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<h1>MARTIN <br/>LUTHER</h1>
<p class="center"><b>CARL E. KOPPENHAVER</b></p>
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<p class="center"><b>Muhlenberg Press</b> <span class="hst"><b>Philadelphia</b></span></p>
</div>
<p class="tbcenter"><span class="sc">Copyright, 1953, by
<br/>Muhlenberg Press</span></p>
<p class="center"><i>Third Printing</i>
<br/>Printed in U.S.A. <span class="hst"><i>UB736</i></span></p>
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<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
<br/><SPAN href="#c1">THE MINER’S SON</SPAN> 5
<dd class="ddt"><SPAN href="#c2">Eisleben to Erfurt</SPAN>
<dd class="ddt"><SPAN href="#c3">Into the Cloister</SPAN>
<dd class="ddt"><SPAN href="#c4">Monk and Priest</SPAN>
<br/><SPAN href="#c5">THE PROFESSOR</SPAN> 11
<dd class="ddt"><SPAN href="#c6">Dr. Luther</SPAN>
<dd class="ddt"><SPAN href="#c7">The Awakening</SPAN>
<br/><SPAN href="#c8">COLLISION WITH ROME</SPAN> 15
<dd class="ddt"><SPAN href="#c9">The Question of Indulgences</SPAN>
<dd class="ddt"><SPAN href="#c10">The Ninety-five Theses</SPAN>
<dd class="ddt"><SPAN href="#c11">Rome Moves to Attack</SPAN>
<br/><SPAN href="#c12">THE BREACH WIDENS</SPAN> 21
<dd class="ddt"><SPAN href="#c13">Pushed into the Arena</SPAN>
<dd class="ddt"><SPAN href="#c14">The Shadow of Hus</SPAN>
<dd class="ddt"><SPAN href="#c15">For Such a Time as This</SPAN>
<br/><SPAN href="#c16">LUTHER EXPLAINS HIMSELF</SPAN> 25
<dd class="ddt"><SPAN href="#c17">The Christian Nobility</SPAN>
<dd class="ddt"><SPAN href="#c18">The Babylonian Captivity</SPAN>
<dd class="ddt"><SPAN href="#c19">Christian Liberty</SPAN>
<dd class="ddt"><SPAN href="#c20">The Papal Bull</SPAN>
<br/><SPAN href="#c21">THE MONK STANDS FIRM</SPAN> 33
<dd class="ddt"><SPAN href="#c22">The Diet of Worms</SPAN>
<dd class="ddt"><SPAN href="#c23">Answer Without Horns</SPAN>
<dd class="ddt"><SPAN href="#c24">Neither Right nor Safe</SPAN>
<br/><SPAN href="#c25">DRASTIC CHANGES</SPAN> 37
<dd class="ddt"><SPAN href="#c26">Wartburg to Wittenberg</SPAN>
<dd class="ddt"><SPAN href="#c27">From Freedom to License</SPAN>
<dd class="ddt"><SPAN href="#c28">Pigtails on the Pillow</SPAN>
<dd class="ddt"><SPAN href="#c29">The Cloister Becomes a Home</SPAN>
<br/><SPAN href="#c30">A CHURCH REBORN</SPAN> 45
<dd class="ddt"><SPAN href="#c31">The National Conscience</SPAN>
<dd class="ddt"><SPAN href="#c32">The Augsburg Confession</SPAN>
<dd class="ddt"><SPAN href="#c33">Back to Eisleben</SPAN>
<br/><SPAN href="#c34">CHRONOLOGY</SPAN> 49
<div class="pb" id="Page_4">4</div>
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<div class="pb" id="Page_5">5</div>
<h2 id="c1">THE MINER’S SON</h2>
<h3 id="c2">Eisleben to Erfurt</h3>
<p>The Turk was slashing his way up the valley of the Danube
into the heart of Europe. God sat far off, not as a loving father
but as a vengeful law-court judge inflicting all sorts of misery
on mankind. In the forest lurked witches and demons seeking
to drag the unwary to destruction.</p>
<p>Into such a world threatened by the sword, ruled by fear,
and plagued by superstition, Martin Luther was born on
November 10, 1483, in Eisleben, Germany. Within such a
world he became a man disdainful of bodily harm, convinced
of God’s love and mercy, endowed with abundant common
sense—a Christian worthy of study and emulation. Although
his station of birth was lowly, greatness sought him out, and
the whole world has felt the impact of his life.</p>
<p>The Luther child was baptized in the Church of St. Peter
the morning after his birth and was named Martin for the
saint of the day. His parents, Hans and Margarethe Luther,
were simple, industrious folk. They had moved recently from
the farming community of Möhra, home of the Luther family,
to Eisleben where Hans hoped to make his fortune in the
copper mines.</p>
<p>When Martin was about six months old the family moved
to near-by Mansfeld. The first years there were hard and it
was with difficulty that Hans scraped together money to send
his son to school. By the time Martin was thirteen, however,
his father was able to send him to a school conducted by the
<span class="pb" id="Page_6">6</span>
Brothers of the Common Life at Magdeburg. As was the custom,
he earned his board by singing and begging from door
to door with one of the school choirs.</p>
<p>He stayed in Magdeburg for only a year and then was sent
to the parish school of St. George in Eisenach. While again
earning his keep by singing and begging, he became acquainted
with Frau Ursula Cotta, a woman of culture and refinement,
who took the promising young scholar into her home.</p>
<p>Hans Luther had been working diligently and by the time
his son was seventeen the family budget permitted his entrance
to the University of Erfurt. Martin worked diligently
too, and at the end of four years had passed not only his bachelor’s
but his master’s examinations.</p>
<h3 id="c3">Into the Cloister</h3>
<p>Obedient to his father’s wishes, Martin Luther on May 20,
1505, began his post-graduate studies at Erfurt, preparatory
to entering the field of law. But after studying for only a few
weeks he suddenly rejected the whole idea and applied for
admission at the town’s Augustinian monastery.</p>
<p>Hans Luther was terribly angry and Martin’s university
friends were astounded. Why had he taken such a step? Many
factors contributed, but in the final analysis his decision to
become a monk can be summed up in the words “religious
experience.”</p>
<p>His parents were God-fearing people whose piety undoubtedly
had an early influence on him. He shared fear of the
horrors of hell, purgatory, and the last judgment which was
common to people at the close of the middle ages. In the
university library he had found a complete Bible and was
tremendously impressed with his own ignorance of its contents.
He attended church and daily chapel devotions regularly
<span class="pb" id="Page_7">7</span>
all through school. His introspective nature made him
starkly aware of his sins and shortcomings. Life as a monk
was held to be the best way to forgiveness and heaven.</p>
<p>Several grim incidents increased his anxiety. While on a
holiday from the university he accidentally severed an artery
in his leg with his student sword. He almost bled to death
and in distress prayed to the Virgin Mary for help. The death
of a number of students during a plague moved him profoundly.
While returning to Erfurt, following a visit to Mansfeld,
he was caught in a heavy thunderstorm and a bolt of
lightning struck so close that he was knocked to the ground.
