the life and times of martin luther - by w. carlos martyn

8/8/2019 The Life and Times of Martin Luther - By W. Carlos Martyn

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MTHE

LIFE AND TIMESOF

< I

MARTIN LUTHER.BY

W. CARLOS MARTYN,AUTHOR OF THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JOHN MILTON.

-VUV

PUBLISHED BY THEAMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY,150 NASSAU-STEEET, NEW YOEK.


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Enteised according to Act of Congress, in the year 18G6, bythe American Tkact Society, in the Clerk's Office of the DistrictCourt of the Southern District of the State of New Yerk.


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PREFACE.The object in the coinpilatiou of these pages

ivaa been twofold. An effort lias been made tocombine in some sort a biography of Luther, anda history concise yet felear of that remarkable Ref-ormation which took its rise, under God, throughhis instrumentality ; so that the most unletteredreader might get from this volume at once an ac-curate personal view of Luther, and a clear idea ofthe gTounds upon which the Eeformation was based,together with its salient characteristics and its mostfamous historical personages.The biogTaphy of Luther is in truth a historyof his age, so wide-spread were his connections, souniversal was his influence. Yet, singularly enough,most of his biographers have traced his life chieflyand intentionally from a j)ersoual stand-point.These Avorks are therefore fragmentary, as witnessthe lives by Michelet and Meurer.In turning to ecclesiastical history, it is foundthat minute personal biogTaphy is not within itssphere. Those interesting incidents, those lifelikepersonal trifles which are the key to character, andwhich constitute the essence of biography, are nec-essarily sHghted. The careful and judicious museof history shows us her chosen children only on galadays, w^hen dressed in the garb of great and excep-tional occasions. How does this hero demean him-self at his own hearthstone? How does he conduct


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4 PREFACE.himself iu tlie ordinary walks of life? To thesequestions she will not stoop to reply.Thus it happens that the most graphic histori-ans of the Eeformation necessarily merge Luther'sgrand individuality^ in the absorbing sea of generalevents.

In this volume careful attention has been paidto what has been termed distinctively the personalside of Luther's character, and also to the historicalside: he is here presented as the reformer, and asthe man.

In the execution of this plan, liberal use has beenmade of all the available material : whatever tendedto improve and animate the book has been freely,yet it is hoped discriminatingly levied upon; theaim being not the utmost possible originalit}', butthe utmost possible completeness and interest.The story of Luther's life, owing to the abun-dance of material out of which the narrative may beconstructed, is mainly a labor of editorial research.The loving pens of his contemporaneous disciplesgathered up with reverent care ever}' thing that hesaid and did, the minutest trifles of his daily life ;and succeeding generations have embodied these ina thousand pages of heterogeneous biography.By a judicious arrangement of these records,Luther may be made to relate Luther. "Whereveruse could be made of his own picturesque narrationsof important phases of his career, these have beenselected, and care has been exercised not to inter-rupt the authoritative grandeur of his speech.

Usually where the Eoman and the Protestantauthorities are in essential agreement, the Eomanwriters have had the preference in the marginal


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PEEFACE. 5citations, for obvious reasons; and no statement offact wliicli lias ever been questioned, lias been un-reservedly made in this volume, without a priorclose scrutiny in the light of impartial history.Not an ideal Luther, but Luther as he was,frank, homely, resolute, vehement, statesmanlike,grand, yet marred by faults, human in his errors, isthe Luther of this book. The life he dared to live,surely we should not fear to depict.The first portion of Luther's life abounds instriking historic j)ictures, and is replete with singu-lar fascination. It marches on from his entranceinto the Erfurth cloister, through the stormy phasesof the initiatory days of the Reformation, up to theconfession of faith at Augsburg, with the grandeurof an ej^ic poem.His latter years are necessarily more prosaic.Standing on the table-land of the Reformation, hewas largely employed in the discussion of mootedpoints of the new faith, and in setthng the disciplineof the reformed church an important work nodoubt, but not of general interest; nor is it neces-sary to follow him minutely into the field of polemics.This portion of Luther's life has therefore beensomewhat abridged, while care has been taken toexclude from the volume every thing of a question-able or denominational character. Like Milton,Martin Luther belongs to Christendom at large,nor can any single sect or country be permitted toappropriate him.The amount of labor necessitated by this workhas been great. The authorities, English, German,and French, consulted, compared, and cited, havebeen unusually numerous and diverse. Attention


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T) PEEFACE.is called to the marginal portion of the book; atthe same time it is hoped that any inaccuracieswhich may inadvertently have crept into it, may bepardoned in view of the extent of ground covered,and the labor undergone.

This has been a labor of love. A profound re-spect for the life and influence of Martin Luther,certainly one of the most extraordinary men knownto history, and a firm belief that no one since apos-tolic days has been entitled to greater and moregeneral reverencethese are the feelings whichhave dictated the compilation of this biography;and it is now given to the public in the earnest hopethat it may serve to broaden the posthumous fameof its illustrious subject, and to interest hearts nowuntouched in the geand cause for which he labored,for which he suffered, and for which he was content,if need were, to die.

Luther was the restorer of liberty to the ageswhich followed his era. He signed his name tothe great revolution which legalized the right offree examination. "To him," says Michelet, "it isin great measure owing, that we of the present dayexercise in its plenitude the sovereignty of individ-ual reason, that first great right of the human un-derstanding to which all others are annexed, with-out which all others are naught. We cannot think,speak, write, read for a single moment withoutgratefully recalling to mind this enormous benefitof intellectual enfranchisement. The very lines Ihere trace, to whom do I owe it that I am able t( jsend them forth, if not to the liberator of modernthought?"

New York. 1S66.


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CONTENTS.CHAPTER I.

The nature of ChristianityThe Roman dominationA generalview of the ReformationLuther's birthHis ancestryHisfatherHis motherTheir poverty^Their severityLuther'sprecocityIs sent to schoolEarly studiesHis departure forthe Franciscan academy at MagdeburgLeaves Magdeburg forthe free-school of EisenachSupports himself by singing in thestreetsThe Cotta familyLuther's pleasant residence withthemHis rapid progress in his studiesHis love for the artsMusicHis tutor TreboniusHe is sent in his eighteenth yearto the university at Erfurth - 21

CHAPTER n.Luther at ErfurthCourse of studyFaculty of the UniversityDevotes himself to the study of the civil lawHis dislike of

the profession of the lawPreference for the belles-lettresYouthful compositionsHis lyrical taste and talentLove forthe amusements of German student lifeLuther in the ErfurthlibraryDiscovery of the Latin BibleHis s^ieedy preferencefor it above all other books The story of Hannah and Samuel-His sicknessThe old priestTiie-Jiss.ajsinatipn_,_qf .QCfi of hiscollege friendsPainful queriesLuther in the thunder-stormHis vowDetermines to enter the cloisterLast evening ofhis layman life-^Ehtersllie Augustine monasteryjL^.Jlj:furthin July, 1505 - ":...-.: .... 35

CHAPTER III.European ecclesiasticism at the commencement of the sixteenth

centuryThe Roman seeIts originUsurpationsGradual-ly assumes both spiritual and ternporal sovereigntyConse-quent abuses and corraptionsScandalous condition of thechurch at the |jeriod_ftf Luther's entrance into the cloister


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8 CONTENTS.Tlie Paganism of ChristiauityTestimony of MyconiusTherural districtsLicentiousness of the priesthoodItalyTheinfamous dynasty of pontiffsAlexander BorgiaPius III.Julius II.The college of CardinalsState of learningCon-tempt entertained for sacred literatureGreek and Hebrewplaced under the banA savant's opinion of the New Testa-mentThe boasted unity of the Eoman faithEemarks - - 42

CHAPTER IV.Luther's first morning in the monasteryAcquaints his fatherwith his assumption of the monkish gowTiLetter to his Erfurth

friendsHis rigid seclusionHubbub in the UniversityThecloister besieged by Luther's student friendsRefuses to seethemHis fether's disappointment and angerLuther's mo-tives in becoming a monk^^His ignorance of the papal connip-tionsHis life in the cloisterGala daysPeculiar hardshipsand trials of his novitiateMonastic drudgeiyHis rescue fromitDr. Staupitz, vicar-general of the Augustine orderSketchof his careerStaiipitz's admiration for LutherHis advice tothe young recluseJohn Luther's final consent to his son'sadoption of an ecclesiastical careerLuther's ordination as apriest, in 1507The ceremony^IncidentsLuther's religiousstateHis depressing perplexities and temptationsStaupitz'swise counselsLiither awakes to a knowledge of his sinfulness

-_His mental struggles Gives himself up to til's full rigors ofasceticismInsufficiency of the Roman formulas prescribed forpenitents to yield him reliefJustification by faithHis ad-herence to the minutest trifles of the monastic disciplineHeperceives the worthlessness of earthly help, and turns to Godfor consolationReflections '"^iTm 53

CHAPTER V.Establishment of the University of WittembergFrederick of Sax-

onyHe invites Luther to take the chair of philosophy at "Wit-tembergLxither's acceptanceCompleteness of his theologi-

cal trainingHe still keeps up the rigors of his cloisterDevo-tion to studyThe degree of Baccalaureus Tanquam ad Bibliaconferred on him in 1509Attacks scholastic theologySensa-tion produced therebyMillerstadr's" opinion -^-Eii'tTier sum-moned by Staupitz to enter the i)ulpitHis reluctanceFinalconsentThe old wooden chapel at WittembergLuther as apreacherHis oratoryContemporaneous testimony Testi-mony of the Jesuit historiansRemarks 70


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CONTENTS. yCHAPTEK YI.

