History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume I Part 20

But n.o.body was better aware than Luther of the intimate and indissoluble tie which unites the gratuitous salvation of G.o.d with the free works of man. n.o.body showed better than he that it is only by receiving all from Christ that man can give much to his brethren. He always presented the two acts, that of G.o.d and that of man, in the same picture. Thus, after having explained to friar Spenlein wherein saving righteousness consists, he adds "If you believe these things firmly as you ought to do, (for cursed is he who believeth not,) receive thy still ignorant and erring brethren as Jesus Christ has received thee. Bear with them patiently, make their sins thy own, and if thou hast any thing good, communicate it unto them. Receive one another, saith the Apostle, as Christ hath received us to the glory of G.o.d. It is a sad righteousness which will not bear with others, because it finds them wicked, and which thinks only of seeking the solitude of the desert, instead of doing them good by patience, prayer, and example. If thou art the lily and the rose of Christ, know that thy dwelling is among the thorns. Only take care that thou do not by thy impatience, thy rash judgments, and thy hidden pride, become thyself a thorn. Christ reigns in the midst of his enemies. Had he been pleased to live only among the good, and to die only for those who loved him, for whom, I ask, would he have died, and among whom would he have lived?"

It is touching to see how Luther himself carried these precepts of charity into practice. An Augustin of Erfurt, named George Leiffer, was subjected to severe trials. Luther learned it, and eight days after he had written the letter to Spenlein, went up to him kindly, and said--"I learn that you are agitated by many tempests, and that your spirit is tossed up and down upon the billows.... The cross of Christ is portioned out over all the earth, and each one receives his part. Do not you, then, reject that which is fallen to you. Rather receive it as a holy relic, not in a vessel of gold and of silver, but what is far better, in a heart of gold--a heart full of meekness. If the wood of the cross has been so sanctified by the blood and flesh of Christ, that we consider it to be the most venerable relic, how much more ought we to regard the injuries, persecutions, inflictions, and hatred of men as holy relics, since they have not only been touched by the flesh of Christ, but embraced, kissed, and blessed by his boundless love?"[259]

[259] ... "Sanctissimae reliquiae ... deificae voluntatis suae charitate amplexae osculatae." (Luth. Ep. i, 18.)

CHAP. IX.

First Theses--The Old Man and Grace--Visit to the Convents--Dresden--Erfurt--Tornator--Peace and the Cross--Results of the Journey--Labours--The Plague.

The instructions of Luther bore fruit. Several of his disciples already felt themselves urged publicly to profess the truths which the lessons of their master had revealed to them. Among his hearers was a learned youth, named Bernard of Feldkirchen, professor of the physics of Aristotle in the university, and who, five years afterwards, was the first of the evangelical ecclesiastics who entered into the bond of matrimony.

Luther, while he was presiding, desired Feldkirchen to maintain theses in which his principles were expounded. The doctrines professed by Luther thus acquired new publicity. The disputation took place in 1516, and was Luther's first attack on the reign of the sophists and the Papacy. However feeble it was, it gave him considerable uneasiness. "I allow these propositions to be printed," said he, many years after, on publis.h.i.+ng them in his works, "princ.i.p.ally in order that the greatness of my cause, and the success with which G.o.d has crowned it, may not puff me up. For they fully manifest my shame; that is to say, the infirmity and ignorance, the fear and trembling, with which I commenced this struggle. I was alone, and had imprudently plunged into this affair. Not being able to draw back, I conceded several important points to the pope, and even adored him."[260]

[260] "Sed etiam ultro adorabam." (Luth. Op. (L.) p. 50.)

The following are some of these propositions:[261]--

[261] Luth. Op. (L) xvii. p. 142; and in the Latin Works, tom. i, p.

51.

"The old man is vanity of vanities--he is wholly vanity, and renders all other creatures vain, how good soever they be.

"The old man is called _the flesh_, not only because he is led by sensual l.u.s.ts, but also because, even though he were chaste, prudent, and just, he is not born anew of G.o.d by the Spirit.

"A man who is without the grace of G.o.d cannot observe the commands of G.o.d, nor prepare himself, in whole or in part, to receive grace, but necessarily remains under sin.

"The will of man without grace is not free, but enslaved, and that voluntarily.

"Jesus Christ, our strength and our righteousness, who trieth the hearts and reins, is alone the Searcher and Judge of our merits.

"Since everything is possible through Christ to him who believeth, it is superst.i.tious to seek other aid, whether in the will of man or in the saints."[262]

[262] "c.u.m Credenti omnia sint, auctore Christo, possibilia, superst.i.tiosum est, humano arbitrio, aliis sanctis, alia deputari auxilia." (Luth. Op. (L.) xvii, p. 142.)

