Luther Wartburg Castle - Forgotten Books · 1 52 1, to March 2, 1 52 2, have imparted an...

L U T H E R

WARTBURG CASTLE .

A Reformation S toryof 1521.

THE AUTHOR OF “FIFTY YEAR S IN THE

LUTHE RAN M IN ISTRY.

( t angy-J }:

-s.;

PHILADE LPHIALU THE RAN PU B LICAT ION SOCIE TY.

1 8 8 2 .

C o pyr igh t , 1 8 8 2 .

W E S T C OTT 81 TH OM S ON ,

S t er eo type rsa n d E Zect r o type rs, P /u l a d a .

P R E FA C E .

MANY o f the facts reco rded i n th i s l i tt le

book are fami l iar to readers Of Reformation

hi sto ry,but they have never before been

brought together in a conti nu ou s narrat ive

i n the Engl i sh language . They have been

col lected from numerou s books concern ing

Luther,and the wel l - authenticated facts alone

have been incorporated i n th i s volume .

JOHN G . MORRIS .

C O N T E N T S .

A LBERT , co unt o f Mansfe ld , 30.

A lbe rt , archbish o p o f Mayence , 67.A le ande r, 1 9 .

Alphonzo Valde z , 20 .

A l tenste in cast le , 32 .

Amsdo rf, 25.

B LACK B EAR INN, 94 .

B ulla Goena Domini, 75.

B urkard vo n Hand , 23 , 24 .

CAPTURE o f Luthe r, 9 , 32 .

C arlstadt , 8 1 .

C aspar S turm , impe rial he rald , 24.

CharlesV . , 1 3 .

Charles, e dict o f, 1 7 .

Co unt vo n M e iningen , 35.

C o unt von Hennebe rg, 43 .

D’AUBIGNE, 57 .

E DICT o f CharlesV. , 1 7 .

E di ct , false , dat e o f, 1 9 .

1 as

6 CONTENTS .

E dict, o pinio nsabo ut, 20.

E le cto r Fre derick, 83 .

E lizabe th , cano nize d , 10 .

E lizabe th , her tomb , I o .

Emse r, 66.

E rasmus, 88 .

E rfurt , studentso f, 3 1 , 94 .

FRANCIS I . ,2 2 .

Frankfo rt , 25.

Fre de ri ck the W ise , 22 , 34.

Frie dhe im,27 .

GABRIEL DIDYMUS, 8 1 .

G e o rge,duke o f S axo ny , 22 , 26, 41 .

HALLER , 1 1 .

Hansvo n B e rle psch, 23 ,

He rmann,I, 9 .

Huss,Jo hn

,25.

Hu t ten , U lrich , 93 .

JACOB , Lu th e r’sbro the r, 26, 3 1 .Je rome S chu rf, 2 5.

John Drach , 3 1 .

Jo hn Oswald , 83 .

Jo hn Pe tze nste in,25.

Jo hn S uaven , 25.

KE SSLER , Sw issstud en t , 94.Ko tzebu e , mu rde r Of, 1 I .

Kranach , the art ist , 26, 27 .

Kra to , Me il ius, abbot , 29 .

CONTENTS .

LATORMU S , th e o logian , 65.

Le ipzig, bat t le o f, 1 0 .

Lew isthe Leape r, 9 .

Linden tre e at Mo ra , 3 .

Luthe r, capture o f, 9 .

a t W o rms, 1 4 .

ro om a t W artburg, I 3 .

vario usle tte rs, 26, 27 , e tc.

co urage o f, 1 5.

sale o f hisWri tings,2 1 .

pro gresso f hiscause , 2 1 .

b ee ch tre e , 35.

fo untain , 34 .

po rtra it o f, 38 .

age wh en captured ,despo nde ncy , 45, 47 , 52 .

in dust ly, 80 .

t emptat io ns, 53 .

the Sw issstuden ts, 85.

re turn to W i ttenbe rg, 73 .

MARBURG , I O .

Marco l fus, 39 .

Ma t thesius, 51 .

Me lanch tho n , 93M e l ch io r Lo tthe r

,Lu th e r’sprinte r, 79 .

M ich e le t , 56.

M innesinge rs,1 0 .

M o ra , 3 1 .

Myco n ius, 55.

OPPENHEIM ,24 .

8 CONTENTS .

PARIS , the o logical faculty, 66.

Pe te r the G re at , 1 3 .

SAFE- CONDUCT , 1 6.

S and, Ko tzebue ’smurde re r, 1 1 .

S chmaltz,Spalat in , 23 , 28.

THURINGIA , 9 .

WARTBURG CASTLE , 9 , I4, 37 ,celebrat io n at , 1 0.

Luth e r’streatment at, 14 .

Squire G e o rge , 52 .

hunting expedit io n, 52 .

legend o f the inkstand , 56.

Luthe r’st emptat ionsat , 53 .

Lu the r’sstudiesa t , 60.

W ri t ingsat , 61 , 62 , 64 , 65, 67 , 68 , 7 1 ,W ittenbe rg , 25.

W o rms, 1 3 .

ZW ICKAU PROPHETS , 8 1 .

LUTHER ATWARTBURG CASTLE .

C HA P T E R I .

WA R TB UR G CA S TLE .

HE Capture o f Luther by order o f the

elector Frederi ck,after the departu re o f

the Reformer from Worms,where he had

been summoned to answer for h is al leged her

esies,and hi s detenti on i n the castl e Of Wart

burg from May 4 ,1 52 1 , to March 2

,1 52 2 ,

have imparted an unspeakably great hi stori cali nterest to thi s mediaeval fortress . It i s s i t

ua t e d o n a hi l l n early fourteen hundred feeth igh

,a few mi les d i stant from the town o f

E i senach,i n

.

the terri tory of Saxe -Weimar .

It was erected i n the year 1070 by Lewi s the

Leaper,and was for two hundred years th e

res idence o f the landgraves of Thuri ngia . In

1 264 that country came into‘

the possess ion9

IO LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .

o f Henry the I l l u striou s , who made the Wartbu rg hi s res idence unti l h i s death

,and h i s

successors conti nued to occupy i t u nti l 1406.

After this‘

t ime the castle underwent m any

changes . I t was inhabi ted by variou s noble

fam i l i es,of whom hi story gives very unsa t is

factory and unrel iable i nformati on;but th i smuch i s certain— that i t has been the scene

o f some events o f 'gre a t h istori cal importance .

It was the theatre o f the poeti c contests o f

the Minnes ingers i n the year 1 200 under Herman I .

,and was al so rendered memorable i n

those early days as the res idence o f the holy

E l izabeth,th e wife o f Herman

,who

,for her

d i sti ngu i shed vi rtu es,was canon ized shortly

afte r death . Vari ous mi racl es are ascribedto her

,and the steps leading to he r tomb

,

i n Marburg,are worn hol low by the knees

o f thousands o f pi lgrims who fo r nearly sev

en hundred years have vis i ted her final rest

i ng—place to be healed of thei r vari ou s mal

adi es by touching her magn ificen tly- j ewel led

coffin .

The Wartbu rg was the scene of another

sti rring event withi n the present centu ry . On

October 1 8,1 8 1 7 , the anniversary of the bat

LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE . I I

tl e o f Leipzig was celebrated by more than

five hundred students and professors fromtwelve o f the un ivers it i es Of Germany. It

was also announced as a commemorati on o f

the th i rd centu ry o f the Reformati on . Social

festivi ti es and rel igi ou s servi ces were held i n

the Hal l o f the Knights,and speeches which

were cons idered sedit i ou s and revolu ti onary

by the government sp ies,were del ivered . At

n i ght some indiscreet students made a bonfire

o f the writings o f s uch men as Kotzebue,

Schmaltz,Hal ler

,Kamptz, and others who

were suspected o f being i nimi cal to the popu lar rights o f Germany. They also cast i nto

the flames a corporal ’s staff,i n imi tati on o f

the bu rning o f the pope’s bu l l by Luther.They performed many other obj ecti onableacts which created great exci tement through

o u t al l Europe,and which became subj ect o f

grave cons iderati on by several governments,

who apprehended that these students aimed

at i ntroducing republ ican i sm into Germany .

The excitement cu lminated i n the murder of

Kotzebue by a student named Sand in March,

1 8 19 ,which created a pol i ti cal ferment on the

whole continen t.

1 2 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .

Fo r hundreds o fyears ,Wartbu rg Castle hadbeen suffered to fal l i nto decay

,but with i n the

present century the grand duke o fWeimar , towhom i t belongs

,has expended large sums

i n the restorat ion o f i t t o i ts original s ize and

impos ing proporti ons . Fo r many years i t was

n oth ing more than a magnificent ru i n o f the

Middle Ages,but now the broken walls have

been rebu i lt,the shattered apartments have

been renewed and refurn i shed accord ing t o

th e ancient pattern . The gates,corridors

,

archways,gal leri es

,court

,armory

,basti ons

,

chapel,towers

,and al l that constitutes the

maj esty Of a fortress o f that remote peri od,

have been renovated,excepting the apart

ments occupied by Luther,and i t i s at pres

ent the ornament and the pri de o f the territory .

Thou sands o f vi s i tors every year ascendthe hi l l o n which the castle i s perched for the

purpose of see ing the smal l and dingy apart

m ent which i s immortal ized as the dwel l ing

place and study o f Luther,during hi s seven

months’ captivi ty . There i s no doubt that

th i s i s the veritab l e room in whi ch the m ighty

Reformer wrote and prayed and wept .

LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE . 1 3

Die S tatte die e in gute r Mensch be tratIst e ingew e iht;nach hunde rt Jahre n k l ingtS e in W o rt und se ine That dem E nke l wiede r .”

I t i s a poorly - fu rn i shed room,contai n ing

noth ing more than an old earthen stove , an

awkwardly - constructed tab l e,a worm - eaten

chai r—which was probably not Luther’s origi nal—an anti que bookcase held together bylarge round - headed nai l s and heavy hinges

,a

few defaced portrai ts and the verteb ra of awhale

,which i s given out as Luther

’

s foot

stool .'

A rel i c undoubtedly genu ine,covered

w i th a smal l pane o f glass,i s seen above the

door,and i t i s noth ing more than the word

PETER coarsely wri tten i n chalk,which

tradi ti on tel l s us i s the original writing of

Peter the Great when he vi s i ted the Wartbu rg . The marks o f the legend of Lutherhurl i ng hi s i nkstand at the devi l i n the shape

o f a great fly which had annoyed him are sti l l

vi s ible o n the wall,but they are regularly

freshened up for the benefit of al l credulou s

The place o nce t ro dde n by a right e o usmanIssacre d;centuriesmay revo lve ,And st ill the e cho o f hisvo ice and de edsIshe ard .

2

I4 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .

vi s i to rs . I t seems almost a pity to break the

charm of th i s l i ttl e story,b ut i t i s proper to

state that Luther’s letters—which are the ri ch

sou rce o f i nformation concern ing al l events

happeni ng to h im at th i s peri od— do no t men‘

t i on i t,and i t doubtless arose from the fact

that i n the activi ty o f hi s imagi nati on he a t

trib uted everyth ing unfavorable i n temporalo r spi ri tual affai rs to the d i rect personal agen

cy of the devi l , j u st as he b lamed the envi ou sSatan for reveal ing the secret o f h i s presence

at th e Wartbu rg .

The smal l glass panes o f the Wi ndow whichlo oks o u t upon the Thu ringian Forest are

glazed wi th s trips o f sheet - l ead,and i t opens

i n the m iddle l ike a doub l e doo r .The occas i on O f‘ Luther’s soj ou rn at the

Wartbu rg wi l l appear from the fol lowing narra t ive .

H e had been summoned from Wartbu rg toa meeting at Worms by the emperor Charles

V . to defend h imsel f agai nst the charge of

heresy and i nsubo rd inati on . H i s fri ends vehem e n t ly u rged him not to appear , bu t h e

pers i sted,and noth ing cou ld intim idate him .

The bo ldness he d i splayed was hero i c to the


h ighest degree,and the whole world has heard

o f these exhibit ions of Chri stian forti tude wi th

unspeakab le adm iration . The papists,

” sai d

he on observing the anxiety o f hi s fri ends,

do not wish me to go to VVo rms

, ,

b ut they

are longing for my condemnati on and death .

It matters not. Pray not fo r me,but for the

tri umph o f the word of God . Before myblood has grown cold thou sands of men i n

the worl d wi l l have become respons ibl e fo rhaving shed i t . The most holy adversary of

Chri st,the father

,the master

,the general i s

s imo o f murderers,i ns i sts o n i tsbeing shed .

So be i t : l et God’s wi l l be done . Chri s t wi l l

give me h is Spi ri t to overcome those m ini s

ters o f error . I despi se them during my l i fe;I shal l tri umph over them by mydeath . They

are very bu sy a tWorms i n devi s ing measu res

which shal l compel me to retract,and thi s

shal l be my retraction : I said formerly that

the pope i s Chri st ’s vi car;now I assert thathe i s o u r Lord

’

s adversary and the devi l ’s

apostle .

”

Luther appeared before the august assem

bly,

. composed o f the emperor,numerou s

princes of the re alm,many high eccles iasti cal

16 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .

d i gni tari e s and peop le O feve ryrank and degree ,the maj ori ty of whom were b i tterly Opposed toh i s doct ri ne and person . He val iantly maint a in e d hi s cause befo re th i s d i stingu i shed assemb ly,

and stoutly refused to recant a s ingle

poi nt unless proved erroneous from the Scrip

tu res . Afte r d i scu ss i ng the di fferent doctri nesw i th the most learned theologians o f the Romish Church and compel l i ng the admi rati on o f

h i s worst enem ies by hi s dexteri ty and fluency i n debate

,the profundi ty Of h i s l earn ing

,

the meekness o f hi s Spi ri t and h is l i on—hearted

courage,he was permitted to l eave Worms

under the protecti on o f a safe—conduct

from the emperor,although some of h i s ene

m ies o f high eccles iasti cal and C ivi l rank rec

o mme nded several measu res fo r ri dding the

Chu rch of thi s pest i lent heret i c . Thi s safe

conduct,

” or government protecti on,was l im

it e d to a Certai n number o f days,at the expi

rat ion o f which the bearer cou ld not claim any

rights based upon i t;but he coul d be seized

* That wh ich givesa safe passage;e i the r a co nvo y o r

guard to pro t e c t a -pe rso n in an enemy’sco untry o r in a fo re ign co untry , o r a w ri t ing , a passo r warrant o fse curity give n to a p e rso n to e nable him to trave l w i th safe ty . Woosl er .

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u s without any delay,o r to keep h im in safe

cu stody unti l you have learned from u s i n

what manner you are t o act toward him,and

have rece ived the reward due to you r laborsi n so holy a work .

“As for h i s adherents, yo u w i l l apprehend

them,confine them and confiscate thei r prop

e rty.

“As for h i s wri t i ngs,i f th e best nutriment

becomes the detestati on o f al l“

me n as soon

as o ne drop o f poi son i s m ingled with i t,how

much more ought such books,whi ch contai n

a deadly poi son for the sou l,t o be no t only

rej ected,bu t destroyed ? Yo u wi l l therefore

bu rn th em o r u tterly destroy them in any

other manner .”

Th i s imperial mandate s ounded more l ike

a papal bu l l than an act o f the empi re . In i t

Luther IS execrated as an i ncorrigible hereti c

accu rsed o f G o d and the pope . Al l h i s s in sare pai nted i n the blackest colors;the contents o f h i s books are set forth as genu ine

doctrines o f devi l s . They are represented as

i nci ti ng war and sed it i on,robbery and mur

der;as d i sso lving al l the bonds o f the Stateand o f the Chu rch and annihi lating the enti re


Chri stian system . The unheard - Of i nsol ence,

as i t was cal led,with which he rages against

al l the decrees o f the pope and of counci l s,

the holy sacraments,sacerdotal d i scip l i ne and

chu rch order,are depicted in the most offen

s ive language . H e i s represented as denyingal l l egal and moral obl igati on

,leading a law

less l i fe and i ndu lgi ng i n unb ri dled l i centi ousness . We need not be s urpri sed at th i s edictwhen we know that i t was wri tten by the pa

pal legate Al eander,o ne o f Luther’s most

furi ous enemies .

One interesting fact i n the h istory of th i s

ed ict must not be overlooked . It was not

promulgated unti l the 26th o f May,at whi ch

time the Diet had been d isso lved and most Ofthe members had left Worms;but, to give i tthe appearance of an act of the Diet

,i t was

pu rposely dated May 8 and had not received

the sancti on o f many members . The fewmen who adopted i t d id not meet i n the hal l

o f the imperial assemb ly,bu t the emperor

convened them in h i s own private apartments,

where the act was consummated;and , tomake i t appear to have been unanimously

adopted,a spu riou s date was attached to i t .

LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .

Such was the proclamatio n i ssu ed by the

empero r,and al l men were commanded t o

ob serve i t . It placed Lu'

the r and h i s fri ends

i n a fearfu l predicament . There were thou -

1

sands who were ready t o execute i t,fo r they

th i rsted for h i s blood and wou ld have made

a me ri t o f puttingh im t o death . But theLord preserved h im from the mach inat i ons

o f the wicked,fo r Luther had not yet accom

plishe d the work for which he was rai s ed up .

A l l the adherents o f Rome burst i nto a shouto f tri umph . The vi ctory was ach ieved . The

outlawed monk cou ld eas i ly be apprehended,

and deal t wi th accordingly . Others,more

farsee ing,entertai ned di fferent

,

vi ews . “ In

my Opi ni on ,” sai d A lphonso Valdez

,a Span

iard at the cou rt o f Charles ,“ i t i s not the end

,

but t he beginni ng;for I find that the m inds

o f the Germans are much excited agai nst th epapal chai r .” H e was right . The cause hadtaken such deep root i n the Church and i nthe peop l e that

,even shou ld Luther be put t o

death,the Refo rmati on wou ld not perish with

h im . Everybody was aware of the danger towh ich he was exposed , but sti l l s ome di scrim

inat ingmen beli eved that the revo l uti on had


taken too firm a hold upon the hearts o f thou

sands to be pu t back,even though the leader

o f i t shou ld be put o u t o f the way . Some

o f the most influential s tates o f the em

pire had Openly expressed thei r d isappro b ati on o f the abomi nable oppress i ons o f the

pope and hi s al l i es . They S poke wi th rever

ence of the hero i c Luther,and had themselves

aboli shed,

some o f the abuses o f the Church .

I n many towns the people had espoused th e

new doctrine,and no one dared to pub l i sh the

edict o fWorms,for fear o f the people .

”A t

many places the Lutheran party was so strong

that the Roman ists were compel led to keepqu iet . Even i n Worms

,Luther’s writings

were sold - in.

the streets before the emperorhad left the ci ty.

In the condi ti on of things then existing,i t

cou ld be foreseen that the edict would n o t

produce important res u lts . S ome of th e states

d id not conceal the i r admiration o f Luther’s

beari ng at the D iet;to others th i s rel igi ou scontroversy was a matter Of too much ind ifference to al low the edict to be seri ously carri ed i nto effect i n the i r territori es . Bes idesthese

,for a long time the maj o ri ty of the states


had establ i shed i t as a pri nciple t o employ

e very method to weaken the influence o f the

papal assumptions relati ng t o German affai rs .The emperor h imself was at that t ime i nvo lvedi n a war wi th Franci s I . o f France

,and he had

nei ther time nor power to execute the wi sheso f the Roman cou rt . It was only i n the state so f Duke George o f Saxony and o f the electo r

o f Brandenburg i n wh ich any unfavorab l e resu ltsforthe Lutheran party were to be appre

b e nde d.

Frederi ck the Wise,e lecto r o f S axony, the

soverei gn o f Luther,was highly del ighted

with h i s cou rageous conduct at the Diet;b uthe knew wel l enough that he would i ncur the

odi um and oppos i t i on o f the emperor and hi s

party i f he openly res i sted the edict and i n

defiance o f i t protec ted the outlawed Reformer. H e conce ived a plan by which he couldsh i e ld him from the wrath o f h i s enemies and

grant h im res t fo r a season from h is exhaustinglabors .Ifhe cou ld secrete h im for a whi l e from pub

l i c observation and l et the report go forth thatLuther was murdered

,the exci tement wou ld

s ubs ide and the general apprehens i on be qu iet

LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE . 23

e d I t i s sai d by some that even the emperorh imself was privy to th i s scheme

,but the report

i s n o t authenti c . Frederi ck had Luther ap

prehended o n h i s retu rn from the Diet,and

he was secretly conveyed to Wartbu rg Castle .

The elector was much t o o consci entio u s t oexpose h imself t o the di l emma o f knowingwhere Luther was concealed and thus appear

i ng to maintai n a stand o f oppo s i ti on to h i s

sovere ign , and hence he left the execution o fthe des ign t o h i s court - preacher and privatesecretary

,Spalati n . H e selected the VVart

burg as the most des i rable asylum,and em

ployed the bold and stalwart castel lan Hansvo n Berlepsch to carry o ut the plan i n i ts de

tai l s . The latter took i nto hi s confidence a

nobleman o f the v i c i ni ty,B urkard vo n Hund

,

and also employed other subordinates . I t

was only the day before Luther left Worms

that Spalati n su cceeded i n gaining hi s co n

sent to the captu re,but without 1nfo rm ing

h im where i t was to occur o r to what place

he was to be conducted . Perhaps they were

afraid that h i s candor o r want o f cauti on o r

abhorrence o f all dupl i c i ty might lead h im t o

betray the secret .

C HA PT E R I I .

was Friday,Apri l 26

,1 52 1 , when Lu ther

left Worms o n h i s retu rn hom e . After hehad g iven hi s farewel l bened icti on t o h i s frie nds

,

many o f whom had vi s i ted h im o n the eve o f

h i s departu re,and having partaken o f a fru

gal meal,he left the place at 10 A . M .

,accom

pan ie d by some who had determined t o gowith h im al l the way to VVit te nb e rg, and byothers who co u ld proceed only a short d i s

tance . Casper S tu rm , the imperial herald , i n

h i s officia l costume,fol lowed h im after a few

hou rs,and overtook h im at Oppenheim and

acted as h i s protector under d i rect orders o f

the emperor. Charl es was t o o wel l aware ofthe opin i on o f the princes and of the sta t es

,

'

as

wel l as o f the , people , and , bes ides , he was

t o o consci enti o u s himse lf,. t o al l ow Luther t o

be exposed to the vi o lence of h i s enemi es .



i ts ru les,was obl iged to accompany h im t o

Worms . Luther’s own brother Jacob j o ine dhim subsequently .

On Apri l 28 they arrived at Frankfo rt,where he rece ived many tokens o f regard

from hi s fri ends and patrons . From thi s

place he wrote a letter to h i s fri end Lucas

Kranach i n Wittenberg,i nforming h im o f

the proceedings a t Worms,i n whi ch he says

“Nothing . more was done than ,‘Did yo u

wri te these books Yes . ’ ‘Wil l yo u re

cant them ?’ ‘

No !’ ‘Then begone .

’

0 we

bl i nd Germans ! how l ike ch i ldren we act,and so mis erably al low ou rse lves to be foo l

ed by the Romani sts '”

H e had been informed of h i s i ntended captu re

,and submitted to i t wi th hes i tation;but

he rememb ered how the servant of the Lord ,Obadiah

,the Chamberlai n o fKing Ahab , took

a hundred prophets and h i d them by fifty i n

a cave,and fed them with bread and water t o

protect them agai ns t the vengeance Of theungodly queen Jezebel ( 1 Kings xvi i i .and how the d isc iples took Pau l by n ight andl et h im down by the wall i n a basket (A ctsix . and ho w the wi se men were warned


o f Go d i n a dream to avo i d the snares laid

for them by Herod (Matt . i i . In the

l etter to Kranach he takes leave of h im and

al ludes to “hi s contemplated apprehens i on,and

conti nues : “ I bless yo u and‘

comm e n’

d you to

God . I wi l l consent to be concealed , but I

do not know where i t i s to be;and , althoughI wo u ld rather have suffered death from ty

rants,especial ly from the i nfuriate Duke

George,yet I must not di s regard the coun

sel o f good men . For a bri ef season we must

keep s i lent and suffer. Fo r a l i ttl e whi le yeshal l not see me

,but i n a l i ttl e wh i le ye shal l

see me .

’ Thus speaks Chri st (John xvi .

I hOpe that may be your experience;bu tGod ’s wi l l be done i n th i s

,as i n al l other

things,o n earth as i t i s i n heaven .

”

The imperial ed ict agains t Luther was not

yet publ i cly proclaimed,but the report of h i s

hero i c conduct at Worms had spread abroad

as i f by a winged messenger . H i s j ou rneyhomeward was l ike a tri umphal process ion

,

for many who were certai n that he wou ld

fal l a sacrifice to pri estly tyranny and hatenow hai led him and hi s fri ends wi th rap

ture .


On the same day they arrived at Fri edhe im .

H ere they rested for a short peri od,during

wh ich Luther wrote a l ong Latin letter to theempero r

,and another o f s imi lar import, 111

Ge rman,to those electors

,pri nces and states

o f the H oly Roman Empi re who were assembled in Worms . In both he vindicated hi scondu ct at the Diet l n moderate and dign ified

language,and prom ised

,although he could

not succeed i n having h i s Wri ti ngs examinedby competent j udges i n Worms

,that he would

appear before s uch j udges anywhere and re

cant i f h i s facts and arguments were refutedby the Holy S criptu res . Fo r the secu ri ty

of the safe—conduct he agai n expressed h i s

thanks;he had expres sed h i s grati tu de perso na lly to the emperor before he had left

Worms . On the fo l lowing day he despatch

ed both letters by the hands of the imperialherald to Spalati n

,who was sti l l at that place

,

to be by him del ive red to the parti e s addressed . The herald was thu s d i sm i ssed , and th i s

was an important step,fo r he might be i n the

way of carryi ng out the des ign;and , bes ides ,h i s presence wasno longer n ecessary , for they

were now approaching the domin ions of the


landgrave Phi l ip of Hessia,who had given

Luther a safe—conduct through hi s terri tory

It i s probab l e that he wrote these letters atthe instigation of the elector

,for i n an enclos

ed note to Spalati n he says; Here yo u havethe letters whi ch yo u des i red .

From Friedheim the j ourney was cont in

ued through the terri tory o f the landgrave

o f Hessia,pass ing by G rii nb e rg, Hersfeld and

Berka , unti l , on the evening o f May 1,they

reached Eisenach,near which they were met

by a crowd of ci tizens,who escorted them into

the town .

At Hersfeld,Luther was rece ived with great

respect by the abbot Krato Me ilius.

“The

abbot,says he

,sent h i s chancel lor and

Chamberlain a whole mi le to meet me,and

he h imself rece ived me wi th numerous horse

men a t h i s castle and conducted me i nto the

vi l lage . At the gate the magistrates awai tedm e;1n the monastery I was sumptuous ly e n

t e rta in e d,and had a most comfortable cham

ber and a soft bed . They compel led me to

preach next morning at five o ’clock,although

I res i sted th i s appeal,fo r I was afrai d i t might

be the occas ion o f detriment to the abbot,and


they wou ld al so say that I had broken my

prom i se,as they had forb idden me to preach

du ri ng myj o urn ey. Yet I d i d n o t“

ke ep s i

l ence,and di d n o t consent that th e wo rd

'

o f

the Lord shou ld be bound . The next day

the abbot fu rn i shed me with an escort as far

as the fo rest,

'

and ordered hi s chance l lor to

provide another meal fo r u s al l at Berka . I

also preached at E i senach . True,the pastor

o f the chu rch protested against i t th rough a

notary and witnesses,but afterward apologized

by sayi ng that he di d i t only from necess i ty

and fear o f hi s superi ors .”

Thus Luther reports h i s tou r t o Spalati n .

I n another l etter from E i senach t o Count Albert o f Mansfeld he says : “They enj o ined itupon me not to preach o r wri te du ri ng my

j ou rney . I said,I wi l l do everyth i ng that i s

agreeable to H i s Imperial Maj esty , and ye t Iwi l l l eave God ’s word unbound .

’ Thus I de

parted , and am now in E i s enach . Mark well ,they wi l l accuse me o f having forfe i ted mysafe - co nduct

,‘

fo r I have preached at Hersfeld

and E i senach,and they inte rpret the pro hib

it o ry language very stri ctly .

”

At E i s enach he was rece ived by a crowd


o f the citizens,as at He rsfeld;and , whi lst he

was calmly sleeping i n “h i s own dear ci ty,

”

there was on the same night a tumultuou s

uproar of h i s youthfu l admi rers,pri ncipal ly

students,i n Erfurt

,occas i oned by a fierce a t

tack of.the deacon of one of the churches

,

from the steps of the h igh altar,upon Dr.