Overcome by panic he invoked St. Anna for aid and vowed
“Help me, and I will become a monk.” Fifteen days later,
on July 17, friends accompanied him to the gate of the “Black
Cloister,” monastery of the Order of Augustinian Hermits in
Erfurt.</p>
<p>That this decision came later in life than usually was the
case, and that his impressionable years had been spent not
within the confines of a monastery but in the unrestricted
atmosphere of a great university, later proved valuable to him
and to the Protestant Church.</p>
<h3 id="c4">Monk and Priest</h3>
<p>Luther was not received immediately into the monastery
but had to remain for several months in the monastic hostelry
examining himself and being examined. In September, 1505,
all parties being satisfied, his head was shaved and he was
invested with the black Augustinian habit and cowl, and
formally received as a novice.</p>
<p>He scrubbed the floors, begged in the streets, and engaged
in various ascetic and spiritual exercises. When his probationary
year was ended Luther took the vows of obedience,
<span class="pb" id="Page_8">8</span>
poverty, and chastity and was received into the order of the
Augustinian monks. His sincere piety and scholarship so
impressed his superiors that he was urged to prepare for the
priesthood, and, on April 4, 1507, was ordained to that office.</p>
<p>The petty employments of the monastery did not consume
all of Luther’s energy and he devoted himself strenuously to
studying the scholastic theology available at that time. However,
long hours with books did little to ease his mind and
give him the peace of conscience he sought within the cloister
walls. The books taught him to rely on his own efforts to
procure favor with God, and he was too honest to believe
that his penitence was deep enough and his fastings worthy
enough to compensate for his sins.</p>
<p>Although his heart was not at rest, Luther continued to
perform his priestly duties and undertake any new tasks
assigned to him. In the fall of 1508 he was appointed to the
chair of moral philosophy which had been entrusted to the
Augustinians by the faculty at the newly established University
of Wittenberg. Desiring to teach theology rather than
logic and ethics, he availed himself of this opportunity to study
for a bachelor’s degree which would permit him to lecture
on certain books of the Bible. He had virtually completed his
studies when he was called back to Erfurt in October, 1509.
There he lectured in the monastery for about a year, and in
November, 1510, was sent in company with another monk on
a mission to Rome.</p>
<p>In the Holy City he visited as many shrines and churches
as possible. His high opinion of the papal court was lowered
by his observations of its reckless luxury and scandal, but his
confidence in the church remained unshaken.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_10">10</div>
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<div class="pb" id="Page_11">11</div>
<h2 id="c5">THE PROFESSOR</h2>
<h3 id="c6">Dr. Luther</h3>
<p>Luther returned to Erfurt from Rome, and in the summer
of 1511 was sent as one of three new professors to Wittenberg.
Here he came under the influence of John von Staupitz,
vicar of the Augustinian order, who showed warm sympathy
and understanding toward the earnest young priest.</p>
<p>As yet Luther had been unable to convince himself of God’s
love, mercy, and forgiveness. His quest carried him along the
path of good works, but he never could feel that he had done
enough to save himself. He tried the path of confession but
concluded there was more wrong with men than could be
cleansed by enumerating a list of particular offenses.</p>
<p>Luther’s problems of faith did not mount up through
clearly defined stages to a sudden soul-free climax. Rather he
passed through a series of crises. Staupitz did much to comfort
him in some of these grave periods. He encouraged the
zealous monk to trust in the God who loved and sent his Son
to redeem man, rather than try to appease God through his
own works.</p>
<p>Staupitz’ theology was quite different from Luther’s. It admitted
man’s weakness and called him to completely submerge
himself in God. There was no striving, no assertion of self.
Eventually the individual found peace in a blissful atmosphere
surrounded entirely by God. Luther’s efforts were virtually
the opposite. His every act was replete with self-assertion
directed toward winning merit. He tried the mystical way of
<span class="pb" id="Page_12">12</span>
Staupitz but could never completely lose himself in the essence
of a God whom he conceived to be an angry judge.</p>
<p>Luther’s troubled spirit did not lower him in the vicar’s
estimation and, perhaps to get his mind off it, Staupitz advised
him to study for a doctor’s degree and assume the chair of
Bible at the university. It was good medicine, for thus the
distressed monk came to closer grips with the source book of
his faith. So far, writings about the Bible, rather than the
book itself, had been his main diet. He studied for the degree
and preached in the monastery’s rickety chapel until October
18-19, 1512, when he became Martin Luther, doctor of sacred
scripture, professor of Bible at Wittenberg University.</p>
<h3 id="c7">The Awakening</h3>
<p>Since May, 1512, Luther had been subprior and regent in
the school connected with the Black Cloister at Wittenberg.
In May, 1515, he became district vicar for Thuringia and
Meissen, having eleven monasteries under his care. Meanwhile
he was discharging his duties as professor in the university.</p>
<p>Frequently the solution to great problems comes quite
undramatically as one goes about the daily tasks. Luther’s
awakening to a God who makes man righteous in order
to save him came in such a way. He knew the teaching that
the righteous shall be saved by faith. But who, he asked himself,
is righteous?</p>
<p>As he studied and taught, and looked after his wards in the
monasteries, he gradually discovered he had been misled by
the medieval concept that grace could be earned. This, he
found, was contrary to the New Testament. Grace can’t be
earned. God gives it. Man, therefore, does not make himself
righteous. It is God who makes man righteous. He makes man
<span class="pb" id="Page_13">13</span>
righteous as a free gift (grace) so that he can be saved. Out
of this came the doctrine of “justification by faith.”</p>
<p>At this point Luther still felt that he was in total agreement
with the teachings of the Roman Church. In a humble way
he believed that he had discovered for himself what always
had been—that he had just been slow in catching on. Deeper
study, however, made it clear to him that there was a great
difference between his own and the theology of the middle
ages. He became convinced that man can contribute nothing
toward his salvation, but that God, recognizing man’s unrighteousness,
had redeemed him and restored him through the
sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ. This indeed was not the
work of an implacable judge, but of a loving Father.</p>
<p>Luther now found himself rejecting most of the medieval
writers and teachers. He went back to the Bible, to Christ,
and the apostles. Convinced of the truth, he no longer was
restrained by contradictory views. His beliefs were contrary
to many of the teachings of the church, and while he didn’t
plan it that way they brought him into open revolt. The matter
of indulgences opened the battle.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_14">14</div>
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<div class="pb" id="Page_15">15</div>
<h2 id="c8">COLLISION WITH ROME</h2>
<h3 id="c9">The Question of Indulgences</h3>
<p>The Roman Church taught that forgiveness of sins could
be secured only through the sacrament of penance. This required
contrition of heart, confession to a priest, and satisfaction
by good works. Release from the penalty of eternal punishment
was guaranteed by the absolution pronounced by the
priest. If not enough works of penance were done before
death, however, the remainder had to be atoned for in the torments
of purgatory for an indefinite period.</p>
<p>Gradually a custom developed which permitted one to purchase
indulgences to offset purgatorial punishment. It was
at this point that Luther’s theology conflicted with the church’s
practice. Grace was God’s gift, but indulgences implied that
man can earn grace.</p>
<p>In 1515 the sale of indulgences was being pressed in the
archbishopric of Mainz which had been purchased recently by
Albert of Brandenburg. Because of the vast revenues the
office controlled, it was a profitable investment to become a
bishop in those days. Although not old enough to be a bishop,
Albert already had procured two other sees before negotiating
for the purchase of Mainz. Pope Leo X was willing to overlook
these irregularities in exchange for ten thousand ducats
which he needed to complete the Church of St. Peter in Rome.</p>
<p>Albert borrowed the money from the Fuggers banking
concern in Augsburg. Then the pope granted him the privilege
of selling indulgences so that he could settle his account
<span class="pb" id="Page_16">16</span>
at the bank and at the same time raise additional sums for
St. Peter’s.</p>
<p>John Tetzel, a Dominican prior who had displayed shrewd
aptitude in selling indulgences, conducted the campaign. He
didn’t enter Luther’s parish because Frederick the Wise,
elector of Saxony, had an indulgence traffic of his own in
the form of a large collection of relics gathered for veneration
in the Castle Church, Wittenberg. However, some of Luther’s
people crossed the border and bought indulgences from Tetzel.
