THE LIFE AND TIMES sliould dare to act in contradiction to the decree of our imperial majesty, we order him to be placed under the ban of the empire.
"Let every man behave according to this decree."
On the publication of this ponderous edict, Home shouted in triumph.
" You have got to the end of the tragedy," wrote the Spaniard Alfonso Valderas to his friend Piero D'Anghiera, at this juncture
" the end according to some, but in my opinion only the heginning, for the Germans are exceedingly indignant against the holy see."
The Spaniard was right ; the very next day after the burning of Luther's works, according to the imperial decree, in the pubhc square at Worms, the booksellers of that citv Avent about offering a number of other copies for sale, from door to door, and even had the audacitv to call with them at the imperial residence.*
Meantime how sped this feeble monk, against whom earth and heaven seemed leagued ?
How did he escape this imminent and deadly imperial thunderbolt ?
The elector Frederick, deeply anxious for Luther's personal safetj-, foreseeing his danger, and determined to shield him from it, had, on quitting
Avitli Spalatin, Frederick of Thun, Feihtsch, and other adherents of the Saxon doctor, that, unknown to himself, he should be seized by their friendly, but masked hands, and boruo away to some secure retreat, until the first fury of the persecuting storm should pass by.*
The secret of this stratagem was kept so close that it was not until long afterwards that it leaked out.f Let us now return to Luther.
The Augustine performed the first stages of his journey without the occurrence of any incident of special significance.
On his arrival at Freyburg he wrote two letters, one to the emperor, the other to the states assembled at Worms.
In the first he expressed his regret at having found himself obliged to disobey his majesty, but he reminded Charles that God and his word were above principalities and powers.
He also lamented that he had not been able to obtain a discussion of the evidences he had collected from Scripture, adding that he was ready to present himself before any other assembly that might be convened for that purpose, and to submit himself in all things without exception, provided the word of God received no detriment.
The letter to the states was written in a similar spirit.:}:
Having confided these two letters to Sturm, the imperial herald, who had been deputed to accompany him for his protection, Luther dismissed that officer, and entered the friendly states of the prince of Hesse unguarded.§
This fugitive monk, anathematized alike by the Roman see and by the empire, was nevertlieless1[he J Luthc:-, Worke, IX., 107.
THE LIFE AND TIMES recipient of the most courteous attentions as lie liurried across the country towards his asykim at Still, some superstitious persons were doubtless filled with horror at the thought of this incarnate devil, covered with a monk's hood, whom the emperor had pointed out to the revengeful suspicion of the nations.
At Hirschfeldt, Luther received quite an ovation.
"You would hardly believe the civility with which I was received at Hirschfeldt," wrote he to ST)alatin, on the 14th of May
" the abbot Crato Milius sent forward his chancellor and his treasurer a full mile on the road to meet us, and he himself came to receive us at a short distance from his castle, attended by a troop of cavaliers, who escorted us into the town.
The good abbot entertained us splendidly in his monastery, and assigned me his own bed to sleep in.
On the fifth day they absolutely forced me to preach, though I represented to them the risk they ran of losing their privileges^ should the imperialist party choose to treat this as a violation of my undertaking not to preach my doctrines on the way.
But then I added, that I never pledged myself to chain up the word of God—nor will I.
" I preached also at Eisenach, in the presence of the minister, who was in a great fright, and of a notary and two witnesses, who formally protested against what I was doing, but excused themselves privately to me, on the ground that otherwise they dreaded the resentment of their tyrants.
So, very likely, yon will hear it said at Worms that I twice broke my pledged faith : to -which I say again, that to chain up God's Avord is a condition into Avhich it is not witjiiu my power to enter.
" Our friends met us on foot a httle out of Eisenach, and accompanied us into the town in the evening.
Our companions had set out in the morning with Jerome.
"As to myself, I was proceeding to rejoin my relatives through the dark edge of the Thuringian forest, and was on my way to Walterhausen, when, near the fortress of Altenstein, I was suddenly taken prisoner.
Amsdorlf doubtless knew of the arrangement to seize me, but he is not aware of the place to which I was carried, " My brother, who saw the horsemen coming up,* jumped out of the carriage, and without saying a word, ran oif.
" As for me, I was bewildered, and the horsemen speedily stripped off my robe, put upon me a military garb, desiring me to let my beard groAv, and meanwhile they supplied me with a false one.
You would scarce recognize me, my dear Spalatin ; indeed I hardly knew myself.