Johann Drach,a professo r i n the un iver

sity,who was an adherent of the new doc

trine .

At E i s enach h i s travel l ing assoc iates,ex

cept ingAmsdorf, separated from him . Most

probab ly he was here j om e d by h i s brother

Jacob,who accompani ed him

,on May 3 ,

to

MOra the Nazareth of Germany — the fo rmer res idence of h i s parents

,where h i s grand

mother and hi s uncle He inz Luther,and many

other relatives,sti l l l ived .

He here preached under a l i nden tree,fo r

the chapel was much too smal l to contain the

crowd that streamed from al l quarters to hear

thei r di sti ngu ished relative;so that he couldj ustly wri te : “ I travel led through the forest

to see my relatives,who are so numerous that

they occupy nearly the whole neighborhood .

”

This l inden i s said to have stood before the

32 LUTHER AT \VARTB U R G CASTLE .

o r1g1na l Luther house as late as fiftyyears ago ,and was reckoned to be five hundred o r s ix

hundred years old .

Luther was a t th i s t ime th i rty - eight yearso ld . H e was of med ium s ize

,robustly bu i l t

,

but so reduced by cares and hard study that

when he was approached near,al l h i s bones

cou ld be counted . In h is countenance,which

also gave evidence of n ight - vigi l s and men

tal confl i cts,there glowed two fiery eyes

whose piercing glance i t was hard to e n

dure . At thi s time he st i l l wore the cowlo f the monk .

The next day he pu rsued h i s j ourney with

h i s two companions to Walte rshausen . The

way leads near to the castl e ofA l tenste i n andpasses through the Thuringian Forest . Near

the castle,i n a narrow defi l e

,the vehi cle was

Suddenly stopped by five masked and . armed

horsemen . One o f them attacked the pos

t il io n and hurled h im to the earth;anotherse ized Amsdorf and held h im fi rm ly . H ebegged for mercy

,but Luther

,understandi ng

the whole affai r,pacified h i s alarmed fel low

travel lers bysaying , Confi de , mm’

cz

’

n orm ?”

(“Be o f good cou rage;th ey are ou r fri ends”

)



had fled,withou t s o much as a parti ng sal

u ta t io n,t o Waltershausen .

*

The coachman,alarmed to the highest de

gree,soon recovered suffici ent consci ousness

t o resume hi s place,and

,taking Amsdorf i nto

the wagon,drove at a rapid speed t o Witten

berg. A l l along the road,i n every vi l lage

and t o every o ne they met,they reported the

v i o lent abducti on o f Luther,and the alarming

news soon spread over al l the country around .

The people were aston i shed and i ndignant,

and the exclamati on was everywhere heard ,Luther has fal l en i nto the hands o f h i s

e nemies .”

The capto‘rs o f Luther i n the mean time

proceeded i n the di recti on o fWartbu rg,where

they arrived at el even o ’clock at n ight . The

whole transaction was perfo rmed,under the

d irect i on o f the e lector Frederi ck,by the cas

t e llan o f Wartbu rg,Hans von Berlepsch

,and

hisfri end Burkhard H und vo n Wenkheim .

A short di stance from Ste i nbach there sti l lexi sts Luther’s Spring

,so cal led from the

The acco un tsdi ffe r . S ome have i t 'that th iswasLuthe r’sown bro the r Jaco b, and o thersthat the August in ian bro the rwasstill o ne o f the company .

LUTHER AT WARTBURG CAS TLE . 35?

fact tha t he requested perm 155 1on of h i s cap

tors t o di smount and dri nk of the clear - moun

ta i n - stream . Near the spring there formerly

stood an ancient stately beech cal led the Lu

ther Beech by the people i n the V i c i ni ty. On

March 1 8,1 84 1 , i t was overthrown by a V i o

Ie n t storm,and only a stump of the o ld trunk

remained,from which a l ivi ng b ranch i s sti l l

growing . The wood o f the demol i shed tree

was presented by the count Von Meiningent o the chu rch at Ste inbach

,and a profitable

trade i s carri ed o n from i t . Larger and

smal le r fragments Of i t,with the authorized

chu rch - stamp attesting i ts authentic ity,are

sold to carvers and tu rners,who make vari

o us articles of i t for col lectors o f re l i cs .There i s a bi l let o f th i s tree also preserved

i n the Luther Room in Wartbu rg Castle .

Near the remains Of the tree which sti l l s tandthe count Von Mei n ingen

,i n the year 1 858 ,

erected a square sandston e monument i n the

form o f a Goth i c tower with the inscripti oni n front : “Here Dr. Martin Luther

,o n May

4 ,1 52 1 , by order o f Frederick the Wise

,

e lector o f Saxony,was se ized and conveyed

to the castl e of Wartburg. H e shal l drink


o f the brook i n the way: therefo re shal l h e

l i ft up the head ’

(Ps. ex. On the rear

s i de : Erected by Bernhard Eri ch Freund,

count Of S achsen Mein i ngen,i n the yea r

1 858 . On the right s i de : ‘H e that walkethrighteous ly and speaketh uprightly

,he shal l

dwel l o n h igh : h i s place o f defence shal l be

the muni ti onso f rocks ’

(Isa . Xxx l l l . I 5,

And o n the left : ‘The Lord i s my rock,and

my fortress,and my del ivere r, my God , my

strength,i n whom I .wi l l tru st ’ (Ps. xvi i i .

A very sign ifican t monument i ndeed ! As theplace where he was se ized cannot be di st i nctly

determi ned at the present day,yet i t seemed

natu ral and correspondent with the des ign to

e rect the monument at the Luther Spring,the

name o f whi ch,as is thought

,undoubtedly

must s u stai n a cas ual connecti on wi th the

abdu ct ion o f the Refo rme r . Much has beenwri tten to demonstrate the authenti c i ty o f th i s

place,but i t wou ld requ1re too much space to

present the argument,no r wou ld i t be of any

S pecial i nterest to the general reader .

But we wil l,le ave the Luther Spri ng and

fo l low the captive a few mi les farther. A l

though aware that he wou ld be rescu ed by


h is fri ends,yet he d id not know whither

they wou ld conduct h im . Weary from the

long and rapid ri d ing on horseback,the hos

pitab le gate o f the Wartburg was th rown

wide open t o the cavalcade at el even o ’clock

at n ight .

Comfortable quarters were immediately as

s igned to the captive , and al l neces sary attention was paid t o h im . Several pages were

constantly with i n cal l,and he fared m ore

sumptuously than ever before . Frequently

di d he implore h i s generou s guard ian,the

caste l lan Vo n Berlepsch,not to give h imself

so'

much sol i c i tude abou t h i s comfort;bu tthat office r had rece ived orders which he

was bound to obey,and

,bes i des

,he fel t h im

self honored i n having such a d i sti ngu ished

pri soner under h i s care . Everyth ingwasdone to prevent a betrayal o f hi s presence

,

and hence he ass umed the name of “ Squ i re

George ” and adapted h i s external appearance.

to the characte r and social pos i ti on o f the

name he had taken .

“ I have lai d as ide my monk ’s habi t and

have donned the vestu re o f a knight . I

have al lowed my hai r and beard to grow,so


that yo u wou ld hardlyrecogn ize me;i ndeed ,I am so changed that I scarcely know myself.”

Thus he writes to Spalatin , and i n a letter t o

Melanchthon,o n May 26

,he wri tes : “ I have

noth ing more to say,fo r I am a herm it

,an

cho rit e and real monk,yet not according to

tonsu re o r vestment . Yo u would take me

for a knight and hard ly know me . Bes i de sal lowing h i s beard

,moustache and hai r t o

grow long,he wore a red cap

,a m i l i tary

cloak,and occas i onally th e sword o f a

knight,as wel l as huge boots and spu rs .*

During the early peri od o f h i s concealmen t

Luth e r waspaint e d by Lu casKranach in th isunusualgarb . A po e t o f that dav thusw ri tesbe low a w o o d - cu t o f

the p icture

Z u W artburg Do cto r Luthe r war

Ve rbo rge n fast e in gan zesJahr,E in grosse r B art ihm w ar gew achsen ,

W ie damalstruge n auch d ie S achsen ,U nd ganz ve rande rt S e in G estaltW ar n eun und dreysigJahr gle ich a lt ,

G en W i ttenb e rg ge ri tte n kamZ n N ico lasAmsdo rff

,da e r nahm

D ie He rbe rg,eh e r S e in en B art

Ha t abge l egt , a lsbald e r w'ard

Vo n Lu casKranach abgemal tA lso w i e e r Ist hie gestal t .

”

LUTHER AT WARTBURG CAS TLE . 39

n o o ne saw him except a few person s connected with the castle

,and even later he had very

l i ttle i nterco urse with other people . Even hi scorrespondence with fri ends was guarded wi th

vigi lan t anxie ty . In a letter to Amsdorf o fMay 1 2 he says : I have recently wri tten t omy fri ends in Wittenberg

,but I have fol lowed

better advi ce and torn up my letters,fo r i t i s

n o t yet safe to wri te and i n a later o n e,t o

Spalati n,he says “ I found some difficu lty i n

having th i s despatched,for they are very ap

prehens ive that i t m ight become known where

I am . Hence,i f you think i t wi l l be for the

honor o f Chri st,l et i t continu e doubtfu l

,o r

make it so,whether fri end o r foe has me

i n cu stody,and keep si l ent yourself;for, b e

s ides yo u and Amsdorf, i t i s not necessary fo ranybody

'

t o know whether I am l ivi ng o r

dead .

” On Ju ly 1 5 he complain s that he

had heard from Amsdorf that a secretaryo f Duke John had wri tten to a lady i n Tor

gau that he was at Wartburg Castle . Hencethe report was spread al l arou nd

,and the

people wou ld be convi nced,because i t came

from the court . Whether the wri ter real ly

knew i t o r presumed i t,it wou ld now be i n


vai n t o keep the secret . Thus Satan entraps

us\

and betrays o ur cause .

”

In al l h i s l ette rs h e omi ts the m e nti on o f

the place o f h i s soj ou rn . He dates “From'

my Desert,

” From my H erm i tage,

” On the

H i l l,

” “ In the A i ry R iver,

” “ In the Regiono f the B i rds

,wh ich cheerfu l ly s i ng i n the trees

and prai se God day and n ight with al l thei rBut th e maj ori ty of h i s letters are

dated From my Hermitage,

” From my Pat

m os. The latter name he afterward u sed

more frequ ently than any other . On o ne occa

s i on he employed a l i ttl e tri ckery to dece ive

h i s enem ies as to the place of h i s concealment .

In a letter t o Spalat i n he encloses another

whi ch was dated somewhere el se,and which

Spalat i n was ptirpose ly to l ose , so that i t

The dates In the R egio n o f the B irds” and “Amo ngthe B irds” a re fo und o nly in some le t te rsw ri tten in May.

He who hassto o d o n the W ar tbu rg o n some cle ar mo rn ingo r calm eve ning o f M ay and listen e d t o the sw e e t w arblingo f the finch esand n igh t ingales, wh ich t o th isday praiseG o d day and n ight ” in tha t d e l igh tfu l regio n

, w ill r e co gn ize in those dat es'som e th ing mo re th an the bare design o f

k e eping the se cre t o f hisreside nce, a nd w ill sympathizew i th the t ende r and re fine d emo tio nswh ich swe lle d theh e art o f Luth e r .



p i eces at the command o fVon Berl epsch,who

deemed i t yet to o early to hold any intercou rse

with the outer world . Melanchthon a l so must

have known at least that Luther had not been

murdered,fo r he communicated the glad

l

in

t e ll ige nce t o the i r common fri end Wenzel

Link,i n Nurnberg: Our dearest father i s

s t i l l al ive .

On the other hand,h i s enemie s and perse

cuto rssoon became painfu l ly anxious lest the

excitement o f the people should grow greater

and troub le ensue;hence they wi shed himback again . Luther heard o f th i s apprehe n

s ion o f h i s enemies,and hence he wri tes to

Spalati n i n May o r June : “The pri ests and

monks,who

,whi ls t I was yet free

,raved about

me and became almost i nsane i n thei r pe rse cu

t i on,are no w so alarmed abou t my abduction

that they begin t o pal l iate the i r fol ly and want

i t to be fo rgotten . They cannot endure thepopu lar feel ing i n my favor

,and know not

how to get o ut o f the d ifficu lty . Is not

the language o fMoses true ? ‘The Lord shal l

fight for you,and ye shal l hold you r peace ’

(Ex . xiv . A papi s t has written to the archb i shop o fMayence

,

‘We have lost Luther,j u st


as we des i red,bu t the people are everywhere

so excited that we are not su re o f o ur l ives i f

we do not hunt for h im everywhere with lamps

and bri ng him back again .

’ He was j oking,

i t i s true,but how woul d i t be i f re al earnes t

would fol low hi s j oke ? Pretending prophets

and soothsayers were summoned to divine the

place Of concealment,but Providence guarded

Luther against al l i ntru s ion,and drew fo r a

whi le a vei l around th is servant o f God whichno human eye cou ld penetrate .

Luther,with hi s vivaci ou s and manly spi ri t

,

accustomed t o a bustl ing,sti rri ng

,vigorou s

activi ty,and overflowing wi th heartfelt sym

pathy i n the fate o f h i s fri ends i n Wittenberg,

fel t h imsel f very much cramped and o ut o f

place i n h i s sol i tude and i so lati on . He hadt o o many general i nterests confided to him t o

fee l comfortable,shu t out o f al l fel l owsh ip wi th

the world The feel ing o f rel i ef from the

threaten ing danger and hi s del iverance from

the machinati ons o f hi s enemies never entered

h is m ind . He was wi l l i ng at any moment todie a martyr to the cause

,but the sudden se

e lu s i on from soci ety,and the inabi l i ty to take

any pub l i c part i n the affairs o f the Church to


which he saw h imself condemned,were ex

t rem e lydi stastefu l to h im ,and th i s occas i oned

the deepest dej e cti on . H e wri tes to Spalati n“ I am unspeakably cast down

,and my co n

sci ence tormentsme that , yi elding to you radvice and that o f other fri ends

,I suppressed

my spi ri t i n Worms and did not act the part

o f El i sha to those idols . They shal l hearsometh ing qu i te di fferent If I shou ld ever

encounter them again .

” H e often regrettedthe humi l i ty and reverential respect whi ch

restrained him from declari ng hi s confession

before the tyrants i n a more fearl ess manner.He soon began to long for greater freedom

Of Spi ri t;he fel t a painfu l ly arde nt des i re fora h igher and fresher activi ty i n al l that con

cerns the i ntere sts of h umani ty;and th i s involuntary confinement often fi l l ed h im with

sadness . “ I am a wonderfu l pri soner,who

s i ts here partly with my wi l l and partly

against my wi l l—with my consent, because

i t i s the Lord ’s wi l l;against“ my consent , b ecause I wi sh publ icly to stand up for the word

,

but am n o t yet worthy of i t .” Thus he ex

pressed h imself o u May 1 2

'

to John Agri co la,

and some days late r to Melanchthon,to whom


he sent a report of h i s l i terary labor : I do

not want you to be anxious abou t me . As faras my person i s concerned

,I am qu i te wel l;

only that my mind i s sti l l di stu rbed and that

the former weakness o f sp i ri t and of fai th con

t inues. My seclus i on i s of no account what

ever;but for the honor o f the d ivine wordand for the strengthening o f others as wel l as

o f myself,I wou ld rather burn on glowing

coals than rot,half l ivi ng and yet n o t dead

,i n

so l i tude .

”

At another time he wri tes : Do you n o t

pray that my fl igh t,t o which I u nw i l l i ngly

yi e lded,may. tu rn o u t to the greater glory o f

God ? I am very anxiou s to hear what youth ink of i t. I fear that i t may appear as

though I retreated from the battle - fie ld;butthere was no evas ion

,and I cou ld not res i s t

the advi ce o f fri ends’

. I w o u ld wish n oth ing

better than th i s m oment t o expose mysel f to

the most fu ri ou s rage o f my enem ies .”

As has been observed,Luther was wel l pro

vide d fo r o n the Wartburg,and he w asmost

k indly treated,as he often says i n h i s l etters .

H i s relati ons to the castel lan Von Berlepsch,

n otwithstanding thei r d ifferent social pos i ti ons,

46 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE.

were o f the most pleasant characte r . The ma

j o rity o f the Official s at that time were knightso f h igh rank

,but the generous heart o f the

chi ef bowed i rres i st ib ly to the bri l l i ant geni u so f h i s d i st i ngu i shed captive ,

‘‘whose eagle

eye,

” as Erasmus des ignated i t,encountered

h i s o wn proud look,and whose enchanti ng

d iscou rse,conveyed in deep sonorou s tones

,

wo n h i s custodian ’s admirati on , and whose

di scrim inating j udgment and sparkl ing wi t

seasoned thei r mutual i ntercou rse .

Bes ides the two pages o f noble b i rth who

wai ted upon Luther,the personn el o f th e cas

tl e cons i sted o f two equerri es,a secretary

,the

chaplain,a steward

,a cook

,a gatekeeper

,two

watchmen,a mu

‘

letee r and a schoolmaste r,who

al so offic iated as vicar at an altar i n the chapel .But i t occas i oned s i lent uneas iness and sad

de ne d hi s del i cate sens ibi l i ty that he was e u

t ire ly unaware at whose expense he was so

generous ly supported i n h i s exi le .

“Be notconcerned that I may not be able to endu re

my bani shment , he wri tes to Spalati n , A u

gust 1 5,“ fo r i t i s noth ing to me where I l ive

,

i f I only do not become a bu rden to these

people here . Bu t I bel i eve that I am l ivi ng


here at th e expense O f ou r pri nce;otherwi se Iwou ld n o t remain here an hou r i f I knew that

I am consuming the provi s i on of thi s man”

(meaning the castel lan) ,“ although he cheer

fu l ly furn i shes me everything I want. ‘ Youwou ld do me a favor by giving me certai n

i nformation on thi s po int;for I can concl udenoth ing from the noble sentimen t o f th i s man

except that he supports me at the expense o f

the elector. But I am so incl i ned that I fearbeing bu rdensome where i t i s not real ly the

case,and th i s anxiety i s not i ncons i stent with

a proper dignity .

”

Luther’s despondency and the oppress ive

feel ing o f sol i tu de were much aggravated by

bodi ly i ndi spos i t ion . He was attacked bysi ckness soon after h i s arrival at the Wart

bu rg . The want of exercis e had distu rbed

h is d igesti on and occas i oned severe attacks

o f col i c . Thi s evi l , from which he had a l

ready suffered at Worms,was not abated , but

rather i ncreased from day t o day,and annoyed

h im through the whol e summer. It wasonly

toward autumn that he was rel i eved and re

stored to health .

H e often complained to h i s fri ends of h i s

48 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CAS TLE .

su fferings and severe pains . Let us hi s hear

h isown words : I have not s lept the whole

n ight,and have no res-t yet . If th i s

“

evi l con

t inuesas i t has begun,i t wi l l become in t o l‘e r

able .

” H e thu s wri tes to Melanchthon in h i sfirst lette r

,May 1 2

,and o n June 10 t o Spala

t i n : “My trouble from which I su ffered i n

Worms has not yet left me,bu t hasbecome

worse . I su ffe r so severely that I doubt o f

help or cu re . Thus the Lord chastens me,so

that I am not without the cross . H i s namebe pra i sed ! Amen .

” Again,o n Ju ly 1 3 ,

to

Melanchthon : “ I t i s n o w e ight days that I

ne i ther wri te nor pray n o r study,becau se I

am terrib ly. vi s i ted wi th temptations o f theflesh and other gri evou s evi l s . If th ings do

not improve,I

‘ shall pub l i cly go t o Erfurt,

Where you wi l l s ee me o r I see you,for I wi sh

to consu l t a phys ician and a surgeon . I cannot

endure i t any longer;I would rather su fferten great wounds than th is calam ity . Per

haps G o d i s laying th i s severe infl i cti on upon

me,that He may tear me o u t of thi s wi lder

ness to mingl e wi th the people again .

” Afew days later he expresses the same deter

m 1na t i0n to seek medical ai d i n Erfurt to



pedit io n o f which he wrote to Spalati n on

August 1 5 :“Last week I wastwo days o n

the chase,and had a taste

,fo r once

,of the

bitter - sweet enj oym ents o f these great gen

t leme n . We caught two hares and o ne pai r

o f poor pheasants . Real ly a dign ified employment fo r i d le people ! Here

,among nets

and dogs,I had my theologi cal thoughts

,

and asmuch sport as the sight r

o f su ch th ings

made me,so also d i d the concealed mystery

and pictu re fil l me with sympathyand pa1n .

For what does thi s pi ctu re represent bu t the

devi l th rough h i s ungodly masters and dogs—namely

,the bi shops and theologians— chas

ing and captu ri ng i nnocent l i ttl e an imals ?Thi s p ictu re o f. s imple and bel i eving sou l s

was vivid ly represented to my sympathizi ng

heart . Added to th i s was an effort to preserve the l ife of a l i ttl e hare . I concealed i t

i n my sleeve and withdrew myself a l i ttl e d i s

tance from the company . In the mean time ,the dogs had scented i t

,and b i t i t i n the right

l eg th rough my coat,and fina llv ki l l ed i t

Thu s the pope and Satan rage and destroy

redeemed sou l s,wi tho u t any regard to my

care I am s ick and ti red o f th is sort o f


chase,and l ook upon that as much more

pleasant i n which bears,wolves

,wi ld hogs

,

foxes,and the l ike—which represent ungodly

teachers— are ki l led by Spears and arrows .

Thi s I i ntend as my spi ri tual pl’

easantry with

you,so that you consumers of game at court

may know that ye also wi l l be game in Para

dise,which Chri s t

,the best hunter

,can scarce

lycaptu re and keep even with much trouble .

”

We can safely assume that Luther was per

m it t e d to wander occasi onal ly outs ide of the

castle for the restoration of h i s health and the

enj oyment of fresh mountain - ai r : the h istoryof the chase j u st related i s evi dence of the

fact . It i s l ikely ,al so

,that i n the course o f

t ime further excu rs ions i n the vic i n i ty were

al lowed h im,accompani ed by a fai thfu l and

i ntell i gent gu i de . The secret j o urney to

Wittenberg at the end o f the year wou ld

confirm thi s presumption,and even be a

proof of i t.Luther i s s i lent on th i s subj ect i n al l h i s

l etters from the Wartburg to h i s fri ends . Iti s on ly Ma thesiuswho relates i t

,and

,as i t

wou ld appear,from Luther’s own communi

cati on : A S o ur Luther d i l igently continues


his stud ies and wri ting i n h i s so l i tude andbecomes exhau sted

,some o f h i s fri ends ad

vi se h im t o take walks for exerci se t o improve

h i s health and b reathe fresh ai r. H ence theytake h im o n the chase;sometimes he goest o gather strawberri es and , bes ides , they OC

casio nally send with him an hones t servant,a presumed knight o r equerry

,whose fidel i ty

and knightly remonstrance he afterward high

ly lauds , becau se he warned h im against taki ng o ff hi s sword i n places o f entertainment

and immediate ly in specting the books,so

that the people may no t look upon h im as

a scholar. Thu s Dr. Luther went t o seve ralmonasteri es qu i te unknown . At Martsul he

went among h i s fri ends,but they d id not know

Squi re George;fo r that was what the equerrycal led h im . H e was recognized by some atR e inhardsb o rn . When the attendant o bse rv

ed that,he reminded h i s squ i re that he must

n o t neglect the appo i nted bu s i nes s o f the

evening,and hasti ly left the place .

In the days o f h i s deep despondency,to

which h i s bodi ly sufferi ngs and i solati on nat

urally contribu ted much , Luther thought that

the Evi l One was persecuti ng h im in every


poss ibl e way,and would leave h im no rest

becau se he so fai thful ly and consci enti ously

labored i n the cause of God . H e complainso f such temptations and confl i cts of spi ri t

even after h e had been restored to health .

O n November 1,he thus writes to Spalati n

“There are many wicked and crafty devi l s

abou t who wi l l yet ki l l me . Pray that Chri stmay not abandon me;and i n the same stylehe expresses h imself o n the same day to hi s

fri end G e rb e ll,a lawyer i n Strasbu rg : “Be

l i eve me that i n th i s i dle sol i tude I am assai l

ed by thousands o f devi ls . I t i s more d iffi

cu l t to fight these wicked spi ri ts than the incarnate devi l s— that i s

,wicked men .

”

I t i s said that i n 1 546 he related the fo l low

ing story to some friends in E i s leben : “When,

i n 1 52 1 , I departed from Worms , and was

se ized near E i senach and conveyed to theWartbu rg

,and was located i n mv Patmos

,I

had a room remote from al l others,and no

body was al lowed to come to me except two

noble youths who tw i ce a day brought me

food . They had bought for me a sack of

hazelnuts , o f which I occas i onal ly ate,and

had them locked up i n a chest . When I


went to bed at n ight I undressed i n the room ,

pu t o u t the l ight,went i nto my sleeping- cham

ber,adj o in ing

,and la i d down . Then the nuts

began to play al l manner o f pranks . One

afte r the other rose and struck hard agai nst

the rafters and rattled rou nd my bed , but I

was not d i stu rbed abou t i t . After I hadnearly fal len as leep

,s uch a rumbl i ng was

heard o n the stai rs,as i f a great number o f

barrel s were rol l i ng down;and though Iknew that the stai rs were barred by chai ns

o f i ron,so that no o ne cou ld come up

,sti l l

the casks were rol l i ng down . I rose to see

what was the matter,and the stai rs were clos

ed . The u’

I said,

‘If i t be thou,so be it;’ and ,

commen’

ding myself to the Lord Jesus,o f

whom i t i s wri tten (Ps. vi i i . ‘Thou hast put

al l th ings under h i s feet,

’ I agai n went to be d .

At th i s t ime the wife o f Hans vo n Berl epschcame to E i senach

,and

,having heard that I

was at the castle,was very des i rou s of seeing

me but that cou ld not be . To accommodate

her’ at the castle I gave up my chamber to

her,and they provided another fo r me . Dur

ing the night there was s uch a rattl i ng i n th e

room that she thought there Were a thou sand

LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE: 55

devi l s i n i t . But the best way t o drive h imaway i s to cal l upon Chri st and t o despi se the

devi l : that he cannot bear. We must say to

h im,

‘If thou art Lord over Chri s t,l et i t be

so ! ’ Thus I sai d to h im at E i senach .

Myco n ius, i n h i s h i sto ry o f the Refo rmation

,w ri tes : “ In the year 1 538 , Dr Martinu s

related to u s the whole account (of h i s soj ou rn o n the Wartburg)

“ i n the house o f

John Loben at Gotha;so that Jonas , Pomeranusand al l who were present were astound

ed Many wonderfu l and i nteresting events

occu rred during h i s captivi ty,and among

them was how the devi l appeared twice to

Luther at Wartbu rg i n the form o f a great

dog that would tear h im to pieces,b u t was

overcome by the power of Chri st . ”

Legends of vari ou s temptati ons o f the dev

i l,who repeatedly annoyed him duringhi s

translation o f the B ib le,are universal ly known

and deeply impres sed o n th e popular m ind,

They cu lminate i n the o n e which reports Lu

the r’

shurl ing hi s i nkstand at the devi l,and

which effectual ly drove h im away . Thi s le

ge nd i s very vivi dly brough t to the re co lle cti on o f every vi s i to r to Luther’s room

,where


the celebrated and frequently- freshened ink

spot,n ow deeply sunk i n the wal l

,i s sti l l

exh ib i ted,and keeps al ive among the popu

lace the famous o ld tradi ti onary story . The

o ft - repeated but improbable story i s that o ne

day especial ly he fancied that he beheld Satan ,fi l led with horro r at h i s work

,tormenti ng him

and prowl ing about h im l ike a l i on ready to

seize h i s prey . Luther,alarmed and i ncensed

,

snatched up h i s i nkstand and flung i t at the

head o f h i s enemy . The figu re di sappeared

wi th a d i smal howl,and the m iss i l e dashed i n

p i ece s agains t the wal l .I t i s worthy o f remark that no contempo

rary h i storian o f Luther mentions th1saffai r,

and i t may be that some romanti c reader may

n o t thank the honest h i storian fo r breaking

up the o ld popu lar

A ll’

the b iograph ie s o f Luther contain ac

cou nts o f these l egends,and Michelet devotes

more than th i rty pages to th i s s ubj ect . The

On o nce o bse rving to the show -w oman a t the W artburgthat Luthe r’sink must have be en particularly go o d , t o havere tained i tsde ep black co lo r fo r o ve r thre e hundre d ye ars,she w ith charming simpl ic i ty repl ie d , “Ofi , sir , we fi es/zen

i t up every n ow a nd t/zen.



he had braved the devi l i n Worms,but now

h i s powers were somewhat broken . He wasthrown as ide;Satan was vi cto ri ou s i n h i stu rn;and , i n the angu i sh o f hi s sou l

,Luther

imagined he saw h is giant form towe ring b e

fore h im,l i fti ng h i s finger i n threatening att i

t ude,exu lting with a bitte r and hel l i sh sneer

and gnash ing h i s teeth i n fearfu l rage .

