is called satisfaction, but the remission of that to mo most worthless part, as it never had been previously held and estimated.
"And now they teach these impious, false, and heretical tenets with such boldness—I had almost said insolence—that he who presumes to express an opinion to the contrary, however diffidently, is forthwith branded as a heretic, as one who should be consigned to the flames of hell to be eternally punished.
" Unable to restrain the ravings of these men, I resolved in the gentlest possible manner to dissent from them, to call in question mildly their headstrong and impious assertions, trusting to the authority of all learned men and of the church, and to maintain that it is better to render satisfaction for sin bj repentance, than that the satisfaction should be remitted for money, namely, by the purchase of indulgences
; nor has an}' doctor ever taught otherwise.
"I therefore disputed with and diflered from them, and because I did so I j)rovoked their utmost resentment against me, my sole offence being in my interference with these zealots in their schemes for obtaining money from the people.
And these men, so practised in their profitable knavery, when they could not refute me, pretended that I was injuring the authority of the pope.
" This is the reason, reverend father, why I am now talked of malignantly in public, who have always been a lover of retirement, choosing rather
THE LIFE AND TIMES to attend to the improvement and cultivation of the mind, than to make myself at all an object of public observation.
But it behooves me to take these things patiently, and so far I would rather be the subject of their slander than of their praise.
" I request therefore, that you Avill accept these my brief explanations, and transmit them as soon as possible to the holy father Leo X., because the representation of these malignant men may be injurious to me, and I have no advocate in that quarter.
I do not wish you, however, to be brought into trouble on my account ; I desire to answer for vnjself, and to bear the whole responsibihty.
Saviour Jesus Christ knows whether what I have advanced be of myself, or agreeable to his will, without whose ajjprobation the sanction of the pope is of little avail, or that of mnj prince whom he guides and commands.
" But nevertheless I exjDect a decision to be pronounced at Rome.
To the threatenings Avith Avhich I have little to say, except with Reuchlin, that he who is poor has nothing to fear, because he has nothing to lose.
He who is deprived of fame and rewards, loses what I neither possess nor desire.
One unworthy thingremains, my humble body, fatigued by cares and anxieties ; so that whatsoever, with God's permission, they may do by force or stratagem, they can only dej)rive me of a few hours of life.
'Tis sufficient for me to know my blessed Lord and Saviour, to whom I shall sing praises as long as T live. not sing praises with me, that is not my concern
; he may growl by himself, if he chooses.
" May the Lord Jesus Christ preserve you, my beloved father, in his holy keeping for ever.
"MAETIN LUTHER, Angnstine Friar."
If any soul is stirred to marvel at the humility of Luther's letters, both to the bishop of Brandenburg and to Leo. X., it may be well to cite for his instruction the Wittemberg theologian's mature declaration, written twenty-eight years after the indulgence controversy, and from the standpoint of a completed Eeformation
"Before all things I entreat you, pious reader? for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake, to read my writings with cool consideration, and even with much pity.
I wish you to know that when I began the affair of the indulgences at the very first, I was a monk, and a most mad papist.
" There were however, and are now, others who appear to me to adhere to the pope on the principles of Epicurus, that is, for the sake of indulging their appetites, when secretly they even deride him, and are as cold as ice when called uj)on to defend the papacy.
I was ne\er one of these ; I was always a sincere believer ; I was always earnest in defending the doctrines ; and I went seriously to work as one who had a horrible dread of the day of judgment, and who, from his inmost soul, was anxious for salvation.
"You will find therefore, in my earlier writings, with, how much humility, on many occasions, I gave up very considerable points to the pope, which I now detest as blasphemous and abominable in the highest degree.
This error my slanderers call inconsistency ; but you, pious reader, will have the kindness to make some allowance on account of the times and my inexperience.
I stood absolutely alone at first ; and certainly I was very unlearned and unfit to undertake matters of such vast importance."
While Luther quietly and hopefully awaited at "Wittemberg the result of his conciliatory letters to Jerome of Brandenburg and Leo X., the perfidious
Eoman see was already busily at work in forging that thunderbolt with which it meant to smite the infant Reformation.
The imprudence of the pope at this critical moment seems almost the consequence of judicial infatuation.
At once he passed from the carelessness of indifferent neglect, to the extreme of tyrannical violence and blind temerity.
Leo had written Staupifz some months previous to the date of Luther's missive to him, urging the vicar-general to use his utmost efforts to concihate the Saxon Augustine, and exhorting him to reclaim his erring friend if he himself hoped for salvation.
But the treacherous Medici did not await Staujntz's report, but so early as the 3d of April, Cardinal Eaphael of Eovera had written the elector of Saxony, in Leo's name, intimating that his own orthodoxy was tainted by his protection of Luther's heresies.
V " The cardinal," said Luther, " would have great pleasure in seeing me burned by Frederick."* In the meantime the Samson of Eome apparently
THE LIFE AND TIMES overthrew the main piUar of the heretical temple, and men looked to see the whole edifice come crashing to the ground.
The elector became disaffected and alarmed.
An imperial diet was at this time being held at Six of the electors of the empire were in attendance upon Maximilian, and the princes of half the European states were represented by ambassadors
; the proxy of the peoj)le being Cajetan.
The then raging Turkish war was the ostensible object of this imperial convention Moslems lay other matters of far greater importance both to the legate of the pope and to Maximilian.
