of the partaker, but 
 on the word of God." Luther and the divines of his 
 side withdrew to a private apartment, and it was determined 
 " as out of one mouth " to propose further the explicit ques- 
 tion, whether " as the name of God, used by an infidel, is
 
 296 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1536. yet God's name, and the Lord Jesus, kissed by Judas the 
 traitor, is yet the Lord Jesus, so they held the body and 
 blood of Christ, received by an unbeliever, to be still the 
 body and blood of Christ." They returned, and Luther, 
 with solemnity and earnestness graven on every feature of 
 his countenance, put this question. The reply was given in 
 the affirmative : and then Luther, addressing Bucer and 
 his friends with " My lords and brethren," stated that they 
 " owned and took them for dear brothers in Christ." Luther 
 and Bucer shook hands, and after them all the theologians 
 of both sides clasped one another's hands, and " with God- 
 fearing supplications " thanked God for unity in the faith. 
 Bucer and Capito wept for joy. The next morning agree- 
 ment was attained on Baptism, as " the laver of regenera- 
 tion," on absolution, school discipline, &c. On the 25th the 
 Formula of Concord drawn up by Melancthon was read 
 aloud; and it was decided that not only those present, but 
 also the absent, should be invited to append their signatures ; 
 and in the evening Luther preached from Mark xvi. 15, " Go 
 ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." 
 ,c I had often," Myconius says, "heard Luther preach before, 
 but this time it seemed as if it was not Luther who spoke, 
 but God himself thundered his word from heaven.""* 
 
 The time from the close of the conference to the departure 
 of Bucer and his friends, was a gala season at Wittenberg. 
 The churches resounded with the Word of God. The 
 Oberland theologians and the Wittenberg doctors preached 
 in turn. In the evening of the day that Bucer preached, he 
 supped with Luther. It is related that in the presence of 
 the assembled guests, Luther congratulated him on his 
 
 * See, for the whole transaction, the accounts of Myconius and of 
 Bernard, pastor of Frankfort, Walch. xvii. p. 2533 — 599 ; Bucer's 
 Letter, Id. p. 2565, De Wctte, iv. p. 691—4; Bret, iv, p. 75—599.
 
 THE LI1E OF MARTIN LUTHER. 297 
 
 sermon — " He had made an admirable discourse ; yet/' he 1536. 
 added, " I am the better preacher of the two." The com- 
 pany seemed surprised by the frank avowal. Bucer at 
 once assented, that " of course Luther was much the better 
 preacher of the two." " Do not mistake me/' Luther re- 
 plied ; " I am but a worm, and have never in my life delivered 
 such a discourse as I heard from you to-day. But whenever 
 I preach, I make a point of observing what kind of audience 
 I have to address, and suit whatever I may say to their feel- 
 ings and understanding. Now you, Bucer, soar too high ; 
 and, however acceptable your eloquence may be to the 
 learned, it is far beyond the comprehension of the multitude. 
 A preacher should resemble the mother, who, when her infant 
 cries, bares her breast, and gives it the natural milk." 
 
 And thus the chapter in the history of Luther's life, which 
 had begun in the dark clouds and portentous thunders of the 
 Augsburg Diet, closed in the serene air and pulpit exhorta- 
 tions of the Wittenberg concord. The north and the south of 
 Germany were now united in doctrinal harmony ; and all the 
 secular princes of northern Germany, with the exception only 
 of Duke George and the Duke of Brunswick, had become 
 Lutheran. Joachim of Brandenburg had died in July, 1535, 
 and the new Elector was well inclined to the Reformation, 
 and a little later professed himself a Protestant. The Mar- 
 grave of Baden had embraced the evangelical faith. The 
 Hanse towns were all Lutheran. In Denmark, a Lutheran, 
 the Count of Holstein, had gained the throne against the 
 Romanist faction. Wurtemburg had been added to the 
 evangelical states ; and by its geographical position, as well 
 as by the moderation of Duke Ulric, seemed to form a link 
 between the German and Swiss Protestants. England, by 
 an Act of Parliament passed in 1534, had rejected the yoke 
 of Rome; and in the following year the royal supremacy "in
 
 298 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1530. matters ecclesiastical as well as civil " had been established. 
 The King of France and the King of England were both in 
 negotiation with the Schmalkald allies; and the French court 
 had entreated a visit from Melancthon in his character of 
 theologian. Even in the citadel of Popery the promotion of 
 such a man as Contareni to the cardinalate, proved the same 
 movement to be going forward, which had long engaged 
 contemplative minds in the alcoves of Venice. " At the Diet 
 of Augsburg," said Luther, "our princes seem devoured and 
 destroyed ; they were really only the more vivified and invi- 
 gorated. Everything that is to be strong must begin in 
 weakness, as Christ says, 'My strength in your weakness/ 
 Thus the roots of those trees which are to yield timber for 
 houses, machines, and ships, are at first only slender threads. 
 The kings of God, who shall one day judge angels, are sprung, 
 as Job says, from a drop of milk. It is thus God works. ' Be 
 not afraid, I have overcome/ ' I live, and you shall live/ 
 On the other hand, man's works begin in strength to end in 
 folly."
 
 299 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 FROM THE 30TH MAY, 1536, TO THE 18TH FEBRUARY, 1546. 
 
 The refusal of the Protestants to the overtures made them 1536. 
 by Paul III., did not divert the Pontiff from his policy of 
 summoning a council, which was absolutely necessary to 
 dissipate the general idea of the insincerity of the Vatican, 
 and was perseveringly demanded by the Emperor. Charles, 
 on his return from his victorious African expedition, had 
 written in very severe terms to the Protestants : his letter 
 had been considered by the Schmalkald allies in the spring 
 of 1536, and a deputation sent to deliver their answer. 
 But now war with France was recommenced, and it was no 
 longer expedient or practicable to carry things with a high 
 hand, and rouse the enmity of his German subjects. Charles 
 therefore passed from Naples to Rome, had an interview of 
 seven hours' duration with the Pope, but resisted all his 
 solicitations to make peace with Francis, in order to turn his 
 arms with effect against the German heretics : he could not 
 resign Milan. The conversation was next directed to the 
 subject of the council : Mantua was retained as the place of 
 meeting against the Protestant objections; but the clause, 
 " according to the usage of former councils," was struck out. 
 The Emperor was desirous that the diploma convoking the 
 council should be got ready and published immediately, 
 whilst he remained at Rome : Paul replied that it could not 
 be prepared with such haste. On the 2nd June, however, 
 the council was convoked to meet at Mantua on the 23rd
 
 300 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1536. May in the ensuing year, " for the destruction of heresy, the 
 peace of Christendom, and the conversion of the infidels."* 
 And from his camp in Savoy in July, Charles addressed fresh 
 letters to the Protestants, in a much milder strain than he 
 had used previously. The Romanist Princes were elated by 
 the long-promised council being at last convoked. Duke 
 George was writing " a big book about the Bishops/' and was 
 full of hopes that their irregularities would now be checked, 
 and decorous manners and morality of life would again adorn 
 the mitre. "A hard task this," Luther said, "to make 
 Satan assent to God." The Reformer commented upon the 
 council, as follows : " In this Bull of Paul, or rather of the 
 cardinals, not the cardinal virtues, but the cardinals, capitals, 
 heads of Satan, we are condemned already." " The Man- 
 tuan council will not have very many learned men, although 
 it will greatly outnumber us in the mules, horses, and asses, 
 carrying the greatest asses on their backs. " 
 
 1537. rj^g Schmalkald allies met very early in the spring at 
 Schmalkald, to deliberate on the matter of the council now 
 actually summoned. The Wittenberg theologians were to be 
 present, and the principal divines from other parts of Ger- 
 many were also to be in attendance. It was debated whether 
 the papal nuncio should be allowed to appear before the 
 alliance. Luther gave his answer in the affirmative, and this 
 point was conceded against the judgment of John Frederic. 
 On the question, which was again mooted, of resistance to the 
 Emperor, Luther signed his verdict, that " if the Emperor, in 
 a question not appertaining to the civil jurisdiction, such as 
 the acceptance of a council, should appeal to force, in such a 
 
 * In another Bull, dated the 23rd September, Paul III. committed 
 the Reformation of the State of Eome, " the head of Christendom, 
 whence all other Christians are wont to learn good morals and godly 
 ways," to five cardinals and three bishops. — Walch. xvi. p. 2322.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 301 
 
 case resistance even to the Emperor would be allowable." 1537. 
 He was also requested by the Elector to draw up some theolo- 
 gical articles, to serve as landmarks how far the Protestants 
 might yield, and within what lines no concession must be 
 made. Luther described the Mass in these articles as " abomi- 
 nable idolatry/' and stated that the invocation of saints was 
 idolatrous, and that all that came out of, or depended upon 
 the Mass, was to be abhorred, and he gave characteristic 
 prominence to the merits of Christ, and justification by faith 
 alone. These articles were copied out by Spalatin and sub- 
 scribed by Luther and thirty-five theologians, and on the 
 3rd January were inclosed by Luther to the Elector, who 
 pronounced them to be " Christian, pure, and plain." 
 
 A little time before, Luther had been suffering from the 
 gravel and stone ; but after a long prostration of strength, 
 his health was so far restored that he was able to undertake 
 the journey to Schmalkald in the beginning of February, 
 although the weather was very cold. On the 2nd February, 
 Luther and his fellow-travellers reached Altenburg, and were 
 entertained and lodged by Spalatin, whom the Reformer 
 addressed in some Latin verses on the occasion. On Sexa- 
 gesima Sunday, the 4th, Luther preached at Weimar, and 
 complained, the attendants of the papal nuncio being among 
 his audience, that the Kings and Bishops were greater foes 
 to the Gospel than the Turks : and on the Monday following, 
 the Elector took the road to Arnstadt, and Luther the road 
 to Gotha, and on the 7th made his last day's journey to 
 Schmalkald. He wrote thence on the 9th, that the Land- 
 grave and the Duke of Wurtemburg had entered the town 
 the previous day, and he was about to preach before the 
 Princes in the parish church, which was so large that his 
 voice would sound like "the squeak of a mouse." It is 
 recorded that he preached three times at Schmalkald, but the
 
 302 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1537. last time in the Quaestor's residence, as he could not he heard 
 in the Church.* He continued to suffer grievously from the 
 stone ; but on the 14th he writes to Jonas that " St. Valen- 
 tine had cured him that night : not the St. Valentine, the idol 
 of Epileptics, but the true and only Valentine, who makes all 
 well who trust in Him." " He and his friends," he said, 
 " had eaten bread with the Landgrave and the Duke of Wur- 
 temburg, and found their bakers first-rate ; and they had drunk 
 wine with the deputies of Nuremberg." This Schmalkald 
 convention, or, to use Luther's term, " council," was more 
 numerously attended than any previous meeting of the Protes- 
 tants : besides the Princes, the deputies of upwards of twenty- 
 six cities were present, and the theologians numbered thirty- 
 five. But in reference to the deliberations, Luther warned 
 the Princes not to regard the summoning a council in a 
 serious light at all, for it was not seriously meant ; the Bull 
 was a lie. True, there was business enough to employ a 
 council ; the Pope and his cardinals were the most rapacious 
 of Church plunderers ; the Cardinal of Mentz alone held three 
 bishoprics in his grasp ; but, when such were the mal-prac- 
 tices of Ecclesiastics, who could credit that they were sincere 
 in desiring a council ? " Be assured," he said, " of three 
 things: — 1. The Pope and Luther are not to be reconciled; 
 2. The Mantuan council is a subterfuge; 3. The Cardinal 
 of Mentz is a knave." 
 
 On the 25th February, Peter Worst, Bishop of Aix, the 
 nuncio, appeared in Schmalkald, and presented two epistles 
 from the Pope to John Frederic, which the Elector refused to 
 receive, and the nuncio on his part would not take back 
 again, but left on the table. A somewhat bitter altercation 
 
 * Another of the preachers was Urban Regius, who preached at 
 great length, and Luther meeting him as he came from the pulpit, said 
 smiling, " Hoc neque Urbanum neque Eegium est/'
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 303 
 
 followed, which has afforded Pallavicini an opportunity to 1537. 
 style the Schmalkald convention " an assembly of beasts," to 
 which Seckendorf retorts, that it would have deserved the 
 name, if credit had been given to that little fox or ape sent 
 from Rome. The nuncio, in his arguments with the Elector, 
 accused the Protestants of schism, and cited St. Paul's reproof 
 of the Corinthians : " Now this I say, Every one of you saith, 
 I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of 
 Christ." " It is the Church of Rome," the Protestants 
 replied, which says, " I am of Cephas." Some of the Pro- 
 testants were for acceding to the council conditionally, that is, 
 if the Pope were not judge; but the majority foresaw that the 
 least concession would be turned to good account by the 
 Papists, and therefore determined to reject the council 
 entirely. The answer of the alliance was given on the 2nd 
 March, and complained that in the Bull no mention was 
 made of the reform of ecclesiastical abuses, which had been 
 acknowledged by Pope Adrian; that the Evangelicals were 
 branded as heretics, and so their cause was pre-judged; that 
 the Pope arrogated the office of judge, whereas his true cha- 
 racter was that of culprit ; and that the place of meeting was 
 beyond the limits of Germany. The Book of Renunciation 
 was published on the 5th March, and was translated into 
 various languages, and forwarded to most of the Princes of 
 Europe. 
 
 As regards other debated points, Vice-Chancellor Held, 
 the Imperial ambassador, required of the Protestants either 
 to afford aid against the Turks, or to succour the Emperor in 
 his war with France. They refused compliance, unless peace 
 was assured them at home, the judicial processes before the 
 Imperial Chamber suspended, and liberty granted them to 
 receive all their co-religionists into the alliance. The am- 
 bassador replied with so much harshness as to determine the
 
 304 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1537. Princes on making the best provision they could for their own 
 security. They renewed negotiations with France, and ad- 
 mitted Duke Henry of Saxony, brother of Duke George, into 
 the confederation. Among the Protestants themselves there 
 was some debate on doctrinal points, but without much 
 heat of controversy ; and the Swiss Protestants tendered 
 proposals by Bucer, with a view to concord with their Ger- 
 man brethren on the subject of the Lord's Supper. The 
 convention closed with the publication of an edict respecting 
 the sufficient maintenance of ministers, and the endowment 
 of schools and hospitals, to which the sequestrated Church 
 property, rescued from spoliation according to a petition pre- 
 ferred by the theologians, was to be devoted. So firm was the 
 cohesion between the members of the alliance, that it decided 
 the nuncio and the Romanist princes to form a similar com- 
 bination ; and Maimburg dates the origin of the Popish league 
 of the south to this period, although it was not actually set 
 on foot until the following year. 
 
 But before the convention broke up, Luther had been 
 obliged to return to Wittenberg. Melancthon had just written 
 to f Doctoress Catherine " of her husband's improved health, 
 Feb. 18. and Luther had himself preached on the Sunday morning what 
 Melancthon terms a " very clear sermon," when, on the even- 
 ing of the same day, he was seized with a violent attack of the 
 stone, and endured such agonies as he had never suffered 
 before. The Elector sent to Erfurth for the physician George 
 Sturtz, and all the Princes were unremitting in their attentions 
 to the Reformer. The Duke of Wurtemburg prescribed for 
 him juniper-berries boiled in wine and water. The Landgrave 
 of Hesse, at the very time that the nuncio was waiting to have 
 an interview with him, quitted his lodging, under the nuncio's 
 eyes, to make inquiries for Luther. The Elector of Saxony 
 left nothing untried that was likely to add to the Reformer's
 
 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 305 
 
 comfort, or to serve as the means of his recovery. " If it is 1537. 
 God's will that you should die/' he said to Luther, "your 
 wife shall be my wife, and your children my children : but for 
 his name and word's sake, I trust God will be gracious to us, 
 dear father, and grant us your life." Luther replied, that 
 God's will was the " all-best." " O, thou true God, my Lord 
 Jesus Christ," he ejaculated, "thy name has so often helped 
 me, help me now, my dear God. Thou knowest I have taught 
 thy word with truth and diligence. If it be for the glory of 
 thy name, make me better; if not, close my eyes. My Lord 
 Christ, how glorious to die by the sword for thy word ! Now 
 I die a foe to thy foes, and under the Pope's ban. I thank 
 thee that I die in the knowledge of thy truth." The Elector 
 turned away his face to hide his tears. On the 26th Feb- 
 ruary, however, Luther was so far better that John Frederic 
 sent him away on his return home in his own carriage, in 
 company with Sturtz the physician and his intimate friends 
 Bugenhagen and Spalatin. The disease had been aggravated 
 by solicitude for the cause of the Reformation ; and as he 
 was leaving Schmalkald the Reformer looked back on the 
 building in which the confederates held their sittings, and 
 exclaimed, " Our Lord God fill you with hatred of the Pope." 
 They journeyed along a hilly track towards Tambach, and 
 reached that village before nightfall. The jolting of travelling, 
 the fresh air and change of scene, were not without their 
 service on Luther's frame; at Tambach he relished a simple 
 supper and drank some red wine, and in the course of the 
 night he experienced considerable relief, and wrote to his 
 "heart- dearest Philip," "This Tambach is a Phanuel wherein 
 God has appeared to me. From this example let us learn 
 to pray, and to dare to expect aid from heaven. May God 
 trample Satan with his leagued monsters of Rome beneath 
 his feet ! Amen. Given the third hour of the night." The 
 
 VOL. II. x
 
 306 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1537. next morning Luther wrote to Kate, " I was as one dead, and 
 commended myself *and my children to God and my good 
 lord, as if I should never behold them a^ain. I felt sore pity 
 for you, and had no hope of recovery; but prayers have been 
 offered to God so fervently for me, mixed with many tears, 
 that God has shown me mercy, and I feel as one born anew. 
 Therefore praise God, and let the dear children and cousin 
 Lena thank the true Father. It is only of his mercy that 
 you have not lost me. The good Prince did all he could, and 
 tried his very utmost, but all would not do ; even your skill 
 would have done nothing. But God, through the prayers of 
 his people, has wrought wonders upon me this night. I write 
 this because the good Prince has ordered the Prefect to send 
 you to meet me, which is now unnecessary : God has so 
 richly holpen me, that I trust soon to come to you full 
 of joy. We shall sleep at Gotha to-night." The tidings 
 of Luther's improvement in health were received by the 
 Protestants with public rejoicings, and by command of the 
 Princes, thanksgivings were offered to God in the church of 
 Schmalkald, and it was ordered that the prayers before 
 appointed should be continued that his life might be spared 
 to the glory of God and the comfort of his Church. 
 
 By the Elector's wish the road through Erfurth was avoided 
 on account of the ill-feeling entertained by the Archbishop of 
 Mentz to Luther, and the road through Gotha was taken ; 
 Gotha was reached on Thursday, the 29th February ; and 
 here Bucer and Lycosthenes, who had been deputed by the 
 Oberland churches to the Schmalkald convention, overtook the 
 Reformer, and placed in his hands the letters from the Swiss 
 earnestly entreating unity on the subject of the Lord's Supper. 
 But Luther replied that unity was impossible until identity of 
 doctrine and belief should be attained. " I am a man/' he 
 said, " who know not how to semble or dissemble." At
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 307 
 
 Gotha the malady returned with so much force, that the 1537. 
 Reformer again prepared himself for immediate death ; and 
 having made his will in the journey from Schuialkald, gave it 
 into Bugenhagen's hand with his last prayer, in which he 
 thanked God that he had given him strength to " assail the 
 Papacy, the enemy of God, of Christ, and the Gospel. It 
 must be the consolation of his dear Kate," he said, "that 
 they had lived together for twelve years in so much happiness. 
 She had been an excellent wife — nay, more than a wife, a 
 servant to him." And he commended her and his children to 
 those present. " Tell the Princes," he continued, " to trust 
 God as regards his Gospel, and confidently execute what the 
 Holy Spirit may suggest. I do not prescribe them any par- 
 ticular line of policy. I have earnestly committed them in 
 prayer to the Lord ; and although they are wanting in some 
 points of Christian virtue, I trust that God will never let 
 them relapse into papist blasphemy." After a few words 
 about his opponents, whose calumnies he had intended to 
 answer if his life had been spared, he resigned himself to the 
 expected stroke, saying, " I now commend my soul into the 
 hands of my Father, and of my Lord Jesus Christ, whom I 
 have preached and confessed on earth. Amen." But in this 
 extremity deliverance was again vouchsafed, and he was able 
 to return to Wittenberg soon afterwards, although in the 
 most feeble condition, and by slow degrees regained his usual 
 health and strength. 
 
 In the year 1536, a memorable conversation had passed be- 
 tween Luther and Melancthon on the subject of justification 
 and good works : Melancthon questioning whether justifica- 
 tion is not by the creation of the new man in the heart, not 
 simply by faith, but by all the gifts and virtues of the Spirit ; 
 and such, he thought, was the meaning of Augustin. Luther, 
 on the contrary, affirmed that we are just before God solely 
 
 x 2
 
 308 
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1537. by the gratuitous imputation of Christ's righteousness by faith. 
 " We are not justified by works before faith/' Luther said, 
 " nor by works after faith ; but we are accounted just through 
 faith the gift of God, and the justified man is a new cha- 
 racter, and the new character does new acts. The sun is 
 not the sun because it shines, but because it is the sun it 
 must shine; the Christian, because he is a Christian, must 
 live to God's glory." In his sick chamber at Schmalkald, 
 Luther had lamented to John Frederic the deviation of 
 Melancthon and others from the strict evangelical creed, 
 and his words did not fall on deaf ears. In the follow- 
 ing May, when Luther's health was nearly re-established, 
 the Elector of Saxony was at Wittenberg, and by the mouth 
 of Brack addressed the assembled professors to the following 
 effect : — " I have heard with pain that Melancthon and Cru- 
 ciger use different language from Luther on the subject of 
 justification and good works, and I find in a new edition of 
 the Augsburg Confession, that a change of terms has been 
 made without the consent of all those who subscribed that 
 Confession, which is utterly unjustifiable. If such things 
 take place when you, Luther, and I are alive, what may we 
 not expect after our decease ?" and, in conclusion, he exhorted 
 Luther to persist in upholding the pure scriptural faith in the 
 university. 
 
 During the latter part of the year Luther again became 
 Bugenhagen's substitute in the church and parish. Bugen- 
 hagen had been summoned to Denmark, and was chosen to 
 place the Danish crown on the head of the Count of Holstein, 
 and declare him king, under the title of Christian III., and 
 the coronation was followed by very important ecclesiastical 
 changes — the displacement of the bishops, and the establish- 
 ment of the Lutheran worship and church government 
 throughout Denmark. The chief idea in Luther's mind con-
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 309 
 
 tinued to be the council, and lie amused himself in his lighter 1537. 
 moments with composing his " Question from the holy order 
 of Card-players to the Council at Mantua/' and with bur- 
 lesquing the Romanist fiction of the donation of Constantine, 
 and the legend or lie of St. John Chrysostom. His " Preface 
 to the Council held at Gangra in Paphlagonia/' and his Preface 
 and Epilogue to the " Letters of John Huss, written from his 
 prison at Constance/' were more serious works for the edifica- 
 tion of the fathers of the Mantuan Council. The next 
 year he enjoyed, in his own language, " a sabbath from the ^38. 
 stone/' and was not vexed so much as usually by the buffet- 
 ings of Satan. 
 
 The most remarkable of his compositions at this period 
 are his comments on the 14th, 15th, and 16th chapters of 
 St. John's Gospel, and also on the first eighteen chapters of 
 St. Matthew. "Philip and I," Luther wrote to Jonas, in 
 April, " are wearied out with business and disputes whilst you 
 are absent. According to my time of life, I should deserve 
 my discharge and the liberty of spending old age in watching 
 the marvels of God in the increase of trees, flowers, herbs, and 
 birds; but my former sins do not permit me to taste such 
 pleasure." At this time there was an outburst in Wittenberg 
 of Antinomian teaching, led by one of Luther's friends and 
 disciples. It will be remembered that John Agricola, of 
 Eisleben, had impugned Melancthon's view of the law of 
 Moses as given in his Visitation Book, and subsequently he 
 had shown himself a rival to Luther himself, by choosing the 
 same topics to treat of from the pulpit as those recently 
 handled by Luther, as though to outdo the great Reformer. 
 Small in stature, big with importance, his walk, his voice, 
 his every gesture an index of his immoderate vanity, little 
 Grickel, as Luther called him, was the very person to rush 
 into a similar eccentric career to that pursued by Carlstadt.
 
 310 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1538. Luther had himself before requested that Agricola would 
 lecture in the University, and in 1536 this request had been 
 complied with ; but immediately on discovering what princi- 
 ples he maintained, the Reformer addressed a letter to him 
 directing that his lectures should be discontinued, unless 
 the University should authorize his proceeding with them. 
 Luther, moreover, at once set to work to counteract the 
 poisonous errors which "little Grickel" had been disseminating. 
 He publicly maintained doctrines diametrically opposed to 
 Antinomianism in several successive disputations ; and in the 
 beginning of the next year he published a writing in the 
 epistolary form " Against the Antinomians." " Popery itself," 
 he declared, ' ' was a less evil than a heresy which separated 
 justification from sanctification." Luther's courage and 
 exertions increased with every addition to his trials. " I am 
 a worn-out old man," said he, " spent with toil ; but I get 
 young again every day, that is, new sects spring up, to resist 
 which I have need of a new youth. But this is a decisive 
 proof that we are the elect of Heaven, and have the true 
 Word of God, that we are assailed by so many sects springing 
 up from amongst ourselves, to say nothing of the Papists and 
 my private conflicts with Satan, and the contempt of God's 
 Word amongst us." Somewhat later, Agricola was brought 
 to trial for his heterodox opinions, by the Elector of Saxony ; 
 but before the verdict had been pronounced, Agricola made 
 his escape to Berlin, whither he had been invited by the 
 Elector of Brandenburg. Efforts were made by that Prince 
 to reconcile Agricola and the Wittenberg theologians, and 
 it ended in a recantation by the former of his dangerous 
 tenets, which Luther accepted "with much distrust of its 
 sincerity." 
 
 Luther was also much annoyed at this time by the appear- 
 ance of some scurrilous verses from the pen of Simon Lemnius,
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 311 
 
 a member of a small knot of poets of no very decent fame, to 1538. 
 which Sabinus, the son-in-law of Melancthon, likewise be- 
 longed. The verses in question were more complimentary to 
 the Elector of Mentz, and the leaders of the Romanist party, 
 than to the Elector of Saxony or Dr. Luther. Melancthon 
 himself was rector of the University during the summer in 
 which these verses made their appearance, and the fault of 
 their publication was therefore imputed by many to him ; but 
 Philip ingenuously acknowledged that he had trusted the 
 statements of his son-in-law as to the innocence of the verses, 
 without having himself read them. But when the affair 
 created a hubbub, Lemnius made his escape from Wittenberg 
 by the aid, as it was supposed, of Sabinus, which involved 
 Melancthon in fresh suspicion ; and, after his flight, Lemnius 
 published a new edition of his lampoons, in which no measure 
 was observed in his abuse of the members of the evangelical 
 phalanx. Luther took up the matter with great warmth, and 
 placarded a counter- writing entitled "A Programme against 
 the infamous Verses of Simon Lemnius," in which, from the 
 " scandalous poetaster, " he passed to the Elector of Mentz 
 himself, and painted his character in his most severely truth- 
 ful style. " To praise Bishop Albert was to make a Saint 
 out of the devil : the Dirt-bishop was a false perjured man." 
 The whole house of Brandenburg was roused by this publica- 
 tion. The Duke of Prussia expostulated with Luther : the 
 Elector of Brandenburg complained to John Frederic : even 
 the Landgrave of Hesse reprobated Luther's vehemence. " It 
 is not meet," John Erederic replied to the Landgrave, ' ' either 
 to forget Luther's merits, or the demerits of the Elector of 
 Mentz." The Reformer, in his defence, quoted the saying of 
 a prince of the house of Brandenburg, that he would not 
 acknowledge the Archbishop as a kinsman. The affair was 
 closed by Lemnius being formally expelled from the University,
 
 312 THE LTFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1538. and a mild admonition from the Elector to Luther to use 
 more caution in his censures for the future. 
 