”

The papal anathema and the imperial edict,

wh ich denounced him as a recogn i zed hereti c,

gave h im bu t l i ttl e uneas iness i n h i s asylum .

H e several times al l udes to the “ terrible

ed ict ” i n h i s first letters to Melanchthon,

Amsdorf and Spalati n,b u t he i s convi nced

that i t wi l l inj u re the cau se o f h i s adversari es .

H e regarded the pol it i cal confl i cts i n wh ichthe empero r was entangled after the D iet as

d ivi ne j udgments upon him for h i s conduct

i n th i s affai r . The unhappy young manwi l l never be prosperou s

,and wi l l have to

atone for the ungodl i ness o f others , because ,in Worms

,fol l owing the advi ce of h i s wicked

counsel lo rs,h e scorned and rej ected the truth

wh i ch was di stinctly se t before h im . H i sm i sfortune wi l l a l so comprehend Germany

,

becau se i t al so consented to the counsel s o f

LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE. 59

the ungodly . Thus Luther expresses h im

self almost sympath izingly for the emperor

to Spalati n on J uly 1 5.

But the best evidences and demonstrati on so f h i s un t e rrifie d sp iri t

,and of h i s unshaken

confidence i n the progress and final conquest

o f h i s righteous cause i n Spite of the ban andthe edict

,are the n umber of hiswri tings

,b e

s ides other labors,which he began and partly

fini shed on the Wartbu rg .

H i s o wn natu ral incl i na ti on to activi ty,as

wel l as the exertions of h i s enemies to under

mine and overthrow the work o f the R e fo r

mation already begun,di d not allow Luther

to rest or to ' keep s i lence i n h i s seclu s ion .

The timidi ty and lack of cou rage of some of

h i s friends,also

,or the untimely and in t em

perate zeal of others,compel led him several

t imes to seize the pen e i ther to encou rage

o r to console o r to rebuke them . Just as the

apostles i n pri son,so had he whi lst i n custody

,

to ed ify and comfort the Chu rch of the Lord

The letters which he wrote,parti cu larly to

Melanchthon,Spalati n and Amsdorf

,testify

the l ive ly interest whi ch he felt i n the affai rs

of the outer world,especial ly i n Wittenberg

.


It would requ i re more space than can herebe spared t o c i te the vari ou s occas i ons o f th i s

correspondence and h i stori cal ly to i l l u strate

the facts whi ch drew from him these warm ex

press i ons o f anxiety and sympathy . Only the

more importan t o f the wri ti ngs which he began o r fin i shed o n the Wartbu rg shal l be no

ti ced . Through them hi s voice rol led down

from h i s mountai n—retreat and reverberatedthrough val ley and plai n

,everywhere awaken

i ng the most absorbing i nterest

H ere,whi l e the Roman See raged furi ou s

lyat the audaci ou s i nnovator’s escape

,he h im

self l ooked down secu rely from the platform

o f h i s dungeon - ke ep,’

find ingi n th i s qu iet retreat fu l l le i su re to res ume hi s flute

,t o s ing

h i s German psalms,t o translate h i s B ible

,

and to thunde r forth agai nst the pope andthe devi l .*

After h i s arrival at that fo rtress,he imme

d iately took the B ib l e i n hand and stud ied i td i l i gently i n th e H ebrew and Greek originaltext. After a few weeks had elapsed

,several

wri tings we re ready fo r the press . The firs t

Miche le t .


wasthe expos it i on o f PS . lxvl l l .

,o f whi ch sev

eral verses were s ung at publ i c worship o n

Ascens i on Day and Whitsu nday . Both thesefest ival s he celebrated o n the Wartbu rg , and

devoted hi s le i su re - time during th i s festival

season to the i l l ustration o f th i s psalm,bu t

without havi ng any bookso r other helps b es i des the B ibl e at hand . It was finished o n

May 26,and

,with a long and i nstructive let

ter,i t was sent t o Melanchthon at Wittenberg .

On June 10 there fol lowed t o Spalatin,at the

same time with h i s bri ef treati se On Conf ession ,

a commentary o n the Magn ifica t , o r Mary’s

song o f prai se (Luke wh ich had beencommenced for Duke John Frederick before

Luther set o ut for Worms , but was now fin

ishe d o n the Wartbu rg. The treati se on Co n

f essio n was dedi cated to the knight Franz

vo n Sickingen,who was Luther

’s e n thusi

ast ic admi rer.

At the same time there was publ i shed,to

gether with the above,a translati on o f the

o n e hundred and n ineteenth psalm,with brief

notes,and

,as a continuati on o f the larger

comm entary o f the Psalms i n Lati n , begu n

some time before,the expos i ti on o f the twen

6


ty- second. was al ready finished o n June 10

and sent to the pri nti ng—o ffi ce i n Wi ttenberg .

To these bib l i cal labors al so b elongs theexposi t i on o f the Gospe l of the Ten Lepers

,

whi ch Duke John,who had heard of Luther’s

soj ou rn from the caste l lan,was very d es i rou s

o f having,becau se i t was thought i t contain

ed passages con tradicto ry to h i s treati se OnCo nfession . Luther executed th i s commiss i on

and sent the manuscript to Spala tin on Sep

tember 1 7 , wi th the requ est to employ somecorrect copyi st

,for h i s own handwrit ing must

b e'

kept secret , and then to“send i t to the

duke . H e al so wi she d Spalati n to retu rn theo riginal

,for he had no second copy

,and could

not h imself employ any o n e e ls e to copy it

i n o rder not t o be betrayed .

The b ook was pri nted i n the same year at

Wittenberg,wi th a v i goro u s preface which

showed the reso l utenes s o f h i s spi ri t as d i s

t inct ly as i t severe ly scou rged the selfishness

o f the papi s ts and the i r l ame defence of au

ricula r confess i on . I,a poor brother ” (thu s

begi ns the preface), have agai n kindled a

fresh fire . I have b i tten a great ho le in the

pocket o f the pap i s ts by having attacked thei r


doctrine o f confess i on . Where shal l I no w

stand ? and where wi l l they find enough s ul

phu r,pitch

,fire a nd wood to b urn to ashes

the poisono us hereti c They must certa inly

smash i n the Church windows,for some holy

fathers and sp i ri tual gentlemen preach that

they must have fresh ai r to proclaimthe gospel— that i s

,to defame Lu ther and Cry Mur

der against h im . They exclaim noth ing bu t‘Death ! death ! death to the hereti c ! for he

aims at overtu rn ing everything and destroy

ing the whole Spi ri tual profess ion i n al l

Chri stendom .

’ I hope,i f I shou l d be wor

thy o f i t,that they may succeed i n pu tti ng

me to death and fi l l up the measure of thei r

fathers;but i t i s not yet t im e;_ my hou r hasnot come;before that I must sti l l fu rther provoke the b rood of vipers and properly deservedeath at the i r hands

,that they may have rea

son to offer me up as a great sacrifice .

” Con

fess ion,

” says Luther,

“ i s nei ther based on

Scripture nor was i t observed in the times o fthe apostles : i t i s enti rely a human inventi on .

They accuse u s of neglecting and condemn

ing i t,because we do n o t wish to con fess and

do not want to speak o r hear o f i t . To thi s


.we reply, We confes s o ur faults : we are poors inners . H e then proceeds to argue thes ubj ect

,and shows final ly that the ch ief reason

why the papal pri ests so strenuous ly maintainthe practi ce

,agai ns t al l S criptu re and apostol i c

u sage,i s the immense revenu e which au ri cu lar

confes s i onbrings t o the Church .

Thus thought and wrote Luther against th i s

u nscriptu ral doctri ne and practi ce o f Rome .H e unceas i nglycontended fo r the pu rificati ono f the Church from al l human i nventions

,

abu ses and fo l l i es,l i ke a genu i ne

,resol ute

gospel - knigh t without fear and without re

proach . No threats cou ld i ntim idate th i sgospe l - hero .

A translat i on and expos i ti on o f Ps. xxxvi i .,

togethe r wi th a conso latory epi stl e,he ded i

ca t e d to h is beloved congregati on at Witten

berg o u November I , des ignating it as the

poor l i ttl e flock In Wittenberg,

”demo nstra t

i ng thereby h i s tender so l i c i tu de i n behalf

o f the place , and o f the chu rch there gathered .

H e concludes the letter i n these words ByGod ’s grace

,I am as bol d and reso l ute as I

have ever been . I suffered fo r a wh i le from

s i ckness,but it has done no harm . Be o f



apply my preci ou s time to the useles s gabbl eo f th i s square - headed S oph i st .” Thus speaks

Luther i n a l etter to Justu s Jonas when he

sent the refutati on to h im i n June,and at the

end o f the same letter he adds : There ! take

the wri ti ng . How glad I am that i t does n o tremain any longer with me !”

A new attack by Emser,with whom Luther

had for some time condu cted a controversyupon the un iversal pri esthood

,was also re

fut e d from the Wartbu rg i n a treati se enti tl ed

Con tradiction of a n E rror co in in iz‘z‘

eo’oy tne

in osz‘ li ig/zly lea rned Mr. Hiero nymusEmser,

etc .

,i n which he fini shes o ff h i s opponent i n

a sti l l sharper and clearer styl e than before .

The theo logical facu lty o f Pari s,the h ighest

sci entific and scholasti c authori ty o f the

Church o f the Middle Ages,had i s sued a

decree o f condemnati on agai nst Lu ther’s doc

trine,and Melanchthon had undertaken the

refutation o f i t Of th i s Luther wri tes t o him

o n Ju ly 1 3 : I have a noti on o f translati ng

i nto German,with accompanying notes

,you r

Apo logy against the as ses at Pari s , togetherwi th the i r nonsense .

”

(By thi s he means the i rcondemnati on o f h i s doctri ne .) Thi s was done .


The translati on,wi th a sharp epi l ogu e and

b i ti ng notes,appeared i n the same year

,under

the t itle Co a nz‘er Co nde inna z’ion aga inst Z/i e

T/zeo logia nsof Pa ris. In the epi logue,among

other things,i t i s said : “Although my dear

Phi l ip has answered them in a masterly man

ner,he has treated them too m i ldly and

scourged them too gently . It i s plai n that

I must u se a woodman ’s axe i n spl i tti ng thes e

coarse blocks,and slash them to pi eces;o th

e rw ise they wi l l not feel i t .”

Sti l l more sharp and vehement was hi s a ttack upon Archb i shop ‘A lbert of Mayence .He had re - estab l i shed the traffic i n i ndu lgencesi n h i s capital;he had also puni shed somepriests who had marri ed

,and had kept a pri est

a long time in prison o n th i s account,unti l h e

consented to abandon h i s wife . In addi ti on,

i t was reported that he sold the privi lege o f

keeping concub i nes to the pri ests for money,

and by hi s o wn conduct i n regard to hisvo w o f

chasti ty,he gave offence and cau sed pub l i c scan

dal . Against th i s tyranny and abominati on Lnther wrote a treati se cal led Aga inst i/ze [a’o l inHa lle

'

, which was fini shed on November 1 .

But previous to th i s,the archi episcopal coun


se llo r Capito had been i n Wittenberg and

made hi s appearance at the electoral cou rt .By certai n representations and promises h eprevai led upon

'

certai n persons to have hi s

maste r spared,and not t o be attacked by any

publ i c wri ti ng . Luther’s protector

,th e ele c

to r,was also h imsel f deci dedly opposed to

Luther engaging i n controversy against o ne

o f the first princes o f the empi re,who cou l d

eas i ly d istu rb and imperi l the peace o f the

realm . Spalati n had informed Luther of th i s,

and told h im that the elector wo u ld not suffer

anyth ing to be wri tten against th e archb i shop .

To thi s Luther repl i ed,November 1 1

' “My

sal utati on . A more unpleasant l etter than

you r last I have scarcely ever read . I not

on ly delayed my reply,but I al so reso lved

not to send any answer . In th e first place,I

cannot endu re i t tha t,as you say

,the prince

wi l l not al low that anyth ing shal l be wri tten

against the Maye nce r , and that the publ i c

peace wi l l be di stu rbed . I wo u ld rather over

tu rn you and the prince h imself,and al l cre

ation bes ides . If I have res i sted the arch

bi shop’s creato r,the pope

,why should I spare

h i s creatu re ? Yo u talk ve ry pretti ly about


avoiding a d istu rbance o f the publ i c peace,

and yet are wi l l ing that the ete rnal peace of

God shou ld be d istu rbed by h im through hi sungodly and outrageous ly immoral conduct .

Not so,my Spalati n;not so , my prince;bu t

fo r the sake o f Chris t’s flock the most vigo ro usoppos i ti on must be made to that em

ine n t ly dangerous wolf. To thi s end I here

by send you a writi ng which was already finishe d when you r letter came , which di d not

move me to alter a word i n i t;but you maysubmi t i t to Melanchthon fo r i nspecti on .

Hand i t t o him,but do not advi se against

i ts publ i cation,for I wi l l assu redly not l i sten

to any such counsel .”

But Spalatin,notwith standing th i s expl i c i t

declarati on,withheld the wri ting

,and Luther

s ubsequently gave ear to the representations

o f hi s fri ends and consented to the postpone

ment of i ts pub l i cati on for a season . But,

i nstead of that,on December I

,he sent a pri

vate letter to the archb i shop with the threatthat if he did not immediately abol i sh th e

traffic i n indu lgences he wou ld pub l i sh theaffai r to the whole world . H e demands an ex

plicit answer wi th in fourteen days , or he would

7O LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .

most certai n ly b ri ng o ut h i s book Aga inszZli e fa’o/ in H e rece ived the answerdemanded;which i s a very d i st inct evi dencewhat a power for the e lector

,the archbi shop

and cardi nal of Mayence,the secl uded monk

o n the Wartbu rg had al ready become . Thisanswer was accompani ed by a letter from

Capi to,i n which he shi e lds h i s maste r and

i ntimates that the archbi shop h imself would

employ measu res fo r th e promoti on o f the

gospel,but i n a manner d i fferent from that

whi ch the Wittenberger pu rs ued .

Luther was l i ttl e e difie d by th i s epi stl e .

H i s s i nce re and candi d m ind demanded up

r ightness and honesty,truth and co nscien

t io usness;he cou ld not , and wou ld not , fu l lybel i eve and tru st e i the r the archbi shop o r h i s

counsel lo r . At the end of h i s lette r to Capitohe unreservedly says : I d i d not wi sh to an

swer you r card inal,becau se I cou ld not safely

fol low a m i ddl e cou rse i n not prai s i ng or cen

s u ring h i s d i ss imulation or h i s s i nceri ty . Bu tfrom yo u he wi l l l earn what Luther

’s sp i ri t i s

and if I shou ld learn that he acts uprightly

and honestly,I wi l l abase myself before h im

and fal l at h i s feet .


Amid these vexatiou s ci rcumstances,i t af

forded h im unspeakable pleasure to hear that

the A ugust 1n 1ansi n Wittenberg had adoptedh i s Vi ews and doctri ne In the i r church arrangements

,and had abol i shed private and auri cu lar

confess ion . As an express i on o f hi s pleasu re

he dedicated to them,fo r the i r encouragement

and growth in the faith through unity,a l i ttl e

book enti tled T/ze Aonse of fil e M ass. I t i s

worthy of observati on that at the close o f i t

h e al l u des to an ancient German legend relati ng t o the e lector o f Saxony

,Frederi ck the

Wise . Luther thus reports i t : When I was

a ch i ld,I often heard a prophecy in th i s coun

try that the emperor Frederick wou ld redeem

the holy sepu lchre at Jerusalem;and i t i s’

the

natu re o f prophecy to be fu lfi l led before i t i s

understood,and i t always has respect to some

thing different from that which the language

i ndi cates to the people . H ence i t appears tome that th i s prophecy i s fu lfi l led i n o ur prince

ly duke Frederi ck o f Saxony;for what els ecan be understood by the holy sepu lchre thanthe Holy S criptu res

,i n whi ch th e truth o f

Chri st,ki l led by the papi sts

,was lying bu ri ed

,

which the mendi cant orders and inqu i s i tors


o f hereti cs so carefu l ly guarded that no d i s

ciple o f Chri st cou ld come and steal i t ? Fo r

concerni ng the grave i n w h ich o ur Lord lay,

God cares abou t as much as he does abou tthe cattle i n Swi tzerland . Now

,no o n e can

deny that th rough Duke Frederi ck,the elector

o f S axony,the l ivi ng word o f the gospe l has

come forth to yo u; and although he i s

now not an emperor,yet i t i s enough for the

fu lfi lment o f the prophecy that at Frankfort

he was u nan imous ly chosen by the el ectors as

emperor,and wou ld have been emperor if he

had des i red i t . It i s o f n o accou nt to Go d

how l ong a man i s empero r i f h e only has

been e lected .

”

November 2 1 i s the date o f a preface andded ication to h i s dear father

,Han s Luther

,

o f a l i ttl e book enti tl ed 1M. LzzZ/i e if’

sYna’ginen z‘

concern ingM o nastic Vows.

‘

I t was wri tten i n

Lati n and trans lated.

i n to German by Ju stu sJonas

,and was brought o ut

,as Luthe r wri te s

to Spalati n,fo r the pu rpose o f rescu ing young

peop le from the hel l and fi l th o f cel ibacy . Its

truthfu l thoroughness and impress ive force

c reated great sensati on i n and outs i de o f the

C lo i ste rs .



from Wittenberg,and rebuked h im most se

ve re ly:“ I came to Wittenberg

,and among

my deli ghtfu l enj oyments i n the company o f

my fri ends I found but one drop o f worm

wood,and that was that nobody had seen o r

heard of the books and letters . My desi re

i s that what I have wri tten shal l be pub l i shed,

’

i f not i n Wi ttenberg,yet somewhere e ls e . I f

the copies a re lost,o r i f yo u have

“held them

back,I shal l be very much d i spleased

,and

shal l hereafte r wri te much more severely o n

these s ubj ects . Fo r he who may destroy

dead paper cannot as eas i ly quench the spiri t

o f a,

man However,we have al ready heard

tha t Luther yi elded to the prudent counsel

o f h i s fri ends,and final ly consented t o the

j udgment o f those at the e lectoral court t o

do whatever they deemed best .

After h i s retu rn to the Wartbu rg,he imme

d ia te ly w rote a pamphlet cal led A Fa iz‘nfa l

A a’nzon ii ion . l

‘o a ll Christia nstognam’

aga instS ea

’iz‘ion a na

’R o i /o i l . Thi s was probably o c

casio ne d by certai n impressi ons and reports

h e had rece ived and heard during th i s tou r

and i n Wittenberg . It was sent to Spalati n

early in Decemb er, with the wish that i t


might be printed and pub l i shed as s oon asposs ib l e . It i s als o l ikely that

-

a t th i s t ime h e

fin ished hi s trans lati on and comments on the

papal sacramental bu l l , o r,as i t i s u sual ly

styled,Bul la C oe nae Domini

,from i ts first

words in the Lati n Copy . This decree,which

contains terrib l e curses aga i ns t al l opponents,

was annual ly renewed and proclaimed amid

certai n impos ing formal i t i es on Green Thursday . Luther h imself found a place i n i t o n

the preceding Green Thursday,and he was

fiercely denounced . He pub l i shed a t ranslat i on of i t

,with notes

,as a New Year’s gift to

the pope . H e also added to i t the tenth psalm .

with notes,as a contrasted l ikeness of popery .

The ti tle o f th i s remarkab l e treati se su ffici entlycharacterizes i ts tone and contents : B l i l/( l Coe

na' Do inz

'

n i— i li a l‘is

,i/ze B a ll of Me Even ing

Ca rousa ls of z‘

lze in osi‘ My Lord Z/ze Pope ,

tra nsla ted in to Germa n for a N ew Yea r’

sgif tto fi l e nzosz‘ ko ly R oma n S ee . Ps. x. 7 His

nzonz‘

lz isf i l l ! of cursinga na’a’ee en

‘a na

’

f mna’

n na’e if /i isZo ngue ism isc/l ief a nd o a n izfy. The

exposi ti on of Psalm x . concludes wi th these

words : “ I trust that as everybody w i l l s eethat

'

thispsalm pictures popery,that the pope


does preci se ly as i s there in described,and that

no other government s ince the beginning o f

the world i s l ike h i s,s o wi l l every o n e come

to the concl us i on tha t no other Anti chri s t maybe expected . It i s imposs ible that there shou ld

be a more corrupt system o n earth,and t hat

ru i ns more sou ls than that o f the pope,saying

noth i ng abou t h i s extorti on of the worldly

property of the people . H ence we must earnest ly pray to God against th i s head - knave o f

al l the enemies o f God,unti l God come and

del ive r u s from him . Let every Chri st ian say,

Amen !”

Amid these u ninterrupte d,d ivers ified

,and

i n part exci ti ng- l i terary labors,there i s o n e

which Luther began soon after h i s goi ng to

Wartbu rg,and . whi ch was resumed after al l

h i s in terrupti ons and annoyances and conti n

u ed to the m i dd le of November w i th i ntense

energy and del ight . I t was the preparati on

o f hisHonse Posz‘i/s. I t consi sts of an expo

sit iosn of the Epistles and Gospels fo r S undaysand holy days

,and i t wasthe fi rst co l lecti on

o f Protestant sermons i n the German language,

and,next to the translati on of the New Testa

m ent,i s the most beauti fu l and ripes t fru i t o f


hi s si l ent le i sure a nd seclu s ion from the world .

Luther h imself subsequently des ignates i t as

the b est book he ever wrote .

“Even the pa

pists,” says he

,

“ l ike i t .”

But h i s crowning work o n the Wartburg

was unquesti onably the trans lati on o f the

New Testament . Of hi s determinati on to

perform thi s work he speaks for the first t ime

i n a letter of December 1 8 to John Lange i n

Erfu rt : “ I wi l l remain here i n my secl u si on

unti l Easter. In the mean t ime,I wi l l con

t inue th e Posi i/s,and intend also to translate

the New Testament i nto German,which o ur

fri ends u rge upon me . I hear that you also

are at work upon i t;conti nue as you havebegun . Oh that every town had its in te rpre

ter,and that al l tongues

,hands

,eyes

,ears

and hearts m ight be employed about th i so n e book !”

To Amsdorf he wri tes,January 1 3 ,

1 522

I am going to translate the B ib l e,although

therei n I have undertaken a work which ex

ce e dsmy strength . I know now what trans

lating means,and why i t has not u nti l n ow

been undertaken by any o n e who has set hi s

name to i t . But the Old Testament I cannot7


touch unl es s you are pre sent and help me .

Indeed,if I cou ld have a secret chamber at

you r house,I wou ld come at once

,and with

yo u r help undertake the whole o f i t , from the

beginning;and that wou ld be a translationworthy o f bei ng read by al l Christ ians

,fo r I

hope we wou ld give to ou r Germany a b e t t e i‘

translat ion than the Latin s have . I t i s a great

work and worthy of the un i ted exertions of

u s al l,fo r i t wou ld promote the un ive rsal

wel fare o f the whole Church .

We see that Luther lai d hold o f h i s workwith earnestness and zeal

,but what unti ri ng

energy and perseverance,what pass i onate de

vo t e dnessand astounding industry,were ne

cessa ry to complete the smalle r , bu t not l i ght

e r"

,work of the translati on of the New Testa

ment,i n the two months

,January and P ebru

ary,unt i l h i s l eaving th e Wartbu rg at the

beginn i ng o f March ' I have translated n o t

onlythe Gospe l of John , but the whol e New

Testament,i n my Patmos;but now Phi l ip

and I have begun to fi l e i t Off,and

,with God ’s

help,i t wi l l be a n i ce work;and that I may

make a beginning at once I wan t yo u to get

for u s from the peopl e at court the names,


forms and,i f poss ibl e

,a s ight of the preci ou s

stones m enti oned i n Rev . xxi .”

Then he reports to Spalatin on March 30 ,

soon after h i s re tu rn from the Wartbu rg,and

begs for h i s help and co - operat ion i n th e

work,but that h e must furn i sh only plai n

and s imple express i ons,for the language of

the court and the castl e could not be admit

ted i nto a book that was intend ed for the peo

ple and must be clothed i n s imple,popu lar

words . As’

soou as he had revi s ed the trans

lati on wi th the help of h i s dear fri end,i t was

put to pres s,probably by Melch ior Lo t the r

,

at Wi ttenberg,who seemed

,however

,to be

proceeding t o o‘

slo wly for the impati ent Lu

ther,and he zealou sly hu rri ed h im on . I t

was finished on September 2 1,and th i s day

was for many years celebrated by Bugenhagen and others as the festival of th e B ib l etrans lati on . The first edi ti on was fol i o s ize

and i l l ustrated wi th numerou s wood - cuts by

Lucas Kranach .

In a few weeks the whole editi on o f three

thousand Copies was spread abroad i n al l

countri es . A nobleman who had retu rnedfrom Jerusalem some time after showed Lu


ther a copy which he had bought i n that c i ty .

Numerou s ed i ti ons i n vari ou s s izes were so Onp ub l i shed .

From th i s bri e f b ibl iograph ical report of

h i s l i te rary labors at the Wartbu rg we have

reason t o be amazed at the zeal and industry

whi ch he d i splayed i n the work o f the R e fo rma t io n even . i n h i s secl u s i on

,and at the

sympathy he fe l t and the co - operati on heextended t o everyth ing that concerned the

Church and the fate o f h is fri ends,adherents

and fel low - laborers . For my G ermans,

” he

wrote November 1 to h i s fri end G e rb e ll,I

have been born;them wi l l I serve .” Andth i s i dea he fai th fu lly carri ed o u t i n hi s asyl um

i n that fortress . The B ib l e trans lati on whichhe there began , and i n part fin i shed

,gives

su ffici ent proof o f i t . It i s the greates t crea

t ive act o f the great Refo rmer. By i t theB ib l e has been planted i n the heart o f theGe rman peopl e

,and has become n o t only a

read ing- book,but a book that i s read . With

th i s book he la id the foundati on - stone o f the

whole reformati on -work,and at the same time

renewed and establ i shed the language o f Germany .



a crowd o f students and ci tizens,st o rfn ed the

castle chu rch and demol i shed the pi ctu res and

altars,and everyth ing else that was connected

wi th Romi sh worsh ip .

Luther heard o f these rash proceedings,

and hi s mighty heart wasfired with holy zeal .

On March 1 9 , 1 522 ,he thus wrote to Wences

lau s Link : “Satan has broken into my sheep

fold,and has taught that the freedom o f the

spi ri t may be used as an occas i on to the flesh

that,di sregarding the requ i rements of love

,

any and every th ing presumably good may be

done by a hard - hearted and wicked rabb le .

Carlstad t and D idymus have set up thes e

abominati ons . These reasons have compel

led me t o retu rn;so that, i f Chri st wi l l s i t ,I may destroy the sport

.

o f the devi l . Many

fri ends o f the cause also entreated him to come

to Wittenberg to pu t a stop to these shame

less proceedings .

Luther apprehended the peri l t o whichthese fanati cal sp i ri ts were expos i ng h i s ref

o rm at io n - work . We can eas i ly imagine h i s

pai nfu l anxiety i n that narrow chamber on

the Wartburg . From there he saw the fiery

heavens,and the flames reflected from the


burn ing of h is Church at Wittenberg , to whichhe was attached wi th al l h i s soul

,and which

he wished gradual ly to restore to i ts primi tive

purity;there he heard the tol l i ng of the bel l swhich summoned help and the despai ring cry

of fri ends . What was he to do H e resolvedto go to Wittenberg to extingu ish the flames

o f revo lt with hi s own voi ce and earnest e u

treaty . Al ready,at the end of February

,he

i ntimated thi s determinati on to‘

h is sovereign

and protector : “God wi ll i ng,I want to be

there myse lf. I hope you r Electoral H ighness wi l l not oppose me .

