plied Erasmus with tlie oflfer of a rich bishopric, if he woukl TVTite against Luther ; to which the catitious scholar retorted, " Luther is too great a man for me to encounter
; I do not even always understand him.
However, to speak plainl}^ he is so extraordinary a man that I learn more from a single page in his books than from all the writings of Count Nassau, governor of Flanders, Brabant, and Holland, exhorted the divines of the Hague thus
: " Go, and preach the gospel in simplicity and truth as Luther does, and you will offend no one, nor will you suffer molestation. "f
The academicians of Louvain complained to Margaret, the emperor's sister, governante of the Netherlands, that Luther, by his writings, was subverting Christianity.
"Who is this Luther?" queried she.
The bitter schoolmen replied, " He is an iojnorant German monk."
"Is it indeed so?" said she " then do you, who are very learned and very numerous, write against this illiterate monk, and surely the world will pay more regard to many scholars than to one ignoramus."^
Luther, secure for the present under the powerful protection of the elector, pursued the even tenor of his way at Wittemberg, busied now, while the pitiless pelting of the storm smote him, as before, in the calm days of the serene sunshine, in God's service.
* Pallavicini, aud Comment de Luth.
He published at this time a very able pamphlet, iia which he defended those points of doctrine which the papal bull had anathematized.
The only fault which can now be found with this writing is its acerbity—a*fault indeed which tarnishes the beauty of most of his polemical writings.
This asperity does undoubtedly throw a shade over Luther's rhetorical virtues, and though the rudeness and indelicacy of his age, the savage bitterness of his enemies, and his own temperament, unite to apologize for his acrimony, it still remains true that it caused his friends, and especially the electoral court, considerable trouble.
Spalatin were constantly admonishing him to moderation.
Still it may be that Luther's philosophy was correct, and that in a warfare where both sides had drawn the sword and thrown away the scabbard, rose-water and silken phrases were out of place.
It is certain that reformers in every age have found it necessary to "speak daggers"—have made bullets of their words, and carried the weapons of Zeus on the tongue.
Luther, in writing to Spalatin, said, "I own that I am more vehement than I ought to be ; but I have to do with men who blaspheme evangehcal truth; with human wolves; with those who condemn me unheard, without admonishing, without instructing me; and who utter the most atrocious slanders against myself not only, but the word of God.
"Even the most phlegmatic spirit, so circumstanced, might well be moved to speak thunderbolts; mucli more I, who am cholei-ic by nature, and possessed of a temper easily apt to exceed the bounds of moderation.
"I cannot, however, but be surprised to learn whence the novel taste arose which daintily calls every thing spoken against an adversary abusive and acrimonious.
What think ye of Christ ?
Was he a reviler when he called the Jews an adulterous and perverse generation, a progeny of vipers, hypocrites, children of the devil ?
"What think ye of Paul? was he abusive when he termed the enemies of the gospel dogs and seducers? Paul who, in the thirteenth chapter of the Acts, inveighs against a false prophet in this manner
' Oh, full of subtlety and all malice, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness ?' Why does not Paul gently soothe the imj)ostor, rather than thunder at this rate ?
I jDray you, good Spalatin, read me this riddle.
A mind conscious of truth cannot alivays endure the ohxtinate and icilfully hlind enemies of truth.
I see that all persons demand of me moderation, and especially those of my adversaries, who least exhibit it.
If I am too warm, I am at least open and frank ; in which respect I excel those who always smile, but murder."* What Luther says of the philosophy of reform is excellent
" I see clearly that Erasmus is very far from having an adequate notion of the method of reformation.
In all his writings, his grand object is to avoid the cross, to give no offence, and to live Hence he tliinks it proper on all subjects to display a sort of civility, good-nature, and fine breeding ; but I say,
' Beliemotli '- will pay no regard to such treatment, nor ever be amended by it.
Popery will never be reformed one tittle by writings that give no offence, that make no attack, that do not hite.
For the pontilGfs consider these gentle and civil admonitions as a species of servile cringing.
They are content to be feared ; and they persevere in their wicked course as though they had a right to remain incorrigible."'!But whatever may be thought of Luther's ra- % tionale of progress, it is very certain that his severity never led him either to injure his argumentation, nor even in tlie most trying scenes to transgress the fundamental rules of prudence.
Even his great historical adversary, the Jesuit Maimbourg, admits that " it cannot be denied that, notwithstanding his heat and impetuosity, which are natural to him, he always considered and digested well what he wrote, ever dis^^laying in his writings the man of genius and of erudition.":];
X Maimboiirg, quoted in IMilner, Vol.
Cliarlemague, January 1521, the emperor Charles V. opened, at Worms, that diet which was destined to be so memorable in ecclesiastical history.
