quandai-y—Papal manceuvres—The Elector's firmness—Lnther cited to appear before the diet—Luther sets out for Worms— Grief of his friends—Unhappy presages—Luther at Leipsic—
At Erfurth—An incident—At Eisenach—At Frankfort-on-theMaine—The picture of Savonarola-—Luther to Oppenheim—At Pfiifingheim—The "reformer's elm"—In sight of Worms—Luther's hymn—Luther at Worms—Agitation—The diet—The Elector's and Luther's "Appeal to the German Nobility"—Luther's narrative of his presentation to the diet—Quits
Worms—Eemarks upon his conduct at Worms—Audin's picture of Luther before the diet After the diet—The Elector—The Papal Legate—Charles V. at the cathedi-al of Worms—the Act of Outlawry—Under the ban of the church and the empire—"The end of the tragedy"—Luther en route for Wittemberg—Plans for his safety—Luther writes the emperor and the states—Dismisses Sturm, the Herald— ' ' The Devd under a Monk's Hood"—Luther at Herschfeldt—At Eisenach—The capture—Luther inlibertaie Christiana
Luther in the Wartburg—Commotion in Gennany—First weeks of Luther's confinement—-Visitors— Depression— Luther's correspondence—His literary activity—Conflicts
Archbishop of Mayence— The indulgence-mongers again at work—Liither's indignation—"The New Idol of HaUe"—Panic at the Electoral court—Spalatin's letter—Luther's response—
Luther's letter to the Archbishop—The Archbishop's reply— Fabricius Capito—Liither to Capito—The confessional—Monkish celibacy—Luther's error—His conviction of itPublic events—Eetention by the reformed church of Popish ceremonials—Proposed changes in the Eitual—The Augustine monastery at Erfurth—The deputies—The Elector—Carlstadt's impradence—The explosion—Luther's brief visit at Wittemberg—
Returns to the Wartburg—The "New Prophets"—The ris» of fanaticism—The image-breakers—Carlstadt heads them—Luther's urgent counsel unheeded—Determines to leave the Wartburg and return openly to Wittemberg— -An episode—Luther apprizes the Elector of what he has clone—Frederick counsels a return to the Wartburg—Luther's refusal—Reasons—he reenters Wittemberg—Tranquillity restored
Luther completes his translation of the New Testament—Its publication in 1522—Great gain thereby to the Reformation—Price of the Testament— Lnmense number of editions sold— Style of the translation—Luther commences the translation of the Old
Testament into German—The German Bible—Its enthusiastic reception by the people—The Roman version—Death of Leo X.—Roman satires—Pope Adrian VI.—Ominous reception of the new Pontiff—Incidents—Adrian's letter to the Elector—
Diet at Nuremberg—Its decision—Joy of the reformers—Henry VIII. of England attacks Luther—The democracy of letters— Luther's terrible reply—Henry's chagrin— Appeals to Duke
George of Saxony and the Elector—Frederick's imperturbability—Result of the rencontre - Death of Adrian VI.—^Clement VII.—Spread of the Reformation—
Activity of Rome—The popish league of Ratisbon—The era of persecution—Luther's prophecy—His controversy with Carlstadt—Carlstadt's fanaticism—Luther at Orlamuud—Banishment of Carlstadt—Luther's connection therewith—Remarks—
Carlstadt's after course—Luther's dejection—Attacked by Erasmus—The "Diatribe"—Luther's pain—The timidity of Erasmus—Luther's Titanic labors—Incidents—Luther on popular education—On the importance of studjdng the languages and literature—^Luther's ttasdom—Ceases to wear the monkish costume—Known only by his academic distinctions—The convent of Nimptisch— The nine nuns— Catherine Van Bora— Luther's maiTiage—Profound sensation—^Luther's domestic happiness
The peasants' war—Condition of the serfs—Singular moderation of the insurgents at the outset—The twelve Articles—Luther called upon to arbitrate between the peasants and the lords—
Accepts the position—His sympathy for the peasants—His address to the princes and the insurgents—Luther's statesmanship—His counsel proves vain—Infatuation of the peasants—
The insurrection becomes fanaticizecl—Luther urges the princes to take the field—Kally of the princes—Battle of Frankenhausen—Disastrous end of the insurrection—Effect of the outbreak upon Luther's mind—Death of the Elector Frederick— His character—The new Elector—^Danger—Luther's faith—Luther's reply to Erasmus' "Diatribe"— "De Servo Arbiirio"—Effect of the pamphlet upon Erasmus
Luther's domestic character— His poverty—A whim—Luther as a "turner"—As a gardener—His happiness—Little Johnny— The plague—Luther's kindness—His sickness—Increase of his family—Death of his daughter—Luther's grief—German hospitaUty—Luther's "Table-talk"—Maniage—The Trinity—The fathers— Antichrist—^Painting— Schools— Music— Printing—