Luther's agony of soulIs dispatclied to Rome in 1510HisecstacyEome in the sixteenth centuryThe convent of theBenedictinesLuther's haste to reach the Eternal City^Theproverb about St. John's EveSickness at BolognaThe wordsof St. PaulLuther's arrival at EomeHis salutation of theseven-hilled cityHis superstitionPope Julius II.Occupa-tions of the pontifical courtAttractions of the ancient ruinsThe Christian remainsProfligacy of the Eoman clergyTheirmanner of celebrating the MassLuther at supper with theprelates^The indecent conversationHutten's opinion of theEoman Ti'inityLuther on Pilate's staircase T}ie just shall livehy faithIs horrified by the immorality of the Eoman Gol-gothaThe saying of MachiaveUiLuther quits Eome sadden-ed and shockedThe return to WittembergGood results ofthe tour- 80

CHAPTER VII. ' The revival oflearning "Its influenceupon the EeformationThe

omnipotence of the Pajjacy during "the dark ages"DantePetrarchThe first gleam of lightJohn of EavennaChryso-larasInfluence of eastern learning upon the west of Euro^jeThe imdiie importance often ascribed to the "revival of learn-ing"Its insufficiency to have produced unaided the Eeforma-tionThe infidelity of media3val learningThe Papal court ofJulian de MediciLa Bella Morenze Conclusions arrived atfrom a survey of the revival of letters - 91

CHAPTER Vni.Luther has recourse to the Scriptures for consolationContinues

his assajiliuporL the ethics of Aquinas_and AristotleIs made--a_UitQr,qf Diyinity^CarlstadtThe'overthrow of the seholas^ticism at Wit^iabeigLuther's con'espondenceBecomes ac-quainteTTwith Spalatin^J^hedoctrine of grace 100

CHAPTER IX.Luther appointed Vicar-general of his order pro temporeHis vis-

itation of the Augustine convents in 1516Their disordersXuthfir.pi'jachesJuMimtiui.by.iiM4b~aad.^^ the Monag-teriesGood resultsEeturn to WittembergHis letter toJohn LangeResume of his duties The plague at Wittem-berg

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10 CONTENTS.postProposition at the Electoral court to promote Staupitzto a BishopricLuther's opposition to the schemeGeorge,Duke of SaxonyLuther invited to preach before him at Dres-denGeorge's angerJerome EmserThe supperLuther'scontroversy with the Leipsic schoolmenHis \ictoryEetumsto Wittemberg rejoicing 109

CHAPTER X.Luther's religious state in 1516StiJLa^eres to the Roman disci-plineEemarksTranquil slumber of the papacyThe pon-

tificate of Leo X.Its character Leo's extravaganceHisschemes for filhng his empty exchequerSt. Peter'sSale ofindulgences for the purpose of completing that CathedralThe origin and nature of indulgencesThe farming of the in-dulgences in GermanyAlbert of MentzTetzel appointedgeneral agent for the sale of the Gennan indulgencesHisblasphemous and abandoned characterHis pompHis modeof procediireHis hideous doctrinesHis dijilomasHis prop-ositionsTetzel and the emperor Maximilian 117

CHAPTER XI.Luther first hears of Tetzel at GrimmaTetzel's arrival at Juter-

bock near Wittemberg in 1517Luther in the confessionalEefuses to absolve penitents on the simple presentation ofTetzel's dii^lomas, -without repentance

Tetzel's rage thereatLuther is informed of the impious character of Tetzel's doc-trinesPreaches against reliance upon the indulgences for sal-

-^ationThe elector's singular di'eam Luther composes hispropositionsNails them to the church door at Wittemberg, 130

" "chapter XII.The ninety-five thesesTheir characterIgnorance of Leo's con-

nection with Tetzel at this timeEsteems himself the cham-pion of the insulted PapacyHas no thoughts of entering intoa conflict with the Roman seeReluctance with which he at-tacked the indulgencesFears even the whispered reproach ofheresy 138

chapter xin.Luther's letter to Albert of MayenceThe Archbishop vouchsafes

him no replyWrites Jerome of BrandenburgJerome's mes-sage by a Carthusian monkStaupitz's timidityLuther enters


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CONTENTS. 11intoihe coutrovers:^jaitliout any definite plan, and ignorant of__the extent to which it will lead himSensation produced in_Germany by the publication of the thesesLuther's aluruf attheir successHis timidity vanishes before the violent assaultsof the indulgence-mongersThe reception awarded the thesesat Frankfort-on-the-OderLuther's account of the inception ofthe indulgence controversy Tetzel's response to LutherLuther learns that in attacking the indulgences, he attacked-KomeHis astonishmentExcitement throughout_GermanyTrr;Luther's theses have the sympathy of the masses 116

CHAPTER XIV.1 te Reception awarded Luther's theses by the learned world

Their effect upon the two foremost thinkers of the ageJohnEeuchlinSketch of his lifeErasmusHis biographj'Char-acter and mental qualitiesThe influence of Erasmus upon theEeformationThe "Praise of Folly"Other worksPublica-tion of the Greek Testament at Basle in 1516Eemarks -- 157

CHAPTER XY.The University of FrankfortWimpinaGathering of the monks

Tetzel's theses The first auto da fe of the EeformationJohn KnipstrowTetzel made Doctor of DivinityLuther oncemore awakened by the proceedings at FrankfortHis letter toSpalatin Fears lest he should involve the elector in the con-troversy His anxiety The difference between belief andactionLuther sees his dutyEeception of Tetzel's theses atWittemberg^t(/o c?a/e of the Wittemberg studentsLuther'sconnection with, and opinion of itLuther attacked by Prie-rias, a Eoman licenserCharacter of his pamphlet"What isthe sole infallible authority for Christians ?"'Luther's reply toPrieriasThe Eoman system as sketched by PrieriasTheChristian system as sketched by LutherObservations 173

CHxiPTER XVI.Luther's evangelical knowledgeHis dread of schismsingular

traits of his characterLuther's victory over PrieriasHe is nextopposed by HochstraatenLuther's response to that Domini-can inquisitor Eck of Ingolstadt enters the arena agaiustLuther Eck's characterHe publishes the "Obelisks^^Friendship between Eck and Luther Luther's sorrow atEck's acrimonious assault upon himHe replies by the com-position of the "Asterisks"Vain attempts to reconcile Eck


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12 CONTENTS.and LutherLuther's manifold labors at this timeHis sj-m-pathy for the i)eojplePerceives the essential democracy ofChristianity Opposes the tendency of the ecclesiasticism ofhis age to gravitate towards casteHis popular works in Ger-manLuther lays the foundation of the German languageThe true rulers of Christendom LuthCT's'^Ea^anation ofthe Lord's Prayer" Sermon at Wittemberg on the "flemissionof Sins"Man and God brought face to face 187

CHAPTER XVII.Convocation of the Augustine order at Heidelberg in 1518Luthersummoned to attend itDetermines to do soIntrigues of the

monksHis friends advise him not to go to HeidelbergTheElector provides him with letters to nobles on the routeSetsout for Heidelberg on foot^Meeting with the Elector's Chancel-lor, Pfefl&nger, at JuderbockTarry at WurtzburgMeetingwith Staujiitz and LangeAi-rival at HeidelbergLuther's re-ception by Wolfgang, Duke of BavariaThe Augustine chap-terLuther's "Paradoxes"Discussion upon themEffect ofthe debateMartin Bucer John Brentz Ehrhard SueffBucer's intei-view with Luther"The seed time of the Palati-nate"Fruits of the Heidelberg disputationLuther's joyousand triumphant return to "Wittemberg 200

CHAPTER XVIII.Leo. X.His opinion of the German troublesLuther's opinionof Leo X.He publishes his explanations of the theses-Char-

acter of that pamphletSecond letter to Jerome of Branden-burgLetter to the PopeLetter to S^jalatinRemarks uponthe peculiarities of these epistlesLuther's own explanation ofthem - ---- 210

CHAPTER XIX.The perfidy of EomeLeo wi-ites StaupitzEaphacl of Eavcuna's

letter to the ElectorDefection of FrederickThe imperialdiet at AugsburgAlliance between Frederick and Pope LeoFrederick's declaration of sentiments Luther's citation toEomeInterference of his friendsLuther solicits Spsdatin touse his influence "w-ith the Elector to have his cause hoard inGermanyFrederick assentsLeo's acquiescenceThe "Wit-temberg UniversityMaximilian Cajetau the paj)al Nuncioappointed by the Pope to try LutherLeo's brief to the Le-gateLuther's indignationDetermines to face Cajetan - - 227


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CONTENTS. 13CHAPTER XX.

Philip MelancthonBirth and parentage Early instructionThirst for learningHis geniusHis connection with Keuch-linGoes to Heidelberg in his twelfth yearErasmus' opinionof himNeed of the Wittemberg University for a professor ofancient languagesKeuchhn recommends his young relativeMelancthon to FrederickMelancthon's journey to Wittem-berg His reception "at LeipsicAt Wittemberg Luther'sjudgmentMelancthon speedily gains the confidence and admi-ration of the whole universityHis influence upon the schol-arship of his ageThe foundation of the famous friendshipbetween Luther and MelancthonContrast between themThe brilliant repvitation of the Wittemberg University at thistime- 237

CHAPTER XXI.Luther's preparations for meeting the papal NuncioHis courage

It is infectiousStaupitz's unwonted boldnessThe citationarrivesLuther's friends oi^pose his answering it in personHis resolution to do so unshakableStaupitz's timiihty returnsHe conjures Luther to join him in his cloister at SalzburgLuther remains undauntedThe Count of Mansfeldt's warn-ingLuther demands of Frederick a safe-conductFrederickrefuses this, but provides him with letters of recommendationto nobles on the route, and to the patricians of AugsburgThe Elector's shame on account of his course towards Lutherat the imperial dietLuther meets him at AVeimarPreachesbefore the court on the festival of St. MichaelLuther at Nu-remberg-Winceslaus LinkScheurl, Albrecht DiirerDepar-ture from NurembergLink and another friend accompanyhimArrival at AugsburgAn intrepid letter 2i8

CHAPTER XXII.Luther at AugsburgLearns of Staupitz's presenceBequests theVicar-general to visit himDelivers the Elector's letters to the