Luther saw the fundamental danger of the traffic when these
folk countered his preaching on repentance of heart and life
by showing him indulgences remitting their sins. On October
31 Luther tacked a placard on the door of the Castle
Church. The sound of his hammer reached to Rome.</p>
<h3 id="c10">The Ninety-five Theses</h3>
<p>The theses which Luther posted on the church door were
not a declaration of revolt. They were, after the custom of the
day, an invitation to theologians of Wittenberg and vicinity
to debate on the indulgence situation. So that all participants
could be prepared, he posted the ninety-five propositions he
intended to defend in the debate.</p>
<p>The points for argument did not call for abandonment of
indulgences but merely advocated the elimination of evils in
the system. Luther maintained, in his theses, that repentance
should be a lifelong experience and should manifest itself in
a continuing effort to overcome sinful desires. Indulgences, he
said, are simply remissions of penalties which the church has
imposed. They have no effect on the souls of the departed
and they don’t remit sin; only God can do that.</p>
<p>Luther believed he was being a loyal defender of the Roman
Church by attempting to correct these abuses, and correspondence
<span class="pb" id="Page_17">17</span>
revealed that he thought the pope was unaware of what
was going on. To his surprise the theses released a great flood
of favorable public opinion and were applauded as a courageous
and unrelenting attack. Within two weeks they were
distributed in German as well as Latin throughout Germany.</p>
<p>There had been a growing dislike of the indulgence system
and of the pope’s interference in what, to the Germans, were
strictly their own national affairs. The theses now became a
rallying point not only for those who opposed Rome’s continuous
exploitation of German finances but also for those who
resented the dominating attitude of a foreign power. Even
though they attacked one of his own pet institutions, the
Elector Frederick stood by his daring young monk.</p>
<p>As the Augustinians rallied around Luther, the Dominicans
upheld the cause of Brother Tetzel. He was granted a
doctor’s degree largely to enable him to publish some theses
of his own.</p>
<p>When the Tetzel writings came off press and were distributed,
students at Wittenberg collected a large quantity and
held a public bonfire. Luther, still a loyal son of the monastic
system, was greatly displeased by their sophomoric act.</p>
<h3 id="c11">Rome Moves to Attack</h3>
<p>Luther sent a copy of his theses to Albert of Brandenburg
who forwarded them to Rome where Pope Leo X reportedly
brushed the incident off as a row between rival monastic
orders. Later the Dominicans charged Luther with heresy and
formal proceedings were begun. On August 7, 1518, Luther
received notice to appear in Rome for trial within sixty days.</p>
<p>By no means a coward, Luther was nonetheless unwilling
to be the victim of a mock-trial in the territory of the enemy.
He asked Elector Frederick to have the trial transferred to German
<span class="pb" id="Page_18">18</span>
soil where he might at least have the benefit of impartial
judges.</p>
<p>On second thought the pope decided not to wait sixty days
and ordered the elector to arrest Luther at once and turn him
over to Cardinal Cajetan for delivery in Rome. Although
Frederick was not sympathetic to heresy he was determined
that the man who had brought so much attention to his university
at Wittenberg should have fair play. He prevailed
upon the pope to have Cardinal Cajetan give Luther a personal
hearing in Augsburg where he would be attending a
diet or parliament.</p>
<p>In a benign manner the cardinal offered to help Luther
out of all his difficulty if he would simply submit to the
pope’s authority and retract his errors. Luther of course refused
and tried to defend his positions. A fruitless and oft-times
heated controversy ensued and at the end of three days
Cajetan told Luther to leave his presence and not return until
he was ready to recant.</p>
<p>The cardinal was quite upset by the Augsburg incident and
wrote Elector Frederick a letter calling upon him to turn the
heretical monk over to the Roman authorities. Frederick’s
reply indicated his increasing resistance to papal dictatorship.
He asked for a free trial and a statement of Luther’s errors in
writing.</p>
<p>The pope’s chamberlain, Carl von Miltitz, was dispatched
to Germany in an attempt to rectify Cajetan’s blundering. He
correctly estimated that much of the populace was on Luther’s
side and the time for forcibly suppressing him was past. Resorting
to diplomacy he persuaded Luther to have his case submitted
to a German bishop and to refrain from further attack
in the meantime. Luther agreed, but only on the condition
that his opponents would remain silent too.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_20">20</div>
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<div class="pb" id="Page_21">21</div>
<h2 id="c12">THE BREACH WIDENS</h2>
<h3 id="c13">Pushed into the Arena</h3>
<p>Even while Luther was meeting with Miltitz circumstances
were shaping up which drove him to break silence. He had
stated his willingness to recant if someone proved his error.
An ambitious professor at the University of Ingolstadt, John
Eck, with an enviable reputation as a disputant, saw in this
his opportunity to win renown and also favor with Rome.</p>
<p>Andrew Carlstadt of the Wittenberg faculty had espoused
the cause of Luther publicly and had been engaged in an extended
debate with Eck through the medium of pamphlets.
Now a public debate between the two was arranged for Leipzig.
In preparation Eck drew up a series of twelve theses,
directed not so much at his differences with Carlstadt as with
the theology of Luther. The champion of Roman orthodoxy
clearly was baiting Luther into the arena.</p>
<p>After months of wrangling about procedures and proper
invitations, and with much pomp and pageantry, the debate
got under way on June 27, 1519. Several hundred Wittenberg
students were there—a sixteenth-century sort of college cheering
section. During the ensuing eighteen days of debate they
frequently became embroiled with the Leipzig University students
who sided with Eck. Carlstadt and Eck matched wits for
four days over the relation between grace and free will. The
erudition and cleverness of Eck gave him a decided advantage
over the Wittenberg scholar, but spectator interest was being
reserved for July 4 when Luther would take the field.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_22">22</div>
<p>For another four days Eck and Luther discussed the divine
right of the pope with the Ingolstadter insisting that the divine
plan of government was a monarchy with the pope at its head.
Luther agreed that the church was a monarchy but that Christ
was its head. The passage in St. Matthew concerning the rock
upon which Christ would build his church was quoted by
Eck with the interpretation that Peter was the “rock” and
since he also was the first pope it was clear that papal supremacy
had been established by Christ.</p>
<p>Luther declared the passage should be considered along
with Peter’s previous statement, “Thou art the Christ....”