Romish league against the Protestant princes—^Luther's pamphlet against the Turks—Success of the Reformation—The treaty of Cambria—Diet of Spires—The Pkotestants—The Marburg convention—Controversy between Luther and Zwingle— Its unhappy termination—The German phlegm—The diet of Augsburg—Luther at Coburg—The Confession of Augsburg—Melancthon—Bayer reads the Confession— Its effect—Charles' reception of it
Luther's employments at Coburg—Melancthon's timidity—Luther's rebuke—Letters—Luther's exclamation at the conclusion of the diet—The emperor's missive to the pope— Meetings of the Protestants at Schmalkald—The Protestant league—The accusation— Luther's resjionse— The anonj'mous Dresden pamphlet—Luther's tract—Death of Luther's father—Luther's letters thereon—Death of his mother^Close of Luther's connection with public affairs—Kemarks^Luther devotes himself to expositions of the Protestant tenets— Discipline of the Reformation—Contrast between the Roman and the refoi-med churches—
Luther's energy—Decrease of his bodily strength—Anticipations of death—Death of Erasmus—Death of Duke George of Saxony—Luther at Leipsic—Death of Luther's favorite daughter Magdalen—Severity of the blow—His lack of interest in all attempts at reconciliation
-witli Eome— Reasons—His con-espondence—The Council of Trent—Luther's oi^inion of it— His acumen—Increase of his Christian charity—Accommodation of his controversy with the Sacramentarians—Luther's attachment to home—His generosity—An instance—^Luther's fireside friends—A seat at his table deemed a great distinction—Increase of his infirmities—Letter to Amsdorflf—A prophecy—His continued activity
Quarrel between the Counts of Mansfeldt—Lr.ther summoned to Eisenach to act as arbiter—His letter to Count Albert—Sets out for Eisenach—His arrival—Cordial greeting—Letters to his wife—^The Counts reconciled—Luther's activity at Eisenach—
His last sickness— Alarm of his friends—His sulferings^His consideration^His prayer—His final words—^Last moments— Triumphant Christian death—The funeral— Summary of the chai'acter of Martin Luther—-Conclusion
"Give me," said Arcliimedes, "a point without tlie world, and I will move tlie earth from its poles."
It has been well said by D'Aubigne, that Christianity is this point, which raises the heart of man from its double pivot of selfishness and sensuality, and which will one day turn the whole world from its evil ways, and make it revolve on a new axis of righteousness."*
Some men run up and down eagerly demanding evidence of the divine origin of Christianity.
This is the sufficient proof—its imperishability.
All the other creeds which have domineered over the intellects or the hearts of men have eventually succumbed either to outward force or to internal corrugation, and crumbled to pieces.
" The national religions * D'Aiibigne's Hist, of the Eeformatiou, Vol.
THE LIFE AND TIMES wliicli had satisfied the parents, no longer proved sufficient for their children.
The new generations could not repose contented within the ancient forms.
The gods of every nation, when transported to Eonie, there lost their oracles, as the nations themselves had lost their liberty.
Brought face to face in the capital, they had destroyed each other, and their divinity had vanished."-'
From the grey dawn of history, when Cambyses came down from Persia and thundered across Egypt, treading out beneath his horses' hoofs the old ecclesiasticism which built and inscribed the pyramids, to that monstrous birth, the " religion of reason,"
Avith which the infidel philosophers of the French Revolution sought to replace Christianity, all creeds which have owed their inception to the human intellect, to the wit of laymen or of priests, have been eventually overthrown by the scornful execrations of their former dupes.
Christianity alone has stood all tests, firm as that *' Rock of ages" upon which it is based.
"I am tired," said Voltaire, "of hearing that twelve men established Christianity.
I will show that one man is sufficient to overthrow it."
But the rock of unbelief with Avhicli the haughty scholar meant to crush religion, God, as in that tradition of the Jewish Talmud, of Og king of Bashan, hung about his own neck, and fastened it there for ever.
Christianity, from the moment when Christ began to preach it on the plains of Palestine, has trium- * D'Aubigne's Hist, of the Eeformation, Vol. phantlj withstood the assaults of heathen rage, of priestly intrigue, of worldly ambition, of scholastic subtlety
; and God has also vouchsafed it sufficient inherent power to cleanse itself, when the licentiousness of ecclesiastics and the cunning of statecraft have sought to transform its temple into a den of profligacy, or into a shelter for money-changers.
Christianity has so directly for its object the improvement of man's nature, that to conceal any of its doctrines, or to oppose, under the pretence of its sanctions, the full development and exercise of reason, is to resist its Author, and nullify his mercy.
