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Rh to the students of Wittenberg of the l0th of December, 1520; 2, Luther's letter to Spalatin, written on the same day; 3, the paper, "Acta exustionis antichristianorum decretahum," written by a pupil and adherent of Luther, who was present at the burning, and who also heard Luther's speech during lectures the following day; 4, the report of the bishop of Brandenburg; 5, a sketch of Agricola of the l0th of December, who had been present at the burning — made accessible by Perlbach in 1907; 6, the sketch of John Kessler in his "Sabbata," who had also been present. On the strength of these sources it seems probable to Clemen that Melanchthon was the "magister quispiam baud incelebris" who kindled the fire, and that the words with which Luther committed the bull to the flames, which had not been clearly understood heretofore, were not: "Quia tu conturbasti sanctum domini, Ideoque te conturbet ignis æternus" — thus in the "Acta" — nor: "quoniam tu conturbasti veritatem dei, conturbat et te hodie ignem istum, amen" — thus with Agricola — but: "Because thou hast damned the truth of God, therefore He condemns thee to the fire. Amen." For that reason it is condemnat and condemnasti instead of conturbat and conturbasti56

It is known that during these affairs with Rome the thought that the pope was the Antichrist gained more and more prominence with Luther. In how far he was influenced in this particular through mediæval thoughts at this time Preuss explains in a measure. Preuss also recently offered a contribution toward answering the question how many actual mediæval beliefs still retained their influence on Luther during this period.57