This confession, he said, is the “rock” on which Christ built
his church.</p>
<h3 id="c14">The Shadow of Hus</h3>
<p>The crisis at Leipzig was reached when Eck backed into a
dialectical corner and had to resort to foul tactics. How discredit
Luther? Perhaps if he made him synonymous with
heresy....</p>
<p>Craftily Eck pointed out the similarity between Luther’s
arguments and those of the Bohemian reformer, John Hus,
whom the Council of Constance had condemned to the stake
a century before. Luther denounced the insinuation and declared
the Bohemian heresy irrelevant to the debate.</p>
<p>It was inevitable in opposing the Roman Church’s contention
to primacy that Luther would use arguments similar to
those of previous reformers. The condemnation of Hus as a
heretic did not necessarily make all of his views heretical. In
fact, Luther insisted, some of Hus’s articles were genuinely
Christian and evangelical.</p>
<p>The spectators and visiting theologians were stunned, and
perhaps Luther shocked even himself. Clearly his remark
<span class="pb" id="Page_23">23</span>
would be interpreted to mean that the general councils—the
highest earthly authority—were not beyond fault. This was
heresy.</p>
<p>Luther had long been aware of the need for reform in the
church. As his ideas developed it became apparent that the
pope was not above human weakness. The church militant
needed an earthly head, and for the sake of good order it was
necessary that he be obeyed. But that didn’t make him infallible.
After all, he was human.</p>
<p>Now this same reasoning had pushed from Luther’s lips
the admission that councils could err also. Unwittingly Eck
had contributed what probably was the greatest outcome of
the debate—Luther’s growing conviction that even general
councils could be unreliable. Henceforth he would take
his stand on the unassailable Word of God as revealed in the
Scriptures.</p>
<p>Results of the debate were weighed by judges at the University
of Paris who condemned Luther and his views as heretical.
When Philip Melanchthon, a Wittenberg associate and close
friend of Luther, questioned the opinion on the basis of Scripture,
the Parisians looked down their noses at the upstart,
informing him they were chief among the few to whom
interpretation of Scripture could be entrusted.</p>
<h3 id="c15">For Such a Time as This</h3>
<p>Luther was frankly disappointed with the outcome of the
debate. He had hoped his opinions would be accepted and
reformation of the church effected.</p>
<p>The controversy did much, however, to crystallize his own
views: The pope did not have absolute authority; a council
can err in its decisions; the Bible is above popes and councils
in authority; the Church of Christ is not limited to the Roman
<span class="pb" id="Page_24">24</span>
fellowship alone but is the community of believers throughout
the world.</p>
<p>Gradually Luther realized these views differed so fundamentally
from those of Rome that there was small chance of
healing the breach. The notion that he might become a
martyr recurred frequently but it didn’t cause him to relinquish
his zeal. In fact he received inspiration from it and kept three
presses rolling at full speed to turn out tracts, sermons, and
commentaries.</p>
<p>In addition to the Leipzig debate, the summer of 1519
brought forth another event which was significant in Luther’s
life. Maximilian, the Holy Roman Emperor, died in January
and the election of a successor was of utmost concern to the
rulers and populace of Europe. Consequently, there was
rejoicing in Germany on June 28 when the electors named
Charles of Spain in preference to Francis of France. Charles
was a Hapsburg and the Germans confidently expected he
would unite them into a strong, independent nation. However,
the new emperor favored his Spanish mother more than
his German father and treated his fatherland like an outlying
province of Spain.</p>
<p>Wide distribution of the Ninety-five Theses and other writings,
as well as prominence resulting from the Leipzig encounter,
had fixed the eyes of many Germans upon Luther.
When Charles failed to step into the role of national figure
they switched their enthusiasm to Luther. Few understood his
ideas on Christianity but they believed he could lead them to
political, intellectual, and economic freedom. Scholars, princes,
knights, and commoners gathered about the Wittenberg professor
who had demonstrated his fearlessness in the face of
tyranny. Gradually Luther sensed his mission as leader in a
mighty movement. History called it the Reformation.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_25">25</div>
<h2 id="c16">LUTHER EXPLAINS HIMSELF</h2>
<h3 id="c17">The Christian Nobility</h3>
<p>Luther’s attempts to interest the pope in reform had proved
futile. He was likewise unsuccessful in having a general council
convened to consider his propositions. Now, in the first of
three great treatises, he called upon the secular rulers to concern
themselves with the state of the church.</p>
<p>Appearing in August, 1520, the “Open Letter to the Christian
Nobility of the German Nation” flatly attacked corruption
among the clergy and prodded the laity into doing something
about it. Since all Christians are priests before God,
Luther held it was incumbent upon them and particularly upon
Christian rulers to feel responsible for the conduct of the
church within their domains. As Christians they should abhor
vice and wickedness regardless of whether it flourished on the
main street or in the monastery.</p>
<p>No one, said the open letter, has been able to reform the
Romanists because they have erected three walls of defense,
“<i>First</i>, when pressed by the temporal power, they have made
decrees and said that the temporal power has no jurisdiction
over them. <i>Second</i>, when the attempt is made to reprove them
out of the Scriptures, they raise the objection that the interpretation
of the Scriptures belongs to no one except the pope.
<i>Third</i>, if threatened with a council, they answer with the fable
that no one can call a council but the pope.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_26">26</div>
<div class="fig">> <ANTIMG src="images/p06.jpg" alt="(uncaptioned)" width-obs="500" height-obs="769" /></div>
<div class="pb" id="Page_27">27</div>
<p>Luther demolished the first wall by showing that everyone
is equal before God. Those holding the title of priest or bishop
are not superior to other Christians nor do they differ except
in vocation, by which also a cobbler differs from a blacksmith.
The title of “priest” is conferred by laymen who themselves
are priests in the sight of God. Thus the holder of a church
title is not beyond the reach of temporal government.</p>
<p>He breached the second wall by pointing out that every
enlightened Christian—layman or priest—has the right to
seek God’s message for him in the Scriptures. The third wall
tumbled through Luther’s insistence that every man, as a
priest, shares responsibility for right management in the
church.</p>
<h3 id="c18">The Babylonian Captivity</h3>
<p>Before his letter to the nobility was off press, Luther was
writing his second treatise, “The Babylonian Captivity of the
Church.” The first had been primarily for lay people while
the second was for theologians. It aimed directly at freeing
the Christian fellowship in Europe from the “captivity” of the
Roman sacramental system.</p>
<p>The Roman Church taught that it alone could dispense the
saving grace associated with the sacraments, and that the
sacramental acts could be performed only by ordained priests.
Anyone who denied that the church controlled the flow of
grace from God was striking Catholicism in its most vital
spot. Without its sacramental system Rome could no longer
bind its subjects. This was the front at which Luther aimed
his heaviest artillery.</p>
<p>He reiterated his views on the priesthood of believers.
