Life of Luther by Julius Koestlin

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He hastened to send off this letter, and wrote more again on the
same subject the next day, June 30, to Jonas, who had informed him
of Melancthon's afflictions and of the fierce hatred of their
Catholic opponents; also to Spalatin, Agricola, and Brenz, and to
the young Duke John Frederick. He sought to calm the latter about
the 'poisonous, wicked talons' of his nearest blood-relations,
especially the Duke George. He entreated all those theological
friends to bring a wholesome influence to bear on their companion
Melancthon, and for each of them he had particular words of
affection. Melancthon, he wrote, must be dissuaded from wishing to
direct the world and thus crucifying himself. The news that 'the
princes and nations rage against the Lord's anointed,' he accepted
as a good sign; for the Psalmist's words that immediately follow
(Ps. ii. 4) were: 'He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the
Lord shall have them in derision.' He did not understand how men
could be troubled since God still lives: 'He who has created me will
be father to my son and husband to my wife; He will guide the
community and be preacher to the congregation better than I can
myself.' His letter to Melancthon shows in an interesting manner the
contrast between himself and his friend with regard to cares and
temptations. 'In private contests which concern one's own self, I am
the weaker, you the stronger combatant; but in public ones, it is
just the reverse (if, indeed, any contest can be called private
which is waged between me and Satan); for you take but small account
of your life, while you tremble for the public cause; whereas I am
easy and hopeful about the latter, knowing as I do for certain that
it is just and true, and the cause of God Himself, which has no
consciousness of sin to make it blanch, as I must about myself.
Hence, in the latter case, I am as a careless spectator.' Moreover
he felt himself just now less visited by his old spiritual
temptations, although the devil still made his body weary.

How Luther used to converse with God as his Father and Friend,
Melancthon learned that day from Dietrich. The latter heard him pray
aloud: 'I know that Thou art our Father and our God.... The danger
is Thine as well as ours; the whole cause is Thine, we have put our
hands to it because we were obliged to; do Thou protect it.' Luther
daily devoted at least three hours to prayer. He liked all his
family to do the same. He wrote home to his wife thus: 'Pray with
confidence, for all is well arranged, and God will aid us.' Two
years later he said in a sermon about the fulfilment of prayer: 'I
have tried it, and many people with me, especially when the devil
wanted to devour us at the Diet at Augsburg, and everything looked
black, and people were so excited that everyone expected things
would go to ruin, as some had defiantly threatened, and already
knives were drawn and guns were loaded; but God, in answer to our
prayers, so helped us, that those bawlers, with their clamour and
menaces, were put thoroughly to shame, and a favourable peace and a
good year granted to us.'

Just about this time, as Jonas announced to Luther, Duke John
Frederick had the arms of the Reformer cut in stone for a signet
ring, and Luther was requested, through his friend Spengler of
Nuremberg, to explain their meaning. They were peculiarly
appropriate to the times. Luther, as long ago, to our knowledge, as
the year 1517, instead of his father's arms, which were a crossbow
with two roses, had taken as his own one rose, having in its centre
a heart with a cross upon it. This, he now explained, should be a
black cross on a red heart; for, in order to be saved, it is
necessary to believe with our whole heart in our crucified Lord, and
the cross, though bringing pain and self-mortification, does not
corrupt the nature, but rather keeps the heart alive. The heart
should be placed in a white rose, to show that faith gives joy,
comfort, and peace, and because white is the colour of the spirits
and angels, and the joy is not an earthly joy. The rose itself
should be set in an azure field; just as this joy is already the
beginning of heavenly joy and set in heavenly hope, and outside,
round the field, there should be a golden ring, because heavenly
happiness was eternal and precious above all possessions.

[Illustration: FIG. 41.--LUTHER'S SEAL. (Taken from letters written
in 1517.)]

[Illustration: FIG. 42.--LUTHER'S COAT OF ARMS. (From old prints.)]