”

The elector sent an officer o f h i s court

Johann Oswald— to di ss uade h im from retu rn

ingto Wittenberg. He i nformed Luther thathe might have the privi lege of giving h i s ad

vice to the Wittenbergers on the subj ect ofthe di stu rbances

,bu t that on no account

should he appear there i n person,becau se the

pope and the emperor might demand the de

l ivery o f him into thei r hand s;i n which casethe elector would not know how to get out

o f the di lemma . But h i s resol uti on cou l dnot be shaken . H i s consci ence wou ld notal low him to be di ssuaded from his settled


purpose,although a hero i c fai th was ne ces

sary t o s u stain h im;fo r the imperial edi cthad not yet been recal led

,and any vi l lai n

had the right to murder h im wherever found .

That he was not i ntimidated by any fear o f

peri l,and that he regarded h i s departure as a

divin e command which was of more seri ou s

concern to h im than that o f hi s sovereign,

though fai thfu l ly devoted t o h im,appears

from h i s o wn words . “Yes,

” says he,

“ I

am bound to s uffer death for them ”

(the,sou l s o f men);“ that I

’

wi l l also freely and

cheerfu l ly do by God’s grace . God compelsand cal l s and g ives me reasons for i t . I tmust and wi l l be so . So let i t be in the name

o f Jes u s Chri st, the Lord of l i fe and death .

”

In thi s,as i n ‘al l other th ings

,he did not seek

h i s o wn glory o r that o f the world,bu t God ’s

glory alone .

On March 3 ,S qu i re George left the Wart

bu rg alone,dressed in kn ightly vestments and

wi th fu l l beard and sword . In Borna,near

Le ipzi g,on March 5, he informed the electo r

i n a letter o f h i s proceeding,which i n strong

est terms expressed h i s unshaken courage,

his i ndomitab l e wi l l , unawed by threats,


hi s confidence in God and hi s assu rance Of

fai th .

It was i ndeed a courageous step whi ch hethen ventu red

,o n h i s own account

,without

permis s i on—L indeed ,against the order of h i s

exalted master and patron— to"

re—enter upon

publ i c l ife and to retu rn to Wittenberg,there

to protect the work of h i s Reformati on fromperi l . Well may the deepest anxieti es have

agitated hi s sou l during th i s reti rement,b ut we

have su ffici ent evi dence how he maintainedhischeerfu l fearlessness and tranqu i l l i ty from

his accidental ly meeti ng two Swi ss students

i n the tavern of the B lack Bear i n Jena . John

Kessler of St . Gal l,who afterward became a

Reformer i n h i s own country,had left Sw i tz

erland i n company with a fri end,John Reu

tiner,to trave l to the Un ivers i ty of VVit t e n

berg . According to the custom of poor students

,they travel led o u foot

,and one after

noon arrived at Jena weari ed and thoroughly

soaked with rain and splattered wi th mud .

Deni ed accessto all the taverns,they were

about leaving the town to proceed to a neighboring vi l lage to Spend the night . They were

met by a man who kindly inqu i red where they8


Were go ing at so late an hou r;and whe n theyrelated to h im thei r sad case

,he di rected them

to a tavern outs i de o f the town,cal led The

B lack Bear. There they were taken i n . I n

the guest - room there sat a.

man alone i n a

corner,with an open book lyi ng before h im

,

i n which he was readi ng . Immediately hesal uted them very pol i tely

,and requested

them to take a seat at the same table;before that

,they had seated

,themselves o n a

bench at a distance,o n account of thei r soi led

clothes . The man i nvi ted them to partake

o f some refreshments with h im,which they

d id not refuse . They presumed he was an

equerry,fo r he wore a l i ttl e cap o f red leath

er,breeches and doublet;he had a sword by

h i s S i de;h i s right hand rested o n the pom

mel,h i s l eft grasped the h i l t . He i nqu i red

where they were from but,without wai ting

for an answer,he said

,

“You are Swi ss,but

what isthe place o f your res i dence i n Switzerland ?

They repl i ed,St . Gall .

H e conti nued“As yo u are goi ng to Wittenberg , as I

learn,you will i find some good countrymen


o f yours there;for i nstance , Jerome Schurfand h i s brother Dr . A ugpst inWe have letters t o them ,

sai d the stu

dents,and asked whether Luther had retu rn

ed to Wittenberg .

I have certain i nformation,was his reply

,

“that Luther at the present time i s not i n

Wittenberg,but that he i s soon to be there .

But Phi l ip Melanchthon i s there,and teaches

the Greek language. Then he exhorted the

young men to devote themselves di l igently to

the study o f the Greek and Hebrew languages,

fo r which Wittenberg afforded pecul iar fa

c ilit ies.

They expressed thei r determination to give

themselves no rest unti l they had seen and

heard the man who had attacked the pri est

hood and the mass,and they added that thei r

parents had ass igned them to the clerical pro

fessio n and they were anxiou s to know al l

about the condit ion o f th ings .

Where have yo u s tudied ? asked the

equerry .

“A t Basel .Well

,what i s the state of affa i rs i n Basel ?

I feel much interested in that school . Is


Erasmu s there yet ? What i s he doing ?he asked .

As far as we know,th ings go o n wel l i n

Basel . E rasmusissti l l there;but nobodyknows what he i s do i ng

,fo r he keeps h imself

very:secl uded from soci ety .

”

“Bu t what do they th i nk o f Luther i n

Switzerland ?” i nqu i red the stranger.“As everywhere else

,people have di fferent

opin i ons con cern ing h im . Some cannot exalt

h im high enough,and thank G o d that h e

has revealed h i s tru th through him and ex

posed their errors;others condemn him asan i ntolerable hereti c

,parti cu larly the clergy .

”

“ I understand i t wel l,

” he repl i ed .

“ It i s

the pri ests .”

Duri ng th i s conversati on the stranger ex

cited the cu ri osity of the s tudents . H i s i nte ll ige nt observati ons , parti cu larly hi s acquaintance with the S churfs

,Melanchthon and Eras

m us, _

appe a re d remarkabl e to them;and the 1raston i shment became sti l l greater when o ne

o f them took in h i s hand the l i ttl e book lying

o n the table and looked at i t . It was a He

brew Psalter. H e lai d i t down agai n,when

the equerry took i t to h imself.


9O LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .

certai nly know that you are so anxiou s to se e

and hear Luther,I tel l you he isthe man who

i s at the table with you .

’ I thought he was

playi ng a j oke upon me,and told him that

he wanted to grati fy my des i re to see Luther

wi th a de l u s i on . Bu t he ass u red me agai nthat he spoke the tru th;but he requested m et o act as though I di d not know it .

’

“ I retu rned t o the room,bu t cou ld not re

strai n myself from whi speri ng t o my compau

i on,

‘The landlo rd te l ls me that i s Luther. ’

Bu t he was i ncredu lou s,and repl i ed , Perhaps

he sa id i t was H utten and you d id not understand h im di st inctly .

’ As h i s dress rem indedme more o f H u tten than o f Luther

,who was

a m o nk,I l et mysel f be pers uaded that the

landlord had sai d H utten,

’ fo r the b egi nningo f the names sounds somewhat s im i lar.In the m ean time

,two merchants entered

the tavern and took o ff the i r cloaks and spu rs .

One o f them then lai d an unbound book upon

the tabl e . The equerry asked what sort o fbook that was .

‘It i s D r. L il the r’sexpos i t i on o f th e Gos

pel s and Epi stles,j u st pri nted and publ i shed .

Have yo u no t seen i t ? ’


I shal l soon also get i t,

’ was h i s on ly

reply .

Then came the landlord and announced

that s upper was ready . We,however

,re

quested h im to prepare someth ing for u s

apart .“‘Dear s i r

,only take you r seats at th e

tab le : I ’l l s ee that al l i s right . ’

When the stranger heard that,he said

,

‘Come,I wi l l pay the landlord .

’

During the supper he spoke so edi fying

ly and so kindly that the merchants and we

were more interested i n h im than i n th e meal .

He also S poke ‘of the approach i ng Diet at

Nurnberg,and thought that nothing good

would resu lt from i t,as the great lo rds were

more concerned about ball s and frol i cs i ngeneral than abou t the word of God ‘ButI hope

,

’ he continued,

‘ that the pu re truth

and word o f God wi l l produ ce more fru i tamong our ch i ldren and posteri ty than among

thei r parents,i n whom error has taken deep

ro ot wh ich cannot be eas i ly eradicated .

“The merchants al so expressed thei r Opini ons

,and the older o f the two said

,

‘I am

noth ing but a s imple,unlearned layman

,and


do n o t altogether u nderstand these th ings;bu t

,as i t strikes me

,Luther must be e i ther

an angel from heaven o r a devi l from hel l . I

wou ld cheerfu l ly spend ten gu i lders i f I cou ld

on ly confes s to h im,for he cou ld properly in

stru ct my consci ence .

’

“Then the landlord approached u s and

said secretly,

‘Be not concerned about thecost Marti n u s has pai d fo r you r supper . ’

That pleased u s vastly— not because o f th e

money or the meal,but because t/i isman had

entertained u s at h i s expen se .

“After supper the merchants rose and wentt o the stabl e t o see that the i r h orses were wel l

groomed . In the mean time,the stranger was

wi th u s i n the room alone . W e thanked him

for h i s kindness, and sai d that we had taken

h im to be U l r i ch von H utten .

I am not he,

’ he repl ied;an d to th e landlord

,who had j u st entered

,he remarked

,

‘I

have become a nob leman th i s even ing , fo rthese Swi s s take me to be U l ri ch von H utten .

’

“The landlord repl i ed,

‘You are not he,

bu t yo u are Marti n Luther .’

H e laughed and observed,

‘These take

LUTHER AT WA RTBURG CASTLE . 93

me for Hutten and you for Luther;I shou ldproperly be cal led Marti nu s Marco lfus.

’

,

“Then he rose , threw h i s cloak over h i s

shou lders,took leave

,and

,shaking u s by the

hands,said

,

‘

When you get to Wittenberg,salute for me Dr . H i eronymus Schurf. ’

Cheerfu l ly and -wi l l ingly wi l l we do i t,

’

said we;‘but how shal l we cal l you , so thathe may understand the sal utati on

Say nothing more than “He who isto come

sa la z‘esyo n .

” He wi l l comprehend the words . ’

With these words he left and reti red to rest .“After that the merchants agai n retu rnedto the room

,and wondered who the guest

wasthat was at“

table The land

lord insi sted that i t was Luther,and at last

they were persuaded o f i t,but were sorry

that they had Spoken so unbecomingly i nh i s presence . They said that i n the morn

i ng they would ri se early and apologize to

him},as they di d not know him;and that

occurred .

“ In the morning they found him in the

stab l e;and Marti nu s , i n reply to t hei r re

marks,said

,

‘You said that yo u would cheer

fully spend ten gu i lders fo r Luther i f you


cou l d confess to h im . I f you d id so , yo uwould soon find o u t whether I am Marti n

Luther. ’ And,to avoi d being fu rther rec

ogn ize d , he mounted h is horse and rode o fftoward Wittenberg .

“After o ur arrival at Wittenberg we wentimmediately to Dr . S chu rf to del iver o ur let

ters t o him . On enteri ng the room we found

Marti n j u st as we had seen h im at Jena, to

gether with Ph i l ip Melanchthon,Ju stu s Jonas

,

Nicolas Amsdorf,Dr . Augusti n Schurf

,who

related t o h im what had occu rred i n that place

during hi s absence .

“H e sal uted u s and smi led,and

,pointing

wi th h i s finger,sai d

,

‘This i s Phi l ip Me lanch

thon,o f whom I spoke to you .

’

Phi l ip then tu rned to u s and asked many

quest ions,wh ich we answered , as wel l as we

cou ld . And thus we met those great men,t o

o ur h igh gratificat ion .

”

Th isi s the narrat ive o f Kess ler’s and h i s

fri end ’s i ntervi ew with Luther at the B lackBear.During th i s j ou rney he encountered a pa

pal priest at Erfurt,who boasted that he cou ld

po i nt o ut a hundred errors i n Luther’

s doc


tri nes,but when chal lenged t o the task he

reti red i n confus i on .

Luther d id not retu rn to the Wartbu rg,but

remained at Wittenberg and prosecuted with

unti ri ng industry to the end of h i s days,the

stupendous work which Providence had e u

t rusted to h i s hands .The electo r submitted to what he cou ld not

prevent,especial ly as Luther’s arrival at Wit

tenberg occas i oned the highest gratificati on,

even j ubi lant exultation,and contribu ted als o

to the restoration o f the publi c tranqu i l l i ty .

The elector sent to h im the Juri st Jerome

Schurf,who conveyed hi s graciou s sal utati on;

but he was i nstru cted also to procu re from

Luther a written statement of the reasons

why he retu rned to Wittenberg and an assu r

ance that i t was done withou t el ectoral con

sent,and

,moreover

,that he wou ld not be

an encumbrance to any one .

‘ The statement

was to be so worded that i t m ight be pub l iclvshown , and Schurf was enj oined to keep the

whole affai r of h ismiss i on a secret . Luther

was also t o be i nformed that for several good

reasons he wou ld.

not be permitted to preachi n the castle chu rch .


S churf reported th e resu lt o f h i s i ntervi ew

with “the worthy Marti n Luther,

” at that

t ime the real apostl e and evangel i s t o f Chri st,

and presented to H i s Grace Luther’s wri ting,

i n which he gave hi s reasons fo r retu rn ing .

They chi efly were that he was u rgentlycal led by the chu rch i n Wittenberg;thatduring h i s absence the devi l had attacked hisflock

,which attack s he cou ld not repe l by

writi ng;and that he apprehended a general

commotion among the German people,which

he thought he co u ld prevent by hispersonalpresence . H e humbly deprecated any wanto f respect fo r the emperor o r the elector, bu tthat he fel t i rres i stibly impel led t o pursue that

cou rse . Accompanying th i s letter was a notei n wh ich he begged the el ecto r that i f the

l etter should not be sati sfactory,he wou ld

graciou s ly please to fu rn i sh a draft h imsel f,

declari ng,however

,that he di d not obj ect to

the pub l i cati on o f h i s own letter,for he had

sai d noth ing wh ich he was afrai d to let the

whole worl d know,and fo r which he wou ld

not suffer any penalty . The electo r was

pleased with the letter i ngeneral , only hesuggested a few verbal alterati ons and addi



Luthe r h imself has reci ted i n h i s own letters ,A l l more recent reports from other handshave been pu rpose ly omitted . The des ign

was no t t o present a merely colo red and un

authenti c pi ctu re,but a

’

t rue and tru stworthynarrati ve drawn from rel iable resou rces . Lu

the r’s l i fe and works i n th i s fortress do not

i

need the help o f legend and ficti on,and the

Wartbu rg sti l l s tands renowned fo r the asylum

which i t afforded t o the Reformer o f the

Chri st ian Chu rch who was anathemat ized by

the pope and outlawed by the em peror , butwhose memory i s dearly cheri shed and hi sname revered by an admi ri ng world .

LUTHER AT COBURG.

FR OM THE GE RMAN

P F E I L S C H M IDT

WI TH ADD I TI ON S .

J. G . MORRIS,D .D .

,LL.D.

PHILADE LPHIALUTHE RAN PU B LICATION S OCIETY.

1 8 8 2 .

C o pyr igh t , 1 8 8 2 .

W E ST COT T 8: TH OM S ON ,

S t ereo type ) ? a n d E Zect r o typers, s l a da .


4 CONTE NTS .

INNSPRU CK ,empe ro r a t , 34 . Mass, 83 .

Me lanch tho n ,1 4 , 61 , 62 , 64,JOHN THE CONSTANT ,

1

Jo hn Fre de rick , 1 2 , 1 9.

Jo nas,14 .

Jo urney t o To rgau , 2 1 .

KATHARINE, Lu the r’sW ife ,63 .

King Ferdinand , 66.

LANDGRAVE PH ILIP ,Luthe r a t C o burg, 5, 7 , 23 ,

24 ,R ET INUE to C oburg , 20 .

reply to papists, 1 5.

hisinfluence , 24 .

wri tings at , 45, 46, 48 ,

104 , 105.

death o f hisfath e r, 48 , 69 ,97

sympathy Of,67 .

visitst o , 68 , 70 .

impatience , 79 .

fi rmness, 95, 1 1 5.

praye r, 96.

o n translat io n ,1 25.

ring,1 28 .

le avesC o burg, 1 39.

le tte rsfrom , passim .

MANTUA , 34 .

Margrave G e o rge , 73 .

Maria, que e n o f Hungary ,102 .

Me rcurinus, 46.

M ichae l Ke llne r , 51 .

NURNBERG co uncil , 1 35.

PFIZ ER , Life o f, 29 .

Phil ip o f Hesse,1 2

, 50 ,

Pre ach ing a t A ugsburg, 51 .

Princes, fi rmnesso f, 86.

S CHNEPF, chaplain , 51S palat i n , 20 ,

2 1

S ultan S o l iman , 9 .

Swab ach , I 5,

Sybilla o f C leves, 2 1 .

TETRAPOLITANA ,1 2 1 .

To rgau A rt icl es, I 5.

Turks, 10

U RBANUS RHE GIU S , 50.

VEIT ,DIETRICH,

29 .

Vincent iusPimpin e l l i , 83 .

Visitsto Luthe r, 68 .

W E IMAR , 2 1 .

W e nceslausLink , 63 .

W i tt e nbe rg, I4 .

W o rms, e dict o f, 1 6.

ZW ICKAU , 1 7 .

LUTHER AT COBURG.

C HA P T E R I .

FR OM THE [fl i P E R /A L P R OCL AZLIA’

IYON FOR

THE D IE T OF A U GS B UR G TO THE A R R Z VA L

OF L U T/JE R [N COB UA’G .

(JANUARY 1 TO A PRIL 1 6,

OBU RG CASTLE— at the present t ime

designated as The Fortress ”— i s o ne

o f the most i nteresti ng and beauti fu l remains

Of the M iddle A ges which have escaped thedesolati ons of war and the corroding tooth

Of time . I t i s s i tuated on an eminence a

short d i s tance east of the ci ty o f Coburg,

and from its towers i t fu rni shes to the lover

o f natu re a V i ew of the most enchantinglandscape for m i les around . I t i s especial ly

memorable from the fact that it was here that

Luther l ived for s ix months du ring the ses

s i on o f the Diet o f Augsbu rg .

6 LUTHER AT COBURG .

The O ldest records da te i ts erecti on as farback as A . D . 99 1 , and for four hu ndred years

i t was the pri ncely res idence o f many Germanru l ers

,some o f whom improved i t by vari ou s

extens ive and costly addit i ons;but for manyyears i t was suffered to fal l i nto decay . In

1 547 , Duke Ernest bu i l t another castl e , whi chhe ca l led “Ehrenberg

,i n the c ity

,and the

O l d fortress was used as a pri son and a warehouse o f cast - off fu rn i tu re and other usel es sarti cles . The beauti fu l s cu lptu re in wood and

the splendid wainscoted cei l i ngs were cover

ed wi th whi tewash and had i n part fal len

down;the m agn ifice n t ly- o rame nt e d doors

were hanging loose o n the i r h inges;th eri ch col le cti on o f armor— Of great h i stori cal

valu e—was corroded with rust and throwncareles sly i n damp vau lts so that everythi ng

was o n the fast road to destructi on .

In 1 837 the enl ightened duke Ernest determ ined to restore the o ld castl e to i ts former

S plendor, and employed the best arti sts of

Germany to execute the work;and now thean ci ent hal l s are exhibited to the admi ri ng

beholder i n the i r primi tive grandeu r. The

duke was especial ly des i rou s that Lu ther’s



ruffl ed calmness gl i stened i n h i s eye,i n the

k ind - hearted tenderness o r the severe earnest

ness of h i s language he was always the samei denti cal Luther Luther enti re ly as Lu

ther ” - the man cast from o n e mou ld,the

thoroughly original c/zqm cz‘er

,glorified by

the d ivine l u stre Of fai th,and borne up

i

and pervaded by the Spi ri t o f God . Thus

Luther appears i n Coburg .

Bu t before we tu rn to Luthe r i n Coburgdu ri ng the meeting o f the Diet

,we must give

a bri ef narrative o f the state o f the t imes and

o f the preparati ons for the Diet,i ncl ud ing Lu

the r’

sj ou rney to that place .

At the end o f the year 1 529 and the begin

n i ng o f 1 530,Protestanti sm was i n a very

depressed and peri lou s condi t i on .

Charles V'

. had secu red peace in al l coun

tri es e i ther by force o f arms or by d iplomacy .

H i s d ifficu lt i es wi th Italy were happi ly adj usted bythe Peace o f Cambray i n August, 1 529 .

The hands o f Franci s I . o f France were ti ed ,and for the present he was rendered power

l ess to prosecute any warl ike enterpri se

against the emperor i n Spain ,i n the Nether

lands O r on the “ Rh ine .

’

In vain had the

LUTHER AT COBURG . 9

Turks under Sultan Sol iman bes i eged Vienna

from the 26th of September to the 14 th o f

October,1 529 ,

and they were driven back t oH ungary . With Pope Clement VII .

,Charles

had concl uded a peace on June 29 ,1 529 .

In B ologna the emperor and pope,s i nce

November 5,1 529 ,

had occupied two adj o in

i ng houses,which were un ited b v a door

through the i nteri or,and both ru lers had

keys which unlocked i t . In immediate and

undi stu rbed intercourse with each other,a l l

thei r former di fferences were adj usted and al lthe i r measu res of Church and State agai nst

the Protestants were here secretly concocted .

Ho w cou ld ci rcumstances have been more

favorab l e to tu rn the rel igi ous affai rs of Germany to the advantage of the empi re and o f

pOpe ry ! Yet there wasdanger i n delay . The

evangel i cal States had ass umed a pos i tive

stand at Speyer on Apri l 1 9 ,1 529 ,

and thei r

meetings i n Saal feld,Rotach

, S chla iz , S wa

bach and S chma lka ld,toward the end of the

year and i n the beginning o f 1 530 ,

‘ betokened a comb ination of effort s and of i nterests .Under these c ircumstances

,Charles hasten

ed to adopt measu res adapted to se ttl e.

the

IO LUTHER AT COBURG .

rel igiou s difficu lti es which exi sted,and which

threatened the peace of the empi re and the

uni ty o f the Church . In the Peace o f B ar

celona h e obl igated h imself to make another

peaceable attempt immediately to bri ng backthe recu sants to the bosom o f the R om ish

Chu rch;but i f th i s meas ure did not s ucceed ,then he wou ld employ force to avenge the

di shonor that had been heaped o n Chri st .

TO th i s end,o n January 2 1

,1 530 ,

at Bologna

,he proclaimed an imperial D IET to meet

at Augsburg . Again st an ce ennzenzfea/ C/znre/z

connez

’

! o n German so i l,Pope Clement had

prudently protested,fearing that too many

equ itable demands wou ld be made o f the

Church . The Diet was appointed for the 8 th

o f June . The emperor declared hi s i ntenti on

to be personal ly present,and ordered the

princes also to appear . The proclamati on

b reathed the most peacefu l sent iments . The

most important s ubj ects which were to becons idered were averti ng the da ngersz

‘

lzrea t

en ea’s/ t/ze Terri ’sand decid ing the

i

relzgz'

ons

co n froversz'

eswh ich d istracted the peopl e . In

reference to the latter,i t was express ly prom

i sed that the questi on shou ld be , How shal l


1 2 LUTHER AT COBURG .

the counsel lors o f the elector regarded the

mi ldness of the cal l as a sham fo r the pu rpose

o f enti ci ng the evangel i cal pri nces to Augsbu rg that they might be personal ly se ized

,

i f necessary . They advi sed the elector no t

to appear i n Augsbu rg . Others,among them

the e lecto ral pri nce John Frederi ck and Chan

ce l lo r B rii ck,also cal led Pontianu s

,were of a

di fferent op in ion,wh ich determined the de cis

io n Of th e elector . In a lette r to the emperor ,Wednesday

,March 2 3 ,

he sai d : “Agreeablyto the proclamati on of you r Imperial Maj esty

,

I have determined,as far as God the A lm ighty

grants me heal th,to be p resent at you r pro

posed Di et . At th e same time,he co ngra t

u la t e d the emperor U pon h i s co ronati on,o f

which he had rece ived noti ce the day before .

Th is occu rred at Bologna o n Feb . 24 ,1 530 ,

the th i rti eth bi rthday o f Charles,by the hand

o f the pope . At former coronati ons the e lecto rswere i nvi ted to attend

,and Ge rman knights

formed the escort . Phi l ip o f the Palat i nate

was the on ly German pri nce present,and he

was wi thout official d ign i ty on the occas ion,

and Anton io de Se iva,a Spa n ia rd ,

command

ed the G ernza n soldi e rs . Not G erma ny,then

LUTHER AT COBURG . 1 3

but Spa in and [fa ij / were the wi tnesses o f th i scoronati on O f a Germa n emperor. This was

evi dence enough of the deep chasm betweenthe emperor and the empi re . A wide andprofound abyss on account

.

of the gospe l

was Opened i n Germany,and d ivi ded i t i nto a

Cathol i c maj ority and a Protestant m inori ty.

Above al l th ings,i t was now the i n terest

o f th e elector O f Saxony to estab l i sh a safescrzf ia ra i bas i s fo r the ensu ing rel igi ou s n e

go t ia t io ns, and to arm h imself wi th effectiveweapons for ’a poss ib l e confl ict . At Speyerhe wi th others had declared : “We have de

t e rm ine d,with the grace and help of God

,to

adhere t o that which alone i s the word of

God and the holy gospel as i t i s contained in

the Old and New Testaments and which i s

purely preached,and to rej ect everyth ing

which opposes i t . For there i n,as the only

tru e and proper gu ide o f al l Chri stian doc

trine and conduct,no man can err;and he

who bu i lds thereon wi l l be secu re agai nst the

gates o f hel l,and before which al l h uman in

ve n t io nsmust fal l . To th i s principl e John

i/ze Consta n t desi red to be fai th fu l at A ugs

bu rg,and in accordance w ith i t he wou ld

2

I4 LUTHER AT COBURG .

j udge th e imperial propos iti on fo r un ion .

Everythi ng wh i ch agreed with i t was i n ad

vance sancti oned by h i s consc i ence,and that

which was contrary to i t wasalready rej ected .

In preparati on o f th i s emergency,he 1n

fo rmed hisWi ttenbergen theologians,Luther

,

Melanchthon,Jonas and Bugenhagen , o f the

i nvi tati on o f the emperor and o f the des ign

o f the D iet,and requested them to prepare a

s ummary of “ al l the art ic les i n d i spute con

cern i ng the fai th and other external Church

u sages,so that befo re the open ing o f the

Diet he might ful ly make up hi s m ind “ how

a nd to what extent he and othe r States who

have adopted the tru e faith cou ld properly

and consc ien t i o us ly negotiate upon these sub

j e ctswi thou t oppress ive vexat i on o n the part

o f the Opponents ,

” The theologians were o r

dered t o lay as ide al l other work ,and person

al ly to appear before him at Torgau,at the

latest o n March 20,with the resu l t o f the i r

consu ltati on .

When the el ecto ral s ummons arrived at

W i ttenberg,Jonas was absent on a tou r of

v is i tation . Luther wrote to h im to retu rn

immed iate ly,but not even wai ting for h im

,



Among other measu re s,mostly o f a secu lar

and admin i strat ive characte r,one i s special ly

worthy Of noti ce An order was i ss ued,that

du ring the sess i on i n Augsbu rg prayer wasto be offered i n all the pu lpi ts of the e lecto

rate for a happy i ss u e o f the D iet . In rel a

ti on to the reti nu e of the elector,i t was de

t e rm ine d that,bes ides Melanchthon

,Jonas and

th e cou rt - preacher,Spalatin

,Luther shou ld

al so accompany the e lector,but that unti l fu r

ther noti ce Luther was to remain at Cobu rg .

I t i s very evident why hi s e lectoral protect

o r d id not take h im with h im t o the D iet .

Luther was yet under the ban o f the ed ict

o f Worms (May ,It was thought that

being ab sent he could be o f more servi ce as

an advi se r,and that being present h i s impul

s ive and indepe nde n t‘

n a t ure might perhaps

d i stu rb the even cou rs e o f th i ngs . I t i s veryevi den t why Coburg was selected as the place

o f Luther’s res idence . It was s i tuated wi th i n

the el ectoral te rri to ry;i t affo rded perfect secu rity and i solati on , and , from its proximi ty

t o Augsb urg,faci l i tated frequent i ntercou rse

between h im and that ci ty .