 The Mantuan Council had been first prorogued on the ground 
 that the Duke of Mantua would not allow the Pope any legal 
 jurisdiction in his city, and then had been transferred to 
 Vicenza, where, at last, in the summer of 1538, three cardinals 
 made their appearance. Luther's incredulity of the Pope's sin- 
 cerity continued as strong as ever. It could not, however, be 
 disguised that the proclamation of a council by Paul III., and 
 the rejection of it by the Protestants, had changed the relation 
 in which the latter stood to the Emperor. The Nuremberg 
 peace had only been provisional, till a council should be sum- 
 moned. The peace of Cadan had not even been assented to 
 by Charles himself, but was simply an agreement between the 
 Schmalkald allies and Ferdinand. At the same time, there- 
 fore, that the Protestants had repudiated the proposed council, 
 they had defied the power not only of Rome, but of the 
 Emperor; and allowing that the whole business of the council 
 should begin and end in duplicity, still the crisis was an im- 
 portant one for the Reformation. Under these circumstances 
 a meeting of the Schmalkald allies was held at Brunswick 
 towards the end of March, to deliberate on topics of common 
 interest, and to take into consideration the demands of the 
 Emperor for assistance against the Turks, who were still 
 hovering on the Austrian frontiers, and in the preceding year 
 had inflicted a decisive defeat on Ferdinand. Luther deputed 
 Dr. Jonas as his representative to this convention ; but he 
 had given his own opinion very decidedly to the Elector that 
 the Emperor's demand ought to be complied with. " His 
 Grace," he said, " must consider the poor multitude exposed 
 to the fury of the Turks, and it could not be expected the 
 Papist arms alone would have any good fortune, unless his 
 succours should go with them, as Jehoshaphat went with the
 
 THE LIKE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 313 
 
 army of Ahab : his conscience would smite hini to leave his 1538. 
 brethren to suffer ; they ought rather, like good comrades — 
 man and wife, father and children — to bear the sweet and 
 the sour together, and God would know how to find his own 
 even in death." But such advice was far from being accept- 
 able to the Schmalkald allies ; they looked around and saw 
 danger on every side, and determined to send .fresh embassies 
 to the kings of England and France, to enlist their support 
 and co-operation in withstanding the designs of the Emperor 
 and Pontiff. 
 
 At the same time the Papists were not idle. They met 
 first at Nuremberg, and then at Spires ; and under the fos- 
 tering wing of the Vice-Chancellor Held, framed a holy league 
 which was signed at Nuremberg the 10th June. Henry Duke 
 of Brunswick was appointed leader of this league in Lower, 
 and the Dukes of Bavaria in Upper Germany; its objects 
 specifically embraced mutual assistance to prevent the evan- 
 gelical doctrines from entering the dominions of any of its 
 members ; although intended to be kept a profound secret, it 
 soon transpired, and added to the alarm of the Protestants. 
 Another and a yet greater danger seemed to threaten the Pro- 
 testants from the reconciliation which took place about the 
 same time between the Emperor and the French monarch. 
 Paul III., besides his pretensions to reforming the Papacy — 
 although, as Luther said, "he made war on warts and 
 neglected ulcers," — was ambitious of the scarce inferior merit 
 of being the peace-maker of Christendom. He negotiated 
 with both Francis and Charles ; made arrangements for a 
 meeting between them in his own presence at Nice; and early 
 in the summer, notwithstanding his advanced age, repaired 
 thither himself, and laboured to persuade the rival monarchs 
 to accord one another the meeting. His persuasions were 
 without effect, but he discussed the matters in dispute first
 
 314 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1538. with one and then with the other — carried to and fro propo- 
 sitions, objections, and solutions, and by dint of unwearying 
 zeal succeeded, before the end of June, in effecting a reconci- 
 liation. Shortly afterwards the ship in which Charles was 
 sailing for Spain was driven on the coast of France, and 
 Francis, seizing the opportunity of displaying his fearless 
 gallantry, without an instant's hesitation paid a visit to the 
 Emperor on board his ship, who, in return, was entertained 
 by Francis, at Aigues-mortes ; and, by a continued reciprocity 
 of courtesies, the pacification of Nice seemed to acquire the 
 stability of personal friendship, Towards the end of the year 
 Charles took advantage of the generous and kind feelings of 
 the French king, and made a direct journey through his terri- 
 tories to the Low Countries, where the city of Ghent was in 
 revolt. His entire route resembled a triumphal procession ; 
 his entertainment in Paris was in the most lavish style of the 
 magnificence of that age, and he on his part was profuse in 
 his professions of cordiality, and promised the king's second 
 son the investiture of the duchy of Milan. When, however, 
 Ghent had been humbled, and the Low Countries secured, 
 Charles turned round on his too credulous rival, and denied 
 that he had made a promise which it so ill-suited his suc- 
 cessful ambition to fulfil. The old rancour of Francis was 
 now inflamed to a higher pitch than ever : his wounded pride 
 chafed at the thought of his simplicity and generosity being 
 publicly made the dupe to craft and falsehood. 
 
 1539. At the beginning of the next year, a meeting of the Sehmal- 
 kald allies was held at Frankfort, and the Elector Palatine and 
 the Elector of Brandenburg acted as mediators between the 
 Protestants and the Imperial ambassador. The clouds that 
 had hovered round the fortunes of the Reformation were 
 again blown away for a time : Charles was no longer in a con- 
 dition to rouse the turbulence of his German subjects. After
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 315 
 
 a discussion of two months it was at length arranged that the 1539. 
 Nuremberg peace should be extended for fifteen months 
 longer, within which period chosen theologians from either 
 side should meet at Nuremberg to adjust religious differences; 
 and the proceedings before the Imperial Chamber, which had 
 hitherto continued without intermission, Avere to be sus- 
 pended; and a diet was to assemble at Worms, to consider the 
 best means of opposing the Turks, against whom the Pro- 
 testants engaged to send their contingents. If the Emperor 
 failed to ratify these Articles within six months, the Nurem- 
 berg peace was to remain in force in its literal sense, but 
 during the six months no new members were to be enrolled 
 in the Schmalkald Confederation. Paul III. was indignant 
 at these Frankfort Articles : besides the reluctance with which 
 he witnessed any approach to a reconciliation between the 
 Emperor and the Protestants, a conference of learned men to 
 settle questions of religion was tacitly to ignore the Papacy ; 
 and no mention whatever had been made of the Council. 
 The Pope, therefore, used all his influence with Charles to 
 prevent the ratification of the Articles, and required him to 
 proclaim a Diet to avoid the proposed theological discussion. 
 Charles, however, had his own ends in view; and his policy 
 was to temporize, and to keep both the Pope and Protestants, 
 as far as could be, in good humour. From this period, how- 
 ever, there is a marked change in the manner in which 
 Luther speaks of the Emperor. When war seemed probable, 
 the old question of the lawfulness of resisting the Emperor 
 had been revived. Luther would not exactly say in down- 
 right terms that resistance was lawful, but he distinguished 
 between the Emperor acting as Emperor, and the Emperor 
 acting as the soldier and freebooter of the Pope. " If," he 
 said, " the Emperor mixes himself up with the warfare of 
 the Turks and the Pope, he must himself look to the conse-
 
 316 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1539. quences." He continued : " The Emperor is not absolute ; 
 he governs Germany in conjunction with the Princes, and if 
 he attempt to depose the Electors and govern alone, such an 
 infringement of the law is not to be borne." Of Charles 
 himself he spoke as follows : " He is imbued with the faith 
 of the Pope, the Cardinals, Italians, Spaniards, and Saracens; 
 he is a perfidious and treacherous man, and no German." 
 Luther had never said so much before. 
 
 Meantime, two days before the arrangement of the Frank- 
 fort truce, George Duke of Saxony had expired in his sixty- 
 eighth year, and his death, particularly at such a time, was felt 
 as a severe blow by the Romanist faction. His last years had 
 been clouded by domestic sorrow. In 1534 his wife had died 
 and his daughter. His son Duke John had disappointed the 
 hopes which the Landgrave, to whose sister he was married, 
 had at one time conceived of him, and was not only treading 
 in his father's steps as a bigoted Papist, but promised even to 
 surpass him in virulent hatred of the Gospel. " Give this 
 message to Luther from me," he said to Luke Cranach, the 
 painter, " that if he has found my father iron, he shall find 
 me steel." On receiving this message Luther loudly laughed, 
 and replied, " Tell Duke John to engross his mind with one 
 thought, how his soul may be saved ; for I am well assured 
 he will never survive his father." The current superstition 
 declared, as Luther was wont to say of himself, "My predic- 
 tions do not often turn out false," and the words of the 
 Reformer fell on the ears of Duke John as his death knell. 
 Shortly afterwards his health sank under a long-continued 
 habit of intoxication, and he died in his thirty-ninth year. 
 Duke John was childless, but another son, Frederic, remained 
 to Duke George ; whom, notwithstanding his being of imbe- 
 cile mind, he married to the daughter of Ernest Count of 
 Jan. 27. Mansfeld, and in January, 1539, solemnised the nuptials at
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 317 
 
 Dresden with " bacchanalian rejoicings." But in less than 1539. 
 a month the wedding of the young Duke was succeeded by 
 his death. Duke George fondly clung to the hope that his 
 widow might prove pregnant ; when that was found to be 
 delusive, his health, which had for some time been declining, 
 rapidly sank under the accumulation of trials, and, feeling 
 his own end to be near, he turned to the project of stipulat- 
 ing with his brother to bequeath him his dominions, on the 
 condition that he should return to the Romish faith. Coun- 
 cillors were despatched to Duke Henry with this proposal. 
 " Here is Satan," Duke Henry remarked, " proffering me all 
 the kingdoms of the earth, if I will fall down and worship 
 him." The dying Duke now resolved to devise his dominions 
 to the Emperor and King Ferdinand. A will to this effect 
 was prepared and brought to him for his signature, but the April 17. 
 stroke of death had come beforehand, and he could only 
 faintly articulate the word "chancellor" as that officer appeared 
 with the document in his hand. When he was evidently 
 dying, a priest had exhorted him to call on St. James. 
 " Call rather," said John Lindenau and Frederic GElsnitz, 
 two noblemen who stood by his bedside, " on Jesus Christ the 
 only Saviour." The Duke raised his eyes to heaven : " Help, 
 thou true Saviour Jesus Christ : pity me : save me by thy 
 bitter sufferings and thy death." 
 
 Luther had predicted "Duke George does not cease to 
 persecute the Word of God, he gets worse and worse ; but I 
 shall live to see his whole branch rooted out, and after that 
 shall preach the Gospel at Leipsic." The evening of the 
 Duke's death Duke Henry entered Dresden. The people 
 came out to meet him bearing torch lights, and thronged 
 round his carriage with so much eagerness that the servants 
 could not approach to help him to alight. Never had there 
 been such rejoicing in Dresden. Luther himself preached the
 
 318 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1539. first evangelical sermon at Leipsic on Whitsunday eve, in the 
 May 24. presence of Duke Henry and his cousin John Frederic, in 
 the very castle of Pleissenberg in which twenty years before 
 he had disputed on the eve of the Reformation with Dr. 
 Eck. He was in very feeble health, and told his crowded 
 audience that he was weak in his head, and therefore could 
 not trust himself to say much, but should keep to the text of 
 the Gospel, which would be read on the morrow. The fol- 
 lowing Whit Sunday Luther was too ill to preach in the 
 morning ; so Dr. Jonas became his substitute : but he 
 preached in the afternoon in St. Thomas' Church to an im- 
 mense audience ; even the window-ledges being thronged with 
 listeners. And the next day the Duke and the Elector from 
 Leipsic proceeded to Grim ma, taking Luther with them in 
 their carriage. The advice which the Reformer gave Duke 
 Henry was to interdict the private mass in the monasteries, 
 but to tolerate the existing monks until they should either 
 voluntarily leave their convents or die out : he earnestly ex- 
 horted him to institute a visitation throughout his territories, 
 and as Duke Henry himself was old and weak, he made appli- 
 cation to Catherine his duchess to urge him on in this work. 
 The Bishops of Merseburg and Meissen claimed the right of 
 instituting a visitation as exclusively belonging to the Epis- 
 copal office ; but Luther's influence prevailed. In July and 
 August a visitation was made through the Duke's dominions 
 in Misnia and Thuringia; the Augsburg Confession and 
 Apology were made the standards of doctrine, and the evan- 
 gelical Church system was everywhere established. The po- 
 pulace were found to be favourable to the Gospel, but many 
 of the nobles opposed it, and after all the efforts of Luther, 
 " five hundred poisonous Papists," as he complained, were 
 left in their parsonages. His time and attention were en- 
 grossed in finding fit persons for the vacant cures, and he
 
 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 319 
 
 pressed for a second visitation to provide more effectually for 1539. 
 the pure preaching of the Word of God. 
 
 These events told with great effect beyond the circle of the 
 Duke of Saxony's dominions. The net-work of the holy 
 league was broken when it was only just woven, so that 
 Henry of Brunswick exclaimed — "1 had rather God in 
 heaven should have died than Duke George." King Fer- 
 dinand demanded that Lutheranism should not be estab- 
 lished by the new Duke against his brother's known wish : 
 the Emperor hinted at making good any defects in the will 
 which had been framed, though not signed, by his own 
 arbitrary power. At such a season the support of the 
 Schmalkald league proved of momentous service; and the 
 fact that Duke Henry could be furnished with an effective 
 army at the smallest possible notice, kept Ferdinand in check, 
 and turned the Emperor's threat into idle jest. Even Luther's 
 words were warlike : " If," said he, " they blow too hard at 
 the fire, the sparks will fly in their faces." He was not with- 
 out apprehensions of an outburst of intestine war. "The 
 grapes and figs," he said, " which grow on that goodly tree, 
 Papal holiness, are lies, deceit, and murder." And he addressed 
 a circular letter to the clergy, requesting them to offer up 
 prayers against the Turk, and that the Almighty would ward 
 off from the land the horrors of a religious war. 
 
 Another important event rapidly followed the establishment 
 of the Reformation in the Duchy of Saxony. Joachim II., 
 the youthful Elector of Brandenburg, had been trained in the 
 most rigidly Roman creed. His first wife had been the daugh- 
 ter of Duke George of Saxony, and after her death he had 
 espoused a princess of Poland. But on one occasion he had 
 seized the opportunity, when he happened to be at Witten- 
 berg, to hear Luther preach. He expressed his admiration 
 with enthusiasm ; and his mother's conversion and the harsh
 
 320 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1539. treatment to which it had exposed her, added their weight to 
 the bias thus given him towards the Reformation. On his 
 father's decease he seemed to vacillate in his religious opinions 
 for some time, notwithstanding the majority of his subjects 
 were already Lutherans. But on the last day of October, he 
 publicly received the Sacrament in both kinds, with his court 
 and many of his nobility, in the Castle church at Berlin ; and 
 the next day the citizens of Berlin, in great crowds, followed 
 his example, and received the Sacrament after the Evangelical 
 mode, in the church of St. Nicholas. This public avowal was 
 the signal for ecclesiastical changes throughout the Electorate. 
 A visitation was set on foot, and a f* Church Ordering" was 
 prepared and submitted to Luther for his judgment, who, 
 however, was unable to give it his decided approval. In all 
 points of doctrine there was a thorough agreement with the 
 Evangelical teaching; but in ceremonies and rites, as little 
 deviation as possible was made from the Romish customs. 
 Thus the Brandenburg Reformation showed a lingering ten- 
 dency to Rome, as the Reformation of Wurtemberg and Hesse 
 showed a leaning to Switzerland ; and with similar caution 
 the Elector Joachim himself kept aloof from the Schmalkald 
 Alliance, and took up a middle position between the Princes 
 of the Evangelical and the Romanist parties. 
 
 About this time, also, the irresistible tide of opinion over- 
 came the bigotry of the Archbishop of Mentz, and in requital 
 for some pecuniary indulgences, he granted to the inha- 
 bitants of his Magdeburg and Halberstadt dioceses the 
 liberty of worshipping God according to their conscience. All 
 these changes in Germany, showed the increase of Protestant 
 influence just at a crisis when a religious war seemed immi- 
 nent. Nor was there on the part of the Romanist princes 
 any of that alertness which would have encouraged the Em- 
 peror and Ferdinand to engage in a struggle with a closely
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 321 
 
 united confederacy. At the Diet of Worms, which was held 1539. 
 in June, the opposition to levying troops against the Turks 
 was even led by the Romanist party. Moreover, the council, 
 which had been transferred to Vicenza, was now indefinitely 
 prorogued. And although Henry of England, whom Luther 
 accused of wishing to c ' make a religion of his own, for his own 
 ends, like Antiochus," could not be induced, by an embassage 
 despatched to him by the German Protestants, to concur in 
 the Evangelical doctrines, so as to become Protector of the 
 Alliance, — and indeed by the disgrace and fall of Cromwel, 
 and through the charms of Catherine Howard, the progress of 
 the Reformation was much impeded in England — yet it was, on 
 the whole, with greatly augmented confidence, that the Evan- 
 gelical States met at Arnstadt towards the end of November, 
 and determined on sending an embassy to Charles to implore 
 the ratification of the Frankfort truce, and the appointment 
 of the conference of learned men, for the settlement of 
 religious differences. 
 
 Luther enjoyed this year, considering his age and infirmi- 
 ties, more than his customary health, and produced a work on 
 " Councils and the Church," which exhausted its subject, and 
 may be ranked amongst his most valuable writings. " The 
 sign of a true Church," he stated, " was, above all, the posses- 
 sion of the pure word of God, on which the right use of the 
 Sacraments, the. power of the keys, the ordination of mini- 
 sters, the efficacy of prayer, all depended. As Nicolas Lyra 
 had affirmed, the Church did not consist of prelates, but of 
 real believers. If the decrees of councils were really binding, 
 then, he said, according to the decree of the first Apostolic 
 Council, nothing ought to be eaten with the blood, nor which 
 had been strangled. But the contrary custom was universal 
 among Christians ; and the seven years of penance enjoined 
 by the Council of Nice, and the prohibition of becoming a 
 
 VOL. II. Y
 
 322 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1539. soldier after baptism, had equally fallen into disuse. And, in- 
 stead of the Pope having power to convoke a council, the true 
 office of a council would be to put down the tyranny which 
 the Pope had usurped." In many respects the year was one 
 of great trial : in the spring a scarcity, which was severely 
 felt at Wittenberg, prevailed throughout Germany ; a terri- 
 ble frost, which continued as late as the beginning of May, 
 bound up the rivers, and kept the water-mills at a stand-still, 
 whilst the nobility and landowners, to aggravate prices yet 
 further, held back the corn. So deep and wide-spread was the 
 distress, that the famine-prices drove the poorer students of 
 Wittenberg from the University. Luther came forward in this 
 exigency, sharply reproved the avaricious corn-holders, and 
 made application to John Frederic to throw open hi3 stores 
 for the relief of his famishing subjects, and to check the cu- 
 pidity of his nobles by legislative enactments. " Dear Doc- 
 tor," the Elector replied, " divide whatever is mine with 
 me." In the autumn the plague followed in the footprints 
 of famine, which, although not so general as in some previous 
 years, proved most fatal wherever it fell. Dr. Jonas fled 
 before its approach. Luther, as ever, walked amidst the 
 ravages of disease, invisibly shielded against harm. But an 
 accident, which must have been attended with fatal con- 
 sequences, had nearly befallen himself and Kate. He had 
 built a new cellar, and having paid it a visit of inspection 
 with Kate, had just come up the steps, when the brickwork 
 fell in behind him. This new cellar seems to have been part 
 of a series of improvements carrying on in the old convent ; 
 and this is one, amongst other signs, of Luther's more flourish- 
 ing pecuniary circumstances. About this time, the estate, or 
 farm, of Zuhlsdorf, near Borna, came into his possession, pro- 
 bably by purchase, and was intended as a retreat for Kate in 
 her approaching days of widowhood ; and she forthwith en-
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 323 
 
 tered on her duties as mistress, and took the greatest interest 1539. 
 in superintending her new property. His own decease was 
 anticipated by Luther with increasing eagerness, in propor- 
 tion as the time seemed to draw nearer. It is related, that, 
 during a visit which he paid in June to the aged Margravine 
 of Brandenburg at Lichtenberg, the conversation at supper 
 fell on longevity. " Dear Doctor," said the Margravine, " I 
 hope and trust that you will live long ; you may live forty 
 years yet, if it be God's will." "Alas!" Luther replied, 
 ' ' might I have my wish, it would be a short happy hour, and 
 to be gone." 
 
 The Deputation, sent by the Protestants to the Emperor, 15 ^q 
 had an interview with Charles at Ghent on the 24th February, 
 and although courteously received and dismissed, failed to 
 obtain the ratification of the Frankfort truce. They brought 
 back the Imperial answer to the allies, who met again at 
 Schmalkakl, together with their theologians. But Luther was 
 excused from attendance by the Elector, on account of his age 
 and infirmities. And this exemption proved a great boon to him 
 under the dangerous illness of Kate from fever at this period. 
 When all others despaired of her life, Luther persisted in de- 
 manding her from God, and by the power of his prayers she was 
 snatched from the jaws of death. Luther speaks of her recovery 
 as a resurrection and a miracle. On the 5th March, he wrote 
 that she was just able to creep about at last upon her hands. 
 "My lord Kate," he wrote to Melancthon, "salutes you 
 reverently, and sends her thanks that you left me at home." 
 Luther himself was not free from the old complaint of the 
 violent ringing in the head, and suffered increasingly from 
 weakness. He showed other signs of the advance of age : he 
 was fond of dilating on past scenes; and gave his friends at his 
 table, Mathesius says, a full and most interesting account of 
 the famous Diet of Worms. He still continued to lecture, as 
 
 y 2
 
 324 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1540. his strength would allow, on the book of Genesis ; and this 
 year is memorable for another revision of the German Bible, 
 which was completed in the course of two years with con- 
 siderable improvements, and made the third revised copy of 
 Luther's version.* With incredible joy Luther heard in the 
 autumn of the martyrdom of his old friend Robert Barnes, 
 or Anthony the Englishman, as he was called at Wittenberg, 
 who had been the chief agent of Thomas Cromwel in his cor- 
 respondence with the Germans, and after Cromwel's execu- 
 tion was burnt at Smithfield for heresy, together with Jerome 
 and Gerrard, by the arbitrary " King Heinz." " Thanks, 
 praise, and honour to God," Luther exclaimed, " that in our 
 time we have seen and heard of Christians led to martyrdom, 
 that is, made saints in heaven, from among those who have 
 eaten and drunk with us. To think that Christ our Lord 
 should be so nigh to us, in our house, and at our board, — 
 should eat, drink, speak, and live with us, by his dear martyrs 
 and precious saints !" 
 
 The exclamation had fallen from Melancthon's lips as he 
 quitted Wittenberg for Schmalkald, "We have lived amid 
 conferences, and we shall die amid them." His mind was 
 extremely depressed by an event, reluctantly acquiesced in by 
 Luther and himself, but fraught with latent evil to the Refor- 
 mation — the second marriage of Philip of Hesse whilst his 
 first wife, who had borne him several children, was still living. 
 The conduct of Luther and his colleagues in this notorious 
 case of bigamy has ever been regarded as the greatest blot 
 
 * Three copies on parchment, on each of which 340 skins were 
 expended, were printed for the Princes of Anhalt : a magnificent 
 copy on median paper was presented to John Frederic. Luther was 
 obliged to complain to the Elector of the injustice of a publisher at 
 Leipsic, who, now that the Reformation was established there, turned 
 from issuing Romanist tracts to the more lucrative employment of 
 printing the German Bible.
 
 THE LIFE OF .MARTIN LUTHER. 325 
 
 upon their characters. Philip of Hesse had sent Bucer to 1540. 
 them, with a written petition demanding permission to marry 
 a second wife in the lifetime of the first, and with directions 
 to make a private viva voce statement of the urgent reasons 
 which impelled him to such an irregular step. These reasons 
 were made known to Luther and Melancthon under the seal 
 of the confessional, and they have not transpired, except that 
 the Landgrave charged the Landgravine, a daughter of Duke 
 George, with drunkenness, from which, and from other causes, 
 her person had become so offensive to him that he had long 
 been leading an impure life, from which, out of concern for 
 his soul's salvation, he was most anxious to be delivered. 
 The epistle, addressed by the theologians to the Landgrave 
 in reply to his petition, began with warning him that the 
 Divine appointment of marriage from the beginning restricted 
 the union to one wife : " they twain shall be one flesh ;" a 
 restriction which had been expressly reinforced by the Saviour 
 himself. Cogent arguments were added why the Landgrave 
 should assent to this universal law. Then came the admis- 
 sion, according to the views consistently maintained and pro- 
 fessed by Luther and Melancthon in their other writings, 
 that peculiar circumstances might warrant a special dispen- 
 sation. It was matter of joy that the Prince of Hesse was 
 grieved at his past life of impurity and adultery, which the 
 most terrible judgments of Heaven never failed to visit. And 
 after such a preamble, the permission sought was granted, on 
 condition that the double marriage should be kept a profound 
 secret, to prevent scandal, as well as to preclude such an 
 exceptional case being strained into a precedent. The be- 
 haviour of the theologians is the more exposed to censure, 
 because John Frederic, with unflinching straightforwardness, 
 condemned the proceedings of Philip of Hesse without the 
 least reservation.
 
 326 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1540. From the conference at Schinalkald Melancthon, with his 
 mind full of fears and solicitude, passed to Rotenburg, 
 and there attended the private nuptials of Philip of Hesse 
 March 3. with Margaret Von Sala. Rumours of this transaction soon 
 became rife, notwithstanding Luther's precautions and admo- 
 nitions to all those concerned in the matter to use the strictest 
 secresy . Margaret had been maid of honour to the Landgrave's 
 sister, the widow of Duke John, at Rochlitz, where Philip 
 had seen her, and had become deeply enamoured at the very first 
 sight. The Landgrave's sister was indignant at the marriage. 
 His first wife, Christina, had given her sanction to this second 
 union, but her kinsmen were exasperated by it. Duke Henry 
 of Saxony, her uncle, and the Elector of Brandenburg her 
 brother-in-law, both took up her cause with ardour. But this 
 was far from being the worst, for Henry of Brunswick and the 
 Papists saw their own advantage in this flagrant transaction, 
 and were resolved to extract from it some service to Popery. 
 And it was impossible to predict what influence the affair might 
 have in a country like Germany, split up into a number of 
 jealous principalities. The Landgrave himself was not without 
 apprehensions of serious consequences ; and, with a view to 
 securing aid should any attack be made upon his dominions, 
 prevailed upon the Protestants to hold a deliberation at 
 Eisenach, in which he was successful in obtaining a conditional 
 promise of assistance from his allies. 
 