Priests should be servants of the people who comprise the
church, rather than servants of a papal hierarchy. They cannot
interfere with grace. It is God’s free gift to the individual
believer.</p>
<p>In the course of his treatise Luther also asserted that there
<span class="pb" id="Page_28">28</span>
are only two sacraments—baptism and the Lord’s Supper—rather
than seven as taught in Roman Catholicism. A sacrament,
he held, had to be instituted by Christ, contain a divine
promise of the forgiveness of sins, and make use of an earthly
element (water, bread, wine). Confirmation, ordination, marriage,
penance, and extreme unction were rejected as sacraments
because they lacked some of the prescribed characteristics.</p>
<p>The mass had been seen as a repetition of Christ’s incarnation
and crucifixion at the hands of a priest before the altar.
By this sacrifice man tried to earn grace. Now it became the
Lord’s Supper—a communion of the believing Christian with
his Saviour. Both the bread and the wine should be received by
the communicant, Luther insisted. While Christ is really present
in the elements, the bread does not become flesh nor the
wine blood through a magical act called transubstantiation.
Moreover, Christ is not sacrificed anew whenever the mass is
celebrated. His sacrifice on the cross was for all time. Through
that sacrifice a man’s sins are remitted if he has faith.</p>
<h3 id="c19">Christian Liberty</h3>
<p>Miltitz, the papal nuncio who previously had failed to
reconcile Luther and the pope, tried again in October, 1520.
He had Luther agree to write a letter to Leo X assuring him
that there was nothing personal in his attacks on the papacy.</p>
<p>In the letter, Luther cautioned Leo against listening to those
of his advisers who would make him a demigod, who put him
above councils, who make him the final authority in interpreting
Scripture, “for through them Satan already has made
much headway.” He also assured Leo that he was an obedient
servant of the church and that he was not inveighing against
him personally.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_29">29</div>
<p>Accompanying the letter was a copy of Luther’s latest
pamphlet, “A Treatise on Christian Liberty.” It expresses
calm Christian reflection quite different from the theological
conflicts which were carried forward in his other treatises.
At the outset it poses two propositions which seem to be a
paradox: “A Christian man is a perfectly free lord of all, subject
to none,” and “A Christian man is a perfectly dutiful servant
of all, subject to all.”</p>
<p>The first proposition acknowledges man as a sinner, but one
who has been liberated and restored to a right relationship
with God through justifying grace. In justifying man, God
has freed him from the consequence of his sins because of
Christ’s atonement.</p>
<p>This freedom affects a man’s whole life. Not only is he free
from the consequences of sin, but he is no longer shackled by
his own hates, passions, and wilful desires. Because this freedom
is based on his own personal relationship with God, no
one can interfere. He is “subject to none.”</p>
<p>The second proposition indicates that the free man’s life
takes a different direction. Originally he was concerned with
himself, but now the reborn person, in gratitude for his own
freedom, serves his neighbor. His motive is not merely humanitarian,
but stems out of a sincere desire to help others become
free too. Love permits him to do no less than become the
servant of all.</p>
<p>The treatise and letter would have scant effect on Pope Leo.
Five months previously he had signed a bull excommunicating
Luther.</p>
<h3 id="c20">The Papal Bull</h3>
<p>A chronological listing of events can be misleading—for
instance those concerning the papal bull. It was signed by
Leo on June 15, 1520. It reached Luther officially on October
<span class="pb" id="Page_30">30</span>
10. He immediately wrote a fiery epistle denouncing it
and Eck, whose style and invective he recognized. Aware that
the bull was being circulated and that his literature was being
burned, he nevertheless sat down in November and wrote a
friendly letter to the pope accompanying it with his treatise on
Christian liberty.</p>
<p>On the surface this would indicate insincerity, but events
shaped up to prove he was being consistent. Although he
knew he had personal enemies, he never lost sight of the fact
that he was fighting a system rather than individuals. The
pope, for him, was merely a figurehead, in this instance the
symbol of an intolerable autocracy in an area where individual
freedom before God was essential.</p>
<p>The papal bull credited Luther with forty-one errors, called
for the burning of his books, charged heresy, gave him sixty
days to submit, and warned everyone against sheltering him
in his excommunication. Distribution of the bull was in the
hands of Eck and papal legate Jerome Aleander. They succeeded
in posting copies of the bull and burning books in several
cities, but largely their efforts were unsuccessful due to
strenuous opposition by the German people.</p>
<p>On December 10, probably in reprisal for a book-burning at
Cologne, Melanchthon posted a notice on the Wittenberg University
bulletin board inviting students and faculty to a bonfire
outside the Elster gate of the city. Books on scholastic theology,
and especially those works of canon law on which the
pope and the Roman hierarchy based their claims to power,
were tossed into the flames. Then Luther stepped forward
quietly and with a prayer on his lips added the booklet containing
the papal bull to the fire. He and the professors withdrew
but the students made a holiday of the affair, parading
<span class="pb" id="Page_31">31</span>
and singing throughout the town and burning books of
Luther’s opponents.</p>
<p>Significantly, the bonfire marked the end of the sixty-day
period of grace. From now on no one was to communicate
with Luther or provide him with the necessities of life. In
the eyes of Rome he was an outlaw.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_32">32</div>
<div class="fig">> <ANTIMG src="images/p07.jpg" alt="(uncaptioned)" width-obs="500" height-obs="760" /></div>
<div class="pb" id="Page_33">33</div>
<h2 id="c21">THE MONK STANDS FIRM</h2>
<h3 id="c22">The Diet of Worms</h3>
<p>Overtones of intrigue and statecraft are dominant in the
prelude to the imperial assembly at Worms. The church at
Rome had given its decision. Would the secular authorities
now take action and turn him over to the papal authorities?</p>
<p>Charles, at his coronation as emperor, had subscribed to the
imperial constitution which said no German should be taken
outside his country for trial, and also that no one should be
outlawed without a hearing. Frederick the Wise, Luther’s elector,
took no action against him, using these same reasons as
an excuse. Aleander, the papal representative, wanted the case
settled arbitrarily by the emperor since he was well aware of
the support Luther would receive at a public hearing. The
man had been condemned by the church, he argued, and as
good churchmen the rulers should simply apprehend the Wittenberg
monk without a further examination of his views.</p>
<p>For the first three months of 1521 the diet devoted itself
chiefly to transacting state business. During this period Emperor
Charles changed his mind several times about inviting
the Wittenberg monk for a hearing. Finally, on March 6,
against his will, he offered Luther a safe-conduct to Worms.</p>
<p>In a two-wheeled cart Luther and a few companions set out
from Wittenberg on April 2. Cities along the way welcomed
him and invited him to preach, but no reception equaled the
one on his arrival at Worms. When the party was sighted
from the cathedral tower at 10 <span class="sc">A. M.</span>, on April 16, a group of
<span class="pb" id="Page_34">34</span>
horsemen dashed out to act as an escort through the city gate.
