§ 29. The Penitential Psalms. The Eve of the Reformation.
§ 29. The Penitential Psalms. The Eve of the Reformation.
The first original work which Luther published was a German exposition of the seven Penitential Psalms, 1517.171 It was a fit introduction to the reformatory Theses which enjoin the true evangelical repentance. In this exposition he sets forth the doctrines of sin and grace and the comfort of the gospel for the understanding of the common people. It shows him first in the light of a popular author, and had a wide circulation.
Luther was now approaching the prime of manhood. He was the shining light of the young university, and his fame began to spread through Germany. But he stood not alone. He had valuable friends and co-workers such as Dr. Wenzeslaus Link, the prior of the convent, and John Lange, who had a rare knowledge of Greek. Carlstadt also, his senior colleague, was at that time in full sympathy with him. Nicolaus von Amsdorf, of the same age with Luther, was one of his most faithful adherents, but more influential in the pulpit than in the chair. Christoph Scheurl, Professor of jurisprudence, was likewise intimate with Luther. Nor must we forget Georg Spalatin, who did not belong to the university, but had great influence upon it as chaplain and secretary of the Elector Frederick, and acted as friendly mediator between him and Luther. The most effective aid the Reformer received, in 1518, in the person of Melanchthon.172
The working forces of the Reformation were thus fully prepared and ready for action. The scholastic philosophy and theology were undermined, and a biblical, evangelical theology ruled in Wittenberg. It was a significant coincidence, that the first edition of the Greek Testament was published by Erasmus in 1516, just a year before the Reformation.173
Luther had as yet no idea of reforming the Catholic church, and still less of separating from it. All the roots of his life and piety were in the historic church, and he considered himself a good Catholic even in 1517, and was so in fact. He still devoutly prayed to the Virgin Mary from the pulpit; he did not doubt the intercession of saints in heaven for the sinners on earth; he celebrated mass with full belief in the repetition of the sacrifice on the cross and the miracle of transubstantiation; he regarded the Hussites as "sinful heretics" for breaking away from the unity of the church and the papacy which offered a bulwark against sectarian division.
But by the leading of Providence he became innocently and reluctantly a Reformer. A series of events carried him irresistibly from step to step, and forced him far beyond his original intentions. Had he foreseen the separation, he would have shrunk from it in horror. He was as much the child of his age as its father, and the times molded him before he molded the times. This is the case with all men of Providence: they are led by a divine hand while they are leading their fellow-men.
Notes.
The works of Luther written before the 95 Theses (reprinted in the Weimar ed., I. 1–238, III., IV.) are as follows: Commentary on the Psalms; a number of sermons; Tractatus de his, qui ad ecclesias confugiunt (an investigation of the right of asylum; first printed 1517, anonymously, then under Luther’s name, 1520, at Landshut; but of doubtful genuineness); Sermo praescriptus praeposito in Litzka, 1512 (a Latin sermon prepared for his friend, the Provost Georg Mascov of Leitzkau in Brandenburg); several Latin Sermons from 1514–1517; Quaestio de viribus et voluntate hominis sine gratia disputata, 1516; Preface to his first edition of "German Theology," 1516; The seven Penitential Psalms, 1517; Disputatio contra scholasticam theologiam, 1517. The last are 97 theses against the philosophy of Aristotle, of whom he said, that he would hold him to be a devil if he had not had flesh. These theses were published in September, 1517, and were followed in October by the 95 Theses against the traffic in Indulgences.
The earliest letters of Luther, from April 22, 1507, to Oct. 31, 1517, are addressed to Braun (vicar at Eisenach), Spalatin (chaplain of the Elector Frederick), Lohr (prior of the Augustinian Convent at Erfurt), John Lange, Scheurl, and others. They are printed in Latin in Löscher’s Reformations-Acta, vol. . 795–846; in De Wette’s edition of Luther’s Briefe, I. 1–64; German translation in Walch, vol. XXI. The last of these ante-Reformation letters is directed to Archbishop Albrecht of Mainz, and dated from the day of the publication of the Theses, Oct. 31, 1517 (DeWette I. 67–70). The letters begin with the name of "Jesus."
