Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/614

* LUTHER. 548 LUTHER. convent at Krfiirt, taking, however, liis Plautus ami liis Vergil with liini. Luther had lied from the world, bvit nut from himself. His mental struggle grew more intense: liis self-imposed austerities surpassed those of his brethren, and left their mark on his con- stitution. Liglit broke upon him in the open- ing of his trouble to the kindly viear-general of his Order, Staupitz, who had imbibed the thought of the mystics and of Saint John, that the love of God and of righteousness is the great thing, and that repentance begins in this. At the end of two years Luther was ordained to the priesthood, and on Staupitz's recommenda- tion was made jirofessor at Wittenlierg, where the Elector Frederick the Wise of Saxony had founded a university in 1.502. He had persever- ingly studied Saint Augustine, and knew by heart the English sclioolman William of Occam, whose writings were, in an ecclesiastical sense, of revo- lutionary tendency. Another molding influence of this period was his visit to Rome on business of his Order in 1.511 during the pontificate of the warlike .Julius II. He had begun his professor- ship by lectiring on Aristotle, but soon turned to the Bible, his lectures on which drew his fel- low-professors with throngs of students. Stau- pitz thereupon constrained him to preach, and crowds were attracted by his unconventional presentation of biblical truths. One of these sermons so impressed the Elector Frederick that he offered to bear the expense involved in Luther's promotion to the doctorate of theolog' in 1512. At this time he began work on what remained through life his favorite books on his central theme of justilication through faitli — the Epistles to the Romans and the Galatians. the latter of which he used to call humorously his wife. His first publication was an edition of the mystical treatise Thcolofi'm (iermanica, which he discovered in 1510, to which he said he owed ■for its exposition of the Christian life more than to any other book except the Bible and Saint Augustine. His first work as an author was an Exposition of tlic Keren I'cititeiitinl Psdliiix in the memorable year 1517. Meanwhile he lal>oriously fulfilled the duties of his Order, of which Stau- pitz had made him district vicar, and when the plague fell upon Wittenberg he held to his post while others fled. Xow came the historic turning-point, when Luther's deep but yet unconscious break with the Roman Catholic Church revealed itself. In 1517 Johann Tetzel, a Dominican monk, appeared preaching indulgences. Indignant at his abuse of the Church doctrine regulating these, and unable to induce princes and bishops to exclude him, Luther struck the first blow that led to- such startling and far-reaching results. Yet the ninety- five theses which he nailed to the door of the Wittenberg church, Octol)er 31, seem singular- ly moderate ; they oppose not indulgences, but 'the senseless gabble' of such traflTickers as Tet- zel; they emphasize the indispensableness of con- trition, and the superiority to indulgence-buying of charity to the poor. In a fortnight these tlfeses. translated from their Latin into German, had spread throughout the country. Yet Luther contemplated no break with the Church, and still acknowledged the supremacy of the Pope. He now devoted himself to Church history and the study of canon law, for the support of the positions he had taken in the course of the controversy which he had provoked. Sleanwhile, he continued the preparation of jiopnlar religious pul)lieations, such as an /v'.r/((y.s'i7io» of the Ten Voinmaiidiiicnts and of the horil's I'nii/er, a piece of his best work. In 1518, at a general meeting of his Order at Ileidelljerg. he lield a public ilisputation. in which he attacked the sclio- lastic methods in theology. Among the disciples there gained was the afterw'ards distiiigiiislied Bucer. The -same year also he was joined by his ablest hel])er,Melanelit lion, who took the professor- ship of Greek at Wittenlierg. Tliat he was feel- ing his way to advanced positions ajipeared in thi- extensive elaboration of his theses that samr year, entitled Rcsoliilioihi. In this he contested the claim of the Roman PontifV to lie the custo- dian and dispenser of the merits of Christ tlirough indulgences, aflirming that iienanees and satisfactions had been instituted, not by Christ, but liy the Pope and the Church. These lie.ioln- /i'o/i.s he dedicated to the Pope with a letter the inconsistencies of which indicated that lie had not yet reached firm ground except on one point — his unchangeable conviction as to indulgences. Leo X., at first contemptuous, soon became angry. He had cited Luther to appear at Rome within sixty days, but liefore the time expired issued orders for his seizure. The Elector Fred erick jirocured a change of his place of hearing from Rome to Augsburg before the Papal Legate, Cardinal Cajetan, with a guarantee of safety. Luther and he merely measured swords and part- ed, the Legate insisting on an unconditional re- traction, which Luther refused. Luther imme- diately published an account of the interview and advanced to a radical position. The Papacy he held to be divinely established only in the sense in which all government is ordained bj' God ; it was not of the essence of the Church. ilore sure of himself than ever, Luther's ti- midity began to give place to the stern joy of one fighting, as be believes, in a just cause. He aflirnieil that the opposition was inherently rot- ten; he intimated to the Elector's Court jireach- er, Spalatin, his doubt whether the Pope were the Antichrist or his apostle. The Elector coun- seled moderation, and another cfi'ort was made for peace. This time the Papal Legate, Miltitz, took a dilVerent tone, largely Inimoring Luther, hut urging him to have regard to the antliority of the Church, weakened by his disrespectful at- titude to the Pope. It was agreed that Luther .should write apologetically to Rome, that both parties should cease the controversy, and that the Pope should submit it to a body of learned divines. But the kiss of peace which Miltitz and Luther exchanged at parting was illusive. The conflict was irrepressible. Eck, a Dominican monk, from the first a leader in the attack on Lutiier. broke the truce by leveling thirteen theses at him, and challenging Carlstadt. Luther's colleague, tc dispute them. Carlstadt being overmatched. Luther had to take the field. Nine summer days in 1519 he and Eck crossed swords at Leipzig in the presence of a distinguished audience. The disputants quickly plunged below the superficial to the central issues. Could there be a true Churcli without a pope? Eck denied it; Luther allirmed it, interpolating in his Latin speech a (ierman sentence to the effect that the cardinal point of controversy was whether the Papacy was divinely instituted in any other way than