I t was,plainly , hard for the fiery spi ri t of

LUTHER AT COBURG. 1 7

Luther to submit to thi s measu re . H i s veryfirst l etter to h i s fri end Nicolau s Hausman ,minister i n Zwickau

,gives evidence of h i s d i s

content . Al though sufficie n t ly aware o f themotives

,he sti l l says The prince has ordered

me to remain at Cobu rg whi lst the,

others go

to the Diet : I do not know why . Sti l l more

ardently d id the flame of h i s impati ence grad

ua lly burn on account of the subtlety of theopponents i n

.Augsburg and the t im id i ty o f

Melanchthon and o f hi s theological fri ends .If i t had been left t o . h im ,

he wou ld have has

tened t o Augsbu rg o n the wings o f the wind,

and,as i n Worms

,he would have stood up

before emperor,princes and prelates

,and have

thrown the weight o f hi s powerfu l word and

presence i n the scal e o f the dec is i on on the

fate o f the gospel he so ardently loved .

Al l th i s wi l l appear more disti nctly fromhis letters to be quoted hereafter . We wi l l

only add here what he wrote,o n the Satu r

day evening before h i s departu re from Wit

tenberg,to h i s fri end i n Zw i ckau and hi s co l

l eague Conrad Cordatus,upon the ensu ing

j ou rney : I am go ing with the prince as far

as Cobu rg, and at the C ame time wi th Phi l ipB

1 8 LUTHER AT COBURG.

and Jonas,unti l we know how things are go

i ng o n at Augsbu rg . Bu t yo u must takepains to have you r chu rch hearti ly pray for

the D iet . Farewel l i n the grace _ o f Chris t

and remember me i n you r suppl i ‘cati ons .

The lette r to Cordatu s concl udes wi th th i s

observati on : “ I hear that you are anxious to

be present at the D iet . Th i s I cannot advi se .

Fi rst,because I am not cal led to i t

,b ut that

I am t o accompany the pri nce only o n the

way with i n h i s terri tory,for certai n reasons .

Second,because I do n o t bel i eve that any

th ing wi l l be done there i n the work of the

gospel,for the princes are not so zealou s for

the gospel,but wi l l rather consu l t about the

affai r o f ~the Turks . “ Be content for the p res

ent;yo u wi l l get there at the proper time .

”

It i s evident from th i s that Luther had l i ttl e

hOpe o f the adj u stment o f the rel igi ou s diffi

cu lt iesby the Diet . But i t tu rned o ut better

than he feared . The providence o f God,th e

resol uti on o f the Protestant prin ces and States,

and the i nfluence of Luther i ts el f claimed the

tri umph o f evangel i cal tru th i n the confl i ct

wi th the emperor Charles and h i s spi ri tual

and secu lar confederates . The Diet at A ugs



there belonged to th i s reti nu e o f princes,

dukes and knights Prince Wolfgang o f A n

halt,Duke Franz o f Lunebu rg

,the counts

A lbert and Jobst of Mansfeld,Duke Ernst o f

G l e i chen and Lord von W inde lfe ls‘;o f theelectoral counsel lors

,there were Sebastia n

and Joach im Marschal l vo n Pappenheim,

Hans vo n M i nckw itz,Frederi ck vo n Thun

,

Hans vo n Weissenbach,Kunz G oszman and

Ewald vo n Brandenste i n;a l so the two chance llo rsDr . B riick and Dr . Bai er . Bes idesthes e

,there were seventy noblemen with

abou t o n e hundred and s ixty mounted ser

vants, al l armed wi th guns and clothed i nbrown - colored costume . As a theo logicalcounsel lo r

,Duke Albert o f Mansfel d took

M . John Agri cola of E i s l eben with h im . AtA l tenberg the e lecto ral court - preacher

,Spa l

ati n,was to JO l tl the reti n ue as s ecretary o f

the electo r . The e lector John had sent h i s

cou rt- marshal,Hans vo n Do lzigk ,

i n advance

t o the imperial h eadquarters . H e was commiss i oned to treat wi th the two counse l lors ofthe emperor

,the dukes of Weimar and Nas

sau,concerni ng the i nvesti tu re o f the electo r ,

as wel l as t he confirmati on o f the marriage


co ntract o f John Frederi ck with Sybi l l a of

Cleve and Iu l ich . Both of these demandsthe emperor had h itherto refused . Thi s re

fusa l wasfounded on Charles ’s d i spleasu re at

the elector and hi s son for favoring the new

doctri ne .

” Both were made to feel the weighto f the imperial d i ssati sfaction . By continu ingth i s refusal

,Charles hoped yet i n Augsbu rg

to shake the firmness of these men,hitherto

s o constan t i n the fai th .

“ The resu l t con

vinced him,however

,that Chri stian fidel i ty

and conscienti ou sness cou l d not be bought

by worldly advantage .

The j ourney of the elector and h i s ret inu e

from Torgau to Cobu rg,with variou s delays

,

consumed nearly fourteen days . They spent

the first n ight at Grimma . On Wednesday,

A pri l 6,John delayed i n A l tenberg

,from

which place Spalati n j oined the s u ite . On

Saturday,the 9 th ,

they arrived at Weima r.

The next day,Palm Sunday

,the electo r

,with

John Frederi ck,Franz von Luneberg and

others of h i s dis tingu i shed attendants, par

took o f the Lord ’s Supper i n both kinds

(bread and wine) i n the c i ty chu rch . On

thi s occas ion,and at other t imes du ring


the i r soj ou rn in Weimar,Luther preached .

At vari o us other places du ring the j ourneyhe was cal led on t o perfo rm the same ser

vi ce . Final ly,o n th e 1 6th

,the Satu rday b e

fore Easter,they reached Coburg . H ere the

electo r wai ted to rece ive authenti c i nforma

t ion o f the place where the emperor then

was,and o f hi s arrival i n Augsbu rg . For

at that t ime only so much was known,that

the emperor had '

le ft Bologna o n February

22,and i ntended t o remain for some time i n

Mantua . From th i s i t i s evident that the

empe ror was i n no hu rry to r each Augsbu rg .

Bu t i t was soon e nough di sce rned that h e

pu rposely delayed , i n o rder thereby t o ao

compl i sh hisdes ign . Ho w far he s u cceeded

wi l l be made“

evi dent from the s ubsequent

narrati ve .



Diet at Augsbu rg,unti l h i s departu re

,at the

beginn i ng o f October !

I t wi l l be apprOpriate at th i s place t o present the general characteri s ti cs o f th i s pi ctu re

i n an outl i ne sketch .

He re,i n Cobu rg

,Luthe r labored

,prayed

and counsel led fo r half a year . During th i s

t im e the Protestant princes,in connecti on

wi th the evangel i cal c i ti es and the greatesttheologians of the day o n th e o ne s ide , and

the empero r,kings

,dukes

,l ords

,knights and

other i nfluential opponents of the Refo rmati on o n the other

,su rrounded with al l the

glory o f the Church and the realm ,i n th e

m i dst o f an assembly su ch as G e rmany had

n o t seen before n o r s ince , were exhibi t i ng the

rema rkable spectacle o f a sp i ri tual combat

fo r and agai nst the l iberty o f the gospe l and

o f consci ence . From hi s chamber i n thi s an

c ient abode o f princes and electors,i nvi s ibl e

as the sou l i s to the body,Luther gu ided

with the magneti c fo rce o f h i s spi ri t the

fri ends o f the gospel at Augsbu rg . H e i sthe counse l lo r

,comforter

,l eader o f princes

and theologians,the marshal of th e warri ors

fighti ng fo r G o d and Chri stI

w ith the sword


o f the gospel . Nothing was done o n the

part of the elector and hi s th eologians wi th

o ut first having heard Luther’s opini on . The

eyes and ears o f the Protestant parti c ipants

i n these transacti ons were tu rned to Luther .

In the m idst o f al l th i s he was unti ri ngly

active i n the cause of th e gospel i n another

sphere,and he sent forth a large number of

h i s immortal wri ti ngs . The most important

o f them,unquestionab ly

,IS h i s A a

’in on it ion to

t ire Clergy Asse rnolea’a t the D iet of A agsénrg‘

,

which had been sent to the p ress at Wittenberg early i n May . Thi s Adzn o n itio n repre

sents the eccles i asti cal [ errors and abuses

prevalent . They are powerfu l ly set forth,

and so fu l l of fai th and“

gospel Protes tanti sm

as to be wel l wor thy of studiou s perusal by uso f the present day. H i s Let ter to ! li e E lec

tor A lbert of M’ayence (July with the ap

pended expos i ti on o f Ps. i i .,and i ts appl i ca

ti on to the Diet and to the Oppos i ti on of themighty against the Lord and hi s ano inted

,i s

ri ch i n thought and a l ivi ng effus i on o f h i s

devotion to Chri st , and of h i s patri oti c efforts

against the mal ign influence of Rome overthe Chu rch and G e rma nv . ! uotati ons from


both these wri tings shal l be given at the appropria t e place ! He also wrote at Cobu rgh i s admi rab le S ermon on the E duca tion ofYo ungPersons, the sati ri cal E c/i o fron t Pur<ga tory,

a treat ise On t/ze Keys(the po we r,o f'

the Church to forgive and to retai n s i n) a nd

f asti/i ca tion ,an Extra ct from t/ze B o o/e on

M o nastic Vows,Fo rty [, a tin D iscourseso n Me

Pow er of tli e C/i urcn,Adnzon i tzon to di e S a c

ra in en t of t/ze B ody a nd B lo od of C/i rist,and

a most excel lent treati s e o n the qual ificati ons

o f a trans lato r o f the Holy S criptu res withthe ti tl e Letter on Tra nsla tion

,Tnoug/i ts o n

Priva te Mass,A nsw er to di e ! uestionsof two

Personsof Hig/i R a nk on M onastic Life a nd

tne l ifass,and many others .

And yet a ll th i s i s but a portion o f the

labors wh i ch the giganti c i ndustry o f Luther,

with pen i n hand,performed

,duri ng h i s so

j ou rn at Coburg,i n the servi ce o f the evan

ge l ica l Chu rch . The translati on o f the B ib l ewh ich he had begun o n the Wartbu rg

,and

conti nu ed through the year 1 52 1 , was nearly

fin i shed at Cobu rg .

H e n o t only rece ived a large number o f

documen ts fromvari o u s places,which were



quent wel l - i ntended vis i ts,as was the case

wi th some who had ascertai ned the place o f

h i s secl us i on . Of these v i s i ts we shal l speak

at the proper time .

Most of these letters are d i rected to the

el ecto r John,to Melanchthon

,Jonas

,Spalati n

“

and many other persons,and some to h i s

dear master Lady Kathari ne Luther i n VVit

tenberg .

” They al l “ b reathe ”— as Planck

says,i n contras t with th e tim id i ty of Me

lanc thon and of the othe r , theologians i n

Augsbu rg “ that un t e rrifie d and cheerfu l

cou rage which the weakest sp i ri t cannot o h

serve without admi ration,and cannot admi re

without bei ng fired and borne along with i t .”

A t the same time,some of these letters are

fu l l of i ncomparable wit , which shows that

Luther,amid t he peri l s fo r the gospel ’s sake

which threatened h im,and s uffering severe

bodi ly ai lmen ts , cou ld ve t , by un shaken con

fide nce i n God and prave r, maintain a seren ityo f S pi ri t whi ch astoni shes u s the more the l ess

i t could be expected;fo r at Coburg he alsoendured much phys ical su ffering

,as at VVa rt

burg . H e al so su ffe red from sleeplessness,

and several lette rs of M e lanchthon to Luther'

s


fa nzulus, the industri ou s Vei t Dietri ch ,are

fu l l of anxious inqu i ries concern ing th i s evi l .H e a lso complains frequently of to rmentingtoothache and affecti ons of the throat. But

,

above al l,he was almost constantly troub l ed

with ringi ng i n h i s ears and vertigo,for which

the electo r,through h i s private physmian ,

Dr .Caspar Linderman

,sent h im medic i ne .

H e regularly attended the preach ing of thecastle chaplain,

John Karg,often preached

h imself,frequently partook of the Lord ’s Sup

pe r,prayed di l igently

,amused h imsel f with

h i s l ute and sang for hi s encou ragement h is

celeb rated hymn,most probably w ritten here

,

“E i n ’ feste Bu rg i st u nser Gott.” To the

same end he made a col lecti on of beauti fu land appropriate Scripture passages and wrote

on the windows and doors certai n mottoes,

that h e might have them always i n v iew,

su ch as : “ I shal l not die,but l i ve and de

clare the works of the Lord;” “ I shal l l i e

down,and my s leep shal l be sweet;” “The

way of the u ngodly shal l peri sh .

” In order

to s ing them,he composed special tunes for

them . Bes ides thi s,he found recreati on i n

translating fEsop’

s Fables . Sometimes he3


descended from the castle i nto the town t oV i s i t the preacher John Lang and the knightVon Sternberg

,and d id not cons ider i t b e

neath h isdign i ty to amuse h imself occas i on

al ly with shooti ng wi th the b ow and arrow.

H e,however

,refused an invi tati on to a we d;

d ing,and sent i n stead to the young bri dal

couple a sal t—cel lar i n the shape o f a stag,

whi ch contai ne d a ducat,bes ides some in

stru cti on On three th ings which are expe

rie nce d i n marri ed l i fe— trouble and labor,

j oy and happiness,vexation and disappoint

m ent .The numerous letters to h i s wife

,h i s touch

i ng lamenta t i ons upon the death o f h i s father,

h is sympathy wi th the j oys and so rro ws'

o f h is

fri ends,hisso licitude for the Oppressed

,his

poeti cal,and yet simple

,l etters to h i s four

year- old son Hanschen Luther,

” breathingal l the overflowing affecti on o f a tender father

,

al l these and many more of h i s acts present

to u s an i nteresti ng V i ew o f the i nner l i fe o f

th i s remarkab l e man .

In a word,

“Luther,says Pfizer i n his

Life of Ma rt in Luther Luther i n Cobu rgi s a stupendous event . He who m they fear



but sti l l,a s/ee tcl i on a reduced sca le wil l fu r

n i sh u s wi th trai ts of characte r whi ch wi l l ex

c i te o ur most profound admi rati on . Such a

sketch al one have we room to present,and

that shal l be drawn from h is wri tingsand letters to vari ou s persons as they have b’tee n

publ i shed . Bes ides thes e,i t wi l l be ne ces

sary to have constantly i n view the progress

o f events at A ugsbu rg . Fo r,as the h i story

o f the D ie t cannot be properly understoodd isconnected from the h i story of Luther i n

Coburg,so

,o n the other hand

,does Luther

i n Cobu rgappear only i n i ts proper l ightthrough the D iet at Augsbu rg . The h i story

o f the D iet forms the background and the

accessori e s fo r the pictu re of Luther at C0

burg . We'

shal l therefo re introdu ce al l the

events occu rri ng there which wi l l contrib ute

to a fu l l u nderstanding and apprec i ati on o f

the pri nc ipal figure i n o u r sketch .

As Luther had frequently preached whi l eo n the j ou rney t o Coburg

,he conti n ued to

perform the same servi ce du ring the soj ou rn

o f th e el ector with h i s ret inu e at that

A l l these se rmo nsw e re publ ishe d . S e e Kraft ’sC o lle ct io n , e tc .

LUTHER AT COBURG. 33

Before the el ector l eft,Luther wrote the

fol lowing letter to h i s fri end Hau sman at

Zwi ckau o n Apri l 1 8 : Grace and peace inChri s t

,my dear Hausman ! I have Spoken

with Marti n S augn e r and told h im everyth ing

,as he wi l l i nform yo u . Bes ides

,please

t el l o ur Cordatu s that we are sti l l here i n a

state o f i nactivi ty,and do not know when we

shal l l eave . Yesterday a messenger came

with let ters , from which we learn that the

emperor sti l l delays in Mantua and wi l l spend

Easter there . It i s also sa id that the papistsare emp l oying all means to prevent the Di et

,

because they fear that measu res i nj u ri ou s t o

the i r i nterests m ight be adopted . Further,

that the pope i s i ndignant at the emperor

because the latter i s m ingl ing wi th spi ri tualaffai rs and wi sh ing t o j o i n the party again st

the pope;for he had fondly thought theemperor would be only hi s constable against

the hereti cs,and b ri ng back everyth ing to the

o ld conditi on . For they wi l l change noth ing

and yi eld noth ing;nor wi l l they consent t oan i nvestigation , but only that we shal l b ej udged and condemned and they restored

t o thei r former state . But thus they wi l l be0

I.


pu t down and utterly come t o naugh t . The

ungo d lv must - b e bl inded when they are des

ti ned t o destru cti on . Some o f them even

bel i eve that the D iet wi l l fail,and that noth

ingwi l l come ou t o f i t . The pri nce has

ordered m e to remai n at Cobu rg whi l st ‘therest go t o the Di et . I do n o t know why

Thu s everyth ing i s very uncertain from o n e

day t o the other .”

According t o th i s l ette r,news came t o

Cobu rg that the emperor was soj ou rn ing i nMantua

,where he had already been for some

time . Bes ides th i s,the e lector rece ived a

lette r‘

from the emperor,dated at Mantua

,

Apri l 8 . In i t he excu ses the postponement

o f h i s arrival i n Augsbu rg o n the ground o f

h i s coronati on and the necessary adj u stment

o f Ital ian affai rs . As soon as the latter weresettled

,he (the emperor)wou ld hasten toAugs

bu rg by way o f Innspruck ,and Wou ld there

give counse l concern ing the duti es and affai rs

o f the German peopl e , as i t was stated i n theproclamati on o f the D iet . If the e lecto r

shou ld n o t yet be o n the way,he need no t

start o n the j ou rney,but make such arrange

ments to be ‘ i n Augsbu rg at the end o f th is



ly reached o ur Sinai,my dearest Ph i l ip

,but

we wi l l make a Zion ou t of th i s S inai and

here bu i l d three tabernacles— one to the Psa lter

,o ne to the Prophets and one t o

;zZE S Op;

but th i s last one i s a world ly affai r . The place

i s i ndeed a very pleasan t one and favorable tostudy;only you r absence makes i t sad . I

am beginn ing _ to be extremely i ndignant at

the Turks and Mahomet,because I must be

a wi tnes s o f that i ntol erable ragi ng o f Satan

agai nst body and sou l . H ence I wi l l - most

fervently pray unti l my cry shal l be heard i n

heaven . I pray Chri s t t o grant yo urefreshing sleep

,and that yo u may be dc l iv

ered from painfu l anx1e t ies— that i s,from the

fie ry darts o f Satan . Amen ! I am writi ngth i s fo r pastime

,for I have not yet received

my chest contain i ng my papers and other

th ings,nor have I yet seen e i the r o f the two

caste l lan s . In other respects noth ing iswant

i ng i n my sol i tary res idence . The large wingproj ecting from the castl e has been prepared

for me,and I have the keys to al l the apart

m ents . I am told that more than th i rty men

are kept here,o f whom twelve guard the cas

tl e at n ight ahd two are posted o n each tower .


Bu t why shou ld I menti on thi s“

? Only b e

cau se I have nothing else to say . Salu te Doc

t o r Caspar and Magi ster Spalati n , etc . From

the Kingdom of B i rds, 3 o

’clock,Apri l 22

,

1 53o .

—MARTINUS LUTHER,D .

”

And yet how cheerfu l he cou ld be underthese ci rcumstances

,and how playful ly he

cou ld wri te,ab undan t lv appears from a letter

to Justus Jonas of the same date .

The same'

m at te r,though presented i n a

more l ively style,he communicates to hi s

“ tab l e companions at Wittenberg,and on

May 9 he wrote a s imi lar letter to Spalati n .

We shal l here quote the one to h i s fri ends at

Wi ttenberg !

“Grace and peace i n Chri st ! Dear s i rsand fri ends

,I have rece ived you r j o int letters

and properly cons i dered them . That you

may know the state of th ings here,I wi l l say

that I,Master Vei t and Cyriac are not going

to the Diet at Augsburg,but we are a t

tending another D iet Of a qu ite d i fferent

character.“There i s j ust under o ur window a smal l

grove,i n whi ch the jackdaws and the rooks

have opened a Diet . There i s su ch a riding

38 LUTHER AT COBURG.

to and fro,s u ch an i ncessant cawing day and

n i ght,as if ‘

theywere al l thorough ly , crazi ly

drunk;young and o ld cackle among each

other at s uch a rate that I wonder how the i r

vo ice and breath can hold o ut so long. I

shoul d l i ke to know whether any represe’

nta

t ivesof thi s nobi l i ty and kn ight- errantry com

pany have thus far appeared among yo u;fori t s eems to me as i f they had assembled herefrom al l ends o f the world .

“I have not yet seen thei r emperor, butthe i r nobles and heads o f great fami l i es float

and expand thei r tai l s constantly before o ur

eyes . They are not,i ndeed

,s umptuous ly

clothed,but s imply and i n o ne color—al l

al ike black and al l alike gray- eyed . They

al l s ing the same song i n the same tune,but

wi th a pleas ing d i fference o f pitch between

the young and the o ld,the l i ttl e and the big .

They do not envy the palaces and hal l s o f the

great,for thei r hal l i s arched by the wide and

beauti fu l h eavens,the i r floor i s the broad field

,

and wainscoted with green,flouri sh ing fol iage

and flowers,and the wall s extend to the ends

o f the earth . Neither are they sol i c i to u s

abou t horsesand carriages: they have wing



sumingeveryth ing o n earth and cackl ing fo rthe whol e world . M . L .

”

On May 2,fou r weeks after the departu re

from Torgau,the electo r

,with h i s reti nue

,

was i n s ight o f the towers o f Augsbu rg.

An immense concou rs e o f peopl e had gathe red when he

,the first o f al l the princes

,who

gradual ly arrived,made h i s entrance into

the ci ty . One hundred and s ixty o f hi s reti

nue were mounted o n splendid ly - capari soned

horses,and each man was armed . The bag

gage - wagons were drawn by o ne hundred

horses bes i des .

The elector remained i n Augsbu rg from

This“gro ve in which the co unci l o f j ackdawsandcrowswashe ld isa t the prese nt time supplante d by a vineyard and fruit - o rchard . B u t in the immediate vicinity o fthe fo rtressthe re still stand some ancient t re es, upo n whichthe impe rial deputies( the dawsand crows) whi ch so de eply inte reste d the R eve rend Mart in still ho l d the ir me e tingsand make wo nde rful spe e ches.During the Thi rty Ye ars’ W ar some o f Luther’sre l ics

we re sacrifi ce d . S ome mo tto esin hishandwrit ingare stil lprese rv e d in an o l d ruine d church in the n e ighbo rho o d , b u tthe ir authent i ci ty canno t b e assure d . A b ed o f Luthe r’sisstill shown , also a table wh ich issaid to have be en his. A

numbe r o f vesse lso f Luthe r’st ime are also exh ib ite d , b utnone which he himse lf used are extant a t that place .


May 2 to September 2 3 ,and h i s quarters

were the meeting - place of al l the evangel i cal

sympathizers wi th the Di et,and the poi nt

as i t were,a foun tai n— from whi ch proceeded

al l the heroi c deeds o f fai th which were e u

acted in that ci ty .

C H A P T E R I I I .

FR OM THE A R R I VAL OF E LE CTOR yOHNOF S AXON Y TO THE E N TR AN CE OF THE

E ZWPE R OR CHA RL E S V.

(MAY 2 To JUNE 1 8 ,

HE Diet of Augsbu rg was the theatre o fmomentous proceedings concerning fai th

and consc ience,and i ts grand res u l ts ai ded

a large po rti on of Chri stendom i n secu ri ng

and preservi ngthe most sacred possess i ons .I ts h i sto ry shows

,even to the present day,

how immensely important to the i nterests o f

the Protestant Church was the arrival o f the

e lector John o f, Saxony o n May 2,1 530 .

Thi s event opened the barri ers to the ensu i ngcontest for the prize of v ictory between th e

papal powers and the c ivi l despoti sm o n the

o ne hand,and the gospe l o n th e other . The

2d o f May gave the firs t s i gnal fo r th e begin

n ing o f the world - h i sto ri cal spectacl e whi ch

was exhibi te d to the eyes o f manki nd by the

emperor and the S tates .42



appearance o f the e lecto r i n connecti on with

the retarded arrival of the empero r. Slowly

the la tte r pu rsu ed h i s j ou rney from Mantua

to Tri ent,Innspruck a nd Muni ch . I n Inns

pruck he whi led away the time from May 4t o June 6

,and i t was only o n June 1 -5

—i the

e ven ing before the festival o f Corpus Chri sti,

s ix weeks later than the el ector— that he cel

e b ra t ed h i s magnificent entrance i nto Augsburg. H i s des ign was very evident : i t wast o embarrass the Protestant pri nces by an

o rder to take part i n the process i on o f th e

fest ival of Corpu s Chri st i,and thu s to pu t

thei r u ni ty and firmness t o a very dangerou s

t est . The pai nfu l waiti ng from week t o week

was i n i tse lf, i rrespective o f the great expense

wh ich i t occas ioned,calcu lated t o exhaust the

pati ence o f th e pri nces,and even to di sgu s t

them with the u nnecessari ly pro tracted arri

va l o f the emperor and the consequent post

po neme n t o f th e D iet . The expense o f l ivi ngi ncreased j u st i n proporti on as the princes

,

with thei r large ret i nues,and the deputie s

ar'

rived .

i

The e lector John alone pai d over

two thou sand gu i lde rs a week for h i s main

t enance,which was a large s um fo r those


times . The emperor was aware of al l th i s,

and presumed that these men wou ld be wi l l

i ng to do anyth ing t o grati fy h im if he would

only open the Diet and proceed to bus iness .But the i r firmness and perseverance far ex

ce e de d the hopes of the emperor“;and as

s i nce th e t ime of Joseph i t has often been

real ized i n the hi s tory o f the k ingdom of

God,

But as fo r you,ye though t evi l

against me,bu t God meant i t unto good;”

so i t was i n thi s case .

In the mean time,the pri ncely opponents

o f the Refo rmati on— as the el ecto r Joach imI . o f B randenbu rg

,Duke George of Saxony

and Duke Wi l l iam of Bavaria— hastened tothe emperor at Innspruck and cunn ingly

h inted to h im that the elector John was de

vi s i ng dangerous plans . An i rreparable lossalso occurred to the Protestants i n th i s interim . The only o n e o f the co unsel lo rs o f

the emperor who cheri shed feel i ngs favorable

to the Protestants,and whi ch he wou ld have

b rought with him to Augsburg,was h i s chan

ce llo r,the venerable cardinal Me rcurinusGat

t ina t a . Melanchthon ’s l etters from Augsbu rgare ful l of praise o f th i s great statesman . H e


th us wri tes t o Luthe r , May 2 2 ,upon the differ

ent Opin i ons whi ch contended for supremacywi th the empero r at Innspruck relative t o

proceedings agai ns t the Protestants : “There

are two Opposi ng vi ews among the imperia lcounsel lo rs . One party maintain s that wi thou t

fu rther ceremony he shou l d condemn o ur

cau se by an ed ict;the other holds that heS hou ld carefu l ly i nvestigate i t and reform the

abu ses i n the Chu rch . To th i s latter party

belongs the arch - chancel lo r Me rcurin us,a man

equal ly emi nen t as moderate,o f whom i t i s

sai d that,i n spi te o f h l S i nfirm heal th

,he

fol lowed the e mpero r i n the hOpe that through

h i s influence the affai rs o f the Chu rch might

be regu lated i n a becoming m anner . H e dec la re d that he wou ld not sancti on any meas

u res of force . ..He 18 reported to have said,

‘I n Worms i t was evident that forcible meas

u res do not accompl i sh the des ign .

’ For he

was i n the ret inu e and co unsel o f the emperor

al ready at Worms .”

Thus far Melanchthon;but at the verymoment when the emperor i ntended to l eave

Innspruck for Augsbu rg , and when he mostneeded such t

a Gamal i e l , Me rcurin usd i ed,at



t ime . H e di ed at Mansfeld o n May 29 . The

l ette rs o f Luther t o Link and Melanchthon

relative to th i s event are affecti ng evidences

o f the fi l i al reverence and love which the

great Reformer,i n the hei ght o f his

'

fame,sti l l

cheri shed for h i s father . They are remarkable contributi ons to the confirmation o f the

fact that he was both Chri st ian and man,i n

the most exal ted sense o f the words .