Before these diets all matters pertaining to the empire properly came for examination and final settlement.
This one was universally esteemed to be of uncommon importance.
It was the first over which the new emj)eror had presided.
There were a multitude of vexatious political questions to be adjudicated.
I., Charles Y., Henry VIII., the Moslem Solyman, a host of illustrious princes, were weaving their Avebs of intrigue to secure the preeminence in power and grandeur, and this diet was to settle the political policy of the empire.
But over all these sources of agitation hovered a greater one.
It will be remembered that the archbishop of Treves, who had been, in 1519, appointed by Leo X., at the suggestion of Miltitz, to arbitrate in this ecclesiastical quarrel, adjourned the consideration of the whole dispute to the diet of The Reformation therefore was to stand face to face with its accusers, and await the judgment of imperial Caesar.
Notwithstanding the vast political interest-s" at stake, this religious question took precedence of all others from the verv outset.
That pitiless Rome wliich, inflexible as the fabled destiny of the ancients, had successfully crushed for ages past every doctor, king, or people that had ventured to oppose its iron progress, now thoroughly awake to its peril, mustered once more its fell forces to snuff out the taper light which gleamed from Wittemberg.
Avritten from Rome in January, 1521, and by a Roman citizen, reveals the pontifical programme " If I am not mistaken," so runs the missive,
" the only business in the diet will be this affair of Luther's, which gives us much more trouble than the Turk himself.
We shall endeavor to gain over the young emperor by threats, by prayers, and by feigned caresses.
We shall strive to win the Germans by extolling the piety of their ancestors, by making them rich presents, and by lavish promises.
" If these methods do not succeed, we shall depose the emperor, absolve the people from their obedience, elect another—and he will be one that suits us—in his place, stir up civil war among the Germans, as we have just done in SjDain, and summon to our aid the armies of the kings of France,
England, and other faithful nations of Christendom.
Probity, honor, religion, Christ—we shall make light of all, if only our tyranny be saved."* Charles was in a quandary at the commencement.
Aleander, Leo's legate at the diet, clamored " Robertson's Hist, of Chavlos V., Book III. fiercely for Luther's condemnation without a summons before the assembled dignitaries at Worms.
Frederick of Saxony, to whom Charles was so largely indebted for his crown, just as inflexibly opposed Luther's condemnation unheard.
(»mperor desired to offend neither the nuncio nor the elector.
After much manoeuvring, it was finally decided that the monk should be summoned to present himself, and show cause why he should not bo pronounced heretical.
Li submission to the papal requisition, the emperor at first declined to give Luther a safe-conduct ; but the indomitable will of Frederick, which stood like a shield between his favorite theologian and all harm, at length wrung this concession also from the reluctant Csesar.*
The citation and safe-conduct were dated March They were dispatched to Wittemberg by an imperial herald, and reached Luther on the 24th instant.t
Instantly the daring monk set about his preparations for this journey into the land of the By the second of April all was in readiness, and summoning his more intimate friends and colaborers to his side, he took leave of them.
Melancthon, he said in an agitated voice, " My dear brother, if I do not retin-n, and my enemies put me to death, continue to teach
; stand fast in the truth.
Labor in my stead, since I shall no longer be -able to labor for myself.
If you survive, my death will THE LIFE AND TIMES be of little consequence.'.'
"Then," sajs D'Aubign^, " committing bis soul to the hands of Him who is faithful, Luther got into the car, and quitted Wittemberg.
The town council had provided for him a modest conveyance, covered with an awning, which the travellers could set up or remove at their pleasure.
The imperial herald, wearing his robe of office and carrying the imperial eagle, rode on horseback in front, attended by his servant.
Next came Luther, Schurfl", Amsdorfif, and Suaren, in the car.
The friends of the gospel and the citizens of Wittemberg were deeply agitated, and invoking God's aid, burst into tears.
Thus Luther began his journey.* There is no doubt, from his own statements, that in undertaking this tour Luther firmly believed that he was marching to death.
Yet he did not pause, but accepted death serenely, nay, joyfully, if it must come, in behalf of his idea.
There is nothing in sacred or profane history grander than the self-immolation of this German monk.
On the 3d of April Luther arrived at Leipsic, where the cup of honor was ofi'ered him, according to an old custom of that and many other cities
; on the 4th he reached Nuremberg, where he dined at the table of the burgomaster Graessler, with the herald.
On the 5th he tarried over night at Weimar, where duke John, the elector's brother, sent him the money necessary for his journe3^
Crotus, rector, Hessus, professor of rhetoric, and Jonas, accompanied by forty horsemen, met the doctor two miles from Erfurtb.