 Melancthon was on his way to the scene of these delibera- 
 tions when, brooding over this unhappy affair, his fears and 
 scruples brought on a sickness just as he had reached Weimar, 
 which laid him nigh to death's door. Intelligence of his state 
 was conveyed to Wittenberg, and Luther, in the Elector's 
 July 2. carriage, hastened to Weimar. He found Philip, on his 
 arrival, apparently all but dead; understanding, speech, and 
 hearing had left him, his countenance was hollow and sunk,
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 327 
 
 his eves closed, and he seemed in a death-like sleep. Luther 1540. 
 expressed his astonishment to the companions of his journey, 
 " How shamefully has the devil handled this creature \" and 
 then, according to his custom, turning to the window, he 
 prayed with all his might. He reminded God of his promises 
 from the Holy Scriptures, and implored him now to fulfil them, 
 or he could never trust in them again. Rising from prayer 
 he took Melancthon's hand, and called to him in a cheerful 
 tone, " Take heart, Philip : you shall not die. God has reason 
 enough to kill you, but f He willeth not the death of the 
 sinner, but rather that he should repent and be saved. 5 He 
 desires life, not death. The greatest sinners that ever lived on 
 earth — Adam and Eve — were accepted of God in his grace; 
 far less will he give you up, Philip, and let you perish in your 
 sins and faintheartedness. Give no room to despondency : be 
 not your own murderer; but throw yourself on your Lord, 
 who killeth and maketh alive/ 5 At these words Melancthon 
 evinced a sudden restoration, as though from death to life; 
 he drew his breath with energy; and after a while turning 
 his face to Luther, implored him "not to stay him; he was 
 on a good journey; and nothing better could befall him. 5 ' 
 Luther replied, "Not so, Philip, you must serve our Lord 
 God yet longer. 55 And when Melancthon had gradually 
 become more cheerful, Luther, with his own hands, brought 
 him something to eat, and overruled his repugnance with the 
 threat, f ' Hark, Philip, you shall eat, or I excommunicate 
 you. 55 The beginning of the next year Luther's intimate 
 friend Myconius seemed rapidly sinking in a consumption, 
 and wrote the Reformer word that he "was sick, not for 
 death, but for life; 55 but Luther prayed fervently that 
 "Myconius might not pass through the veil to rest, whilst 
 he was left out-of-doors amid the devils, 55 and wrote to his 
 friend that he felt certain his prayers would be heard, and
 
 328 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1540. by God's mercy his days would be lengthened, so that he 
 would be his survivor. Myconius was raised up again from 
 the brink of the grave, and eventually outlived Luther seven 
 weeks. 
 July 10. From Weimar, Luther travelled on to Eisenach, where his 
 presence was of essential service in determining the Elector's 
 policy as to the Landgrave's unhappy affair. Luther lodged 
 with Justus Menius, and had Amsdorf as a fellow guest, a 
 meeting which raised his spirits to a high pitch, as is evinced by 
 his letters to Kate. " We are here," he wrote to her on the 
 16th July, " brisk and sound. We eat like the Bohemians, yet 
 not over much ; we drink like the Germans, yet not too hard : 
 we are, however, merry. Master Philip is well again, God be 
 praised ! Hereby I commend you to God. Amen. And let 
 the children pray. There is such heat and drought here day 
 and night as is intolerable. O come, dear last day ! amen." 
 Ten days later, he wrote to Kate, " See that I find a good 
 drink of beer on my return. If God will, on Tuesday morn- 
 ing we shall be at Wittenberg. We have brought Master 
 Philip out of hell with joy, and, by God's grace, shall bring him 
 home. The devil is full of wrath, and does scandalous deeds. 
 More than a thousand acres of wood in the Thuringian forest, 
 belonging to my good lord, are now burning. The forest by 
 Werda has also taken fire; and so in many other places : the 
 flames cannot be put out. This will make wood dear. Pray 
 against the pestilent Satan, who would harm us not only in 
 body and soul, but also in goods and substance. Christ our 
 Lord ! come from heaven and blow up such a fire against him 
 as shall never be quenched !" This letter bore the address, 
 "Eor the hands of the rich dame of Zuhlsdorf, Doctoress 
 Catherine Lutherin, bodily dwelling at Wittenberg, spiri- 
 tually at Zuhlsdorf, my beloved. In her absence, to be opened 
 by Dr. Bugenhagen, parson." A letter from Luther to
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 329 
 
 Menius, on his return, thanked him very warmly for his hospi- 1540. 
 table entertainment, and mentioned particularly the amuse- 
 ment he had found in teaching his son Timothy to seize 
 nuts ; the antics of the little urchin alone had afforded him 
 delight enough. 
 
 The answer of the Schmalkald Allies to the Imperial reply 
 had failed to obtain from the Emperor a ratification of the 
 Frankfort truce, but prevailed upon him to appoint a confer- 
 ence of learned divines, to meet at Spires ; but as the plague 
 was ravaging that city, Hagenau, by the command of Ferdi- 
 nand, was substituted as the place of meeting. This con- 
 ference was opened in the middle of June. The subjects of dis- 
 pute had been divided by Luther under three heads : the first 
 comprising doctrinal questions; the second, such points of 
 discipline and ceremonial as were not indifferent ; the third, 
 such points of discipline and ceremonial as were indifferent. 
 But Luther had no confidence in any attempt at reconcilia- 
 tion, and complained, " We have dallied long enough with 
 Satan and his papists." Melancthon could not be present ; 
 and neither the Elector of Saxony nor the Landgrave deemed 
 it worth while to proceed to Hagenau ; and as Ferdinand 
 himself was anxious to make a fresh attempt on Hungary 
 which by the death of John the Waywode had fallen to a 
 child, he readily seized on the absence of the Protestant 
 princes as a pretext for adjourning proceedings to another 
 conference, to be held at Worms in the autumn. The con- 
 ference at Worms was opened in November ; and Granvella, 
 who had now displaced Held, was the Imperial representative. 
 Fears were entertained that the Elector Palatine and the 
 Elector of Brandenburg, who were in the Protestant body 
 much what Contareni's party were in the Romanist, might 
 be disposed to make undue concessions; and accordingly 
 Luther and the Saxon theologians being convened before the
 
 330 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1540. Elector, came to the resolution that whatever other Evangelical 
 States might admit, they would never concede the primacy of 
 the Pope. The discussions were carried on first by eleven 
 theologians on either side, and then by one against one — the 
 stalwart Eck against the fragile Melancthon, the second contest, 
 the Lutherans said, of Goliath with David. This conference 
 at Worms was preliminary to the proposed final settlement 
 of religious differences in the Diet which had been sura- 
 
 1541. moned to meet at Ratisbon in the following January ; and 
 when the discussions had been protracted till the middle 
 of January, an adjournment was made by Imperial rescript 
 to the coming Diet, without a single step in advance having 
 been gained. 
 
 The Elector of Saxony was earnestly requested by the Em- 
 peror to be present in person at the Ratisbon Diet ; but he 
 was advised by Luther to remain at home, as being "the 
 Prince whom, of all on earth, the devil would be most glad 
 to catch in his toils •" and among those at Ratisbon would be 
 the Archbishop of Mentz and Henry of Brunswick, who, of 
 all the rulers of the earth, approached the nearest to Satan. 
 The Elector complied with this advice, and remained in 
 Saxony. Luther's mind was full of anxiety for Melancthon, 
 whom he warned to beware what he ate and drank, for 
 rumours of the deadly effect of the Papist poison-bowl were 
 in every mouth ; and such catastrophes, as well as the incen- 
 diary fires which had become common, were attributed to 
 emissaries of the Elector of Mentz or the Duke of Brunswick. 
 " If Christ and Satan can really be made to agree," Luther 
 complained, " it might surely be done much nearer home, and 
 just as well at Torgau as at Ratisbon." On the other hand, the 
 Landgrave anticipated much from the Diet ; and Bucer, whom 
 the Prince of Hesse held in leading-strings, spoke of " neutral 
 ground." Luther was indignant, — the more so because he had
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 331 
 
 now discovered that the representations of the Landgrave in 1541. 
 his demand for a double marriage had been, for the most part, 
 false. " The Landgrave," said he, " has deceived us foully ; 
 but he shall never deceive me again." But the Elector of 
 Brandenburg went far beyond the Landgrave, and in his 
 journey to Batisbon passed through Wittenberg, and showed 
 Luther a book, which formed the basis of the subsequent 
 deliberations, and was probably the production of Witzel, 
 framed on the principle of reconciling doctrines by giving to 
 them one half a papistical and the other half a Lutheran ex- 
 planation. Luther returned the book, with the observation, 
 " It is the Misnian Reformation of Duke George." Whilst 
 thus one wing of the Protestant army seemed to be approach- 
 ing one wing of the Papist army, John Frederic was dejected 
 by the prospect presented by the deliberations, and composed 
 a letter to Melancthon, forbidding him to recede not only 
 from the sense, but even from the wording of the Augsburg 
 Confession : and when in the article of Justification some 
 slight deviation was made, he wrote in a style of such 
 severity, that Luther implored him to moderate his tone, or 
 he would " kill Philip." Yet Luther himself had never been 
 more decided. " The Elector of Brandenburg and Bucer," 
 he said, "invert the order of the petitions in the Lord's 
 Prayer. They pray for bread and peace before they pray 
 that God's name may be hallowed, His kingdom come, and 
 His will be done. The cause is treated as though it were 
 the cause of the Emperor, or of Ferdinand, or the Turk : 
 on the contrary, it is God's cause. On the one side stand 
 God and the hosts of heaven, on the other Satan and all his 
 angels. And rather than that worldly policy should be 
 suffered to interfere, I should prefer to be placed alone again, 
 as I was at Worms." 
 
 The Diet was opened on the 5th April, and shortly after-
 
 332 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1541. wards Julius Pflug, John Eck, and John Gropper on the 
 Romanist side, and Melancthon, Bucer, and John Pistor on 
 the Protestant, were appointed to the task of reconciling 
 religious differences, and the Elector of Brandenburg's book 
 was placed in their hands. The path of adjustment was much 
 smoothed by the absence of Eck, soon after the contest began, 
 by a severe attack of fever. Before June agreement had 
 been attained on four Articles, one of which was the doctrine 
 of Justification. The Conference agreed that " man is justi- 
 fied in the sight of God by a living and efficacious faith." 
 With this explanation the Elector of Saxony was dissatisfied ; 
 and Luther at once saw the drift of the Papists. " The defi- 
 nition/' he said, " is quite true ; but it is inaccurate, for it 
 confounds passive and active justification. It is one question 
 how we are justified, and another question how we shall act 
 when we are so justified : a schoolboy can understand the 
 difference." But Luther did not deem the inaccuracy of 
 sufficient moment to warrant serious animadversion, the 
 more so as the Emperor had declared that the admission of 
 the collocutors should not be binding on their respective 
 parties. 
 
 By a continuous correspondence with Melancthon, Luther 
 was kept well informed of the progress of the discussion. He 
 was also further himself drawn into the polemical arena. 
 Henry of Brunswick, " that murderous incendiary," had pub- 
 lished a severe libel against the Elector of Saxony, and, amidst 
 more bitter accusations, charged him with making Luther 
 his idol, or second God, although the Reformer laughed at 
 his patron in his sleeve, and in allusion to his portly figure 
 was wont to call him his Jack-sausage [Hans Wursf) . Luther, 
 in reply, addressed the real Hans Wurst, the Duke of Bruns- 
 wick himself, in a satirical piece, in which, however, he took 
 care to intersperse much profitable instruction about "the
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 333 
 
 New Church built to the devil," or Popery, and the " Old 1541. 
 Church to which the Evangelicals had returned," and an- 
 swered his personal calumnies in one brief sentence — " Satan, 
 thou liest ! " " The book of Heinz was a right copy and 
 formula, extracted from the devil's chancery." He defended 
 John Frederic as a pattern to the German nobility, and 
 spoke of his fine person, well covered with flesh, as " God's 
 gift :"" the Duke of Brunswick, on the other hand, was a 
 murderer, like Judas; a blasphemer, who imagined God to 
 be asleep. This publication had scarcely appeared, when 
 the Reformer was seized with a most violent attack of 
 the giddiness and ringing in the head, clots of matter and 
 blood exuded from his ears, and he underwent acute pain. 
 The Elector sent him his own physician; and after some 
 weeks he again rallied. It is another striking proof of the 
 regard entertained for Luther by his prince, that about this 
 period a letter was addressed to Johnny Luther by the 
 Elector's sons, John Frederic and John William; to which 
 the Reformer himself sent an immediate reply, and, to enhance 
 the compliment, in Latin ; and Johnny's answer, which re- 
 quired more time, was to follow. 
 
 After something like doctrinal agreement on the main points 
 had been attained at Ratisbon, the discussion proceeded to 
 the Lord's Supper, the marriage of the clergy, and the Pope's 
 primacy ; but on these no approach could be made to 
 harmony. But one day towards the end of May, the Elector 
 Palatine entered the apartment of the Emperor, who was re- 
 posing on a couch, under an attack of the gout, and informed 
 his Majesty that he was not without hopes that unity might 
 yet be restored. Charles, raising himself on the couch, laid his 
 hand on the Elector's breast as he replied, " Indeed ! then you 
 are a bearer of good news." The Elector Palatine then ex- 
 plained his scheme, which was to send an express embassy to
 
 334 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1541. Luther himself, to request his co-operation, and the use of his 
 paramount influence with the Evangelical party for the in- 
 valuable attainment of concord. Prince John of Anhalt, 
 whose son had been baptized by the Reformer at Dessau just 
 before the departure of the Prince for Ratisbon, was ap- 
 pointed the bearer of this urgent entreaty, and two theolo- 
 gians were assigned him as comrades. Letters were de- 
 spatched to the Elector of Saxony, which reached Wittenberg 
 on the 7th June, and on the 10th John Frederic removed 
 thither, both to entertain the ambassadors, and to bear his 
 share in the deliberations. The ambassadors had a specious 
 ground to hope for success. Luther had been the first to re- 
 proclaim the evangelical faith : his preaching had caused 
 divisions, to his deep regret, which it was now in his power to 
 heal, without any injury, it would seem, to doctrinal verities. 
 Romanists and Protestants were one on essential questions ; 
 and Luther had always maintained that if true doctrine were 
 inculcated, ceremonies and Church discipline would naturally 
 fall into the right train. All Germany was, as it were, 
 standing at the door of the Augustine Convent, to implore 
 the boon of religious union. But Luther was not to be im- 
 posed upon by appearances. His answer dwelt first on his 
 zeal for unity, which was fully shared by the Protestant 
 Princes, for they had patiently endured persecution, incendiary 
 fires, and every kind of indignity. But unity was a mere pre- 
 tence, unless the Romanists were ready to yield to God and 
 to truth : as it was, they were dealing fraudulently. If in 
 reality they agreed with the Protestants in doctrine, they 
 must also agree with them on the Lord's Supper and the 
 other Articles, on which disunion remained ; for such articles 
 were only deductions from essential doctrine. The conclusion 
 of the Conference on Justification — the only article which he 
 had seen — he could not entirely approve of. That truth of
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 335 
 
 doctrine must ever lead to truth in usage, only applied to those 1541. 
 who sincerely desired to obey God, but were as yet weak in 
 faith ; it did not apply to those who had heard the Word of 
 God for a long series of years, and had been labouring to 
 quench its voice in rivers of blood. By the terms of the 
 Conference the acts of the Collocutors were referred to the 
 States : this was agreeable to the Evangelical party, and he 
 could not separate himself from their united verdict. The 
 book which had been the basis of proceedings was afterwards 
 sent to him ; he found it to be the same as had before been 
 shown to him by the Elector of Brandenburg, and replied 
 that "it was the old device; as the proverb said, ' the snow 
 that fell last year/ " 
 
 The Elector of Brandenburg, however, still clung to the 
 hope of reconciliation ; but the two religious parties could 
 not be drawn an inch nearer to one another. Melancthon 
 was complained of for the first time as obstinate. Eck, from his 
 sick-bed, wrote in disapprobation of the acts of his colleagues. 
 Contareni, as the mouthpiece of the Papal Consistory, was 
 obliged to express his dissatisfaction with concession. The 
 Recess of the Diet was published on the 29th July, and stated 
 that the Reformation of the Church was a matter of absolute 
 necessity, but must now be referred to a general or national 
 Council, or another meeting of the Diet. The adherents to 
 the Augsburg Confession were to keep within the limits of 
 the Articles agreed upon : no more monasteries were to be 
 destroyed : the monastic revenues were to be duly paid : 
 the Protestants were to refrain from drawing others to their 
 persuasion. But as this edict seemed to bear hard on the 
 Evangelical princes, the Emperor took care to appease their 
 resentment by a paper, privately communicated the same day, 
 in explanation of the various clauses. The Evangelicals were 
 to keep within the terni3 of the Articles according to their
 
 336 
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1541. interpretation by the Augsburg Confession : monasteries 
 must not be destroyed, but might be reformed : the revenues 
 of monasteries in Protestant lands, deriving endowments from 
 Catholic provinces, were to be duly paid : the Protestants 
 might receive those who spontaneously embraced the Evange- 
 lical faith ; and the Romanist prelates were reminded of their 
 gross dereliction of duty, and warned to amend their ways. 
 On the whole, the Ratisbon Diet was a most auspicious event 
 for the Reformation : it was more than a renewal of the 
 Nuremberg peace, or a ratification of the Frankfort truce, for 
 the Emperor rescinded the Augsburg decree, commanding 
 the Imperial Chamber to take the new edict for its rule ; and 
 he allowed Protestants to be eligible to seats in the Chamber. 
 " The Papists," Luther said, " have earned the appellation of 
 the New Protestants." The idea of settling religious ques- 
 tions by a conference of learned men, or the decision of a 
 Diet, was itself almost tantamount to an abnegation of Popery : 
 and the words of Charles were everywhere quoted, that " if 
 the Lutherans desisted from their efforts for an ecclesiastical 
 reform, he, at least, should not desist from his." With joy 
 did Luther welcome home Melancthon, "like Lot escaped 
 from Sodom." And the book which had been the ground- 
 work of the deliberations, and which served as the text-book 
 for the famous Interim enacted seven years later, was pub- 
 lished, with a preface from the pen of Philip, who, by the 
 staunchness of his adhesion to the truth at Ratisbon, had 
 done much to repair his character for constancy in public 
 estimation. 
 
 Luther removed his eyes from Ratisbon to fix them upon 
 the great events transacting elsewhere. In Hungary Ferdi- 
 nand had received a bloody defeat from Sultan Soliman, who 
 now seized on that kingdom, keeping the Austrian provinces 
 under a constant dread of invasion. " But how can I pray,"
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHElt. 337 
 
 Luther exclaimed, " for Ferdinand, when his hands are 1541. 
 stained with the blood of the Saints of God? I can only 
 implore the Lord to save whom He should save." The 
 Emperor, meanwhile, having passed through Italy, and laboured 
 to impress on the Pontiff, in a conference at Lucca, the 
 necessity of summoning a council, had engaged in a luckless 
 enterprise against Algiers. Just as he had disembarked his 
 forces, a violent storm had sunk many of his ships, and shat- 
 tered the rest, which were compelled to seek refuge near 
 Cape Metafuz. Thither he himself marched with his miser- 
 able army, without supplies, in an enemy's country; his 
 soldiers dropping down dead every mile of the way from 
 overwhelming fatigue, or the missiles of the Arabs. And 
 when he again embarked with the remnant of his host, a 
 dreadful tempest again scattered the ships, and Charles him- 
 self, without his fleet, put into a port of Spain. " It is the 
 vengeance of Heaven [" Luther said: "the guilt of innocent 
 blood, the horrors perpetrated at Ghent, are not forgotten. 
 I have conceived a hatred against the Emperor." The Re- 
 former was beginning to see more and more plainly that with 
 Charles religion was merely a question of policy. On the 
 side of France, also, a new cloud of war was gathering : some 
 ambassadors despatched by Francis to the Sultan had been 
 apprehended in Italy and put to death ; and the impetuous 
 spirit of the French monarch, fretting at the recollection of 
 recent perfidy, burnt with aggravated resentment to avenge 
 this fresh insult. 
 
 An additional source of disquiet was opened at this period in 
 Germany. The Bishop of Naumburg-Zeitz had died early in 
 the spring ; and the vacant see was filled up by the canons, 
 by the election of Julius Pflug, one of their number, and 
 also one of the Ratisbon collocutors. By ancient custom the 
 approval of the Elector of Saxony was required to render 
 
 VOL. II. z
 
 338 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1541. valid the choice of the canons ; and John Frederic persisted 
 in refusing his sanction : he complained of Pflug as a time- 
 server, and said that no one could have been selected more 
 obnoxious to him, and he pointed out those among the 
 canons, the election of any one of whom he was willing to 
 confirm. Pflug was all this while at Katisbon ; and the Pope 
 postponed the period of decision for six months. After the 
 conference was ended, Pflug declared his acceptance of the 
 bishopric, and the Emperor took up his cause, and wrote to 
 the Elector to request his sanction ; and Pflug prepared to 
 press his suit in person with John Frederic. The Elector, 
 however, remained inflexible, and garrisoned the fortress of 
 Zeitz. As the canons were firmly resolved to keep to their 
 first election in opposition to the electoral overtures, and the 
 time for them to make another choice had elapsed, the 
 Elector came to the determination to consult his own taste in 
 the appointment of a bishop, and deliberated with his theolo- 
 gians who was the fittest person for the office. Luther pro- 
 posed Prince George of Anhalt, urging that bishoprics ought 
 to be conferred on persons of noble birth, to encourage learn- 
 ing amongst the nobility. But as it was the Elector's inten- 
 tion to strip the bishopric of a large portion of its revenues, 
 and appropriate them to the salaries of ministers and other 
 ecclesiastical uses, this appointment was not made. Amsdorf 
 was then thought of, as at once of noble extraction, although 
 his family had become reduced in circumstances, andunmarried, 
 which w r ould enable him to support the episcopal dignity at 
 
 1512. less expense. On the 18th January Luther accompanied the 
 bishop delegate to Naumburg, and preached the next day in 
 the Cathedral, and with other presbyters laid his hands on 
 Amsdorf s head and consecrated him bishop, " without," Lu- 
 ther said, ' ' any chrism, and without butter, grease, fat, lard, 
 and whatever may be more holy with the Papists than those."
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 339 
 
 A few days afterwards they proceeded to Zeitz, and Luther 1542. 
 again preached. The proceedings of consecration were given 
 to the world, with a defence of the Elector's conduct through- 
 out the affair, in a writing by Luther entitled, "An Ex- 
 ample how to consecrate a true Bishop." 
 
 Amsdorf was greatly perplexed by some features in his 
 new dignity : he disliked the ceremonial of respect paid to 
 him as the Prince-Bishop, and had some scruples as to its 
 consistency with Scripture : and the counsel of Luther was in 
 constant requisition. " It is all a mask, and nothing serious/' 
 Luther wrote to him ; " God cares not for such things : they 
 are not the kingdom of God. The Church must have a 
 visible form, a husk, or outward garb, as it were. Yet 
 none of these is the Church, which is neither Jew nor Greek, 
 neither male nor female, but simply Christ. And he will not 
 care whether the character you have to sustain be private, 
 public, plebeian, or princely, provided, whatever it be, you 
 serve him in it." " How happy for you," he wrote at another 
 time, " that you find pomp and splendour a prison : to the 
 Papists they are a paradise. Yet bear them, as Christ bore 
 his pomp on the day of palms, poor, mortified, and crucified 
 in heart." In recommending a painter to Amsdorf, who 
 deserved encouragement, Luther reminded him that the style 
 and decorations of his dwelling ought to be in keeping with 
 his station. " But I have resolved," he added, " never myself 
 to receive another present from you. The creatures of the 
 court would be too glad to get an excuse for traducing me, 
 and making it appear that in concurring in your elevation, I 
 had an eye to my own lucre. Be not offended at this deter- 
 mination. It is not from Amsdorf that I refuse a present, 
 but from the Bishop of Naumburg-Zeitz." 
 
 The Diet, which had been appointed to meet at Spires in 
 January, was opened on the 9th February. The object of
 
 340 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1542. Ferdinand, who presided, was to obtain large contingents in 
 men and money for the Turkish war, and as the need Avas 
 most pressing, every indulgence, as at Ratisbon, was conceded 
 to the Protestants. The Ratisbon truce was extended for five 
 years, to date from the period of the succours being for- 
 warded against the Turk : the Imperial Chamber was to be 
 reformed, and a deputation of Romanists and Protestants in 
 equal proportions was appointed to carry the Reform into 
 execution. Joachim of Brandenburg, as a moderate man, was 
 chosen commander-in-chief against the Turks. And so suc- 
 cessful were these expedients that the Protestants furnished 
 the required contingents, and entered into the war with the 
 utmost alacrity. As for Luther, almost as thoroughly 
 national as he was profoundly Christian, he directed the force 
 of his pen to enlighten the apprehension and rouse the ardour 
 of his countrymen. He studied the Refutation of the Koran 
 written by Richard the Dominican in 1300, and translated it 
 into German, with a preface and epilogue ; and he also pub- 
 lished a Battle Sermon, which was to serve as a formula of in- 
 struction for the chaplains attached to the army, and contained 
 a form of prayer against the Turk. And such was his zeal 
 that he parted with some of his private property, some garden 
 ground and a court-yard, in order that he might be able to 
 give his contribution, like the widow's mite, to the cause of 
 God against the false prophet. But the national spirit of Lu- 
 ther was not present in the conduct of the war. The Emperor 
 was involved in a renewed contest with France. Ferdinand 
 was remiss ; he gathered money from his kingdom of Bohemia, 
 but not men ; the Protestant contingents were somewhat 
 unfairly dealt with ; and it began to be whispered that it 
 was the Papist policy to let them perish by the Ottoman 
 scimitar. 
 
 It was soon proved that all the indulgence which had been
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 341 
 
 shown the Protestants originated in selfish motives. The 1542. 
 contingents had been promised or sent against the Turks, but 
 the Imperial Chamber was not reformed ; it continued to issue 
 its judgment against the Evangelicals, and Henry of Bruns- 
 wick still made his raids upon the lands of his Protestant 
 neighbours, and threatened and insulted the city of Goslar. 
 So persevering were these menaces, that the Elector of Saxony 
 and the Landgrave assembled their forces to crush a Prince 
 whose malice was so inveterate. Within little more than two 
 months they had reduced the whole of the Duchy of Bruns- 
 wick to submission, and compelled the Duke, just as they were 
 on the eve of attacking his fortress of Wolfenbuttel, to fly to 
 Ferdinand, to whom in his distress he made his appeal, as well 
 as to the Diet which had met at Nuremberg. Ferdinand forth- 
 with sent a deputation to the Elector and Landgrave, requiring 
 them to desist from war, and the States also sent ambassadors 
 to demand forbearance ; but they replied that they had fur- 
 nished the stipulated auxiliaries against the Turks with good 
 faith ; that in attacking Henry of Brunswick they had only 
 discharged the duty they owed their allies ; and when peace 
 had been obtaiued they would march with as large a part of 
 their forces as possible into Hungary. From the first the 
 enterprise against the Duke of Brunswick received the 
 approval of Luther. " I commend to you and to the 
 Church," he wrote to Amsdorf the 13th July, "the war 
 against the incendiary Henry ; it is simply necessary for the 
 defence of the oppressed." He hailed with gratitude the 
 triumph of the Protestant arms. "The victory is plainly 
 divine; Wolfenbuttel, which was thought impregnable, has 
 been taken within three days. God has been the whole doer 
 in the matter : the events of these times are not human, and 
 I feel assured they are couriers of the blessed day of our 
 redemption. Amen."
 