Augsburg patriciansThey urge him to apply to Maximlfianfor a safe condiTct, and meanwhile not to see the NuncioLuther complies with this adviceHis first day in Augsburg^His second dayThird dayBeceives the safe conductEe-pairs to the Legate's palaceThomas De YioLuther's re'ccp-tion by CajetanThe Legate's confidence of an easy victoryLuther's humilityFiretwordsCajetan's requisitionLuther's


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14 CONTENTS.demandSensationThe Legate's harangueThe two propo.sitionsLuther's firm reliance upon the ScriptiiresEetractionthe Nuncio's ultimatumEnd of the first interviewMutualimpressionsInterview with Statipitz Advised to commit hisanswers to writingStaupitz releases him from his monasticobligations - - 255

CHAPTER XXIII.Luther waited ujoon by his Augsburg friendsArrival of two en-voys fi'om the Electoral courtSecond interview with Cajetan

Luther's declarationThe Nuncio's replyLuther's refusal toretract unconvinced Cajetan's volubility Luther requestspermission to reply in writingEeluctant consent of the Le-gateEnd of the second interviewThird conferenceLu-ther's protestDiscussionCajetan's violenceLuther's calmrefusal to retractHis angry discussionCajetan's interviewwith StaupitzStaupitz and Luther^-Luther writes SpalatinLetter to CarlstadtStaupitz, Lange, and the electoral envoysquit AugsburgLuther's first letter to CajetanWaitingThesecond letterAppeal to the PopeQuits Augsbui-gThe jour-ney homewardPopular enthusiasmCount Albert of Mans-feldtReaches Wittemberg 274^o

CHAPTER XXIV.Rage of the outwitted CardinalThe Nuncio to FrederickFred-erick forwards Cajetan's letter to LutherLuther to the Elec-

torThe Elector to CajetanFrederick's instructions to Lu-therLuther's joyHis employmentsPopularity of his writ-ingsFrobeniiis, the printer of BaslePublication of Luther's"Report of the Augsburg Conference"Letter to LinkInter-view with the Elector at LichtembergThe feeling at PomeCajetan's disgraceMovements of the PapacyLeo's blunderLuther's appeal from the Pope to a general councilThe Popeconceals his anger and temporizes]\Iiltitz appointed NuncioHis characterDeparture for GermanyMiltitz feels the pop-ular pulseThe seventy papal briefsMiltitz awakens to theherculean character of his task - 291

CHAPTER XXV.Miltitz arrives in Saxony in 1519"Waits upon SpalatinSpala-

tin and MiltitzTetzel Luther and MiltitzThe goldenrose and the Elector Miltitz baffled Interview between Lu-


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CONTENTS. 15ther and Miltitz at AltenbnrgThe Nuncio's smiles andcaressesArticles of agreementLuther apprizes the Electorof the condition of affairsMiltitz's ecstasyThe Nuncio's su^d-perKome and the Reformation kiss for the last timeThedangers of Saxon hospitalityMiltitz entrappedThe Nunciorepairs to Leipsic Miltitz and Tetzel Tetzel's downfallLuther pities and writes himLuther's second letter to thePopeVarious criticisms upon itMilner's remarks D'Au-bigne's comments 303

CHAPTEK XXVI.Death of the German emperorIntrigues of the Roman courtFrederick of Saxony appointed to administer the empire duringthe interregnumThe sky brightensLuther's occupationsThe papal decretalsLuther on separation from EomeFlour-ishing condition of the Wittemberg UniversityMiltitz andCajetan at TrevesThey plot mischiefThe Archbishop-elec-tor of TrevesLeo a^Dpoints him to arbitrate in Luther's af-fairHe postpones the inquiry to the convocation of thediet at Worms in 1521Eck of Ingolstadt once moreHiscontroversy with CarlstadtChallenges Carlstadt and Luther todebate with himEck's theses on the supremacy of the Pope^Luther's opposing thesesLettersA disputation appointed tobe held at LeipsicDuke George's refusal to permit Luther todebateEck and Carlstadt alone to contend Luther's cha-grinPreparations for the verbal tournamentThe counsel ofErasmus - - 314

CHAPTER XXVII.Wittemberg in a fermentUnique letter from Luther to the Elec-

torThe Wittembergers en route for LeipsicTheir receptionEck at LeipsicLuther and EckEck obtains permission forLuther to debatePreliminary difficultiesCommencement ofthe disputationMasellaniisCarlstadt's propositionHis abil-ity as a disputantMelancthon aids himLuther's opinion ofthe contest between Eck and CarlstadtLuther and Eck enterthe listsThe articles of controversyLuther's oratorical skillHis weak pointsPopish errorsHis own statementBothsides claim the victoryEck's real opinionTestimony ofMasellanusHis sketch of the three disputantsLuther quitsLeipsicCarlstadt follows himEck's boastingLuther's satir-ical account of the disputationEffects of the debateMelanc-thon's risumi - 322


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16 CONTENTS.CHAPTER XXVIII.

Eck and MelancthonEck writes the Elector Frederick's re-sponseLuther's account of the Leipsic controversyLutherand EraserElectoral diet at FrankfortThe three competitorsfor the Germanic crownThe diet urge it upon Frederick'sacceptanceHis refusalAdvises the selection of Charles ofSpainHjiiocritical course of the Koman courtThe electionof CharlesKeflections upon this choiceLuther's letter to thenew enij)erorThe tmiversities of Cologne and LouvainAt-tempt to assassinate Luther

Luther's renunciation of KomeCommotionKally of the German nobles to his sideAbstemi-usHedioEffect of this sjnniiathy uiion LutherAddressto the emperor and the Gennan nobilitySensation producedby itEnmors of Eck's proceedings at EomeLiither's bookon the "Babylonish Captivity"Its effectDemand for Luther'swi-itinc;s 335)^&"

CHAPTEE XXIX.The feeling at EomeLeo's bull of excommunicationEck ap-

pointed to carry it into GermanyHis cold and sullen recep-tionEck on the route^Eck at LeipsicCondiict of the Leip-sickersEck's terrorHis flight by JiightEck at ErfurthThe joke of the Erfurth studentsLiither's witticismExcite-ment at Wittemberg Luther's auto da fSThe excommuni-cated monk excommunicates the PopeLuther's lecture-roomThe voices of Carlstadt and MelancthonOther championsDemands for "peace"Luther's lack of clerical supportHisremarks upon itHe definitively snaps the chain that bindshim to the pontifical throneReflections- 362

CHAPTER XXX.Luther on the table-land of the EeformationApjjcals to the peo-

ple for supportZeal of the booksellers and printersThecomplaint of CochlseusThe nobles and the to-nsFreder-ick's anxietySummons Erasmus to meet himErasmus' opin-ion of LutherThe axiomsEflect of the inter\'iew with Eras,mus upon Frederick AnecdotesLuther's response to thePapal bullEemarks upon Luther's rhetorical severityHisrationale of reformMaimbourg's testimony 374

CHAPTER XXXT.Convocation of the diet of WormsIts natureilomentous ques-

tions at issueEeligionThe Roman programmeCharles in a


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CONTENTS. 17quandai-yPapal manceuvresThe Elector's firmnessLnthercited to appear before the dietLuther sets out for WormsGrief of his friendsUnhappy presagesLuther at LeipsicAt ErfurthAn incidentAt EisenachAt Frankfort-on-the-MaineThe picture of Savonarola-Luther to SpalatinAtOppenheimAt PfiifingheimThe "reformer's elm"In sightof WormsLuther's hymnLuther at WormsAgitationThedietThe Elector's and Luther's "Appeal to the German Nobili-ty"Luther's narrative of his presentation to the dietQuitsWormsEemarks upon his conduct at WormsAudin's pictureof Luther before the diet 383

CHAPTER XXXII.After the dietThe ElectorThe Papal LegateCharles V. at the

cathedi-al of Wormsthe Act of OutlawryUnder the ban ofthe church and the empire"The end of the tragedy"Lutheren route for WittembergPlans for his safetyLuther writesthe emperor and the statesDismisses Sturm, the Herald ' ' TheDevd under a Monk's Hood"Luther at HerschfeldtAt Eise-nachThe captureLuther inlibertaie Christiana - 414

CHAPTER XXXIII.Luther in the WartburgCommotion in GennanyFirst weeks of

Luther's confinement-VisitorsDepression Luther's corre-spondenceHis literary activityConflicts "ith SatanTheArchbishop of MayenceThe indulgence-mongers again atworkLiither's indignation"The New Idol of HaUe"Panicat the Electoral courtSpalatin's letterLuther's responseLuther's letter to the ArchbishopThe Archbishop's replyFabricius CapitoLiither to CapitoThe confessionalMonk-ish celibacyLuther's errorHis conviction of it- 422

CHAPTER XXXIV.Public eventsEetention by the reformed church of Popish cere-

monialsProposed changes in the EitualThe Augustine mon-astery at ErfurthThe deputiesThe ElectorCarlstadt's im-pradenceThe explosionLuther's brief visit at WittembergReturns to the WartburgThe "New Prophets"The ris offanaticismThe image-breakersCarlstadt heads themLu-ther's urgent counsel unheededDetermines to leave the Wart-burg and return openly to Wittemberg -An episode

Luther


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18 CONTENTS.apprizes the Elector of what he has cloneFrederick counselsa return to the WartburgLuther's refusalReasonshe reen-ters Wittemberg

Tranquillity restored 437

CHAPTER XXXV. fLuther completes his translation of the New TestamentIts pub-

lication in 1522Great gain thereby to the ReformationPriceof the Testament Lnmense number of editions soldStyle ofthe translationLuther commences the translation of the OldTestament into GermanThe German BibleIts enthusiasticreception by the peopleThe Roman versionDeath of LeoX.Roman satiresPope Adrian VI.Ominous reception ofthe new PontiffIncidentsAdrian's letter to the ElectorDiet at NurembergIts decisionJoy of the reformersHenryVIII. of England attacks LutherThe democracy of lettersLuther's terrible replyHenry's chagrin Appeals to DukeGeorge of Saxony and the ElectorFrederick's imperturbabil-ityResult of the rencontre - 452

