THE LIFE AND TIMES self earnestly to work to wrest it from the usurping hands of a priestly oligarcliy, and to popularize religion.
To this end, Luther bent his faculties to the education of the people.
He did his utmost, personall}'- and through his friends, to diffuse, by means of popular books level to the comprehension and adapted to the wants of the masses, a knowledge both of civil questions and religious subjects
; discarding wlien engaged in this beneficent work the Latin tongue, the only medium of communication which the haughty scholars of his time would stoop to use, and addressing the people in that picturesque and glowing German which made him their idenl teacher, and which laid the foundations of one of the most complete of modern languages.*
It is a great mistake to suppose that popes, emjDerors, and kings rule the Avorld.
Justice and common-sense govern, in the end.
I., and the emperor Charles V. domineered over the Christendom of the sixteenth century ; but the Christendom of the nineteenth century is governed by the type of Faust and by that Bible which Luther emancipated.
It was then for the instruction of the masses that, shortly after writing the Asterisks, he pubhshed liis Sermons on the Ten Commandments, and his £xplanations of the Lord's Prayer, for simple and unlettered Laymen.
* Grimm, himself the highest authority as to Gorman, gives the palm of superiority for richness to the English language.
Lx the introduction to this latter work, he makes these observations upon the nature of prayer " "When thou prayest, let thy words be few, but thy thoughts and affections many, and above all, let them be profound.
The less thou speakest the ^better thou 2:)rayest.
Few words and many thoughts is ; many words and few thoughts is heathenish."
This passage shows how far, led by the simple spirit of the gospel, Luther had wandered from the monkish precepts of the cloister, and from the formulas of the Eoman church.
Were not incessant repetitions of the credo, and the muttering of formal prayers expressly inculcated by the canons of the Eoman see ?
Yet here Luther, without appearing to be aware of his heresy, warns the people against this system, and urges them to use " few words and many thoughts."
The fact probably was, that the Saxon monk w^as really much further away from Kome at this time than even he himself knew.
Luther still further says of prayer " External and bodily prayer is that buzzing of the lips, that outward babble which is gone through without any attention, and which strikes the eyes and ears of men
; but prayer in spirit and in truth is the inward desire, the emotions, the sighs Ajdiich issue from the depths of the heart.
The former is the prayer of hypocrites, and of all those who trust in themselves ; the latter is the prayer of the children of God, who walk in his fear."- * 0pp. Leipsic, VII., p. 1086.
About this time Luther ]3reaclied at Wittemberg a sermon on the remission of sins, which afterwards became famous on account of its evangehcal and antipapal character.
In this discourse he maintained that " the remission of sins is in the power neither of the pope nor of the priest, nor of any man
; for Christ designed not to build our consolation, our salvation, on the word or on the work of man, but solely on himself, on his Avork and on his word.
Thy repentance and thy works may deceive thee, but Christ thy God will not deceive thee.
He will not falter, and the devil shall not overthrow his words.
"A pope or a bishop has no more power than the lowliest priest, as regards remission of sins.
And even were there ho priests, each Christian, even a woman or a child, can do the same things.
For if a simple Christian says to you, ' God pardons sin in the name of Jesus Christ,' and you receive his word with a firm faith, and as if God himself were addressing you, you are absolved.
"If you do not believe you are forgiven, you make God a liar, and you put more confidence in your own vain thoughts than in God and his word.
" Eepent, do all the works in thy power ; but let the faith thou hast in jjardon through Jesus Christ be in the foremost rank, and command alone on the field of battle."^
" Thus spoke Luther to his astonished and enraptiu'ed hearers," says an eminent historian.
* L. 0pp., XYII., p. 102. the scaffolding that impudent priests had raised to their profit between God and the soul of man was thrown down, and man was brought face to face with his God.
The word of forgiveness descended pure from on high, without passing through a thousand corrupting channels.
In order that the testimony of God should be efficacious, it was no longer necessary for men to set their delusive seal to it.
The monopoly of the sacerdotal caste was abolished."
In the spring of 1518, a general chapter of the order of the Augustine s was held at Heidelberg, and to it Luther, as one of the foremost scholars and most influential members, was summoned.
His friends at the outset endeavored to dissuade him from undertaking the journey, fearful lest some ill-treatment should await him, or lest he fall a victim to the machinations of his monkish foes.
And indeed the Dominicans, taking time bj the forelock, and familiar with the route he A\'ould pursue, should he attend the gathering at Heidelberg, had been assiduously at work for some time endeavoring to make his name odious in those towns through which he was to pass.
But though he was apprized of this, when was Martin Luther known to be frightened from the performance of what he considered a duty ?
He had several reasons for desiring to attend this meeting of the Augustines.
He had been summoned by his superior to do so, and therefore monastic obedience impelled him to go ; he liad besides something to say, and he was eager to light on the heights of Heidelberg that reformatory torch which blazed so brightly on his Saxon plains.
He therefore quieted the fears of his friends by reminding them that in God's hand he was as safe at Heidelberg as iu the cell of liis cloister in the elector's duciy; and on the 13th of April, in company with a guide named Urban, he calmly set out on foot.
Travelling quietl^^ and for the most part nnrecognized, the great reformer trudged on through Erfurth, where two brothers of his order joined him, through Judenback, where they chanced to meet Pfeffinger, the elector's chancellor, who entertained them at the inn—to which Luther thus pleasantly refers in a letter to Spalatin
" I had the pleasure of making the rich lord Pfeffinger a few groats poorer, at Judenback I like on every opportunity to levy contributions on the rich for the benefit of the poor, especially if the rich are my friends ;"" the travellers reached
Coburg tired and way-worn.
