Fox's Book of Martyrs
Chapter IX
This illustrious
German divine and reformer of the Church was the son of John Luther and
Margaret Ziegler, and born at Isleben, a town of Saxony, in the county of
Mansfield, November 10, 1483. His father's extraction and condition were
originally but mean, and his occupation that of a miner; it is probable,
however, that by his application and industry he improved the fortunes of his
family, as he afterward became a magistrate of rank
and dignity. Luther was early initiated into letters,
and at the age of thirteen was sent to school at
Magdeburg, and thence to Eisenach, in Thuringia, where he remained
four years, producing the early indications of his future eminence.
In
1501 he was sent to the University of Erfurt, where he
went through the usual courses of logic and
philosophy. When twenty, he took a master's degree,
and then lectured on Aristotle's physics, ethics, and other parts of
philosophy. Afterward, at the instigation of his
parents, he turned himself to the civil law, with a
view of advancing himself to the bar, but was diverted
from this pursuit by the following accident. Walking out into the fields one
day, he was struck by lightning so as to fall to the ground, while a companion
was killed by his side; and this affected him so sensibly, that, without
communicating his purpose to any of his friends, he withdrew himself from the
world, and retired into the order of the hermits of St. Augustine.
Here
he employed himself in reading St. Augustine and the schoolmen; but in turning
over the leaves of the library, he accidentally found a copy of the Latin
Bible, which he had never seen before. This raised his curiosity to a high
degree: he read it over very greedily, and was amazed
to find what a small portion of the Scriptures was rehearsed
to the people.
He
made his profession in the monastery of Erfurt, after he had been a novice one
year; and he took priest's orders, and celebrated his
first Mass in 1507. The year after, he was removed
from the convent of Erfurt to the University of Wittenberg; for this university
being just founded, nothing was
thought more likely to bring it into immediate repute and credit, than
the authority and presence of a man so celebrated, for his great parts and
learning, as Luther.
In
this University of Erfurt, there was a certain aged man in the convent of the
Augustines with whom Luther, being then of the same order, a friar Augustine,
had conference upon divers things, especially touching remission of sins; which
article the said aged father opened unto Luther; declaring that God's express
commandment is that every man should particularly believe his sins to be
forgiven him in Christ: and further said that this interpretation was confirmed
by St. Bernard: "This is the testimony that the Holy Ghost giveth thee in
thy heart, saying, thy sins are forgiven thee. For this is the opinion of the
apostle, that man is freely justified by faith."
By
these words Luther was not only strengthened, but was also instructed of the full meaning of St. Paul, who
repeateth so many times this sentence, "We are justified by faith."
And having read the expositions of many upon this
place, he then perceived, as well by the discourse of the old man, as by the
comfort he received in his spirit, the vanity of those interpretations, which
he had read before, of the schoolmen. And so, by little and little, reading and
comparing the sayings and examples of the prophets and apostles, with continual
invocation of God, and the excitation of faith by force of prayer, he perceived
that doctrine most evidently. Thus continued
he his study at Erfurt the space of four years
in the convent of the Augustines.
In
1512, seven convents of his order having a quarrel with their vicar-general,
Luther was chosen to go to Rome to maintain their
cause. At Rome he saw the pope and the court, and had
an opportunity of observing also the manners of the
clergy, whose hasty, superficial, and impious way of celebrating Mass, he has
severely noted. As soon as he had adjusted the dispute
which was the business of his journey, he returned to Wittenberg, and was created doctor of divinity, at
the expense of Frederic, elector of Saxony; who had
often heard him preach, was perfectly acquainted with his merit, and reverenced
him highly.
He
continued in the University of Wittenberg, where, as
professor of divinity, he employed himself in the business of his calling. Here
then he began in the most earnest manner to read lectures upon the sacred
books: he explained the Epistle to the Romans, and the Psalms, which he cleared
up and illustrated in a manner so entirely new, and so different from what had
been pursued by former commentators, that "there seemed, after a long and
dark night, a new day to arise, in the judgment of all pious and prudent
men."
Luther
diligently reduced the minds of men to the Son of God: as John the Baptist
demonstrated the Lamb of God that took away the sins of the world, even so
Luther, shining in the Church as the bright daylight after a long and dark
night, expressly showed that sins are freely remitted for the love of the Son
of God, and that we ought faithfully to embrace this bountiful gift.