I was then whirled on through the darkness, and at midnight, ascending a steep mountain, Ave plunged into this isolated castle
; and here I am, living in libertafe Christiana, free from the chains of tyrants."t « Their names -were Hans Van Berletsch, and BurearcLVan
" t Letter to Spalatin, AVerke, IX.
Avas to tlie lofty and isolated fortress of Wartbiirg, where in former times the old landgraves were accustomed to shelter themselves, that Luther, by the prudent forethought of the Saxon elector, had been borne to his pleasant and honorable captivity.
Here, while the Roman see raged furiously at the audacious innovator's escape, he himself looked down securely from the platform of his dungeonkeep
; finding in this quiet retreat full leisure to resume his flute, to sing his German psalms, to translate liis Bible, and to thunder forth against the pope and the devil.
On his disappearance, a cry of grief and rage resounded through Germany.
The pope and the emperor were openly and menacingly accused of compassing his death.
Ulric Tan Hiltten and Hermann Busch filled the country with their plaintive war-songs, and an ominous growl of discontent foretokened the first heavings of an insurrection.t
But the secreted monk speedily acquainted his adherents with the fact of his continued existence, though concealing the precise place of his confinement, and the menacing wail of Germany quick]}' siibsided into an undemonstrative smile of satisfaction. f Lindner, Let. Lnth.,
The first •weeks of his confinement passed rather pleasantly than otlierwise.
The overtasked frame and mind of the reformer really needed the repose.
" A strange prisoner I am," he exclaimed " captive with and against my will."* But ere long his impetuous and active intellect began to fret and repine at this forced seclusion.
He was revisited by those trials and temptations which had so terribly racked him at the outset of his career in the cloister cell at At the same time his sufferings were still further increased by a return of those severe cramps in the stomach which seem to have been chronic with him.t
But though his confinement was rigorous— though he was obliged to conceal his personality, to change his name, assuming that of " the knight
George," and though he was not permitted to wander beyond the castle v/alls, every thing that devoted kindness could suggest was done by the chatelain to render his guest comfortable.
He even at times sent secretly for some of Luther's acquaintances who resided near at hand, and these were admitted to Wartburg under cover of the night, and rising early in the morning, assembled round the monk in the fortress chapel, returning to their homes at nightfall.:]:
But despite all that could be done to cheer him, Luther gave way to great depression.
Thus in writing to Melancthon, July 13, 1521, he says,'" I * L.Epp. Xni., 12th May.
X Michclet, p. 99, iioto.
THE LIFE AND TIMES see myself insensible and hardened, a slave to sloth, rarely, alas, praying, unable even to send forth a groan for the church.
Let me confess the horrible truth : my flesh, my flesh, my untamed flesh burns with a devouring flame ; with a flame which should only animate my spirit to good.
Idleness, sluggishness, the lusts of the flesh, close about me, assail me closely and fiercely.
Is it because thou hast ceased to pray for me to God, that he has thus turned his face from me?
It were well for thee to take my place—thou so much more richly endowed by God, so much more pleasing in his sight.
" Here have I been eight days without praying, without studying; whether from temptations of the flesh, or from some other vexations that are upon me, I know not.
If things do not take a better turn with me, I will return publicly to Erfurth, and thou wilt see me there; for I must fain consult the physicians or the surgeons, whichever of them it be I need."
In June he wrote again " The priests and monks who played their gambols while I was at liberty, have become so afraid since my cajitivity that they are beginning to modify the preposterous extravagances they were wont to send forth against me.
They find they can no longer resist the pressure of the increasing crowd of questioners, and they know not in Avhat direction to make their escape.
See you not hei'ein the arm of the Mighty One of Jacob? all that he is doing for us while we hold oiir peace, while Ave stand aside, Avhile w(3 pray to him ? not tLis a fulfilment of the saying of Moses, The Lord shall Jhjlit for you, and you shall hold your peace?
One of the fellows at Rome has written to a Mayence lioopie, : just as we wished ; but the people are so excited about him, that I fear we shall run a chance of losing our lives if we do not go in search of him, candle in hand, and bring him back.' "
A little later he writes thus " When I consider this horrible season of anger, I only ask to find in my eyes floods of tears to lament the desolation of men's souls occasioned by this kingdom of perdition.
The monster has its seat in Rome, in the very midst of the church, and proclaims itself God.
Pontiffs adulate it, the sophists ofi^er it incense, and there is nothing which the hypocrites refuse to do for it.