"svas warmly received by his good friend John Lange, prior of his old convent.
Easter Sunday, and he was persuaded to remain o\"er and preach in the convent chapel.
The little church was crowded.
Every one was anxious to see and hear this monk, who from his narrow cell; had been shaking the world now for three years.
In the midst of the orator's discourse, a portion of the exterior w^alls gave way with a loud crash ; terror seized upon the audience, which rose to fly tumultuously, and were breaking the windows in order to escape what they regarded as imminent death.
Luther remained firm and unmoved in his pulpit ; he made a sign which the crowd at once obeyed, pausing in their flight to collect his words.
" My brethren," said he, with a reassuring smile, "see you not that this is merely the hand of the demon, who desii'es to prevent you from hearing the word of God which I announce to you ?
; Christ is with us, and for us."
At once, says the narrator, Daniel Gretzer, the whole throng turned back, and came still nearer the pulpit to hear the di^dne word.
At Eisenach, his dear Eisenach, where he paused for a while with tears in his eyes beneath the window of the worthy Cotta, Luther was on the j)oint of arresting his journey, the pains in his stomach caused him such suffering.
After a while, however, they diminished in then* intensity, and he continued At Frankfort-onthe-Main, wliicli he reached on the 14th of April, he blessed two students whom
Wilhelm Nesse presented to him.
On the road he received from a priest of Nuremburg the portrait of Savonarola, with a letter exhorting him to persevere for the glory of God.
Luther affectionately kissed the picture : he retained through life a great veneration for Savonarola, whom he regarded as a martyr armed by God with the sword of the faith.*
The procession advanced but slowly.
Frankfort that his friends at home received their first news of him, in a letter to Spalatin " We are proceeding on, my dear friend," he says,
" notwithstanding the physical sufferings with which Satan has afflicted me, in order to delay my progress ; for you must know that all the w^ay from Weimar to this city I have experienced greater pain than I ever before knew.
But Christ lives, and I will go to Worms to brave the gates of hell and the powders of the air."
The party stopped at Oppenheim to take some repose.
Luther might easily have escaped, for Sturm, the herald, left him altogether at his own disposal.
His companions advised him to flee.
" Flee !" exclaimed Luther, I will enter the town in the name of Jesus Christ."
Pfifflingheim, near Worms, Luther saw a peasant planting elms on the w^ay-side : " Give me one of them," said he, "and I will place it in the earth
; God grant that my doctrine may floui'ish as the branches of this tree doubtless will."
The tree did flourish, and beneath it have been laid from time to time the bodies of enthusiastic Lutherans, whose djdng breath has directed that thej should be buried near the reformer's elm.-'
On the 16th of April, he came within sight of Worms, and on beholding its old bell-towers, he arose in his cliariot and began to sing the hymn of which it is said he had improvised the words and the music two days before at Oppenheim—the Marseillaise of the Reformation—his
"EiN FESTE BUEG 1ST UNSER GOTT."
Leffer, the duke of Bavaria's jester, was in waiting for the doctor at the gate of Worms, holding in one hand a cross, and in the other a lighted taper, which he had borrowed from the altar of a neighboring church.
On the approach of the monk, the jester gravely preceded him into the choir, walking backwards, and exclaiming with sonorous voice,
' Ecce advenit quern expedamiis in tenehris."
The partisans of Luther smiled, saying to one another, " Children and fools tell the truth."t An eye-witness, Yeit Van Warbeck, gives this account in a letter to duke John, of Luther's entrance into Worms
Worms, accompanied by a brother of his order, John Pezrustein, D'Amsdorff, and a noble Dane, * The tree was stmck by lightning in 1811, and was cut down by the remorseless owner.
Michelet, pp. 78-80, note.
Before the car marclied the imperial herald in full dress, the eagle in his hand.
Jonas and his servant came next after the chariot.
A great number of men had preceded the monk Bernard Van Hirschfeldt, John Scholte, Albert Yan Lindenau, and other cavaliers on horseback.
At ten he made his entrance into the city, and thousands of the citizens accompanied him to his lodgings, the next house to the ' Swan,' where several town-councillors alighted with him.
"Lutlier passed nearly the whole night at his window, sometimes meditating with earnestly upcast eyes, sometimes breathing the air of his hymn wpon his flute."*
The next morning, Wednesday, April 17th, the good city of Worms was profoundly agitated.
