History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume I Part 30

[398] "Sed salvum est nunc etiam jurare, quod sine scitu Ducis Frederici exierint." (Ibid., p. 76.) But now it is safe even to swear, that they have gone forth without the knowledge of Duke Frederick.

If Spalatin solaced his friend, and supported him by his influence, Luther on his part was desirous to meet the requests of the modest chaplain. The latter, among other questions, asked one which is frequently repeated in our day, "What is the best method of studying the Holy Scriptures?"

"Till now, my dear Spalatin," replied Luther, "you have asked questions which I could answer. But to direct you in the study of the Scriptures is more than I am able to do. However, if you would absolutely know my method, I will not hide it from you.

"It is most certain that we cannot succeed in comprehending the Scripture either by study or mere intellect. Your first duty, then, is to begin with prayer.[399] Entreat the Lord that he will in his great mercy deign to grant you the true knowledge of his Word. There is no other interpreter of the word of G.o.d than the Author of that word according as it is said, 'They will all be taught of G.o.d.' Hope nothing from your works, nothing from your intellect. Trust only in G.o.d, and in the influence of his Spirit. Believe one who is speaking from experience."[400]

[399] "Primum id certissimum est, sacras literas non posse vel studio, vel ingenio penetrari. Ideo primum officium est, ut ab oratione incipias."

[400] "Igitur de tuo studio desperes oportet omnino, simul et ingenio.

Deo autem soli confidas, et influxui Spiritus. Experto crede ista."

(Luth. Ep. i, p. 88, 18th Jan.)

We here see how Luther attained possession of the truth of which he was a preacher. It was not, as some pretend, by confiding in a presumptuous reason, nor, as others maintain, by abandoning himself to hateful pa.s.sions. The source from which he drew it was the purest, holiest, and most sublime--G.o.d himself consulted in humility, confidence, and prayer. Few in our day imitate him, and hence few comprehend him. To a serious mind these words of Luther are in themselves a justification of the Reformation.

Luther likewise found comfort in the friends.h.i.+p of respectable laymen.

Christopher Scheurl, the excellent secretary of the imperial city of Nuremberg, gave him gratifying marks of his friends.h.i.+p. We know how pleasant expressions of sympathy are to the man who feels himself a.s.sailed from all quarters. The secretary of Nuremberg did more; he tried to make friends to his friend. He urged him to dedicate one of his works to a then celebrated lawyer of Nuremberg, named Jerome Ebner:--"You have a high idea of my studies," modestly replied Luther; "but I have the poorest idea of them myself. Nevertheless, I was desirous to meet your wishes. I have searched ... ; but in all my store, which I never found so meagre, nothing presented itself which seemed at all worthy of being dedicated to so great a man by so little a man."[401] Striking humility! It is Luther who speaks thus, and the person with whom he contrasts himself is Doctor Ebner, who is altogether unknown to us. Posterity has not ratified Luther's judgment.

[401] "Luther writes him:--"Literae tuae animum tuum erga meam parvitatem candidum et longe ultra merita benevolentissimum probaverunt." (Ibid., p. 79.) Your letter proves your candid opinion of me, and your most kind affection for me, both to a degree far exceeding my deserts.

Luther, who had done nothing to circulate his theses, had not sent them to Scheurl any more than to the Elector and his courtiers. The secretary of Nuremberg expressed his surprise. "I had no intention,"

replies Luther, "to give my theses so much publicity. I wished only to confer on their contents with some of those who reside with us or near us;[402] intending, if they condemned, to destroy, and if they approved, to publish them. But now they are printed, reprinted, and spread far and wide, beyond my expectation; so much so that I repent of their production.[403] Not that I have any fear of the truth being known by the people, (for this was all I sought,) but this is not the way of instructing them. There are questions in the theses as to which I have still my doubts; and if I had thought that they were to produce such a sensation, there are things which I would have omitted, and others which I would have affirmed with greater confidence." Luther afterwards thought differently. Far from fearing he had said too much, he declared that he ought to have said still more. But the apprehensions which Luther expresses to Scheurl do honour to his sincerity. They show that he had nothing like a premeditated plan, had no party spirit, no overweening conceit, and sought nothing but the truth. When he had fully discovered the truth, his language was different. "You will find in my first writings," said he, many years after, "that I very humbly made many concessions to the pope, and on points of great importance; concessions which I now detest, and regard as abominable and blasphemous."[404]

[402] "Non fuit consilium neque votum eas evulgari, sed c.u.m paucis apud et circ.u.m nos habitantibus primum super ipsis conferri." (Ibid., p. 95.)

[403] "Ut me pniteat hujus fturae." (Ibid.)

[404] "Quae istis temporibus pro summa blasphemia et abominatione habeo et execror." (Luth. Op. Lat. Wit. in Praef.)