 312 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1542. Just when affairs were in this state of turmoil, war with 
 the Turks and war in Hungary, the Emperor at war with 
 France, and intestine strife continually arising between the 
 German Princes, Paul III. descried his opportunity, and by 
 a bull, signed the 22nd May, and published the 29th June, 
 convened a general council to meet the ensuing 1st November 
 at Trent. And towards the end of November three cardinals 
 actually appeared at Trent as the Pope's commissioners for 
 opening the council ; a few Italian bishops likewise made 
 their appearance, but when these dignitaries had waited there 
 a few weeks, and no fresh arrivals of ecclesiastics took place — 
 for travelling, it was alleged, in such troublous times, was 
 unsafe — the council was prorogued, to the infinite amusement 
 of the Protestants. On the other hand, the conviction, which 
 was now general, that Rome would never put her hand to the 
 work of reform in earnest, the proceedings of recent Diets, the 
 warlike occupations of the Emperor, the successful enterprise 
 against Henry of Brunswick, had considerably added to the 
 strength of the Protestant side. At Halle the Reformation 
 had been previously commenced under the superintendence 
 of Justus Jonas : and this year the Reformation was estab- 
 lished in Ratisbon, in Hildesheim, in the dominions of Otto 
 Henry Count Palatine, known as the " younger Palatinate in 
 Bavaria," and the next year, under the direction of Bucer 
 and Melancthon, in the Electorate of the Archbishop of 
 Cologne. And there were indications that it would not be 
 long ere the Elector Palatine would follow the example of his 
 kinsman in Bavaria. 
 
 A year so replete with matter of public interest was not 
 uneventful in the Reformer's private history. At its com- 
 mencement he made the will bequeathing all he had to Kate, 
 which after his death was confirmed by the Elector, and car- 
 ried into effect. His health continued better than was usual
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHEH. 343 
 
 with him, and his pen, therefore, was vigorously employed. 1512. 
 Towards the end of August, Johnny, who had hitherto been 
 instructed by a tutor at home, was sent for the first time to a 
 school at Torgau, conducted by Mark Crodel, to whom Luther 
 wrote on the occasion as follows : " Grace and peace. — As was 
 agreed between us, I send you my son John, that you may 
 instruct him in grammar and music, and at the same time 
 watch over and correct his morals ; for I have the utmost 
 confidence in you in the Lord, I will liberally repay your 
 care, and must ask you to inform me what progress he makes 
 from time to time, and how far his capacity may allow of his 
 education being carried. I have sent Florian with him, 
 chiefly because I see that boys of his nature require the society 
 of many others, which is a better training school than home 
 discipline. You must treat Florian with more severity ; and 
 if you can put him to board with some citizen, do so ; if not, 
 send him back to me. May God prosper the undertaking. 
 If you succeed with my son, and I live, you shall have my 
 other two sons also. For I am convinced that we shall not 
 have hereafter many preceptors of such diligence as yourself, 
 especially in grammar and in severity of moral vigilance. 
 I must seize the opportunity, for time speeds, and diligent 
 schoolmasters speed yet faster. My son will return hither 
 for the higher studies. Farewell in the Lord ; and tell John 
 Walter that I pray for his salvation, and commend my 
 son to his instructions in music. I desire first of all that 
 my sons should prove theologians, but I would have them 
 also to be grammarians and musicians. Again farewell, and 
 salute Gabriel and his family. For the third time farewell, 
 and for ever." A little later, on the 6th September, the 
 following private letter was addressed to the schoolmaster : 
 " Grace and peace. — My dear Crodel, — Conceal from my son 
 what I now write to you. My daughter Magdalene is dan-
 
 344 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1542. gerously ill, and ready to depart to the true Father in heaven, 
 unless God will otherwise. She longs so earnestly to see her 
 brother, that I have felt compelled to send a carriage to fetch 
 him. Their love for one another has been most tender. 
 Perhaps his presence may revive her ; at least, my conscience 
 will not charge me with neglect. Bid him, therefore, with- 
 out communicating the cause, to speed hither in the carriage. 
 He shall promptly return when she shall either sleep in the 
 Lord, or be recovered." Fourteen days later, little Magda- 
 lene fell asleep in Christ in her father's arms. Luther, a 
 little before her death, said to her, " Little Magdalene, my 
 little daughter, you are quite willing to remain here with 
 your father, or to go to yonder Father?" pointing upwards ; 
 to which she answered, "Yes, dear father, as God will." 
 When she was dying, he read to her that passage of Isaiah, 
 " Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall 
 they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust : for thy 
 dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the 
 dead. Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and 
 shut thy doors about thee : hide thyself as it were for a 
 little moment, until the indignation be overpast."* "Yes, 
 my daughter," he added, " enter thou into thy chamber in 
 peace ; I shall soon come to thee : for God will never suffer 
 me to see the miseries that are coming upon Germany." 
 Luther wept bitterly at his daughter's death, but suppressed 
 his grief in public, so that no trace of tears was to be seen 
 upon his face at the funeral, when he was engrossed with 
 meditating on the text, " None of us liveth to himself, and 
 none of us dieth to himself." With many sobs Kate dis- 
 missed Johnny to return to school, but he did not resume 
 his studies contentedly. His mother promised that if he 
 
 * Isaiah xxvi. 19, 20.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 345 
 
 were ill, he should be sent for home ; and as he entreated to 1542. 
 be allowed to return, Luther was obliged to interfere. " I 
 can easily believe, my dear Crodel," he wrote to the school- 
 master the day after Christmas, " that my son was melted at 
 his mother's words in his grief for his sister's death, but do 
 you be earnest in your exhortations. When here he boasted 
 of you and your wife, that he was as well or better treated by 
 you than at home. Bid him overcome all womanly weakness, 
 and accustom himself to bear ills, and not indulge a childish 
 softness. He was sent from home for the very purpose of 
 learning and hardening against trials. He must not return 
 unless he is really ill, in which case do you let me know." 
 " I have never been more enraged with Death," he wrote to 
 his friends, in touching on his recent affliction, " but I have 
 satiated my wrath by threatening him from Scripture. Mag- 
 deleue's end was most peaceful, and we have reason to do 
 nothing else than give God thanks that she is now beyond 
 the power of the flesh, the world, the Turk, and Satan. 
 Would that we too might have such a death and such a life ! 
 Amen." 
 
 Early in the new year Luther published a treatise " Of 1543. 
 the Jews and their Lies," in which he touched on the deep 
 depravity of the nation or sect ; and observed that better 
 moral lessons were to be met with in iEsop, Cato, or Terence, 
 than in all the writings of the Talmudists. He used to say 
 that ' ' he felt pity for the whole lost house of Israel for the 
 love he bore to one Jew, his Saviour •" but now he stated 
 that he quite despaired of their conversion, " the Jewish 
 heart was a stock-stone-iron-devil heart," and therefore not 
 for the sake of the Jews, but of Christians, he took pains to 
 demonstrate that the period fixed by the Jewish prophets for 
 the Messiah's advent had long been expired, and that an ac- 
 cumulation of evidence pointed to Jesus as that Divine Being.
 
 346 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1543. He followed up the treatise by another, " On the Schem 
 Hamphoras of the Jews," in which he corrected Jewish errors, 
 reconciled the genealogies of Jesus given by Matthew and 
 Luke, and again reflected on the trickery and falsehood of the 
 Jews, charging them with attempting, by their false grammar 
 and arbitrary punctuation, to obscure the prophecies relative 
 to the Messiah. This second treatise gave occasion to a 
 "Commentary on the last Words of David," in which he again 
 vindicated the principles on which he had proceeded in his 
 translation of the Old Testament, and descended to some 
 philological details. With these writings his literary efforts 
 for 1543 were exhausted, excepting epistolary correspondence 
 and prefaces'* to the compositions of others. His Commentary 
 on the book of Genesis, the labour of years, taken down from 
 his lips as he delivered it, was editing by Viet Dietrich, 
 Cruciger, and Rorarius. A new edition of his Church Postils 
 was superintended by Cruciger. And a Latin edition of his 
 works was publishing, in which the Elector took great in- 
 terest, and as the printers proceeded but slowly, warned them 
 to make more speed, or they should be deprived of their pri- 
 vileges. He was eager to have the edition completed in the 
 Reformer's lifetime. 
 
 Throughout the year Luther was a prey to the old malady 
 in the head, which he now regarded as a chronic ailment. 
 " I have overworked/' he said, " and overlived, and am good 
 
 * One of these was to the speeches of the young Princes, John 
 Frederic and John William, delivered before the University on the 
 29th April, in the presence of their father and his Court. From 
 commending the two Princes, so ripe in learning for their early age, one 
 fourteen and the other thirteen years of age, Luther passed on to the 
 dangers which beset their path through life, from " Satan's tools, fal- 
 lacious courtiers, perfidious friends, treacherous ministers, and rapa- 
 cious nobles." " Princes," he said, " are Satan's sweetest dainties."
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 347 
 
 for nothing ; God send me a happy hour." He had promised 1543. 
 the Bishop of Naumburg-Zeitz to pay him a visit; but he 
 wrote to him in the summer, that for six months he had daily 
 been expecting his release ; and his state of health continued 
 feeble throughout the autumn. The physicians tried every 
 means in their power to relieve the oppression in the head — 
 first a cautery in the leg, and then a vein was opened in the 
 left leg. Luther resigned himself to their skill, but smiled at 
 its failure. " It is old age," he exclaimed, " and all the phy- 
 sicians in the world could do me no good; but, that I may 
 not seem my own enemy, treat me as you please." Bodily 
 disease and feebleness were aggravated by a melancholy fore- 
 boding of the ills hanging over " his dear Germany, that 
 wallowing sow." The churches had good pastors, but there was 
 no love of God amongst the people, and but a stint measure of 
 morality at the courts even of the Protestant princes. Every- 
 where avarice, corruption, and iniquity abounded. He regretted 
 that, excellent as the Elector of Saxony was himself, he per- 
 mitted his courtiers to influence his acts, and was not half alive 
 to the deceitfulness of Satan. Immorality, in a most formida- 
 ble aspect, threatened to invade the University of Wittenberg ; 
 but within those precincts Luther could put his own authority 
 into exercise, and he published a manifesto to the students, 
 exhorting them to self-restraint, and to endure hardness; but 
 intimated that if remonstrance failed, recourse should be had 
 to the power of the law. The Turk, the Jew, the Pope, 
 and the Sacramentarian filled up the back-ground in the 
 dismal picture of human depravity. " I pray," he said, 
 " continually against the Turk ; but I know not against what 
 Turk God may be pleased to turn my prayers. The Turlc 
 within the walls is infinitely worse than the Turk without." 
 But his faith was sufficiently strong to convert even his 
 sorrows into a ground of hope. " All the glory of the Turk
 
 348 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1543. and Papist I account but devils' dung ; Christ will soon ap- 
 pear with redemption. Amen." 
 
 The Diet, which had again been summoned to meet at 
 Nuremberg before the close of 1542, did not commence its 
 sittings until the first week of February, 1543, when Luther 
 addressed a letter to the evangelical clergy to request their 
 prayers against the Turks. But the notion that either Ferdi- 
 nand or the Emperor was sincere in his professions of zeal, 
 had now become extremely doubtful ; and the vehemence of 
 intestine strife swallowed up the apprehension of more remote 
 danger. The Romanists were greatly incensed by the seizure 
 of the Brunswick Duchy ; the Protestants were indignant 
 that the promises repeatedly pledged to them in reference to 
 the Imperial Chamber had been as repeatedly broken, and 
 that the Emperor was intent on his schemes of personal ambi- 
 tion, prosecuting the conquest of Gueldres from the Duke 
 of Juliers. The deliberations accordingly had no satis- 
 factory issue. The Recess of Ferdinand and the Romanist 
 party spoke of garrisoning the fortresses on the Turkish fron- 
 tiers, and of contributions to be levied for that purpose, of the 
 Reform of the Imperial Chamber, to date from the 3rd July; 
 and such as refused to send the required auxiliaries were sub- 
 jected to fiscal jurisdiction. The Protestants, on their side, held 
 their separate consultations, and published a counter Recess, 
 in which they repudiated the decree of the adverse members 
 of the Diet ; engaged to hold by one another in opposing the 
 processes and proscriptions of the Imperial Chamber ; refused 
 to send forces to Hungary, or to resign the Duchy of Bruns- 
 wick, seeing that the Duke was convicted of a host of crimes ; 
 and resolved on sending a deputation to the Emperor to state 
 their grievances and enforce their demands. And two months 
 after the Diet had broken up, the allies met at Schmalkald, 
 when provision was made for the reception of the King of
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 349 
 
 Sweden, and the Bishop of Munster, Osnaburg, and Mindcn, 1513. 
 into the Alliance ; and immediately on the close of the meet- 
 ing, a month later, an embassy was despatched to the Emperor, 
 who was moving from Italy at the head of his army through 
 Suabia towards the Low Countries, to dispute the possession 
 of Gueldres with the Duke of Juliers. The ambassadors were 
 favoured with an audience late in the evening of the 3rd 
 August, by the Emperor, who received them standing, and 
 extended his hand to each of them, but sat whilst they de- 
 tailed their complaints. Two days later Charles returned his 
 answer, requiring the Protestants to furnish auxiliaries against 
 the Turks, deferring the reform of the Imperial Chamber 
 until full inquiry had proved the validity of the charges, and 
 postponing the consideration of all the other questions until 
 the approaching Diet to be held at Spires, in which he him- 
 self intended to be present. The Protestants were somewhat 
 softened by this reply, so that, influenced by the desire to 
 avoid offending Charles, they did not keep back their contri- 
 butions in money to the Turkish war, but were still resolved 
 to withhold their forces. The visitation of the Imperial 
 Chamber, to which they were invited by the Emperor, com- 
 menced in October, and the Protestants sent their delegates 
 as though they believed the Imperial professions to be sincere ; 
 but they found their allegations met by quibbles and cavils, 
 and after some time they desisted in extreme disgust from pro- 
 secuting the attempt. The Emperor had his own reasons for 
 retaining the Chamber as it was, and the extreme Romanist 
 section had found it too useful a tool for their own purposes 
 to be willing parties to a change in its constitution. In fact, 
 the conduct of the Emperor had been dexterous in the highest 
 degree. His astute policy had wavered between the Romanists 
 and the Protestants ; but by this vacillation he had succeeded 
 in establishing a middle party, which still held, in some im-
 
 350 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1543. portant respects, the ancient faith, but adopted the popular 
 aspirations for an ecclesiastical reformation : he had placed 
 himself at the head of this party, and he owed to it the great 
 authority which now invested him. The rising men among 
 the princes were almost all of this imperial, conservative, 
 reforming section ; in particular, the young Elector of Bran- 
 denburg and Duke Maurice of Saxony were among its most 
 eminent members. The aged Duke Henry of Saxony had 
 died some time previously ; and one of the first acts of Duke 
 Maurice, on succeeding to the Saxon Duchy, notwithstand- 
 ing that he was married to the Landgrave's daughter, was 
 to withdraw from the Schmalkald confederacy, at the same 
 time that he still professed the evangelical faith. A little 
 while afterwards he openly quarrelled with the Elector 
 of Saxony for the right which he claimed of free passage 
 through the town of Wurzen. Both the Elector and Duke 
 mustered their forces for battle, but a reconciliation between 
 the cousins was affected at Grimma. "You resemble," 
 Luther told the irritated kinsmen, " two drunken country 
 boors fighting in a pothouse over a piece of broken glass, or 
 two fools cuffing one another for a morsel of bread. Let each 
 of you retire to his own chamber, and pray in earnest an 
 'Our Father/ that, if God will, the Holy Ghost may change 
 his heart." Shortly afterwards Duke Maurice started for 
 the Turkish Avar, in which his life was narrowly saved by the 
 devoted self-sacrifice of an attendant. And the ascendancy 
 which the Emperor had gained, became the more obvious 
 when the Duke of Juliers was beheld to kneel at his feet 
 and crave pardon for his offence, and resign the contested 
 prize in the Low Countries to be annexed to the Imperial 
 dominions. The Emperor's gold had been more effective in 
 turning the tide of war in his favour, than his soldiers' steel. 
 Under such an aspect of public affairs it may be readily
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 351 
 
 imagined with what pathos of indignation John Frederic 1543. 
 mourned over the downfall of constitutional Germany ; and 
 in what notes of still deeper despondency, taking his survey 
 from higher grounds, Luther echoed his Prince's lamentations. 
 "Everything is venal; I hear of nothing but rapine and 
 violence and the oppression of the people by the nobles. The 
 earth is filled with iniquity; Ferdinand becomes more Satanic 
 and furious every day, and is worse than Charles. When at 
 last it shall come to a war between the Emperor and the 
 Protestants, without a doubt our centaurs, like those of 
 Juliers, will sell their Prince also. How heartily do I thank 
 God that my clearest daughter Magdalene is delivered from 
 Ur of the Chaldees. Come, Lord Jesus, come."* 
 
 Early in the next year Charles made his entrance into 1544. 
 Spires, to preside in person in the Diet, and had never been 
 more assiduous in paying court to the Protestant Princes than 
 at this time, when their downfall had been determined in his 
 mind ; but he saw the necessity of peace with the Turks and 
 with the French, before any steps could be taken in further- 
 ance of his domestic plans ; and he knew that the road to 
 peace only lay through victory. On the 18th February the 
 Elector of Saxony arrived at Spires, and was received by 
 imperial command, and escorted into the city with all due 
 ceremony, and found the Emperor in every respect ready to 
 accede to his wishes. His marriage articles were ratified, and 
 Ferdinand's daughter Eleanor was promised in marriage to 
 his eldest son, if in the interval religious differences could be 
 
 * John Eck died on the 10th February, 1543. Viet Dietrich, in a 
 letter to Luther, states that Eck, being seized with fever, attempted to 
 cure it, after his old fashion, with copious cups. Drunkenness termi- 
 nated in epilepsy, and epilepsy in apoplexy. The Eucharist was cele- 
 brated by the bedside amidst Eek's incoherent exclamations, " Oh ! 
 had we but the 4000 guilders, we could right well settle the business."
 
 352 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1544. arranged. The Landgrave was beguiled by the bait of the 
 commandership-in-chief of the Imperial forces; and it was 
 contrived that the cause of the Duke of Brunswick should be 
 heard without judgment being pronounced; and the Elector 
 and Landgrave were persuaded to commit the Duchy to their 
 good friend the Emperor as sequestrator, until sentence in the 
 case could be finally given. On the 12th June the Recess of 
 the Diet was published. Large aids were granted to the 
 Emperor in men and money against the French, and a poll- 
 tax was to be levied against the Turks; the Imperial Chamber 
 was to remain as it was for three years longer, when the 
 judges were to be appointed from both religious denomina- 
 tions ; and meanwhile the Augsburg edict and the proscription 
 of Goslar and Minden were suspended ; and a new Diet was 
 appointed for December, at which the Emperor and Princes 
 should present formularies for the adjustment of religious 
 differences, until such time as a general council should meet 
 in Germany, or in default of that, a decision should be 
 arrived at by the German nation in Diet. The Recess was 
 so worded as to be susceptible of various interpretations, so 
 as to satisfy both parties; and Charles comforted the Evan- 
 gelicals, as at Ratisbon, with private assurances of his favour 
 and goodwill. The Papists were as much deceived by all these 
 manoeuvres as the Protestants themselves, and were highly 
 incensed by the result of the deliberations. The foundations 
 of his schemes thus stealthily but securely laid in Germany, 
 Charles hastened to take the command of his army against 
 the French, and his presence revived the courage of his troops, 
 who had been disheartened by the intelligence of the battle 
 of Cerisoles. Having first subjugated Luxemburg, he ad- 
 vanced from the Low Countries through Champagne towards 
 the heart of France, and laid siege to St. Disier. And at the 
 Sept. 19. same time Henry of England laid siege to and took Boulogne.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 353 
 
 St. Disier at length capitulated, but the time spent in the 1544. 
 siege proved the salvation of France ; and the Emperor find- 
 ing himself in a district of vineyards, without the means of 
 getting sustenance for his army, was glad enough to come 
 to terms with Francis, ■ and peace was signed at Crespy in 
 Valois, on conditions not unfavourable to the French. The 
 Pontiff, who had been so indignant at the Recess of the Diet 
 of Spires, that he sent a letter to the Emperor, not only to 
 complain of indulgence shown to heretics, but in yet more 
 resentful language of the invasion of his own supreme ecclesi- 
 astical prerogatives, was elated by the restoration of amity 
 between their most Catholic and most Christian Majesties ; 
 and, as he could not fail to recognize the necessity of reclaim- 
 ing for himself the functions which a lay tribunal had arro- 
 gated, he published a Bull (Lsetare Jerusalem), convoking in 
 terms of rhapsody an oecumencial council to meet at Trent in 
 the beginning of March in the ensuing year. 
 
 Throughout this year Luther's health showed a consider- 
 able improvement. On the 26th January he wrote to Ams- 
 dorf, " I am restored in my whole body excepting my head, 
 which continues weak ; but I preach, read, stand, and walk, 
 and as soon as the winter is past I shall visit you." At this 
 time the subject of "secret betrothals" engaged the Re- 
 former's attention : a case was tried in which the decision of 
 law was incompatible with justice, for such clandestine 
 agreements were pronounced valid if entered into condition- 
 ally, subject to the consent of parents. Luther took up the 
 matter with his usual ardour. The insertion of an addition — 
 the consent of parents — did not in any way remove, he stated, 
 the inherent vice of all such compacts as clandestine : and he 
 apprehended that parents would withdraw their sons from the 
 University, under the dread of their forming ill-advised 
 
 VOL. II. A A
 
 354 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1544. unions. He went so far as to inveigh against the practice 
 from the pulpit, as a remnant of Popery, an invention of Satan 
 set np by the instrumentality of the Pope, the great soul- 
 murderer, and solemnly committed the clandestine betrothals, 
 like the monkish vow, to hell. The lawyers resented this 
 conduct ; but, nothing daunted, Luther defended the part he 
 had acted, and implored the Elector to do away with the 
 legal validity of all secret matrimonial compacts. 
 
 After a winter so long and severe that Luther interpreted it 
 into a happy omen that the day of Christ was near, he re- 
 newed his promise to the Bishop of Naumburg in the spring, 
 of paying him a visit. His style of addressing his friend, for 
 some time after his promotion to the See, had still been, " My 
 dear Amsdorf;" but now it was changed to "Reverend 
 Bishop in the Lord," or " Reverend Father in Christ," to ex- 
 emplify in his own deportment the respect due to the epis- 
 copal character. The visit, however, continued to be de- 
 ferred ; first there were reported to be roving bandits in the 
 neighbourhood ; then " the ploughs," or kinsmen of Julius 
 Pflug, through whose territory part of the journey lay, fell 
 under suspicion of entertaining no goodwill to his person ; and 
 finally, a letter of the Elector to Luther, from the Diet, re- 
 quested him so to time his visit that he might be able on his 
 return to meet him at Zeitz. During the Elector's absence a 
 letter also was received by Luther from the Electress Sibylla, 
 in inquiry for his health, and for tidings of his wife and 
 children. He replied as follows : " Grace and peace in the 
 Lord, illustrious, high-born princess, gracious lady. I have 
 received your letter, and thank you submissively for so dili- 
 gently inquiring after my health, and how it goes with my 
 wife and children, and wishing me all good. God be praised, 
 it goes right well with us — far better than we deserve. 1
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 355 
 
 have for a long while been out of sorts in my head, but that 1544. 
 is no wonder ; the fault is old age, of itself cold and comfort- 
 less, sick and weak. The pitcher is often carried to the well, 
 but it breaks at last. I have lived long enough : God give me 
 a happy hour, that my foul, useless bag of worms may drop 
 beneath the ground to its own people. I am certain that I 
 have seen the best that I shall see on earth. The world 
 grows worse and worse : God help his own ! Amen. I can 
 well believe your Grace has found it a tedious time since your 
 gracious lord has been absent ; but since it must needs be, and 
 is for the good and profit of Christendom and of German)', 
 we must bear his absence with patience, according to the will 
 of God. What a comfort is the Word of God to support us 
 in life, and assure us of happiness beyond ! What a joy, too, 
 is prayer, which, as your Grace writes, we know is heard of 
 God in his own good time. Two such jewels of ineffable 
 price, devil, Turk, Pope, and Papist do not possess; nay, in 
 such respects they are poorer than any beggar upon earth. 
 We must thank God, the Father of all mercies, in Christ 
 Jesus his dear Son, our Lord, that he has given us such 
 saving treasures, such precious jewels, of which so 'many of 
 the highest heads on earth know nothing. Well may we 
 compassionate them. God enlighten them, to see, know, and 
 believe as we do ! Amen. My Kate offers her poor ' Our 
 Father' for your Highness, with all submission, and heartily 
 thanks your Grace that you so graciously think of her. 
 Herewith I commend you to the dear God. Amen." 
 
 At last, on the 13th August, Luther set out on his long 
 intended journey to Zeitz. Amsdorf had provided an escort 
 which conducted Luther by Eilenburg, Borna, and Zuhlsdorf, 
 until he safely reached the Bishop's palace. After he had 
 been at Zeitz a little while, Luther repaired to Altenburg on 
 
 a a 2
 
 356 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1544. a short visit to Spalatin,* who stood in much need of his 
 friendly consolation, and then returned back again to Zeitz. 
 Amsdorf again sent an escort, with directions to accompany 
 Luther the whole way on his return to Wittenberg ; every 
 expense on the road was defrayed, and a silver cup and spoon 
 were found deposited amongst the Reformer's baggage. 
 Aug. 27. " You have treated me/' Luther wrote to the Bishop, ff like 
 St. James's host of whom we read, and have made me, against 
 my will — a thief of your property. Perhaps you thought of 
 Joseph and Benjamin. But how unseemly it is that I, a poor 
 theologian, born in very humble station, should drink out of 
 gold and silver ! It will be a scandal to the enemies of the 
 Word, and there are enough of them ; but the whole fault is 
 yours." Rather more than a month afterwards, Luther paid 
 a visit to the Elector at Torgau, who required his presence to 
 consecrate a recently erected church. All the formalities of 
 consecration invented by the Papists were rejected, and 
 Luther simply offered up prayer, and delivered a discourse 
 adapted to the occasion, which he and the Elector determined 
 to be the true Christian mode of dedicating an edifice to 
 God's worship. The autumn was again a sickly season at 
 Wittenberg, and Luther's children all suffered from illness; 
 and when the rest had recovered, little Margaret still main- 
 tained a doubtful struggle between life and death. " I should 
 not murmur," Luther said, " if it pleased God to remove her 
 from this satanical age and world. I desire the same for 
 myself and all mine : there is no longer any heroic virtue in 
 princes; everywhere are hatred, strife, avarice, and iniquity. 
 
 * During this visit Luther pledged Spalatin in a glass of wine with 
 the extempore Latin distich : — 
 
 " Isthoc ex vitro vitreus bibit ipse Lutherus, 
 Hospes supremum turn, Spalatine tuus."
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 357 
 
 My only joy is to look forward to the day of the Redeemer." 1544. 
 Margaret, however, recovered; and Luther, writing of 
 himself a little later, spoke of his own amended health as a 
 resurrection from the dead : he had (t preached twice without 
 any difficulty, which seemed a miracle." 
 
