History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century
Chapter 73 : [Sidenote: LUTHER'S PEACE.]The man who was thus agitating the mighty of the earth

[Sidenote: LUTHER'S PEACE.]

The man who was thus agitating the mighty of the earth was the only one who seemed to be at peace. The news from Worms were alarming. Even Luther's friends were frightened. "Nothing now is left us but our wishes and our prayers," wrote Melancthon to Spalatin. "Oh! if G.o.d would deign to ransom the safety of the Christian people by my blood."[437] But Luther was a stranger to fear. Shutting himself up in his peaceful cell, he sat down to meditate, applying to himself the words of Mary, the mother of our Lord, when she exclaimed, "_My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in G.o.d my Saviour.

For he that is mighty has done for me_ _great things, and holy is His name. He has shown strength with his arm; he hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree._"[438] The following are some of the thoughts which filled Luther's heart.... "'He that is mighty,' says Mary. Oh! how great boldness on the part of a young girl! With a single word she strikes all the strong with languor, all the mighty with feebleness, all the wise with folly, and all those whose name is glorious on the earth with ignominy, and lays at the feet of G.o.d all strength, all power, all wisdom, all glory.[439] 'His arm,' continues she, and she thus appeals to that power by which he acts of himself, and without the agency of his creatures--a mysterious power operating in secrecy and in silence, until his purpose is accomplished. Hence destruction comes before any one is aware of its approach; hence elevation, when no one is thinking of it. He leaves his children in oppression and feebleness, so that each of them says to himself, 'We are all lost!' Then, however, they are most strong.

For it is where the power of man ends that the power of G.o.d begins.

Only let faith wait upon Him.... And, on the other hand, G.o.d permits his adversaries to increase their power and grandeur. He withdraws from them the aid of his strength, and leaves them to be inflated with their own.[440] He leaves them void of his eternal wisdom, and lets them fill themselves with their wisdom of a day. And while they rise up in the greatness of their might, the arm of the Lord keeps back, and their work ... vanishes like a soap bubble when it bursts in the air."

[437] Utinam Deus redimat nostro sanguino salutem Christiani populi.

(Corp. Ref. i, p. 362.)

[438] Luke, i, 46-55.

[439] _Magnificat._ L. Op. Wittemberg, Deutsch. Ausg. iii, p. 11, etc.

[440] Er zieht seine Krafft heraus und laesst sic von eigener Krafft sich aufblasen. (L. Op. Wittemb. Deutsch. Ausg. iii, pp. 11, etc.)

It was on the 10th of March, at the moment when his name was filling the imperial city with alarm, that Luther finished this exposition of the Magnificat.

[Sidenote: WILL A SAFE-CONDUCT BE GIVEN?]

He was not allowed to remain tranquil in his retreat. Spalatin, in conformity to the orders of the Elector, sent him a note of the articles of which it was proposed to demand a retractation from him. A retractation after the refusal at Augsburg![441]... "Fear not," he wrote to Spalatin, "that I will retract a single syllable, since their only argument is to insist that my writings are opposed to the rites of what they call the Church. If the Emperor Charles summon me merely for the purpose of retracting, I will answer him that I will remain here; and it will be just the same thing as if I had been to Worms and come back again. But if, on the contrary, the emperor chooses to summon me in order that I may be put to death, I am ready to repair at his call; for, with the help of Christ, I will not desert his word on the battle-field. I know it: these b.l.o.o.d.y men will never rest till they have deprived me of life. Oh, that none but papists would become guilty of my blood!"

[441] Si ad me occidendum deinceps vocare velit...offeram me venturum.

(L. Ep. i, p. 574.)

CHAP. V.

Will a Safe-conduct be given?--Safe-conduct--Will Luther go?--Holy Thursday at Rome--The Pope and Luther.

At length the emperor decided. The appearance of Luther before the Diet seemed the only thing fitted to bring this affair which occupied the whole empire, to some kind of termination. Charles V resolved to cite him, but without giving him a safe-conduct. Here Frederick again began to act as his protector. Every body saw the danger which threatened the Reformer. Luther's friends, says Cochlus, were afraid that he would be delivered up to the pope, or that the emperor himself would put him to death as unworthy, on account of his obstinate heresy, that any faith should be kept with him.[442] On this subject there was a long and keen debate among the princes.[443]

Struck, at last, with the general agitation then prevailing almost throughout the whole population of Germany, and afraid that, as Luther pa.s.sed along, some sudden tumult or dangerous sedition might break forth,[444] (doubtless in favour of the Reformer,) the princes deemed it wise to calm men's minds on his account, and not only the emperor, but also the Elector of Saxony, Duke George, and the Landgrave of Hesse, through whose states he had to pa.s.s, each gave him a safe-conduct.

[442] Tanquam perfido haeretico nulla sit servanda fides, (Cochlus, p. 28.)

[443] "Longa consultatio difficilisque disceptatio." (Ibid.)

[444] "c.u.m autem grandis ubique per Germaniam fere totam excitata esset...animorum commotio." (Ibid.)

[Sidenote: THE SAFE-CONDUCT.]

On the 6th March, 1521, Charles V signed the following summons addressed to Luther:--

"Charles, by the grace of G.o.d, elected Roman Emperor, always Augustus, etc., etc.