To th e same peri od belongs the fini sh ing

o f Tli e Ad in on itio n to tke Clergy. The manu

scr ipt had been sent t o the press at Wi tten

berg o n May 12;i n the begi nni ng o f June'

it

was ready for publ i cati on,and o n J une 1 1 the

e lecto ral pri nce John Frederi ck sent copi es t o

Innspruck to the cou rt marshal Vo n Do lzigk ,

who was to d istribute them among wel l - di sposed men . Fo r some time they were publ i clysold at the res idence o f the el ecto r

,but sub

sequently the sale wasproh ibi ted upon thecompla ints o f the opponents .

I n the mean t ime,Luther’s activi ty wasfre

quently i nterrupted by severe attacks o f s i ck

nes s,and also occas i onal ly by very agreeabl e

vi s i ts . One o f the most agreeable was that o f

a noble lady named A rgula vo n Grumbach .


She was o ne o f the warmes t adm irers o fLuther

cheri shed and ma i ntai ned h i s persecuted

fol lowers,wrote herse l f against the Un ivers i ty

o f Ingolstadt and exhorted vari ous pri nces to

firmness i n the Protestant doctrine . Jonas

wrote to Luther concern ing‘

he r,o n June 25

Good heavens ! how much ri cher and betteri s A rgu la von Grumbach than al l b i shops whoknow not God and are not known o f H im !The complaint

,also

,of Luther o n the per

seve ringsile nce o f h i s fri ends at Augsbu rgfo r the time , i s to be menti oned here . The

i ntense longing for i ntel l igence j u stified hi s

complaint . The uncertai nty o f the i r condi

t ion,and thei r multip l i ed labors— especial ly

Melanchthon ’s— explai n the i r protracted s i

l ence . Bes ides th i s,l etters ‘ were lost

,and

perhaps cou ri ers were unfaithfu l .

But how otherwise than favorable t o the

cau se o f the gospel cou ld that have beenwhich occurred du ring the s ix weeks before

the arrival of the emperor i n Augsbu rg ?Immediately afte r the entrance of the e lec

t o r John,he gratified the wishes o f those ci t

ize nsof Augsbu rg favorable to the gospel byordering Agri cola to preach - in the chu rch o f

5 D


the Dom inicans as we l l as i n St . Catharine’s .In th e latter the ce lebrated Urbanus R hegiuspreached

,who

,as the resu l t o f that sermon

,

was cal led as superi ntendent to Cel le by Duke

Ernes t o f Brunswi ck . He was a corresponden t o f Luther at the beginning o f the Diet

,

and o n h i s tou r to Cel l e he spent a whole daywith h im at Coburg

,and thu s wr

’

i tesi

' “On

my way t o Saxony,I spen t a whol e day wi th

Luther,the man o f G o d

,and I have never

had a more j oyou s time . No age has ever

produced a more powerfu l theol ogian . I have

always esteemed him most h igh ly,but n ow

my admirati on o f h im i s sti l l greater;fo r Ihave seen and heard what no pen can describe .

H i s books S how th e character o f h i s m ind

and heart;bu t when yo u see h im and hearh im talk conce rn ing d ivin e th ings with - the

spi ri t o f an apostl e, yo u wi l l say,

‘It i s tru e

what people say , that Luther i s a greater man

than any faultfinde r o r sophi s t i s able t o ap

pre ciat e .

Soon after,Phi l ip

,l andgrave o f H esse

,ar

rived a t Augsbu rg wi th a reti nu e of o ne hundred and twenty horsemen . He al so immediat e ly establ i shed Protestant worsh ip , and


52 LUTHER AT COBURG

do n o t al low them t o mingle fore i gn and use

l ess d isputati ons with the i r sermons . For

th i s reason i t Wou ld be very oppress ive i f we

were compel l ed t o forb i d them teach ing theword of God and the plai n truth . As al l .m e n are exposed t o great and dai ly peri l

,

against whi ch there i s no other help and con

solat i on than the word o f God,i t wou ld be

very dangerou s for u s,i n these times

,t o be

deprived o f the gospel . Inasmuch as We fear

God and venerate H i s word,we cannot co n

sent,with al l du e deference to h i s Maj esty

,

that the .pre achingshou ld be forbidden . Our

preachers dai ly and —di l i gently exhort the pe o

ple t o pray fo r the welfare o f al l Ch ri stendom,

and especially that God would,i n these per

i lo us t imes , grant grace t o h i s Maj esty as

the power ordained o f H eaven,and to el ec

tors,pri nces and States o f the empi re

,that

al l S piri tual and world ly affai rs may be s o

handled at th i s D i et as to promote the glory

o f God and universal peace and concordamong men .

The letter proceeds to give vari ou s other

reasons why the servi ce shou ld not b e i nte rrupted , and states the happy res ul ts o f tho


preach ing upon many hearers . “ It maintains

that not a word has been uttered by the

preachers that cou ld O ffend any one des i rou so f knowing the truth;that nothing - sedi ti ou s

o r blasphemous o r unchri stian o r against the

Cathol i c doctri ne ” has been taught . It de

plo resthe melancholy consequences o f pro

h ib it io n,and i n strong language S hows that

persi stence i n th i s pu rpose wou ld be an evi

dence that the emperor had prej udged thei r

cau se and condemned their doctri ne withou t

a hearing .

This letter had i ts des1re d e ffect,and fo r

the time the preach ing was contin ued . But,

as a formal proh ib i ti on was to be expected atthe arrival of the emperor

,the electo r sub

m it t e d the question not only to h i s the o logians and counsel lors i n Augsbu rg

,but also to

Luther i n Cobu rg,whether i t was thei r duty

as subj ects to yield to such a prohib i t i on,or

whether they wou ld be j uSt ifie d ,o n grounds

of consci ence,to d i sobey i t . The Opin ion o f

the j u ri sts , probably written by Chancel lo rB rii ck

,most decidedly favored the conti nu

ance of the preach ing , even in case of an im

perial prohibit i on . But the theologians,at


the head o f whom stood Melanchthon,re

garded the empero r as the civi l l ord o f th e

imperial c i ty,and were o f the Opin i on that

whi lst they might remonstrate,yet that they

were i n du ty bound t o s ubmi t t o hiswi l l i f

he forbade preach ing,no t only i n the churches

,

but even i n the i r o wn res i dences .

Luther also co inc i ded i n th i s Opi n ion,and

repl i ed to the el ecto r o n May 1 5 Concern

ing the questi on o f s ubmitti ng t o the empe

ro r,i f he shou ld des i re you r Grace to s i lence

you r preachers , my opin ion i s n o w ,as formerly

,

that he i s o ur maste r;the c i ty and al l a re hi s ,j u st prec i se ly as we shou ld not res is t you rE lectoral Grace i n Torgau

,where yo u a re

maste r,i f you should des i re o r order th i s o r

that to be done o r to be let alone . S t ill,I

should be pleased to see,i f i t were poss ib l e

,

that an attempt be made i n al l propri ety and

h umi l i ty to change the m ind o f h i s Imperial

Maj esty,and that he shou ld not fo rbid the

preaching o f the word u nheard , but ap

po int some o n e to hear how we preach . The

preach ing o f the pu re , unadu lterated word

should not be forb idden,for we have not pro

claimed anyth ing ih the least degree sed i ti o u s



and that he made zealou s efforts t o bri ngabou t a u ni on between th e Lutherans and

the S acramentarians , as Luther cal led the

Swi s s theologians . T he co l loqu i um which

the landgrave i nst i tu ted at Wartbu rg i n 1 529

had th i s obj ect l n V i ew,bu t i t d i d not

i

suc

ce ed . H e al so conti nued these exerti ons atAugsbu rg

,and was as anxi ous t o accompl i sh

th e Obj ect as the elector John,who adhered

t o th e true doctrine as taught by Luther,was

strenuously Opposed t o i t . The danger o f

d ivi s ion was great at that moment when

uni ty was so des i rable . Fo r th i s reason,

Melanchthon u rged Luther t o wri te t o the

landgrave t o bri ng h im over to the true

fai th and t o warn h im agai nst fel l owsh ip

wi th the Swi ss . Bu t before Melanchthon ’sl etter reached Luther he had wri tten o n e o f

h i s o wn suggesti on,dated May 20. In th i s

letter he argues the questi on vi gorous ly and

u rges th e landgrave to adopt the scri ptu ralV i ew;but i t di d not move h im from h is pos i ti ou

,and he conti nued h i s un i oni sti c e f

fo rts . Then Melanchthon , i n connecti on with

John B ran t z,

.o n e o f the m ost i nfluential ad

he re n tso f Luthe r and an imperia l deputy to


the counci l,wrote t o the landgrave and

endeavored to convince h1m o f the unscriptu ral character o f h i s exerti ons . Urbanu sR hegiusalso had a long intervi ew with him ,

by invi tati on o f the landgrave,and tri ed to

convince h im o f h i s error . The resu lt was

that.he subsequently s igned the Augsburg

Confess i on and became a powerfu l supporter

o f the cause . I t ‘ may be asked whether th i s

u nion o f both s ides would have occurred, i f

the emperor had not delayed h i s arrival so

l ong,thu s giving time for d i scuss i on and

n ego fi afi o n .

This i s the proper place to al l ude t o th e

most important subj ect connected with the

further prosecution o f the adai rs o f the

Diet : i t i s the Co nfession of Fa ith,founded

upon the Arti cles of Torgau,which was to

be publ i cly del ivered to the emperor. A l

ready,in Coburg

,Melanchthon

,i n consu lta

t io n'

with Luther,had wri tten an i ntroducti on

to i t,and o n the way to A ugsburg he had

elaborated the Arti cles themselves . But theconsci enti ous Melanchthon

,upon furthe r ex

amination,was not sati sfied with th i s first form

of hi s Apo logy,as he at first cal led the Con


fessio n,nor wi th that amendment and correct

ed review of i t whi ch the e lecto r had sent to

Luther fo r examinati on on May 1 1,although

Luther h imself had expressed h i s enti re ap

proval o f i t i n h i s reply o f May 1 5.

“ I

have,

” he writes t o the e l ector I have (read

the Apo logy of M . Ph i l ip . I t pleases me very

much,and I do not find anyth ing to improve

o r alte r i n 1t;ne i ther would i t become me todo i t

,fo r I cou ld not treat the subj ect so gen

t ly,May Chri st the Lord help t o produce

much and valuable fru i t from it,as we hope

and pray ! The A ugsbu rg Confess i on was

begu n and fin ished i n prayer .

Notwithstanding th i s approbation,Me lanch

thon contin ued to improve the Confes s i on i n

matter and arrangement,as he reports t o Ln

ther o n May 22 :“ I am dai ly improving the

Apology. The Arti cle o n Vows was much

t o o m eagre;I have taken i t o u t enti rely andsubsti tu ted o ne more extens ive and thoroughly e laborated . At present I am working at‘The Office o f the Keys .’ I wi sh you had

looked through the Arti cles o n Faith;i fthey

,i n you r

,j udgment

,were perfectly cor

rect,I wo u ld ' t re a t al l the rest j ust as I am



On thei r way th ey were everywhere received

with loyal demonstrat i ons o f variou s kinds .

They tarr i ed three days at Muni ch am id the

mos t bri l l iant fes tivi t i es,and on June 1 5 they

advanced toward Augsbu rg .

I t was after seven o ’clock i n the evening

o f th i s day that Cha l les— a t that time thi rty

years and S ix monthso f age— mounted on a

wh ite stal l i on o f Pol i sh breed,with h i s nu

me ro us reti n ue o f princes,prelates

,vassal s

,

pages,and domesti cs o f Span ish

,Flemi sh

,

Bohemian and German or1g i n,arri ved at the

Lech bridge,a few mi les from Augsbu rg .

The electors,pri nces and prelates who had

al ready assembled i n the c i ty rode o ut that

d i stance wi th thei r reti nu e to meet h im . The

papal legate Campeg1 also sal u ted h im andpronounced a bles s i ng upon h im . I n add i

t ion,the ci ty counci l

,c i tizens and clergy of

Augsbu rg had come o u t to greet h im wi th

every demonstrati on o f honor, and , thu s

su rrounded with al l the glory o f worldly

maj esty and eccles iast i cal protecti on,he

entered the c i ty,

first proceeding to the

cathedral,where so lemn h i gh mass was ce l

e b ra t ed,and then to h i s quarters i n the epi s


copal palace . Thi s pageantry,i t i s report

ed,continued unti l ten o ’clock at n igh t .

On th is same evening the empero r u rged

upon the electo r John,the margrave George

o f Brandenbu rg,the landgrave Phi l ip and

Duke Ernest o f Luneburg,the demand to

prohibi t preaching by thei r theologians,

and to parti cipate i n the process i on of Cor

pus Chri st i o n the next day . But before weproceed to thi s matter i t wi l l be proper here

to i ntroduce a number of letters of the elec

tor,o f Luther and Me lanchtho n

fwhich wi l l

i n general s erve To i l l ustrate the purpose of

o ur'

sketch Lutner in Co éurg. Bes i des otheri nteresting parti cu lars

,we learn from them

special ly the active sympathy o f the elector

and Melanchthon i n the condi ti on of Lu

the r’

s health,and how he reciprocated thi s

sympathy.

Immediately upon hi s a rrival at Augsburg,

Melanchthon writes to Vei t Dietri ch,i n C o

burg , on May 4 :“Yo u did m e a great favor

by giving me an account of the doctor’s con

di tion , and o f other matters . I am much6


concerned about the state of h i s sore leg and

h i s s leeplessness . You must take pains,by

rec it ing stori es and the u se of other means,

to prevent him from go ing to bed with hi s

m i nd excited abou t the events o f the, day,

although I wel l know that i t i s hard,by the

u se o f human means,to tranqu i l l ize h i s m ind

when i n a sta te o f exci tement . We shal l,i n

the mean time,betake ou rselves t o prayer i n

h i s behalf. . If o ur Luther i s restored to

heal th,al l wi l l go wel l again . We have the

best t o hope from the Diet . xPro b ab ly I

S hal l soon be wi th you,and bring with me

the Apo logy,fo r examinati on

,wh i ch i s to be

del ivered t o the empero r.

S imi lar“ l etters he frequently sent t o Die

tri ch . To Luther h imself he wrote , as men

t io ne d before,On May 22 :“We are al l

,in

cl udi ng the el ecto r,much concern ed abou t

you r health . Hence we pray God that Hewou ld preserve yo u for the gospel

’s sake .

We earnestly beg you“

to be ca refu l about

you r health . Dr . Caspar has sent to youby the elector’s messenger some medi cines

as ton ics for you r head and heart,for he

loves yo u dearly .

"



the gospel i s making good progress l n Lu

beck and Lii n e b urg, and that i t i s there openlyand fai thfu l ly preached .

From a letter o f Melanchthon t o Luther

o f May 1 1 we make the fol lowing ex tractsHereby you rece ive o u r Apo logy,

although,

more correctly,i t i s a Confession;for the em

pe ro r has no time t o hear extens ive d i scu s

s i ons . I have sai d everyth ing whi ch,as I

bel i eve,i s u sefu l and s uitable . Duke

George and Margrave Joach im have gone toInnspruck to see the emperor;they are therehold ing a Diet upon the subj ect o f sparing

o ur necks o r not . It i s not at al l doubted

that the emperor wi l l forb i d the Zwi ngl i an

theolog ians from preach ing . We presume

that,under the same pre text

,he wi l l al so for

b i d ou rs,as pub l i c ly preaches i n

the chu rch . What i s you r opin i on ? Shal l

we yi e ld when th e emperor demands i t ? For

my part,I have answered that we must s ub

mi t to the wi l l of the emperor,as we are

guests i n h i s c i ty. But o ur o ld man ”

(i t i s notcertai n t o whom Melanchthon here all udes)

A no the r name fo r Agrico la .


i s creating d ifficu lti es . I beg yo u to write

you r separate opin ion on a sheet of paper .”

Luther’s approbation of the Apo log and

hi s concurrence i n opi nion with Melanchthon

on the s ubj ect o f preaching i n Augsburg , havealready been expressed i n h i s letter t o the

e lector o f May 1 5.

Lu ther had negle cte d t o answer several o fMelanchthon

'

s letters,but o n May 1 2 he wrote

o ne from which we shal l make a few extracts .

After S peaking o f hi s engagements i n trans

lati ng the prophet Ezekie l he says : Bu t theoutward o ld man 13 becoming very fra i l . I

have fel t a roaring in my ears not unl ike

thunderclaps;and i f I had not ceased work immediately

,I shou ld have fainted

,which I cou ld

scarcely avo id during two days together. To

day i s the th i rd day that I have not been able

to read a s ingle syl lable . It cannot last long;the years are hasten ing o n . Gradual lythe ringing In my ears moderates

,after I have

u sed medici ne . Thi s i s the reason why I have

not answered you r l etters . The day on which

yours from Nurnberg came,I had an embassy

o f evi l sp i ri ts i n my chamber. I was al l alone,E


fo r Vei t and Cyriac had gone away . S atan

i n so far ga i ned the vi ctory that he chased me

o ut o f my roOm and compel led me to go i nto

company .

“But these are private affai rs;i n the ou ts i deworl d other events are occu rri ng

,whi ch yo u

report t o me . It appears that Eck i s beginn i ng another controversy . What el s e i s to

be done at the D iet ? The uncouth asses

bray so much abou t the important affai rs o fo ur chu rches;bu t l et them bray o n and

fai l . Maste r Joachim (Ca rhe rarius) has sentm e dry figs o r dates o r rai s i ns

,and has wri t

ten twice in Greek;but I , when I shal l haverecovered

,wi l l answer h im in Turki sh

,that he

may have something t o read wh ich he does

not u nderstand . Why doeshe wri te Greek t om e ? I wou l d write more

,bu t I am afrai d

that I wi l l provoke a n ew attack o f headache .

I b egyo u ,as wel l as al l o ur fri ends

,t o

be very carefu l o f you r health,and that you

do not,as I have done

,bri ng upon yourselves

s u ch attacks as I su ffer . Do not become

mu rderers o f you rse lves and then say that

G o d would ha ve i t s o . We also s erve Godby resti ng; and hence he wou ld have u s



portant matters,and o f the death o f h i s father .

Among other th ings he says o n June 2,1 530

Yesterday Hans R eyn ick o f Mansfeld

and George Romer,and to - day A rgu la vo n

S tauffe n,were here . As I see that th ese vi s i ts

are becoming too frequent,I have determ i ned

,

after the example o f you r Stromer,e i ther to

give o u t that I am not at home o r go - some

where el se fo r a day,s o that the report may

go abroad that I am no longer here . I b ego f yo u so to speak and wri te i n the futu re , so

that nobody may come here to hunt me up .

I want to be left alone and to keep your letters

secret .“We are to l d here that the D iet i s retro

grading,and wi l l be at l east postponed by the

cunn i ng and malevo lence o f the bi shops unti l

you shal l have spent everyth ing and be com

pe lle d to go home . It i s doubted whether

the elector o f Tri er and the Pfalz wi l l go to

the Di et . The emperor,who i s enti re ly unde r

the con tro l o f the papi sts,g ives al l sorts of

excuses for h i s tard iness i n not going to

Augsbu rg .

”

In a letter o f June 5 to Melan chthon he


complains bi tterly of the neglect of hi s fri ends

in Augsbu rg not wri ti ng to him as frequentlyas he thi nks they should

,and proceeds to say :

We have heard that the emperor has com

mande d the A ugsb urgprsto di sm i ss the merce nariesh i red by them ,

and to'

remove the

chains from the stre e tsfl< To - day HansR eymck writes that my dearly - beloved father

died on May 29 . This calamity has depressed

me much; and,although i t i s a source

o f consolation , as R eyn ick writes , that he

died in the fai th of the gospel,yet the event

has deeply agi tated me and cast a gloom over

my whol e sou l . I n o w enter upon thei nheri tance of the name

,so that I am now

almost become Luther Sen ior i n my fami ly .

”

On June 7 he wri tes

I see that you have al l resolved to lacer

ate me by your s i lence but,not to d i e u h

avenged,I hereby give you noti ce that I wi l l

rival you in s i lence;and i f i t i s of no co nse

qu e nce to you what I do , I wi l l prai se mv

Wittenbergers,who write to me three t imes a

The ci ty au th o ri t ies,in appreh ensio n o f a rio t

,had

,as

w asthe manne r o f that day,h ire d m en t o d e fe nd the cuy,

and had stre t ch e d chainsacrossthe stre e tsasbarricades.


week o n bus iness matters,to you r once .

B u t l must here stop,not to give you occa

s ion to be s i lent o n account o f my much

scribbl ing .

My wife writes me that the E lbe has againri sen h igh

,although there has been no rain .

H i gh water i s a prognosti c of a great calamity .

”

We wi l l take th i s occas i on to say i n rela

ti on to the vz’

sz'

z‘sseveral times al l uded to that

,

bes ides A rgu la vo n S tauffe n, U rbanu s Rhe

gi u s,Hans R eyn ick e and George Romer, the

fol lowing- named persons also vi s i ted h im du r

ing th i s peri od : The merchant Cyriacuso f

Mansfeld,h i s s i ster’sson;h i s brother j acob;

Caspar Mul le r,a counsel lo r o f Mansfeld;Peter

Wel le r,a legal fri end of h is from Wittenberg;

Caspar Aqu i la o f Saalfeld;and the cel eb ra t e d Marti n B uce r

,whose vi s i t wi l l be

spoken o f hereafter . These few/pe rso nsof

d i s t incti on alone are here ment i oned . B e

s i des these,there was a large number o f

i d lers and cu ri o us people,who exceedingly

annoyed h im .

Thi s i s the proper place to menti on T/ze

Admozzz

’

z‘z

’

on to fi zz Clergy,which he wrote at

Coburg . After an introducti on,i t treats , i n


C HA PT E R Iv.

FR OM THE E N TR AN CE OF THE E ZVP E R OR

CHA R LE S IN TO A U G S B UR G TO THE FIR S T

TR AN SA C TI OA’S OF THE OP P ONE N TS COAT

CE RN ZN G THE A UG S B UR G CONFE S S J OZV.

(FROM THE 1 5th TO THE 30th OF JUNE,

S the arrival o f the el ector o f Saxony inAugsbu rg o n May 2 was the firs t s ign

o f the beginn ing o f the great spectacl e , so

the entrance o f the emperor was the ro l l i ng

up o f the cu rtai n . The prelude,however

,

endured - from the even ing o f June 1 5 t o the

24 th, the dayo f the del ivery and reading o f

the Augsbu rg Confess i on . Parti cu larly im

portant during thi s t ime were the events o c

curring from the evening o f the 1 5th t o the

2o th o f June .

When the emperor,after the h igh mass in

the cathedral,had repai red to the episcopal

palace,and the other members of h i s reti nu e

had ri dden to thei r quarters , he detained the72


elector John,the landgrave Ph i l ip

,the mar

grave George of Brandenbu rg and DukeErnest o f Lunebu rg

,and

,as he was not

su fficiently fami l iar wi th the German language

,he through h i s brother Ferdinand

strenuous ly i ns i sted upon thei r prohib iti on‘

o f preaching,and upon the i r parti c ipation i n

the process i on o f Corpus Chri sti,on the fol

lowing day . They promptly rej ected both

proposi ti ons with a resolu teness that was re

markab l e . The val iant margrave Georgeupon the spot repl i ed i n the wel l - known

words,Before I consent to be deprived of

the word o f God and deny H im,I would

kneel down and al low my head to be cu t

o ff.”

The emperor,who caught the mean ing of

these words from the moti on o f the mar

grave’s hand across hi s neck

,repl ied

,i n hi s

Low Netherland dialect,

“Dear prince,not

head o ff,not head o ff !

”

Simi lar cou rage was di splayed by the land

grave Phi lip . When Ferdinand said that the

emperor wou ld not permi t any preach ing,he

repl i ed,H i s Imperial Maj esty i s not lord and

master o f men ’s consci ences .

4 LUTHER AT COBURG.

I t was i n vai n that the emperor agai n sum

moued the elector to him at e leven o ’clock at

n ight;he excused h imse lf by saying he wascompel led to seek rest . It was i n vai n al so

that i n an intervi ew o f three ho urs’

n ext morn

ing he u rged the evangel i cal pri nces t o complywi th h i s request

,and through the Pfa lzgrave

Frederi ck he admoni shed them “that"

j ust as

the i r forefathers,as p iou s Chri stian pri nces

,

d id,so they also shou ld upho ld thi s act o f

worsh ip and appear in the process i on .

”U pon

th i s the margrave George first repl i ed i n the

name o f h i s fe l low - bel i evers,and then i n h i s

o wn name . He aga in based h i s remarks o nthe word

,al l uded to h i s constant submiss i on

to the house o f Au stri a and promi sed obedience i n al l th ings

,but ass umed that the gos

pel must be left untrammel l ed for h im .

The process i on o f Corpus Chri st i was con

ducted wi th great pomp through the streets

to the cathedral,the emperor himself carrying

a burning taper . But no electo r o f Saxonypreceded the emperor with a drawn sword

,as

was u sual on such occas i ons;none of theother evangel i cal States partic ipated in i t .

Even o f the ci tizens o f Augsbu rg,scarcely



cou rt - preache r, j ohn R u re r

,to preach on that

day in St . Cathari ne ’s chu rch . The reports

inform u s that an immense crowd o f peopl e

attended the servi ce .

On Saturday,June 1 8

,the agreement was

arrived at to su spend the preach ing o n both

s ides . The emperor alone was t o have the

power of appo int ingpreachers , who were ,however

,to

'

preach noth ing but,

the pu re

gospe l .”

In consequ e nce o f th i s,o n the

’

same even

i ng,an imperial herald , ami d a flouri sh of

trumpets,rode th rough the streets proclaim

ing,Hear

,hear

,hear ! H i s Imperial Maj

esty,ou r most graci ou s maste r

,hereby for

bi ds any preacher,whoever -he may be

,from

preach ing here i n Augsbu rg,excepting those

whom hi s Maj esty may appo int,upon pai n of

h i s Imperi al Maj esty ’s pun i shment and di s

pleasu re .

”

In i tsel f,th i s measu re was

,o f cou rse

,di s

advantageous to the Protestants;and yet , onthe other hand

,i t was favorable to them

,i n

so far that i t s i l enced the m ost vi olent of the i r

theologi cal Opponents . Among them were,

bes i des the celebrated profess or o f theol ogy


i n Ingolstadt,Dr . John Eck;John Faber,

court - preacher of King Ferdinand;JohnC o chlae us of Dresden , cou rt - preacher of

D uke George o f Saxony;Dr . Conrad Wimpina

,Rupert E lge rsma

,Wolfgang R e b dorfe r

and John Mensing ,—al l theologians fromthe Un ivers i ty of Frankfo ft - o n - the - Oder

,and

brought t o Augsbu rg by the e lector Joach imI . of Brandenbu rg . The preachers appoin ted

by the emperor were o f s uch a character as

the elector represented i n a letter to Luther

o f June 25 We are told that the preachers

selected by the emperor i n general do noth ing

more than read the text o f the gospe l ,’

a nd

that what they teach i s ch ild ish‘a nd i rrelevant

stuff. Thus our God must keep s i lent at thi sDiet . We must not

,however

,attribute al l

the blame to ou r pi ous emperor but rather too ur enemies and the clergy who are st re nuo usly opposed to u s .

”

John Bren tz reports t o Ise nman i n Hal l,on

June 19 ,thus

,i n a postscript to h i s l etter '

After I had wri tten the above I hu rri ed to thechurch to hear what the n ew preacher wou ld

have t o say . I stood l i sten ing attentively;but,besides the text

,I heard noth ing b u t the gen


e ral prayer for the l ivi ng and the dead,and the

whol e servi ce was concluded with a reci tation

o f the Cre ed . There yo u have a preacher

who i s ne i ther evangel i cal nor papal,but only

a mere text - reader . Everybody laughs atth i s performance

,and

,real ly

,i t i s a very

laughable affai r when you see i t with you r

o wn eyes . But,to depict the enti re mode

o f these servi ces,Brentz adds : “After th i s

s ervi ce wh ich they cal l preach ing,they pro

o ecd to perform the m assfa t which King Fer

d inand with several princes i s present;fo r theemperor us ual ly sleeps ti l l n i ne or ten o ’clock

,

and holds h i s mass long afte rx

the others . On

thi s occas i on there i s s inging,organ—playing ,

attended by a crowd o f people . You see

French,Span i sh

,negroes - even negro women

—Ital ians,Turks;and thu s we here l ive i n

the m i dst o f people o f al l nati ons . G o d grant

that we were far removed from thi s characte r

o f pe Ople !”