 The principal production of Luther's pen this year was a 
 " Brief Confession of the Holy Sacrament," occasioned by a 
 rumour consequent on discontinuing the elevation of the host 
 in the Wittenberg churches, that he was inclining to Zwin- 
 glianism, which he denied with extreme energy. So rooted 
 was this conviction, that in the Cologne Reformation Arti- 
 cles, prepared by Bucer and Melancthon, and delivered to 
 Luther for examination, he regretted the absence of sufficient 
 distinctness on this subject, and designated the whole as 
 " wishy-washy stuff," by which he gave such keen offence to 
 Melancthon, that Philip was in doubt whether he should not 
 leave Wittenberg. Luther was setting his house in order in 
 regard to the literary monuments of his Christian faith. 
 Having in the previous year vindicated his version of the 
 Scriptures, and now declared his testimony on the Eucharist, 
 he next gave his final judgment on Popery, in a treatise en- 
 titled " The Papacy founded by Satan," which appeared early 
 in the following spring ; and he also preached sermons and 1545. 
 held disputations on the Trinity, and the Godhead of Jesus 
 Christ, to check the growth of infidelity. The beginning of 
 the new year, Luther having been much exposed to the 
 weather on a very cold day, was seized with a violent pain in 
 the breast, attended with great oppression at the heart, and 
 at two o'clock in the morning was obliged to send for medical 
 aid. "I am in dreadful pain," Luther said, as the phy- 
 sician entered the room. " Is it the stone ?" " No ; it is 
 something much worse than the stone." The physician's 
 verdict was that the malady was " the cardiac," and he gave
 
 358 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1545. orders that Luther's breast and back should be rubbed with 
 hot cloths, after which he was to have a hot mess, and forbade 
 him to take his usual beverage of must, and sent him some 
 Rhenish wine from his own cellar. From this attack Luther 
 recovered after some little time ; but it proved the forerunner 
 of a similar illness, which rather more than a year later 
 carried him to the grave. 
 
 His indignation was extreme at the alliance of the French 
 monarch, and, as rumour did not blush to declare, of his 
 Holiness the Pope also, with the Sultan ; an alliance which 
 covered Francis with disgrace in the eyes of Christendom, and 
 enabled Charles the better to pursue his deep-laid and long- 
 meditated schemes. "What!" said Luther, "the Vicar of 
 Christ in alliance with Mahomet ! and the French King has 
 granted Barbarossa a harbour for his fleet, with permission to 
 build a mosque : and Francis and Paul together have agreed 
 to allow him 300,000 crowns a month in requital of his 
 services. See to what an object the indulgences, profits, 
 annates, and rapine of all kinds — the Pope's plunder of 
 Christendom for ages, forsooth against the Turk — are now 
 devoted ! O ! most holy Father ! O ! most Christian 
 King !" The letter of Paul III. to Charles was admirably 
 calculated to foster the delusion which pervaded all minds ; 
 and it was busily noised about that Charles had resolved to 
 come forward himself in the character of a Reformer, and to 
 remodel ecclesiastical institutions by the standard of the 
 Nicene age. But soon the dream was sadly marred. The 
 peace of Crespy proved the turning-point in Charles's career of 
 duplicity. Having gratified the Protestants as far as he safely 
 could up to that period, he felt himself, by the restoration of 
 amity with France, in a condition gradually, but still with 
 his usual art, to withdraw the mask. The faggots began to 
 blaze in the Low Countries, although, with a dissimulation too
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 359 
 
 weak to impose on any one, Charles declared that the ground 1545. 
 of punishment was not religion, but the infringement of an 
 edict published many years before against the Lutherans. At 
 the same moment Francis commenced a fearful butchery of 
 the poor Waldenses ; and Ferdinand, who had at least been 
 consistent, turned with revived zest to his persecuting efforts 
 in Austria and Bohemia. All this, in conjunction with the 
 Trent Council, showed a conspiracy of the crowned heads of 
 Europe for the overthrow of the Reformation. 
 
 Notwithstanding all his bodily suffering and the frowning 
 of the political storm, Luther maintained an animated and 
 cheerful spirit. The darkest night, he thought, would usher 
 in the glorious morning of Christ's appearance. " Walk to 
 your garden," he replied to a pastor who had written to him 
 in a tone full of despondency, " and look at the violets which 
 are just beginning to peep out. The flower is purple, the 
 colour of affliction ; but the purple environs a bright golden 
 eye, which means never-failing faith," Just at this time his 
 " Papacy founded by Satan" was published, whilst the Diet 
 was sitting at Worms. The pictorial talent of Luke Cranach 
 had been called into play, and the frontispiece exhibited the 
 High Priest of Christendom seated on the sacred chair, in the 
 pontifical garb, his hands raised and joined, and asses' ears 
 perking above his head : devils flew round him on all sides : 
 some were putting on his head the triple crown, surmounted 
 with dung ; others were gently lowering him by ropes into the 
 bottomless pit, the flames of which were tossing below ; and 
 others, with officious zeal, were raising his feet to lighten his 
 descent. Luther further stated in some theses, which appeared 
 about this time, that Popery was an offence against the three 
 hierarchies ordained of God — the ecclesiastical, the political, 
 and the domestic — for it crushed the Gospel, tyrannised over 
 the civil power, and forbade matrimony. It was that German
 
 360 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1545. beast, half bear, half wolf (barwolf), which it was the duty 
 of all, gathering in a company, to chase to death : if it got 
 into a cave or an inclosure, and the prefect of the place 
 should attempt to rescue or defend it, the pursuit must not 
 stop, and those who should hinder the pursuers were beyond 
 the safeguard of the laws. And another caricature repre- 
 sented the Pope sitting astride a sow, with a big paunch and 
 teats sweeping the ground. The Pope was digging into the 
 sides of the sow with spurs : with the two fore fingers of his 
 right hand raised in pontifical fashion, his Holiness blessed 
 the wayfarers : his left hand held a piece of dung fresh and 
 smoking, at which the sow was sniffing, and exerting her body 
 to gain possession of the prize. The sow was Germany ; and 
 the piece of dung which the Pontiff was willing to bestow on 
 his greedy beast, provided he were allowed to retain his seat, 
 was the Council. But his caustic force did not content 
 Luther, and he wrote to his friends that his ire had been 
 too feeble, and it was his earnest wish once again to assail 
 Popery, and, like Samson, to make the Philistines feel his 
 dying strength. And this hope was in some measure realized 
 by the publication of his seventy-six theses, in reply to 
 thirty-two propositions against his doctrines, which had ema- 
 nated from the sophists (magistrolli) of Louvain. Such were 
 his expiring efforts against the Popedom. The Sacramen- 
 tarians had replied to his " Short Confession," but he re- 
 turned no answer to their treatise : he did not even read it ; 
 it was enough that he was informed of the irrelevant abuse 
 heaped upon him. With such evidence that he was no Sacra- 
 mentarian, he said that he could leave the world with 
 happiness. 
 
 The Diet of Worms afforded fresh intimations of the subtle 
 path of ill-dissembled enmity to the Protestants, which the 
 Emperor was treading. Charles was laid up at Brussels with
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 361 
 
 the gout when the Diet was opened, and was not able to make 1545. 
 his entry into Worms until the 15th of May. The Papal 
 nuncio, Cardinal Farnese, passed from Trent, where he found 
 only a few bishops assembled, into Germany, and had an in- 
 terview with the Emperor ; but after a few days he quitted 
 Worms very unexpectedly, having accomplished his errand by 
 convincing himself of Charles's real aversion to the Protes- 
 tants, and probably made arrangements with him as to the 
 money and forces which the religious war would require. He 
 found that Charles did not wish the Council to begin 
 its deliberations at present; matters were not sufficiently 
 advanced, and some terms must still be kept with the 
 Protestants a little longer. And accordingly Paul III. post- 
 poned the opening of the Council until October, and it 
 was not actually opened until the 13th December. The 
 deliberations of the Diet, as between Charles and " the 
 Orders of the Augsburg Confession,'' began and ended in 
 reciprocal demands which neither party was willing to ad- 
 mit. The Protestants claimed that intestine peace should 
 be secured without the condition of their accepting the 
 Council : the Emperor required them to acknowledge it, which 
 they persisted in refusing to do, because the place of meeting 
 was not in Germany, in contravention of former edicts, and 
 the Pope claimed to be President. Frederic, who had suc- 
 ceeded to the Palatine Electorate by the death of his brother 
 Louis in the previous year, and was at this period esta- 
 blishing the Reformation in his dominions, acted as me- 
 diator between the parties, but with no effect : he had 
 little weight with the Protestants, and his change of religion 
 rendered him unacceptable to Charles. But in fact, the 
 Emperor's line of policy had been already deliberately chosen, 
 and he never swerved from a decision formed on mature 
 thought. In the matter of the religious discussions between
 
 362 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1545. the Archbishop of Cologne and his subjects on the one side, 
 and the Cathedral Chapter on the other, the Emperor took 
 the cause of the Canons under his protection, and summoned 
 the Archbishop to appear and answer for his conduct before 
 him ; whilst, by a mutual understanding, the Pope pronounced 
 his excommunication. But, with his habitual insincerity, 
 Charles still assumed the semblance of wavering before he 
 definitely committed matters to the arbitrement of the sword : 
 and with specious moderation he postponed the further con- 
 sideration of religious questions to another Diet, to assemble 
 at Ratisbon. preparatory to which the reconciliation of dif- 
 ferences was again to be attempted by chosen theologians from 
 the two parties. 
 
 Meantime, Luther was entirely disabled, by the return in 
 full force of his old complaints ; first, pains in the head, so 
 excruciating that one of his eyes became affected and nearly 
 lost the power of sight ; then, towards the end of June, an 
 attack of the stone — so long continued with greater or less 
 intensity — that he was subjected to exquisite tortures, and the 
 report current in Italy and elsewhere that he was dead gained 
 credence with many. Strange events were stated to have fol- 
 lowed his decease. It was asserted in print, that at the point 
 of death he had received the Sacrament, and with his dying 
 breath had required that his dead body should be placed on the 
 altar to be worshipped as God. The request had not been 
 complied with ; but after his remains had been laid in the 
 tomb, a violent tempest had obscured the sky and seemed to 
 threaten universal destruction : the wafer which Luther had 
 received with his dying lips was seen suspended in the air, 
 and with the greatest reverence was received and deposited in 
 a sacred place, when an immediate calm was restored. The 
 ensuing night strange commotions were heard in his tomb, 
 which was opened the next morning ; but the flesh, bones,
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 363 
 
 body, and shroud were gone ; only a sulphureous stench 1545. 
 exuded from the spot, which struck many with sickness, and 
 proved the means of converting great numbers from heresy.* 
 Luther caused this statement to be printed again, with a 
 postscript to the effect that "he had read, on the 21st of 
 March, the rabid fiction with extreme joy. It was sweet to 
 his inmost soul to be such an object of abhorrence to the 
 devil, and his spawn, the Pope and the Papists. He prayed 
 for the conversion of the Papists. But if prayers for them 
 should be unavailing, would to God that they might fill up 
 the measure of their iniquities." 
 
 Dr. Ratzenberg, the Elector's physician, was sent to attend 
 Luther, and was able to relieve the head in a considerable 
 degree by means of a cautery in the leg : and after some 
 days, Luther was again able to walk to church and even to 
 preach. But he continued very weak ; and ill health and 
 old age made him more susceptible of trials. He had medi- 
 tated quitting Wittenberg for the quite retreat of Zuhlsdorf 
 some time before ; but had beeu prevailed upon, by the 
 fervent entreaties of Bugenhagen and others, to relinquish 
 such an intention. But about the middle of July, in 1545, 
 he left Wittenberg very suddenly, and first paid a visit, with 
 Johnny, to Ernest Schonfeld, at Lobnitz; then to Scherl, at 
 Leipsic, whence he passed to Merseburg, to Prince George of 
 
 * After Luther's actual death, a Protestant story, in imitation of this 
 Tvomanist one, stated that his coffin laid on the bier was at first so 
 heavy that the bearers could scarcely move it, and then suddenly 
 became so light, that they set down the bier and opened the coffin to 
 see what had happened. The body was gone ; and three great rats 
 jumped out of the coffin. One of them ran to the monasteries, and 
 guawed away the bolts and locks ; the second ran to Rome, to the 
 Pope's Chancery, and nibbled off the seals of the Indulgence letters ; 
 the third ran to Hell, and put out the fire of Purgatory (pissete das 
 Fegefeuer aus)." — Keil. IV. p. 279.
 
 364 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1545. Anhalt, and finally took up his quarters with Amsdorf, at 
 Zeitz. The neglect of God's Word, and the many signs of 
 worldly-mindedness amongst the people of Wittenberg, par- 
 ticularly the style of female dress, had so provoked him, 
 that he had formed the resolution never to return to Witten- 
 berg, but to settle down for his few remaining days at Zuhls- 
 dorf : and he wrote to Kate from Leipsic the end of July, 
 as follows : " Beloved Kate, John will tell you how our 
 journey has gone, and if he should not remain with me, Dr. 
 Caspar Cruciger and Ferdinand will tell you. Ernest 
 Schonfeld entertained us hospitably at Lobnitz, but Henry 
 Scherl far more hospitably at Leipsic. I should rejoice never 
 to have to return to Wittenberg. My heart is chilled, so 
 that I cannot be there with pleasure. I should wish you to 
 sell the garden and the close, the house and court, and I will 
 give back the great house to my good lord : it were best for 
 you to settle at Zuhlsdorf, whilst I am still alive and could 
 help you to better the little property with my stipend, which 
 I hope my good lord will suffer to follow me, at least for one 
 year of my last days. After my death, the four elements will 
 not easily endure you at Wittenberg : it were therefore much 
 better to see in my lifetime what must be done when I 
 am gone. To judge by appearances, Wittenberg, with its 
 government, is about to dance, not St. Vitus's dance, nor 
 St. John's dance, but the Beggars' dance, or Beelzebub's 
 dance ; so they have begun, women and maidens, to uncover 
 themselves behind and before ; and there is no one to punish 
 or restrain, and God's Word is mocked. Come away out of 
 this Sodom. I have heard in the country more than I learn 
 at Wittenberg, and am weary of the town and will not return, 
 so help me God. After to-morrow I shall go to Merseburg, 
 for Prince George has sore entreated me to visit him. I 
 shall ramble about, and had rather eat the bread of a beggar
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHEIt. 365 
 
 than torture and disquiet my poor old last days with their 1545. 
 disorderly ways at Wittenberg. Let Dr. Bugenhagen and 
 Master Philip learn as much : and let Dr. Bugenhagen pro- 
 nounce my blessing upon Wittenberg. I can no longer re- 
 strain my wrath and disgust. Herewith I commend you to 
 God. Amen/' The people of Wittenberg were deeply 
 agitated at the determination of the Reformer to quit their 
 town. Melancthon declared that he must leave Wittenberg 
 also, unless Luther returned. In this state of things the 
 University represented the strong current of general feeling 
 on the subject to the Elector, who sent a very gracious letter, 
 regretting that Luther had not informed him of his plans, in 
 which case he would have sent an escort to attend him ; for, 
 although God's angel was always with him, the dangers of 
 travelling ought to be guarded against; and further, he 
 requested that he would pay him a visit at Torgau, to make 
 arrangements in reference to the approaching Conference at 
 Ratisbon. Luther went to Torgau, and was prevailed upon 
 by John Frederic, although sorely against his inclination, to 
 return to Wittenberg, which he did the third week in August. 
 Peace was now made between the Emperor and the Sultan. 
 " The Pope, the Emperor, the Gaul, and Ferdinand," Luther 
 relates, " have sent a most splendid embassy, laden with pre- 
 cious silks to the Turk, to sue for peace. But the best part 
 of the story is, that, not to offend Turkish eyes, they have 
 changed the attire of their country for the long Turkish 
 tunic. The embassy, it is said, sailed from Venice the 21st 
 June. Are these Christians? No — they are infernal masks 
 of the devil. O, joyful signs of the close of all things I" 
 This peace with the Turks was the removal of the last poli- 
 tical impediment to the accomplishment of Charles's ulterior 
 designs : and little now remained to be done save to muster 
 his troops and provide for their maintenance.
 
 366 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1545. But the war between France and England still continued, 
 and the French monarch had commissioned the exiled Duke 
 of Brunswick to levy forces for him against Henry VIII., 
 and had supplied him with money for the purpose. The 
 Duke of Brunswick, without much difficulty, raised the re- 
 quired troops ; but his thoughts were upon his own fortunes ; 
 and, with the army destined for a very different use, and paid 
 by France, he made an invasion of his own duchy, took the 
 fortress of Steinbruck, pillaged the country far and wide, 
 burning the villages, and laid siege to Wolfenbuttel. How- 
 ever, the forces of the Schmalkald league, headed by the 
 Landgrave, soon took the field against him ; Duke Maurice 
 gave his assistance to the Elector and Prince of Hesse ; and, 
 after some negotiations, which proved entirely fruitless from 
 the reckless disregard to truth which characterised the Duke 
 
 Oct. 21. of Brunswick, the dispositions of his forces by the Landgrave 
 for battle promised an easy victory, when the Duke and his 
 son surrendered themselves to his mercy. This event filled 
 Luther with gratitude ; and he wrote to the Elector and the 
 Prince of Hesse, that the hand of Providence was to be 
 marked in their bloodless triumph ; and now they had Me- 
 zentius in their hands, they were by no means to let him go 
 unless he repented of his blasphemies.* 
 
 1546. Early in the ensuing year the appointed conference of 
 
 theologians was opened at Batisbon. George Major repre- 
 sented the Wittenberg school; for Luther had begged that 
 Melancthon might be spared the vexatiousness of another 
 conference, on the ground that his health was feeble, that 
 the whole affair was an imperial stratagem, and even if it 
 should prove more than a farce, the Papists could not pro- 
 
 * Albert, the Cardinal Archbishop of Mentz, died on the 24th Sep- 
 fcember, 1545.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 367 
 
 duce a man of any account, at least none for whom Major 1546. 
 was not more than a match. The proceedings had not 
 been long continued when a mandate from the Emperor 
 abruptly broke up the discussions. The Emperor insisted that 
 the minutes of what passed at the conference should not be 
 communicated to any one save himself, with which the Pro- 
 testants refused to comply ; and he also constituted Julius 
 Pflug one of the presidents of the conference, whom he 
 styled Bishop of Naumburg, and thus took his cause under 
 his patronage against the Elector of Saxony, as he had be- 
 fore done that of the Cologne canons, against their Arch- 
 bishop. 
 
 As regards the Council, its first session had taken place on 
 the 13th December, the third Sunday in Advent, and the 
 second session was postponed until the 7th January. The 
 intervening time was engrossed with arranging matters of 
 ceremony, the mode of voting, which it was determined 
 should be, not by nations, but individually, and other pre- 
 liminaries. Cotemporaneously the Schmalkald Allies were 
 holding a meeting at Frankfort, and deliberating on the Trent 
 Council, the protection to be afforded the Archbishop of 
 Cologne, and on making suit to the Emperor at the approach- 
 ing Diet at Ratisbon, that he would grant religious peace 
 and the reformation of the Imperial Chamber. Their eyes 
 were just beginning to be half opened to the long tissue of 
 dissimulation and artifice, of which they had proved the too 
 ready dupes. 
 
 Before the close of the preceding year, Luther had pro- 
 mised the Counts of Mansfeld to go to Eisleben, and en- 
 deavour to arrange some differences which had broken out 
 between them in regard to their respective jurisdictions. 
 This promise was the more considerate, because the season of 
 the year was little opportune for travelling in the case of an
 
 368 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1546. infirm and sickly person, and Luther already in the autumn 
 had paid a visit to Eisleben on invitation, without the desired 
 effect of restoring harmony. The family of the Counts of 
 Mansfeld consisted of two branches, derived from two brothers. 
 Ernest and Hoyer were the sons of Albert ; Ernest was dead, 
 but had left two sons, the Counts Philip and John George ; 
 the sons of Ernest, Albert's brother, were Counts Albert and 
 Gebhard. The Albertine branch remained steadfast to Ro- 
 manism ; the Ernestine had embraced the evangelical faith, 
 and were personally as well as religiously much attached to 
 Luther. But it had been already proved to both families, 
 that private motives had no influence upon the Reformer's 
 judgment. The revenues of the family were principally drawn 
 from extensive mines of silver and copper, worked by their 
 subjects, with the appropriation of one-tenth of the produce 
 to the Counts of Mansfeld as lords of the soil. The mines 
 proved sources of enormous wealth, and the Counts became 
 of opinion, especially Albert, that the proportion allotted to 
 themselves was too small, in the great prosperity of the dis- 
 trict, and put in force a claim for a larger dividend. Luther 
 undertook the cause of the miners, and had himself remon- 
 strated earnestly with Count Albert on his harshness and ex- 
 orbitancy. Other quarrels, such as are sure to spring from 
 the full-blown bag of avarice, quickly followed, and set the 
 heads of the house of Mansfeld at variance with one another 
 on various questions of very difficult adjustment. Hence an 
 entreaty, in which all members of the family united, was for- 
 warded to Luther that he would act as mediator, and was 
 answered by him in a letter to Count Albert, dated the 8th 
 December : " He would be at Mansfeld soon after the end of 
 the Leipsic market, and leave it to both parties to name a 
 day : he would devote eight days to the business, although he 
 had much to do ; but he should lay him down with peace in
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 369 
 
 his coffin if he had first seen his dear landlords friendly and 1546. 
 of one mind." 
 
 In a letter of the 17th January, to his friend James Probst 
 of Bremen, Luther describes himself as " old, decrepit, inert, 
 wearied, cold, and deprived of sight in one eye." Six days 
 afterwards, on the 23rd, he left Wittenberg, on his journey 
 to Eisleben, accompanied by his three sons, and his servant 
 Ambrose, and arrived at Halle at eight o'clock the same 
 evening. The 25th, Monday, he wrote to Kate from Halle — 
 " We have not been able to pursue our road to Eisleben, for 
 there met us a great Anabaptist, with billows of water, and 
 huge blocks of ice who deluged the land, and threatened us 
 with anabaptism. We could not return on account of the 
 Mulda; so we resolved to lie quiet at Halle between the 
 waters. We were not athirst however for the water, but 
 drank good Torgau beer, and good Rhenish wine, wherewith 
 we refreshed ourselves, and solaced our delay if the Saala 
 shoidd again overflow with rage. It would have been tempt- 
 ing God to have trusted ourselves to the water, for the devil 
 is wrath with us, and dwells in the water : it is better to 
 prevent than complain, and there is no need we should be 
 fools' sport to the Pope and his spawn. I could never have 
 thought the Saala could have turned such a sot and broken 
 over carriage road and everything. I have no more to say, 
 than that you must pray for us and be cheerful. If you had 
 been here, you would have advised what we have done, and 
 for once we should have taken your advice. Herewith I com- 
 mend you to God. Amen." The next day Luther preached 
 on the conversion of St. Paul, and for three days Luther was 
 detained at Halle in Dr. Jonas's house, and was at last 
 obliged to effect his passage in a boat, not without some dan- 
 ger. On the 28th, in company with Justus Jonas, Coelius, 
 pastor of Eisleben, and John Goldsmith, and his three sons, 
 
 VOL. II. B B
 
 370 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1546. lie entered Eisleben. " He was received by the Counts of 
 Mansfeld, and an escort of more than a hundred horsemen, 
 and entered the town/' writes Maimburg, "more like a 
 prince than a prophet, amidst the salute of cannon, and the 
 ringing of the bells in all the churches." 
 
 On the road to Eisleben Luther suffered from a return of 
 those violent pains in the chest, with oppression of the breath, 
 which had first attacked him more than a year before ; and 
 when, dizzy with pain and extreme weakness, he reached the 
 lodging prepared for him in Dr. Drachstadt's house, fears 
 were entertained for his life, and he himself charged Satan 
 with endeavouring as usual to thwart his plans, when they 
 seemed the nearest their accomplishment. But warmth was 
 restored by continued friction with hot cloths. " On the 
 journey I walked beyond my strength," he wrote to Me- 
 lancthon the 1st February, "and when I got into the carriage 
 again the perspiration chilled on me, and cold seized the 
 sinews of the left arm." The same day he wrote to his 
 "heart-loved house-wife, Catherine Lutherin Doctoress Zuls- 
 dorferess Sow-marketress, and whatever more she may be. 
 Grace and peace in Christ, and my old poor love, in the first 
 place. Dear Kate — I was very weak on the road hard before 
 Eisleben. That was my own fault. If you had been here, 
 you would have said it was the fault of the Jews or their 
 God. Before we reached Eisleben we passed through a 
 village full of Jews : and perhaps they blew an evil blast 
 upon me. And in Eisleben, at this moment, there are more 
 than fifty Jews. However, it is true that, when I was close 
 to their village, there came such a cold wind behind in the 
 carriage upon my head through the baret, as if it would turn 
 my head to ice. This may have had something to do with 
 my giddiness ; but I am now in good case, excepting that the 
 pretty women set so hard at me that I have no care to requite
 
 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 371 
 
 all their attentions. I drink Neunburg beer, which you have 1546. 
 praised to me from Mansfeld, and like it well. Your little 
 sons left Mansfeld the day before yesterday; John of Jena so 
 humbly prayed them to visit him." 
 
 The weather had become much milder, and Luther's 
 health seemed improved by the change in the atmosphere ; 
 but the business which had been the object of his journey 
 progressed at a very leisurely pace. " I entreat you," he 
 wrote to Melancthon, " to prevail with the Elector, through 
 Dr. Bruck, to recall me : perhaps, in this way I may hasten 
 the work of concord. In every syllable they fancy poison to 
 be hidden. This is, indeed, logomachy or logomany ; but 
 we owe it to the lawyers, who have taught the world cavillings 
 and quibblings, until their tongue is more confused than any 
 Babylon. There no one could understand the other ; here 
 none wishes to understand the other. You sycophants ! 
 you sophists! pests of mankind!" A letter to Kate, the 
 same day, directed her to tell Master Philip to correct his 
 " Postil," as he had failed to comprehend why in the Gospel 
 the Lord called riches thorns. " Here is the school," he 
 continued, " where the reason may be readily learnt. But it 
 pains me that always in Holy Scripture the thorns are threat- 
 ened with the fire ; wherefore, I show the more patience, if by 
 God's help I might effect some good. Your little sons are still 
 at Mansfeld." The next day, after this letter had been sent, 
 an epistle was received from Kate, full of anxiety about her 
 husband's health, the perils of travelling, and the various 
 casualties which she feared might befall him. Luther replied 
 immediately: "Do read, thou dear Kate — St. John and the 
 Short Catechism — of which you once said, ' All in the book is 
 spoken about me.' You must, forsooth, take care for your 
 God, as though God were not Almighty, and could not make 
 
 b b 2
 
 372 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1546. ten Dr. Martins if the one old one should be drowned in the 
 Saal. Leave me in peace. I have a better one to care for 
 me than you or all the angels, even Him who laid in the 
 manger and hung on the virgin's breast, but is seated like- 
 wise at the right hand of God. Therefore be in peace. Amen." 
 Kate's solicitude continued unabated, and Luther again 
 laboured to inspire confidence ; " Most saintly Lady Doc- 
 toress, we thank you very kindly for your great care, which 
 you say will not suffer you to sleep ; for ever since you have 
 cared so anxiously about us, we have narrowly escaped de- 
 struction ; a fire broke out in our lodging, close to my study 
 door ; and yesterday, without doubt, by virtue of your care, 
 a stone had all but fallen on my head, and crushed me like a 
 mouse. If you do not cease to care, at least the earth will 
 swallow me up, and all the elements turn my persecutors. 
 Do you study your Catechism and Belief. Do you pray and 
 leave God to care ; cast all your care upon him, for he careth 
 for you. God be praised, I am brisk and well, save that 
 this business is very troublesome." Besides attention to the 
 arrangement of differences, to which an hour or so of each 
 alternate day was devoted, Luther examined and gave his 
 approval to a scheme of Church Ueform, once received abso- 
 lution publicly, and the Lord's Supper twice, and ordained 
 two priests, and preached four times, not forgetting the Jews, 
 the Pope, and the Council, amidst large assemblies of the 
 miners and country people. His last sermon was preached 
 on the 15th February, (St. Matthew's day), and his text was 
 Matthew xi. 25 — 30. The subject was the contrast between 
 the wisdom of the children of this world, and of the children 
 of the next. And he concluded with the words : " I am too 
 weak to say more. The dear God give grace, that we may 
 receive his precious word with thanksgiving, grow and in-
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 373 
 
 crease in the knowledge and faith of his son, our Lord Jesus 154,0. 
 Christ, and in the confession of his holy word, steadfastly 
 abide unto the end. Amen." 
 