"Honourable, dear, and pious! We, and the States of the Holy Empire, having resolved to make an inquest touching the doctrine and the books which you have published for some time past have given you, to come here and return to a place of safety, our safe-conduct and that of the empire here subjoined. Our sincere desire is that you immediately prepare for this journey, in order that, in the s.p.a.ce of twenty-one days mentioned in our safe-conduct you may be here certainly, and without fail. Have no apprehension of either injustice or violence. We will firmly enforce our safe-conduct under-written, and we expect that you will answer to our call. In so doing you will follow our serious advice.

"Given at our imperial city of Worms, the sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord, 1521, and in the second of our reign.

"CHARLES.

"By order of my Lord the Emperor, with his own hand, Albert, Cardinal of Mentz, Arch-chancellor. _Nicolas Zwyl._"

The safe-conduct enclosed in this letter bore the following address:--"_To the honourable, our dear and pious doctor Martin Luther, of the order of the Augustins._"

It began thus:--

"We, Charles, fifth of the name, by the grace of G.o.d, elected Roman Emperor, always Augustus, King of Spain, of the Two Sicilies, of Jerusalem, Hungary, Dalmatia, Croatia, etc., Arch-Duke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, Count of Hapsburg, Flanders, the Tyrol, etc., etc."

Then the king of so many nations giving to wit that he had summoned before him an Augustin monk named Luther, ordered all princes, lords, magistrates, and others, to respect the safe-conduct which he gave him, under pain of punishment by the emperor and the empire.[445]

[445] Lucas Cranach's Stammbuch, etc., herausgegeben, v. Chr. v.

Mecheln, p. 12.

Thus the emperor gave the t.i.tle of "dear, honourable, and pious," to a man at whose head the Church had launched her excommunication. It had been wished, in the drawing up of the doc.u.ment, to remove all distrust from the mind of Luther and his friends. Gaspard Sturm was appointed to carry this message to the Reformer, and accompany him to Worms. The Elector, dreading the public indignation, wrote, on the 12th March, to the magistrates of Wittemberg to see to the safety of the emperor's officer, and, if deemed necessary, to provide him with a guard. The herald set out.

Thus the designs of G.o.d were accomplished. G.o.d was pleased to set upon a hill that light which he had kindled in the world, and emperors, kings, and princes, without knowing it, were forthwith in motion to execute his design. It is easy for him to exalt the lowest to the highest. An act of his power suffices to raise the humble child of Mansfeld from an obscure hut to the palace where kings are a.s.sembled.

In regard to Him, there is nothing small, nothing great. When he wills it, Charles V and Luther meet face to face.

[Sidenote: HOLY THURSDAY AT ROME.]

But will Luther obey this citation? His best friends were in doubt.

The Elector on the 25th of March wrote his brother--"Doctor Martin is summoned hither, but I know not if he will come. I cannot augur any good of it." Three weeks later (16th April), this excellent prince seeing the danger increase wrote anew to Duke John. "There is a proclamation against Luther. The cardinals and bishops attack him with much severity. May G.o.d turn all to good. Would to G.o.d I could procure him an equitable reception!"[446]

[446] Die Cardinaele und Bischofe sind ihm hart zuwider ...

(Seckend., p. 365.)

While these things were pa.s.sing at Worms and Wittemberg, the Papacy was reiterating its blows. On the 28th March, the Thursday before Easter, Rome resounded with a solemn excommunication. At this season it is usual to publish the dreadful bull _in Cna Domini_, which is only a long series of imprecations. On that day, the avenues to the church in which the sovereign pontiff was to officiate were occupied at an early hour by the papal guards, and by a crowd of people who had flocked from all parts of Italy to receive the benediction of the holy father. The square in front of the Basilisk was decorated with branches of laurel and myrtle; wax tapers were burning on the balcony of the church, and the ostensorium was raised upon it. All at once bells make the air re-echo with solemn sounds; the pope, clothed in his pontifical robes, and carried in a chair, appears on the balcony; the people kneel, all heads are uncovered, the colours are lowered, the muskets grounded, and a solemn silence reigns. Some moments after, the pope slowly stretches out his hands, raises them towards heaven, then bends them slowly towards the ground, making the sign of the cross. This movement is repeated thrice, and the air echoes anew with the ringing of bells, which intimate the pope's benediction to the surrounding country; then priests advance with impetuosity, holding lighted torches, which they reverse, brandish, and throw about with violence, to represent the flames of h.e.l.l; the people are moved and agitated, and the words of malediction are heard from the height of the temple.[447]

[447] This ceremony is described in different works, among others--"

Tagebuch einer Reise durch Deutschland und Italien." (Berlin, 1817, iv, p. 94.) The princ.i.p.al formalities are of earlier date than the days of Luther.

When Luther was informed of this excommunication, he published the tenor of it, with some remarks, written in that caustic style in which he so much excelled. Although this publication did not appear till afterwards, we will here give some idea of it. Let us hear the high priest of Christendom on the balcony of his Basilisk, and the monk of Wittemberg answering him from the bosom of Germany.[448]

[448] For the papal bull and Luther's commentary, see "Die Bulla vom Abendfressen." ... . (L. Op. (L.) xviii, p. 1.)

There is something characteristic in the contrast of the two voices.

[Sidenote: LUTHER AND THE POPE.]

_The Pope._--"Leo Bishop."

_Luther._--"Bishop ... as a wolf is a shepherd; for the bishop ought to exhort according to the doctrine of salvation, not belch out imprecations and maledictions."

_The Pope._--"... Servant of all the servants of G.o.d...."