Mimzer and Pfeifer were seized, and shortly after beheaded ; and after raging for ten months— from July, 1524, to the 15th of May, 1525, the date of the battle of Frankenhausen—this ill-starred insurrection ended, as Luther had predicted that it must, in the blood of the peasants
; their chains were riveted still tighter, and what was termed "the public tranquillity " was again restored.
Luther had been deeply pained by these tragical events.
They made a lasting impression upon his feelings.
Now terminated the revolution in his mind which had commenced at the period of his return from the Wartburg.
The inner life no longer satisfied him ; the church and her exterior institutions became most important in his eyes.
The boldness with which he had thrown down every thing, was checked at the sight of still more sweep- ; he felt it to be his duty to persevere, to organize, to build up
: from the midst of the blood-stained ruins with which the peasants' war had covered Germany, the edifice of the reformed church began slowly to arise.*
On the 5th of Maj, .1525, in the midst of these sad events, and while the army of the princes was marching to quell the insurrection, the elector
Frederick, broken by disease, and worn by grief, died, and Germany was thus deprived of her most sagacious ruler, while the Pieformation lost its earliest and most powerful protector, apparently at the most inauspicious moment.
JB'rederick possessed neither brilliant genius, nor the more glittering qualities of a statesman and sovereign.
But good sense, experience, prudence, foresiglit, and iron firmness, appeared in the whole system of his policy.
He always acted as it is best jbr a prince to act, not with an ambitious aim to ilisplay his OAvn virtues and piety, but in the manner which he thought most likely to secure the general and permanent interests of religious civilization.
It was not his disposition to make great and sudden sacrifices, but to follow with steady, resolute, yet almost silent step the signals of the Deity.
In his personal conduct, the benignity of his disposition difiused a grace over all his actions, and the paternal attributes of sovereignty mingled in his character with the mildest virtues of friendship and domestic piety.
For these reasons Frederick deserves to be remembered by all good men with profound respect.'^'"
His brother John Frederick succeeded to the electoral dignity, a prince whose gentle vigor, whose progTessive tendencies, and whose executive abihty made him Frederick's fitting successor, and a proper sovereign to carry on to completion the work so auspiciousl}- begun.
Luther was profoundly grieved by the death of the good elector.
He was saddened both on his own account, for the prince had been a true and thoughtful fi'iend to him, and on account of his august cause.
The powers of the empire now seemed combined against the Reformation.
Eoman league of Eatisbon, triumphant against the peasants in the west, and reinforced by the adhesion of other princes in the south, seemed now about to SAvoop upon the unprotected reformers.
Charles V. had recently written a letter from Toledo in which he had ordered another diet to be convoked ere long at Augsburg, and the haughty conqueror at Pavia had expressed a determination to hunt the German heretics into their holes.*
Frederick's death, the sole breakwater seemed removed, and Luther imagined that he could already feel the raging torrent closing about him and swallowing him up.
But still the undaunted monk " bated no jot of heart or hope."
Standing beside the corpse of Frederick, that was scarcely cold, and the dead bodies of the peasants that yet strewed the German plains, he pledged himself with fresh enthusiasm never to abandon his work, and repeated with fiery faith, " Christ reigns in tlie midst of his enemies
; in vain do they gnash their teeth, their desire shall perisli."t The many exciting and engrossing events which had occurred since the publication of the " Diatrihe'' of Erasmus in 1524,^ combined to postpone
Luther's reply much longer than he had at first intended, so that it was not until towards the close -of this momentous year of 1525 that the answer De o Robertson's Hist, of Charles V.
Servo Arhitrio was published.
What his work lost in lack of spontaneity, it gained in calmness of statement and philosophical strength.
Erasmus belonged to that class of thinkers who maintain that good proceeds frcm man himself ; and though in his treatise on freewill he had not v€ntured openly to take that ground, he had yet covertly done so, and his arguments meant that or nothing.
Luther believed that every good thing in man ca>me down from God through grace ; and concerning the freedom of the will, he made this fine distinction
" Man's will may be called a free will, not in relation to that which is above him, that is to say, God, but with respect to what is below, that is, to the things of the earth.
As regards my property, my fields, my houses, my farm, I may act my pleasure freely ; but in the things of salvation, man is a captive, he is subject to the will of God."*
He then proceeded with that remarkable copiousness of biblical quotation, of which he was one of the greatest of masters, to prove his doctrine that geace did every thing.
