Auersbursr, but that he would not suft'er him to be dragged to Kome.
He had received word from Count Albert of Mansfeldt, that several powerful lords had bound themselves by solemn oath to waylay and seize him, should he venture to set out for Augsburg, with the intention either of strangling him or carrying him to Home in chains.*
This information led the Saxon monk to request his prince to provide him with a safe-conduct to and from the rendezvous of the legate.
Frederick's excessive caution prevented his compliance with this demand, but he provided for his safety by giving him letters of recommendation to a number of dignitaries on liis route, and also to the senate and to the most influential citizens of Thus doubly armed by the kindness of the prudent elector and by that lofty heroism, that enthusiastic TRUST IN God which never w^avered, Luther quitted Wittemberg in the latter parf of September,
1518, and reaching Weimar, where the elector was holding his court, lodged in the Cordelier's monastery, the cowardly monks of his own order fearing to open their doors to the Saxon heresiarch.:]:
On the following day the elector invited Luther to preach before the coiu't, it being the festival of f Milner, Seckendorf, Melauctlion, and others.
X Myconius, Hist. Ecf.
There is no question but that Frederick was ashamed of his course in writing so obsequiously to Leo from the diet.
He had written in a heat, and when under the frown of the emperor.
But the court protection he gaye, the kind words he uttered, and the undisguised admiration which he felt for his professor's genius—these are now facts of history, and may not be controverted.
Leo had written Frederick at the same time that he forwarded the brief to Cajetan, seeking by a cunning mixture of flattery and menace to detach the prince from all connection with Luther.
But the penetrating elector easily detected the motive of the pontiff; and besides,he never acted hastily, but alwaj's with caution and due reserve.
" His sense of justice," says Melancthon, "was nobly strong, and when he had made up his mind to a course of action, no earthly power could move him or make him budge an inch."'^
Frederick Jiad just come from Augsburg, where he had seen the legate in person, and pledged him to use Luther with kindness, and to return him unharmed.f
He now, after liberally praising the eloquent doctor's court discourse, and after supplying him with funds and additional letters of recommendation, dismissed him to the momentous meeting with the legate. I'
Luther trudged on afoot to Nuremberg, where an old friend, Wenceslas Link, the preacher, resided.
Melanctlioii's " Yita Lutberi." f Archives of Saxe Gotha.
Making liis house his home during his tarry in the quaint old city, he renewed old friendships and formed new ones.
Here he met that Scheurl who had been so active in attempting to heal the breach between himself and Eck of Ingolstadt.
Here also he made the acquaintance of the illustrious painter, Albrecht Luther cnjoj^ed this visit exceedingly, and felt strengthened by it; but time pressed, and he knew that he must hasten on.
Upon informing Link of his intention to resume his journey immediately, he was surprised to learn that this devoted friend ha4 determined to share the perils of his route by accompanying him to Augsburg; and in this resolution a brother monk of the Augustine order, named Leonard, also participated.
Of course Luther was obliged to acquiesce in this arrangement, and the three hastening forward, reached Augsburg on the evening of the 7th of October, alighting at the Augustine convent sorely fatigued in bod}', but jubilant in spirit.
Luther's intrepid coiu'age was never more grandly shown than on the occasion of this tour to Augsburg.
His letters written from Nuremberg breathe the very soul of self-sacrificing heroism.
One especially thrills like the blast of a trumpet "I have met," so runs the text—"I have mei with pusillanimous men who wish to persuade me not to go to Augsburg, but I am resolved to proThe Lord's will be done.
Even in Augsburg, even in the midst of his enemies, Christ reigns.
May the God of my salvation be exalted.
; for it is necessary to be rejected either by God or by man ; but God is true, and man is a * "Weismauni, Hist. Sacr. Nov. Test., p.
The morning after his arrival at Link, by Luther's request, Avaited upon the legate and respectfully informed him of the Saxon monk's arrival and readiness to appear before him
; at the same time, having learned that Staupitz was in town, Luther sent a missive by the Augustine Leonard, in which he begged the vicar-general to come and see him.
This done, the Wittemberg doctor went in person to deliver the elector's letters of recommendation to those influential citizens of Augsburg to whom they were respectively directed.