His
life was correspondent to his profession; and it plainly
appeared that his words were no lip-labor, but
proceeded from the very heart. This admiration of his holy life much allured the hearts of his auditors.
The
better to qualify himself for the task he had undertaken, he had applied
himself attentively to the Greek and Hebrew languages; and in this manner was
he employed, when the general indulgences were published
in 1517.
Leo
X who succeeded Julius II in March, 1513, formed a
design of building the magnificent Church of St. Peter's at Rome, which was,
indeed, begun by Julius, but still required very large
sums to be finished. Leo, therefore, in 1517 published
general indulgences throughout all Europe, in favor of those who contribute any
sum to the building of St. Peter's; and appointed persons in different
countries to preach up these indulgences, and to receive money for them. These
strange proceedings gave vast offence at Wittenberg, and particularly inflamed
the pious zeal of Luther; who, being naturally warm
and active, and in the present case unable to contain himself, was determined
to declare against them at all adventures.
Upon
the eve of All-saints, therefore, in 1517, he publicly fixed up, at the church
next to the castle of that town, a thesis upon indulgences; in the beginning of
which he challenged any one to oppose it either by writing or disputation.
Luther's propositions about indulgences were no sooner
published, than Tetzel, the Dominican friar, and commissioner for
selling them, maintained and published at Frankfort, a thesis, containing a set
of propositions directly contrary to them. He did more; he stirred up the
clergy of his order against Luther; anathematized him from the pulpit, as a
most damnable heretic; and burnt his thesis publicly at Frankfort. Tetzel's
thesis was also burnt, in return, by the Lutherans at
Wittenberg; but Luther himself disowned having had any hand in that procedure.
In
1518, Luther, though dissuaded from it by his friends, yet, to show obedience
to authority, went to the monastery of St. Augustine, at Heidelberg, while the
chapter was held; and here maintained, April 26, a dispute concerning
"justification by faith"; which Bucer, who was present at, took down
in writing, and afterward communicated to Beatus Rhenanus, not without the
highest commendations.
In
the meantime, the zeal of his adversaries grew every day more
and more active against him; and he was at
length accused to Leo X as a
heretic. As soon as he returned therefore from Heidelberg, he wrote a letter to
that pope, in the most submissive terms; and sent him, at the same time, an
explication of his propositions about indulgences. This letter is dated on
Trinity Sunday, 1518, and was accompanied with a protestation, wherein he
declared, that he did not pretend to advance or defend anything contrary to the
Holy Scriptures, or to the doctrine of the fathers, received and observed by
the Church of Rome, or to the canons and decretals of the popes: nevertheless,
he thought he had the liberty either to approve or disapprove the opinions of
St. Thomas, Bonaventure, and other schoolmen and canonists, which are not
grounded upon any text.
The
emperor Maximilian was equally solicitous, with the pope about putting a stop
to the propagation of Luther's opinions in Saxony;
troublesome both to the Church and empire. Maximilian, therefore, applied to
Leo, in a letter dated August 5, 1518, and begged him to forbid, by his
authority, these useless, rash, and dangerous disputes; assuring him also that
he would strictly execute in the empire whatever his holiness should enjoin.
In
the meantime Luther, as soon as he understood what was
transacting about him at Rome, used all imaginable means to prevent his being
carried thither, and to obtain a hearing of his cause in Germany. The elector
was also against Luther's going to Rome, and desired of Cardinal Cajetan, that
he might be heard before him, as the pope's legate in
Germany. Upon these addresses, the pope consented that the cause should be tried before Cardinal Cajetan, to whom he had given power
to decide it.
Luther,
therefore, set off immediately for Augsburg, and carried with him letters from
the elector. He arrived here in October, 1518, and,
upon an assurance of his safety, was admitted into the
cardinal's presence. But Luther was soon convinced that he had more to fear
from the cardinal's power than from disputations of any kind; and, therefore,
apprehensive of being seized if he did not submit,
withdrew from Augsburg upon the twentieth. But, before his departure, he
published a formal appeal to the pope, and finding himself protected by the
elector, continued to teach the same doctrines at Wittenberg, and sent a
challenge to all the inquisitors to come and dispute with him.
As
to Luther, Miltitius, the pope's chamberlain, had orders to require the elector
to oblige him to retract, or to deny him his protection: but things were not
now to be carried with so high a hand, Luther's credit
being too firmly established. Besides, the emperor
Maximilian happened to die upon the twelfth of this month, whose death greatly altered the face of affairs, and made the elector
more able to determine Luther's fate. Miltitius thought it best, therefore, to
try what could be done by fair and gentle means, and
to that end came to some conference with Luther.