The famous "centum gravamina adversus sedem Romanam totumque ecclesiastcum ordinem."
"Totus illi magno consensu applausit." In a letter of Dec. 12, 1524, to Duke George of Saxony who was opposed to the Reformation.
Audin wrote also the Lives of Calvin, of Henry VIII., and of Leo X. (published between 1839 and 1847), with the same French vivacity and Roman Catholic hostility; yet, while he does not understand Luther as a Protestant Christian and a reformer, he tries to do justice to him as a man and a genius. He says (III., 380): "Luther est le grand predicateur de la réforme. Il eut presque tous les dons de l’orateur; une inèpuisable fécondité de pensées, une imagination aussi prompte à recevoir qu’à produire ses impressions, une abondance et une suplesse de style inexprimables. Sa voix était claire et retentissante, son oeil brillant de flamme, sa téte antique, sa poitrine large, ses mains d’unerare beauté, son geste ample et rich .... C’était à la fois Rabelais et Montaigne: Rabelais avec sa verve drolatique de style, Montaigne avec ses tournures qui burinent et cisètent." The editor of the 7th ed., in his introductory notice (p. xviii.), says that those biographies of Audin have given to the Reformation "le coup de grace," and thus finished the work of Bossuet’s Variations; but Protestantism still lives, even in Catholic and infidel France.
Michelet lets Luther tell his own story as far as possible, and compares this story with the Confessions of Augustin and of Rousseau, which it unites."Dans saint Augustin" (he says, I., 6), "la passion, la nature, l’individuaté humaine, n’apparaissent que pour étre immolees à la grâce divine. C’est l’histoire d’une crise de l’ame, d’une renaissance, d’une Vita nuova; le saint eût rouqi de nous faire mieux connaître l’autre vie qu’il avait quitté. Dans Rousseau, c’est tous le contraire; il ne s’agit plus de la grace; la nature règne sans partage, elle triomphe, elle s’étale; cela va quelquefois jusqu ’au dégout. Luther a présenté, non pas l’equilibré de la grâce et de la nature, mais leur plus douloureux combat. Les luttes de la sensibilité, les tentations plus hautes du donte, bien d’autres hommes en eut suffert; Pascal les eut évidemment, il les étouffa et il en mourat. Luther n’a rien caché, il ne s’est pu contenir. Il a donné à voir en lui à sonder, la plaie profonde de notre nature. C’est le seul homme peut-âtre où l’on puisse étudier à plaisircette terrible anatomie."
His name is differently spelled: Luder, Ludher, Lutter, Luttherr, Luther. The Reformer himself varied. In his first book, on the Penitential Psalms, 1517, he signed his name after the preface Martinus Luder, but soon afterward he adopted the spelling Luther. In the University records of Erfurt he was inscribed as Ludher in the Wittenberg records, first as Luder and Lüder. He derived his name from lauter, clear, afterward from Lothar, which means laut (hlut), renowned, according to others Leutherr, i.e.: Herr der Leute, lord of the people. See Erfurter Matrikel; Album Acad. Viteberg., and Lib. Decanorum facultatis theol. Acad. Viteb. ed. Förstemann; Walch, L.’s Werke I., 46 sqq.; Jürgens I., 11-13: Knaake, in "Zeitschr, f. hist. Theol.," 1872, p. 465; Köstlin, Mart. Luther, I. 21 (2d ed. 1883). The year of Luther’s birth rests on the testimony of his brother James; his mother distinctly remembered the day and the hour, but not the year. Melanchthon’s Vita Luth. 2; Köstlin, 1. 25 and 776.
The story that they went to the fair at Eisenach cannot be proven.