CHAPTER XXXVI.Death of Adrian VI.^Clement VII.Spread of the Reformation

Activity of RomeThe popish league of RatisbonThe era ofpersecutionLuther's prophecyHis controversy with Carl-stadtCarlstadt's fanaticismLuther at OrlamuudBanish-ment of CarlstadtLuther's connection therewithRemarksCarlstadt's after courseLuther's dejectionAttacked by Eras-musThe "Diatribe"Luther's painThe timidity of Eras-musLuther's Titanic laborsIncidentsLuther on populareducationOn the importance of studjdng the languages andliterature^Luther's ttasdomCeases to wear the monkish cos-tumeKnown only by his academic distinctionsThe conventof Nimptisch The nine nuns Catherine Van BoraLu-ther's maiTiageProfound sensation^Luther's domestic happi-ness - - 462

CHAPTER XXXVII.The peasants' warCondition of the serfsSingular moderationof the insurgents at the outsetThe twelve ArticlesLuther

called upon to arbitrate between the peasants and the lordsAccepts the positionHis sympathy for the peasantsHis ad-dress to the princes and the insurgentsLuther's statesman-shipHis counsel proves vainInfatuation of the peasants


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CONTENTS. li^The insurrection becomes fanaticizeclLuther urges the princesto take the fieldKally of the princesBattle of Frankenhau-senDisastrous end of the insurrectionEffect of the outbreakupon Luther's mindDeath of the Elector Frederick HischaracterThe new Elector^DangerLuther's faithLuther'sreply to Erasmus' "Diatribe""De Servo Arbiirio"Effect ofthe pamphlet upon Erasmus - 482

CHAPTER XXXVIII.Luther's domestic character His povertyA whimLuther as

a "turner"As a gardenerHis happinessLittle JohnnyThe plagueLuther's kindnessHis sicknessIncrease of hisfamilyDeath of his daughterLuther's griefGerman hos-pitaUtyLuther's "Table-talk"ManiageThe TrinityThefathers Antichrist^Painting SchoolsMusic PrintingSermonsEeflections -- 493

CHAPTER XXXIX.Romish league against the Protestant princes^Luther's pamphletagainst the TurksSuccess of the ReformationThe treaty

of CambriaDiet of SpiresThe PkotestantsThe MarburgconventionControversy between Luther and Zwingle Itsunhappy terminationThe German phlegmThe diet of Augs-burgLuther at CoburgThe Confession of AugsburgMe-lancthonBayer reads the Confession Its effectCharles' re-ception of it - 504

CHAPTER XL.Luther's employments at CoburgMelancthon's timidityLuther'srebukeLettersLuther's exclamation at the conclusion of the

dietThe emperor's missive to the pope Meetings of theProtestants at SchmalkaldThe Protestant leagueThe accu-sationLuther's resjionseThe anonj'mous Dresden pam-phletLuther's tractDeath of Luther's fatherLuther's let-ters thereonDeath ofhis mother^Close of Luther's connectionwith public affairsKemarks^Luther devotes himself to expo-sitions of the Protestant tenets Discipline of the Reforma-tionContrast between the Roman and the refoi-med churchesLuther's energyDecrease of his bodily strengthAnticipa-tions of deathDeath of ErasmusDeath of Duke George ofSaxonyLuther at LeipsicDeath of Luther's favorite daugh-ter MagdalenSeverity of the blowHis lack of interest in all


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20 CONTENTS.attempts at reconciliation -witli EomeReasonsHis con-e-spondenceThe Council of TrentLuther's oi^inion of itHis acumenIncrease of his Christian charityAccommoda-tion of his controversy with the SacramentariansLuther'sattachment to homeHis generosityAn instance^Luther'sfireside friendsA seat at his table deemed a great distinc-tionIncrease of his infirmitiesLetter to AmsdorflfA proph-ecyHis continued activity -- 519

CHAPTER XLI.Quarrel between the Counts of MansfeldtLr.ther summoned toEisenach to act as arbiterHis letter to Count AlbertSets out

for EisenachHis arrivalCordial greetingLetters to hiswife^The Counts reconciledLuther's activity at EisenachHis last sicknessAlarm of his friendsHis sulferings^Hisconsideration^His prayerHis final words^Last momentsTriumphant Christian deathThe funeralSummary of thechai'acter of Martin Luther-Conclusion 539


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THELIFE AND TIMES

OF

MAETIN LUTHER.

CHAPTEK I"Give me," said Arcliimedes, "a point withouttlie world, and I will move tlie earth from itspoles." It has been well said by D'Aubigne, that"true Christianity is this point, which raises theheart of man from its double pivot of selfishnessand sensuality, and which will one day turn thewhole world from its evil ways, and make it revolveon a new axis of righteousness."*Some men run up and down eagerly demandingevidence of the divine origin of Christianity. Thisis the sufficient proofits imperishability. All theother creeds which have domineered over the intel-lects or the hearts of men have eventually succumb-ed either to outward force or to internal corrugation,and crumbled to pieces. " The national religions

* D'Aiibigne's Hist, of the Eeformatiou, Vol. 1, preface.


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22 THE LIFE AND TIMESwliicli had satisfied the parents, no longer provedsufficient for their children. The new generationscould not repose contented within the ancient forms.The gods of every nation, when transported to Eonie,there lost their oracles, as the nations themselveshad lost their liberty. Brought face to face in thecapital, they had destroyed each other, and theirdivinity had vanished."-'From the grey dawn of history, when Cambysescame down from Persia and thundered across Egypt,treading out beneath his horses' hoofs the old eccle-siasticism which built and inscribed the pyramids,to that monstrous birth, the " religion of reason,"Avith which the infidel philosophers of the FrenchRevolution sought to replace Christianity, all creedswhich have owed their inception to the human in-tellect, to the wit of laymen or of priests, have beeneventually overthrown by the scornful execrationsof their former dupes.

Christianity alone has stood all tests, firm as that*' Rock of ages" upon which it is based.

"I am tired," said Voltaire, "of hearing thattwelve men established Christianity. I will showthat one man is sufficient to overthrow it." But therock of unbelief with Avhicli the haughty scholarmeant to crush religion, God, as in that tradition ofthe Jewish Talmud, of Og king of Bashan, hungabout his own neck, and fastened it there for ever.

Christianity, from the moment when Christ beganto preach it on the plains of Palestine, has trium-

*D'Aubigne's Hist, of the Eeformation, Vol. 1, p. 1.


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OF MARTIN LUTHEE. 23phantlj withstood the assaults of heathen rage, ofpriestly intrigue, of worldly ambition, of scholasticsubtlety ; and God has also vouchsafed it sufficientinherent power to cleanse itself, when the licentious-ness of ecclesiastics and the cunning of statecrafthave sought to transform its temple into a den ofprofligacy, or into a shelter for money-changers." Christianity has so directly for its object theimprovement of man's nature, that to conceal anyof its doctrines, or to oppose, under the pretenceof its sanctions, the full development and exerciseof reason, is to resist its Author, and nullify hismercy. But a system so pure and luminous as thatof the gospel is totally adverse to the deceits andartifices necessary for the support of spiritual prideor ecclesiastical ambition : the system has thereforeto be modified when employed for such purposes;and that this may be done securely, every eff"ortmust be made to prevent a comparison between thenew and the original form of the religion." The domination of the Roman pontifis afford-ed, for many ages, a memorable instance of powerwholly supported by these means. As bishops ofone of the most ancient provinces of the Christianchurch, they merited reverence, and had a just claimto the authority which Christ has vested in all hisministers: but this was not sufficient for the pur-poses of pride and sensual ambition ; and that whichthe gospel allowed not, they had to support by acumbersome scaffolding of crafty inventions. ^ Nordid they sto]5 here ; for no invention which tends to


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24 THE LIFE AND TIMESviolate truth or nature can endure long, if the evi-dence existing against it be not studiously anticipat-ed. To prevent the light of the gospel, therefore,from freely circulating, to put a ban upon reasonwhen it venturecl to assail even the outworks ofusurped authority, was the grand policy of Rome;and in this it succeeded till it left no alternative formankind but to groan perpetually under the mostgalhug of yokes, or to assert the right of reason andthe liberty of the gospel with a new and holy en-thusiasm. "''

After the birth of Christ, the most momentousevent in the annals of the human race is that Titanicstruggle which occurred in the sixteenth century forthe reformation of those abuses which deformed andscandalized the Christian name. The success ofthe reformers has been pregnant with the mostbeneficent results. It has bequeathed to mankindthe rich legacy of a pure gospel, the spirit of in-quiry, and unfettered lips : influential also upon thepolitics of Christendom, it has marked out manyof the limits and duties of Christian citizenship, andtaught rulers the true sources and uses of sovereignpower : inculcating nobler social ethics, it has lifteda servile, ignorant, and licentious race, melted inbaths and perfumes, engrossed in folly and debauch-ery, upon a higher plane of manhood and honorableliving. Civilization, depending for its progress ui^onthe diffusion of intelligence and the establishmentof just laws, received from the Eeformation, which

*Stebbing's Hist, of the Eeformation, Vol. 1., pp. 1, 2.