Shortly after this, Luther received the great news that the summary
of belief of German Protestants, or Augsburg Confession, had been
submitted on June 25 to the Emperor and the Estates, in the German
language. The Emperor, only the day before, had been anxious that it
should not be read aloud, but only received in writing. Publicly,
and in clear and solemn tones, the Saxon chancellor read the
statement of that evangelical faith, which, only nine years before,
at Worms, Luther had been required to retract. Luther was highly
rejoiced. He saw fulfilled the words of the Psalmist, 'I will speak
of Thy testimonies also before kings,' and he felt sure that the
remainder of the verse, 'and will not be ashamed' (Ps. cxix. 46),
would likewise be accomplished. He wrote to his Elector, saying it
was, forsooth, a clever trick of their enemies to seal the lips of
the princes' preachers at Augsburg. The consequence was, that the
Elector and the other nobles 'now preached freely under the very
noses of his Imperial Majesty and the whole Empire, who were obliged
to hear them, and could not offer any opposition.' How sorry he felt
not to have been present there himself! But he rejoiced to have seen
the day when such men stood up in such an assembly, and so bravely
bore witness to the truth of Christ.

Tidings also now arrived of a certain clemency and generosity even
on the part of the Emperor, and of the peaceful disposition of some
of the princes, such as Duke Henry of Brunswick, who invited
Melancthon to dinner, and especially of Cardinal Albert, the
Archbishop and Elector of Mayence. Luther, unlike Melancthon, was
clear and certain on one point, that an agreement with their
opponents on the questions of belief and religion was absolutely out
of the question. But he now spoke out his opinion most decidedly as
to a 'political agreement,' in spite of their differences of
belief,--an agreement, in other words, that the two Confessions and
Churches should peacefully exist together in the German Empire. This
he wished, and almost hoped, might come to pass. In the Emperor
Charles he recognised--he, the loyal-minded German--a good heart and
noble blood, worthy of all honour and esteem. He did not dare to
hope that the Emperor, surrounded as he was by evil advisers, should
actually favour the Evangelical cause, but he believed at any rate
so far in his clemency. In that spirit he once more by letter
approached the Archbishop. Since there was no hope, he wrote, of
their becoming one in doctrine, he begged him at least to use his
influence that peace might be granted to the Evangelicals. For no
one could be, or dared be, forced to accept a belief, and the new
doctrine did no harm, but taught peace and preserved peace. He
endeavoured further to appeal to the Archbishop's conscience as a
German. 'We Germans do not give up believing in the Pope and his
Italians until they bring us, not into a bath of sweat, but a bath
of blood. If German princes fell upon one another, that would make
the Pope, the little fruit of Florence, happy; he would laugh in his
sleeve and say: "There, you German beasts, you would not have me as
Pope, so have that."... I cannot hold my hands; I must strive to
help poor Germany, miserable, forsaken, despised, betrayed, and
sold--to whom indeed I wish no harm, but everything that is good, as
my duty to my dear Fatherland commands me.'

Luther then would not only not hear of surrender, but looked upon as
useless any further negotiations in matters of belief. He could not
understand why his friends were detained any longer at Augsburg,
where they had nothing to expect but menace and bravado on the part
of their opponents. On July 15 he wrote to them: 'You have rendered
unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that
are God's.... May Christ confess us, as you have confessed Him....
Thus I absolve you from this assembly in the Name of the Lord. Now
go home again--go home!'

But they had still to wait for a Refutation, which the Emperor
caused to be drawn up by some strict Catholic theologians, among
whom were Eck, the old and ever violent and active enemy of Luther,
and John Cochlaeus, originally a champion of Humanism, but who had,
since the beginning of the great contest in the Church,
distinguished himself by petty but bitter polemics against Luther,
and now assisted Duke George in the place of the deceased Emser.
Meanwhile the spiritual and temporal lords caused the Protestants to
fear the worst. For Melancthon, these were his worst and weakest
hours. He even sought to pacify the Papal legate, by representing
that there was no dogma in which they differed from the Roman
Church. He thought it possible that even large concessions might be
made, so far at least as regarded the rites and services of the
Church. For these were external things, and the bishops belonged to
the authorities whom God had placed over the externals of life.

Luther therefore had still to wait with patience. He continued his
encouraging letters, nor did even menaces disturb him. He remembered
that too sharp an edge gets only full of notches, and that, as he
had already been told by Staupitz, God first shuts the eyes of those
He wishes to plague. To begin a war now would be dangerous even to
their enemies; the beginning would lead to no progress, the war to
no victory. To Melancthon he spoke, using a coarse German proverb,
about a man who 'died of threatening.'