These honest burghers received him with the utmost cordiality, and being cognizant of Cajetan's crafty j)rojccts, they unanimously exhorted the Augustinian not to wait upon the cardinal until he had obtained a safe-conduct from the emperor; who, notwithstanding the dissolution of the recent diet, still lingered near the city, detained by the hunting attractions of the neighboring forests.
Luther was at length persuaded to act upon this judicious advice.
Three days afterwards, either these same citizens, or the influence of Frederick, exerted sub rosa, or his own ah'eady existing predisposition to befriend the courageous monk, prevailed upon Maximilian to announce to the outwitted cardinal that the public fnith was pledged to Luther,
THE LIFE AND TIMES and that tlierefore the empire stood between him and all violence.* Lnther doubtless breathed more freely on gaining this important point, though he could not but remember that John Huss' pyre at Constance was kindled despite a similar imperial guarantee, and that the audacious hand of Eome pushed away the cobweb protection of the public faith without a scruple.
Moreover his opinion of the value of the elnperor's parchment was not increased when he was informed of the legate's ominous rej)ly, upon being told that Maximilian and his council had granted the safe-conduct
" It is very well," said the subtle cardinal " nevertheless I shall do my duty." t Yet Cajetan was chagrined at Luther's reception of the imperial passport, and he had done his utmost not only to prevent the emperor from granting it, but to persuade the contumacious
Saxon monk from demanding it.
This was the manner in which Luther spent the three dajs which intervened between his arrival at Augsburg, and his reception of the safe-conduct.
On the first morning, 8th, when he had but just arisen, he was waited on by an emissary of the legate, who came, however, in the guise of a friend and well-wisher, carefully avoiding all appearance of any connection with the cardinal, and afiirming that he M'as actuated solely f Varillas, Bossiiet, S3ckcndo:f, Milnor. by the desire of liappil}' accommoduting the existing difficulties.
This personage was Urban of Scrra Longa, an Italian courtier then attached to the train of Cajetan, and who was somewhat familiar with Germany, from having visited it repeatedly on diplomatic missions.
Urban was possessed of the proverbial Italian address, but he met much more than his match in Luther, who beat him at his own weapons.
On first meeting Luther at the Augustine convent, he embraced him affectionately, and opened the conversation by saying,
" I am come, my dear doctor, to offer you some good advice.
Be wise, and become reconciled with the church.
Retract your offensive language.
Eemember the abbot Joachim of Florence ; he had published, as you know, many heretical things, and yet he was declared no heretic, because he retracted his errors."
Luther said that he thought what he had published was not heretical, but might be justified by an appeal to Scripture and the canons of the church.*
Would you enter the lists with the legate ?"
"That is not necessary," replied Luther; "if they convince me of having taught any thing contrary to the Roman church, I shall be m}^ o^Vh judge, and immediatel}' retract.
THE LIFE AND TIMES point will be to know whether the legate relies on the authority of St. Thomas more than the faith will sanction.
If he does, I will not yield."
" Oh ho," cried Urban, "you do intend to break a lance then ?"
The blasphemous Italian then went on to argue that the holy see might perform any act, however horrible, and that no one was competent to criticize
; that all discussion in the universities concerning the pope's authority was insolent, and that Leo could, by a single nod, either radically change or totally suppress the articles of faith.*
These atrocious sentiments instantly convinced Luther of this go-between's true character ; in consequence he became less communicative, simply remarking,
" I am disposed to give all proof of obedience, and to retract those things in which I have crred."t Urban, mistaking these ambiguous words for an expression of willingness to recant, joyfullj' placed his hat upon his head, and starting for the door, paused onlj^ to say,
" I hasten to the legate ; you will prepare to follow me presently.
All will soon be settled.".!
"Ah, ah," thought Luther, when this "bungling mediator" departed, "this crafty Sinon has been badly taught and trained by his Greeks."§
Urban of Serra Longa had not been long gone, t L. 0pp., (L.) X\^L, 179. when tlie "VYittemberg doctor was visited by more friendly and welcome guests,
Peutiuger, the imperial councillor Langemantel, an eminent patrician of the city, Dr. Auerbacli of Leipsic, the brothers Adelmann, both canons, and several other illustrious men, spent some hours with this monk whose fame had already spread through They united in urging him to adhere to their advice, and to take no steps towards seeing Cajetan until the arrival of the emperor's safe-conduct
Auerbach frankly informing him that "one could not trust these Italians."* But while Luther was thus closeted with these eminent citizens, Urban returned, and w^as somewhat surprised to find the German heresiarch so respectably attended.