 On the 14th February he received the letter which he had 
 desired from the Elector, remanding him home, and he wrote 
 the same day to Melancthon to apprise him of his intended 
 speedy return, and requested that a messenger might be sent 
 to meet him on the way, with some of the corrosive ointment 
 for his leg, which he had unfortunately forgotten to take with 
 him, and now felt the need of, for the wound in his leg had 
 healed, which was dangerous. The mandate from the 
 Elector had. the effect, which Luther had anticipated, of 
 expediting the settlement of differences, and an arrangement 
 was effected between the Counts of Mansfeld in regard to 
 clerical patronage, and the maintenance of schools, which was 
 an important point gained. Luther was in high spirits with 
 this measure of success, and wrote to Kate, the same day, 
 the last letter which appears in his correspondence : " Grace 
 and peace in the Lord, dear Kate. We hope to return home 
 this week, if God will. God has shown us great goodness ; 
 for the lords, by their councillors, have made it up, as far as 
 two or three articles, amongst which is, that the two brothers, 
 Count Gebhard and Albert shall be brothers again, which I 
 shall take in hand to-day, and shall invite them to dine with 
 me, that they may speak with one another; for hitherto they 
 have not been on speaking terms, and have embittered the 
 quarrel by writings. The young lords are very merry, and 
 go out sledging together, and the little ladies too, and bring 
 one another presents and good things, and also Count 
 Albert's son. We may perceive that God hears prayer. I 
 send you some trout, which the Countess Albert has presented 
 to me; she is from her heart rejoiced to have concord. Your 
 little sons are still at Mansfeld. James Luther will take
 
 374 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1546. good care of them. We eat and drink like the lords, and 
 are so well attended to, that we might well forget you at 
 Wittenberg. I am not troubled with the stone." 
 
 On the morning of Wednesday the 17th, Luther com- 
 plained of not feeling well, and was advised by Wolfgang, 
 Prince of Anhalt, and the Count of Schwartzburg, the 
 councillors of the Counts of Mansfeld, not to attempt any 
 business during the day, but to remain quiet in his parlour. 
 He walked up and down the room half dressed, and sometimes 
 looked out of the window, and prayed with a fervour which 
 excited the attention of those in the room with him. His 
 habitual cheerfulness was in full vigour, but occasionally he 
 said to Justus Jonas and Michael Coelius, the pastor of 
 Eisleben, who had been in constant attendance upon him — 
 " I was born and baptized at Eisleben, and I shall die here." 
 Before dinner he was seized with oppression of the chest, and 
 the remedy which was now customary with him, and had been 
 resorted to almost every day during his stay at Eisleben 
 (friction with hot cloths), was tried and afforded some relief. 
 When dinner time came he exclaimed, " There is no joy in 
 being alone," and removed from his parlour into the large 
 dining apartment, and sat down with the rest of the com- 
 pany and ate with a good appetite, conversing freely and 
 jesting in his usual vein of humour. The conversation fell 
 on the shortness of life, and he observed — " When an infant 
 of one year old dies, probably one or two thousand through- 
 out the world die at the same time and age ; but were I, an 
 old man of sixty-three years, to die, not more than sixty or a 
 hundred of the same age would quit this life with me. Men 
 do not now live to such great old age as formerly; God 
 builds a new world every twenty years, and fills his kingdom 
 with children." As the conversation proceeded, the inquiry 
 was put, whether relatives would recognise one another in the
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 375 
 
 future world. "To be sure/' Luther answered; " when 1546. 
 Adam awoke from his sleep, he did not question Eve, whom 
 he had never seen, whence or who art thou? but at once de- 
 clared, ' This is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.' How 
 did he know that she had not sprung to life from a stone ? 
 Because he was full of the Holy Ghost, and had the true 
 knowledge of God. When we are restored to this knowledge 
 and the Divine image in the next life, we shall recognise our 
 parents and one another by face." After dinner he again 
 complained of pain in the chest, and had hot cloths ap- 
 plied to the chest and back, but would not permit medical 
 aid to be summoned ; and when Count Albert expressed his 
 concern, he assured him that he already felt better. He laid 
 down on a couch and slept very composedly in the parlour 
 for two hours and a half, and desired those present to go to 
 bed, and awoke about ten o'clock, and requested that his 
 bed in his sleeping apartment might be warmed. Before he 
 was conducted to his sleeping room, he gave his hand to each 
 of those present, and wished them good-night in the form of 
 words which he had used on retiring to rest for three weeks 
 previously — " Pray to God to bless the cause of his Church, 
 for the Council of Trent is the Pope in very deed;" and on 
 crossing the doorway he repeated the text, " Into thy hands, 
 O Lord, I commend my spirit." He laid down on his bed to 
 sleep, and his two younger sons, Martin and Paul, (John was 
 absent at the time,) his servant Ambrose, Jonas and Coelius 
 remained in the apartment, watching him. About one o'clock 
 he called Ambrose, and ordered him to warm the parlour. 
 When Dr. Jonas asked him how he felt, he exclaimed, " O 
 Lord God, how ill I am ! Yes, dear Dr. Jonas, I was born 
 and baptized at Eisleben, and shall remain here." " Reverend 
 father," Jonas replied, " our heavenly Father will succour you 
 for Christ's sake, whom you have preached." Luther walked
 
 376 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1546. up and down the room two or three times, but the pain con- 
 tinued, and he called for hot cloths. A summons was now 
 sent for medical help ; his host and hostess were called up, 
 and Count Albert and the Countess were apprised of Luther's 
 state. All came with great speed, the Countess bringing an 
 ample supply of aquavitse and every kind of costly medicine 
 that she could think of. Luther was lying upon the couch in 
 great pain when they entered the apartment. The Countess 
 administered to him aquavitre and chafed his forehead and 
 hands with aromatic water. Luther continued in extreme 
 pain, and cried aloud, " O Lord God, what pain I suffer ! 
 I shall remain at Eisleben." " Call on Jesus Christ, reverend 
 father/' said Jonas and Ccelius, " our Lord and Priest and 
 only Mediator, whom you have preached. You are in a pro- 
 fuse perspiration. God grant that you may get better." 
 "It is the cold sweat of death," Luther replied. "I shall 
 yield up my spirit, for my illness grows worse." He then 
 prayed aloud in these words — " O heavenly Father, God 
 and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, thou God of all com- 
 fort, I thank thee that thou hast revealed to me thy dear Son 
 Jesus Christ, whom I have preached, confessed, loved, and 
 adored : my Saviour and dearest Redeemer, whom the im- 
 pious Pope and the ungodly persecute, revile and blaspheme 
 — I pray thee, my Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Presently 
 he added, " O heavenly Father, although I must quit this 
 body, and be torn from this life, yet I certainly know that I 
 shall remain with thee throughout eternity, and no one shall 
 pluck me out of thy hand." These words were followed by 
 his reciting texts of Scripture, which he repeated, according to 
 his custom, in Latin — "God so loved the world that he gave 
 his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should 
 not perish, but have everlasting life." " He that is our God 
 is the God of salvation ; and unto God the Lord belong the
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 377 
 
 issues from death." Here one of the physicians gave him a 1546. 
 costly medicine, which had been reserved as a last expedient. 
 He received it, and immediately afterwards said, " I am dying, 
 and shall soon render up my spirit ;" and then thrice repeated 
 — " Into thine hands I commend my spirit, for thou hast re- 
 deemed me, O Lord, thou God of truth." A sudden change 
 appeared to pass over him — he became silent and closed his 
 eyes. The Countess continued to bathe his temples, and the 
 physicians were assiduous in their efforts to restore animation 
 by hot cloths and rubbing. But his end was evidently fast 
 approaching, and Justus Jonas in a clear voice inquired, 
 " Reverend father, do you die in the constant confession of 
 Christ, and the doctrine which you have preached ?" Audibly 
 and distinctly he answered, "Yes/' He afterwards turned 
 on his right side and slept for about a quarter of an hour, 
 which gave his friends a feeble hope that he might yet revive. 
 The physicians moved the candles towards him and examined 
 his countenance minutely ; they observed that his face was 
 becoming more and more pallid, and they felt his feet, and 
 they were already quite cold. Shortly afterwards, a little 
 before three o'clock, he drew a deep but gentle sigh, and, 
 without moving a foot, or any apparent symptom of pain, 
 peaceably resigned his spirit to God.
 
 378 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 In comparing man with man, and estimating the relative 
 greatness of those who are handed down from age to age as 
 great men, it is necessary to keep in view that the true mea- 
 sure of individual force and greatness of character, is only to 
 be accurately ascertained by considering the nature of the 
 work appointed the individual in the economy of divine Pro- 
 vidence, and his peculiar adaptation for the part assigned. 
 Estimated by this universal rule, it must be confessed that 
 Luther holds a position second to none of all those who have 
 filled the largest space in the eye of the world, and only yields 
 to the inspired teachers and first apostles of the Christian 
 revelation. 
 
 Ere this " poor Reformer, with the Gospel in his hand, and 
 in the inspired spirit of poverty, restored the Christian reli- 
 gion," that semblance of Christianity to which the primitive 
 faith had at length been melted down and transmuted by 
 human ingenuity in a long course of ages, was a mere priest- 
 craft. Forms and shadows had been prized and multiplied, 
 until the life and substance, of which they were at first 
 regarded as the safe-guards, were completely lost sight of 
 by the large mass of professing Christians. The officials of 
 religion had persuaded the multitude that religion was their 
 peculiar and exclusive domain ; and had thus led the people to 
 look up to them implicitly for guidance, and rely on their 
 faith and piety as substitutes for their own : and the effect 
 gradually wrought on those who thus denominated them-
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER, 379 
 
 selves the clergy, God's special inheritance, was the converting 
 holy things into a lucrative privilege, and trading on the con- 
 sciences and fears of the laity. Under such a system the 
 distinctive doctrines of Christianity faded away one by one 
 from the popular apprehension : not that they were authori- 
 tatively cancelled by that religious council board which 
 styled itself the Church, but that they were practically obli- 
 terated by ceremonies and trifles, to which superstition at- 
 tached a value, and from which the Church derived a revenue. 
 Nearly the same stages had been passed through in the 
 Christian, at this period, as in the Jewish Church at the era of 
 the Saviour ; and the result was similar — the commandments 
 of God were set at nought by human traditions. Payment of 
 money to those who offered up Christ for the quick and dead 
 every day, could purchase the atonement of any sin ; or some 
 bodily exercises, muttering prayers, fastings, pilgrimages, or 
 self-torture, or the absolution of the priest, or the Pope's 
 indulgence letter, could expiate the heinousness of the worst 
 crime. Repentance simply meant penance : it was no longer 
 an inward change, but an outward discipline, and was under 
 the regulation of the clergy ; to offend against an ecclesias- 
 tical ordinance or precept was a more flagrant transgression 
 than the breach of a law of God's moral code. Thus the 
 true nature of sin was forgotten, as well as the only real 
 atonement for sin obscured. To become a priest was to 
 choose God, to enter on a life of holiness : to take the vow of 
 celibacy, and fly from the world, and bury the head in the re- 
 treat of a convent, was to espouse Christ, to be admitted to 
 " the state of perfection," and walk in a meritorious pathway 
 which assuredly led to heaven. The people approached God 
 by his priests, as their intercessors ; or besought other inter- 
 cessors, Mary and the saints, to plead for tbem in heaven. 
 Books had been written, and documents forged, Avhich in the
 
 380 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 lapse of time had grown of venerable authority, to rivet these 
 chains of the clergy more firmly on the minds of the laity : 
 but as, with all its aberrations from truth, the Church still 
 revered the writings of the early Fathers, and dared not deny 
 the Scriptures to be the Word of God, it really carried in its 
 own bosom the seeds of the destruction of this idolatrous 
 system of priestcraft and ritual, and the germ of a revived 
 order of things. And hence the clasp and lock were put upon 
 the Bible, and sentinels of the Church guarded the entrance, 
 that none should approach the fearful deposit without due 
 warrant from the hierarchy. 
 
 Luther proceeded from the very strictest of the order of 
 friars, who almost entirely monopolized the ecclesiastical 
 virtue of the times, administered parochial duties as vicars, 
 and episcopal as suffragans, and without whom, Machiavel 
 observes, that in the widespread degeneracy of Christendom, 
 Christianity must have become totally extinct. Concern for 
 his soul, and terror of God, drove Luther to become a member 
 of the Augustinian fraternity : and monkery was really used 
 by him for the purpose for which such a life had first been 
 selected — as a means of earning heaven by a meritorious life of 
 self-denial. But he felt with agonising and increasing power 
 the difficulties, and at length started back from the impos- 
 sibility of the task which he had imposed upon himself; 
 he had set out on the journey to heaven by the strict 
 and secluded pathway of conventualism with all the energy 
 of his soul ; but he stumbled at the first outset ; though he 
 celebrated mass every clay, prayed, fasted, and did penance, 
 and wore out his body with self- discipline, he had no 
 peace. His conscience upbraided him with the constant 
 breach of those ordinances, to transgress which was called sin 
 by the monks ; and although he afterwards learnt that these 
 were only sins of man's creating — peccata ficta et picla — as
 
 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 381 
 
 he termed them, yet like the Jew, ' ' shut up by the Law unto 
 the Gospel," he found his feet so entangled, and his progress 
 so fettered, by this network of human inventions, that it was 
 with joy, greatly enhanced by his conviction of failure even in 
 the attempt to observe imaginary duties, that he at last burst 
 from such bondage into the liberty of him whom the Son of 
 God makes free. The shades of the monastery were fa- 
 vourable for converse with his own heart : and he found that 
 seclusion from the outer world and its forms of external evil, 
 seemed only to deepen the power and vitality of evil in his 
 own heart, and he became painfully and overpoweringly 
 conscious of an inherent ineradicable depravity. All this 
 spiritual discipline, accompanied by the deeper and deeper 
 study of God's Word, the most important truths of which 
 were pointed out to him by the Vicar-General of his order, 
 a mystic, like many others of that age, impressed on his soul, 
 in characters not to be effaced, the " exceeding sinfulness of 
 sin," and the existence of such sin in a most intense degree, 
 without any regard to its manifestation in outward act, in the 
 recesses of his own heart. This was exactly the spiritual 
 experience and heaven-born conviction fundamentally neces- 
 sary in the man who was to overthrow a Pelagian system, 
 such as Romanism, and republish the humbling truths of the 
 doctrine of Christ. And thus in all his writings, conviction 
 of sin is one of the most obvious and striking features : the 
 conviction became more and more profound, as his Christian 
 experience advanced, till at last he subscribed himself, instead 
 of " Luther," " Christi lutum ;" but it is remarkably exhibited 
 in his earliest writings. He thus wrote in his first Commen- 
 tary on the Epistle to the Galatians — " Be it that I have not 
 committed, in act, homicide, adultery, theft, and other sins of 
 such a kind, against the second table of God's commands : yet 
 I have committed them in heart. Wherefore I am a trans-
 
 382 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 gressor of all the commandments of God, and so great is the 
 multitude of my sins, that an ox-hide could not encompass 
 them. Nay, they are not to be numbered ; I have sinned 
 more times than the sea has sands." " All our own works," 
 he said at a later period, " be they ever so precious, are no- 
 thing better than death and poison." 
 
 But this conviction of sinfulness, as appertaining not only 
 to the life, but defiling the seat of the thoughts and motives, 
 the heart, did not come alone : had it doue so, it would have 
 only produced despair. The "sentence of death in himself" 
 was rapidly succeeded by the assurance of life in Christ : and 
 though despair often tried to gain the mastery, faith in the 
 one sacrifice for sin, through the strength of the Holy Ghost, 
 proved " more than conqueror over subdued and unsubdued 
 iniquity." He wrote on this subject in the Commentary just 
 quoted as follows : — " Hypocrites, ignorant of Christ, al- 
 though they feel remorse for sin, yet think that they shall 
 easily atone for it by their own works and merits. And they 
 would have those words — ( Who gave himself for our sins/ to 
 be words spoken in humility, so as to mean for sins not serious 
 and true, but nominal and fictitious sins. Human reason 
 would like to bring to God a feigned, a pretended sinner, one 
 who had no terror on account of sin, and no sense of sin : it 
 would fain bring the whole, who has no need of the physician, 
 and then, without any sense of guilt, believe that ' Christ was 
 delivered for our sins/ The entire world is of this mind; 
 especially those in the world who wish to be more religious 
 and holy than others, as they dream, that is, the monks and 
 all work-mongers. These with the lip confess that they are 
 sinners; they confess that they commit sins every day, but 
 not so vast and multitudinous, but by their own works they 
 can do them away. Nay, more than this, they want to bring 
 their holiness and merits to the tribunal of Christ, and
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 383 
 
 demand for them from their Judge the payment of eternal 
 life. Meanwhile, as a humfole fraternity, not to be quite 
 sinless, they imagine a few sins, that they may beg pardon 
 for these, and with great devotion, pray with the publican, 
 ' God be merciful to me a sinner.' . . . This, therefore, 
 is the special science and wisdom of the Christian, to take 
 these words as serious and most true, that Christ was de- 
 livered to death, not for our holiness and sanctity, but for our 
 sins, which are real, vast, many, nay, infinite, and unsub- 
 dued. Do not imagine them small, such as your works can 
 do away. Do not despair at their number, when you truly 
 feel them in life, or in the hour of death ; but believe that 
 Christ for no feigned and pretended, but for real sins ; for 
 sins not small, but the very greatest ; not for one or two sins, 
 but for all sins ; not for subdued sins (for no man, no angel, 
 can subdue the very least sin), but for sins unsubdued, was 
 delivered to death." When Luther, from this awful consci- 
 ousness of his own ineradicable iniquity, had emerged to the 
 daylight of eternal life by the knowledge of Christ, the whole 
 Scripture became intelligible to him. Repentance, he now 
 saw, meant the thorough change worked by the Holy Ghost 
 in the heart, which, instead of looking to self, turns to Christ 
 for every thing. Through types and emblems, rites and ordi- 
 nances, he beheld Christ, " of whom the Bible spoke, and 
 of whom it spoke alone :" and year after year, as it ripened 
 his spiritual experience, confirmed his trust in the Sun of 
 righteousness, the centre of the entire Christian system. 
 " In my heart/' he said, many years afterwards, " reigns, and 
 alone shall reign, this one article, viz., faith in my dear Lord 
 Christ, who of all my spiritual thoughts day and night is the 
 beginning, the middle, and the end." " I sometimes, in 
 order to apprehend the great truth of justification by faith
 
 384 THE LlFJi OE MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 alone the better," he wrote to Brentz in a postscript to a letter 
 of Melancthon to him on that subject, " put the case to myself 
 thus, that there is in my heart no quality or virtue that can be 
 called faith or love (as the sophists speak thereof and dream) ; 
 but I put all simply on Christ, and say, He is my formal 
 righteousness, my certain, stable, complete righteousness, 
 wherein is no want or fail ; all I should be before God, that 
 Christ my Lord is to me." 
 
 This was indeed restoring the Sun to the theological firma- 
 ment, from which by a long eclipse it seemed to be blotted 
 out. Works of charity and piety, which the Papists had mag- 
 nified and extolled until their vicious theology had marked 
 its traces in the most awful irreligion and wide-spread im- 
 morality, were once more placed in their proper relation to 
 their only true source and principle, faith in the Divine 
 word that Christ is the only Saviour. " Faith," Luther said, 
 " is the sun of all those rays of good works." He exceed- 
 ingly disliked such expressions as " The Christian is bound to 
 do good works;" such a phrase, he objected, savours of 
 legality, and is as absurd as to say, " The sun ought to shine ;" 
 " A good tree ought to yield fruit." " Believers," he insisted, 
 " are a new creation, a new tree ; the workman must precede 
 his work : faith is always operative inevitably." And he saw 
 with equal clearness that justification by faith, the work of 
 promise, or the gift of the Holy Spirit, being in every case 
 perfect, cannot admit of degrees. " We are all equally 
 righteous or just in our one Christ ; we are all equally be- 
 loved and acceptable in point of character ; yet star differs 
 from star in brightness, although God loves the star of Saturn 
 as much as the sun or the moon." He traced with scriptural 
 clearness the genealogical tree, as it may be called, of the 
 Christian life : simple Faith in Christ the trunk or stem, the
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 385 
 
 parent of Love; and again, Love the parent of Obedience. 
 " There are many false Christians/' he wrote,* " who boast 
 of Christ, like the faithless Cain, and yet remain without any 
 fruit of faith. Therefore the Apostle speaks here not of the 
 means of deliverance from sins and death into life, but of the 
 test whereby a man may be assured of this ; not of the cause, 
 but of the effect . . . For faith is not such a thing as can 
 lie alcne and dead : but where it lives in the heart, it shows 
 its power. The heart, in which is shed abroad trust and 
 sure confidence in God's grace and love, is moved to be good, 
 friendly, gentle, patient towards every neighbour, is void of 
 all hate, and willingly serves every one, should need be, 
 with body and life. Such fruit proves and testifies that 
 verily such a man is passed from death unto life. The faith 
 that acknowledges God's grace and goodness in deliverance 
 out of death into life, enkindles the heart to love in return 
 and do all good, even to enemies, as God has done to him." 
 "When I have the righteousness of Christ within me," 
 Luther says again in a noble passage in his Commentary 
 on the Epistle to the Galatians, " I descend from heaven, like 
 a shower fertilizing the earth : that is, I go forth into another 
 region, and do good works, whatsoever I can. If I am a minis- 
 ter of the word, I preach, comfort the weak, administer the 
 sacraments : if a father of a family, I rule my house and 
 family, and rear up my children in piety and honesty : if a 
 magistrate, I execute my divine commission : if a servant, I 
 faithfully care for my master's property : in fine, whoever 
 certainly knows Christ to be his Righteousness, he not only 
 from the heart and with joy does good works in his vocation, 
 but out of love subjects himself likewise to the magistrate, 
 even to impious laws, and to all the burdens and dangers of 
 
 * Postil to Epistle, Second Sunday after Trinity. — 1 John iii. 13 — 
 IS ; Walch. XII. p. 885. 
 
 VOL. II. C C
 
 386 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 the present life, if need bej because lie knows that such is 
 God's will, and that this obedience is well pleasing to God." 
 Luther called this "the doctrine of faith and love ;" "Faith 
 makes us lords, but Love makes us servants." And he 
 always taught that the bondslave's obedience, on the prin- 
 ciple of service exacted, is not to be compared with the 
 obedience of freedom, the cheerful devotion of the son in his 
 father's house. " It is entitled great nobility, honour, and 
 glory on earth, to be the child of a mighty renowned king or 
 emperor; yet how much higher could any one truly boast 
 himself a son of the highest angel? But what is it all com- 
 pared with being called, nay, being named and chosen by God 
 himself his child, and heir of the high divine Majesty !" 
 " Without love/' he would say, " we are nothing, although 
 we could work miracles." 
 
 This " golden science, to know Christ," Luther had learnt 
 in the monastery ; but his deep acquaintance with divine 
 things might have left behind it no other record than some lines 
 graven on the walls of his cell, as in the case of many others, 
 or some tradition at Erfurth, or among his order, unless God 
 in his wonderful Providence, having fashioned him as his 
 chosen instrument in the shade of the cloister, when the pre- 
 paration was complete, had set his work in the world before 
 him. Against " human works, the merits of saints and their 
 intercession, and the sacrifice of the mass," the foul dregs to 
 which the Christianity of Romanism had sunk, he preached 
 " Christ crucified," long before he had begun to question the 
 pretensions of Rome, or had ceased to venerate the Pontiff 
 even with fanaticism . When at last the awakening to the real 
 character of the Papacy came, and by firmly grasping one 
 central truth, first one corruption, then another, at length 
 the entire fabric of Romanism lay in ruins at his feet, show- 
 ing with what earthly materials it had been built up, he rose to
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 387 
 
 his second grand discovery. The Church, he found, did not 
 consist of prelates, or of the clergy only : nay, the Pope him- 
 self, and most of the highest ecclesiastical dignitaries, were 
 " no part of Christ at all ; " but, as Huss had said, the Church 
 was " the universe of predestined souls ; " it was the 
 society of true believers, " not only under the Pope, but 
 in all the world." With tremendous power Luther shi- 
 vered to pieces, in his " Babylonish Captivity/' that sacerdo- 
 talism, with which, as with a mill-stone tied round it, the 
 Papacy had been sinking the so-called Church to the depths 
 of hell. All the things of Christ, he said, appertained to 
 every believer in common : the priesthood was a common 
 right and privilege of all those anointed kings and priests by 
 the Holy Ghost : to administer the Sacraments and to preach 
 the Word were not restricted to any class in the Church : the 
 character indelibilis was a merely human pretence, without the 
 least scriptural foundation : and the minister or pastor simply 
 differed from the ordinary Christian in enjoying the ministe- 
 rial gift from God, i. e. the talent of preaching, recognised by 
 the laying on of hands. The practical influence of this teach- 
 ing was important in the highest degree. Papal sacerdotal- 
 ism, had made all worldly callings profane, and distinguished 
 religion from irreligion by reference to outward acts and 
 names, instead of the inward motive and principle. Luther 
 proclaimed that Christianity must pervade every state of life, 
 and enter into every employment and act : " The Word of 
 God must not only reign in the Church, but in the ministra- 
 tion of civil government, and in the domestic household." 
 To dedicate an image of gold to God, to collect saintly relics, 
 or to be buried in the garb of a Franciscan or Dominican, by 
 way of passport to heaven, such things were Romanist follies : 
 but to bring up children in God's fear, to live to God's glory 
 in whatever worldly calling, to do the most humble act of 
 
 c c .2
 
 388 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 kindness from a spirit of love, these common-place duties were 
 truly Christian. Yet the secular and the spiritual were still 
 to be kept distinct, for "the two ministries had been sun- 
 dered by Christ himself." Luther spoke of the delight 
 with which the Elector Frederic had welcomed such a prac- 
 tical exposition of scriptural piety, how he had "his book 
 copied out, bound separately, and sore loved it," rejoicing 
 that, although a layman, he might yet be a Christian prince. 
 "The monks inquire," Luther wrote in his Postil to the 
 Gospel for the First Sunday after the Epiphany, " what sort 
 of life did St. Francis lead? What garments did he wear? 
 We will do and wear the same. But no one, they say, knows 
 what Christ did. Yes, I reply, we are told what Christ did; 
 for it is written, c He went down with his parents to Nazareth, 
 and was subject unto them.' In such words the Evangelist com- 
 prises the whole youth of our dear Lord Christ. That he was 
 subject to his parents means nothing else than that he walked 
 in the paths of the fourth commandment. When his mother 
 said, ' Son, run here or there ; bring me a can of water, fetch 
 me beer, wood, straw, &c./ he ran and fetched them. 
 He did not run into a cloister and become a monk ; he went 
 down with them to Nazareth ; he remained among the people, 
 and was patiently obedient to father and mother. . . 
 Every one thinks he can do better and more costly works 
 than the holy little child, Jesus. But this is to forget that 
 household duties and obedience to father and mother have been 
 hallowed by the Holy One, the Son of God, who himself fetched 
 wood and cut it, drew water, and did other such like household 
 duties. Such works are a thousand-fold better and holier works 
 than the works of all the monks in their cloisters for all time." 
 Thus to bring the Scriptures to bear on every relative station 
 of life, and its every most menial duty, was Luther's unceas- 
 ing care and labour. For this he founded seminaries, insti-
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 389 
 
 tuted visitations, compiled catechisms, catechised the poor, old 
 and young, composed prayers for their use for morning and 
 night, a Grace for meal -times, a form of instruction for the 
 array chaplains, and wrote his noble hymns ; for this he 
 spoke of God's Word in the Church, in the Lecture Hall, at 
 the Elector's table, at dinner with the tradesman, over his 
 tankard of ale with Amsdorf, and to Kate, Johnny, and little 
 Lena by his own fireside. That Christianity might be co- 
 extensive with the whole of secular life, the Word of God was 
 everywhere to be paramount. The Church was "all true 
 believers," and was immovable, the pillar and ground of the 
 truth, as based on Christ, and holding out his word : it could 
 not err, because God's word could not err. The bride of 
 Christ, the Church " heard the Bridegroom's word at bed 
 and at board, and listened to no other's word :" to hearken 
 to the word of any other was to be " a harlot, an adulteress, 
 the apostate of Satan." 
 