Two thousand spectators thronged the streets so that Luther
was barely able to reach his lodging in the house of the
Knights of St. John.</p>
<p>He was summoned to appear at four o’clock the following
afternoon, and because of the crowds in the streets was conducted
through gardens and alleys to the episcopal palace where
the diet was meeting. When the door of the assembly hall
was opened, Luther was ushered through a company of princes,
nobles, and ecclesiastics to the foot of a canopied chair. On it
sat Charles, the twenty-one-year-old emperor. Near by was a
table loaded with books.</p>
<h3 id="c23">Answer Without Horns</h3>
<p>After the opening courtesies had been dispatched the presiding
officer, an official of the archbishop of Trier, pointed to
the books, asked Luther if he was the author, and if he was
ready to retract what he had written.</p>
<p>Luther had been instructed to speak only in answer to direct
questions and was not to seek a discussion. However, this
double question could not be answered yes or no. He paused
and his legal adviser asked that the titles be read. Luther then
acknowledged that the books were his.</p>
<p>Again the question, “Will you retract...?”</p>
<p>The monk believed his writing was an accurate interpretation
of God’s Word. In his mind was Christ’s admonition to
the disciples “whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I
also deny before my Father....” Since salvation was involved
he asked time to think over the answer. The diet agreed that
he should return at four the next afternoon.</p>
<p>After a night of prayer Luther again appeared before the
impressive assembly. This time a larger hall had been chosen
<span class="pb" id="Page_35">35</span>
because of the tremendous crowd. Again the formalities, and
again the question, but this time phrased a bit differently. “Do
you defend all of your books or are you willing to recall some
things?” This was the opening Luther had been seeking and
he quickly shaped his strategy to take advantage of it. They
were forcing him to make a speech since a categorical answer
was impossible.</p>
<p>The books were in three classes, Luther explained. The first
was purely devotional and had been commended even by his
enemies. The second was against the papacy. If he recanted
these he would open the door to further tyranny and impiety.
The third class inveighed against individuals, and in these he
admitted he had used caustic and intemperate language. Still
the facts had to stand unless refuted by the Scriptures, in which
case he would be first to cast his books into the fires.</p>
<p>Obviously the diet could not at this moment disprove his
works by the Bible. There was a consultation. The interrogator
turned to Luther. “Give us a direct answer—one without
horns. Will you or will you not recant your errors?”</p>
<h3 id="c24">Neither Right nor Safe</h3>
<p>The Spanish guards were mentally stacking faggots around
the lonely little figure in the middle of the room. Princes,
nobles, and the Holy Roman Emperor leaned forward to catch
his words.</p>
<p>“Since Your Majesty and Your Lordships want a direct
reply, I will answer without horns or teeth,” he began quietly.</p>
<p>The spectators looked at each other significantly, then back
to the earnest friar. Confidence was returning and his voice
carried plainly to all corners of the room.</p>
<p>“Unless convinced by the testimony of Scripture or right
reason—for I trust neither the pope nor councils inasmuch as
<span class="pb" id="Page_36">36</span>
they have often erred and contradicted one another—I am
bound in conscience, held captive by the Word of God in the
Scriptures I have quoted. I neither can nor will recant anything,
for it is neither right nor safe to act against conscience.
God help me! Amen.”</p>
<p>There was silence for an instant. Then pandemonium
broke loose. The interrogator tried to restore order but the
emperor walked out and the meeting adjourned. Luther was
escorted back to his rooms by the admiring populace. Nobles
who had been on the fringe now openly praised the courageous
preacher and vowed their support. During the night warning
notices were surreptitiously posted on the doors of his enemies.</p>
<p>Charles summoned the electors and princes the following
day to decide what should be done. His own impulse to condemn
Luther right away was restrained because he needed the
good will of the Germans in other measures coming before
the diet. A plan was evolved whereby a select group of theologians
would call on Luther and try to effect a reconciliation
through persuasion. The discussion always bogged down when
Luther insisted he must be persuaded on the basis of Scripture.</p>
<p>Having received a twenty-one-day safe-conduct Luther set
out for Wittenberg on April 26. The diet closed officially on
May 25, and the next day, following a rump session of prejudiced
nobles, the emperor signed the Edict of Worms. According
to it, Luther was the devil himself in a monk’s habit. He
was to be seized on sight and turned over to the emperor—an
outlaw of the church and the state.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_37">37</div>
<h2 id="c25">DRASTIC CHANGES</h2>
<h3 id="c26">Wartburg to Wittenberg</h3>
<p>Fortunately for Luther there was more than noisy adulation
among the people. A few sober minds knew how relentless
the papal wolves would be in tracking him down after the
safe-conduct expired, and so a “kidnapping” and removal to a
safe place was planned.</p>
<p>Luther made a detour along the road to Wittenberg in order
to visit relatives at Möhra. For months the outside world knew
only that he had been captured near there in the Thuringian
forest by a band of knights. Many lamented him as dead, but
gradually the flow of thorny letters to his adversaries and the
new treatises rolling from the press allayed their fears.</p>
<p>By a circuitous route Luther had been conveyed to the Wartburg,
an ancient fortress-castle near Eisenach. He arrived
on May 4 and, with the exception of short trips into the forest
and to near-by villages, did not leave for seven months. To
outward appearances he was Junker George, a carefree,
bearded knight with sword swinging impressively at his side.
The secret was well kept and at the outset even the elector,
who authorized the masquerade, did not know Luther’s whereabouts.</p>
<p>Luther chafed at his forced inactivity, and, ever the monk,
fell to contemplation and examination of himself. Could past
generations and earlier scholars have been so completely out
of step with the gospel? Could a mere friar be right against
them all? Might he not be in error and drag many others to
eternal damnation?</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_38">38</div>
<div class="fig">> <ANTIMG src="images/p08.jpg" alt="(uncaptioned)" width-obs="500" height-obs="764" /></div>
<div class="pb" id="Page_39">39</div>
<p>Hard work helped take his mind off his problems. During
his stay in the Wartburg, in addition to correspondence and
pamphlets, he authored a work on confession, expositions on
several Psalms, a commentary on the Magnificat, had a volume
of sermons on the Epistles and Gospels well underway,
and had translated the entire New Testament into German.</p>
<p>Prayer and study restored his conviction. To doubt, or even
to remain silent was like going against conscience—neither
right nor safe. With conviction came a sense of divine commission.
When events called him back into the world again
he went courageously and with determination. He was a revolutionary,
but a conservative one. That quality is what took
him back to Wittenberg.</p>
<h3 id="c27">From Freedom to License</h3>
<p>So often a new movement suffers from overenthusiasm.
The Reformation was no exception in this respect. Zealots
took the usual shortcut from bondage to freedom by way of
turmoil instead of restrained orderly procedure.</p>
<p>In parts of Germany the old ways were thrown off hastily.
Organs, paintings, and statues were thrown from the churches,
vestments were discarded, bread and wine were both administered
to the laity, priests married, nuns took husbands, monastic
vows were renounced, various forms of the mass were
discontinued, priests and worshipers who persisted in the traditional
forms were attacked.</p>
<p>Rumors of violent acts reached the Wartburg. Luther, still
in the guise of Junker George, made a hurried trip to Wittenberg
early in December, 1521. Matters there had not yet
reached the unrestrained stage which they later assumed.