Drawing Luther aside, he whispered, " Come, the cardinal awaits you ; I will conduct you to him.
" But you must first learn how to conduct yourself in his presence : when you enter his room you must prostrate yourself before him, with your face to the ground.
When he tells you to rise, kneel before him, and thus await his further orders before venturing to stand up."t It was with these grand salaams, with these ceremonies of Eastern despotism, that this lackey of a lackey instructed Martin Luther, doctor of divinit}-, professor in a famous university, a man already remarkable for his learning and his genius, to meet
THE LIFE AND TIMES this upstart cardinal, in whose right hand Leo X. had secreted the thunders of his see Luther informed Serra Longa that he should be happy to meet the legate, but that on the adyice of his Augsburg friends he had concluded to procure from the emperor a safe-conduct, which he expected would reach him within a day or two, after which he was at the service of the cardinal.*
: "Beware," he replied, "of asking for any thing of the kind.
The legate is kindly disposed towards you, and ready to end all in a friendly manner.
If you demand a safe-conduct you ruin all."t " My friend," was the calm, firm response, " my gracious sovereign, the Elector of Saxony, recommended me to several very honorable men in this city.
They advise me to undertake nothing without a safe-conduct ; I ought to follow their advice.
For if I did not, and anylihing should happen, they would write to my prince that I was rash and obstinate, and repudiated their counsel."
The baffled courtier, after several attempts to break this resolution of the Saxon monk, was at length compelled to return to Cajetan and rej)ort his failure on the eve of apparent success.
So ended the first day.
On the morning of the next, which Avas Sunday, Frosch, prior of the Augsburg Carmelites, an old friend of the Wittemberg professor, who had studied theology at the elector's university, and defended
Luther's presidency, came early in the morning and invited his old teacher to make his monastery his home during his tarry at the legate's rendezvous.
Luther at once accepted, thus changing the Augustine convent for the monastery of the CarmeHtes.* On this day Luther's trials were of a different kind.
He was thronged by the populace, " anxious," as he wrote Melancthon, Erostratus, who had caused so vast a conflagration. "f
Reports of his marvellous eloquence had got abroad.
He was entreated to go into the pulpit.
But his sense of propriety, and a fear of annoying the logate, and thus further entaughng the existing difficulties, kept him fi'om complying with these importunities.
Towards evening, Cajetan dispatched two new envoys to his refractory penitent.
" The cardinal," they affirmed, " is a very merciful father ; he gives you every assurance of his grace and favor.
Do you doubt the word of this prince of the church ?"
But some one now approached and whispered in his ear, " Cajetan never keeps his word.
Do not permit these jackals to hoodwink you."| Luther received these emissaries courteously, but his resolution was not to be broken.
* Melancthon, Vita Lutheri.
^ f "Omnes cupiunt videre liominem, tanti iucendii Herostiutum."
X L. 0pp., (L.,) XVII., 205.
On Monday Serra Longa was commissioned to make one last effort to break the iron determination of tlie Saxon theologian.
• On this occasion he made use of his whole rhetorical arsenal.
He wheedled, he menaced, he insinuated.
"Why do you not come?" he queried in Latin.
"The cardinal expects you, and will treat you indulgenth^ The whole matter lies in six little letters Come, you have nothing to fear."
" I will appear as soon as I receive the safe-conduct," was the imperturbable reply.
At this Urban completely lost his temper.
He turned to congenial insults " You imagine, no doubt, that the elector will take up arms in your defence, and for your sake run the risk of losing those territories which his ancestors have bequeathed to him."
" God forbid," fervently ejaculated Luther.
30U, where wiU you take refuge ?" was the taunting demand.
Luther surpassed himself in his reply to this speech.
Infusing the poetry of Isaiah and the spirit of the martyrs into his words, he said slowly and simply, Even the insolence of Serra Longa was struck dumb by the grandeur of this unexpected eloquence.
But soon recovering himself, he rejoined, "What would you do if you held the legate, the pope, and the cardinals in your hands, as they have you now in theirs ?"
"I would treat them with the utmost respect and lionor," said the truthful Augustine " but with me, the word of God is before every thing."