As illustrating the efiect which Luther's pamphlet had upon Erasmus personall}', it may be stated that, despite its remarkable freedom from invective, and his candor of statement, it jei cut the philosophic Hollander so deej^ly that, to borrow the language of one of his panegyrists, "He began to pour forth invectives with a broken voice and hoary hair."t t M. Nisard, Erasmus, p. 417.
The two or tliree years which succeeded the eventful era of 1525 were not marked by the occurrence of any thing of special public significance.
They seem to have been enjoyed quietly by Luther, seated at his own hearthstone with his dear Ketha by his side.
The great reformer never appears to better advantage than when viewed from this domestic standpoint ; his affectionate disposition, his joviality, his humor, all combined to make him a model husband and father.
Strangely enough, considering the immense sale which his writings had, and the prominent figure Avhich he made in Europe—so that it may almost be said that his biography is a history of his age—
Luther was at this time plunged into the saddest poverty.
His income had never exceeded two hundred Misnian florins.* Owing to a singular conscientious whim, he could not be persuaded to accept any money for his manuscripts, though his bookseller is said to have offered him an annual stipend of four hundred florins for whatever he might write from twelvemonth to twelvemonth, be it less or more.t
He derived no stated income from his connection with the university, but relied upon the generosity Michelet, p. 201, note.
THE LIFE AND TIMES of the elector, which it must be confessed was not of such a nature as to make him desire to change, at least in this respect, the scriptural commandment. Put not your tnist in princes.
On more than one occasion Lutlier was obliged to remind the parsimonious elector of his jDecuniarj destitutio;i, and to solicit a donation. *
Writing in February, 1527, to a friend who had requested a loan of him, he said, " You ask me for eight florins.
Where on earth am I to get eight florins?
As you know, I am compelled to live with the strictest economy; and yet my want of means, perhaps my want of care, has necessitated me to contract, during the past year, debts amounting to more than a hundred florins, Avhich I must somehow and some time repay to various persons.
I have even been obliged to pawn three goblets, presents fi-om different people, for fifty florins, and absolutely to sell one for twelve.
Christian will any longer accept me as security, for they have found that by doing so they either lose their monej' or my poor purse is drained of its last penny."
A little later in the same year he wrote, " TeU Nicholas Endrissus to send to me for some copies of my works.
I have retained certain claims uj)on my publishers in this respect, which is just, seeing that, poor as I am, I get from them no money for my labor, nor any return save an occasional copy or two of' my own productions. miicli to expect, I sliould say, since other writers, and even translators, receive a ducat a sheet for their manuscript."
Indeed the pinched state of Luther's exchequer actually obliged him to have recourse to a manual occupation in order to win. his bread.*
As a matter of choice, he would doubtless have selected one of the arts he so loved, that of Cranach and Albrecht Dlirer, or music, which he was wont to call the first science after theology; but unprovided with a master to teach him either of these, he became a turner and a gardener alternately.
"If the world will not support us for the sake of the word, let us learn to support ourselves by the labor of our own hands," said the indomitable monk.
At another time he remarked, " Since among us barbarians there is no man of art to instruct us in better things, I and my servant Wolfgang have set ourselves to turning in our leisure moments."
Yet despite the manifold vexations of abject poverty, of that poverty which pinches and gnaws, Luther was happy—happ}' in his faith, happy in his family.
"Writing, a year or two after his marriage, to his friend Sliej)el, he said, " Catharine, my dear rib, salutes thee.
She is quite well, thank ; gentle, obedient, and kind in all things, far beyond my hopes.
I would not exchange my poverty with her for all the riches of Croesus without her."
Mention has already been made of the son that ' Myconius, Miclielet.
\ had been born to liim,^-' Lis little John, as the boy was named after his grandfather.
1527, the poor little fellow was attacked bj the plague, which had made its appearance in Saxony, and was then raging in its most virulent form.
Although little John descended into "the valley of the shadow of death," he was yet spared to his parents.
"My little favorite ^John does not salute thee," wrote he on the fourth of November to Spalatin, " for he is still too ill to speak
; but through me he solicits your prayers.
For the last twelve days he has not eaten a morsel.
'Tis wonderful to see how the poor child keeps up his spirits; he would manifestly be as gay and joyous as ever, were it not for the excess of his physical weakness.