The emperor, grown old, and anxiously planning for the aggrandizement of his house, desired to use the diet for the furtherance of these views.
He liad already gained over to his side most of the electors, when he met from Frederick a determined opposition.
Charles, already king of Spain and Naples, was naturally Maximilian's choice for the imperial succession ; he wished now to have him proclaimed king of the Romans.
Leo just as naturally wished to balk this plan, not desiring to see a prince whose power in Italy might be dangerous to his own authority, and whose area of domain was already so vast, seated on the imperial throne, and swaying the almost irresistible sceptre of the German Ca3sars.
Since the interests of Frederick of Saxony and pope Leo were in this identical, it was natural that they should now draw more closely together, and ally their fortunes.
The pernicious diplomacy of Frederick now led him, therefore, to conciliate the pontiff.
To this end he wrote Leo from Augsburg on the " Most holy father, we have learned within these few days that a friar of the Augustine order, named Martin Luther, has presumed to maintain certain propositions on the traffic in indulgences
; a matter which displeases us the more because this friar has found many protectors, among whom are persons of exalted station.
If your holiness, and the very reverend fathers of the church the cardinals, do not soon exert your authority to put an end to these scandals, these pernicious teachers will not only seduce the simple x^eople, but they will involve great princes in their destruction.
We will take care whatever your holiness decrees in this matter for the glory of God Almighty, shall be enforced throughout the empire."*
Affairs becoming still more threatening at the diet, the crafty elector, who well knew what sop the Cerberus would most relish, wrote
Loo again, several days later "I shall never have any other desire than to live in submission to the universal church.
Accordingly I have never defended either the writings or the sermons of Doctor Martin Luther.
I learn, besides, that he has always offered to appear, unda& a safe conduct, before impartial, learned, and Chris- =- Ragnald ad an, 1518.
THE LIFE AND TIMES tian judges, in order to defend his doctrine, and to submit, in case he should be convicted of error by the Scriptures themselves."*
The pontiff, with this declaration of sentiments from Luther's sovereign before him, and urged thereto by the clamors of the frantic theologians of the Vatican, now nominated an ecclesiastical commission at Eome, of which Sylvester Prierias was a prominent member, and cited the Augustinian to appear before it in person within sixty days.
This citation was received by Luther at Wittemberg on the 7th of August, and greatly astonished him.
"At the moment," said he, "when I was expecting a blessing, I felt the thunderbolt fall upon me.
I was the lamb that troubled the water the wolf was drinking.
Tetzel escaped, and I was to permit myself to be devoured."
This summons to Kome cseated a great excitement among the devoted adherents of the reformer.
Although he seemed to be deserted by the magnates of Christendom, an enthusiastic army of believers already surrounded the resolute chieftain of the ncAv regime, and these imperatively vetoed his personal appearance before this mushroom ex parte tribunal at Kome.
Accordingly, on the day following his reception of the summons, the 8th of August, Luther wrote Spalatin, exhorting him to use his influence with the elector to have his cause tried in Spalatin consequently immediately wrote Renner.
* Lutlicis L. 0pp., XYII., 1G9. the emperor's secretary " Doctor Martin Luther willinglj consents to be judged by all the universities in the empire, except Leipsic, Erfurth, and Frankfort-on-the-Oder, which have shown themselves partial
; it is impossible for him to appear at To this note Spalatin secured the elector's signature, thus demonstrating at once his friendship for Luther, and his influence with Frederick.
At the same time the university of Wittemberg wrote the pope a letter of intercession.
" The weakness of his fi-ame," so runs the epistle, " and the dangers of the journey, render it difficult and even impossible for the doctor to obey your august summons.
" His distress and his prayers incline us to sympathize with him.
We therefore entreat you, most holy father, as obedient children, to look upon him as a man who has never been tainted with heretical tenets."
On the same day, the university still further exhibited its zeal and solicitude by writing the pope's chamberlain, Charles
Miltitz, a Saxon gentleman who was held in high esteem by Leo X.
"The reverend father, Martin Luther, is the noblest and most distinguished member of our university.
For many years we have known his talents, his learning, his profound acquaintance with the arts and literature, liis irreproachable morals, ri.nd his truly Christian behavior
; we therefore implore o L. 0pp., THE LIFE AND TIMES you to use jour best influence with the sovereign pontiff on his behalf."*
The emperor Maximilian was already inclined to be friendly to Luther, provided his good offices did not interfere with his plans of statescraft.
He had said to Pfeffinger, the elector's counsellor, on the first outbreak of this theological tempest, "What your monk is doing is not to be despised; take care of him
; it may be that we shall have need of him."t Personally Maximilian entertained no very exalted opinion of the pontiff : " This pope," said he, speaking of Leo X., "has acted towards me like a rogue,
I can fairly say that I have never found in any pope I have met Avith, sincerity or good faith I hope this will be the last of them.":!:
Entertaining these sentiments, Renner, upon the presentation of the elector's letter suggesting that Luther be heard in Germany instead of Bome, found the emperor very ready to do his utmost to secure a compliance with this request on the part of the Roman see.
But Leo, who had been informed of the emperor's menacing expressions, was in no mood to be cajoled by Maximilian's rhetoric.
"While men were anxiously* looking for the result of this affair, it was terminated more easily than might have been expected.