Meanwhile hell's heart is gladdened, and its immense jaws are opening wide.
Satan's sjoort is in the j^erdition of souls.
As to me, I sit still all day long, doing nothing."
But though Luther thus speaks of himself as sitting idle, in reality he displayed the most extraordinary literary activity—fi'om his rocky Patmos fairly inundating Germany with his writings."
On his arrival at Wartburg, he had found but few books ; he speedily however collected from Wittemberg and elsewhere the requisite materials for the continuation of his studies.
He then threw off in rapid succession a host of polemical pamphlets.
The Sorbonne at Paris had recently conTHE LIFE AND TIMES demned liis works.
Melancthon wrote a Latin Apology against tJie Blockhead Theologians of Paris.
Luther now translated into German, adding a caustic commentary of bis own.
He also devoted a large portion of his time to his translation of the New Testament, sadly missing Melancthon's assistance.
A little volume against a work of Catharinus on Antichrist, a commentary on the sixty-seventh Psalm, another on the Canticle of May, and a Consolation to the Church at Wittemberg, were published at this time.
All these writings were in German.
" I v.'as born," says Luther, " for the good of my dear Germans, and I will never cease to serve them.""It was AVhile engaged in translating the Holy
Scriptures that Luther had that conflict Vvdth Satan of which such frequent mention has been made.t Solitary, in ill health, and saddened by the exertions of his enemies and the extravagances of some of his followers, seeing his life wearing away in the gloom of that old castle, he had occasionally to endure terrible struggles.
In those times men inclined to carry into the visible world the conflicts that the sold sustains with its spiritual enemies.
"Luther's lively imagination easil}^ embodied the emotions of his heart, and the superstitions of the middle ages had still, and continued to have through his life, some hold upon his mind t Bee all tlie biographies of Luther, especiallj' the Memoirs of Michclet, who devotes thirty odd pages to this subject we might say that there was yet a remuant of popery in him.
" Satan was not, in Luther's view, an invisible, but real being.
He thought that he appeared to men as he appeared to Christ.
Although the authenticity of many of the stories on this subject contained in the ' and elsewhere is more than doubtful, history must still record this failing in the reformer.
" Never was he more assailed by these gloomy, ghostly ideas than in the solitude of the Wartburg.
In the days of his strength he had braved the devil in Worms, but now his powers were somewhat broken.
; Satan w^as victorious in his turn ; and in the anguish of his soul, Luther imagined he saw his giant form towering before him, lifting his finger in threatening attitude, exulting with a bitter and hellish sneer, and gnashing his teeth in fearful rage.
" One day especially he fancied that he beheld "with horror at his work, tormenting him, and proAvling about him like a lion about to seize his prey.
" Luther, alarmed and incensed, snatched up his inkstand and flung it at the head of his enemy.
The figure disappeared with a dismal hoAvl, and the missile dashed in pieces against the "wall.
" The keeper of the Wartburg still carefully directs the attention of travellers to the spot made upon the wall bj' Luther's inkstand."*
Mayence, uncouvinced bj Luther's arguments, ventured to resume the sale of indulgences within his diocese ; and just before this time a priest at Halle had ascended the pulpit, by the prelate's direction, to urge the purchase of pardons by the public.
On this occasion however, the money raised was to be devoted, not to the erection of St. Peter's, but to the extermination of the hordes of Mussulmans who were menacing Hungary.*
Immediately upon hearing of this, Luther wrote " I shall enjoy no rest until I have attacked the idol of Mentz, with its brothel at Halle ;"t and he instantly commenced the composition of his
German pamphlet A<jainst the Neiu Idol of Halle.
On the reception of this news, the electoral court was thrown into a panic.
The universal comment was, " Luther can only be saved by being forgotten ; yet now he proposes to war upon the first ecclesiastical prince in the empire."
"Tell him," said Frederick to I will not suffer him to write against the archbishop of Mentz, and thus redisturb the public tranquillity.":]:
Spalatin accordingly wrote Luther to that effect Avhereupon the indignant monk indited this epistle to Frederick's confidant
" The elector will not suffer! and I too will not suffer the elector not to permit me to write ; rather would I destroy mj'self, you, the elector, nay, the universe, than hold a disgraceful and impious peace.
If I have resisted the pope, who is the creator of your cardinal, shall I cringe before his creature?
It is very fine, forsooth, to hear you say that we must not disturb the public tranquillity, while you allow the everlasting peace of God. to be disturbed.