Luther's arrival w^as bruited about, and multitudes thronged to his lodgings to catch sight of him.t Quite early in the day the hereditary marshal of the empire, Ulrich of Poppenheim, cited him to appear, at four in the afternoon, before his imperial majesty and the states of the emj^ire.l
There were present at the diet, besides the emperor, six electors of the empire, one archduke, two landgraves, five margraves, twenty-seven dukes, and a host of inferior dignitaries, counts, archbishops, bishops, and others
; in all, two hundred and six persons.§ • Warbeck's letter to duke John.
Archives of Saxe Gotha.
§ Luth. Werke, IX., 10 i.
Each of the electors, on setting out for Worms, took with him a copy of Luther's "Appeal to the Emperor and the German Nobility."
Accordingly, when the question was brought forward of the subsidies which Charles demanded on his going to Rome to be crowned by the pope, the states for the first time, in granting him the required troops, stipulated that while the nomination of the colonels should remain in his hands, the choice of the captains should belong to the respective squadrons, and that Germans only should be chosen.
The national spirit, excited by the eloquent manifesto of Luther, thus speedily gave expression to its hatred of the foreign power which he had succeeded in making odious.
His Tyrtsean hymn as effectually roused the nobility ; had the emperor but given the word, the whole body would have sounded to horse, and have marched over the Alps to combat Rome, to the resounding chorus of Luther's war-song,*
"VVe are indebted to Luther himself for a fine narrative of what occurred at the diet, a narrative in all essential points in exact agreement with those accounts which have been given alike by friendly and inimical historians
" The herald summoned me on Tuesday in Holy Week, and brought me safe-conducts fi-om the emperor and from a number of princes.
On the very next day, Wednesday, these safe-conducts were, in effect, violated at Worms, where thus, before my arrival, they condemned and burned my writings.
Intelligence of this reached me at Erfurth.
The condemnation indeed was published in every towu, so that the herald himself frankly asked me whether I still intended to repair to Worms.
" Though I in truth was physically fearful and trembling, God sustained me, and I replied firmly, ' Yea, I will repair thitlier, though I should find there as many devils as there are tiles on the housetops.'
"When I ari-ived at Oppenheim, near Worms, my good friend Martin Bucer met me with a cavalcade, and tried to dissuade me from entering this sepulchre city.
He told me that Glapian, the emperor's confessor, had been to him, and had entreated him to warn me not to go to Worms ; for if I did, hke my books, I should be burned.
I should do well, he added, to stop in the neighborhood, at Tranz Van Sickiugen's, who would be very glad to entertain me.
"The wretches had thus cajoled my friends for the purpose of preventing me fi'om making my appearance Avithiu the time prescribed
; they knew that if I delayed but three days more, my safe-conduct would, by its expiration, have been no longer available ;* then they would have shut the city gates in my face, and Avithout hearing what I had to say, the diet would have arbitrarily condemned me.
* Charles dated his citation on the 6th of March, and allowed Luther but twenty-one days, not from his reception of the safeconduct, but from the day he quitted "Wittemberg, to appear at It reached him on the 24th inst., and he started on the 2d of April; the pass was within three days of expiring when Luther was at Oppenheim.
"I saw through their stratagem, and pressed on in the purity of my heart.
On coming within sight of the city, I sent word to Spalatin that I had arrived, and desired to know where I was to lodge.
All were astonished at hearing of my near approach ; for it had been generally imagined that, a victim to the trick sought to be played upon me, my terrors would have kept me away.
" Two nobles, the seigneur Van Hirschfeldt and John Scholte, came to me by order of the elector, and took me to the house where they were staying.
"No prince came at that time to see me, but several counts and other nobles did, who gazed at me fixedly.
These were they who had presented to his majesty the four hundred articles against ecclesiastical abuses, praying that they might be reformed, and intimating that they would take the remedy into their own hands, if need were.
They had all been freed by my gospel.
" The pojie had written to the emperor, expressly desiring him not to observe my safe-conduct.
The bishops urged his majesty to comply with Leo's request, but the prince and the states would not listen to it; for such faithlessness would have excited a great disturbance.
All this brought me still more prominently into general notice, and my enemies might well have been more afraid of me than I was of them.
The landgrave of Hesse, still a young man, desired to have a conference -with me.
Ho came to my lodgings, and after a long interview, said, on going awa^-, 'Dear doctor, if you THE LIFE AND TIMES be in the riglit, as I think yon are, God will aid you.'*
" On my arrival, I had written to Glapian, the emperor's confessor, who had sent me word by Bucer that he desired to see me at Sickingen's castle, when the papists wished to entrap me into voiding my safe-conduct, that I was now at Worms and ready to confer with him
; but the wily confessor, chagrined at the failure of his stratagem, refused to come, saying that it would be useless to do so."
Then follows a clear and succinct account of what occurred at Worms.