He drew his richest and most powerful utterances from his one
highest source, the Scriptures. In his own peculiar manner he
expressed himself once to Bruck, the chancellor of the Saxon
Elector, his temporal adviser at Augsburg, and a man who did much to
further the Reformation. 'I have lately,' he wrote, 'on looking out
of the window, seen two wonders: the first, the glorious vault of
heaven, with the stars, supported by no pillar and yet firmly fixed;
the second, great thick clouds hanging over us, and yet no ground
upon which they rested, or vessel in which they were contained; and
then, after they had greeted us with a gloomy countenance and passed
away, came the luminous rainbow, which like a frail thin roof
nevertheless bore the great weight of water.' If anyone amidst the
present troubles was not satisfied with the power of faith, Luther
would compare him to a man who should seek for pillars to prevent
the heavens from falling, and tremble and shake because he could not
find them. He was willing, as he wrote in this letter, to rest
content, even if the Emperor would not grant the political peace
they hoped for; for God's thoughts are far above men's thoughts, and
God, and not the Emperor, must have the honour. In a letter to
Melancthon he explained calmly and clearly the duty of
distinguishing between the bishops as temporal princes or
authorities, and the bishops as spiritual shepherds, and how, in
this latter capacity, they must never be allowed the right of
burdening Christ's flock with arbitrary rites and ordinances.

He now published a series of small tracts, one after the other, in
which, with inflexible determination, he again asserted the
evangelical principles against Catholic errors. In this spirit he
wrote about the Church and Church authority; against purgatory;
about the keys of the Church, or how Christ dispenses real
forgiveness of sins to His community; against the worship of the
saints; about the right celebration of the Sacrament, and so forth.
Regardless of the pending questions of dispute, his thoughts
reverted likewise to the needy condition of the schools: he wrote a
special tract, 'On the duty of keeping Children at school.' His
Commentary on the 118th Psalm was now followed by one upon the
117th. He also worked indefatigably at the translation of the
Prophets. Thus steadily he persevered in his labours, suffering more
or less in his head, always weak and 'capricious.' At the conclusion
of his stay at Coburg he told a friend that, on account of the
'buzzing and dizziness' in his head, he had been obliged, with all
his regularity of habits, to make a holiday of more than half the
summer.

On August 3 the Catholic Refutation was at length submitted to the
Diet. It showed indeed, as did the imperial proclamation convoking
the Diet, that it was far from the Emperor's intention to have the
opinions of both sides fairly heard and judged in a friendly and
impartial spirit: on the contrary, he demanded that the Protestants
should declare themselves convinced by it, and therefore conquered.
The Landgrave Philip replied to this demand by quitting Augsburg on
August 6, without the leave and contrary to the command of the
Emperor, and hastening home, openly resolved, in case of need, to
meet force by force. But the Emperor, though urged by Rome to take
violent measures, was not prepared, as indeed Luther had guessed,
for such a sudden stroke. He preferred to adopt a more peaceful and
mediating course, and to attempt once more to settle the differences
by a mixed commission of fourteen, and afterwards by a new and
smaller committee, in which Melancthon alone represented the
Evangelical theologians.

The Protestants had now to consider seriously the question of a
possible submission which Melancthon had hitherto been anxiously
pondering with himself. Luther's view of the entire standpoint and
interests of the Romish Church was now confirmed by the fact that
her representatives attached less importance to the more profound
differences of doctrine in regard to the inward means of salvation,
than to the restoration of episcopal rights and forms of worship,
such as, in particular, the mass and the Sacrament in both kinds,
which formed the principal difficulties during the negotiations. On
the other hand, no one had taught more clearly than Luther the
freedom which belongs to Christians in outward forms of constitution
and worship, and which enables them to yield to and serve each other
on these very points. But he had none the less earnestly cautioned
against making concessions to ecclesiastical tyrants, who might make
use of them to enslave and mislead souls. In this respect Melancthon
now showed himself entirely resolved. He longed for a restoration of
the Catholic episcopacy for the Evangelicals, not only for the sake
of peace, but because he despaired of securing otherwise a genuine
regulation of the Church in the face of arbitrary princes and
undisciplined multitudes. In fact the Protestants on this commission
were willing to promise lawful obedience to the bishops, if only the
questions of service and doctrine were left to a free Council. As
regarded the service of the mass the point at issue was whether the
Protestants could not and ought not to accept it with its whole act
of priestly sacrifice, if only an explanation were added as to the
difference between this sacrifice and the sacrifice of Christ upon
the Cross. Other Protestants, on the contrary, especially the
representatives of Nuremberg, became suspicious and angry at such a
way of settling matters, and especially at the behaviour of
Melancthon. Spengler at Nuremberg wrote accordingly to Luther. The
situation was all the more critical, since the negotiations,
according to the wish of the Emperor, were to proceed uninterruptedly,
and there was no time to obtain an opinion from Coburg.