Spalatin, it shall not be so ; prince, it shall not be so.
I send you a book which I had already prepared when I received your letter.
Spalatin is said to have trembled when he received this missive ; but the behests of this strange monk, who spoke as imperiously to princes as to peasants, were not to be resisted, and the manuscript was forwarded to Melancthon, who was re« quested to erase the more violent passages before giving it to the printer.'!'
Meantime Luther sent the following singular letter to the offending archbishop at Mentz " Your electoral highness has again set up at Halle the idol that swallows the money and the souls of poor Christians.
You think perhaps that I am disabled, and that the emperor will easily stifle the cries of a poor monk.
But know that I shall discharge the duties that Christian charity imposes upon me, without fearing the gates of hell, and much less the pope, his bishops, and cardinals.
" For this reason my humble prayer is, that your electoral highness will remember the beginning of THE LIFE AND TIMES this affair—Iioav a tiuy spark kindled a terrible conflagration.
All the world was at that time in a state of security.
This poor begging friar, ihought the}', who, unaided, would attack the pope, is too weak for such a crusade.
But God interposed, and he caused the pope more labor and anxiety than he had ever felt since he first took his seat in the" temple of God to tyrannize over the church.
This same God still lives ; let no one doubt it.
He will know how to withstand a cardinal of Mentz, even were he supported by four emperors ; for He is placed above all things, to hew down the lofty cedars, and to abase the haughty Pharaohs.
I inform your highness by letter, that if the idol is not thrown down, I must, in obedience to God's teachings, publicly attack your highness, as I have attacked the pope himself.
Let your highness conduct yourself in accordance with this advice ; I shall wait a fortnight for a favorable reply.
" Given in my wilderness, the Sunday after St.
Catherine's day, 15th November, 1521.
"From your electoral highness' obedient and devoted servant, The weak archbishop is said to have been greatly frightened on the reception of this terrible and m^'sterious epistle.
He immediately sat down and wrote this excommunicated monk—he, a prince of the empire, and the leading primate of the church ill Germany—this submissive letter, fallj as singular as the letter which called it forth
" Mj dear doctor, I have received your missive, and have taken it in good part.
But I think the motive that has led you to write me such an epistle has long ceased to exist.
I desire, with God's help, to conduct myself as a pious bishop and a Christian prince, and I confess my need of the grace of " I do not deny that I am a sinner, liable to sin and error, sinning and erring daily.
I am well assured that without God's grace I am worthless and offensive mire, even as other men, if not more so.
'•' In replying to your letter, I would not conceal this gracious disposition, for I am more than desirous of showing you all kindness and favor, for the love of Christ.
I know how to receive a Christian and fraternal rebuke.
This remarkable letter was dispatched to Luther, and reached him at Wartburg within the specified fortnight.
Fabricius Capito, the archbishop's chaplain, sent with his master's letter one of his own, in Avhicli he censured the harshness of the monk's language.
He remarked that it was necessary to observe some reserve in our intercourse with great people^ to make allowances for them, sometimes to shut our o L. F.pp.
THE LIFE AND TIMES ejos to their defects ; to all which Luther responded thus " The Christian faith is an open, a public, a sincere faith; it sees things as they really are, it proclaims the truth.
My opinion is, that we ought to unmask all hj-pocrites and ill-doers, that we ought to spare none of them, to excuse none of them, to shut our eyes to none of their proceedings, so that truth may remain free and manifest, as on a broad, open field.
' Cursed be he that doeth the Lord^s loorh deceitfully,' says Jeremiah.
It is one thing, my dear Fabricius, to praise or extenuate vice, and another to set about its cure with kindness and gentleness.
Before all things, it is essential to declare aloud and unequivocally what is just and what is unjust ; afterwards, when our hearer is thoroughly imbued with that lesson, we should soothe him and assist him, despite of, nay, all the more for, any weaknesses whereunto he may fall back.
^Brethren, coinfort ye the feeble-minded,'' says " I trust that no one will ever have occasion to charge me with any want of charity or patience towards the feeble-minded.
If your cardinal bad written his letter in true sincerity of heart, O God, with what joy, with what humility would I fall at his feet.
Oh how unworthy should I deem myself to kiss the dust before him ; for I m^-self, what am I but dust and filth ?
Let him truly accept the word of God, and we will all of us obe}^ him as faithful, submissive servants.
"With respect to those who persecute the word,