"Ich bin eines Bauern Sohn; mein Vater, Grossvater, Ahnherr sind rechte Bauern gewest. Darauf ist mein Vater gen Mansfeld gezogen und ein Berghauer worden: daher bin ich." Mathesius wisely remarks with reference to the small beginnings of Luther: "Wass gross soll werden, muss klein angehen; und wenn die Kinder zärtlich und herrlich erzogen werden, schadet es ihnen ihr Leben lang."
Köstlin, I., 26; II., 498. In his small biography, pp. 6 and 7 (Engl. ed.), Köstlin gives the pictures of Hans and Margaret Luther. There is a striking resemblance between Luther and his mother, whom Melanchthon describes as a modest, God-fearing, and devout woman. Her maiden name was Ziegler (not Lindemann, as usually given). Luther’s father is said to have escaped by flight trial for murdering a peasant at Möhra in a fit of anger; but this tradition rests only on the testimony of J. Wicel (Epist. libri quatuor, Lips., 1537), who fell away from Protestantism. It is discredited by Köstlin (I., 24). Janssen (II. 66) leaves it in doubt.
Table Talk (Erl. Frkf. ed. LXI. 213): "Man soll die Kinder nicht zu hart staüpen; denn mein Vater stäupet mich einmal so sehr, dass ich ihn flohe und ward ihm gram, bis er mich wieder zu ihm gewöhnete."
He says in his Table-Talk: "Darumb sagte meine Wirthin zu Eisenach recht, als ich daselbst in die Schule ging:
’Es ist kein lieber Ding auf Erden
Als Frauenlieb’, wem sie mag werden .’ "
See Works, Erl. Frkf. ed. LXI., 212; Jürgens, I., 281 sqq.; Kolde, I., 36; Janssen, II., 67. The relation of Luther to this excellent lady has been made the subject of a useful religious novel by Mrs. Eliz. Charles, under the title: Chronicles of the Schönberg-Cotta Family. By two of themselves. London and New York (M. W. Dodd), 1864. The diary is fictitious.
See the description by Jürgens, I., 351 sqq.; and Kampschulte, Die Universität Erfurt in ihrem Verh. z. Humanismus u. Reformation, Trier, 1358. Two parts. The university was abolished in 1816.
See Kampschulte, l.c. I., 43 sqq., and G. Plitt, Jodocus Truttvetter, der Lehrer Luthers, 1876.
Jürgens, I., 449; Kampschulte, De Johanne Croto Rubiano, 1862.
O. G. Schmidt, Luther’s Bekanntschaft mit den alten Classikern, 1883.
Da ich zwanzig Jahre alt war, hatte ich noch keine Bibel gesehen; ich meinte, es wären keim Evangelien und Episteln mehr, denn die in den Postillen sind." Werke, Erl. ed., LX., 255. This was partly his own fault, for several editions of the Latin Vulgate and the German Bible were printed before 1500.
Mathesius: "da ihm ein guter Gesell erstochen ward."
In a letter which Crotus wrote to Luther from Bologna, Nov., 1519: "Perge, ut coepisti, relinque exemplum posteris. Nam ista facis non sine numine divum. Ad haec respexit divina providentia, cum te redeuntem a parentibus coeleste fulmen veluti alterum Paulum ante oppidum Erfurdianum in terram prostravit, atque inter Augustiana septa compulit e nostro consortio." Döllinger I. 139.
Köstlin, I., 88 sq., 780.
The cell and furniture were destroyed by fire, March 7, 1872. The cell was reconstructed, and the convent is now an orphan-asylum (Martinsstift).
"Der vermaladeite Heide Aristoteles." Luther’s attitude to scholasticism and the great Greek philosopher changed again when, in support of the eucharistic presence, he had to resort to the scholastic distinctions between various kinds of presence. Comp. Fr. Aug. Berthold Nitzsch, Luther und Aristoteles . Kiel, 1883.
It passed through three editions between 1518 and 1520. See Knaake, I., 86 sq. Keller says that it was often republished by the Anabaptists, whom he regards as the successors of the mediaeval Waldenses, or "Brethren."