Luther now, to whom the Elector submitted the Articles which were to
bring about an agreement, sent a very calm, clear answer, entering
into all the particulars. He gave a purely practical judgment,
though resting upon the highest principles. Thus, with regard to the
mass, he says that the Catholic liturgy contained the inadmissible
idea that we must pray to God to accept the Body of His Son as a
sacrifice; if this were to be explained in a gloss, either the words
of the liturgy would have to be falsified by the gloss, or the gloss
by the words of the liturgy. It would be wrong and foolish to run
into danger unnecessarily about so troublesome a word. He warned
Melancthon especially against the power of the bishops. He knew well
that obedience to them meant a restriction of the freedom of the
gospel; but the bishops would not consider themselves equally bound,
and would declare it a breach of faith if everything that they
wished were not observed. He then quietly expressed his conviction
that the whole attempt at negotiation was a vain delusion. It was
wished to make the Pope and Luther agree together, but the Pope was
unwilling and Luther begged to be excused. Firmly and calmly he
relied on the consciousness, whatever happened, of his own
independence and strength. Thus he wrote to Spengler: 'I have
commended the matter to God, and I think also I have kept it so well
in hand that nobody can find me defenceless on any point so long as
Christ and I are united.' To Spalatin he wrote: 'Free is Luther, and
free also is the Macedonian (Philip of Hesse).... Only be brave and
behave like men!' We have taken this from letters rich in similar
thoughts, addressed by Luther on August 26 to the Elector John,
Melancthon, Spalatin, and Jonas, and from other letters written two
days after to the three last-named friends and to Spengler. He
likewise wrote for Brenz on the 26th a preface to his Exposition of
the Prophet Amos. This preface shows us how Luther himself judged
his own words which he sent forth with such power. His own speech,
he says, is a wild wood, compared with the clear, pure flow of
Brenz's language; it was, to compare small things with great, as if
his was the strong spirit of Elijah, the wind tearing up the rocks,
and the earthquake and fire, whereas Brenz's was the 'still, small
voice.' Yet God needs also rough wedges for rough logs, and together
with the fruitful rain He sends the storm of thunder and lightning
to purify the air.

If, however, Protestantism was then threatened by danger from
mistaken concessions, the danger was soon averted by the demands of
its opponents, who went too far even for a Melancthon. The
proceedings of the smaller committee had likewise to be closed
without any result. On September 8 Luther was able at last to tell
his wife that he hoped soon to return home; to his little Hans he
promised to bring a 'beautiful large book of sugar,' which his
cousin Cyriac, who had travelled with Luther to Augsburg and
Nuremberg, had brought for him out of that 'beautiful garden.' On
the 14th he received a visit from Duke John Frederick and Count
Albert of Mansfeld upon their return from the Diet. The former
brought him the signet ring, which, however, was too large even for
his thumb; he remarked that lead, not gold, was fitting for him. He
only wished he could see his other friends also escaped from
Augsburg; and although the Duke was ready to take him away with him,
he preferred to remain behind at Coburg, in order, as he wrote to
Melancthon, to receive them there and wipe off their perspiration
after their hot bath.

At Augsburg negotiations were re-opened with Melancthon and Bruck;
the Nuremberg deputy even thought it necessary to complain in the
strongest terms of an 'underhand unchristian stratagem' against
which Melancthon would no longer listen to a word of remonstrance;
and Luther, who heard of these complaints through Spengler and Link,
expressed indeed his full confidence to his Saxon theologians, and
was particularly anxious not to wound Melancthon, but earnestly and
pressingly begged him and Jonas, on the 20th of the month, to inform
him about the matter, to be on their guard against the crafty
attacks of their enemies, and to renounce finally all idea of a
compromise. While, however, these letters were on their way past
Nuremberg through Spengler's hands, it was already known there that
the new attempt, especially that against the constancy of Jonas and
Spalatin, had shipwrecked, and Spengler consequently did not forward
them to their address. The Evangelical States adhered to their
Protest of 1529 and to the Imperial Recess of 1526.