But a system so pure and luminous as that of the gospel is totally adverse to the deceits and artifices necessary for the support of spiritual pride or ecclesiastical ambition
: the system has therefore to be modified when employed for such purposes; and that this may be done securely, every eff"ort must be made to prevent a comparison between the new and the original form of the religion.
" The domination of the Roman pontifis afforded, for many ages, a memorable instance of power wholly supported by these means.
As bishops of one of the most ancient provinces of the Christian church, they merited reverence, and had a just claim to the authority which Christ has vested in all his ministers: but this was not sufficient for the purposes of pride and sensual ambition ; and that which the gospel allowed not, they had to support by a cumbersome scaffolding of crafty inventions.
^ Nor did they sto]5 here ; for no invention which tends to THE LIFE AND TIMES violate truth or nature can endure long, if the evidence existing against it be not studiously anticipated.
To prevent the light of the gospel, therefore, from freely circulating, to put a ban upon reason when it venturecl to assail even the outworks of usurped authority, was the grand policy of Rome; and in this it succeeded till it left no alternative for mankind but to groan perpetually under the most galhug of yokes, or to assert the right of reason and the liberty of the gospel with a new and holy enthusiasm. "'•'
After the birth of Christ, the most momentous event in the annals of the human race is that Titanic struggle which occurred in the sixteenth century for the reformation of those abuses which deformed and scandalized the The success of the reformers has been pregnant with the most beneficent results.
It has bequeathed to mankind the rich legacy of a pure gospel, the spirit of inquiry, and unfettered lips : influential also upon the politics of Christendom, it has marked out many of the limits and duties of Christian citizenship, and taught rulers the true sources and uses of sovereign power
: inculcating nobler social ethics, it has lifted a servile, ignorant, and licentious race, melted in baths and perfumes, engrossed in folly and debauchery, upon a higher plane of manhood and honorable living.
Civilization, depending for its progress ui^on the diffusion of intelligence and the establishment of just laws, received from the Eeformation, which * Stebbing's Hist, of the Eeformation, Vol. unlocked tlie stores of learning which till then had lain useless and musty in monastic cloisters, a wonderful impetus.
There was no sphere of life which its potent influence did not si^eedily reach and elevate.
It opened the ponderous doors of the religious prison-house, disclosing the ghastly mysteries of the modern Babylon.
Then Christianity was born anew: to that transition age, religion, science, letters, and civility are heanly indebted.
" God who prepares his work through ages, accomplishes it by the weakest instruments when his time is come.
To eflect great results by the smallest means, such is the law of God.
This law, which prevails everywhere in nature, is found also in history.
God selected the reformers of the church from the same class whence he had taken the apostles.
He chose them from among that lower rank which, although not the meanest, does not reach the level of the middle classes.
Every thing was thus intended to manifest to the world that the work was not of man, but of God.
Zwingle emerged from an Alpine shepherd's hut; Melanctlion, the theologian of the Keformation, from an armorer's shop; and Luther from the cottage of a poor miner. "^•'
" The world," said Luther one day when at table *vith his friends, using one of those quaint similitudes in which he delighted, "is a vast and magnificent game of cards, made up of emperors, kings, and princes.
The pope for many centuries beatthe * D'Anbigiie's Hist, of the Ttef., Vol.
THE LIFE AND TIMES emperors, kings, and princes.
They yielded and fell before him.
Then came our Lord God.
: he took the lowest," Luther, "for himself, and with it he beat the i^ope, that vanquisher of the kings of the earth.
This is the ace of God.
' He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.'"* Martin Luther, the grand central figure of the Reformation, was born on the 10th of November,
1483,t at Eisleben, a village of Saxony, situated near the Harz mountains, and then subject to the Counts of On the following day, Tuesday, it being St. Martin's day, he received the seal of his dedication to God, in memory of which he was called Martin by his parents.
The ancestors of this boy just born and consecrated to God's service were peasants, inhabiting the village of Mora, near the Thuringian forests.
Melancthon hints that the Luther family were ancient and numerous..}:
The man to whom God gave the rai-e honor of calling the great inaugurator of the new regime son, was named John Luther, and was a younger member of the family.
Marrying the daughter of a cit- * Luther's "Table Talk." t An attempt was made by Luther's enemies, Avho believed in iistrology, to prove that he was born on the 22d of October, when, as they said, there was a certain malign conjunction of the planets.
It was asserted that with such a horoscope he could scarcaly fail of being a heretic and reprobate. t Vetus familia est et late propagata mediocrium hominum.
Melancthon's "Vita Lutheri." izen of Neustadt, in the see of Warzburg, Gretlia Lindemann, the newly wedded pair quitted the Thuriugiau plains, pushing buoyantly and resolutely out into the great world in search of a home and livelihood.
They finally selected Eisleben as their residence.