Thi s was the state o f th ings i n Augsburgunt i l J une 19 ,

and during al l th i s t ime o u r

Luther i n Cobu rg . H e sti l l su ffered from a t

tacks,as h e cal l s them “not ringing ,

” but“ thundering —in h i s head . But

,n o twith



yet these l etters contai n many p i ou s wi shesfor the emperor

,

“ that piou s noble b loodCarol u s who i s a sheep among wolves

,

and whom hi s pretended fri ends have brought“ i nto troub l e and sorrow .

” They a re a l so

fu l l of earnest entreati es i n behalf o f the

e lecto r and inqu i ries concern ing h im and

other persons and the Diet .

H e also reports progress i n the work o f

translat ion and descri bes h i s o wn phys i calcondi ti on . He wri tes to two brothers studying i n Wittenberg— Pete r and Jerome Wel lerwho occupied h i s own house

,and who had

undertaken the train ing of h i s l i ttl e son John,

now fou r years o f age . It was at th i s t ime

that he wrote that letter to th i s boy wh ich

has been so often printed,and which i s re

garded as a mode l o f a father’s epi stl e t o a

I n the mean time,the fri ends at Augsbu rg

had wri tten to h im . Bes ides conveying thei nformati on o f the arrival o f the emperor and

of the firmness of the electo r,they also ex

S e e Lu l/zer’syozzmzeys, p . 293 .


press the deepest so l i ci tude i n h is wel l -b e ingand apologies fo r thei r s i lence . He rece ivedt hese communicati ons on June 19 ,

the day o n

which he had wri tten to h i s fri ends i n Witten

berg and other - places . In h i s rep ly to Jonas

o n Mo nday/ June 20,he rej oi ces! over the

steadfastness o f the elector,and of Jonas h im

self. He recogn izes there i n the resu lt of h i sunceas ing prayer. He complains that Melanchtho n su ffers h imself to be annoyed by

his own thoughts and fears,enti rely forge t

ti ng that the cause i s in the hands o f H i mwho sai d

,No o ne shal l pl uck you o ut o f

my hands . But toward the end he says“Chri st l ives

,and we shal l also l ive even

when we shal l have d ied;and even when weare dead

,He wi l l care for o ur fami l i es . If

I should be cal led to go to Augsbu rg,I

would doubtless go,Chri s t wi l l ing;but I am

cons ideri ng with mysel f i f I shou ld not fo l

lo w my o wn wil l and go withou t being cal l

ed .

” From th i s we observe ho w i ntensely

he longed to hasten to Augsbu rg and toappear before the emperor and the assembled States as he d id a t Worms with h i s

Here I stand;I cannot do otherwi se . GodF


help me ! Amen H e also wrote o n the

same day to Ph i l ip S cha pf,the cou rt- preach

er o f the landgrave Phi l ip,and expresses h i s

h igh gratificat ion o f the arrival o f the land

grave at the D i et . i

Melanchthon reported to Lu ther o n June

19 that the emperor h imself was conci l i atory

t o the h ighest degree: Duke Henry o f

B ru nswick had assu red him that the em

pe ro r always Opposed o r moderated severemeasu res proposed by the enemies o f the

gospel,that the archbi shop o f Mainz and

the duke o f Brunswick were to some degree concerned i n the i r behalf

,but

,o n the

other hand,that the Bavarian dukes were

deci dedly i n imi cal to them,and that the

papal legate Campegi was the au tho r o f

al l th e oppress i ve and persecuting measu res .

These letters had not yet reached the per

sons t o whom they were addressed when,on

Monday , ‘ June 20 , the D iet was opened i n

the counci l - hou se .

A rel igi ou s sol emn ity preceded the opening . In the process i on t o the cathedral the

e lector John,as chancel lo r

,carried the naked



the imperial th rone . The Di et was then

Opened .

The Pfa lzgrave Frederi ck del ivered a bri efopening di sco u rse i n the name o f the ’

empe

ro r. After thi s the imperial secretary,A lex

ander S chwei s s , i ntroduced the propos i ti ons

t o be submitted t o the Di et . Those relati ng

to what was cal led “The Rel igio us ! uestionrequ i red “that the numerou s complaints whi ch

the civi l o r Spi ri tual authori ti e s made against

each other respectively shou ld be submitted byboth parti es to , the emperor in the Latin and

German languages,who

,with the divine gu i d

ance,would seek

"

t o effect a sati sfactory adj u st

ment o f al l d ifficu l t i es . The propos i ti ons were

general ly expressed i n gentle terms . A l l a llusio n t o the Protestants and t o Luther was

wi se ly omi tted . The States thanked the em

pe ro r , through the e lector Joach im ,fo r hi s

attendance,and requ ested permiss i on t o make

Copi es o f the programme . At o ne o’

cl ock

the empero r,amid the same pompous di splay

,

rode back to the epi scopal palace .

On the same afternoon the el ecto r John

i nvi ted h i s Evangel i cal fel low - bel i evers to h i s

res idence,and earnest ly admoni shed them to


cl i ng unwaveri ngly to the cau se of God andthe pu re doctrine and to defend i t boldly ,and to al low no threats of the enemy to tempt

them to a den ial o f i t .

On Wednesday,June 2 2

,i t was determ i ned

,

o n the part of the evangel i cal s,nOt to con

sent tO '

anyacti on on the s ubj ect of the Turki sh troub les unti l the rel igi ou s questi on had

been settled . Even the Cathol i cs favored th i scou rse of the proceedings . The resu l t was

that the Protestants rece ived a command to

have the i r Arti cles o f Faith ready o n Fri day

afternoon,June 24 ,

at three O ’clock . They

asked for the postponement of a s ingle day,

but i t was den i ed .

Accord ingly,the evangel i cal pri nces

,the

deputi es of the imperial c it i es of Nurnberg

and Reutl ingen,and a large n umber o f l earned

men,among them twelve theologians

,assem

bled in the res idence Of the electo r fo r the

pu rpose of taking final counsel upon the Con

fessio n . After every Arti c le had been ap

proved by every o n e present,it wasresolved

that the emperor S hou ld be requested to al lowthe Confess i on to be read i n h ispresence b e

fore the assemb led Diet They then pro


ce e ded t o s i gn ing i t . Befo re they began,the

Saxon theo logian s candidly declared to the i r

sovere ign that i f he di d not stand by them,

they wou ld themselves appear before the em

pe ro r. B u t with the words ,“God forbid that

yo u should exclu de m e l I wi l l confes s Chri s t

wi th you,the e lecto r JOhn o f S axony took

the pen and s igned h i s name . Others fo l

l owed h im,su ch as the margrave George o f

Brandenberg,Duke John o f Lii n e b urg, Land

grave Ph i l ip o f H esse,the electoral pri nce

John Frederi ck o f Saxony,Duke Franci s O f

Liine b urgand Pri nce Wolfgang o f Anhal t .The latte r

,o n bei ng advi sed to cons ider wel l

what he was doing,seized the pen

,and

,wi th

the remarkabl e words o f hero i sm and fai th,

“ I have engaged in many a st i rrmgadventu refo r th e gratificat i on o f others : why S hou ld I

not,then

,when i t i s necessary

,i n honor o f

and i n obedien ce t o my Lord and Savi o u r

Jesu s Chri st,saddl e my hors e and by the sac

rifice Of my l ife hasten to re ce ive the crowno f glory i n the wo rld t o come ?” After thesewords he subscribed . The deputi e s from

Nurnb e rgz and Reu tl i ngen fol l owed h i s example .



the emperor postponed the heari ngof theevange l i cal Confess i on

,and requested that it

be del ivered to h im . But the elector and theother pri nces were more concerned about i tsbe ing read . If i t were del ivered withoutbe ingpubl i cly read , the Confess i on wou ldmost probably never have been heard o f

agai n;hence the Protestants in si sted upona hearing the fol lowi ng day . After a l ongconsu l tati on w i th King Ferdinand and the

other Cathol i c powers,the emperor consent

ed to hear i t read the next day i n h i s res i

dence . Thi s was extremely adverse t o the

wishes o f the Protestants,for the larges t

apartment i n the ep i scopal palace wou ld n o t

accommodate more than two hundred persons .

Yet they adapted themselves to‘ the ci rcum

stances,and grateful ly accepted the imperial

permi ss i on .

A nd thu s,o n June 25, 1 530,

o n the dayafter the festival o f St . John

,the heroi c fore

runner o f o ur.Lord , i n the afternoon , at four

o ’clock,th e Aug sbu rg Confess i on was read

before the emperor and numerou s Germancivi l and ecc les iasti cal d ign itari es i n the chap

e l o f the epi scopal palace . The empero


commanded that the Lati n Copy shou ld be

read . But the elector John reminded theemperor that they were assemb led o n Germanso i l

,and upon th i s he granted permi ss i on t o

have i t read i n German . Two hou rs were

occupi ed i n the reading;but Dr. ChristianBaier

,the younger of the two Chancel lors

,

read to the end i n a voi ce so l oud that the

multi tude of people i n the cou rtyard cou l d

hear every word . When the readi ng was

finished,the chancel lo r

,Dr. Bru ck

,del ivered

both original Copies to the empero r . I t i s

sai d that B rii ck used the fol lowing language

Most Graci ou s Emperor,th i s i s s uch a Con

fessio n against whi ch ,with God ’s help

,the

gates of hel l cannot prevai l . The emperor

took the copies;the German one he gave t othe elector of Mainz

,as the imperial arch

chancel lor,to be depos i ted i n the imperial

arch ives,and retai ned the Lati n copy for him

sel f,to be taken to B russel s for custody i n

the state arch ives .

Neither of these original Copies i s extant .Duke Alba took away the Lati n from Bru ssel s

,

and the fate of the German i s unknown . Butthe result remains . Gu ided by Melanchthon ’s

9o LUTHER AT COBURG .

hand and Luther’s S pi ri t,the evangel ical pow

ers and thei r theo logians had carefu l ly cherishe d the fru i t of a purified fai th and a reform

ed worsh ip . The bi rth - hou r o f the evangel i cal

Chu rch had now struck . A Confess i on incommon i s essent ial t o the characte r of

’the

Church : up to th i s t ime the Protestants had

no such common ba3 1s;from th i s time forthfai th i n the grace o f God through Chri st

,o r

j u stificati on,wh ich ensu es from faith i n the

redempti on “wrought by Chri st,

” was the

specia l bond o f al l Christi ans,and the word

o f God,as the only ru le o f al l Chri stian

fai th and practi ce,was the un iversa l bond

o f al l those who protested against the meri

t o rio usnesso f good works and the val i di ty

o f human ordi nances i n the Chu rch . In th i s

there was no d ifference of Opi ni on betweenJohn o f Saxony and Phi l ip o f Hesse

,o r

between Luther and Zwingl i .

They were o f o ne mind i n the essential s o f

the Confess ion,but they divi ded upon the “ i s

and “ s i gnifies” i n the Arti c l e of the Sacrament o f the Body and B l ood . Sti l l , the land

grave Philip‘signed i t . On the other hand

,



i s sai d i n a private conversati on t o have ex

pressed h i s wi sh that the sacrament shou ld

be admin i stered i n both ki nds,that cel ibacy

o f the priesthood shou ld be vol untary,and

that the mass shou ld be improved . H e wasal so wi l l i ng to all ow l iberty i n relati on to fast

i ng and other chu rch regu lati ons . But thato ne monk shou l d reform al l was destru ct ive

o f peace,and was not to be endured .

”

B i sh op Stadion of Augsbu rg also se t h imself agai nst the forc ible measu res of the Diet .

H e also reported that,notwithstand ing al l

thes e favorab l e s igns,Melanchthon wasdeep

ly dej ected , and was i ncl i ned , fo r the sake o f

peace,t o yie ld i n many points

,parti cu larly i n

respect to the au thori ty o f the bi shops . H ebegged Luther to wri te to Melanchthon o n

the s ubj ect,fo r he

,Luther

,

“was the chari ot

o f Is rael and the leade r thereof.” Me lanch

thon at the same time wrote several lette rs to

h im and to Vei t Dietri ch,i n whi ch he spoke

o f the del ivery of the Confess i on and of the

favorab l e feel i ng of the archbi shop Of Mai nz,

the b i shop o f Augsbu rg and the duke o f

Brunswick,aswe l l as of . the u nrelenting

enmity o f the e lector Joach im and of Duke


George . He al so complai ned of the melancho ly cond it i on i n whi ch he found himself

and from wh ich God alone could de l iver h im,

and implored Luther’s advi ce,wherei n there

might be some concess ion made to the oppo

neuts i n the A rti cles of Both Ki nds i n theSacraments

,Sacerdotal Cel ibacy and the Mass .

To Veit D ietri ch he wrote express ly that am id

the dangers by which they were su rrounded

i n Augsbu rg, noth ing was more i ndi spensablethan the counse l and consolation of Luther.The influence of Luther was everyth ing to

them;-if he should forsake them,i t cou ld

eas i ly be imag i ned to what d readfu l peri l s

they wou ld be exposed .

Luther,in hi s hum i l i ty

,had a qu ite di ffer

ent conception of h i s re lation to the tri umph

o f the gospel and of the excl us ive help of

God . Neither would he hear another word

of yieldi ng any farther,and i t was not poss i

b le fo r h i s mighty spi ri t to sympathize withthe t imidity and despondency of hi s fri end .

On the day after he had rece ived h i s letter he

wrote (June 29)“ I have received your Con

fessio n,and cannot comprehend ho w you


want to know wherei n we shal l yi eld to o ur

oppon ents . I t i s anoth er th ing with o ur elec

to r . I t i s h i s d uty to cons ider where in he

may yield if danger threatens h im . As faras I am concerned

,there has al ready been, t o o

much given up to them in the Confess i on;i f they rej ect that

,I do not see wherei n I

cou ld yi eld any more,unless I shal l before

see the i r grounds and clearer Scriptu re proof

than I have as yet seen . The matter engagesmy atten t i on day and night .

”

I revolve i t i n

mv mind;I d i spute with mysel f and bri ng upi n array the whole Scriptu res . The resu l t i s

that I am more and more convi nced of the

truth of o ur doctri ne , and I am there i n

strengthened every day , that I , with God’shelp

,wi l l not consent that anything more

shal l b e taken away from i t l et the co nse

que n cesb e what they may . After he hadm enti oned that thei r prayers for h im had

he lped to b reak the power of the evi l Spi ri twho had bu ffeted h im

,and that he no w was

i n good health,he proceeds to impart conso

lat ion to Melanchthon i n a styl e eminently

characteri stic.

In a postscript he adds that he d id not



pray . What an ardor,what a fai th

,i n his

words ! H e prayed so devoutly as o ne

shou ld speak wi th God;with such hopeand confidence as o ne who speakswith h i s

father. ‘I know,

’ sai d he,

‘that Thou a rt

o ur dear G o d and Father;hence I am certain that Thou wi lt destroy the persecutorso f Thy ch i ldren . I f Thou doest i t not

,th e

dange r i s Thine as wel l as ou rs,fo r the

who le cause i s Thine;what we have done ,that we were compel led t o do;and hence ,dear Father

,Thou must protect u s .

Vei t conti nues : When I heard him u tte r

these words i n praye r with a clear vo ice,my

heart l eape d i n me fo r j oy , because he so

strenuous ly pleaded the promises as i f he

Were certai n that everyth ing must occu r j u s t

as he des i red it . Hence I do not doubt that

h i s prayer wi l l be o f unspeakabl e servi ce i n

th i s lost cau se (as some apprehend) which i sto be cons i dered i n the Diet .”

Concern ing the impressi on wh ich the death

o f Luther’s father made upon him,and o f the

manner i n whi ch he consoled h imse lf by the

use o f the S criptu res,Ve i t had previ ou s ly

wri tten to Lu ther’s wi fe .

“ I beg you,

” says


he,that you wi l l not be u neasy abou t th e

docto r. He i s thank God ! wel l and i n goodS pi ri ts, and has now recovered from the b lowwhich h is father

’

s deat h gave him,although

at first i t was“

very severe . As soon as hesaw Hans R eyn ick

’

s letter he sai d to me,

‘My father i s dead .

’ He immediate ly tookup h i s psalte r

,went i nto h i s chamber

,and

there gri eved so excess ively that he was

qu i te unwel l al l next day . After that wasover

,he recovered hi s u sual composure .

”

Kathari ne sent the l ikeness o f o ne o f her

ch i ldren i n her letter o f condolence,wh ich

gratified h im beyond express i on .

9 G

C HA PTE R V .

FR OM THE FIR S T P R OCE E D IN GS OF THE

OP P ONE N TS TO THE TIME OF THE R E AD

IN G OF THE CA TH OLI C “ CONF U TA TI ON .

”

(FROM JUNE 1 TO AU G . 3 ,

UTHER had now been nearly three

months i n th e fortress o f Coburg,and

was compel led to remai n three month s

l onger.The detenti on had become almost in to le r

ably weari some . He ardently des i red,as

early as the middle o f Ju ly,that the elector

and h i s fri ends m ight be re leased from the

du ty o f remain ing at Augsbu rg,and that he

h imsel f m ight be pe rmitted to l eave Coburg .

When the Diet had reached its cu lm inati on

by the reading and del ivery of the Co nfes

s i on,he saw tha t h o thingmore was to be

expected,but the Di et dragged i ts s low

length along unti l November 19 . From

June 26 t o August 3 the“Confutati on o f

98


IOO LUTHER AT COBURG .

a Confutati on . By th i s partial act theorig i nal i ntention of the emperor t o hear

every man ’s opi ni on o f both parti es,

” and

thus,i f poss ible

,t o secu re a peacefu l means

o f reconci l iati on,was practi cal ly nu l l ified and

the com ing resu l t expres sed .

The Cathol i c theo logians had fin i shed thei r

task by the 1 3th o f Ju ly . It was,however

,

n o refutati on,but a long seri es of cal umni es

agai nst the i r Oppone nts,and hence

,i n the

j udgment of the emperor,was not fit to b e

brought before the assembly . So decided

was the d i spleasu re of the emperor with th i s

paper that,as Spalati n says

,

“he rumpled and

rol led i t s o vi ol ently that of two hundred and

e ighty leaves only twe lve remained whole .

In consequence o f a new order o f the empe

ror,the learned Domin ican Faber

,the cou rt

preacher o f Ferdi nand,und ertook another

refutation;and thu s the time passed unti lWednesday

,August 3 , when th i s Confuta

t i on was read in the same epi scopal chapel i n

whi ch the evangel i cal Confess i on had ach ieved

i ts bri l l iant tri umph on the 25th of June pre

vio usly. This i ntermediate time the empero r

employed i n forcing,i f pos s ibl e

,the electo r

LUTHER AT COBURG. O I

of Saxony to an apostasy from the gospel by

threateni ng the refusal o f the i nvestitu re so

long as he pers i s ted i n h i s di s loyalty to the

Romish Church . Charles also employed va

r io usmeasu res of questi onab le honesty i n a t

tempting to create di ssens i on between thedeputies from the imperi al ci ti es and th e

princes . But both attempts fai led . The elec

tor as wel l as the other subscribers to theConfess i on continued fai thfu l to the gospe l

,

and the delegates from the c iti es maintained

thei r previous relations to the princes .

Melanchthon was wel l aware of the pain

fu l anxi ety wi th which Luther i n Cobu rg

longed for i ntel l igence from A ugsbu rg . The

former also i n h i s timidi ty fel t the need of

Luther’s counsel,and i n h is dej ecti on the

need of hi s comfort . In a seri es of l etters t oVei t Dei tri ch and

'

to Luther,he communi cated

to him the most important events . Bes idesthat which we have j ust reported concern ing

the Confutati on and the steadfastness of the

Protestant States , Luther heard , through Me

la nctho n,that among the opponents of the

Confessi on the papal legate Campegi and9 9K

x 1 02 LUTHER AT COBURG .

Duke George o f Saxony were the most viol ent . On the other hand

,several o f the Cath

O l i c S tates were favorably di sposed . The

archbi shop o f Mainz had strenuous ly re com

mended peaceable measures,but he did n o t

s u cceed,and o n th i s account absented him

self from the Diet o n the next day . The

b i shop of A ugsb urgwaso f the same mind .

Especi al ly was the sz’

sz‘er of z‘lze emperor , z

‘

fie

w idow ed queen M a ria of Hunga ry,to be com

mended . She was a woman‘

of hero i c sp i ri t,

at the same time of d i s ti ngu i shed pi ety and

practi cal wi sdom,and tri ed t o win the favor

o f her brother i n behalf of the Protestants;o f cou rse she was ob l i ged to use great tactand di scretion i n the pursu i t of her des ign .

Melanchthon also stated that the cautiou sfriend of the Reformati on

,Erasmus

,i n a let

ter to the emperor,had hearti ly approved of

those Art icles wh ich were parti cu larly di scu ssed— the Sacrament i n Both Kinds

,Pri estly

Marriages and the Abol i ti on o f the P. iva t e

Masses;o n the other hand , that CE co lampad iushad wri tten against Luther;that Zwingl ihad sent i n

,a pri nted Confes s i on o f Fai th

wh ich proved that he was not o f sound mind ,



fu rther reports,when the pri nces requested a

copy o f i t,the emperor prom ised them o ne

o n the next day only upon the express co n

di ti on that i t shou ld no t be publ i shed no r

Copi ed . Al l th i s and h i s other communicat i ons

,i f not wi thout co nfidingprayer for

d ivme help,are yet accompani ed to a sti l l

greater extent wi th express i ons o f d i scou r

ageme n t and dej ection .

During the progres s o f these events and

reports from Augsbu rg,Luther conti nued t o

be as active i n h i s wri tings,prayers and co r

respondence am id much phys ical s ufferi ng as

he had been i n the preceding three months

o f hi s soj ou rn i n th e fortress .

Of hi s wri tings at th i s t ime,we must make

parti cu lar mention o f h i s Exposit ion of PS .

H e cou ld send copi es to the abbotFrederi ck i n Nurnberg

,to whom he dedi

cat e d i t,and to the poet Coben Hesse

,then

l iving i n Nurnberg,only on August 2 2

,

because the pri nters at Wittenberg had been

parti cu larly t ardy . H e ardently expressesh i s admi rat i on of this psalm,

and des ignatesi t as “ the beauti fu l Co nfi t em in i .

LUTHER AT COBURG . O5

He had scarcely fin i shed th i s when he com

m ence d the S ermon noon z‘li e Dznfy of Pa ren ts

to S ena’Z/i eir C/i i/ciren z

‘o S cho o l . Thi s i s one

o f the most capital treati ses of those times on

the general subj ect of school - trai n i ng and onthe necess i ty of universal education. It shows

clearly how far i n advance of h i s times Luther

was on that subje ct,which Prote stanti sm has

ever regarded as essential to the extens ion

and perpetuati on of the cause .

Abou t th i s t ime he also wrote Tnong/i z‘so n

Me Aoo/iz‘ion of Monasticism a nd of f/i e M ass

éy the Princes. C oe lest in reports that bothqueens—Anna

,the wi fe of Ferdinand

,and

Maria,the widowed queen o f H ungary

had asked questi ons of Luther relative to

these subj ects .Tli e R eca ll from Pa rga i‘ory i s dated Ju ly,

1 530 ,and Liesco ncern ingthe Keyswas wri t

ten wh i le the former was going through the

press . At the same time he expounded theo n e hundred and seventeenth psalm andd edicated i t to h i s patron o f Coburg

,the

knight Hans vo n Sternberg,from which

dedi cation we learn that Sternberg had madea pi lgrimage t o Jerusalem

,and that Luther

O6 LUTHER AT COBURG .

had l i stened to the narrative of h i s tou rwith supreme del ight .”

H i s severe and protracted labor upon theProphets o ccas i oned s uch vio lent - attacks o f

headache a nd exhaustion that he abandoned

the work temporari ly i n August . Only Ho

sea had been fin i shed duri ng some interval s

o f comparat ive exemption from s i ckness .

During the month o f J u ly h e wrote a large

n um b e r of letters to some o f the h ighes t

eccles iasti cal d ignitari es,t o

‘

the el ecto r and

to h i s fri ends,and yet

,am id al l these per

plexinglabors , he somet imes complains o f

want o f employment !Everyth ing connected with the Confes s i on

,

and a ll the s ubj ects wh i ch at that time emgaged the attent i on o f the Reformers

,we re

treated i n these l ette rs . He cheered them o n

i n the i r peri lo u s enterprise and an imated the

desponding . H e implored them to make nofu rther concess i ons

,but to stand by the tru th

unfl inchingly. H e thanks them for the i r sympathy

,but declares that the i r extreme anxi ety

about h i s health and the i r fears that he over

exerted h i s Strength were groundless .



and a comm i ss i on of s ixteen Cathol i c pri nces,

bi shops and deputi esmet together o n Satu r

day,August 6 .

Another important event occurred o n the

same day : i t was the sudden withdrawal Of

the landgrave Phi l ip o f Hesse . Against theexpress wi l l o f the empero r

,whose permi ss i on

he had requested,but had not obtai ned

,and

wi th out the knowledge o f hi s fe l l ow - bel i evers,

he left Augsbu rg o n August 6 and travel ledtoward home . H i s counci l l ors remained i nAugsbu rg . H e left behi nd him a lette r tothe elector of Saxony

,entreati ng him not to

depart from the word of God i n the l east de

gree , and declared that he was ready to sacrifice l i fe

,property

,coun try and subj ects fo r

i t .” As the ground of h i s departu re,he gave

the seri o u s s ickness of h iswife . The pre

s umpti on was that i n the present c i rcumstances

h e wou ld take no further part i n the Diet,and

held i t to be more adv i sab l e to prepare h imsel f for an armed defence o f the gospel . Anew turn was given to the condit i on o f th ings

by th i s unexpected event . The emperor cou ld

not but d iscern that the m easu re of h i s de

mands was fu l l . The di spleasu re at the im


perial requ i rement that the Protestants should

submit God ’s word and thei r consci ence to an

external power had reached its l i mits,and

outward obedience to the emperor was only

maintained by thei r conti nuance i n Augsbu rg.

They sti l l hoped that the emperor,agreeab ly

to h i s declarat i on i n the D iet that he “would

graciously hear the opin i ons o f both s ides,

would restore peace and unity . By the de ~parture of the landgrave th i s l im it was transcended .

There was o n e th ing yet whi ch might have

secured the desi red peace . At the meetingo f the commiss i on o n August 6 the b i shopo f Augsburg proposed that some importantprivi leges sh ou ld be granted to the Protestants

,or

,i n other words

,that some concess i o

’

ns

shou ld be made to them . This measure was

not approved,and no progress toward recon

ci l iati on was made . A new measure was nowadopted

,and a committee from both parti es

was appo inted to del iberate upon a method

Of secu ring unity o n i ndividual doctri nes and

usages . At the beginning,from A ugust 16 to

August 20,there were fou rteen— two pri nces

,

two lawyers,and three theologians from

1 0

I I O LUTHER AT COBURG .

each s ide . Melanchthon was the Protestant

S peaker,and Eck the Cathol i c . From the

24 th o f August the number was reduced t o

seven,and real ly i t n o w seemed as if an

agreement wou ld take place,as so manycon

cess i ons were made on both s ides .

But i t d i d n o t reach thi s i ss u e . On the

othe r hand,th ings took a qu ite d i fferent turn ,

which we can learn i n th e fewest words from

a lette r whi ch Luther wrote to Hau sman i nZwickau on September 2 3 Yo u have prob

ably al ready heard that certai n j udges , and

among them Melanchthon,were chosen to

consul t about secu ring uni ty i n d octri ne and

fai th . Bu t,as they could not agree

,they

agai n referred the matter to the emperor,and

they are now wai ti ngfor h i s dec i s i on , althoughi t wou ld appear from recent letters that they

have brought up other means o f reconci l i a

t i on,whi ch have not been communicated to

me . At the first meeting ou r opponents re

qu i red that we shou ld yi eld the private

masses,and also to retai n both canons with

the comments,and to u nderstand the word

sa crifice i n the sense of a commemorative med iat o ry offering;also that we shou ld agree


1 1 2 LUTHER AT COBURG .

Th i s was the condi ti on o f th ings i n the be

gi nn ing o f December between th e Cathol i cmaj ori ty

,headed by the emperor

,and the

Protestant m inori ty,l ed by the ele ctor John .