Scheurl was not the only layman of importance who, at this time, testified his friends.h.i.+p for Luther. The celebrated painter, Albert Durer, sent him a present, (perhaps one of his pictures,) and the doctor expressed his sense of the obligation in the warmest terms.[405]

[405] "Accepi simul et donum insignis viri Alberti Durer." (Luth., Ep.

i, 95.)

Thus Luther had practical experience of the truth of that saying of Divine wisdom:--"A friend loveth at all times; and a brother is born for adversity." Those words he remembered for the sake of others also, and accordingly pleaded the cause of the whole population. The Elector had just levied a tax, and it was confidently alleged that he was going to levy another, probably on the advice of his counsellor Pfeffinger, against whom Luther often throws out cutting sarcasms. The doctor boldly placed himself in the breach. "Let not your Highness,"

said he, "despise the prayer of a poor mendicant. In the name of G.o.d I entreat you not to order a new tax. My heart is broken, as well as that of several of your most devoted servants, at seeing how much the last has injured your fair fame, and the popularity which your Highness enjoyed. It is true that G.o.d has endowed you with profound intellect, so that you see much farther into things than I, or doubtless all your subjects, do. But, perhaps, it is the will of G.o.d that a feeble intellect instruct a great one, in order that no one may trust in himself, but only in the Lord our G.o.d. May he deign to keep your body in health for our good, and destine your soul to life eternal. Amen." In this way it is that the gospel, while it makes us honour kings, makes us also plead the cause of the people. While it tells them of their duties, it, at the same time, reminds the prince of their rights. The voice of a Christian such as Luther, raised in the cabinet of a sovereign, might often supply the place of a whole a.s.sembly of legislators.

In this letter, in which Luther addresses a harsh lesson to the Elector, he fears not to present a request to him, or rather to remind him of a promise, viz., to give him a new suit. This freedom of Luther, at a moment when he might have feared he had given offence to Frederick, is equally honourable to the prince and to the Reformer.

"But," adds he, "if it is Pfeffinger who has the charge of it, let him give it in reality, and not in protestations of friends.h.i.+p. He knows very well how to weave a web of good words, but no good cloth ever comes out of it." Luther thought, that, by the faithful counsel which he had given to his prince, he had well deserved his court dress.[406]

Be this as it may, two years later he had not received it, and renewed his request.[407] This seems to indicate that Frederick was not so much under the influence of Luther as has been said.

[406] "Mein Hofkleid verdienen." (Luth. Ep. Lat. i, pp. 77, 78.)

[407] Ibid., p. 283.

CHAP. VIII.

Disputation at Frankfort--Tezel's Theses--Menaces--Opposition of Knipstrow--Luther's Theses Burnt--The Monks--Luther's Peace--Tezel's Theses Burnt--Luther's Vexation.

The minds of men had thus gradually recovered from their first alarm.

Luther himself was disposed to declare that his words did not mean so much as had been imagined. New circ.u.mstances might divert public attention, and the blow struck at Roman doctrine might, as had been the case with so many others, spend itself in the air. The partisans of Rome prevented this result. They fanned the flame instead of smothering it.

Tezel and the Dominicans replied haughtily to the attack which had been made upon them. Burning with eagerness to crush the audacious monk who had disturbed their traffic, and to gain the favour of the Roman pontiff, they uttered cries of rage. They maintained that to attack the indulgence ordered by the pope was to attack the pope himself, and they called in the aid of all the monks and theologians of their school.[408] In fact, Tezel felt that an opponent like Luther was too much for him single-handed. Quite disconcerted, but more especially enraged at the doctor's attack, he quitted the environs of Wittemberg, and repaired to Frankfort on the Oder, where he arrived as early as November, 1517. The university of that town, like that of Wittemberg, was of recent date. One of the professors was Conrad Wimpina, a man of much eloquence, an old rival of Pollich of Mellerstadt, and one of the most distinguished theologians of the time. Wimpina's envy was excited both by the doctor and by the university of Wittemberg; for their reputation obscured his. Tezel applied to him for a reply to Luther's theses, and Wimpina wrote two series of ant.i.theses, the former to defend the doctrine of indulgences, and the latter to defend the authority of the pope.

[408] "Suum senatum convocat; monachos aliquot et theologos sua sophistica utcunque tinctos."(Melancth. Vita Luth.) He a.s.sembles his own senate; some monks and theologians imbued with his own sophistry.

This disputation, which had been long prepared and loudly advertised, and of which Tezel entertained the highest hopes, took place on the 20th January, 1518. Tezel having beaten up for recruits, monks had been sent from all the neighbouring cloisters, and a.s.sembled to the number of more than three hundred. Tezel read his theses, one of which declared, "that whosoever says that the soul does not fly away from purgatory as soon as the money tinkles on the bottom of the strong box, is in error."[409]

[409] "Quisquis ergo dicit, non citius posse animam volare, quam in fundo cistae denarius possit tinnire, errat." (Positiones Fratris Joh.