He was desirous of taking a public conveyance from Coburg on to Wurtzburg, but finding himself unable to procure accommodations, he was forced to resume his staff and continue his journey on foot.
A fortnight after Easter—he had quitted Wittemberg the day after that festival—he reached "Wurtzburg, and having been provided with letters to various nobles and prelates on his route by tlie thoughtful kindness of the elector, he went immediately to the episcopal palace of the bishop of Bibra, to whom he had a note of introduction, and who received him with the utmost cordiality.
This amiable bisliop was one of tlie few really pious and evangelical prelates of the Boman church.
He was held in high esteem by the emperor and by the German princes.
He had read Luther's theses with pleasure and approval, and he wrote Frederick of Saxony, " Do not let the pious Doctor Martin go, for they do him wrong."
As might be expected, the bishop of Bibra did every thing possible to render the stay of the Wittemberg doctor pleasant and profitable.
Luther had also the hapj)iness of meeting at Wurtzburg his old friend Staupitz, the vicar-general, and Lange, whom he had appointed prior at Erfurth, both of whom were journeying to the rendezvous at Heidelberg.
Luther was now received into the carriage of his friends, and they travelled on together towards Heidelberg, reaching that quaint old town on the evening of the 21st of April.
The three friends immediately repaired to the magnificent castle of the Count Palatine Wolfgang, Duke of Bavaria, to whom the Elector of Saxony had given them letters, and who received them heartily, showed them every attention, and who remarked to Luther especiall}^, upon reading his letter of introduction, "In truth, you have here a valuable letter of credit."*
Luther wrote afterwards, "We were very happ}', and amused each other with agreeable and pleasant conversation ; eating and drinking, examining all o L. Epp., the beauties of the palatine palace, admiring the ornaments, arms, cuirasses, in fine, every thing remarkable contained in this celebrated and truly recral castle."^"
But Luther did not long allow himself to be engrossed by the fascinations of the Heidelberg castle.
While he remained domesticated with Wolfgang he employed his leisui-e hours in drawing up a number of theses, or "paradoxes," as he called them, which he intended to present for the consideration of the Augustines before they adjourned the chapter.
In the outset he had soUcited the use of the university hall for the disputation ; but some objection having been made, it was finally settled that it should take place in the Augustinian monastery of the town.
Accordingly, on the 26th of April, an immense concourse of people crowded the spacious chapel of the Heidelberg Augustines, drawn together by the fame of Luther's elo(luence and innovating tenets.
In the paradoxes which he now presented, he opposed the prevailing notions concerning justification, faith, and works; his object being to demonstrate the doctrine of justification before God by faith, and not by works and deserts.
His theses were very ably but temperately cojitroverted by five learned doctors ; to whose objections, however, the Saxon monk so pointedly re plied, and whom he so luminously outreasoned-, c L. Epp.,
THE LIFE AND TIMES that his auditory was melted into admiration both of his genius and his tenets.'^ " He is in many respects hke Erasmus," said some, "but surpasses him in one thing
: he openly professes what Erasmus is content merely to iusinuate."t Luther acknowledges having himself learned something in this debate.
With the humility of greatness he said, " I belong to those who improve by writing, and teaching others, and not to those who, from being nothing, become on a sudden great and learned doctors."
" Never had an assembly listened with so much attention to a theological discussion.
The fii'st words of the reformer had aroused their minds.
Questions which shortly before would have been treated with indifference, were now full of interest.
On the countenances of many of the hearers, a looher-on might have seen reflected the new ideas which the bold assertions of the Saxon doctor had awakened in their minds.
"Three young men in j^articular were deeply moved.
One of them, Martin Bucer by name, was a Dominican, twenty-seven years of age, who, notAvithstanding the prejudices of his order, appeared unwilling to lose one of the doctor's words.
He was born in a small town of Alsace, and had entered a convent at sixteen.
He soon displayed such capacity that the most enlightened monks entertained Palatine churches, by Altingius. f Bucer, in Scultet's Annal. Evang. Renovat., p. 22. the higliest expectations of liim
' he will one day be the ornament of our order,' said they.
His superiors had sent him to Heidelberg to study philosophy, theology, Greek, and Hebrew.
"At that period Erasmus published several of his works, which Bucer read with avidity.
Soon aj)peared the earliest writings of Alsacian student hastened to compare the reformer's doctrine with the hoi}' Scrii^ture.
Some misgivings as to the truth of the popish religion arose in his mind.
It was thus that the light was diffused in those days.
The Elector Palatine took particular notice of the young man.
His strong and sonorous voice, his graceful manners and eloquent language, and the freedom with which he attacked the vices of the day, made him a distinguished preacher.
" He was appointed chaplain in the court, and was fulfilling his functions when Luther's journey to Heidelberg was announced
; what joy for Bucer.
No one repaired with greater eagerness to the hall of the Augustine convent.
He took with him paper, pens, and ink, intending to take down what the doctor said.
But while his hand was swiftly tracing Luther's words, the finger of God in more indelible characters wrote on his heart the great truths he had heard.
The first gleams of the doctrine of grace were diffused through his soul during this memorable hour.
The Dominican was gained over to Christ.
" Not far from Bucer stood John Brentius, then nineteen years of age.