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or MARTIN LUTHEE. 25unlocked tlie stores of learning which till then hadlain useless and musty in monastic cloisters, a won-derful impetus. There was no sphere of life whichits potent influence did not si^eedily reach and ele-vate. It opened the ponderous doors of the religiousprison-house, disclosing the ghastly mysteries ofthe modern Babylon. Then Christianity was bornanew: to that transition age, religion, science, let-ters, and civility are heanly indebted." God who prepares his work through ages, ac-complishes it by the weakest instruments when histime is come. To eflect great results by the smallestmeans, such is the law of God. This law, whichprevails everywhere in nature, is found also in his-tory. God selected the reformers of the churchfrom the same class whence he had taken the apos-tles. He chose them from among that lower rankwhich, although not the meanest, does not reach thelevel of the middle classes. Every thing was thusintended to manifest to the world that the work wasnot of man, but of God. The reformer Zwingleemerged from an Alpine shepherd's hut; Melanc-tlion, the theologian of the Keformation, from anarmorer's shop; and Luther from the cottage of apoor miner. "^'

" The world," said Luther one day when at table*vith his friends, using one of those quaint simili-tudes in which he delighted, "is a vast and mag-nificent game of cards, made up of emperors, kings,and princes. The pope for many centuries beatthe

* D'Anbigiie's Hist, of the Ttef., Vol. ], Book IT., p. 143.Liillppi. 2


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26 THE LIFE AND TIMESemperors, kings, and princes. They yielded andfell before him. Then came our Lord God. Hedealt the cards : he took the lowest," Luther, "forhimself, and with it he beat the i^ope, that vanquish-er of the kings of the earth. This is the ace of God.As Mary said, ' He hath put down the mighty fromtheir seats, and exalted them of low degree.'"*

Martin Luther, the grand central figure of theReformation, was born on the 10th of November,1483,t at Eisleben, a village of Saxony, situated nearthe Harz mountains, and then subject to the Countsof Mansfeld. On the following day, Tuesday, itbeing St. Martin's day, he received the seal of hisdedication to God, in memory of which he was call-ed Martin by his parents.The ancestors of this boy just born and conse-crated to God's service were peasants, inhabitingthe village of Mora, near the Thuringian forests.Melancthon hints that the Luther family wereancient and numerous..}:

The man to whom God gave the rai-e honor ofcalling the great inaugurator of the new regime son,was named John Luther, and was a younger mem-ber of the family. Marrying the daughter of a cit-

* Luther's "Table Talk."t An attempt was made by Luther's enemies, Avho believed in

iistrology, to prove that he was born on the 22d of October, when,as they said, there was a certain malign conjunction of the planets.It was asserted that with such a horoscope he could scarcaly failof being a heretic and reprobate.

t Vetus familia est et late propagata mediocrium hominum.Melancthon's "Vita Lutheri."


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OF MARTIN LUTHER. 27izen of Neustadt, in the see of Warzburg, GretliaLindemann, the newly wedded pair quitted theThuriugiau plains, pushing buoyantly and resolute-ly out into the great world in search of a home andlivelihood.

They finally selected Eisleben as their residence.Here, under the brow of the Harz mountains, JohnLuther erected his cot ; and being a miner by trade,he found in the adjacent mines that employmentwhich he desired.

John Luther, notwithstanding his humble sta-tion and his poverty, which was at this time ex-treme, was a man of intelligence and a great reader.Books were then rare; but the miner omitted noopportunity for their acquisition, and he devoted alarge portion of his leisure hours to their perusal.He was a man of upright and frank character, min-gling, however, with those quahties a firmness whichamounted to obstinacy.*

Concerning Luther's mother, we have Melanc-thon's testimony that she possessed all those vir-tues which adorn a noble and Christian woman.She was looked uj)on by the matrons of the neigh-borhood as a model whom they should strive toimitate.f

It has never been definitely ascertained howmany children were born to this worthy pair; butit is certain that there were several besides Martin,since two died of the plague which desolated Eui'ope

D'Aiibigne's ffist. of the Kef., Vol. 1, Book II., p. 145.^t Melancthou's "Vita Lutheri."


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28 THE LIFE AND IIMESat the commencement of the sixteenth century, andone, a daughter, married the scribe Euhel de Mans-feldt, whose name occasionally occurs in Luther'scorrespondence.*

Ere Martin was a year old his parents removedfrom Eisleben to the adjoining village of Mansfeldt,attracted thither by the celebrity of the Mansfeldtmines.

Luther has himself informed us that his parentswere at this period very poor. He adds, "They en-dured the severest labor for our sakes." Thus thelittle boy was early inured to labor and frugalit}-.But the indefatigable zeal and business tact of theelder Luther would not suffer him to grovel long inthe depths of abject poverty. It was not long erehis economy and success enabled him to establishat Mansfeldt two smelting furnaces. His integrityand moral worth were speedily recognized by hisfellow-townsmen, who promoted him to severalmagisterial offices.t

Although not himself what would be termed aman of cultivated mind, John Luther had acquiredsufficient knowledge to be fully conscious of itsvalue, and he early determined to bestow upon youngMartin a good education, and if he exliibited anaptitude for learning, to train him up to scholarl}^pursuits.

John Luther, having been appointed counsellorof Mansfeldt, took advantage of his official position

* Audiu's "Histoire de Lutlior."t D'Aubigiie's Hist, of the Eef., Vol. 1, p. 146.


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OF MARTIN LUTHER. 29-to coiu't the society which he preferred. " He hada great esteem for learned men, and often invitedto his table the clergy and schoolmasters of theplace. His house offered a picture of those socialmeetings of his fellow-citizens, which did honor toGermany at the commencement of the sixteenthcentmy. It was a mirror in ^which were reflectedthe numerous images that followed one another onthe agitated scene of the times. The child profitedby them. No doubt the sight of these men, to Avhomso much respect was shown in his father's house,excited more than once in little Martin's heart theambitious desire of becoming himself one day aschoolmaster or learned man.""

The austerity and earnestness of his parents, bychecking the natural tendency of his character toimpulsive thought and expression, undoubtedly had^ hawnv influence upon young Luther. He wastaught to be attentive to the soberness and reahtyof life. But it is certain that in their excessive useof corporeal chastisement as an incentive to studyor the performance of duty, they greatly erred,securing, not a ready compUance with their justwishes, but the timid acquiescence of a cowed spirit.Martm's parents were very harsh to him in theearliest and most impressible years of his Hfe, notintentionally, but simply because such was the vi-cious domestic custom of the age. Luther in after-life wrote these Avords : " My parents treated^meharshly, so that I became very timid. My mother

* D'Aubigne"s Hist, of the Kef. Vol. 1, pp. 146-7.


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30 THE LIFE AND TIMESone clay chastised me so severely about a liazel-nutthat I had stolen, that the blood came. They seri-ously tliouglit that they were doing right ; but theycould not distinguish character, which however isvery necessary in order to know when, or where, orhow chastisement should be inflicted. It is neces-sary to punish ; but the apple shoukl be placed be-side the rod."*

Luther at six years of age could read and WTitefluently.'!" Exhibiting at the same time great apti-tude for study, and singular oratorical talent, hisfather determined, when he became of a sufficientage, to send him to the university, there to initiatehimself into the mysteries of the law, then as nowone of the grand avenues to fame and preferment.Meantime Martin was continued at school inMansfeldt until he reached his fourteenth year, beingtreated by the schoolmaster with no less severitythan he met with at his father's hearthstone. Hismaster flogged him fifteen successive times in onemorning. Afterwards, when relating this circum-stance, Luther said, " We must whip children, butwe must at the same time love them.".|

Having acquired at Mansfeldt the common rudi-ments taught in the Tower schools of that day, thecatechism, the apostle's creed, some hymns, theRoman formulas of prayer, and having peeped intoa Latin grammar, Martin received his father's bless-

* Luther's 0pp. Works, 22, p. 1785.t Aiidiu's Hist, de M. Luther.X D'Aubign^'s History of the Ecformation, Vol. I. , p. 148.


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OF MARTIN LUTHER. 31ing and Ms motlier's kiss, and left liome for Magde-burg, where liis father had resolved to place him inthe Franciscan school.

" In the month of May, 1497, two scholars wend-ed their way along the high road from Mansfeldt toBernburg, knapsacks on their backs, sticks in theirhands, and great tears rolHng down their cheeks :they were Martin Luther, aged fourteen, and hiscomrade Hans Keinicke, about the same. Both hadjust quitted the paternal roof, and were proceedingon foot to Magdeburg, to avail themselves of thecurrend schulen, celebrated seminaries in the middleages, which still exist. Here each boy paid for hisboard and education by means of alms collectedfrom the richer townsmen, under whose windowsthey used to sing twice a week, and of money earnedas choristers."""

After the passage of a few months, Luther'sparents, learning of the difficulty with which hesupported himself at Magdeburg, transferred himto the free school at Eisenach, in which village hehad a number of relatives. But despite that fact,the young student at the outset fared but little bet-ter than at the Franciscan school. As illustratinga singular phase of the social Hfe of those times, itis worthy of notice that, at Eisenach as at Magde-burg, Luther supported himself by singing beforepeople's houses; and it was a custom then of thepoor students of Germany. Luther, after relatingthis circumstance, adds, " Let no one in my pres-

* Audiu's "Histoire de M. Liither."


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32 THE LIFE AND TIMESence speak contemptiiouslj of the poor fellows wliogo from door to door singing and begging breadpi^ojjter Deum. You know the psalm says, Princesand kings have sung. I myself was once a j^oormendicant, seeking my bread at people's houses,particularly at Eisenach, my own dear Eisenach."-Eventually he obtained a more regular subsistenceand an asylum in the- house of Ursula Cotta, ahospitable and kind-hearted woman, wdio has beenmade famous by her connection with Luther,The charitable lady had noticed Luther atchurch, and had been especially pleased by hissinging, Martin then being engaged every Sundayas chorister. One evening, on opening her door,she noticed the boy standing dejectedly before herhouse and gazing wistfully at the board amplyspread within. Eecogniziug him, the lady askedwhat he desired. Poor Luther, who was very hun-gry, and who while begging had already on thatday been repulsed from three houses, won by thekind tones and benevolent asj)ect of dame Ursula,poured into her ear his whole story. She suppliedhis wants ; and upon her husband Conrad's return,he also became so much interested in the brightand fascinating bo}', that he was fain to invite himto take up his permanent residence with them,which a few days afterwards he did." Luther passed in Cotta's house a very differ-ent kind of life from that which he had hithertoknown. His existence glided away calmly, exempt

* Miclielet's Life of Luther, pp. 4, 5.