However the crisis of his disease is now past."t Two women, Hannah and Margaret Mochime, who were on a visit at his house, were attacked by the pestilence at the same time.
It also aj)pears that on the death of the wife of a friend by the dread disease, ever}^ one was so afraid to come near the infected family, that Luther took him in.
" Everybody," wrote he, " seemed to be afi-aid to have any intercourse with the poor fellow; so we took him and his children into our house."
Under these circumstances he might truly write Amsdorff, " My house has become a regular hospital.| Towards the close of this year, 1527, Luther was himself attacked with severe illness, both of body and * Chap. XXXYI., p. 480. t Luther's "Werke, IX., 238.
Two of Lis intimate friends, Dr. Jonas and John Bugenhagen, liave left us an account of au alarming swoon into wliicli lie fell in the early days of November.
" On Saturday, in tlie afternoon, Doctor Luther complained of a violent buzzing in the ear, and of great pain in the head.
Early the next morning, fearing that death approached, he sent for Dr. Bugenhagen.
To him he spoke of the temptations which he had undergone of late, entreating his support and prayers; and he concluded by saying, 'Because I habitually wear a joyous aspect, many people fancy that my path is one of roses.
God knows how different is the fact.
God knows what is often in my heart.
I have often determined within myself, for the public advantage, to assume a more austere exterior; but this Christ has not enabled me to do.'
" In the afternoon of the same day he fell suddenly quite senseless to the floor, became cold, and gave no sign of life.
When by the zealous care lavished upon him he was restored to himself, and reason became clothed and in her right mind, he began to pray with much fervor.
By and by, when through dint of constant friction the circulation was more fully restored, he turned to his wdfe and said feebly,
' Dear Ketlia, where is my little darhng, my little The child, when brought to him, smiled upon its father, who with tears in his eyes sobbed forth,
' My poor, dear little boy, I commend thee heartily to our Lord God, thou and thy good mother,, my beloved Catherine.
THE LIFE AND TIMES ing; but God, who feeds the ravens, will care for you—he who is the father of widows and orphans.
Preserve them, Oh God; teach them, as thou hast preserved and taught me."
He then said a few words to his wife, who never left his side, about some silver goblets, adding, " Thou knowest they are all we possess."
He then fell asleep, and the slumber proving long and deep, restored him so much strength, that the next day he found himself much better.
' I shall never forget the day I spent yesterday,' he observed to Dr. Jonas.
' The Lord leads man to the brink of hell, aad then withdraws him from its wide jaws.
The tempest w^hich yesterday morning swept over my soul was infinitely more terrible than that which in the evening assailed my body.
God kills and revives lis.
He is the Master of life and death.' ""
This, and several other similar attacks, w^ere undoubtedly superinduced by the terrific strain, both of body and mind, which Luther had been called to endure now for many years.
Even the splendid physique which he had inherited could not endure unshaken those awful asceticisms of his early cloister, those stormy excitements of his middle age, those fierce abandonments to impiilse and passion which occasionally shook him like an aspen.
The bent bow cracked ominously at times, and Luther's affrighted friends united in urging him to avoid for a little all undue intellectual tension.
In the early months of 1528, Ketha gave Luther a daughter ; but his cup of joy was shortly dashed : the infant lingered but a few months, and on the fifth of August Luther wrote a friend, "My little rosebud daughter EHzabeth is dead
't is wonderful how sick at heart her loss has made me; I feel a mere woman, so great is the agitation that has since pervaded me.
I could never have dreamed that a man's soul could be flooded Avith such tenderness even towards his child."
In Germany, hospitality is at once an instinct and a duty.
Like that khan in the Eastern story whose gates stood ever open night and day, so that whether king came or beggar, all found a royal welcome, and when no traveller passed, the wind sang sweetly in the doorway, Luther was never happier, never made a finer figure, than when, seated at his table, surrounded by his family and his friends, he played his flute and sang his chants, dispensed his generous hospitality, and uttered those memorable sayings, upon all imaginable topics, which have been grouped in the " Table Talk."
Let us too draw up into the listening circle of liis intimate associates, and heed his wise words.
Respecting marriage, Luther was wont to say, " The utmost blessing that God can confer on man, is the possession of a good and pious wife, with whom he may live in peace and tranquillity
; to whom he can confide his whole possessions, even his life and welfare.
Catherine, thou hast a loving husband, and thou—thou art an empress.