<span class="pb" id="Page_40">40</span>
Nevertheless he cautioned the people in a “warning against
riot and rebellion,” written on his return to the Wartburg.</p>
<p>In it he reasoned that reform is not so much a matter of
externals as of faith. Breaking up the furniture in a church
does not change the heart of a man. Vandalism is by no means
a sign of repentance and trust in God—in fact it approaches
the old form of seeking favor through works. Giving wine as
well as bread in the Lord’s Supper is not as important as the
spiritual attitude of the communicant.</p>
<p>Finally the tumult in Wittenberg reached the point where
he had to step in, so—in the face of the imperial ban—he
returned on March 6, 1522. Insisting that no drastic change
should be made until, through re-education, those affected
requested it as a matter of faith, he restored order in the university
city in a remarkably short time.</p>
<p>The peasants meanwhile took the shortcut to freedom, too,
in a series of bloody uprisings. Chafing under their bondage
to the nobles, they adapted Luther’s “free lord of all” statement
to their own demands for social reform. Luther preached
the Christian duty of submission to lawful authority, but the
peasants ravaged and plundered until finally defeated in 1525.
It was a dark hour in the Reformation.</p>
<h3 id="c28">Pigtails on the Pillow</h3>
<p><span class="sc">Wittenberg</span>, June 14—Katherine von Bora, 26, late of
the Cistercian nunnery at Nimbschen, and Martin Luther, 42,
professor of Bible at the local university, were married last
night at a simple ceremony in the Black Cloister. Dr. John
Bugenhagen officiated. In attendance were Artist Lucas
Cranach and Mrs. Cranach; Dr. Justus Jonas, prior of Castle
Church; and John Apel, professor of law at the university....</p>
<p>If there had been newspapers in 1525, Luther’s wedding
<span class="pb" id="Page_41">41</span>
might have been announced to the public in this way. However,
newspapers weren’t to appear until much later, and the
lack of publicity gave gossips and slanderers choice opportunity
to vilify the former monk and nun. The malicious
stories were partly offset by a public ceremony, complete with
a special service in the town church, a wedding dinner in the
cloister, and a dance at the town hall on June 27.</p>
<p>The wedding was a direct result of Luther’s reform teachings.
He disliked the monastic system because men and
women sought merit before God through restraints and vows
rather than depending upon grace. Celibacy, he had written
earlier, is not founded on Scripture but marriage is. These
teachings found their way into many cloisters and convents,
among them the one at Nimbschen where Katherine von Bora,
at the age of sixteen, had been received into the Cistercian
Order.</p>
<p>She and eleven other nuns sought Luther’s assistance in
effecting a plan of escape. Although he had no idea of what
it would involve for him personally, he arranged for them to
be smuggled out of the convent in empty fish barrels on the
day before Easter in 1523. The plan succeeded and some of
the nuns came to Wittenberg where they found homes, husbands,
or new positions. Two years later Kathie was the only
one not permanently cared for despite Luther’s several attempts
at matchmaking. Then the spunky miss hinted rather boldly
that the Reformer himself would be an acceptable husband
and he resolved to take the course which he had urged on so
many others.</p>
<p>It was strange for one accustomed to solitude. “Formerly at
the table I was alone,” he wrote, “now I am with someone.
When I awaken I see a pair of pigtails on the pillow which
were not there before.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_42">42</div>
<h3 id="c29">The Cloister Becomes a Home</h3>
<p>Marriage probably extended Luther’s life for a number of
years. Previously he and his dog enjoyed an irregular sort
of existence in the Black Cloister. Dishes were covered with
dust, the bed hadn’t been made in over a year, his clothes were
in disorder. Sometimes Luther forgot his meals altogether and
at other times stuffed himself.</p>
<p>The vigor with which his industrious wife established order
can be imagined by his reference to her as “my lord Kathie.”
She was an efficient housekeeper and thrifty manager of what
little they possessed at the outset. Neither had any money.
Luther refused pay for his writing, although the publishers
grew rich, nor did he receive any tax revenues from the cloister
since he had laid aside his cowl.</p>
<p>Things improved when the elector gave Luther the cloister
for a home, and adjacent to it a vegetable garden with a small
brew house where Kathie prepared the family beverage. His
small salary as professor was augmented somewhat when they
took in boarding students attending the university.</p>
<p>The Luthers had six children. Two of them died in childhood,
but otherwise the family enjoyed a merry, wholesome
life. The house was always full of visitors—some of them
more or less permanent—including traveling dignitaries, numerous
aunts and relatives, monks and nuns seeking a permanent
residence, and four orphaned children from among
their kinsfolk. Because it was large and suitable, the cloister
sometimes was used as a hospital, and it was not unusual for
the “family” to number as many as twenty-five. Guests who
stayed for any length of time were expected to take part in
household duties, participate in daily prayers, catechetical
study, and family devotions. Music, singing, chess, and outdoor
bowling were forms of recreation. Through Kathie’s
<span class="pb" id="Page_43">43</span>
economy, improvements were made in the Luther house. An
orchard, hop garden, and finally a farm were purchased.</p>
<p>When Luther worried about his children’s future he overcame
it with faith. A pious training is most important, he
wrote. It is good to leave an inheritance, but preparing children
to manage wisely is more important. We parents are
fools if we don’t train them to fear God, to control themselves,
and to live honorably.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_44">44</div>
<div class="fig">> <ANTIMG src="images/p09.jpg" alt="(uncaptioned)" width-obs="500" height-obs="755" /></div>
<div class="pb" id="Page_45">45</div>
<h2 id="c30">A CHURCH REBORN</h2>
<h3 id="c31">The National Conscience</h3>
<p>The people at Wittenberg and in other cities of influence
were gradually learning to think of the church as separate
from the Roman hierarchy. Now there was need for reorganization.
A steady supply of ministers was essential and arrangements
had to be made for their training and support. A bond
of some sort was necessary to establish unity of endeavor, and
mission work was imperative in areas where conviction had
lapsed into indifference.</p>
<p>Luther didn’t care for organizational work. The thought
that the new church might degenerate into a system of laws
and regulations haunted him. Although his revised order of
worship was finding its way into use he felt that still more
urgent matters demanded attention. Proper instruction of
young and old was essential and to accomplish it there had to
be some sort of oversight.</p>
<p>The bishops had neglected instruction of the laymen and
the princes were loath to reinstitute it. Luther, therefore, laid
the task directly upon the congregations and in some cases the
city councils to select competent men as pastors, establish pastoral
districts, and set up schools. To advise and assist in this
work, visitation committees comprising learned laymen and
theologians traveled throughout Saxony beginning in 1527.
The visitation was carried on in other areas of Germany too,
and in this way the groundwork for future organization began.</p>
<p>In the meantime two distinct factions had developed among
<span class="pb" id="Page_46">46</span>
the princes of Germany. One espoused the Roman cause, the
other the Reformation. From 1525 to 1529 a series of diets
and assemblies was held. The rival princes concerned themselves
largely with attempts at, and opposition to, the invoking
of the ban against Luther, his works, and his cohorts which
had been executed at Worms. At Speyer in 1529 the Catholic
princes, with the emperor’s backing, tried to force a resolution
preventing the spread of Luther’s teachings in any new areas,
but the Reformation princes protested. Matters concerning
salvation were of an individual nature and could not be legislated.
Conscience bound them to oppose the resolution.