During
all these treaties, the doctrine of Luther spread, and prevailed greatly; and
he himself received great encouragement at home and abroad. The Bohemians about
this time sent him a book of the celebrated John Huss,
who had fallen a martyr in the work of reformation; and also
letters, in which they exhorted him to constancy and perseverance, owning that the divinity which he taught was the pure,
sound, and orthodox divinity. Many great and learned
men had joined themselves to him.
In
1519, he had a famous dispute at Leipsic with John Eccius. But this dispute
ended at length like all others, the parties not the least nearer in opinion,
but more at enmity with each other's persons.
About
the end of this year, Luther published a book, in which he contended for the
Communion being celebrated in both kinds;
which was condemned by the bishop of Misnia, January
24, 1520.
While
Luther was laboring to excuse himself to the new emperor and the bishops of
Germany, Eccius had gone to Rome, to solicit his condemnation;
which, it may easily be conceived, was
now become not difficult to be attained. Indeed the continual importunities of Luther's adversaries
with Leo, caused him at length to publish a formal condemnation of him, and he
did so accordingly, in a bull, dated June 15, 1520. This was
carried into Germany, and published there by Eccius, who had solicited
it at Rome; and who, together with Jerome Alexander, a person eminent for his
learning and eloquence, was intrusted by the pope with the execution of it. In
the meantime, Charles V of Spain, after he had set things to rights in the Low
Countries, went into Germany, and was crowned emperor,
October the twenty-first at Aix-la-Chapelle.
Martin
Luther, after he had been first accused at Rome upon
Maunday Thursday by the pope's censure, shortly after Easter speedeth his
journey toward Worms, where the said Luther, appearing before the emperor and
all the states of Germany, constantly stuck to the truth, defended himself, and
answered his adversaries.
Luther
was lodged, well entertained, and visited by many earls, barons, knights of the order, gentlemen,
priests, and the commonalty, who frequented his lodging until night.
He
came, contrary to the expectation of many, as well
adversaries as others. His friends deliberated together, and many
persuaded him not to adventure himself to such a present danger, considering
how these beginnings answered not the faith of promise made. Who, when he had
heard their whole persuasion and advice, answered in this wise: "As
touching me, since I am sent for, I am resolved and certainly determined to
enter Worms, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; yea, although I knew there
were as many devils to resist me as there are tiles to cover the houses in
Worms."
The next
day, the herald brought him from his lodging to the emperor's court, where he abode until six o'clock, for that the princes were occupied in grave consultations; abiding there, and being environed with a great number
of people, and almost smothered for the press that was there. Then after, when
the princes were set, and Luther entered, Eccius, the official, spake in this
manner: "Answer now to the Emperor's demand. Wilt thou maintain all thy
books which thou hast acknowledged, or revoke any part of them, and submit
thyself?"
Martin
Luther answered modestly and lowly, and yet not without some
stoutness of stomach, and Christian constancy. "Considering your sovereign
majesty, and your honors, require a plain answer; this I say and profess as
resolutely as I may, without doubting or sophistication, that if I be not
convinced by testimonies of the Scriptures (for I believe not the pope, neither
his general Councils, which have erred many times, and have been contrary to
themselves), my conscience is so bound and captivated in these Scriptures and
the Word of God, that I will not, nor may not revoke any manner of thing;
considering it is not godly or lawful to do anything against conscience.
Hereupon I stand and rest: I have not what else to say. God have mercy upon
me!"
The
princes consulted together upon this answer given by Luther; and when they had
diligently examined the same, the prolocutor began to repel him thus:
"The
Emperor's majesty requireth of thee a simple answer, either negative or
affirmative, whether thou mindest to defend all thy works as Christian, or
no?"
Then
Luther, turning to the emperor and the nobles, besought them not to force or
compel him to yield against his conscience, confirmed with the Holy Scriptures,
without manifest arguments alleged to the contrary by his adversaries. "I
am tied by the Scriptures."