Tezelii, Pos. 56, Luth. Op. i, p. 94.) Whosoever says that the soul cannot fly off sooner than the money can tinkle in the bottom of the chest, errs.

But, above all, he maintained propositions, according to which, the pope appeared to be truly, as the apostle expresses it, _seated as G.o.d in the temple of G.o.d_. It was convenient for this shameless merchant to take refuge under the pope's mantle, with all his disorders and scandals.

In presence of the numerous a.s.sembly in which he stood, he declared himself ready to maintain as follows:--

3. "Christians must be taught that the pope, by the greatness of his power, is above the whole universal Church and all councils. His orders ought to be implicitly obeyed.

4. "Christians must be taught that the pope alone is ent.i.tled to decide in matters of Christian faith; that he, and none but he, has the power to explain the meaning of Scripture in his own sense, and to approve or condemn all words or works of others.

5. "Christians must be taught that the judgment of the pope in things which concern Christian faith, and which are necessary to the salvation of the human race, cannot possibly err.

6. "Christians must be taught that in matters of faith they ought to lean and rest more upon the opinion of the pope, as manifested by his decisions, than on the opinion of all wise men, as drawn by them out of Scripture.

8. "Christians must be taught that those who attack the honour and dignity of the pope are guilty of the crime of lese-majesty, and deserve malediction.

17. "Christians must be taught that there are many things which the Church regards as authentic articles of universal truth, although they are not found either in the canon of Scripture or in ancient doctors.

44. "Christians must be taught to regard those as obstinate heretics, who, by their words, their actions, or their writings, declare that they would not retract their heretical propositions were excommunication after excommunication to rain or hail upon them.

48. "Christians must be taught that those who protect heretics in their error, and who, by their authority, prevent them from being brought before the judge who is ent.i.tled to try them, are excommunicated; that if, in the s.p.a.ce of a year, they desist not from doing so, they will be declared infamous, and severely punished with various punishments, in terms of law, and to the terror of all men.[410]

[410] "Pro infamibus sunt tenendi, qui etiam per juris capitula terribiliter multis plectentur pnis omnium hominum terrorem."

(Positiones Fratris Joh. Tezelii, Pos. 56, Luth. Op. i, p. 98.)

50. "Christians must be told that those who spoil so many books and so much paper, and who preach or dispute publicly and wickedly on the confession of the mouth, the satisfaction of works, the rich and great indulgences of the Bishop of Rome, and on his power; that those who ally themselves with those so preaching or writing, who take pleasure in their writings, and circulate them among the people and in the world; that those, in fine, who secretly speak of those things in a contemptuous and irreverent manner, may well tremble at incurring the pains which have just been named, and of precipitating themselves and others with them, at the last day, into eternal condemnation, and even here below into great disgrace. For every beast that toucheth the mountain shall be stoned."

We see that Luther was not the only person whom Tezel attacked. In the forty-eighth thesis he had probably the Elector of Saxony in view.

These propositions savour much of the Dominican. To threaten every contradictor with severe punishment was an inquisitor's argument, and scarcely admitted of a reply. The three hundred monks whom Tezel had brought together gaped and stared in admiration of his discourse. The theologians of the university were too much afraid of being cla.s.sed with the abettors of heresy, or were too much attached to the principles of Wimpina, candidly to adopt the extraordinary theses which had just been read.

The whole affair, about which so much noise had been made, seemed destined to be only a sham fight; but among the crowd of students present at the disputation was a young man of about twenty, named John Knipstrow. He had read the theses of Luther, and found them conformable to the doctrines of Scripture. Indignant at seeing the truth publicly trampled under foot, while no one appeared to defend it, this young man rose up, to the great astonishment of the whole a.s.sembly, and attacked the presumptuous Tezel. The poor Dominican, who had not counted on such opposition, was quite disconcerted. After some efforts, he quitted the field of battle, and gave place to Wimpina, who made a more vigorous resistance; but Knipstrow pressed him so closely, that, to put an end to a contest, which in his eyes was so unbecoming, Wimpina, who presided, declared the discussion closed, and proceeded forthwith to confer the degree of doctor on Tezel, in recompence of this glorious combat. Wimpina, to disenc.u.mber himself of the young orator, caused him to be sent to the convent of Pyritz in Pomerania, with orders that he should be strictly watched. But this dawning light was only removed from the banks of the Oder that it might afterwards shed a bright effulgence in Pomerania.[411] When G.o.d sees it meet, he employs scholars to confound teachers.

[411] Spieker, Gesch. Dr. M. Luthers. Beckmani Not.i.tia Univ.

Francofurt, viii, etc.