"Per quem primum coepit Evangelii lux de tenebris splendescere in cordibus nostris." So Luther says in his letter to Staupitz, Sept. 17, 1518 (DeWette II., 408 sq.), where he addresses him as "reverendus in Christo pater," and signs himself "filius tuus Martinus Lutherus."
In a letter of comfort to Hieronymus Weller, Nov. 6, 1530 (DeWette, IV., 187), Luther says, that in his sadness and distress in the convent he consulted Staupitz and opened to him his "horrendas et terrificas cogitationes," and that he was told by him: "Nescis Martine, quam tibi illa tenatio sit utilis et necessaria. Non enim temere te sic exercet Deus, videbis, quod ad res magnas gerendas te ministro utetur."
Luther: "D. Staupitius me incitabat contra papam (al. papatum)." In Colloquia, ed. Bindseil, III., 188.
First published by K. Krafft, in "Briefe und Documente aus der Zeit der Reformation," Elberfeld (1876), p. 54 sq.
"Ad liberatum carnis video innumeros abuti evangelio."
Extracts from these sermons were first published by Kolde.
Knaake, l.c., I., 130 sqq.; Keller, Reform., 346 sq. It must have been this book which Link sent to Luther in the year 1525, and which Luther returned with a very unfavorable judgment. Döllinger (l.c. I., 155) thinks that Luther looked upon the death of Staupitz as a sort of divine judgment, as he looked afterward upon the death of Zwingli.
Neverthless his books were put in the Index by the Council of Trent, 1563, and were burnt as heretical with all his correspondence by order of his successor, Abbot Martin of St. Peter, in the court of the convent at Salzburg in 1584. See Fr. Hein. Reusch (Old Cath.),Der Index der verbotenen Bücher, Bd. I. (Bonn, 1883), p. 279: "Staupitius ist in den Index gekommen, weil Cochlaeus bei dem Jahre 1517ihn neben Luther als Gegner Tetzels erwähnt. Er ist in der 1. Classe geblieben bis auf diesen Tag, obschon man in Rom oder wenigstens in Trient, jedenfalls Benedict XIV. wohl hätte wissen können, dass er als guter Katholik, als Abt von St. Peter zu Salzburg gestorben." This is only one of several hundred errors in this papal catalogue of heretical books.
Or, as Luther expressed it in his letter to Staupitz of Feb. 9, 1521, he wavered between Christ and the Pope: "Ich fürcte, ihr möchtet zwischen Christo und dem Papste in der Mitte schwaben, die ihr doch in heftigem Streit sehet." He told him in the same letter that he was no more that preacher of grace and of the cross (ein solcher Gnaden-und Kreuzdiger) as formerly.
Luther himself felt how widely he differed in this doctrine from his favorite Augustin. He said afterward in his Table Talk: "Principio Augustinum vorabam, non legebam; aber da mir in Paulo die Thür aufging, dass ich wusste was justificatio fidei wär, ward es aus mit ihm." Köstlin, I., 780. Yet if we reduce the doctrine of justification by faith to the more general term of salvation by free grace, it was held as clearly and strongly by Augustin and, we may say, is held by all true Christians. Janssen (II., 71) says: "Of all the books recognized and used by the (Catholic) Church, whether learned or popular, there is not one which does not contain the doctrine of justification by Christ alone (die Lehre von der Rechtfertigung durch Christus allein)." But the question between the Roman church and Luther turned on the subjective appropriation of the righteousness of Christ which is the objective ground of justification and salvation; while faith is the subjective condition.
Modern exegesis has justified this view of dikaiovw and dikaivwsi", according to Hellenistic usage, although etymologically the verb may mean to make just, i.e., to sanctify, in accordance with verbs in ovw (e.g. dhlovw fanefovw, tuflovw, (i.to make manifest, etc.). See the Commentaries on Romans and Galatians.