Bu t Luth er h imself contrib uted very mu cht o the fi rmness wi th whi ch the elector John

,

h i s chancel lo r B riick and Melanchthon— too

much i ncl i ned to concess i on—maintained the

rights o f the gospel . Special ly beau ti fu l andelevati ng i s the lette r wh i ch Luther wrote to

B rii ck already before the read ing of the Cath

ol i c Confutation,where in he seeks t o an imate

h im with confidence i n the help of God . It

i s dated August 5. We S hal l content o ur

selves wi th some extracts from it :“ I have written several t imes t o my gra

clou s ru ler,and to others o f o ur party

,that I

begi n to th ink I have overdone i t,especial ly

i n writ ing to h im as though I doubted that

God ’s comfort and h elp were enj oyed by h imi n a greater degree than by me . But I d id i tat the suggest ion o f several o f o ur fri ends

,

s ome o f whom are so dej ected and anxi ous asthough God had forgotten u s . Bu t He cannot forget u s : He must first forget H imsel f.In that case o ur cause wou ld not be H i s

LUTHER AT COBURG .

cau se,and ou r doctrine would not be

.

H i swo‘rd . But i f we are certain of i t

,and do not

doub t that i t i s H i s cause and word,then

most s urely i s ou r prayer heard and the help

we need i s a lre ady'

prepare d for u s . That

cannot fai l . For He says,

‘Can a woman for

get her su ck ing chi ld,that she shou ld n o t

have compass ion on the son o f her womb ?

Yea,She may forget

,yet wi l l I not forget

thee !“ I have recently witnessed two m iracles .

The fi rSt was when I was looking o ut of the

window . I beheld the stars i n the heavensand the whole beauti fu l vau lt o f God

,and yet

I nowhere saw pi l lars o n which the Bu i lderhad set thi s vau lt;and yet the heavens di d notfal l down and the vau lt sti l l stands unmoved .

Now,there are some who are looki ng for

p i l lars;and , as they cannot see them ,they

are trembl ing with fear that the heavens wi l l

certainly fall,and for no other reason than

that they cannot see the co l umns . If they

cou ld see them,then the heavens wou ld stand

and al l wou ld be plain enough .

The o the r'

was that I saw heavy,dark

clouds floating over us in s uch immenseH

I I4 LUTHER AT COBURG .

masses that th ey might be compared t o a

mighty ocean;and yet I saw n o foundati on

o n whi ch they cou ld rest,nor any vesse l i n

whi ch they cou l d be caught;and sti l l theyd id not fal l upon u s

,but sal uted us with an

angry look and d i spersed . When they had

departed,th e rai nbow beau ti fu l ly i l l uminated .

the base o n which the clou ds rested and the

vau lt above u s . The base and vau lt were so

fragi l e that they a lso melted away i n the

clou ds and seemed t o be rather a l ustrous

foam,as i f sh i ning through colored glass

,than

such an immense base,so as t o l ead o ne to

be as apprehens ive o f i t as o f the enormou sweight o f water. And yet the fact was thati t was the apparently i nfirm floating vapor

that susta ine d_the water and p rotected u s .

Yet there are some who pay more attenti on

t o,and have more fear o f

,the water and the

th i ck clouds and heavy weight than the l igh t

and th i n vapor,fo r they are anxi ou s to know

the su stain ing force Of s uch floati ng masses;and becau se they cannot do that

,they fear

that the cl ouds wi l l occas i on an everlasting

deluge .

”

H e proceeds to stimu late his fri ends t o


LUTHER AT COBURG .

with the Scriptu res—necessari ly broke up the

meeti ng o f the smal l committee o n August

3 1 , and the whole affai r was s ubmitted to

the deci s i on o f the emperor . From thi s time

forth there was noth ing more to expect from

the Di et . The Protestants had to be sati sfied

with th e fact that they had borne the i r te sti

mony to the fai th and to have aimed at se cur

i ng peace . They had come to hear whether

the opponents wou ld sancti on the i r doctri neso r not

,and had left i t to them to do as they

p l eas ed .

The deci s i on of the emperor cou ld be a n

t icipat e d ,and i t was not long i n coming . As

early as September 7 th e rumbl i ngs of th e

com ing sto rm were heard . The emperor had

i t proclaimed to the Protestants that he was

ready t o submi t the s ubj ect t o a generalcou nci l . The appeal to a general counci l

was adopted,and the emperor threatened

that,i n case o f d isobedience

,he wou ld ex

e rcise his au thori ty “as guardian and pro

tector o f the Church .

” Notwi thstanding ,the Protestants repl ied that they had never

swerved fromthe word o f God nor adopteda new ru l e o f fai th;that they were ready

LUTHER AT COBURG . 1 1 7

at any m oment to accept everyth ing whi ch

could be s ubstantiated by the Holy Scriptu res;that they cou ld not grant more

,and on th i s

ground i t was imposs ib le for them to enteri nto any further negotiati ons .Thus was accompl i shed on the Protestant

s ide what Luther had long wi shed for,and

what he thought was best i n a correct estimate O f the conditi on of things . But theemperor h imse lf b roke up al l further fello wship with them on September 2 2 . On

the eveni ng of that day he summoned the

evangel i cal pri nces and deputi es'

from the

c it i es to the epi scopal palace,and communi

ca t e d to them the proposal adopted by the

Cathol i c States to di sso lve the D iet . With

regard to the subj ect of rel igi on,

“ the elec

tor O f Saxony and the five pri nces and the

s ix ci ti es ” shou ld hold wi th the Chu rch al l

the A rt ioi esnot fina l ly settled unti l a general

counci l,to be held on Apri l of the next year,

not i n any manner to aggri eve the adhe

rents of th e anci ent faith,to abstai n from al l

i nnovati ons and to press no one to j oi n “ thei r

sect,

” as they had done heretofore . It was

i n vai n that the elector of Saxony,for h im

LUTHER AT COBURG.

sel f and h i s assoc iates,protested agai nst th i s

resol uti on . Nei ther was i t of any avai l that

Melanchthon handed i n through Chancel lo r

B rii ck h i s S O—cal led Apo logy of fi l e A ugsénrgCo nf essio n ,

which he had then al ready

sketched o ut . The emperor and the pope

had spoken .

Under su ch c i rcumstances,noth ing el se

seemed to be left to the el ector than to

abandon the Diet . Fou r weeks before,the

deputi es from Nurnberg had wri tten home '

The electo r of Saxony has despatched h i s

baggage o n fou r wagons . You may expect

that before long,there wi l l be nobody re

maining here .

” On September 14 the elec

toral prin ce o n h i s retu rn home met Luther

i n Coburg . The elector John took l eave

o f the empero r . When he appeared before

h im i n th e Di et to announce h i s departu re,

i t i s sai d that he made the declaration which

accord ing t o others was made i n the same

Words by Chancel lo r Bru ck when he dcl ive red the C o nfe S S i o n :

“ I am most thorough

ly convinced that my doctrine , as i t i s declared

i n the Confess i on,i s founded upon the Holy

Scriptu res,and that the gates o f hel l shal l


I Z O LUTHER AT COBURG .

whose doctri nes o f the Lord ’s Supper and o f

original s i n had rece ived Melanchthon ’s high

est di sapprob’

ati on . From the same source

Luther had heard that B uce r and Capito,

“

who,

with He d io,represented the c i t i es o f Stras s

b urg,Memmingen

,Constance and Lindau

,

wh ich were rather i ncl ined toward Z wmgl i’

s

doctri ne,had shortly before Ju ly 14 arrived

at Augsbu rg;that B uce r, the preache r atStrassbu rg

,seemed— in words

,at l east— t o be

incl i ned toward Luther’s doctri ne;and thato n th i s account negotiati ons were opened b e

tween the Lutherans and B uce r. B uce r and

Capi to al so treated with Luther o n th i s s ub

j e ct by l etter , bu t nothi ng was accompl ished .

For thi s reason,B uce r

,with the knowledge

o f the electo r o f Saxony,was sent

,toward

the end o f September,t o Cobu rg to treat

wi th Luther personal ly . Bu t the resu l t was notsati sfactory . Luther had declared that h e was

ready to cheri sh the kindest b rotherly affe c

ti on and to promote u ni ty,bu t that the Zwin

gliansmust cl i ng to God ’s word alone and give

up thei r s ubtl e and unsubstantial explanati ons .

B uce r parted from Luther “with the kindestfeel i ngs

,

” bu t ’ cou ld no t br ing abo u t a real

LUTHER AT COBURG .

uni ty . In consequence of th i s,the Confess ion

o f the Fou r Citi es— usual ly cal led the Tetra

po litana—prepared by B uce r

,was del ivered

to the emperor,but which d id not rece ive any

consi derati on as a theological memorial . The

same fate awaited —the Confess i on o f Zwingl i .The other event which tou ched Luther’s

heart more tenderly,and which seemed l ike

opposi tion i n the camp,was the fierce di s

pl eas ure which the Nurnberg depu ti es and th e

H ess ian theologians manifested toward Melanchtho n for h i s di spos i ti on to yield to the

enemy . H i s i ncl i nat ion to al low the bi shopsto exerci se certai n high C 1V1l prerogatives

,es

pe cia lly exci ted the i ndignati on of the Nurn

berg deputi es and brought down upon himthe severest reproaches . They attributed h i sconduct i n th i s affai r to the fear of d isple as

ingthe parties i n power— in other words,to

an abj ect fear of man . One of them,the

otherwise worthy Jerome Baumgartner,the

same who five years b efore had so perseveringly sought the hand of Kathari ne de Bora,wrote on September 1 5 to Spengler i n Nurn

berg : “Hence I beg you,for God and H i s

word ’s sake,that you wi l l al so contribute to

1 1


th i s end,and wri te to Dr . Mart i n Luther that

he through whom God has agai n given H i sword to the world wou ld powerfu l ly OpposePhi l ip and request th e pi ou s princes

,especial ly

h i s own sovere ign , to warn h im and exhorth im to steadfastness . For at th i s Di et there

i s no man- who“

has done more harm to the

gospe l than Ph i l ip . B ut he adds ' “ I do

not wri te th i s wi l l ingly o f him,becau se u nti l

th i s t ime he was h i ghly esteemed and he

concl uded w i th the important declarati on !

“But now the day o f trial has come,and

,fo r

my part,by God ’s help

,ne i ther Luther no r

Phi l ip shal l be so greatly honored by me that

I wou ld fol low ei ther o f them co n t rary'

t o

God ’s word .

Not only d id S pengler wri te on th i s s ubj ectto Luther

,but he was so beset on al l s i des

wi th complai nts abou t Melanchthon and hi s

fri ends,Jonas

,Brentz

,etc .

,that o n S eptem

ber 20 he wrote to Me lanchthon and Jonas

and begged t o hear the parti cu lars,and

whether i t was tru e that they, i n the conces

s i ons made to the enemy,had cla imed hi s

acqu i escence;and i n the letter to Jonas heexcla ims : “ If th i s i s so , then the devi l has



with h im upon h i s regret of havi ng offendedMelanchthon .

We must yet cons ider the labors of Luther

duri ng the latter peri od o f h i s soj ourn at‘C0

burg . We mention first h i s Letter on Tra ns

la tion . H e sent i t on September 1 2 to the

printer Link‘

at Nurnberg . W e

’

cann o t read

th i s production without h ighly appreciating

h im as a translato r o f the B ib le and re

gard ing h i s translati on with holy reverence .

For a proper comprehens i on o f i t,however

,

we must remember that hi s wel l - known e n

emy,Jerome Emser

,i n Dresden

,secretary and

counci l l o r o f Duke George Of Saxony,afte r

the prohibi ti on o f the translati on o f the New

Testament i n the d ii chy o f Saxony

was ordered by Duke George to prepare atranslati on . He freely used Luther’s

,o r cor

rupte d i t, and yet i n h i s preface he heaps

shameless abu ses upon Luther personal ly

and upon hi s translati on .

A lthough Emser died i n 1 527 , yet h i s very

imperfect New Testament,with i ts preface and

i ts cal umnies,continued to ‘ l ive . H ence Lu

ther wrote h i s Lez‘z‘er on Tra nslaz‘ion as a de


fence o f h imsel f and for i nstruction to h i s

contemporaries,and

,among other th ings

,he

says : “ I have bestowed most d i l igent careupon translati ng, that I might g ive the origi nal i n pu re

,c lear German

,and i t often hap

pened to us that we somet imes spent fourteen

days— even three or fou r weeks— in trying to

get the meaning of a s ingle word,and even

then we sometimes fai led . I n working at

Job,for i nstance

,Phi l ip, A uroga l lus and I

cou ld sometimes scarcely finish three l i nes in

four days . Now ,as i t i s translated and print

ed,anybody can read i t and master i t;he can

run over three or fou r pages with hi s eyesandnot stumb l e once

,bu t he i s not aware what

stones and logs were lying there over which

he can now passas smoothly as over a planedboard

,but which we removed out of the way

only at the expense of to i l and sweat . I t i seasy to plough where the field i s al l clean and

smooth,but to remove the stumps and prepare

the field nobody wants or l ikes to do . We

must not ask the letters of the Heb rew,Greek

o r Latin languages how to speak German,but

we must ask the mother i n the fami ly,the

ch i ldren i n the street,the common man in the


market - place,and we must parti cu larly o b

serve how they Speak,and trans late accord

ingly;then they understand and notice tha twe are speaking German to them . H e cont inues I can declare with a good consc ience

that I have fai thfu l ly and d i l i gently pu rs u ed

th i s work,and have been actuated by no um

worthy motive,fo r I have never asked or

rece ived a s i ngle farth ing for i t;ne ither haveI sought my o wn honor therei n . God knowsthat I have done i t on ly to serve dear Chri s

t i ans and t o the glory o f One who i s seated

o n h igh,who i s constantly bestowingso

many favors upon me that if I had worked

at my tra nslati on a thou sand times harder,I

wou ld no t have acqu i red meri t enough to l ive

only an hou r o r to have one sound eye . I owe

al l that I am and have to H i s grace and mercyyea

,to H i s preci ous b lood and bi tter agony;

hence everyth ing I do shal l be done for H i sglory wi th al l my heart . Let the bungle r

(Emser) mal ign me;piou s Chri stians wi l lprai se me togeth er with the i r Lord Jesu s

,

and I am al ready,

ri chly rewarded when a

s ingle Chri sti an recognizes me as a fai thfu l

workman .

”


1 2 8 LUTHER AT COBURG.

m e ro usevi dences o f h i s humi l i ty and m o d

esty,which h i s l etters from Coburg suffici ently

show . To give only two examples . On A u

gust 24 he wrote thus to Melanchthon' R e

cen t ly I have been attacked with a sorenesso f the throat . If Chri st on ly conquers

,i t

wi l l be nothi ng that Luther i s overcome;fo rhe wi l l conquer when Chri st ach ieves the vi c

rory .

”Two days after he wrote to B renz

upon h i s expos i ti on o f the prophet Amos,

and sets forth the s uperi o r character of B re nz’

s

style i n compari son with h i s own with a can

do r,modesty and self- consci ou snes s o f which

great mi nds alone are capable .

That ring which Luthe r rece ived o n S ep

tember 14 ,1 530 ,

from the hands o f the Ernesti ne el ectoral pri nce John Frederi ck

,was pre

sented more than o ne hundred years afte

( 1 652 ) to the A lbert ine e lecto ral pri nce Jo hrGeorge I . by Luther’s great—grandson

,John

Melch io r Luther,a counci l l or i n VVurze n .

The prince,who d i ed i n October

,1656,

tool

i t wi th h im i nto h i s coffin,and the cathedra

at Freiberg has fo r over two hundred year

enclo sed th i s. memorial o f Lu the r’s reside nc

a t Coburg .


During al l th i s time the Diet at Augsbu rghad enti rely lost al l attraction fo r Luther.The ravens

,also

,o n the s outh s ide o f the

fortress,had long di sso lved thei r Diet

,and

storm and rai n rag-

ed so fearfu lly around i t

that Luther,suffering from bronchi ti s and

toothache,became hearti ly weary o f h i s stay.

And yet he di d not avai l h imself o f the privi lege o f travel l ing home with him ,

granted by

the pri nce during h i s vi s i t o n S eptember 14 .

“ I begged h im,he wri tes to Melanchthon

,

t o permit me to awai t you here o n your retu rn home

,that I might wipe away you r sweat

after th i s ho t bath .

”

On September 23 , j ust as h e was about despa tchingt o Hau sman the letter menti onedabove relati ng t o the peace negotiati ons

,he re

ce ive d from the elector h imself the i nformati on

that he wou ld leave Augsbu rg on that day . On

the next day he sent the elector’s letter t o h i s

W i fe,and wrote : “ I hope now

,God wi l l i ng

,I

wi l l be at home with you i n fou rteen days .He received some presents duri ng hi s res i

dence at Coburg,among which was one from

Melanchthon , which was a pictu re o f the

si ege o f Vienna i n 1 529 . Another from a


t i tled fri end i n Augsbu rg gave occas i on to thefol lowing letter : “The two boxes o f sweet

meats k indly sent by you have been rece ived,

fo r which I retu rn my si ncere thanks

Du ring th i s s ummer I have su ffered mi i chfrom roaring i n my head . I do not know the

origi n o f i t,for i n al l th ings I have been ab

st em io us. I think i t i s the work of that angry fel low from hel l who cannot endure me

i n h i s kingdom upon earth,but perhaps God

wi l l s oon help me o u t o f i t,amen;with grace ,

amen . It g ives me pai n to hear that God ’

s

word i n Augsburg mus t keep still and giveplace . It i s not special ly a good s ign . Godhelp me and u s al l ! Amen .

H e congratu lated the electo r o n h i s departu re from Augsbu rg i n thes e words , writtenOctober 3 I most hearti ly rej oi ce that you r

E l ectoral Grace has,wi th God’s help

,escaped

o ut o f the hel l o f Augsbu rg . I have com

mended the cau se t o my G o d . H e has begunit— that I know;H e wi l l al so carry i t o utthat I bel i eve . As i t i s H i s and i t i s not leftt o o ur hands n o r S ki l l

,1 wil l see who those

are that want to be so refined and expert as t o

boast that they can do more than God h im


P32 LUTHER AT COBURG .

i n S e nfe l’

shands,he sent i t to the Nurnberger

depu ty i n Augsburg,Jerome Baumgartner

,

wi th a letter,at the conclu s i on o f which he

makes a SpOrt iVC, al l u s i on to the former tender

i ncl i nati on o f Baumgartner t o Kathari ne . He

says : I sal ute yo u i n the name o f my lady

maste r,fo rmerly you r flame

,and I wi l l tel l

,her th i s when I shal l get home . I now some

times tease her with menti on ing you r name .”

The principal des ign O f wri ting t o S e nfe l,

whi ch wasi n Lati n (fo r the chapelmaster waswel l acqua inted with that language) , was toreques t h im to compose a pi ece fo r fou r voi ceso n o n e o f h i s favori te hymns

,In pa ce in ia

’

ipsum . Bu t the l etter was ch iefly made upo f a eu logy o n music

,which enti tles Luther’s

name t o hold an em inent p lace i n the h i sto ryo f sacred mus i c especial ly . T/i islast letter

from Coonrgi s the fo l lowingGrace and peace i n Chri st ! Al though

my name i s so depise d that I am apprehe n

s ive that th i s l etter,my dear Ludwig

,may

not be ki ndly rece ived o r read by you,yet my

love for m usic, ,

with whi ch God has s o adorne d and endowed you

,has ove rcome my fears .

Thi s reverence fo r' the divi ne art i nspi res me


with the hope that th i s l etter wi l l be of no

di sadvantage to you . For who,even among

the Turks,would blame h im who loves the

art and prai ses the arti st ? - I also commend

and honor your dukes of Bavaria,even i f they

are not very wel l d isposed toward me,yet

because they cheri sh mus ic and hold i t i n

h igh esteem . There i s no doubt that the

s eeds Of m any vi rtues are lodged i n those

mi nds wh ich are devoted to musi c,and those

who are not moved by i t I regard as stocks

and stones . For we know that m usi c i s in

to lerab le to the devi l s . I maintain the opi nio n

,and am not ashamed to declare i t

,that

,

next to theology,there i s no art that can be

compared with mus i c;because i t alone , aftertheology

,does that whi ch otherw i s e theology

alone accompl i shes—namely,i n tranqu i l l izing

the mind and promoting a cheerfu l,happy

temper. The proof o f th i s i s that the devi l,

who occas i ons gloomy apprehens i ons and tu r

bulent confus i on,

fl i es before mu si c and i ts

sweet sounds with almost the same celer

i ty as from the language of theology . The

prophets have employed no art except musi c;they d id not clothe the i r theology in the la n

12


guage o f art o r Of geometry o r ari thmeti c o r

astronomy,but i n m us i c . Theology and mu

s i c were closely associated,and hence they

declared the tru th i n psalms and songs . Butwhy shou ld I even begin to commend i t on SO

smal l a sheet o f paper,and pai nt

,or rather

disfigure , a great s ubj ect o n a narrow canvasBu t my ardent i ncl i nati on to i t bubb l es up i nme so vi o lently that I am often refreshed and

rescued from deep despondency and di scou r

agem en t .

“ I appeal to yo u again , and pray that i f

you have any melody t o the hymn , In pa cein ia

’zpsizm ,

that you wou ld copy i t and send

i t to me I have known that hymn from my

youth and i t has always qu i ckened me,but I

have never heard i t s ung by several vo ices

together. But I wi l l not ask you to take thetrouble o f compos ing a new tune for it

,

’

b ut

I hope yo u may al ready have o n e . I have

al ready begun to s ing thi s hymn i n view o f

my early death ,and am very anxi ou s to hear

i t s ung according to a su i tab l e tune . I f yo u

have none and do not know o n e,I hereby

send i t to yo u;so that after my death , i f youwi l l please

, yo u may compose a melody fo r


LUTHER AT COBURG.

was lai d wi th the Augsbu rg Confess i o'

n .

Confidence i n G o d and a consci ou sness o f

righ t stee led th e hearts o f these pious menfo r every confl i c t before them . Luther was

then,and conti nued t o be

,the ru l i ng S pi ri t

,

when,two years after

,o n August 16

,1 532 ,

the electo r John the Constant was cal led away

from faith to s ight,and John Frederi ck the

Magnan imous,th e last e l ecto r o f the Ernes

ti ne branch , became the su ccessor o f hi s fa

the r,

'

who d ied i n the fai th of’

the Augsbu rgConfess ion

On the 5th o r 6th of October,Luther l eft

Cobu rg i n company o f the el ec to r;o n Satu rday

,the 8th

,they reached Al tenberg the fo l

l owing day they arrived at Grimma;o n thel o th

,at Torgau , where Luther o n the next

Sunday,the 16th

,preached i n the e lectora l

castl e chapel .

The D iet sti l l continued t o November 19 .

On th i s day the d i sso lu ti on was solemnly pro

claimed . The time previ ou sly determined at

whi ch the Protestants shou ld retu rn t o the

Roman Chu rch,Apri l 1 5, 1 53 1 , was men

t io n ed i n the proclamati on . The refractory

were threatened wi th the appl i cati on o f fo rce,


Thu s ended the Diet o f Augsbu rg i n the

year 1 530 .

On November 24 the emperor Charles , with

King Ferdinand and many fol lowers o f exalt

ed rank,hastened away from A ugsbu rg and

proceeded t o Cologne . ! u iet was restored t o

the theatre o f the D iet. The cu rtai n had

fal len .

S oOn after h i s retu rn from Cobu rg , Lutherwrote two papers relati ng to the Diet . One

was Commenz‘s of M zrz‘

in Li i i‘ner on Me

A llegea7Imperia l E a

’ici . By that he meant

the final decree o f the D ie t . H e cal led i t“ Imperial Edict as far as i t was accepted bythe emperor and h is adherents

,but by far not

by the S tates o f the empi re . Bes ides,the

seal o f the counci l o f Augsbu rg was not a ttached t o i t

,and th i s was contrary to the

standing and acknowledged order o f th ings .He u sed the word “al leged ” because he by

n o means regarded “the piou s emperor

Charles ” as the originator o r autho r,but

the trai tors and ungodly men who used

the emperor as thei r i nstrument . These com

ments i l l u strated the demands and threats o fi zs


the ed ict in the l ight o f the gospe l and o f

j u sti ce .

The other wri ting,o r paper

,was A a

’mo

n iz‘ion z‘o my clea r G erma ns. Thi s i s a Chri s

t ian,patri oti c warn ing

‘

aga inst e ve rything‘ii nchri stian and a ngerma n i n the Chri sti an Ge rman Church . A l l ud ing t o the fru i tles sness o fhisAdmon iz

‘

ion to the Clergy,he n o w tu rn s t o

the German people,represents the danger

wh i ch n ow threatens the gospe l,and i n Op

pos i ti on to h i s former op i n i ons he now,fo r

the firs t t ime,openly declares the necess ity

o f opposi ng armed force t o any armed attack

that might be made upo n‘ the gospel . In the

mean tim e,and before the appearance o f these

two writi ngs,the meeti ng o f the Protestant

princes and ci tie s at S chma lka ld was held o n

December 2 2,1 530,

at which was laid the

fo undati on o f the s ubsequent S chma lkald

League,by which the pos i ti on Of the Reforma

t ion to the affai rs o f the state was more de fi

n ite ly determined . Thi s leagu e was o ne o f

the resu lts Of the severe and minatory decree

o f the D iet,o f November 1 9 ,

1 530 . When,

s ixteen years late r, immediate ly after the death

o fLuther,the so - cal led S c/ima lé a/a’ I/Var b ro ke


LUTHER AT COBURG .

bu rg i tse l f i s sti l l the same momentou s

event whi ch i t was three hundred and fiftyth ree years ago ,

and i t wi l l so conti nue as

long as h i s memory l ives . Man himself de

cays and everyth i ng earth ly around h im waxes

o ld,but true greatness and the fru i ts o f right

e o usnessperpetuate the i r d ivi ne i nfluences t o

the latest generati ons .

LUTHER IN COBURG ! Momentou s event !

Ove rflowingsou rce Of unshaken moral heroism and o f unchanging Chri stian fidel i ty

,

many heart- qu it ke n inghou rs have I S pent

wi th thee i n spi ri tual i nterco urse du ri ng t he

pas t year ! How often i n the s i lent winter

n ights has the deep - toned knel l boom ing forth

from the neighboring chu rch - steeple at m id

n ight ro used me from profound contemplati on

o n thy greatness ! and always has the sum

mer’s earl i est morn ing hou r cal led”me back

t o th i s sketch o f thy gloriouscaree r at C0bu rg. And now thy pictu re stands befo re myeyes— no t c lothed i n the garment o f romanti c

art,bu t i n natu re ’s s imple real i ty

,although

but a feeble reflecti on o f what thou real ly

wert as a l iving man . Many a l i neament o f


force do I miss i n th i s portrai t . S uch featu res

must necessari ly fai l,because the age i n which

thou didst flouri sh was o f more decided character than ou rs

,which wou ld find i t hard to

endure s uch exhibi t i ons o f moral power as

thou didst S how . But,even with th i s defect

i n my pictu re,i t sti l l d i splays th ine original

and unapproachable greatness . A fervi d en

thusiasm for Chri st the Redeemer and a warmsympathy for al l the human race are deeply

impressed upon thy countenance . Profound

earnestness i n the prosecu ti on o f the battl e

fo r the faith and i n al l that concerns the war

fare of men i n thi s tempest- tossed l i fe , com

b ined most closely with a cheerfu l Chri stian

temper amid temptati on and sorrow,beams

from th ine eye upon al l who l ook up'

to thee;upon those noble descendants o f the pi ou s

forefathers who were thy protectors and pat

rons;U pon al l who i n the present day in al lparts o f' the world bel i eve the truth as i t i ss et forth in the glorious Confess i ons o f the

Church .

S pi ri t o f the Living God,thou who hast

a l so spoken through thyservant Luther, bu i l d


up thy Chu rch , founded upon the imperi shable

bas i s o f thy word,higher and h igher as a tem

ple o f pu re and spi ri tual worsh ip ! Consecrate,

glori fy the whole Chri st ian world,from the

palace t o the co t,as an assembly who shal l b e

partakers o f the i nhe ri tance o f the saints i n

l ight ! Preserve thy Chu rch from sch i sm !

Promote concord withi n her borders ! A i dal l who profess the name o f Jesu s t o secu re

the assu rance and b lessmgsof that fai th whi chi s active i n works o f chari ty ! Thus wi l l Thy

kingdom come upon earth . Then there wi l l

be o n e fo ld under o n e S hepherd , and the

promise wi l l be fu lfi l led Fear not,l i ttl e

flock;fo r it i s the Father s good pleasu re t o’

give yo u the kingdom . May that God grantth i s who i s a strong tower and secure ref

uge fo r al l bel i evers al l the world over and in

al l generat i ons !

THE END .

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