This disputation made a great noise, and has been considered as the commencement of the Reformation.

The moment approached when this reformation was to burst forth. G.o.d was hastening to prepare the instrument which he meant to employ. The elector having built a new church at Wittemberg, to which he gave the name of "All-Saints," sent Staupitz into the Netherlands to collect the relics with which he was desirous to enrich it. The vicar-general ordered Luther to take his place during his absence, and in particular to pay a visit to forty monasteries in Misnia and Thuringia.

Luther repaired first to Grimma, and thence to Dresden, everywhere labouring to establish the truths which he had ascertained, and to enlighten the members of his own order. "Don't attach yourself to Aristotle, or to other teachers of a deceitful philosophy," said he to the monks, "but diligently read the word of G.o.d. Seek not your salvation in your own strength, and your own good works, but in the merits of Christ, and in Divine grace."[263]

[263] Hilscher's Luther's Anwesenheit in Alt Dresden, 1728.

An Augustin monk of Dresden had run off from his convent, and was living at Mayence, where the prior of the Augustins had received him.

Luther wrote to the prior[264] to demand rest.i.tution of the lost sheep, and added these words, which are full of truth and charity, "I know that offences must come. It is no wonder that man falls; but it is a wonder he rises again, and stands erect. Peter fell, in order that he might know that he was a man; and we still see the cedar of Lebanon fall. Angels even (a thing which surpa.s.ses our comprehension) fell in heaven, and Adam fell in paradise. Why then be astonished when a reed is shaken by the wind, and the smoking flax is quenched?" From Dresden, Luther proceeded to Erfurt, to do the duties of vicar-general in the very convent where, eleven years before, he had wound up the clock, opened the door, and swept the Church. He appointed his friend, bachelor John Lange, a learned and pious, but austere man, prior of the convent, exhorting him to affability and patience. Shortly after he wrote him, "Show a spirit of meekness towards the prior of Nuremberg. This is fitting, inasmuch as the prior has put on a sour and bitter spirit. Bitter is not expelled by bitter, that is to say, devil by devil; but sweet expels bitter, that is to say, the finger of G.o.d casts out demons."[265]

[264] 1st May 1516, Ep. i, p. 20.

[265] (Luth. Ep. i, p. 36.) "Non enim asper asperum, id est, non diabolus diabolum, sed suavis asperum, id est, digitus Dei ejicit daemonia."

It must perhaps be regretted, that on different occasions Luther did not remember this excellent advice.

At Neustadt on Orla there was nothing but division. Quarrelling and disturbance reigned in the convent. All the monks were at war with the prior, and a.s.sailed Luther with their complaints. The prior, Michael Dressel, or Tornator, as Luther calls him, translating his name into Latin, on his part explained all his grievances to the doctor.

"Peace! peace!" said he. "You seek peace," replied Luther, "but you seek the peace of the world, and not that of Christ. Know you not that our G.o.d has placed his peace in the midst of war? He whom n.o.body troubles has no peace. But he who, troubled by all men, and by all the things of life, bears all calmly and joyfully, possesses true peace.

You say, with Israel, Peace, peace; and there is no peace. Say rather with Christ, The cross, the cross; and there will be no cross. For the cross ceases to be a cross as soon as we can sincerely say with joy, O blessed cross, there is no wood like thine!"[266] After his return to Wittemberg, Luther, wis.h.i.+ng to put an end to these divisions allowed the monks to elect another prior.

[266] "Tam cito enim crux cessat esse crux quam cito I tus dixeris: Crux benedicta! inter ligna nullum tale." (Ep. i, 27.)

Luther returned to Wittemberg after an absence of six weeks. He was grieved at all that he had seen, but the journey gave him a better acquaintance with the Church and the world; gave him more confidence in his intercourse with men and furnished him with numerous opportunities of founding schools, and urging this fundamental truth, that "the Holy Scripture alone shows us the way to heaven," and to exhort the brethren to live together holily, chastely, and peacefully.[267] Doubtless, much seed was sown in the different Augustin convents during this journey of the Reformer. The monastic orders, which had long been the stay of Rome, perhaps did more for the Reformation than against it. This is true especially of the order of Augustins. Almost all pious men of a free and exalted spirit who were in cloisters, turned to the gospel, and a new and n.o.ble blood soon circulated in their orders, which were in a manner the arteries of German Catholicity. The world knew nothing of the new ideas of the Augustin of Wittemberg, after they had become the great subject of conversation in chapters and monasteries. In this way, more than one cloister was a seminary of reformers. At the moment when the great blow was struck, pious and brave men came forth from their obscurity, and abandoned the retreat of the monastic life, for the active career of ministers of the word of G.o.d. Even during the inspection of 1516, Luther by his words awoke many slumbering spirits, and hence this year has been called "the morning star of the gospel day."