But since Luther, immediately after his dismissal, wrote out, though in the third person, a stiU more graphic, minute, and picturesque report of the j)roceedings, we now quote from this fuller description
" The day following his arrival, April 17th, at four in the afternoon, the imperial chamberlain and the herald who had accompanied
Luther from Wittemberg, came to him at his inn, the ' Court of Germany,' and conducted him to the town-hall along by-ways, in order to avoid the crowds which had assembled in the leading streets.
Notwithstanding this precaution, there were numbers collected at the gates of the town-hall, who essayed to enter with him, but the guards pushed
* The landgrave came to consult Lnther on a curious point •whether a young woman might qiiit an elderly husband for a younger spouse.
Luther smiled at this proposition, and said, " Dear master, I never taught any thing of the kind, nor may such things be."
Luther's Wcrke, Halle, XV., 227. the crowd resolutely back.
Many persons had ascended to the tops of the houses to see Dr. Martin.
As he proceeded up the hall, several noblemen successively addressed to him words of encouragement.
'Be bold,' said they, *and fear not those who can kill the body, but are powerless against the soul.'
'Monk,' said the famous Captain George Freundsberg, putting his hand cheeringly on Martin's shoulder, ' take heed what thou doest
: thou art adventuring on a more perilous path than any of us have ever trod ; but if thou art in the right, God will not abandon thee.'
" Duke John of Weimar had previously suj^iDHed the doctor with money for his iournev.
Luther made his answers in Latin and in German.
" Dr. Eck,* official of the archbishop of Treves, Oldened tlie proceedings " 'Martin Luther, his sacred and invincible majesty has, on the advice of the states of the empire, summoned you hither that you may reply to the two questions I am about to put to you
Do you acknowledge yourself the author of the writings published in yoiu' name, and which are here before me ? and will you corisent to retract certain of the doctrines therein inculcated ?'
' I think the books are mine,' replied he.
But immediately Doctor Jerome Schurff added, ' Let the titles of the works be read.'
This was done, when he said, * Yes, they are mine.'
" Then he asked Luther, * Will you retract the • Not the theologian of Ingolstadt, but the jurist Eck.
THE LIFE AND TIMES doctrines therein taught?'
He replied, turning to ' Gracious emperor, as to the question whether I will retract the oj^inions I have given forth—a question of faith, in which are directly interested my own eternal salvation and the free enunciation of the divine word, that w^ord which knows no master, neither on earth nor in heaven, and which we are all bound to obev, be we as mighty as we may—it would be rash and dangerous for me to answer such a question until I had meditated thereon in silence and sober retreat, lest by overhaste I should incur the anger of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who has said,
' Whosoever shall deny me before men, him ivill I also deny he/ore my Father which is in heaven.''
I therefore entreat your majesty to grant me the time necessary to enable me to reply with full knowledge of the point at issue, and without fear of blaspheming the word of God, or endangering the salvation of my own soul.'
" This sj)eech caused a great stir, and after considerable whispering it was finally decided that Martin should have until the next da}^ at the same hour for meditation.
" The morning of the following day was occupied by the subtle negotiators of the papal court in vain attempts to coax, inveigle, and menace Luther into a retraction.
"At four in the afternoon the monk again repaired to the council hall of the diet.
" Eck once more took the initiative.
' yesterday you acOF MARTIN LUTHER. knowledged the books published in your name. Do you retract those writings, or not ?
This is the question we before addressed to you, and which j-ou decHned answering, under the pretext that it was a question of faith, and that 30U needed time for reflection ere j'ou replied
; though a theologian like you must needs know full well, that a Christian should always be ready to answer questions touching his faith.
Explain yourself now.
Will you defend all your writings, or disavow some of them ?'
' Most serene emperor,' responded Martin, ' illustrious princes, most clement lords, I am again before you, appearing at the hour a23pointed, and supplicating you to listen to me with benevolence and equity.
If iu my statements or rej^lies, I should omit to give you the titles of honor due you, offending thus against the etiquette of courts, you will, I trust, pardon me, for I have never been accustomed to palaces
; I am but a poor monk, the inmate of a cloister cell, who have never preached aught nor written aught but in singleness of heart, for the glory of God and the honor of the gospel.
"'Most serene emperor, and princes of the empire : to the two questions put me yesterday— whether I acknowledge these books as mine, and whetlier I persevere in defending them—I answer now, as before, and as I will answer to the moment of my death, Yes, the writings which have been published by me, or which have been issued ija my name, are mine
; I acknowledge them, I avow them, and I always will avow them, so long as they reTHE LIFE AND TIMES inaiu the same as I sent them forth, undisturbed by malice, knavery, or mistaken prudence.