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OF MARTIN LUTHER. 33from want and care ; his mind became more serene,liis character more cheerful, and his heart moreopen. All his faculties awoke at the mild rays ofcharity, and he began to exult with life, joy, andhappiness. His j^rayers were more fervent, histhirst for knowledge greater, and his progress instudy more rapid." To literature and science he added the charmsof the arts, for they also were advancing in Ger-many. The men whom God destines to act upontheir contemporaries, are themselves at first influ-enced and carried away by all the tendencies of theage in which they live. Luther learned to play onthe flute and on the lute. With this latter instru-ment he used often to accompany his fine altovoice, and thus cheered his heart in the hours ofsadness. He took delight in testifying by his mel-ody his lively gratitude towards his adopted moth-er, who was passionately fond of music. He him-self loved the art even to old age, and composedthe words and airs of some of the finest hymnsthat Germany possesses. Many of these have evenpassed into our language."""

Luther alwa^^s retained the liveliest gratitudefor the protection and friendship lavished uj)onhim by the Cottas. Years afterwards, when hisfame filled Christendom, one of his old friend's sonscame to study at "Wittemberg, and the youth wasreceived under Luther's own roof, and treated withthe utmost consideration. It was in memory of

*D'Anbigne's History of the Reformation, Vol. I, p. 152.2*


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34 THE LIFE AND TIMESUrsula Cotta that lie uttered this beautiful thought" There is nothing sweeter on earth than the heartof a woman in which piety dwells."

By the assistance rendered him by the Cottafamily, Martin was enabled to remain at the Eise-nach school during four years.* In that time hestudied grammar, rhetoric, and poetry under afamous master, Trebonius, rector of the convent ofthe Barefooted Carmelites.

It was the custom of Trebonius to give hislessons with head uncovered, to honor, as he said,the consuls, chancellors, doctors, and masters whowould one day proceed from his school. Martin'sready comprehension, his natural eloquence, hisrare power of elocution, his skill in composition,both prose and poetical, soon made him the objectof his master's special favor ; at the same time, hisopen, cheerful, and obliging disposition made himexceedingly popular with his school-mates, and soonpushed him into the leadership in their fi'olics, ashe had always been in their studies.fFrom this pleasant and improving scene Lutherwas, in 1501, called away. His father, now ineasier circumstances, wished his son to repair totlie university of Erfurth. Accordingly Martinquitted, not without mau}^ sighs and tears, the dearEisenach streets, and in his eighteenth year he wasmatriculated at Erfurth.

Miclielet's Life of Luther. f AucUu's "Hist, de Luther.'


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or MARTIN LUTHEE. 35

CHAPTER II.In the registers of tlie university, still open to

the inspection of the curious, in the quaint old townof Erfurth, the name of Luther may still be deci-phered, written there by the rector Jodocus Trutt-vetter, " 3Iart{nus Ludher, ex 3Ians/ield." This en-try is made under the year 1501.A year later, in 1502, the name once more ap-pears: " 3Iartimis Luder, Baccalaurius pMlosopldce.'""At Erfurth," says Melancthon, "Martin readmost of the writings that remain to us of the an-cient Latins, Cicero, Yirgil, and the rest. At theage of twenty he was honored with the title of Mas-ter of Arts ; and then, by the advice of his relations,he began to apply himself to jurisprudence. In themonastery, he excited general admiration in thepublic exercises by the facilitj^ with which he extri-cated himself from the labyrinths of dialectics. Heread assiduously the prophets and the apostles, thenthe books of St. Augustine, his explanation of thePsalms, and his book on the " Spirit and the Letter."He almost got by heart the treatises of Gabriel Bieland Pierre d'Audilly, bishop of Cambray ; he studiedwith earnestness the writings of Occam,.whose logiche preferred to that of Scotus and Thomas Aqui-nas. He also read a great deal of the writings ofGerson, and above all, those of St. Augustine.""*

* Melaucthoirs " Vita Lutlieri."


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3G THE LIFE AND TIMESWhile at the university, Luther mastered thesubtle intricacies of the scholastic theology and of

Aristotle's dialectics, both of which God destinedhim in after years to wound so fatally.

His instructors at Erfurth were Jodocus Trutt-vetter, whose death he afterwards accused himselfof hastening by his rebellion against and discomfit-ure of the curriculum of the schools ;* Jerome Em-ser, who explained the poetics of Eeuchhn ; GerardHecker, an Augustin monk, who afterwards becamea convert to the tenets of the Reformation, intro-ducing it into his convent ;t Bartholomew Usin-ger, surnamed Arnoldi, who vigorously opposed thenew doctrine ; John Grovenstein, who loudly pro-tested against the execution of John Huss, andregarded the curate of Bethleem as a martyr ; andJohn Bigaud, who remained throughout life zeal-oush' attached to his pupil.:];

Under the tuition of these able professors, youngLuther made rapid progress in his studies. Herealso, as at the schools of Magdeburg and Eisenach,his frank and generous temper melted all heartsinto the warmest attachment ; while his retentivememory, his teeming imagination, his brilliantscholarship, his acute and soaring intellect, and hismoral deportment, made " the whole imiversity,"as Melancthon assures us, " admire his genius."

Although, in obedience to his father's wish,* Audin's "Histoire ile LntluT." f iWd. + Ibid. "Sic igitur in jnventute eminebat, ut toti academite Lutlioi-iiDgenium udmirationi essct." Vita Liitheri.


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OF MAETIN LUTHER. 37Martin devoted himself assiduously to the study ofthe civil law, his heart was never in it. He infi-nitely preferred the belles-lettres and music. Ofmusic he did not hesitate to say, that to him ita])peared the first of the arts after theology. "Mii-sic," he afl&rmed, " is the art of the prophets ; it isthe only other art which, like theology, can calmthe agitations of the soul and put the devil toflight."" Not less remarkable, not less significant thanhis prose works, are the poems of Luther, thosestirring songs which escaped from him in the verymidst of his combats and his necessities, as a flowermakes its way from between rough stones, or as amoonbeam ghtters amid dark clouds. Luther lovedmusic ; he wrote indeed a treatise on the art. Hisversification accordingly is in a very high degreeharmonious, so that under this head too he mav becalled the Swan of Eisleben : not that he was by anymeans gentle or swanlike in the songs which hecomposed for the purpose of exciting the courageof his people ; in these he is fervent, fierce. Thehymn which he composed on his way to Worms isa regular war song. The old cathedral trembledwhen it heard these novel sounds ; the very crowsflew from their nests on its towers. That hymn,the Marseillaise of the Keformation, has preservedto the present day its potent spell over Germanhearts, and we may yet hear it thundered foiiih."*

This inclination to music and literature, the* Heine, in the " Revue de Deux Mondes" for Marcli 1, 1834.


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38 THE LIFE AND TIMESassiduous cultivation of the arts, "whicli he alternat-ed with the study of logic and the law, j)resented noindication that he was so soon to play the chief partin contemporaneous religious history. Yarious tra-ditions moreover would lead us to believe that, not-Avithstanding his application and his high moralcharacter, he took his share in the amusements ofGerman student life at that period^'that gayetyin indigence, those boisterous, hearty manners, thatmartial exterior, with a gentle spirit and peacefuldisposition within.

Yet despite his enjoyment of those frolics whichseem in all countries to be inseparably connectedwith university life, Luther still managed to spenda large portion of his leisure time in the alcoves ofthe Erfurth library. Passionately fond of books,he never tired of taking from the shelves the mustyold volumes of half-forgotten lore, whose j)ages hescanned with hearty zest.One dayhe was then in his twentieth year,and had been at the university two yearswhileengaged as usual in glancing over the library man-uscripts, he chanced to open an old volume, mouldyand cobwebbed. Attracted by its antique aspect,Luther read its title, and found it to be a LatinBible, the first he had ever seen.f This he readand reread with inexpressible and never-ceasingdelight, mingled with some astonishment, for untilthen he had imagined that the fragments of Scrip-

*Michek't's Life of Lutlier.* Auclin, Michelet, IMilncr, Mosliciin, Mainibourg, Scckcuclorf.


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OF MAKTIN LUTHEE. 39tiire contained in the various collects of the Komanritual embraced the whole word of God.Thus in an obscure corner of a neglected library,locked up in the Latin text, was discovered to Mar-tin Luther that book which he was so instrumentalin restoring to its pristine dignity, purity, and au-thority, and which he did so much to popularize bythat admirable German translation in which hiscountrymen still read the oracles of God.

Luther was particularly charmed by the storyof Hannah and her son Samuel. " O God," he mur-mured, " could I have one of these books, I wouldask no other worldl}' treasure." A great revolutionthen took place in his soul. Human words clothedin poetry, however noble, seemed to him worthlessand tame in comparison with the inspired word.Distressed in his mind, experiencing a greater dis-taste than ever for the law, and worn by study, hefell ill. An old

^Driestcame to confess him. The

patient was pale, and gave way to a depressionwhich aggravated his sufferings. " Come, my son,"said the good confessor to him, "courage, courage;you will not die of this sickness. God has a greatdestiny in store for you; he will make a man ofyou, and you will live to console others in yourturn ; for God loves those whom he chastens."*

In 1505, some time after his discovery of theLatin Bible, two incidents occurred which still fur-ther changed the current of Luther's thought, anddrove him to new-model the plan of his life.

* Auclin's ' Histoire de Luther. "


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40 THE LIFE AND TIMESThe assassination of one of his intimate collegefi'iends caused him much sorrow, which was sud-

denly increased to an agony by the self-put inquiry,"What if I should be called thus unexpectedlyaway?" This question, echoing and reechoing inhis ears, gave him no peace. The phantom of thatthought he could not lay.