[267] "Heiliglich, friedlich und zuchtig." (Mathes. p. 10.)

Luther resumed his ordinary avocations. At this period he was oppressed with work; it was not enough that he was professor, preacher, and confessor; he had, moreover, a variety of temporal business connected with his order and his convent. "I almost constantly require two clerks," wrote he; "for I do little else the whole day than write letters. I am preacher to the convent, chaplain at table, pastor and parish minister, director of studies, vice-prior, which means prior eleven times over, inspector of the ponds of Litzkau, advocate of the inns of Herzberg at Torgau, reader of St.

Paul, commentator on the Psalms.... I have seldom time to say my Hours and chant,--to say nothing of my combat with flesh and blood, the devil and the world.... See how lazy a man I am."[268]

[268] Ep. i, p. 41, to Lange, (26th Oct. 1516.)

About this time the plague broke out in Wittemberg, and a great part of the students and teachers left the town. Luther remained. "I don't well know," wrote he to his friend at Erfurt, "if the plague will allow me to finish the Epistle to the Galatians. Prompt and brisk, it makes great ravages, especially among the young. You advise me to flee. Whither shall I flee? I hope the world will not go to wreck though friar Martin fall.[269] If the plague makes progress, I will disperse the friars in all directions, but for myself I am stationed here, and obedience permits me not to flee, till he who has called me recall me. Not that I do not fear death, (for I am not the Apostle Paul, I am only his commentator;) but I hope the Lord will deliver me from fear." Such was the firmness of the doctor of Wittemberg. Will he, whom the plague could not force to recoil one step, recoil before Rome? Will he yield to the power of the scaffold?

[269] "Quo fugiam? Spero quod non corruet orbis, ruente fratre Martino." (Ibid.)

CHAP. X.

Relations of Luther with the Elector--Luther and the Elector--Counsels to the Chaplain--Duke George--His Character--Luther before the Court--Dinner at Court--Emser's Supper.

The same courage which Luther displayed in presence of most formidable evils, he displayed in presence of the great. The elector was much pleased with the vicar-general, who had made a good collection of relics in the Netherlands. Luther gives an account of it to Spalatin.

There is something curious in this affair of relics occurring at the moment when the Reformation is about to commence. a.s.suredly the Reformers had little idea of the point at which they were to arrive.

A bishopric seemed to the elector only a fit recompence to the vicar-general. Luther, to whom Spalatin wrote on the subject, strongly disapproved of it. "Many things," replied he, "please your prince, which, however, displease G.o.d. I deny not his ability in the affairs of the world, but in what concerns G.o.d and the salvation of souls, I account him seven-fold blind as well as his counsellor Pfeffinger. I say not this behind their backs like a slanderer; don't hide it from them, for I am ready to say it personally to both. Why," continues he, "would you environ this man with all the whirlwinds and tempests of episcopal cares?"[270]

[270] "Multa placent principi tuo, quae Deo displicent." (Luth. Ep. i, 25.)

The elector did not take Luther's frankness in bad part. "The prince,"

says Spalatin in a letter to him, "often speaks of you, and with much respect." Frederick sent the monk stuff to make a ca.s.sock of very fine cloth. "It would be too fine," said Luther, "were it not the gift of a prince. I am unworthy that any man should think of me, far less that a prince should, and so great a prince. The most useful persons to me are those who think the most ill of me.[271] Return thanks to our prince for his favour; but know that I desire not to be praised by you, or by any man--all praise of man being vain, and the praise which cometh from G.o.d alone being true."

[271] "li mihi maxime prosunt, qui mei pessime meminerint." (Ibid.

45.)

The excellent chaplain did not wish to confine himself to his court functions. He desired to render himself useful to the people; but, like many of all times, he wished to do it without giving offence. He not only wished not to irritate any one, but, on the contrary, to conciliate general favour. "Point out," says he to Luther, "some work which I may translate into our mother tongue, a work which will please generally, and at the same time be useful." "Agreeable and useful!"

replies Luther; "the request is beyond me. The better things are, the less they please. What is more salutary than Jesus Christ? And yet to most he is a savour of death. You will tell me that you wish to be useful to those who love what is good. In that case, just let the voice of Christ be heard. You will be agreeable and useful, depend upon it; but it will be to a very small number: for the sheep are rare in this region of wolves."[272]

[272] Quo sunt aliqua salubriora eo minus placent." (Luth. Ep. i, p.46)