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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
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE . 1 5
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 .
1 8 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE . 1 9
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
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE . 2 1
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
2 2 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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 .
26 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE . 27
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 .
2 8 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE . 29
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
30 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE . 3 1
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”
)
34 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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
36 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE . 37
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
38 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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
40 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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 .
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE . 4 3
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
44 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE . 45
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
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE . 47
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
50 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE . 51
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
52 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CAS TLE . 53
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
54 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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
56 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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.
58 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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
.
60 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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 .
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE . 6 1
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
62 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE . 63
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
64 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
.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
66 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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 .
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CAS TLE . 67
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
68 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE . 69
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 .
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE . 7 1
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
7 2 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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 .
74 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE . 7 5
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
76 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE . 77
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
7 8 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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,
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE . 79
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
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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 .
82 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE . 83
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
84 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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,
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE . 85
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
86 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE . 7
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
88 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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 ? ’
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE . 9 1
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
92 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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
94 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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
LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE . 95
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 .
96 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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
98 LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE .
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
8 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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
,
16 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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
20 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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
LUTHER AT COBURG. 2 1
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
2 2 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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 .
24 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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
LUTHER AT COBURG . 25
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
26 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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
28 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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
LUTHER AT COBURG . 29
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
30 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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
32 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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.
34 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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
36 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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 .
LUTHER AT COBURG . 37
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
40 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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 .
LUTHER AT COBURG . 4 1
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
44 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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
LUTHER AT COBURG . 45
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
46 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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
48 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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 .
LUTHER AT COBURG . 49
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
50 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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
LUTHER AT COBURG. 53
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
54 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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
56 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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
LUTHER AT COBURG . 57
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
58 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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
60 LUTHER AT COBURG.
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
LUTHER AT COBURG . 6 1
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
62 LUTHER AT COBURG.
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 .
"
64 LUTHER AT COBURG.
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 .
LUTHER AT COBURG . 65
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
66 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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
68 LUTHER AT COBURG.
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
LUTHER AT COBURG. 69
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.
70 LUTHER AT COBURG.
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
LUTHER AT COBURG. 7 3
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
76 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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
LUTHER AT COBURG . 77
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
7 8 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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
80 LUTHER AT COBURG.
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 .
LUTHER AT COBURG. 8 1
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
82 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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
84 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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
LUTHER AT COBURG . 85
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
86 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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 .
88 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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
LUTHER AT COBURG . 9
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
,
9 2 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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
LUTHER AT COBURG . 93
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
94 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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
96 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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
LUTHER AT COBURG. 97
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 ,
104 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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 .
08 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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
LUTHER AT COBURG . 109
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
1 22 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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
1 24 LUTHER AT COBURG.
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
LUTHER AT COBURG . 1 25
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
1 26 LUTHER AT COBURG.
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 .
LUTHER AT COBURG . 1 29
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
1 30 LUTHER AT COBURG.
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
LUTHER AT COBURG. 33
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
1 34 LUTHER AT COBURG .
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,
LUTHER AT COBURG. 1 37
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
1 38 LUTHER AT COBURG.
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
LUTHER AT COBURG. 14 1
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
142 LUTHER AT COBURG.
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 .