Here, under the brow of the Harz mountains, John Luther erected his cot ; and being a miner by trade, he found in the adjacent mines that employment which he desired.
John Luther, notwithstanding his humble station and his poverty, which was at this time extreme, was a man of intelligence and a great reader.
Books were then rare; but the miner omitted no opportunity for their acquisition, and he devoted a large portion of his leisure hours to their perusal.
He was a man of upright and frank character, mingling, however, with those quahties a firmness which amounted to obstinacy.*
Concerning Luther's mother, we have Melancthon's testimony that she possessed all those virtues which adorn a noble and She was looked uj)on by the matrons of the neighborhood as a model whom they should strive to imitate.f
It has never been definitely ascertained how many children were born to this worthy pair; but it is certain that there were several besides Martin, since two died of the plague which desolated Eui'ope
• D'Aiibigne's ffist. of the Kef., Vol.
1, Book II., p. 145.^ t Melancthou's "Vita Lutheri."
THE LIFE AND IIMES at the commencement of the sixteenth century, and one, a daughter, married the scribe Euhel de Mansfeldt, whose name occasionally occurs in Luther's correspondence.*
Ere Martin was a year old his parents removed from Eisleben to the adjoining village of Mansfeldt, attracted thither by the celebrity of the Mansfeldt mines.
Luther has himself informed us that his parents were at this period very poor.
He adds, "They endured the severest labor for our sakes."
Thus the little boy was early inured to labor and frugalit}-.
But the indefatigable zeal and business tact of the elder Luther would not suffer him to grovel long in the depths of abject poverty.
It was not long ere his economy and success enabled him to establish at Mansfeldt two smelting furnaces.
His integrity and moral worth were speedily recognized by his fellow-townsmen, who promoted him to several magisterial offices.t
Although not himself what would be termed a man of cultivated mind, John Luther had acquired sufficient knowledge to be fully conscious of its value, and he early determined to bestow upon young
Martin a good education, and if he exliibited an aptitude for learning, to train him up to scholarl}^ pursuits.
John Luther, having been appointed counsellor of Mansfeldt, took advantage of his official position * Audiu's "Histoire de Lutlior." t D'Aubigiie's Hist, of the Eef., Vol.
-to coiu't the society which he preferred.
" He had a great esteem for learned men, and often invited to his table the clergy and schoolmasters of the place.
His house offered a picture of those social meetings of his fellow-citizens, which did honor to Germany at the commencement of the sixteenth centmy.
It was a mirror in ^which were reflected the numerous images that followed one another on the agitated scene of the times.
The child profited by them.
No doubt the sight of these men, to Avhom so much respect was shown in his father's house, excited more than once in little Martin's heart the ambitious desire of becoming himself one day a schoolmaster or learned man.""
The austerity and earnestness of his parents, by checking the natural tendency of his character to impulsive thought and expression, undoubtedly had
^ hawnv influence upon young Luther.
He was taught to be attentive to the soberness and reahty of life.
But it is certain that in their excessive use of corporeal chastisement as an incentive to study or the performance of duty, they greatly erred, securing, not a ready compUance with their just wishes, but the timid acquiescence of a cowed spirit.
Martm's parents were very harsh to him in the earliest and most impressible years of his Hfe, not intentionally, but simply because such was the vicious domestic custom of the age.
Luther in afterlife wrote these Avords " My parents treated^ me harshly, so that I became very timid.
* D'Aubigne"s Hist, of the Kef. Vol.
THE LIFE AND TIMES one clay chastised me so severely about a liazel-nut that I had stolen, that the blood came.
They seriously tliouglit that they were doing right ; but they could not distinguish character, which however is very necessary in order to know when, or where, or how chastisement should be inflicted.
It is necessary to punish ; but the apple shoukl be placed beside the rod."* Luther at six years of age could read and WTite fluently.'!"
Exhibiting at the same time great aptitude for study, and singular oratorical talent, his father determined, when he became of a sufficient age, to send him to the university, there to initiate himself into the mysteries of the law, then as now one of the grand avenues to fame and preferment.
Meantime Martin was continued at school in Mansfeldt until he reached his fourteenth year, being treated by the schoolmaster with no less severity than he met with at his father's hearthstone.
His master flogged him fifteen successive times in one morning.
Afterwards, when relating this circumstance, Luther said, " We must whip children, but we must at the same time love them.".|
Having acquired at Mansfeldt the common rudiments taught in the Tower schools of that day, the catechism, the apostle's creed, some hymns, the Roman formulas of prayer, and having peeped into a Latin grammar, Martin received his father's bless- * Luther's 0pp. Works, 22, p. 1785.
Aiidiu's Hist, de M. Luther.
X D'Aubign^'s History of the Ecformation, Vol.