' I acknowledge further, that whatever I have written was first matured in my mind by earnest thought and prayerful meditation.
' Before rej^lying to the second question, I entreat your majesty, and the states of the empire, to consider that my ^vi-itings do not all treat of the same topics.
Some of them are preceptive, destined for the edification of the faithful, for the advancement of piety, for the amehoration of manners
; yet pope Leo's bull, while admitting the innocence and advantage of such treatises, with blind indiscrimination condemns these equally with all the rest.
' Now, if I were to disallow these, what, practically, should I be doing? proscribing a mode of instruction which every Christian sanctions, and thus putting myself in oj)position to the universal voice of Christendom.
' There is another class of writings in which I attack the papacy, and the belief of the papists, as monstrosities, involving the ruin of sound doctrine and of men's souls.
None can deny, who will listen to the cries and evidences of the conscience within, that the pontiff's decretals have thrown the Christianitv of our age into utter disorder
: have surI^rised, imprisoned, tortured the faith of the faithful ; have devoured as a prey this noble Germany, because she has protested, not in murmurs, but aloud, against Iving tales, absurd traditions, the wicked inventions of mountebank monks, peddling these lies that they may swindle a living—a countless throng of impious heresies, alien alike to the opinions of the fathers, and to the well-digested systems of sacred writ.
"*If, then, I were to retract these writings, I should lend additional strength and audacity to this greedy Eoman tyranny, I should open the floodgates to the torrent of impiety, making for it a breach by which it would rush in and overwhelm the My recantation would only serve to extend and strengthen the reign of iniquity, more especially when it should become known that it was solely by your majesty's order, and that of assembled Germany, that I had made my recantation.
" 'And there is still another class of my works I refer to my polemical pamphlets.
These I have thrown out, from time to time, against such of my adversaries as advocated the continued reign of the I have no hesitation in admitting that in these I have shown greater violence than befitted a man of my calling.
I do not set up for a saint.
I never presumed to the honors of canonization, nor do I say that my conduct has always been above reproach ; but the dispute is not about my conduct—it concerns the doctrine of Christ.
I freely acknowledge that in these writings I have been violent overmuch at times, I cannot disavow them.
Kome would make use of the disavowal to extend her empire to the undoing of my Christ.
" 'A man, and not God, I would not seek to shield my books under any other patronage than that with which Christ covered his tenets.
When interrogated before the high-priest as to what he taught, his cheek smitten by the sacrilegious hand of a valet, ' If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil.'
If the Lord Jesus, who knew himself incapable of sin, did not disdain to respect the testimony which even the vilest mouths might give respecting his divine words, ought not I, scum of the earth that I am, and capable only of sin, to solicit the candid examination of my doctrines—as " 'I therefore entreat your sacred majesty, and you, your illustrious highnesses, yea, and every living creature, to come and depose against me
; and then, with the prophets in 3-our right hands, and the gospel in your left, convict me, if jou can, of error.
I stand here ready, nay, anxious, if any one can prove me to have written falsely, to retract my errors, and to throw my books into the fire with my own willing hand.
" 'Be assured that I have weU weighed the dangers, the pains, the strife, and the hatred that my reform Avill bring with it into the world; and I fi-ankly add, that I rejoice to see the word of God producing, as its first-fruits, discord and dissension
; for such is the heaven-appointed destiny of the gospel, as our Lord has himself set forth : / came not to send peace, but a sivord—to set the son against the father.
"'Forget not, O princes, that God is not only admirable, but terrible in all his counsels ; and beware lest, if you condemn his word, that same despised word send forth upon you a deluge of ills, and the reign of our 3^oung emperor, upon Avhom, next to God, repose all our hopes, be speedily and sorely troubled.
"'I might here, in examples drawn from holy writ, exhibit to you Pharaoh king of Egypt, and the kings of Israel, ruined from seeking to reign at first by peace, and by what they termed wisdom.
For God confounds the hypocrite in his hypocrisy, and overturns mountains ere the}^ know of their fall ; fearful is the omnipotence of God.
" 'I seek not herein to offer advice to your high and might}" understandings; but I owed this testimony of a loving heart to my native Germany.
I conclude with recommending myself to your sacred majesty, and to your highnesses, humbly entreating you not to suffer my enemies to indulge their hatred against me under your august sanction.
" 'I have said what I had to say.'
" Thereupon the emperor's orator hastily rose, and exclaimed that Luther had not directed himself to the question ; that what the assembly had to do was not to listen to a discussion as to whether councils had decided right or wrong, but to ascertain from Luther whether he would retract
; this was the question to which he had to reply—yes, or no.