The Emperor made known his displeasure at this result, but found
that even those princes who were most zealous against the
innovations, were not equally zealous to plunge into at least a
doubtful war for the extirpation of heresy, and the aggrandisement,
moreover, of the Emperor's authority and power, and accordingly he
resolved to put off the decision. On the 22nd he announced a Recess,
which gave the Protestants, whose Confession, it was stated, had
been publicly heard and refuted, time till the 15th of the following
April for consideration whether, in the matter of the articles in
dispute, they would return to unity with the Church, Pope, and
Empire. The Emperor, meanwhile, engaged to bring about the meeting
of a Council within a year, for the removal of real ecclesiastical
grievances, but reserved until that period the consideration of what
further steps should eventually be taken. The Evangelicals protested
that their Confession had never been refuted, and proceeded to lay
before the Emperor an apology for it, drawn up by Melancthon. They
accepted the time offered for consideration. So far then the promise
was given of the political peace which Luther had wished and hoped
for. Referring to the other dangers and menaces before them, he said
to Spengler: 'We are cleared and have done enough; the blood be upon
their own head.'

Yet another attempt at union came to Luther at Coburg from quite a
different quarter. Strasburg, and three other South German towns,
Constance, Memmingen, and Lindau, differing as they did from the
Lutherans in the Sacramental controversy, had laid before the Diet a
Confession of their own--the so-called Tetrapolitana. They too, like
Zwingli, refused to recognise any partaking of the Body of Christ by
the mouth and body of the receiver, but at the same time, unlike
him, they based their whole view of the Eucharist on the assumption
of a real Divine gift and a spiritual enjoyment of the 'real Body'
of Christ. On the strength of this view, Butzer, the theological
representative of Strasburg, sought to make further overtures to the
Wittenbergers. He was not deterred by Melancthon's mistrustful
opposition or by Luther's leaving a letter of his unanswered. He now
appeared in person at the Castle of Coburg, and on September 25 had
a confidential and friendly interview with Luther. The latter still
refused to content himself with a mere 'spiritual partaking,' and,
though demanding above all things entire frankness, did not himself
conceal a constant suspicion. However, he himself began to hope for
good results, and assured Butzer he would willingly sacrifice his
life three times over, if thereby this division might be put an end
to. This fortunate beginning encouraged Butzer to further attempts,
which he made afterwards in private.

The day after the reading of the Recess, the Elector John was able
at length to leave the Diet and set forward on his journey home. The
Emperor took leave of him with these words: 'Uncle, Uncle, I did not
look for this from you.' The Elector, with tears in his eyes, went
away in silence. After staying a short time at Nuremberg, he paid a
visit, with his theologians, to Luther. They left Coburg together on
October 5, and travelled by Altenburg, where Luther preached on
Sunday, the 9th, to the royal residence at Torgau. After Luther had
also preached here on the following Sunday, he returned to his home.

CHAPTER VI.

FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG TO THE RELIGIOUS PEACE OF NUREMBERG, 1532.
DEATH OF THE ELECTOR JOHN.

No sooner had Luther resumed his official duties at Wittenberg, than
he again undertook extra and very arduous work. Bugenhagen went in
October to Lubeck, as he had previously gone to Brunswick and Hamburg.
The most important advance made by the Reformation during those years
when its champions had to fight so stoutly at the Diets for their
rights, was in the North German cities. Luther, soon after his arrival
at Coburg, had received news that Lubeck and Luneburg had accepted the
Reformation. The citizens of Lubeck refused to allow any but Evangelical
preachers, and abolished all non-evangelical usages, though an
opposition party appealed to the Emperor, and actually induced him
to issue a mandate prohibiting the innovations. To organise the new
Church, the Lubeckers would have preferred the assistance of Luther
himself; but failing him, their delegates begged the Elector John,
when at Augsburg, to send them at least Bugenhagen. Under these
circumstances Luther agreed that Bugenhagen should be allowed to
go, although the Wittenberg congregation and university could
hardly spare him. His friend was wanted at Wittenberg, said Luther,
all the more because he himself could not be of any use much longer;
for what with his failing years and his bad health, so weary was he
of life that this accursed world would soon have seen and suffered
the last of him.