Principles which the Wittenberg monk had declared only eight
years before were becoming the national mind.</p>
<h3 id="c32">The Augsburg Confession</h3>
<p>Sparks of the Reformation had caught fire elsewhere in
Europe developing into Reformed, Mennonite, Anabaptist,
and other denominations. A major purpose of the diet called
by Emperor Charles at Augsburg in 1530 was to harmonize
these various groups and attempt a final reconciliation with
Rome. To this end each body was to define its teaching in a
statement or confession, but not all were represented at the
diet and only three were actually submitted.</p>
<p>As usual the papists were laying for the Lutherans. They
had prejudiced the emperor against a fair hearing and were
reserving their best ammunition for the Saxon “heretics,” fully
confident that a Lutheran defeat would speedily bring the
downfall of the others.</p>
<p>Still under imperial ban, Luther could not attend the diet
but stayed at a castle in Coburg from which he advised Melanchthon
and others appearing before the emperor. The confession,
<span class="pb" id="Page_47">47</span>
a series of twenty-eight articles setting forth the
Lutheran position, was read on June 25. The first twenty-one
present fundamental doctrines of the Scriptures regarding
God, Original Sin, the Son of God, Justification, the Church,
the Sacraments, Civil Affairs, the Freedom of Will, the Cause
of Sin, Good Works, and the Worship of Saints; while the
last seven treat of Roman abuses which contradict the Word
of God.</p>
<p>The emperor commissioned the Roman theologians to prepare
a refutation. On the basis of it he rejected the Lutheran
confession, ordered church property restored to Roman bishops,
and forbade witnessing and the printing or sale of Lutheran
writings.</p>
<p>Dejected by their failure to reform the church, the Lutherans
went home in the fall of 1530 unaware that their confession
would become a basic creed of the largest Protestant body in
the world.</p>
<p>Threatened with coercion by the Romanists in Germany,
they joined with other Protestants in 1531 to form the League
of Schmalkalden. War was averted when the emperor enlisted
both groups to meet the Turkish invasion of Austria, and
armed conflict over religious principles was delayed until the
summer of 1546. Luther didn’t see it. A few months earlier
he went to stand before the Judge he had learned to love instead
of fear.</p>
<h3 id="c33">Back to Eisleben</h3>
<p>The circuit of Luther’s life was completed in Eisleben, his
birthplace, where he had gone to mediate between the princes
of Mansfeld. He died early on the morning of February 18,
1546, after fervently committing himself to God’s keeping
and reaffirming the doctrines he had preached.</p>
<p>Luther’s lifetime was marked with concern—concern first
<span class="pb" id="Page_48">48</span>
about himself and God. It wasn’t selfish; a man has to find his
treasure before he can share it. Luther had searched through
lonely tormented hours in a monastery; he brushed aside
centuries of proud speculation until he found the truth. It was
written in a book, the record of God’s revelation of himself
to man—the Bible. From it he learned that God is love instead
of wrath; that no one, pope or king, can stand between
man and that love, or gain it for another; that one can’t even
win it for himself. It is God’s free gift.</p>
<p>Then his concern was for others. This treasure was too
priceless to keep; he had to give it away. He preached it,
though all the forces of evil railed against him. He printed it,
though emperors ordered him to stop the press. He sang it
and helped the church to sing—in tones so soft they lull a
child to sleep; in battlecries resounding from the ramparts of
his mighty-fortress God.</p>
<p>“The devil prefers blockheads,” he said, therefore, “the
school must be the next thing to the church.” Concern led
him to teach. Professor was the only job he held—but that
for all his life. He hated those who arrogantly claimed sole
right to knowledge. So that each might know the truth
himself, and in that truth be free, he translated the sacred
Scriptures. Matthew to Revelation first, and then the Old
Testament were translated, not in high-sounding phrase or
platitude, but in majestic simplicity—the words of Hans and
Hilda. The lords and ladies would understand it that way too.</p>
<p>The principles of faith which Luther proclaimed, brought
fame and the promise of power. But the words addressed to
the nobles at Worms recount the humility of his service: “I
seek nothing beyond reforming the church in conformity with
the Scriptures. I reserve nothing but to bear witness to the
Word of God alone.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_49">49</div>
<h2 id="c34">CHRONOLOGY</h2>
<table class="center" summary="">
<tr><td class="l">1483 </td><td class="l">November 10 </td><td class="l">Martin Luther born at Eisleben</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">1484 </td><td class="l"> </td><td class="l">Family moves to Mansfeld</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">1497 </td><td class="l"> </td><td class="l">Luther goes to Magdeburg school</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">1498 </td><td class="l"> </td><td class="l">Luther goes to Eisenach school</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">1501 </td><td class="l"> </td><td class="l">Enters University of Erfurt</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">1505 </td><td class="l"> </td><td class="l">Receives master of arts degree</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l"> </td><td class="l">July 2 </td><td class="l">Vows to become a monk</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l"> </td><td class="l">July 17 </td><td class="l">Enters Augustinian cloister at Erfurt</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">1507 </td><td class="l">April 4 </td><td class="l">Ordained to priesthood</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">1508 </td><td class="l"> </td><td class="l">Teaches at Wittenberg</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">1509 </td><td class="l"> </td><td class="l">Lectures at University of Erfurt</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">1510 </td><td class="l">November </td><td class="l">Begins journey to Rome</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">1511 </td><td class="l"> </td><td class="l">Returns to Wittenberg as professor</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">1512 </td><td class="l">October 18-19 </td><td class="l">Receives doctor of sacred scripture degree</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">1517 </td><td class="l">October 31 </td><td class="l">Posts ninety-five theses</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">1518 </td><td class="l">August </td><td class="l">Pope wants Luther brought to Rome</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">1519 </td><td class="l">July 4-14 </td><td class="l">Luther debates with Eck at Leipzig</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">1520 </td><td class="l">June 15 </td><td class="l">Papal bull signed</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l"> </td><td class="l">October 10 </td><td class="l">Luther receives bull</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l"> </td><td class="l">December 10 </td><td class="l">Luther burns bull</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">1521 </td><td class="l">January 27 </td><td class="l">Diet of Worms begins</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l"> </td><td class="l">April 16 </td><td class="l">Arrives at Worms</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l"> </td><td class="l">April 17 </td><td class="l">Makes first statement</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l"> </td><td class="l">April 18 </td><td class="l">Luther will not recant</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l"> </td><td class="l">April 26 </td><td class="l">Leaves Worms</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l"> </td><td class="l">May 4 </td><td class="l">Arrives at the Wartburg</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l"> </td><td class="l">May 26 </td><td class="l">Banned by Edict of Worms</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">1522 </td><td class="l">March 6 </td><td class="l">Returns to Wittenberg</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">1525 </td><td class="l">June 13 </td><td class="l">Marries Katherine von Bora</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">1527 </td><td class="l"> </td><td class="l">Composition of “A Mighty Fortress”</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">1530 </td><td class="l">June 25 </td><td class="l">Augsburg Confession read</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">1534 </td><td class="l"> </td><td class="l">Publishes complete Bible in German</td></tr>
<tr><td class="l">1546 </td><td class="l">February 18 </td><td class="l">Luther dies at Eisleben</td></tr>
</table>
<h2>Transcriber’s Notes</h2>
<ul>
<li>Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.</li>
<li>Corrected a few palpable typographical errors.</li>
<li>In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by _underscores_.</li>
</ul>
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