" Luther then resumed in these words ' I have already tried to be explicit, and to these questions I have just responded three separate times
; but since your imperial majesty and your highnesses demand a simple answer, I will give one, brief and simple, but deprived of neither its teeth nor its horns.
' Unless I am contacted of error by the testimony of the Scripture, or by manifest evidence— for I put no faith in the mere authority of the pontiff or of councils, which have often been mistaken, and which have frequently contradicted one another, recognizing, as I do, no other guide than the Bible, the word of God—I cannot, and will not retract
; for we must never act contrary to our conscience.
" 'Such is my confession of faith; expect none other from me.
I have done ; God help me.'
" The states then retired to deliberate ; on their return, the official thus addressed Luther " 'Martin, you have assumed a tone which becomes not a man of your condition, and you have not answered the questions I j)ut to you.
Doubtless you have written some pieces which are in no way liable to censure ; and had you retracted those writings which inculcate mischievous errors, his majesty in his infinite goodness
M'ould not have permitted any proceedings to be taken against those which contain orthodox doctrine.
' You have resuscitated dogmas which have been distinctly condemned by the Council of Constance, and you demand to be convicted thereupon out of the Scriptures.
But if every one were at liberty to or MABTIN LUTHER. bring back into discussion points which for ages have been settled by the church and by councils, nothing would be fixed, nothing would be certain, doctrine or dogma, and there would be no unity of belief, which men must adhere to under penalty of damnation.
" 'You, for instance, who to-day respect the authority of the Council of Constance, to-morrow may, in like manner, proscribe all councils together, and next the fathers and the doctors
; and there would remain no authority whatever, but that individual word which you call to witness, and which we also invoke.
His majesty therefore once more demands a simple and precise ansAver, afiirmative or negative : Will you defend all your principles as orthodox? or are there any of them which you are prepared to retract ?'
Luther besought the emperor not to allow him to be thus called on to belie his conscience, which was bound up with the sacred writing.
They had required of him a categorical answer, and he had given one.
He could only repeat what he had already declared : that unless they proved to him by irresistible arguments that he was in the wrong, he would not go back a single inch
; that what the councils had laid down, was to him no article of faith ; that councils had often erred and contradicted one another, and that consequently their testimony was not convincing
; and that he could not disown what was written in the inspired x^ages.
" The official sharply observed, that Luther could not show that the councils had erred.
"Martin said he would undertake to do so at any time that might be assigned him.
" By this time the evening drew on, it grew dark apace, and the diet arose.
" When the Saxon monk quitted the hall to return to his lodgings, he was followed and insulted by some Spaniards.
" Next day the emperor sent for the electors and states, to discuss with them the form of the imjDerial ban against Luther and his adherents.
"Meantime Luther was visited by a great number of princes, counts, barons, prelates, and other persons of distinction, both lay and ecclesiastical.
'The doctor's little room,' writes Sj)alatiii, 'could not contain all the visitors who presented themselves.
I saw among them duke William of Brunswick, the landgrave Philip of Hesse, Count Wilhelm of Henneburg, the elector Frederick, and many others.'
" On Wednesday following, eight days after his first aj^pearance at the diet, Luther Avas requested by the archbishop of Treves to wait upon him.
He accordingly did so^ accompanied by the imperial herald, and by the friends who had folloAved him from Saxony and Thuriugia.
"In the apartment of the prelate they found assembled Joachim of Brandenburg, the elector George, the bishops of Augsburg and Brandenburg,
Count George, grand master of the Teutonic order, Jolin Boeck of Strasburg, and the reformer's old friend, Dr. Peutinger of Leipsic.
Velius, Chancellor of Baden, opened the proceedings in the name of those present, by declaring that they had not invited
Luther there with any view to polemical discussion, but out of a pure feeling of charity and kindness towards him.
" Then Vehus commenced a long harangue on the obedience due to the church and its decisions* to councils and their decrees.
He maintained that the church, like any other power, had its constitutions, which might be modified according to the requirements of the different nations to which thej were to be applied, the diversity of manners, of climate, of epochs
; and that herein lay those apparent superficial contradictions which Luther had denounced as existing in the fundamental and internal structure of the church.
" These contradictions in fact, so he argued, only prove more emphatically the religious care with which the Eoman see regulated its spiritual administration, and in no degree violated the integrity of the Roman dogma.
That dogma was yesterday what it is to-daj', and what it will continue to be till the end of time.
" He then called Luther's attention to the disturbances to which his innovations were everywhere giving rise.
' your book, De Lihertate Christiana; what does that teach men ? ^To throw off every species of subjection.
It erects disobedience into a maxim.
We no longer live at a THE LIFE AND TIMES time "when every child of the Christian family had but one heart and soul; when the precept was one, like the society; when the rule was one, like the precept.
