THE LIFE AND TIMES broken by Dr. Eck, who published at Ingolstadt thirteen theses aimed at Luther's tenets, and expressly intended to draw him into the controversial arena.
This scholastic was vain-glorious, boastful, proud of his pompous learning, and he was still more puffed up by having won prizes on the field of disputation in eight different universities.
He was indeed complete master of the weapons of offence and defence in use by the schoolmen.
His logical acuteness and prowess in argument had hitherto enabled him to conquer all opponents.
" But this little monk,'" saj'S Pallavicini, " this Luther, who had suddenly grown into a giant, whom thus far no one had been able to vanquish, galled his pride, and excited his jealousy."Carlstadt, who was at this time on friendly terms with Luther, had published some theses in reply to To these Eck had responded, and Carlstadt had rejoined.
The result of this skirmish was that Eck challenged Carlstadt to a verbal combat at Leipsic, hoping in this way to ensnare Luther into the controversy.
He was more successful than was best for his fame as a disputant.
Ingolstadt theses read thus "We deny that the Roman church was not raised above the other churches before the time of pope
; and we acknowledge in every age, as the successor of St. Peter, and the vicar of Christ, him who has filled the chair and held the faith of It will be seen tliat this proposition brought into the discussion the whole question of the snpremaaj of the 2Mpe, one of the main questions of the Reformation.
"Luther, while in the Roman church, held, in common with many other papal theologians, that the authority of the councils was superior to that of the pope.
He had recently appealed from pope Leo to a general council.
If the pontiff was siqyi^erne, of what use would his appeal be ?
He therefore read this thesis with indignation.
" Men imagine vain things when they counsel peace," he wrote " God does not leave me to my own will ; he pushes me forward, and carries me away.
I am not master of myself.
I desire to live in repose, but I am thrown into the midst of tumults and revolutions."* Lutber now stepped forward, accepted the combat which Home had invoked, and picked up the gauntlet of her haughty champion.
" God knows," he wrote Frederick, " that I was firml}^ resolved to keep silence, and that I was glad to see this struggle terminated at last.
I have so strictly adhered to the treaty concluded with the papal commissary, that I have not replied to Sylvester Prierias, notwithstanding the insults of adversaries, and the advice of my friends.
But now Dr. Eck attacks me, and not only me,, but the university of Wittemberg also.
Jruth to be thus cowed into silence, and covered with opprobrium."'!"
• L. 0pp. Lat. in Praef.
After writing this letter to Frederick, Luther published a number of theses in reply to Eck ; the last of these was couched in these words
" It is by the contemptible decretals of Roman pontiffs, composed within the last four centuries, that they would prove the primacy of the E-oman
; but arrayed against this claim are elevenr centuries of credible history, the express declara-y tions of Scripture, and the conclusions of the Council of Nice, the most venerable of all the councils."*
Luther at once forwarded these theses to Eck at •Ingolstadt, remarking in his disdainful and biting style, " Now, my dear Eck, be brave, and gird thy sword upon thy thigh, thou mighty man.
I could not please thee as mediator, perhaps I shall please thee better as antagonist.
Not that I imagine I can vanquish thee, but because, after all the triumphs thou hast gained in Hungary, Lombardy, and Bavaria—if at least we are to believe thee—I shall give thee opportunity of gaining the title of conqueror of Saxony and Misnia, so that thou shalt for ever be hailed with the glorious title of August." t
Leipsic, which had been selected as the city wherein the disputation was to take place, was situated in the territory of duke George, the elector's cousin.
Luther wrote this prince, who was inimical to his cause, requesting permission to participate in this intellectual tournament.
The duke, offended at Luther's boldness, and^ alarmed by his open assaults upon the Roman see, * L. 0pp. (L.,) XVIL, 245. refased to grant this request, and no importunities could wring from him any thing further than the concession that Luther might attend the disputation as a spectator.""
Luther was much chagrined at this decision, but he determined to repair to Leipsic, and see if haply an opportunity might not occur for him to speak.
As things now stood, the main interest centred in Eck and Carlstadt, and both sides were actively preparing for the combat.
The honor of the two rival universities of Ingolstadt and Wittemberg was felt to be at stake, and no efforts v/ere spared by either party to insure the victory to its champion.
Duke George did his utmost to forAvard the arrangements for the controversy, noAV that Luther was excluded from it, and the time was definitely fixed, the 24th of June, 1519.
Erasmus was opposed to the contest.
Melancthon, just previous to the gathering at Leipsic, " If you would take Erasmus' word, you would labor rather in cultivating literature than in disputing with its enemies.
I think that we should make greater progress by this means.
Above all, let us never forget that we ought to conquer not only by our eloquence, but by our moderation.'"
But the pacifying voice of the sage of Eotterdam was shortly drowned by the fierce cries of the assembled combatants in the Leipsic arena.
* Mcurer's Lifi; of I utber.
The agitation at Wittemberg was now intense.
Nothing was thought or spoken of but the approaching dispute at Leipsic, and the most lavish preparations were made by the honest burghers and the heated students of the good old city to turn out en masse in honor of their university.