Shortly afterwards, while walking near Erfurth,he was overtaken by a terrific thunder-storm. Thediapason of the elemental cannonade smote withcrushing force upon his shrinking senses. Theforked tongue of the lightning greedily hcked theground all about him. He seemed encompassedby the ghastly flames. The clammy fingers of deathappeared to be tugging at his throat. Deliriouswith horror, the poor student fell prostrate to theground, breathing a voav to heaven, that if he sur-vived the perils of that awful hour, he would dedi-cate himself to God's service, and entering somemonastic order, assume the cowl, the sandals, andthe cord.'"'

Luther has himself informed us that it was notdeliberately, or even willingly, that he became amonk. " Being suddenly encompassed by the ter-rors of death," he says, "I made a reluctant andforced vow." Nevertheless the conscientious stu-dent regarded this oath, wrung fi'om him in a kind

* These incidents are narrated at leugtli, and voiiclied for byall Luther's biographersD'Aubigue, Audin, MioheMt, Melanc-tlion, Seokendorf, IMilner, Mainibonrg, Morcri, Du Pin, and thorest.


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OF MAETIN LUTHEE. 41of duress, as morally binding, and therefore lie de-termined to adhere to it.

. Knowing well the bitter opposition which hisnew project would meet from his relatiyes, and par-ticularly from his father, whose heart he well knewto be bound up in beholding his son one day afamous lawyer, and feeling that in this matter noamount of expostulation could move him from hiscourse, Luther determined, by keeping his purposelocked in his OAvn breast until his actions had dis-covered it and rendered it unchangeable, to fore-stall the entreaties of his friends.

Accordingly on the evening of the 17th of July,1505,^'' summoning a number of his most intimateuniversity associates to meet in his room, he passedwith them a pleasant musical and convivial night;then bidding his fiiends and the vrorld adieu, heentered on the following morning the Augustinemonastery at Erfurth.Taking wdth him nothing to remind him of hisformer life but two favorite volumes, a Plautus anda Virgil, cut off from his studies and his friends,young Luther buried himself in the living sepulchreof the cloister, not to acquire the reputation of agreat genius, but to seek food for his piety.f

* Miclielet. D'Aubigne says it M'as the 17tli of August, 1505.Vol. I., p. 162.

t Melancthou's " Vita Lutheri."


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42 THE LIFE AND TIME3

CHAPTEE III.Now, just as Martin Luther's connection with

the church commences through his entrance intothe cloister, it becomes of interest to learn some-thing of" the ecclesiastical condition of Europe atthe period which immediately preceded the Refor-mation.

The Eoman see, originally a simple bishopric,which had ris,en from the despised church plantedby St. Paul beneath the shadow of the throne ofthe Ca3sars, under the sway of a series of unscrupu-lous, able, and ambitious prelates, had gradually,in the lapse of ages, arrogated to itseK the supremeecclesiastical control. Receiving fi-om the neigh-boring princes a yoluntary recognition of theirclaims to spiritual authority, it was not long ere thenew-born hierarchy of the church began to castlonging eyes uj)on temporal superiority. In thoserude and stormy times, princes were often shakenfrom their thrones, either by the onset of the Sara-cens, or by internecine broils. They were in conse-quence obliged to have recourse to some centralpower for protection and support. Eome offered toprinces so situated her active countenance, on con-dition that they would concede to her both spii'itualand temporal supremacy. Too often their straitscompelled them to comply with this requisition. Itwas no uncommon thing for the early European


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or MAETIN LUTHEE. 43sovei'eigns to sign away one-half tlieir domains,and pay their allegiance to Rome for the whole, oncondition of their partial reinstatement into theirrights in the remaining half of tlieir territory. TheKoman see thus became the usurer of the nations.It gradually hardened into a gigantic Shylock.Forgetfal of its design, it became greedy only toswallow the usurped dominions of its neighbors ;and the atrocious sf)ectacle was presented of achurch planted to garner up souls for the heavenlykingdom, anxious mainly to acquire the temporalpossession and enjoy the emoluments of this world.

In this encroachment of the Roman church thewestern bishops acquiesced, partly perhaps fromjealousy of their eastern brethren, and partly be-cause they preferred to submit to the supremacy ofa pope, rather than to bow in submission to the do-minion of an independent temporal power.Thus the living church retired into the lonelysanctuary of a few true hearts, and an externalchiu'ch, abounding in pompous forms, and inflatedwith earthly pride, at length supplanted it, andimpiously declared itself to be of divine appoint-ment.

Under a succession of ambitious churchmen, theBenedicts, Hildebrands, and Gregorys of ecclesias-tical history, this usurped power was consohdatedand increased until, at the commencement of thesixteenth century, the Roman pontiffs were theacknowledged and undisputed arbiters of Chris-tendom.


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44 THE LIFE AND TIMESOf course it was not possible but tliat terrible

abuses and corruptions should disfigure and dis-grace an ecclesiasticism whicli had departed soradically from the original and simple purpose of itsinstitution.

In 1505, at the time when Luther entered thecloister, the religious condition of Europe was sin-gularly wretched and scandalous ; yet not a rippleof rebuke stirred the placid sea of jiapal corruption.Against the flagitious and abounding profligacy ofthe times no voice dared protest. Over the mindsof the few earnest and sincere ecclesiastics who stilllingered in the cloisters there settled a sullen gloom.The ponderous and merciless machinery of the Ko-man hierarchy clanked unquestioned, and without ahitch. The so-called heresy of the Waldenses, whohad attemj)ted to inaugurate a purer regime, hadbeen choked in blood. The Council of Constancehad recently burned John Huss in the public mar-ket-]5lace, because he ventured to differ from theRoman theologians; while the doctors of the Sor-bonne openly declared the faggot and the stake tobe the only light fit to guide the erring.The agents of the Inquisition occupied them-selves in suppressing all books which did not bearthe imprimatur of the Yatican; thus wronging notthe living only, but the dead; for "many a man,"says Milton, "lives a burden to the earth, but agood book is the precious lifeblood of a master-spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to alife be^-ond life."

\


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OF MARTIN LUTHER. 45Effeminate philosophers stooped to the grave

discussion of the emptiest and most frivolous prop-ositions, growing heated over such topics as these :" Do 2 X 2= 4 or 5 '?" and, " Can angels fly from endto end without passing through the middle ?"^"

Struggling intellects and troubled hearts couldexpect but little aid or sympathy from the childishand emasculated philosophy inculcated by thesebastard teachers. " Science," said Lord Bacon,"was chained in that dark dungeon to which theignorance or the spite of suspicious priests hadco.^gigued her, while as yet no knight-errant hadappeared to effect her deliverance."t

At this period not the slightest cultivation ofChristian metaphysics was even attempted.Frederic Myconius, an able coadjutor of Luther,who has left a manuscript history of the Reforma-

tion, paints this dreary picture of the ecclesiasticalcondition of that epoch :" The sufferings and merits of Christ were lookedupon as an idle tale, or as mere fictions, like theOdyssey of Homer. There was no thought of thefaith by which we become partakers of the Saviour'srighteousness and of the heritage of eternal life.Christ was looked upon as a severe Judge, preparedto condemn all who should not have recourse to theintercession of the saints, or to the paj^al indulgen-ces. Li the place of Christ appeared other saviorsand intercessors, the Virgin Mary like atPagau

* Seckendurf s History of Lutherauism.t Bacon's Essays.


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4G THE LIFE AND TIMESDiana, and various saints who from time to limehad been created by the popes." These mediators granted their intercessionsonly to such applicants as had deserved well of theorders founded by them. For this it w^as necessaryto do, not what God has prescribed in the deca-logue and enjoined on all mankind, but to performworks invented by monks and priests, and whichbrought money into the treasury. These workswere Ave Marias, the prayers of St. Ursula and ofSt. Bridget ; they must chant and cry night andday." There were as many resorts for pilgrims asthere were mountains, forests, and valley's. Butthese penances might be compounded for money.The people therefore brought to the convents andto the priests money and every thing that had anyvaluefowls, ducks, geese, eggs, wax, straw, butter,and cheese. Then the hymns resounded, the bellsrang, incense filled the sanctuary, sacrifices wereofi'ered up, the larders overflowed, the glasses wentround, and masses terminated and concealed thesepious orgies. The bishops no longer preached, butthey consecrated priests, bells, monks, churches,chapels, images, books, and cemeteries ; and all thisbrought in a large revenue. Bones, arms, and feet,the relics of pretended saints, were preserved ingold and silver boxes : they were given out duringmass for the faithful to kiss; and this too was thesource of great profit. All these people maintainedthat the pope, 'sitting as God in the temple of


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OF MAETIN LUTHEE. 4.7God,' 2 Thess. 2 : 4, could not err, and tliey wouldnot suffer any contradiction.""-

The priests, by attempting to exalt themselves,had become abased. They had aimed at robbingGod of a ray of his own glory, and placing it intheir own bosoms ; but their attempt had provedvain, and they had only hidden there a leaven ofcorruption stolen from the power of evil.f The his-tory of the age swarms with scandals. In man}-places the people were delighted at seeing a priestopenly keep a mistress, thinking that the marriedwomen would thus be safe from his seductions.:}:

The rural districts were the scene of riotous dis-orders. The abodes of the clergy were often densof corruption. Corneille Adrian at Bruges, theabbot Trinkler at Cappel,i| in imitation of the east-ern emirs, kept open harems. Priests, consortingwith dissolute characters, frequented the taverns,played at dice, and crowned their orgies with quar-rels and blasphemies.^The Council of Scliauffhausen forbade the jnieststo dance in public except at marriages, and to carrymore than one kind of arms. They decreed alsothat all priests discovered in brothels should beunfi'ocked.*""

* Myconius' Hist, of the Eef. Seckendorf's Hist, of Lntb.t D'Aubigne's History of the Keformation.t Nicol. De Cleinangis tie Prjesulib. Simoniacis. Meteue. Nederl. Hist. VIII. --_II Hottiuger, Hist. Eccles., Vol. IX.