It became necessary to modify all this, when time itself had modified ; but all was done without prejudice to the Koman idea.'
' I am quite aware, Martin,' he added, ' that many of your writings breathe the sweetest odor of piety; but we have judged the general spirit of your books as we judge a tree, not by its flowers, but by its fi'uits.
The advice given you by the states of the empire is given in a desire for peace, with all good feeling towards yourself.
' Those states were established by God to watch over the security of the people whose tranquillity your doctrines are so powerfully calculated to disturb.
To resist them is to resist God.
Doubtless it is better to obey God than to obey men ; but do you think that we, any more than yourself, are deaf to God's word, or have not meditated thereon ?'
" Luther, after expressing his thanks for the peaceful and charitable sentiments entertained towards him, proceeded to answer what Vehus had said respecting the authority of councils.
He maintained that the Council of Constance had erred in condemning this proposition of John Huss ' Tantum uiM est sancta, universalis ecdesia quce est numerus 'prcedcstinatorum.^
' No retraction,' he said in conclusion, with an animated voice ' you shall have my blood, my life, rather than a single word of retraction better to obey God than to obey man.
It is no fault of mine that this matter creates confusion among you.
I cannot prevent the word of God from becoming a stumbling-block to men.
If the sheep of the Good Shepherd were fed upon evangelical marrow, faith would live, and our spiritual masters would be honest and trustworthy.
' I know well that we must yield obedience to the civil magistrate, even though he be not a man after God's own heart; and I am quite ready to yield that obedience in all things that do not shut out the sacred writ.'
" Luther was then about to take his leave, but he was told to stay, while Vehus jaressingly urged upon him his previous arguments, conjuring him to submit his tenets to the definitive decision of the princes and states of the empire.
" Luther gently but firmly replied, * I would fain have it understood that I do not decline the judgment of the emperor and of the states
; but the word of God, on which I rely, is to my eyes so clear that I cannot retract what I have said and writ until a still more luminous authority is opposed to it.
'If an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you, let him be accursed ;' and I say to you, do not offer violence to my conscience, Avhich is chained up with the Scripture.'
" The meeting then broke up ; but the archbishop of Treves retained Luther, and went witli-him into another apartment.
The reformer's two friends, Jerome Schurff and Nicholas, followed.
THE LIFE AND TIMES the jurist and official, and Coclilaeus, dean of the church of the Holy Virgin at Frankfort, were already in the room.
' there is no one of the heresies which have torn the bosom of the church which has not derived its origin from the various interpretations of the Scripture.
The Bible itself is the arsenal whence each innovator has drawn his" deceptive arguments.
It was with biblical texts that Pelagius and Arius maintained their doctrines.
Arius, for instance, found the negation of the eternity of the Word, an eternity which you admit, in this verse of the New Testament
' Joseph knew not his wife till she had brought forth her first-born son ;' and he said, as you now say, that this passage enchained him.
' When the fathers of the Council of Constance condemned this proposition of John Christ is only the community of the elect, they condemned an error
; for the church, like a good mother, embraces Avithin her arms all who bear the name of Christian—all who are called to enjoy the celestial beatitude.'
" To this subtle and specious ecclesiastical sophistry Luther replied by reproducing all the arguments of which he had before made use.
Cochlseus then took him by both hands, and conjured him to restore peace to the church.
Jjuther Avas inflexible, and so they separated.
" In the evening the archbishop of Treves sent word to Luther that, by order of the emperor, his '109 safe-conduct had been extended two days, and requested liim to wait upon liim the next day, to have another conference.
" Peutinger and the chancellor of Baden came to see Luther next morning, and renewed the conversation of the preceding evening, using every argument that they could devise to persuade him to submit his writings to the judgment of the emperor,
' I am ready to submit, if you will come, Bible in hand, and controvert me; otherwise not.
God has said by the mouth of his prophet king, Put not your trust in princes, for in them there is no salvation ; and by the mouth of Jeremiah, Cursed be he ivho j^utteth his trust in man.'
" They urged him still more pressingly, ' I will submit every thing to the judgment of man,' said he, ' except the word of God.'
Then they left him, saying that they would come again in the evening, when they hoped to find him in a more submissive state of mind.
They came, but it was all in vain.
" There was another interview with the archbishop.
In this last conference the prelate said, * But, dear doctor, if you will not submit this matter to the diet or to a council, by what means shall we avert the disaster which menaces the church? What remedies can we apply ?'
' Nothing can be better said in this affair than was said, according to St. Paul, by 'If this work be of man, it will cometo naught.'
The emperor and the states may write to the pope thus ' If the work of Luther is not an inspiI.iither.