 He had at first appealed from the Pope to an Oecumenical 
 Council, and he continued to declare that a Council would 
 rightly be convened for deposing the Pope ; but he soon dis- 
 covered that Councils were no less fallible than Pontiffs, and 
 that the standard of truth is the Bible, and the Bible alone. 
 Faith in the Divine Word " made the Christian," and parted 
 off the Church from the world. On God's Word of promise, 
 the Sacraments, the ordinances of prayer and preaching, 
 and all our well-being and safety, temporal and eternal, 
 depended. The Word was the believer's shield and weapon. 
 The devil did not fear the sword, but trembled at the 
 Word. The only true means of regenerating man, and re- 
 forming society, lay hid in the Word, the vehicle through 
 which the Spirit of God acted on the heart. " The Scrip- 
 tures," he would say, " are a great and wide forest, 
 wherein stand many trees of every sort, whereof one may
 
 390 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 pluck various kinds of fruit. The Bible contains true conso- 
 lation, knowledge, counsel, exhortation, warning, promises, 
 and threatenings. Nor is there a single tree in that forest 
 from which I have not knocked off something, and broken off 
 or shaken down a couple of apples or plums." He ever boasted 
 that it was by the wisdom derived from the Bible that he had 
 confuted and overthrown all his adversaries, and conquered 
 Satan's temptations, Of book-learning in general, he spoke 
 very slightingly, in comparison with the one precious volume, 
 " God's greatest treasure on earth." Other books were only 
 valuable in proportion to their tendency to elucidate the book 
 of God, or to lead to the study of it. To the Bible, and to 
 experience, as the two chief sources of instruction, he imputed 
 the development of his mental faculties, and the eminence 
 among his fellow men to which he attained. And he implored 
 Kate to search the Scriptures diligently and regularly, to 
 read them over and over again, especially the Psalms. When 
 she replied, that she thought she had heard the Bible enough, 
 and read a great deal of it every day, " Ah !" Luther an- 
 swered, " it is this weariness of God's Word, and fancying we 
 understand it, when we know no more about it than a goose, 
 which is the great evil of the times, and produces a large 
 number of new and idle publications, so that the book of God 
 is like again to be thrown into a corner." For himself, he 
 averred, that although a Doctor of the Holy Scriptures, he 
 was not yet out of his rudiments, and did not understand per- 
 fectly aright his Creed, the Ten Commandments, and his 
 " Our Father." The stream of Scripture, he was fond of re- 
 peating, was so deep, and yet so shallow, that a lamb might 
 often wade through it safely, when an elephant would be 
 carried away by the tide. The child-like heart learnt the 
 most from God's Word : and therefore he delighted to instruct 
 Johnny and Magdalene in the Catechism, and professed that
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 391 
 
 teaching them never failed to extend and deepen his own 
 acquaintance with the Scriptures. The simplest text com- 
 prised so much, that he found more in it than he had seen 
 before, on every fresh perusal. To handle the Word was the 
 pastor's noblest function, his " Sabbath of Sabbaths." And 
 the humblest preacher of the Word was generally the most 
 successful : for " the devil overlooked low things, his eyes 
 ran after high things ; so God put a poor preacher of the 
 Word beneath his feet, and Satan was tripped up." 
 
 For this glorious task, to which he felt and knew that God 
 had called him, of drawing forth the light of Scripture from 
 its concealment, and replacing it in the temple, the palace, 
 the college, the school, and the dwelling-house, he possessed 
 extraordinary endowments of body and mind. In stature, 
 he was not much above the ordinary height, but his limbs 
 were firmly set : he had " an open, right valiant counte- 
 nance :" a broad, German nose, slightly aquiline : a forehead 
 rather wide than lofty, with beetling brows : large lips and 
 mouth : eyes full of lustre, which were compared to the 
 eagle's or the lion's : short curling dark hair, and a distin- 
 guishing wart on the right cheek. In the early part of his 
 career his figure was emaciated to the last degree, subse- 
 quently it filled out, and in his latter years inclined to corpu- 
 lence. His constitution was naturally of the strongest cast ; 
 one of the common mould must soon have sunk under his 
 unparalleled energy ; and he was never better than with 
 plenty of toil and study, and a moderate diet, such as his 
 accustomed food of a herring and pease. " In Luther," says 
 Varillas, "an Italian head was joined to a German body." 
 In bodily temperament, and in mental qualities, it was the 
 union of gifts rarely found together, that gave him the grasp 
 and compass of power suited to his work. His temperament 
 was at once sanguine and melancholic. He was full of life
 
 392 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 and fire, and yet patient and imperturbable. So too in 
 mental faculties : he was endowed with original genius of 
 the highest order : the profoundest mind united to the 
 strongest common sense, and a vivid imagination joined to 
 clear judgment. The deepest of thinkers, he was the simplest 
 of writers. A man of study, he was also a man of the world. 
 Well read in books, he was even yet better read in the human 
 heart — profound yet child-like, sublime yet simple, earnest 
 and enthusiastic, and yet full of comic humour. The chief 
 agent in a most thorough revolution, he yet clung with almost 
 a blind devotion to the past, retained to the last his Latin 
 Bible, and the Romish division of the commandments, and 
 would let nothing go from his hand till, by the plainest 
 evidence, it was wrested from him. A miner's son, yet aris- 
 tocratic in every sentiment; from staying with the Prince 
 of Anhalt, or the Elector of Saxony, he would pass to an 
 honest tradesman, or a good-natured publican, and be greeted 
 with the warm familiarity of old friendship. From writing 
 to one of the crowned heads of Europe, he would resume 
 the pen to answer some obscure correspondent, a nun or 
 shopkeeper, a forester or fencing-master. The oracle of 
 Wittenberg and of Germany, he was never more in his 
 element than amongst children. He was equally adapted to 
 detect the literary forgeries of the Romish Church, to over- 
 come Dr. Eck in theological disputation, to out-satirize 
 Erasmus, or to preach a sermon to an assembly of illi- 
 terate boors. But with such great variety of faculties and 
 character, the chain of consistency was never broken ; he was 
 always Luther, without a tinge of affectation or pretension ; 
 the man who could not semble or dissemble : the life of an 
 entertainment ; and then, plunged in melancholy by the 
 weight of inward trials, or retiring to his study to work day 
 and night at some treatise, which the public interests de-
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 393 
 
 manded, without tasting food or drink, until the completed 
 manuscript should be sent to the printers. 
 
 It is little to be wondered at that his writings cannot be 
 regarded as finished compositions; they exhibit, with scarce 
 an exception, clear signs of the haste with which they were 
 thrown off, but evince all the fulness of Luther's mind — his 
 extraordinary faculty of exhausting a subject, his humour and 
 wit, his fondness for homely proverbs, with his strong sense 
 and clear depth of understanding. The grandeur is more 
 frequently in the thought itself than in the words, but often the 
 majesty of the conception seems to force into its own service 
 all the magnificence of diction. His writings have been 
 called "half battles," and in vigour and energy they have 
 never been surpassed. The muscles of the wrestler seem to 
 stand out with each effort of strength ; and when jest succeeds 
 to fervour, the mask of language Avould seem to be withdrawn, 
 and the laugh on Luther's own countenance to be reflected on 
 the page, Melancthon said of Luther's writings, that " they 
 left their sting behind them :" Erasmus said, that " barbarous 
 as they were, they had thunders and lightnings which shook 
 the heart :" Luther himself was dissatisfied with all of them, 
 except his Catechism, and the treatise on the Bondage of the 
 Will. Never have any other writings produced effects so 
 powerful and universal, notwithstanding the rapidity with 
 which tract followed tract, and commentary commentary. 
 Ranke states, that the issue from the press of Luther's pub- 
 lications amounted in 1518 to 20, 1519 to 50, 1520 to 183, 
 1521 to 40, 1522 to 130, 1523 to 183— some of these, of 
 course, reprints, but some of them at the same time works of 
 large bulk. The feeblest of them no author save Luther could 
 have struck off; for although a writing of Melancthon might 
 be mistaken by a casual reader for the work of Brentz, or a 
 treatise of Calvin might perhaps be imputed to Beza, the most
 
 394 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 casual of readers would not fail to be struck by the originality 
 which characterises the least important offspring of Luther's 
 intellect. As a preacher, Luther is pronounced even by 
 Romanist writers to have been " incomparable." He re- 
 garded the perfection of a sermon as consisting in its unity ; 
 it is, he said, out of one flower how to make a meadow. And 
 whoever reads his Postils, must be surprised at his singular 
 faculty of expanding one idea — presenting it under every 
 variety of form and illustration, and looking at his subject 
 from every possible point of view. To be effective, he insisted 
 that a sermon ought always to be brief; and in preparing his 
 discourses he studied the subject generally : he did not make 
 notes or pursue the topic into details, but, having grasped the 
 leading principle, poured out of his own fulness to his audi- 
 ence, filling up the interstices with such matter as the occa- 
 sion or the character of his hearers suggested at the time. " If 
 you preach to the common man," he would say, " on the doc- 
 trinal articles of religion, he falls asleep ; you must preach 
 the law — place the fire of hell before his eyes, and tell him 
 stories." Luther was ever on the watch to keep the interest 
 of his auditory from flagging. Sometimes he would narrate 
 to them passages from his own Christian experience, or he 
 produced a memorable example from public or private life to 
 enforce a precept ; or gave to some fable of the Romish Church 
 a scriptual application ; or he spoke of death-bed scenes ; or 
 with ardour, which at once won over the popular ear and 
 heart, recited one of those matchless hymns, perhaps just com- 
 posed by him, which, passing from mouth to mouth, and land 
 to land, were the war-songs of the Reformation, and moved the 
 heart of Germany as the heart of one man. Some of the 
 allusions in Luther's sermons can only be justified by the fact 
 that in that age the pulpit, besides its proper functions, also 
 discharged those now appropriated by the press. But scrip-
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 395 
 
 tural exposition was, after all, the ground on which his natural 
 and spiritual gifts showed to the most advantage. Here he 
 was at home ; the subject had engrossed his ardent mind for 
 years. " The parson," he would repeat, ' ' who cannot make 
 a sermon on a single word of Scripture, is no preacher at all. 
 I read the first commandment — ' I am the Lord thy God' — 
 and am arrested by the first word — ' I.' Its meaning over- 
 powers me." But the first of preachers and Biblical exposi- 
 tors was the gentlest critic of the discourses of others. 
 Mathesius relates that Luther, being in a country village, 
 attended divine service in the church according to his custom, 
 and heard a very uninteresting sermon. The congregation, 
 as they were returning home, remarked aloud on the defects 
 of the discourse they had just listened to. Luther turned and 
 addressed them — "There are," he said, "greater and lesser 
 lights in the firmament ; in God's house are vessels of iron 
 and wood, as well as of silver and gold, but all serve our Lord 
 Christ." But he was more censorious on deficiency of another 
 kind. Whilst he left the adjustment of ceremonies, in a great 
 measure, to individual churches, declaring " We are not the 
 slaves of ceremonies, but their lords," he always required a 
 congruity of adaptation in the parts of the service ; and when 
 he once heard an old Latin hymn sung to a new German 
 tune, the jar upon his associations and taste was so harsh, 
 that he pronounced severe animadversion. 
 
 That may with truth be said of Luther, which can be as- 
 serted of very few religious teachers, that his moral and 
 religious character were his doctrines exemplified. His dis- 
 tinctive characteristic was faith. His Lord God, who had 
 " conferred on him such gifts as he had not granted to many 
 thousands," could "make ten Dr. Martins out of one stone 
 with a word." The cause was not his, but God's, and it must 
 prosper, because it was God's cause. His preaching was little
 
 396 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 heeded, but he was the ambassador of God, and dared not re- 
 frain. The Reformation had given great occasion to avarice 
 and selfishness; rapine preyed on the property of the Church, 
 and he " daily saw poor pastors, with their wives and children, 
 whose hunger looked out of their eyes — who had scarce bread 
 and water, naked of clothing, with nothing of their own ; 
 farmer and burgher would not give to them, and the nobles 
 took away from them ;" yet for all that, God's Word must 
 be proclaimed, and could not be void. No one ever pos- 
 sessed such a vivid appreciation of unseen realities. Satan, 
 who " blows the pestilence," who devastates the world 
 with misery, who, " when God builds a church, never fails 
 to build his chapel hard by," was continually tracking his 
 steps, thwarting his efforts for good, tempting and harassing 
 him, and had made him in body a very Lazarus. His torment 
 in his head, which " debarred him from reading three verses 
 of the Psalms together without pausing," was entirely super- 
 natural. It was Satan who plagued men in their sleep with 
 dreams and visions ; threw into the heart fiery darts of wicked 
 thoughts; interrupted mirth; changed children; raised hob- 
 goblins. In a case of suicide, the murderer was really 
 Satan. Satan had caused the sudden deaths of Emser and 
 of fficolampadius. And just before Carlstadt's death, a 
 tall black man had sat in his place in the Cathedral of 
 Basle, invisible to those near, but plain to those at a dis- 
 tance. " That was real death." Thus God on one side, 
 Satan on the other, were the real actors in the great 
 drama ever progressing on the stage of the world ; all 
 others were but masks. The Papists, " Heinz and Meinz," 
 and their abettors, were but masks or idols; Satan in 
 reality moved the puppets, and made them his mouth- 
 pieces. So on the other side, the man, the horse, the battle- 
 axe, were but outward semblances concealing the hand of the
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 397 
 
 Most High. The wicked man was but the unruly horse 
 that would fain run his own career ; God was the rider, who, 
 through the very fury of man, accomplished his own pur- 
 poses, making the wrath of the wicked to praise him. He 
 committed himself and all his to God's guidance with the 
 most perfect confidence. " God," he said, ' ' rather than his 
 people should want, would cause the heavens to pour down 
 bread and the rock to gush with water, and the leaves of the 
 trees to become coats and mantles. I verily believe that more 
 persons live than there ever grows food for, and that to the 
 godly the Lord multiplies the corn in the sack, and the meal 
 in the bin, and the loaf on the board, and the morsel in the 
 mouth." He was delighted to repeat " the blessing of the 
 Lord, it maketh rich," and to insist that mercy and charity 
 are the true road to wealth. He would often recount how 
 Thuringia was once a corn-rich country, but had been struck 
 with the curse of barrenness on account of the covetousness 
 of the farmers ; how the Netherlands would sink under the 
 indignation of God, because the rate of interest there was 
 usurious. He had tales in abundance of supernatural inter- 
 positions, which, in the mouths of most men, would have been 
 simply superstitious, in Luther's mouth were the overflowings 
 of his pervading faith. 
 
 This deep principle of faith was the secret of his contempt 
 of disease, of his serenity under the most t ying circum- 
 stances, and of the care with which he shunned wealth, as 
 though the bag of money were a bag of most deadly poison. 
 His liberality was measured by his faith in the divine goodness. 
 He went so far as to spurn the idea of making provision for his 
 wife and children — " His dear God would be sure to provide 
 for them much better than he could." Once, it is related, an 
 impoverished Wittenberg student stood at the door of Luther's 
 parlour, and implored assistance towards a journey which he
 
 398 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 was compelled to undertake. Kate replied that they were 
 very poor themselves, and had nothing whatever to give ; 
 Luther, however, happened to be near, and, walking to the 
 table, took a silver goblet that was standing on it, and gave 
 it to the student, saying, " Sell this to a goldsmith, and use 
 whatever it may fetch for your journey." It was a proverbial 
 phrase with him — " We must never refuse a call to charity, 
 as long as there is a goblet in the house." On another 
 occasion, when a hundred florins were given him, he divided 
 the sum between Philip and Bugenhagen, compelling them 
 to accept his present, for their need was greater than his. 
 At another time two hundred gold pieces were sent him from 
 the mines, and he distributed the whole among the poor 
 students. " The wicked," he would say, " eye their money- 
 chest with self-gratulation and pride, as though they had 
 God Almighty shut up in their coffers. Ah ! the Lord flees 
 from a full purse, and his blessing rests on the faithful heart." 
 To complete Luther's character — truthfulness and the sim- 
 plicity of a child were with him wisdom ; he loathed and 
 abhorred duplicity and craft from the bottom of his soul, and 
 his honest deportment was marked by that genial fun and 
 humour which has been called not so much " an accompani- 
 ment, as a peculiar manifestation of the spirit of truth." It 
 has been allowed by all his opponents who have known any- 
 thing of his history, from Erasmus down to the present times, 
 that his conduct personally was unimpeachable — he was pure 
 beyond the taint of suspicion ; ever the unfaltering " man of 
 God," bold and courageous to a fault ; patient and uncom- 
 plaining; and although he fought conflicts enough with all 
 the fire and vehemence of his nature, he warred only with 
 the pen; in act he was ever a peacemaker; his first threat to 
 an adversary was, " I shall write against you ;" his second, 
 " I shall cease to pray for you ;" his third and final denunci-
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 399 
 
 ation, " I shall pray against you :" he was passionate, but a 
 word of rebuke would bring him round : Melancthon testifies 
 that he was not dogmatical in familiar conversation, but ever 
 ready to give and take : he was the most self-sacrificing of 
 philanthropists, at the same time that he held the Word of 
 God to be the only remedy for the depravity and misery 
 of human nature. His infirmities, many and great as they 
 were, were virtues grown into exesses. 
 
 He lived in the Augustine convent, as one of the old patri- 
 archs might have sat at his tent door receiving all who claimed 
 admission. The convent was an open house — the asylum of 
 the distressed, and the hospital for the sick. Distinguished 
 men from all parts of Europe came to visit the great monk. 
 The social meal was the supper. Luther would come to 
 table weary with the exhausting labours of many hours, ge- 
 nerally with a book in his hand, which, for some while, 
 perhaps, he continued to peruse. The Professors of the 
 University, old friends from remote parts — Wenceslaus Link 
 from Nuremberg, or James Probst from Bremen — strangers 
 on a visit of curiosity, or on an embassy from some court, 
 would gather round the hospitable board. At length Luther 
 would lift his eyes from off his book, and inquire the news ; 
 that was the signal that he was disposed for conversation, and 
 until that moment a deferential silence had been observed. 
 The conversation soon became general, the respect entertained 
 for the host being evidenced by the appellation by which he 
 was addressed, even by Melancthon and Jonas, of " Reverend 
 Father." As the conversation advanced, Luther's countenance 
 would become more and more animated : his eyes would wear 
 those inner rays of lustre, which, to Link and others of his 
 fanatical admirers, seemed the divine light of prophecy ; the 
 energetic expression of his face would soften into one of broad 
 humour and mirth, and the pith and originality of his remarks 
 would rivet the attention of his guests. Or the scene, perhaps,
 
 400 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 would be different; eminent scholars, from distant lands, 
 might be present ; and Luther would be inquiring, with the 
 most intent interest and solemn gravity, their judgment on 
 the true translation of a word or phrase in the Hebrew Bible, 
 probably the very book he had brought to table with him, and 
 offering his own comments in exchange. The converse ended, 
 Aurifaber, or some other of the company, who had listened 
 with open ears, would hasten to commit to paper what Luther 
 had said, and thus add a new page to the accumulating matter 
 of what will ever be ranked as one of the most interesting 
 books in the German tongue — " Luther's Table Talk." The 
 evening would wind up with a Latin chant, or a German 
 hymn, a chorus of voices, Luther's fine tenor distinguishable 
 amongst them, making the rafters of the old refectory echo 
 with the rapture of harmony and the fervour of devotion. 
 After this, if no pressing work was in hand, Luther would at 
 once retire to rest, not forgetting (Antinomian as he has been 
 called !) among his devotions, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, 
 and the Ten Commandments, imploring God to give him 
 grace to keep his law, not only in the letter but in the 
 spirit. He then laid him down in his bed, and employed 
 his last waking thoughts in meditating on some passage of 
 Scripture. 
 
 His domestic life, like his character, was the growth of his 
 religious doctrines. He was tenderly attached to Kate, and 
 always spoke of her as the very partner suited to him. "If 
 he should lose her, and a queen should be offered to him, he 
 would refuse her." And although he called her " his Lord 
 Kate," or "Emperor Kate" — jesting at the love of rule com- 
 mon to the sex — he praised her submissiveness and obedience. 
 Household matters he left entirely to her management, for he 
 regarded these as the wife's special province. "Man," he 
 said, " is created with broad shoulders and narrow hips, for 
 activity in the world ; woman with narrow shoulders and
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 401 
 
 broad hips, for staying at home in her proper domestic 
 sphere^ guiding the house, arid bringing up children '' And 
 the internal arrangement of the Augustine convent gave Kate 
 quite enough to do. To a friend who had inquired of 
 Luther what present would be most acceptable to him, he 
 replied, "that he was in want of a candelabrum;" but 
 he added, "You know what sort of a house mine is; let it 
 be a candelabrum that will stand being knocked up and down 
 stairs; and it will answer .the purpose better, if it can 
 clean itself." The garden was under Luther's own super- 
 vision : he delighted in flowers, which he liked to see as he 
 was studying, on the table near him ; and he especially ad- 
 mired the rose. " The man who could make one such flower 
 would deserve an empire :" and the burst and bloom of 
 vegetation always reminded him of redemption and the resur- 
 rection. He was an indulgent, but a strict and vigilant 
 father : for the parent, he declared, that neglected to train his 
 children in God's ways, and to restrain them from evil, was 
 " worse than Turk or Tartar/' He spoke of the book of 
 Proverbs as the best book on (Economics in the world ; and 
 "its whole substance is summed up in this: ' Fear God.'" 
 He greatly valued the classical languages, uniformly regret- 
 ting his own deficient education, which had debarred him 
 from the study of the Greek poets and historians ; and of all 
 studies, poetry, he said, was his favourite. Mirth, jests, 
 good cheer, pastimes, and music, he regarded as capital ex- 
 pedients for driving away the "proud melancholy Satan." 
 Hence the frequent references in his correspondence to what 
 he ate and drank : in such allusions he was scoffing at 
 Satan. Mathesius relates, that before going to bed he 
 would sometimes call for a glass of must, with an apology 
 to the bystanders, " Old men, like the Elector and myself, 
 have to find pillow and bolster in the can." But Mathesius 
 
 VOL. II. D D
 
 402 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 agrees with Melancthon in representing him as singularly 
 abstemious and temperate. And although Luther could 
 not see the sin of dances or acting plays, insisting that 
 to be unworldly is to get the world Out of one's self, yet in 
 everything the prevailing passion rose to the surface. As 
 when out for the chase, he pursued theology : so his musical 
 compositions, his famous Hymn, and the Old Hundredth, are 
 lasting echoes of his solemn and elevated strain of piety. 
 
 Like the defects of his character, the defects of his doctrinal 
 system were chiefly produced by the excess of his zeal in 
 combating error. On the Sacraments his opinions decidedly 
 retrograded. In regard to the sacrament of Baptism, in the 
 beginning of his career as a Reformer, Luther was debating 
 whether the faith of the parents was not accepted by God, 
 in substitution for that of the children taken to the baptismal 
 font; or whether the faith of the Church, which offered 
 them, as it were, with her own hands to Christ, was not 
 set to the infants' account. And in regard to the Lord's 
 Supper he has himself declared, that at that period he 
 should have welcomed the interpretation of Carlstadt and 
 Zwingle with joy. But the outburst of fanaticism at Wit- 
 tenberg, when Luther was in the Wartburg, not only checked 
 these tendencies to more enlightened sacramental views, 
 but forced him, with great impetus, in the opposite direc- 
 tion. As the wild reveries of the enthusiasts laboured to 
 overthrow the objective character of Christianity, and to 
 substitute an inward varying standard for an unflinching 
 external rule of faith and life, he was resolved, in order to 
 raise a barrier against a subjectiveness which could not rest 
 until it had reached the dead level of infidelity, to place the 
 Sacraments on a basis as firm and unyielding as that of the 
 Word of God itself. Thus, in regard to the Lord's Supper, at 
 the same time that he rejected transubstantiation as not only
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 403 
 
 of recent introduction, but as utterly unscriptural and idola- 
 trous, lie affirmed that both to the godly and to the ungodly 
 the bread and wine are the natural body and blood of 
 Christ, received both with heart and mouth, but with directly 
 opposite effects — by the godly to salvation, by the ungodly to 
 condemnation. In reference to Baptism, he determined that 
 if that sacrament were administered in joke, yet, supposing 
 that to the sprinkling of water the words of Scripture were 
 added — " I baptize thee in the name of the Father,'* &c, it 
 was valid baptism. And not only so, but even in the case of an 
 adult who had not faith, he maintained that the divine sacra- 
 ment could not be void. Baptism was an objective reality, 
 like father and mother, or the civil ruler.* In the case of 
 infants, he expressly condemned the theory that faith in the 
 parents is required to render the sacrament effectual to the 
 children, and likewise the teaching of the Waldenses, that the 
 infant is baptized by reason of a prospective faith to be attained 
 on arriving at years of discretion ; and he pronounced that to 
 every infant baptism is unconditionally the new birth or re- 
 generation. To the anabaptist objection, that " faith cometh 
 by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God," and, there- 
 fore, children not having reason to understand the Word, 
 could not have faith, he replied with his deep scriptural 
 wisdom, "What has reason to do with faith? It is the 
 greatest stumbling-block in the world to faith. The big 
 head cannot get through the strait gate. A Christian at 
 all times has the Spirit of God in his heart; yet, when he 
 sleeps, reason is dormant, but faith is never dormant. And 
 why limit God's operations, as though the only hearing of his 
 Word were by the outward ear ? If the infant is not regene- 
 rated in baptism,, let us leave off to baptize infants altogether, 
 
 * See his Catechism.— Walch X. p. 162. 
 