"IT Mandate of Hugo, bishop of Constance, March 3, 1517. Miiller's "Keliqnes," Vol. III., p. 251.


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48 THE LIFE AND TIMES"In the archbisliopric of Mentz, the priests

often scaled the walls by night, and created all kindsof disorder and confvision in the inns and taverns,and broke the doors and locks."*

Erasmus relates that in many places the priestspaid their bishop a regular tax on the women withwhom they lived, and for each child had by them.A German bishop said publicly one day, at a gi-eatentertainment, that in one year eleven thousandpriests had presented themselves before him for thatpurjDose in his single diocese.fWhat was then true of Christendom at large,was especially and still more strikingl}- true of Italy.Who can paint in detail that Ital}' of the Borgias?" It certainly," says Michel6t, " presented at thisperiod something which has seldom, nay, whichhas at no other time been exhibited in historyasystematic and scientific perversit}', a magnificentostentation of wickedness; in a word, the atheistpriest proclaiming himself monarch of the uni-verse.":!:Two years before the commencement of Luther'scloister life, Pope Alexander Sixth, of the house ofBorgia, perhaps the most flagitious of an infamousdynasty of pontiifs, died, having himself partakenof some poisoned sweetmeats which he had design-ed for a certain cardinal who had ofiended him.

* D'Aubigue's History of the Eeformation.t "Uno auuo ad se delata iiiideoim millia saeerdotimi pjUam

concubinariorum. " Erasmi 0\:>y>. IX.X Michelct's Life of Luther, p. 13.

I


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OF MARTIN LUTHER. 49Macaiiley's epigram may justly be applied to him :"Each act of his life reflects fresh infamy uponevery other." When Rome heard of his death, " thewhole city ran together, and could not satiate theireyes with gazing on this dead viper."On the day of his coronation he made his sonCaesar Borgia, the ideal hero of crime, archbishopof Valencia and bishop of Pampeluna. " That spotof earth in which iniquity had attained such a heightwas the throne of the pontiffs.""

It is recorded of Alexander Borgia, that he cel-ebrated the nuptials of his daughter Lucretia Bor-gia, of hideous memory, in the Vatican, by festivi-ties at which his acknoAvledged mistress, Julia Bella,was openly present, and which were enlivened byfarces, indecent songs, and orgies of which the mostimpure groves of ancient worship saw not the like.i"

In explanation of the unblushing appearance ofJulia Bella on that occasion, Capello, an ambassa-dor at Rome in 1500, asserts that "all the clergykept mistresses, and all the convents of the capitalwere houses of ill-fame.":]:

Pius Third, who succeeded Alexander, wore thetiara less than a year, his successor being JuliusSecond, a worldly and intriguing churchman, morereuowned for his military ambition than for his apos-tolic virtues. The result of his assumption of thepurple was the inauguration of an unprovoked anddesolating war, which soaked the sods of hal^ the

D'Aubigne's Hist, of the Kef., Vol. I., p. 65. f Ibid,X Capello's MS. Extracted by Eanke in his Hist, of the Popes.I.nther, ,i


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50 THE LIFE AND TIMEScontinent in blood, simply to glut tlie martial appe-tite of this atrocious priest.But the college of Cardinals took good care thatthe reign of no one of the pontiffs of that age shouldbe over-long. Poison and the stiletto were con-stantly invoked by unscrupulous and ambitiousprelates anxious to abridge for their own benefit thelives of the successors of St. Peter, while one popefollowed another in rapid succession, hurled fromthe pontifical throne into a bloody and untimelygrave.

If any learning was found among tlip clergy, itwas not in sacred literature. The faculty of theol-ogy at Paris made this declaration to the Parlia-ment : " Religion is ruined, if you permit the studyof Greek and Hebrew." Heresbach, a friend ofErasmus, reports that the monks commonly heldthat Greek and Hebrew were the nurseries of here-sy.* A certain monk was one day heard to affirmthat " the New Testament is a book full of serpentsand thorns. Greek," he continued, "is a new andrecently invented language, and we must be uponour guard against it. As for Hebrew, my dearbrethren, it is certain that all who learn it imme-diately become Jews."tThe Ciceronians of Italy affected a great con-tempt for the Bible on account of its style. Pre-tended priests of the church of Christ translatedthe writings of holy men, inspired by the Spirit ofGod, in the style of Yirgil and of Horace, to accom-

D'Aubigiu'. t Ibid.


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OF MARTIN LUTHEE. 51modate their language to the ears of polite society.Cardinal Bembo, instead of tlie Holy Ghost, usedto write, the breath of the heavenly zephyr ; for theexpression, to forgive sins, lie substituted, to hendthe manes of the sovereign gods ; and for Christ theSon of God, the impious pedant wrote, Minervasprungfrom the head of Jupiter. Discovering Sado-let one day engaged in translating the epistle tothe Romans, Bembo said to him, "Leave thesechildish matters; such fooleries do not become asensible man."*

Thus scarcely a vestige remained of the noblesimpHcity and holiness which had given such aninfluence to the earlier Christian teachers. Eventhe boasted unity of the Eoman church had ceasedto exist, save in name.

It is a remarkable fact, that the various monas-tic orders claimed support on directly contraryprinciples. The order of St. Francis contendedthat the jDerfection of the Christian character couldonly be attained by the discipline of poverty. TheDominicans and others seemed to consider that thedignity of holiness could only be supported byprincely revenues, and they accordingly amassed asmuch wealth as they could gather.f There was nounity of faith. The jDope held one thing ; the vari-ous bishops held different tenets, or were open scof-fers; while the masses looked on bewildered andaghast. -z^

* D'Aubigne. Felleri, mau. iued., p. 400.t Stebbiiig's History of the Reformation.


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52 THE LIFE AND TIMESSucli was the thin film of that rotten civiHzation

beneath which the earthquake of the Reformationbegan to heave.

This is a tame picture of the scandal and theinfamy which had crept into ccclesiasticism, andwhich God commissioned Martin Luther remorse-lessly

to expose and grandly to remedy.

1


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OF MAKTIN LUTHEE. 53

CHAPTEK IV.On the morning of liis entrance into the mon-

asteiy, the 18th of July, 1505, Luther sat down to'vvi'ite his father of the resolution he had carried intoeffect, and to beg his forgiveness and his blessing.He also wrote to several of his Erfurth friends, oneof whom he requested to send to his parents therings and gown which he had received from the Uni-versity upon being admitted to his Mastership ofArts. This done, feeling the hold which the worldstill had upon him, and fearful of meeting the testof his father's venerated features grief-stricken andtearful, he shut himself up resolutely in the lonelyseclusion of his cell, into which he Avould allow nonebut the Augustinians to enter for the space of amonth.*

Meantime his fellow-students and relatives liter-ally beset and besieged the cloister for several days,grieved even to tears that a genius of so high anorder should be buried alive in a monastery, anddetermined if possible to regain himall in vain,however, for Luther could not even be reached, muchless moved.

Martin's father returned a written answer to hisson's letter, in which he announced his withdrawalof all favor and parental good-will. A few weeksafter this missive had been dispatched, the plague

* Michelet's "Hist, of Luther."


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54 THE LIFE AND TIMEScarried two of the remaining sons of John Luther toearly graves. Being informed at the same time thatMartin was ill, and in danger of falling a victim tothe dread disease, his friends urged him to sacrificehis personal wishes, and, bowing to the inevitable,give his consent to his son's entrance into theAugustinian order. These entreaties at first metwith a resolute refusal; but the indignant and disap-pointed father was at length Avon to hesitate, andfinally to mutter, " Be it so. God grant that hemay do well."*

Luther, meantime, had laid aside his name Mar-tin, as was the custom in cloisters, and was thence-forth called Augustinius, a change which he after-wards greatly abhorred.fWe have seen that Luther, at that period ofshameless apathy and of general debauchery, hadbeen influenced purely by conscientious motives inassuming the livery of that flagitious church whoseiniquities God afterwards appointed him so com-l^letely to uncloak. It is certain that at this timehe had no predisposition towards heresy. Roman-ism did not then possess a more loyal, unquestion-ing, and devoted son.| Indeed he had some claimto say with St. Paul, I was " brought \ip at the feetof Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfectmanner of the law of the fathers."

In the comparatively quiet and pure atmosphereof an isolated Thuringian village, shut ujj in a clois-

* Meurer's Life of Ltither. ^ f Ibid.t Vaiillas. Acts 22:3.


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OF MARTIN LUTHER. 55'ter, immersed in study, every moment occupied inthe manifold labors of his novitiate, Luther slumber-ed in liappy ignorance of the demoraHzation of theRoman see. If occasionally reports of the disso-lute manners of the age, and of the profligacy of thepriesthood, penetrated his cell, the fresh enthusiasmof the young Augustinian led him to regard themas the whisperings of malice, or as the idle gossipof wicked scoffers. Burning with a desire for thatholiness which he then imagined could only befound amid the austerities of the cloister, he gavehimself completely up to the full rigors of asceti-cism.

His monastic life was that of a thorough hermit.Sometimes, however, he alleviated the monotony ofhis days by singing. He was particularly fond ofthe Gregorian chant; and his greatest delight wasto find some young chorister who would take a partwith him in chanting it.

At other times, he would leave his cell at day-break, proceed into the country, and at the foot ofsome tree familiarize himself with the forms of ex-temporaneous preaching by expounding the wordof God to the astounded shepherds. Then he wouldlie down and chat with them, or fall to sleep, lulledby their simple minstrelsy.*But these vrere ;he gala-days of the young re-cluse. Ordinarily his novitiate was one of peculiarhardship and trial. It was customary with themonks to impose upon novices all the meaner drudg-

* Audiu's " Histoire dc Luther."


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56 THE LIFE AND TIMESeries of monastic life. Luther's

superiors, who had'marked the somewhat haughty tendency of hismind, thought it necessary to break down the wallsof his pride; and they accordingly tri

the life and times of martin luther - by w. carlos martyn

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