Longa incredulously, and waving his hand in the Italian manner; he then abruptly departed, to return no more.* And this brought Luther to the evening of the third day, and was the petty skirmish which ushered in the battle with the cardinal himself.
In the evening he wrote Melancthon a minute account of all that had occurred, adding these words " Show yourself a man, as you do at all times.
Teach our beloved youth what is upright and acceptable to God.
As for me, I am perhaps soon to be sacrificed for you and for them.
I would rather die, and even— which would be my greatest earthly misfortune—be for ever deprived of your sweet society, than retract what
I felt it to be my duty to teach ; and thus ruin perhaps, by my own fault, the excellent studies to which we are now devoting ourselves.
Italy, like Egypt in times of old, is plunged in darkness so thick that it may be felt.
No one in that country knows any thing of Christ, or of what belongs to him ; and yet they are our lords and masters in faith and morals.
God is fulfilled among us, as the prophet says: 1 icill give children to he their princes, and bales shall ride over them.
Do your duty to God, my dear Philip, and avert his anger by piiro and fervenl prayer."t On Tuesday, the eleventh of October, the safeconduct arrived.
Luther instantly repaired to the legate's palace, accompanied by Link, his Augustine friend Leonard, and by Frosch his host, and the prior of the Carmelites.
They found the legate surrounded by his Italian and German satellites, and occupied in settling the mode of procedure in his case.
This formidable churchman, who now seemed to hold Luther's fate in his hands, was ill-fitted both by nature and education to arbitrate in this nice and perilous controversy.
Cajetan, whose original name of Thomas De Vio seems to have been merged in his prelatical title, derived from Cajeta, his native village, was excessively superstitious, entertained the most lofty ideas of the papal supremacy, and was an enthusiastic disciple of Aquinas and the schoolmen.
He had recentl}' written a work on the power of the Roman pontiff, wliich is said to have procured for him tlie arch-episcopal see of Palermo, and a cardinal's hat.*
Added to all this he was a Dominican, and in consequence the declared enemy of the Leo's choice of this legate to reconcile these serious troubles, certainly cannot be quoted as evidence of his wisdom or discretion.
Upon coming into the cardinal legate's presence, Luther, taking his cue from Serra Longa, prostrated himself, and when bidden to arise, he knelt; and « Milncr, Ch. Hist., vol. remained in that poistnre until a second order from Cajetan caused him to stand up.
This humiht}^ caused Cajetan to imagine that Luther's submission would be speedy and complete.
He was incompetent to measure the moral stature of the Saxon monk.
Luther's very determination to adhere to his tenets until convinced of their error made him anxious to waive all other points, and to exhibit his humility even by the most scrupulous observance of the absurd and slavish punctilio of the Roman court.
After Luther had arisen, as the legate remained silent, the "Wittemberg doctor interj)reted this conduct into an invitation to commence the conversation himself.
Standing forward a step, he said, "Most worthy father, in obedience to the summons of his papal holiness, and in comjjliance with the orders of my gracious lord the elector of Saxony, I appear before you as a submissive and dutiful son of the holy Christian church, and acknowledge that I have published the propositions and theses ascribed to me.
I am ready to listen most obediently to my accusation, and if I have erred, to submit to instruction in the truth."
Cajetan was still more confident of an easy victory over this formidable heresiarch on hearing this address.
Accordingly, assuming the tone and air of a compassionate father, he replied, " My dear son, you have disturbed all Germany^ by your dispute on indulgences.
I understand that you are a very learned doctor in the Holy THE LIFE AND TIMES tures, and that you have many followers.
For tliig reason, if you desire to be a member of the cliurcli, and to find a gracious father in the pope, listen to me.
" Here are three articles," continued Cajetan, placing his hand upon a bundle of manuscripts, "which, by the command of our holy father pope
Leo X., I have to set before you.
First, you must bethink yourself, own your faults, and retract your errors, projiositions, and sermons.
Second, you must promise to abstain in future from propagating similar opinions.
Third, you are to bind yourself to behave with greater moderation, and to avoid every thing that may grieve or disturb the church."
" Most holy father, I beg that you will shov,^ me the pope's brief by virtue of which you have received full powers to treat of this matter."
This request astonished the courtiers of the legate's train.