Luther, whose poverty was now, as it continued to be through life, extreme, and who was absolutely dependent upon the elector in pecuniary matters, since there appears to have been no settled salary attached to his professorship, was obliged to have recourse to Frederick on this occasion for an outfit in which to appear at the discussion.
His letter to the elector is sufficiently curious " I beseech your electoral grace to have the kindness to purchase for me a white surplice and a black one.
The white one I humbly pray for.
As for the black one, your highness owes it to me, for you promised it to me two or three years ago Pfeffinger has such difficulty in loosening his purse-strings, that I have been obliged to procure one for myself.
I humbly beseech your highness, who thought that the jJsalmster merited a black surplice, not to deem Saint Paul unworthy of a white one."*
It is scarcely necessary to add that the surplices made their speedy appearance.
On the 24tli of June, 1519, tlie Wittembergers set out for Carlstaclt, alone in a chariot; on the way one of his wheels broke, near
St. Paul's church, and he was thrown out, which was considered a bad omen.
Next came the chariot of Barnim, prince of Pomerania, who was at that time a student at Wittemberg with the title of honorary rector.
Beside him were Luther and Melancthon, and around and following the chariot was a large body of armed students.""
Eck had already arrived.
Duke George and the vast majority of the patricians of the city as well as the university were his acknowledged partisans.
He was feasted daily by his adherents, and every attention was bestowed upon him.
Certainly no disputant could have entered the argumentative field under happier auspices.
The reception awarded the Wittembergers by the hostile city was cold and sullen.
It was with difficulty that they could obtain lodgings, and the streets were constantly the scene of fierce encounter between the rival parties.t
Luther had scarcely arranged himself in his apartments ere he was waited upon by Eck.
The champion of scholasticism demanded Luther's reason for refusing to dispute with him.
He was informed of the duke's refusal to grant the requisife permission.
This Eck undertook to obtain.
Carla Seckendorf, p. 182.
THE LIFE AND TIMES stadt lie despised ; he liad come to Leipsic to overthrow Luther, a task which his vanity led him to imagine he could perform.
After some reluctance, the duke was persuaded to remove his interdict Eek having informed him that he could easily and certainly master
Luther, ami that if he fell his heresy would topple over with him.
But it was decided that the controversy already arranged between himself and Carlstadt should go on, and precede the grand tilt with Luther.
A hall had been prepared for the occasion in the palace of the Pleissenbiu'g ; two pulpits had been erected, one opposite the other, and from these the combatants were to fire their logical broadsides at each other.
There was some difficulty in the appointment of judges.
Eck wished them to be nominated from among the ranks of the Eomau partisans.
Luther naturally objected ; he favored an appeal to public opinion—democratic in this as in many other respects.
" He required," says Pallavicini, " all men for his judges ; that is, such a tribunal that no urn could have been vast enough to contain the votes."*
" certain doctors of Erfurth and Paris were selected to act as judges."
Luther, who was bitterly oj)posed to this appointment, and who only consented to it when accused of wishing by his objections to manoeuvre himself out of the dispute, reserved the right of appeal, and it was finally conceded that this ex parte and mock judgment should not be considered decisive.*
On the morning of the 27th of June, vast crowds thronged the council-chamber of the old Leipsic palace, while the disputants and their friends were already seated and ready to commence their cannonade.
A great number of dignitaries were present.
Duke George of Saxony ; the hereditar}' prince, ; Prince George of Anhalt ; the Duke of Pomerania ; Emser, the duke's confidant, who had already tested Luther's mettle
; the faculty of the Leipsic university, and a host of lesser lights, besides the orators of the occasion, lent lustre to the discussion.
Peter Musellanus,t Greek professor at Leipsic, opened the exercises by ascending one of the pulpits and laying down the rules which duke George had decided should govern the encounter.
3'ou fall to quarrelling," he said, "what difference will there be between a theologian in discussion, and a shameless duellist ?
AVhat is your object in cainiuathe victory, if it be not to recover a brother from error?
Each of you should desire less to conquer than to be conquered."!
* Myconiup, ilelanctlion. t Musellanus was at first inclined to scoff.
' John Eck, the most illustrions of goose-quill gladiators, and of braggadocios—John Eck, who, like the Aristophanic, Socrates, despises even the gods themselves, will have a bout with The match will end in loud cries.
Then such men as Democritus would find matter for laughter in it. " t Seckcndorf, p. 209.
After tlie solemn chant of the ancient hymn of invocation to the Holy Spirit, Spiritus, during which the churchmen of the middle ages, and the innovators who sought the restoration of the primitive forms, humbly bent their heads in common to the earth in these last moments of outward, of dead unity,* Eck and Carlstadt ascended their respective pulpits.
Carlstadt started Avitli the proposition, that every goody work is altogether from God; to which Eck objected, that every good luorJc is indeed from God, hut not ivhoUy.
In the conduct of the dispute, Eck, it is generally allowed, manifested great readiness of language, and much ingenuity in discovering those nice distinctions in which the logic of the schools so much delighted.
Carlstadt, on the other hand, failed in that power of expression, that fertility of resource, that quickness of retort, that magnetism of manner, and that easy reference to his source of knowledge, so essential in eloquence, and which rendered
Luther's oratory so irresistible.