The boldest and wildest utterance of Luther on justification occurs in a letter to Melanchthon (De Wette’s ed. II. 37), dated Aug. 1, 1521, where he gives his opinion on the vow of celibacy and says: "Esto peccator et pecca fortiter, sed fortius fide (crede) et gaude in Christo, qui victor est peccati, mortis et mundi." But it loses all its force as an argument against him and his doctrine, first by being addressed to Melanchthon, who was not likely to abuse it, and secondly by implying an impossibility; for the fortius crede and the concluding ora fortiter neutralize the fortiter pecca. Paul, of course, could never have written such a passage. He puts the antinomian inference: "Let us continue in sin that grace may abound" into the form of a question, and answers it by an indignant mh; gevnoito. Rom. 6:1. This is the difference between the wisdom of an apostle and the zeal of a reformer.
Luther’s dicta about Rome and his Roman journey are collected in Walch’s ed., vol. XXII., 2372-2379; Köhler: Luther’s Reisen (1872), p. 2-20; Jürgens, II., 266-358; Koestlin, I., 100-107; Lenz, 45-47; Kolde, I., 73-79; and in Brieger’s "Zeitschrift für Kirchengesch," II., 460 sqq. Comp. also, on the R. Cath. side, the brief account of Janssen, II., 72. Audin devotes his third chapter to the Roman journey (I., 52-65).
The chronology is not quite certain. The date 1511 is adopted by Köstlin and Kolde. Others date the Rome journey back to 1510 (Mathesius, Seckendorf, Jürgens, and Luther himself, in his tract Against Popery invented by the Devil, Erl. ed. XXVI., 125, though once he names the year 1511).
Kolde (I., 81) conjectures that the decision of Rome in the controversy among the Augustinians went against Staupitz, who soon after 1512 left Wittenberg.
He passed through Suabia and Bavaria, as we may judge from his description of the people (Walch, XXII., 2359): "Wenn ich viel reisen sollte, wollte ich nirgends lieber, denn durch Schwaben und Baierland ziehen; denn sie sind freundlich und gutwillig, herbergen gerne, gehen Freunden und Wandersleuten entgegen, und thun den Leuten gütlich, und gute Ausrichtung um ihr Geld." He seems to have seen Switzerland also of which he says (ib., p. 2360): "Schweiz ist ein dürr und bergig Land, darum sind sie endlich und hurtig, müssen ihre Nahrung underswo suchen."
We seek in vain for descriptions of natural scenery among the ancient classics, but several Hebrew Psalms celebrate the glory of the Creator in his works. The Parables of our Lord imply that nature is full of spiritual lessons. The first descriptions of the beauties of nature in Christian literature are found in the Epistles of St. Basil, Gregory of Nazianzum and Gregory of Nyssa. See this Ch. Hist., vol. III., 896 sqq. The incomparable beauties of Switzerland were first duly appreciated and made known to the world by Albrecht von Haller of Bern (in his poem, "Die Alpen"), Goethe Schweizereise), and Schiller (in Wilhelm Tell, where he gives the most charming picture of the Lake of the Four Cantons, though he never was there).
"Salve! Sancta Roma."
"Auch ich war ein so toller Heiliger," he said, "lief durch alle Kirchen und Kluften, glaubte alles was daselbst erlogen und erstunken ist."
This interesting incident rests on the authority of his son Paul, who heard it from the lips of his father in 1544. Modern Popes, Pius VII. and Pius IX., have granted additional indulgences to those who climb up the Scala Santa.
"Es gehet uns wie den Propheten, die klagen auch über Jerusalem, und sagen: Die feine gläubige Stadt is zur Hure geworden. Denn aus dem Besten kommt allezeit das Aergste, wie die Exempel zeigen zu allen Zeiten." Walch, XXII., 2378.
This was the topic of one of his last and most abusive works: "Wider das Papstthum zu Rom vom Teufel gestiftet." March, 1545.
Comp."Revista Christiana," Firenze, 1883, p. 422. The picture on the opposite page (in the text) is from a photograph made in Florence.