 D D 2
 
 404 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 the sooner the better, for it is a mimicry and mockery of 
 a holy sacrament."* It is true that in his " Babylonian 
 Captivity/' and other earlier writings, he used such terms 
 as : — " Take thy stand on thy Baptism : not on thine own 
 works, thine own sorrow, thine own repentance, but on God's 
 promise :" but, in that treatise he denned a sacrament to be 
 a covenant, whereto there is God's word of promise on the 
 one part, and faith relying on that word on the other part, 
 and he was constantly dwelling on the text, " He that 
 believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved." His later theory 
 of Baptism, however, did not militate against the doctrine of 
 conversion. If the baptismal vow were broken by a life of 
 relapse into wilful sin, he insisted on the necessity of true 
 and thorough conversion of heart ; but he said, with great 
 truth, that in such a case the re-administration of Baptism 
 was unneeded and unscriptural, because the sacrament made 
 void by sin on man's part, yet remained unalterably firm on 
 God's part. The true Christian was baptized every day, 
 hour, and moment by the Holy Ghost ; such was the virtue 
 of the " one baptism." The sacraments represented in picture, 
 or in act, what the Scripture declared in word, and were not 
 only signs, but were assurances and pledges of God's will, 
 on which the soul could build with confidence. Yet, however 
 much the peculiarities of Luther's later views on this subject 
 may be regarded as unsound and erroneous, he effectually 
 relieved the holy of holies of the sacraments from the profa- 
 nation of the papistical opus operatum, by rejecting every 
 notion of any efficacy in the administrator, or in any incan- 
 tation of consecration, and unreservedly accepting the expla- 
 nation of Augustin — " The word added to the outward sign 
 
 * Church-Postil to the Gospel for the Third Sunday after Epiphany, 
 one of his earlier writings, in which he still speaks of the faith of the 
 sponsors, and of the Church. — Walch XI. pp. 666—681.
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 405 
 
 makes the sacrament (accedit verbum ad elernentum et fit 
 sacramentum)." But he had lost sight of that other land- 
 mark of Augustin, which his earlier writings had kept steadily 
 in view : " The sacrament is where there is faith (ubi fides, 
 ibi sacramentum.)" 
 
 Thus it must be confessed that Luther's later view of the 
 sacrament of Baptism subjected his system of divinity to the 
 charge of obvious inconsistency. Not only did he teach the 
 doctrines of the total Bondage of the Will, of Predestination 
 to Life, and of the Final Perseverance of every true Christian, 
 in conjunction with the strongest asseverations of the Uni- 
 versality of Redemption, and of the necessity of individual 
 watchfulness, of victory over sin, and gradual growth in 
 grace, which are but the two sides of one grand truth, which 
 cannot be conceived of by our present weak understandings 
 in its simple unity. But he also taught the doctrine of 
 Final Perseverance, in conjunction with the doctrines that 
 every baptized infant is regenerated, and yet that many 
 baptized souls perish eternally ; a complexity which must 
 seem irreconcilable, not only in terms but in substance, 
 unless it be supposed that he made some such distinction 
 between baptismal regeneration and confirmed regeneration, 
 as was made somewhat later between grace and effectual 
 grace. Whilst asserting that the sacrament of Baptism 
 constitutes a man a Christian, he was continually seeking 
 some more exact test of union with Christ than any sacrament 
 affords; he was not only regretting that excommunication 
 could not be revived, but he was anxious to mark off true 
 Christians from merely nominal and professing Christians, by 
 having different orders of assemblies in the church, so as to 
 get at the inner and true church, disintegrated from the 
 visible mixed church; and in his later, as in his earlier 
 writings, the church was still, not baptized Christians, but " the
 
 406 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 universe of predestined souls." " This is a wonderful great 
 acknowledgment/' he wrote in his Postil to the Epistle for the 
 Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity, " for a human heart born 
 in sin to be convinced and certain that God, in the depth of 
 his majesty and divine heart, has finally and irrevocably deter- 
 mined, and will have every one receive and believe the same, 
 that He will not reckon to us our sins, but pardon them, and 
 be gracious to us, and give us eternal life for His dear Son's 
 sake." And in the same Postil he says, " Persecution, sword, 
 fire, water, wild beasts, &c., are the true school in which we 
 must learn to acknowledge God's will, so as to be able to say 
 with confidence, f No, my dear foe, World, Devil, Flesh, 
 thou mayest do me woe, insult, plague, torture me, take from 
 me body and life j but my Lord Christ, that is, God's grace 
 and mercy, that shalt thou never take from me.' Thus faith 
 is taught and strengthened, that this is God's unchangeable 
 will, which He has determined and can never revoke, although 
 He should seem to deal quite otherwise, as He did towards 
 Christ himself: and through such exercise and experience 
 faith becomes so strengthened, that to go to death is joy and 
 delight. Whence comes such courage and confidence, even 
 to little maidens of thirteen and fourteen years old, such as 
 Agnes and Agatha, &c, that they stand so bold before the 
 Romish judge, and sport when they are led to death, as 
 though they were going to a dance, but that the glorious 
 rooted faith and sure confidence has filled their heart, that 
 God is not wroth with them, but His gracious and merciful 
 will is purely for their highest and eternal health and salva- 
 tion !" " God," he wrote in another place, " only endures 
 with the filth and wickedness of this life for his elects' sake, 
 until their number is complete. Christ's day yet tarries, be- 
 cause they are not all yet born that belong to heaven. But 
 when the time is accomplished, and the number is complete,
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 407 
 
 then shall all this suddenly be removed, World, Government, 
 Jurist, Magistrate, States, yea, the whole of it ; nothing more 
 shall be permitted to remain of this world's righteousness; 
 but all of it, together with the belly, and the belly with it, 
 shall be brought to nought. For it is all damned, and or- 
 dained to perdition : but for the sake of the Christians, to 
 whom eternal life is promised, it must have its course, until 
 the period comes, and the last saint is born into the world. 
 But till they all are born, even to the very last soul, the 
 world shall still stand and be upheld for their sakes ; for God 
 heeds not and cares not for the whole world, save for the 
 sake of his own true Christians." * 
 
 But however incongruous the threads of his system may be, 
 Luther, at least, cannot with any justice be arraigned as a 
 reviler of the sacraments, when he upheld them even to in- 
 consistency, any more than as an Antinomian, when he was the 
 staunchest opponent that the Antinomians encountered, as he 
 has been not only arraigned but condemned by calumniators 
 whose malice, however, is neutralised by their ignorance. It 
 were to be wished that the personal charges" of violence and 
 bitterness of language could be as satisfactorily answered; or 
 the imputation that his love of humour did not always restrict 
 itself within the limits of secular subjects. It must be re- 
 membered, however, that Luther's faith was a principle so 
 rooted, and so abounding, that he was led practically into a 
 partial mistake as to its proper object, so that he completely 
 identified his own views and convictions with the authorita- 
 tive declarations of Scripture. With the weakness of the best 
 and strongest natures, to which, moreover, the encomiums 
 and exaggerated estimation formed of him by some of his 
 friends strongly tempted him, he fancied himself not indeed 
 
 * Postil to the Epistle for the Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity. 
 WaJch, XII. p. 1259.
 
 408 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 absolutely infallible, but au infallible interpreter of Scripture 
 on all points of doctrine. It is the delusion by which close 
 students of the Bible have been beguiled in all ages, and has 
 been shared by divines, who certainly would not be worthy to 
 unloose the latchet of Luther's shoe. Hence he justified his 
 use of the most vehement and vituperative language by the 
 example of the Prophets, and even of Jesus Christ himself. 
 Hence he pronounced his anathema on every one who dif- 
 fered from him on the smallest point of Christian doctrine. 
 Hence, in denouncing his religious opponents, he parodied 
 the language of the Psalmist — " Blessed is the man that hath 
 not walked in the counsel of the Zwinglians," &c. Hence he 
 forbade all futui*e Councils, in a parody of the Papal Bull 
 convoking a Council, which professed to emanate from the 
 Court of Heaven, and was " signed Archangel Raphael, 
 Secretary." Hence, in his famous letter from the Wartburg 
 to Melancthon, he exaggerated the most glorious doctrine of 
 the Christian faith, with a drollery which found large amuse- 
 ment from the contrast between such exaggeration and 
 Philip's well-known character. But such an admission of 
 grievous failure must be much qualified by the consideration 
 of Luther's peculiar work and peculiar character adapting 
 him to his work. Mathesius remarks, that " the hurricane 
 was required to sweep away the snow of many ages." Unless 
 tragedy and comedy had been combined in Luther as in 
 Shakspeare, that compass of power would have been wanting 
 which made him an over-match for Erasmus, as well as for 
 Eck or Carlstadt. And it must after all be matter less for 
 surprise than regret, that like most wits, Luther was not 
 always proof against the temptation of his own faculties; 
 or, with the common infirmity of theologians, his zeal for 
 truth made him blind to the objectionable weapon which he 
 employed in its defence. To this it must be added, that the
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 409 
 
 scholastic disputations then in use, in which Luther had been 
 trained, and which he employed as means of disseminating his 
 scriptural principles, whatever tendency they may have had 
 to sharpen the observation, had no tendency to produce a 
 correct and discriminating taste, nicely distinguishing the 
 sacred and the profane, the serious and the humourous. His 
 characteristic coarseness, which, however, added force to his 
 jests and sarcasms, is also much palliated by reflections of 
 a similar kind. In his age the mask of outside refinement 
 was not often assumed, ev.ui at courts ; and he himself owed 
 very little to culture. He was born a peasant, and was edu- 
 cated chiefly in a monastery. And to a considerable extent 
 his very coarseness was the result of his truthfulness. He 
 spoke of men and women just as he found them : exposed 
 the sore as the only way to heal it ; and did not blush to use 
 plainness of speech, because he was not conscious of any 
 cause for shame or false delicacy,* Critics writing calmly 
 in the nineteenth century, are apt very unfairly to forget in 
 what age Luther lived, and the imperative demands and 
 harassing trials of his peculiar situation, which drew out all 
 the force of his powerful and various faculties, and left him 
 no time to weigh his words in a "jeweller's scales." 
 
 A comparison with any of the leading men of the age, tells 
 greatly to Luther's advantage. " We must not, for the sake 
 of truth, break the public peace ;" — " There are those, I trust, 
 who will defend my posthumous reputation;" — said the Prince 
 of letters. " To desire this world's praise," said the Doctor 
 of Wittenberg, " is to crack a rotten nut, and get a mouthful 
 
 * Milton has defended Luther from the charge of coarseness. He 
 observes, " The Targuinists were of cleaner language than he that 
 made the tongue :" and he says, " There may be a sanctified bitter- 
 ness against the enemies of truth." — See Milton's Apology for Smec- 
 tymnuus.
 
 410 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 of dust." " The doctrine, which pleases men cannot be true : 
 the world is an inn ; Satan the landlord ; drop in when you 
 will, the landlord is at home." Erasmus, shaking with 
 every breath of wind, writing begging letters to his numerous 
 patrons, asserting that God had not given to every one the 
 courage to be a martyr, and he had himself no inclination to 
 die for truth, is indeed a portrait of timorous feebleness, by 
 the side of the Christian hero of Worms and of Augsburg, 
 whose frequent complaint was that his grievous sins had de- 
 prived him of the joy of martyrdom. Nor would Erasmus 
 enjoy such fame as he does in connection with the Reforma- 
 tion, unless, according to the remark of Melancthon, Luther 
 had come immediately after him, and obviated the revolu- 
 tionary tendency of his writings, by placing the altar and the 
 throne on their true foundations. Melancthon himself, 
 though a far more exact scholar than Luther, or than Eras- 
 mus, was the retired student, not the man of action and 
 resolve for stirring times. To Luther, every parlour in Wit- 
 tenberg was familiar ; the regret is entered in his corres- 
 pondence, from the period of his arriving there fresh from 
 Erfurth, how much of his time is lost by his multitudinous 
 invitations. Melancthon, on the contrary, thought the con- 
 versation of the town society " very common-place ;" and 
 when Luther, Cruciger, and Jonas, were absent, he sat, as 
 he says of himself, " like a lame cobbler at home," and 
 wrote some Greek verses, or communicated to Camerarius or 
 Eoban Hess, a conjectural emendation of a passage in Theo- 
 critus or Hesiod. Melancthon believed in astrology; there 
 is a letter of his in which he requests that the horoscope of 
 King Ferdinand may be sent to him; and he held the 
 punishment of heretics to be a religious duty. Luther, on 
 the contrary, took every opportunity to overcome the popular 
 superstitions, and upheld the Christian principle of religious
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 411 
 
 toleration in an age of barbarity. And perhaps nothing places 
 Luther's character in a more amiable light than his deep 
 affection for Philip, resembling that of a father for a son, 
 which continued unabated even when Melancthon advocated 
 Episcopacy, spoke ambiguously on the subject of Justifica- 
 tion, and even finally inclined towards the Swiss view of the 
 sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Again, as compared with 
 Zwingle, Luther is the religious and political conservative, in 
 opposition to the destructive and republican. Zwingle wished 
 to clear the entire area of the Church, not to leave a stone 
 standing, to make way for a completely new edifice, modelled 
 on his own views of Scripture. With Luther, on the other 
 hand, hatred of Rome was only the result of a love of Chris- 
 tianity : whatever could be left standing, he would have un- 
 touched. " Where is this or that practice enjoined in Scrip- 
 ture ? " the Swiss inquired : " Where is it forbidden in 
 Scripture ? " Luther retorted. " The Gospel must be aided 
 by the sword," said Zwingle. " God saith, ' Be still, and 
 know that I am God,'" Luther answered. And it is an in- 
 structive chapter in the book of Providence, that the cham- 
 pion of the sword fell on the field of battle ; the champion 
 of the Word, after a few hours' illness, attended with com- 
 paratively little suffering, was translated in perfect peace. 
 
 There are, however, some persons who imagine that one 
 blemish on a fame, otherwise the purest and most unsullied, 
 has a damning virtue that turns everything to its own black- 
 ness. And such a blemish on the reputation of Luther, 
 they conceive that they have detected in the sanction given 
 by him to the double marriage of the Landgrave of Hesse. 
 Many, with the Jesuitical Bossuet, affirm that Luther 
 conceded this liberty to the Landgrave against his own 
 convictions, in order to prevent the defection of Philip of 
 Hesse from the evaugelical ranks : others, with the very ill-
 
 412 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 informed Sir William Hamilton, have broached the calumny 
 that the Reformers were, on principle, abettors of the prac- 
 tice of polygamy. These accusations cannot, at least, be true 
 together ; and a minute investigation of the subject has 
 proved that they are both false. It would, indeed, be a 
 poisoned arrow in the Papist quiver, if it could be shown 
 that the adulation and truckling subserviency to those in 
 power, whiclrform part in the llomish artillery of pious frauds, 
 are vices shared by popes, monks, and prelates, in common with 
 such a man as Luther; and that the Reformer, whose whole 
 bearing towards the Electors of Saxony is an admirable exem- 
 plification of the precept, to render to Csesar what is Caesar's 
 and to God what is God's, and who in every other instance 
 opposed the Landgrave's exceptionable designs, and had cer- 
 tainly no partiality for the " Macedonian," had nevertheless, 
 on one occasion, so far forgotten himself and the truth, as to 
 fear offending Philip of Hesse more than the reproach of his 
 own conscience. In common sense, such an extraordinary 
 solution ought not to be resorted to, unless it is inevitable ; 
 and it falls entirely to the ground, when the letter of dis- 
 pensation to Philip is compared with Luther's writings of 
 various dates, some of them composed many years previously, 
 which demonstrate that he did not forge any new doctrine to 
 suit the Landgrave's case, but acted in the most conscien- 
 tious manner, by applying to circumstances, which he believed 
 to be exceptional, an indulgence which he had uniformly 
 held to be permissible exceptionally. The practice of the 
 Patriarchs, and of the Jewish Kings, seemed to him proofs 
 of this. As to abetting polygamy, it was for the express 
 object of preventing a precedent being drawn, as he foresaw 
 it readily would be, from an exceptional dispensation, that 
 Luther conceded only "a secret right," insisting that the 
 whole transaction must remain covered with the mantle of
 
 TITE LTFR OF MARTIN LUTHER. 413 
 
 oblivion, arid admonished the Landgrave, "If the princes call 
 upon you to put away Margaret Sala, tell them you will do 
 so, when they put away their concubine3." And when 
 Bucer, in his servility to the Landgrave, published a de- 
 fence of polygamy under the fictitious name of " Neobulus 
 Tulichius," Luther's indignation was kindled to a tempest ; 
 and he set himself to write an answer, which was suppressed 
 by the Landgrave's solicitations to the Elector, but the un- 
 finished work is extant among Luther's writings, and contains 
 the following passage : — " Whoso desires my judgment upon 
 this book let him hear it. Thus says Dr. Martin about the 
 book of Neobulus, ' Whoso follows this knave and book, and 
 takes more than one wife, and will have that it is a right, the 
 devil bless his bath in the depths of hell. Amen.' This 
 know I well, God be praised ! to maintain, even though it 
 should snow pure Neobuluses, Nebulos, Tulrichs, along with 
 pure devils for a whole year long. No one shall make me 
 a right thereout, that will I well forefend. Much less shall 
 any one make this into a right, that a man may separate 
 himself from his own wife rightfully, (if she has not first 
 separated herself from him by adultery,) which this book 
 would also fain teach." He goes on to say, " There is a 
 great difference between right and dispensation, tolerance and 
 permission : right is no dispensation ; dispensation is no right ; 
 and he who gets anything by dispensation, does not get it by 
 right." Nor was there ever the least scruple in Luther's 
 mind as to the path he had followed in this affair: — "I can 
 answer," he said, " for what I have done to God, but I cannot 
 answer for it to the world." A grievous error of judgment 
 still remains to Luther's account in this deplorable transaction:* 
 
 * See, for a minute investigation of Luther's whole conduct in the 
 affair, the inimitable " Vindication of Luther against his recent English 
 Assailants," by the late Archdeacon Hare, pp. 225 — 274.
 
 414 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 but like his view of the sacraments, his regarding the Lord's 
 day as little more than an ecclesiastical institution, and his 
 other various defective appreciations of truth, it is an error 
 into which he was led by the corrupt teaching and the per- 
 verted practice of the Romish Church. He said of himself 
 that he could not quite forget all that he had been taught as 
 a monk. 
 
 But after all that may be said against Luther on such 
 a score, must not the moral and religious character of that 
 man stand high indeed, who, although involved in a whirlpool 
 of business and troubles his whole life long, is not open to 
 any weightier imputation ? And must not the grace of 
 God's Spirit have indeed been mighty in him, who, born in 
 the depth of Papist darkness, reared all his early life in its 
 thick and yet thicker shadow of death, groped his way gradu- 
 ally out of it, and attained to such a measure as he did of the 
 pure light of truth ? 
 
 Immediately upon Luther's death, an express was sent to 
 the Elector of Saxony with intelligence of the mournful 
 event, and a request from the Counts of Mansfeld that his 
 remains might be permitted to rest at Eisleben, the place of his 
 birth and decease. The evening of the same day, the Elector's 
 reply was received, expressing his deep grief, and requiring 
 that the body be conveyed to Wittenberg to be deposited in 
 the Church of All Saints. " Would," he could not refrain from 
 adding, " that the Counts of Mansfeld had not entangled in 
 their private affairs a man worn out with age and toil \" The 
 news of Luther's death soon spread : Melancthon received 
 the intelligence with the words, " The chariot of Israel, and 
 the horsemen thereof!" and the same exclamation was heard 
 from all sides. By the Elector's order the body was placed 
 in a leaden coffin, and on the evening of the 1 8th the lying- 
 in-state took place, when many hundreds of men and women,
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 415 
 
 and many of the nobility, were admitted into Dr. Drachstedt's 
 house to take a last gaze on the clay of the German prophet : 
 and two painters copied with their best art the features of the 
 deceased; one an inhabitant of Eisleben, very shortly after 
 death, another from Halle, when the remains had been in the 
 coffin a night. The next day the corpse was carried to St. 
 Andrew's Church, Eisleben, amidst a large attendance of no- 
 blemen and citizens, besides a vast assemblage of the poorer 
 orders, who hurried to the spot from all parts ; and a funeral 
 sermon was delivered by Dr. Jonas from 1 Thess. iv. 13 — 18. 
 When the sermon was over, and the crowd had dispersed, 
 ten citizens remained behind in the church to keep watch over 
 the corpse during the night. The next morning, Saturday, a Feb. 20. 
 sermon was preached by the pastor of Eisleben, Michael 
 Coelius, from Isaiah lvii. 1, 2. Ccelius related how gently 
 and happily Luther had fallen asleep in Christ. In the after- 
 noon the Prince of Anhalt, the Reformer's old friend and 
 pupil, all the Counts of Mansfeld, with their wives, sons and 
 daughters, the Count of Schwartzburg, and many citizens, 
 with honourable matrons, formed in procession, and with 
 great pomp and lamentation the corpse was conveyed from 
 the church to the city gate ; and thence under a chosen 
 escort, the bells tolling in all the villages through which it 
 passed, the same evening to Halle. Here an immense throng 
 of country people from the neighbourhood, with the preachers, 
 the town council, and the schools of Halle had assembled at 
 the gate ; and about five o'clock the procession was seen ap- 
 proaching. It moved forward to funeral hymns and the 
 tolling of bells, towards the Church of the Virgin, but 
 encountered such obstacles from the vast concourse of spec- 
 tators that it was often stationary, and occupied more than 
 two hours in its progress to the church. It was too late for 
 a sermon, and after the choir had sung one of Luther's
 
 41 G THE LIVE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 hymns (Aus tiefer Noth schrei ich zu dir), Avith voices which, 
 contemporaries say, seemed to wail rather than sing, the 
 multitude separated, and a guard of citizens was left in charge 
 of the corpse. The next morning, Sunday, at six o'clock, the 
 funeral procession with the same solemnity moved through 
 the city to the gate towards Bitterfeld, which it reached 
 about noon, having been met on the confines by the prefect of 
 Wittenberg and other deputies of the Elector of Saxony ; 
 and that evening remained at Kemberg. The next day 
 John and John Hoyer, Counts of Mansfeld, with their 
 forty-five armed horsemen, to whom the duty of conducting 
 the Reformer's remains to their last resting-place had been 
 assigned, entered Wittenberg by the Elster-gate. Twenty-five 
 years before, Luther had burnt the Pope's Bull near that very 
 gate. And now the rector, and professors, and students of 
 the University, the Town Council, citizens, and a vast crowd 
 of people were waiting there to receive his mortal remains 
 with all the honour that they could pay to the memory of a 
 universal benefactor. As the procession drew near it was 
 joined by Kate Luther, with her daughter and three sons. 
 The procession to All faints' Church was as follows : — The 
 Prefect of Wittenberg, and the deputation from the Elector, 
 with the Counts of Mansfeld and the horsemen preceded the 
 carriage on which the coffin was borne, covered with a pall 
 of black velvet. Kate Luther immediately followed the 
 corpse in a very humble carriage, with her daughter and 
 several matrons ; then John, Martin, and Paul, with their uncle 
 James Luther, and George and Syriac Kauffmann, the Re- 
 former's nephews. Next came the rector, and University, 
 including princes, counts, bai'ons, the Chancellor Bruck, 
 Melancthon, Jonas, Bugenhagen, and Cruciger ; then the city 
 functionaries ; and after these the whole body of students : 
 and finally, a mixed group of men, women, and children, who,
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 417 
 
 by their demeanour, showed that they wished to be ranked 
 among the mourners. Such a vast multitude had never before 
 met in Wittenberg. The spot in All Saints' Church which 
 the Elector had chosen for Luther's grave was on the right 
 side of the pulpit ; and when the coffin had been carried into 
 the church, and placed before the pulpit, the service was 
 begun with funeral chants : after which Bugenhagen ad- 
 dressed the thousands who were assembled, taking as his 
 text, 1 Thess. iv. 13, 14; but so much was he affected and 
 interrupted by his tears, that although Luther used to say 
 his discourses were very good, but far too long, his sermon 
 was unusually short, and he almost forgot his text entirely. 
 After the sermon Melancthon delivered the funeral oration, 
 speaking of Luther as one of that glorious company of Patri- 
 archs, Prophets and Apostles, who had been God's special 
 witnesses on earth, and comparing himself and his hearers 
 to children witnessing the obsequies of a most excellent 
 and faithful parent. "But let us all, he continued, join in 
 this prayer : ' We thank thee, Almighty God, together with 
 thy co-eternal Son and Holy Spirit, that thou hast gathered 
 for thyself an inheritance from mankind, and hast been 
 pleased to revive thy Church by the instrumentality of Martin 
 Luther. Great dangers threaten it ; foreign enemies, do- 
 mestic wars, and bitter controversies, which, now that Luther 
 is gone, will increase to greater boldness. O God ! avert these 
 perils ; preserve and rule thy Church ; and grant us never to 
 forget that as long as we retain, hear, learn, and love the pure 
 doctrine of thy Gospel, we shall ever be thy Church." At 
 the close of the oration, the coffin was lowered into the grave 
 by Masters of the University. And fourteen years later the 
 remains of Melancthon were laid side by side with those of 
 his old colleague in the cause of Christ. 
 
 A stone was placed over Luther's grave, simply recording 
 
 VOL. II. E E
 
 418 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 his name, the place of his decease, and the age at which he 
 died. It was intended by the Elector, that the inscription 
 on this slab should be in brass, and a very costly work was 
 prepared, which, however, in the troubles that followed, was 
 never put over the grave : but in the last century it might be 
 seen at Jena. A copper tablet was also let into the south 
 wall of All Saints' Church, bearing Luther's chosen cogni- 
 zance, the Rose and Cross, with a long Latin inscription, enu- 
 merating his services in the cause of religion. And a picture 
 was placed in All Saints' Church representing Luther preach- 
 ing, Melancthon baptizing, and Bugenhagen pronouncing 
 absolution on the penitent, and rejecting the impenitent. 
 Luther's resting-place was respected, when John Frederic 
 became a captive to the Emperor at Mulhausen, and Witten- 
 berg was occupied by the soldiers of Duke Maurice : only 
 his portrait bore the marks of the malice of an individual 
 soldier, probably a Spaniard, who pierced the neck and breast 
 with his stiletto. 
 
 A few words in conclusion about Kate Luther and her 
 children. To make provision for the Reformer's widow, the 
 Elector contributed 2000 florins, and the Counts of Mansfeld 
 the same sum : and, after a time, the property at Wittenberg, 
 which had been bequeathed to her entirely, was sold : and she 
 removed to Torgau, where she resided in comfortable inde- 
 pendence until her death, December 20, 1552. John Luther 
 was not found to possess much capacity for learning : he did 
 not, therefore, prosecute his studies, but was appointed to a 
 sinecure post in the court of John Frederic, and when that 
 prince was deprived of his electorate, he obtained a similar 
 appointment in the court of his father's old friend, the Duke 
 of Prussia. John married the only daughter of Caspar 
 Cruciger, and had by her a daughter, who died childless. 
 Martin became a theologian, but from weak health, led a
 
 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 419 
 
 private life at Wittenberg, and although he married, died 
 childless. Paul, the youngest son, was distinguished as a 
 professor of medicine at Jena, and was physician to several 
 princely and electoral houses : he was eminent for his piety, 
 and the staunchness with which he maintained his father's 
 sentiments on justification by Christ alone, and the grace of 
 the Sacraments. He married Anna Warbeck, the daughter 
 of the Saxon Chancellor, and had issue by her, four sons, 
 of whom only one, John Ernest, Canon of Zeitz, the father of 
 John Martin Luther, Seckendorf's friend, lived to grow up, 
 and two daughters. Margaret married George von Cunheim, 
 a personage of note and high authority in Prussia; and 
 from her and her brother Paul there are numerous descend- 
 ants at the present day, of the greatest of the Reformers. 
 
 THE END.
 
 EEEATUM. 
 Vol. I. page 316, Note. 
 
 For " The account of the colloquy with Satan did not appear in any earlier 
 edition of the work than that of 1533," &c. 
 
 Read " The account of the colloquy with Satan appears in Luther's treatise on 
 the Private Mass and Ordination of Priests, published in 1533," &c. 

 
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