To their minds it was a mark of impudence that a man "v\iho was about to be tried upon the gravest of charges, and where, to all appearances, an adverse verdict Avould be so crushin gly ruinous, should request to see the credentials of his judge.
Avho habituall}' act in an arbitrary manner," remarks an eminent writer, " are usually surprised when they are called upon to proceed according to the customary' rules, formalities, and laws."
But Cajetan, who preserved his placid demeanorj replied, or MAETIN LUTHER.
"This request, my dear son, cannot be granted* Yon must confess your errors, keep a strict watcli upon your words for the ±utui-e, and not return like a dog to his vomit, so that we may sleep without anxiety or disturbance;! then, in accordance with the order and authorization of our most holy father the pope, I will arrange the whole business."
" Condescend then," rejoined Luther, " to inform me in what I have erred."
Cajetan condescended to comply with this request, and he even entered into discussion with the " Most dear son," he said,
" here are two propositions which have been, as I am informed, frequently advanced by you, and which you must retract before all.
First, the treasure of indulgences does not consist of the sufferings and merits c- "This important circumstance is not taken notice of by the ecclesiastical historians, though I find Luther himself, in his celebrated letter to the elector of Saxony, written after the conference -with Cajetan, uses the words, 'nam exemplar beeyis petenti denegabat.'
It is easy enough to understand why the legate, who was affecting to treat Luther with the greatest kindness, should not choose to show him a brief in which it appeared that, at that very moment, he stood condemned as a heretic at Eome, though he had never been heard.
On a view of all the circumstances, it seems by no means improbable that the cardinal, pursuant to his instructions, was intending to make the poor heretic a prisoner, notwithstanding the emperor's safe-condiict.
But a sight of the brief coiald not have failed to alarm and put on his guard any man in so critical a situation."
Miluer, Ch. Hist., Vol. IL, p. 232, note.
' ' to sleep without anxiety or disturbance " seems to have been, with this inflated prelate, as with the whole Eoman church, the great desideratum.
THE LIFE AND TIMES of Jesus Second, the man who receives the holy sacrament must have faith in the grace that is presented to him,"
" Each of these propositions," remarks a celebrated historian in treating of this very discussion, " in truth struck a mortal blow at the Romish commerce.
If the pope had not the power of dispensing at his pleasure the merits of the Saviour ; if, in receiving the drafts which the brokers of the church negotiated, men did not receive a portion of this infinite righteousness, this paper money would lose its value, and become as worthless as a heap of rags.
" It was the same with the sacraments.
Indulgences were more or less an extraordinary branch of Eoman commerce ; the sacraments were a staple commodity.
The revenue they produced was of no small amount.
To assert i\in.i faith was necessary before thev could confer a real benefit on the soul of a Christian, took away all their charms in the eyes of the people
; for it is not the pope who gives faith; it is beyond his province; it proceeds from To declare its necessity was therefore depriving Eome both of the speculation and the profit.
By attacking these two doctrines, Luther had imitated Jesus Christ, who at the very beginning of his ministry had overthrown the tables of the money-changers, and driven the dealers out of the temple.
' Make not my Father's house a house of merchandise,' he said."- Cajetau at once grajjpled with these heresies.
Luther's first proposition he combated by this extravaganza* of Pope Clement : " One drop of Christ's blood being sufficient to redeem the whole human race, the remaining quantity that was shed in the garden and upon the cross was left as a legacy to the church, to be a teeasuee feom whence indulgences were to be drawn and administered by the The Saxon doctor's second proj)Osition the legate attempted to answer by profuse quotations from Aquinas, Aristotle, and the mediaeval schoolmen.
The Augustine monk had for some time past been too enlightened to digest such wild inventions and blasphemous superstitions.
He could not but hold in supreme contempt the logical powers and perverted ingenuity of this inflated churchman, who could demand that he should renounce the majestic tenets of his theology upon such frivolous pretexts.
Still it required extraordinary courage to make a formal protest against a system which, like that of Cajetan, was established by the highest ecclesiastical authority, and which was also generally believed to be dictated by an infallible judgment.
After listening patiently to the jargon of the legate, Luther exclaimed, " I cannot receive these extravaganzas and a mere scholastic dictum as authority in these vital questions of Christian ethics.
* A name applied to certain papal decrees collected and subjoined to the body of the canon law.
I Maclain in Mosheim, Vol.