Probably, Weissenberg, from the white sand hills on the Elbe. So Jürgens II., 190. The original inhabitants of the region were Slavs (Wends), but expelled or absorbed by the Saxons. The town dates from the twelfth century.
"In termino civilitatis."
"Wäre es nicht geschehen," says Luther, "so hatte ich nach meiner Verheirathung mir vorgenommen, für Honorar zu lesen. Aber da mir Gott zuvorkam, so habe ich mein Leben lang kein Exemplar [he means, of his writings] verkauft noch gelesen um Lohn, will auch den Ruhm, will’s Gott, mit mir ins Grab nehmen." Jürgens, II., 248 sq.
Luther remembered the pear tree under which Staupitz overcame his objections to the labors and responsibilities of the doctorate. He thought himself unable to endure them with his frail body, but Staupitz replied playfully and in prophetic anticipation of the great work in store for him: "In Gottes Namen! Unser Herr Gott hat grosse Geschäfte; Er bedarf droben auch kluger Leute; wenn Ihr nun sterbet, so müsset Ihr dort sein Rathgeber sein."
See K. F. Th. Schneider, Luther’s Promotion zum Doctor und Melanchthon’s zum Baccalaureus der Theologie, Neuwied, 1860 (38 pp.). He gives Luther’s Latin oration which he delivered in honor of theology on the text: "I will give you a mouth and wisdom" (Luke 21:15). The expenses of the promotion to the degree of the baccalaureate, Luther never paid. The records of the dean note this fact: "Adhuc non satisfecit facultati," and Luther afterward wrote on the margin: "Nec faciet, quia tunc pauper et sub obedientia nihil habuit." Schneider, p. 6.
See his utterances on the importance of his doctorate in Mathesius (I. and XV.) and Jürgens (II., 405-408). Jürgens points out and explains (p. 424 sqq.) the inconsistency of Luther in his appeal to human authority and overestimate of the official title. Every step in his public career was accompanied by scruples of conscience which he had to solve the best way he could.
Köstlin says (Engl. transl. of the short biography, p. 65): "Obedience to the Pope was not required at Wittenberg, as it was at other universities." But it is implied in obedience to the Roman church. The university was chartered by the Emperor Maximilian, but the Elector had not neglected to secure the papal sanction. See Jürgens II. 207.
This book, published at Pforzheim, 1506, at the author’s expense, is the first Hebrew grammar written by a Christian, and broke the path for Hebrew learning in Germany. So far Reuchlin was right in calling it a monumentum aere perennius.
DeWette, I. 34: "Petimus a te, Graece, ut controversiam nostram dissolvas, quae sit distantia inter anathema per epsilon, et anathema per h ... Nescio figuras literarum pingere." In his Table Talk he says: "Ich kann weder griechisch noch hebräisch; ich will aber dennoch einem Griechen und Hebräer ziemlich begegnen." Comp. on his linguistic studies and accomplishments, Jürgens, I. 470 sqq.; II. 428 sqq.
He had the Latin text of the Psalms printed, and wrote between the lines and on the margin his notes in very small and almost illegible letters. Köstlin gives a facsimile page in Luther’s Leben, p. 72 (Engl. ed. p. 64). The whole was published with painstaking accuracy by Kawerau in the third volume of the Weimar ed. (1885).
The innumerable references to the Hebraeus are never intended for the original, but for Jerome’s Psalterium juxta Hebraeos. Paul de Lagarde has published an edition, Lips., 1874.
Luther illustrates this double four-fold scheme of exegesis by the following table (Weimar ed. III. 11):
Litera Occidens
hystorice terra Canaan
Mons
Zion
Allegorice Synagoga vel
persona eminens in eadem
tropologice Justitia phari-
saica et legalis
anagogice Gloria futura
secundum carnem
SpiritusVivificans de corpore
hystorice populus in Zion exis-
tens Babylonico Ecclesiastico
Mons
Zion
Allegorice Ecclesia
vel quilibit
doctor
Episcopus
eminens
Tropologice Justitia fidei
vel alia excellen ...