Before
the Diet of Worms was dissolved, Charves V caused an
edict to be drawn up, which was
dated the eighth of May, and decreed that Martin Luther be, agreeably to
the sentence of the pope, henceforward looked upon as a member separated from
the Church, a schismatic, and an obstinate and notorious heretic. While the
bull of Leo X executed by Charles V was thundering throughout the empire,
Luther was safely shut up in the castle of Wittenberg;
but weary at length of his retirement, he appeared publicly again at
Wittenberg, March 6, 1522, after he had been absent about ten months.
Luther
now made open war with the pope and bishops; and, that he might make the people
despise their authority as much as possible, he wrote
one book against the pope's bull, and another against the order falsely called
"The Order of Bishops." He published also a
translation of the New Testament in the German tongue, which was
afterward corrected by himself and Melancthon.
Affairs
were now in great confusion in Germany; and they were not less so in Italy, for
a quarrel arose between the pope and the emperor, during which Rome was twice taken, and the pope imprisoned. While the princes
were thus employed in quarrelling with each other, Luther persisted in carrying
on the work of the Reformation, as well by opposing the papists, as by
combating the Anabaptists and other fanatical sects; which, having taken the
advantage of his contest with the Church of Rome, had sprung up and established
themselves in several places.
In
1527, Luther was suddenly seized with a coagulation of
the blood about the heart, which had like to have put
an end to his life. The troubles of Germany being not likely to have any end,
the emperor was forced to call a diet at Spires, in
1529, to require the assistance of the princes of the empire against the Turks.
Fourteen cities, viz., Strassburg, Nuremberg, Ulm, Constance, Retlingen,
Windsheim, Memmingen, Lindow, Kempten, Hailbron, Isny, Weissemburg, Nortlingen,
S. Gal, joined against the decree of the Diet protestation, which was put into writing, and published April,
1529. This was the famous protestation, which gave the name of
"Protestants" to the reformers in Germany.
After
this, the Protestant princes labored to make a firm league and enjoined the
elector of Saxony and his allies to approve of what the Diet had done; but the
deputies drew up an appeal, and the Protestants afterwards presented an apology
for their "Confession"-that famous confession which was drawn up by
the temperate Melancthon, as also the apology. These were signed by a variety
of princes, and Luther had now nothing else to do, but to sit down and
contemplate the mighty work he had finished: for that a single monk should be
able to give the Church of Rome so rude a shock, that there needed but such
another entirely to overthrow it, may be well esteemed a mighty work.
In
1533, Luther wrote a consolatory epistle to the citizens of Oschatz, who had
suffered some hardships for adhering to the Augsburg confession of faith: and
in 1534, the Bible translated by him into German was first printed, as the old
privilege, dated at Bibliopolis, under the elector's own hand, shows; and it
was published in the year after. He also published this year a book,
"Against Masses and the Consecration of Priests."
In February, 1537, an assembly was held
at Smalkald about matters of religion, to which Luther and Melancthon were called. At this meeting Luther was
seized with so grievous an illness that there
was no hope of his recovery. As he was carried along he made his will, in which he bequeathed his
detestation of popery to his friends and brethren. In this manner was he
employed until his death, which happened in 1546.
That
year, accompanied by Melancthon, he paid a visit to his own country, which he
had not seen for many years, and returned
again in safety. But soon after, he was called thither again by the
earls of Manfelt, to compose some differences which had arisen about their
boundaries, where he was received by one hundred horsemen, or more, and
conducted in a very honorable manner; but was at the same time so very ill that
it was feared he would die. He said that these fits of sickness often came upon
him, when he had any great business to undertake. Of
this, however, he did not recover, but died in February 18, in his sixty-third
year. A little before he expired, he admonished those that were about him to
pray to God for the propagation of the Gospel, "Because," said he,
"the Council of Trent, which had set once or twice, and the pope, will
devise strange things against it." Feeling his fatal hour to approach,
before nine o'clock in the morning, he commended himself to God with this
devout prayer:
"My
heavenly Father, eternal and merciful God! Thou hast manifested unto me Thy
dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. I have taught Him, I have known Him; I love
Him as my life, my health and my redemption; Whom the
wicked have persecuted, maligned, and with injury afflicted. Draw my soul to
Thee."
After
this he said as ensueth, thrice: "I commend my spirit into Thy hands, Thou
hast redeemed me, O God of Truth! 'God so loved the world, that He gave His
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have
life everlasting.'" Having repeated oftentimes his prayers, he was called to God. So praying, his
innocent ghost peaceably was separated from the
earthly body.
Chapter 10 - General Persecutions in Germany