The consequence was, that Eck had greatly the advantage in his vehement appeals to that portion of his audience who preferred ingenuity of speech to soundness of learning and to truth.
But Carlstadt enjoyed the high satisfaction of convincing the more candid of his listeners that he was defending a proposition whose truth must become more perceptible, the more genuine learning, and sound, unsophisticated reasoning were employed in its illustration.*
Melancthon, who sat beside Carlstadt, was of vast assistance to the ponderous and unwieldly professor—by l]is quickness detecting the flaws in Eck's argument, and by his readiness and profound learning extricating his friend from many perilous rhetorical ambuscades.
Eck, having slightly confused his opponent, detected Melancthon in the act of passing to Carlstadt a slip of paper on which he had written an answer.
"Philip, hold your tongue," thundered the angry rhetorician ; " mind your studies, and do not interfere with us."
The imperturbable Melancthon was not to be frightened, and he continued to supply Carlstadt with ideas as serenely as before.t
The dispute between Eck and Carlstadt continued through six days,:}: and was carried on amid much clamor and confusion.
Melancthon, in his calm, sweet resume of the controvers}^, wrote, "We cannot help feeling surprise when we think of the violence with which these august subjects were treated.
How could any one expect to derive any profit from it?
The Spirit of God loves retirement and silence ; it is then that it penetrates deep into our hearts.
The bride of Christ does not dwell in * Stebbing's Hist. Kef., Vol. t Seckendorf, Corpus Eef., + From June 27th to July 4th, 1519.
THE LIFE AND TIMES the streets and market-places, but leads her spouse into the house of her mother,"-'
In his account of this preliminarj debate, Luther protests in the most solemn manner that, notwithstanding Eck's prodigious animation of manner, and energetic exertions of voice and action, as long as an appeal to books and written documents was admitted, his friend Carlstadt defended himself with rich variety of apt and excellent quotations.
" Eck perceiving this, and aware of his superior eloquence and readiness, soon made a proposal that all books be laid aside, and that the dispute go on without them
Eck, who had the better memory and the happiest flow of Avords, supported his side in a more plausible manner than his opponent."t
Eck, flushed with this quasi success, and anxious to achieve fresh glory, next summoned Luther himself into the arena.
The Wittemberg doctor had preserved a silence thus far which had only been broken by the deUver}^ of one sermon before the student duke of Pomerania, on the festival of But he had familiarized himself with Eck's rhetorical tactics, and he determined to meet the pompous scholastic with his own weapons.
On the 4th of July the new antagonists began their debate.
Among the articles of controversy were the doctrines of purgatory and indulgences, the nature of repentance and the remission of sins, and o Melancthon, 0pp., p. IGi. particularly the foundaiion of the supremaqi of the Besides these topics a number of subsidiary questions were treated, and the debate took a wide scope.
On the superstitious notion of ruRGATORY many arguments and distinctions were produced on both sides.
In general Luther admitted his belief in the existence of such a place, and even that some obscure hints of it might be gleaned from But he denied that any thing clear and conyincino; was revealed in the sacred oracles concerning that now exploded sophism.
Luther had expected that Eck would make the question of the validity of indulgences the Thermopylae of his cause.
But he extricated himself from this difficulty v.dth a success which before the conflict he had not ventured to expect.
Eck happened to affirm that a sort of medium of opinion ought to be held respecting indulgences.
" On the one hand," said he, " they ought not to be condemned, and on the other they ought not to be entirely relied on."
"I found," observed Luther, " that I could nearly agree to this explanation, and it is certain that papal indulgences never received such a wretched and unfortunate defence.
They were treated in a way that produced great laughter in the palace chapel.
If the proclaimers of indulgences had held Eck's opinion in vending them, I should never have even murmured a dissent.
I say, that if the people had been informed that these absurd diplomas could not be relied on, the comTHE LIFE AND TIMES missaries who conducted the sale of them would have died of hunger."
Luther's triumph on this point was decisive, and his acuteness as a theological disputant, ready to avail himself of the slightest indiscretion of his antagonist, appears very manifest from this instance.*
When he came to touch on the nature of kePENTANCE and the eemission of sins, his marvellous learning, his j^erfect acquaintance with the Bible doctrines, his famiharity with the sophisms of the schools, and his luminous eloquence bore down all opposition.
The admiring plaudits of bis auditors crowned him as the undisputed victor in this branch of the discussion. t Reformation broke poor Eck's chain of sophisms as easily as Samson snapped the green withes of the Philistines.
But the emphasis of the debate was upon the pontifical supremac3^ Eck contended that the biblical expressions, " Thou art Peter, and uiDon this rock will I build my church," " and I will give unto thee the keys," evinced the supremacy of St. Peter and his successors
; that this was the judgment of the fathers, and that the contrary opinion was the heresy of Wickliffe and of Huss.
Luther, in his reply, was still too good a Bomanist to deny this doctrine in toto; he conceded the supremacy of the pope on human and historical grounds, but denied the divine eight of the Boman pontiff o Miluer, Ch. Hist., Vol. n., p. 257.