Anagogice gloria
eterna in celis.
Econtra Vallis Cedron per oppositum.
This fanciful allegorizing and spiritualizing method of interpreting the Psalms by which they are made to teach almost anything that is pious and edifying, is still popular even in some Protestant churches, especially the Church of England. Comp. e.g. Dr. Neale and Dr. Littledale’s Commentary on the Psalms from primitive and mediaeval writers. London, fourth ed., 1884, 4 vols. The celebrated Baptist preacher, Spurgeon, has written a commentary on the Psalms, in seven volumes, which is likewise full of allegorizing interpretation, but mostly derived from older Protestant and Puritan sources.
Hence the saying: "Si Lyra non lyrasset, Lutherus non saltasset."
Ed. by Dr. Bertheau in the fourth vol. of the Weimar ed. (1886).
See the first ed. in the Weimar ed. of his works, vol. II. 436-618. This commentary of 1519 must be distinguished from the larger work of 1535 which has the same title, but rests on different lectures.
In December, 1531: "Epistola ad Galatas ist meine Epistola, der ich mich vertraut habe, meine Kethe von Bora." Weimar ed. II. 437. Melanchthon called Luther’s commentary the thread of Theseus in the labyrinth of N. T. exegesis.
Both prefaces are printed in the Weimar ed. of his works I. 153 and 378 sq. The book itself has gone through many editions; the best is by Franz Pfeiffer, Theologia deutsch, Stuttgart. 1851, third ed. 1855. There is a English translation by Susanna Winkworth, Theologia Germanica, with additions by Canon Kingsley and Chevalier Bunsen, (London, 1854, new ed. 1874; reprinted at Andover, 1846). Several characteristic mystic terms, as Entwerdung, Gelassenheit, Vergottung, are hardly translatable.
Ed. von Hartmann, the pessimist says (Die Philos. des Unbewussten, Berlin, 1869, p. 276): "Die Mystik ist eine Schlingpflanze, die an jedem Stabe emporwuchert und sich mit den extremsten Gegensätzen gleichgut abzufinden weiss."
See Hermann Hering, Die Mystik Luthers im Zusammenhange seiner Theologieund in ihrem Verh. zur älteren Mystik. Leipzig, 1879. He distinguishes three periods in Luther’s relation to mysticism: (1) Romanisch-mystische Periode; (2) Germanisch-mystische Periode; (3) Conflict with the false mysticism of Münzer, Carlstadt, the Zwickau Prophets, and Schwenkfeldt.
171 Weimar ed., vol. I. 154-220. A Latin copy had appeared already in 1513 and is preserved in the library at Wolfenbüttel, from which Prof. E. Riehm of Halle published it: Initium theologiae Lutheri. S. exempla scholiorum quibus D. Lutherus Psalterium interpretari coepit. Part. I. Septem Psalms paenitentiales. Textum originalem nunc primum de Lutheri autographo exprimendum curavit. Halle, 1874. Luther’s closing lectures of 1516 exist likewise in MS. at Dresden, from which they were published by J. C. Seidemann in: Doctoris M. Lutheri scholae ineditae de Psalmis annis 1513-1516. Dresden, 1876, in 2 vols.
172 On the early colleagues of Luther, see Jürgens, II. 217-235.
173 Luther made good use of it for his translation, but was not pleased with the writings of Erasmus. As early as March 1, 1517, he wrote to John Lange: "I now read our Erasmus, but he pleases me less every day. It is well enough that he should constantly and learnedly refute the monks and priests, and charge them with a deep-rooted and sleepy ignorance. But I fear he does not sufficiently promote Christ and the grace of God, of which he knows very little. He thinks more of the human than the divine .... Not every one who is a good Greek and Hebrew, is also for this reason a good Christian. The blessed Jerome with his five tongues did not equal the one-tongued Augustin, although Erasmus thinks differently."—Briefe, ed. De Wette, I. 52.