again, "has jjeace; and not onl}^ peace, but purity of heart."
Taking up the battle-axe of the gospel, he smote to ruin that usurped throne from which Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas governed, the one philosophy, tlie other theology.*
On the 8tli of February, 1515, he wrote his friend Lange, "Aristotle, Porphyry, and the sententiary divines are useless studies in our days.
I desire nothing more earnestly than to unveil to the Avorld that comedian who has deceived the church by assuming a Greek mask, and to show his deformity to all."t
On the 18th of May, 1516, a little more than a year later, he was able to write again to the same valued coadjutor, Our theology and St. Augustine advance admirably, and prevail in our universit}^
Aristotle is dechning ; he is tottering towards his eternal ruin, which is near at hand.
The lectures on sentences produce nothing but weariness.
No one can hoj)e for hearers, unless he professes the biblical tlieology."| While the Scriptures were being thus elevated to their appropriate dignity and influence at Wittemberg, the Saxon monk Avas broadening his fame and strengthening his hold iij^on his contemporaries by opening a correspondence with a number of (I' Aristotelem in philosophicis, sanctum Thomam in tfieologicis, evertendos susceperat."
THE LIFE AND TIMES those learned and progressive spirits who lend a lustre to that epoch.
It was in this way that he now formed a friendship which has become historic, and which was of great importance to him throughout his life.
" There was at that time at the elector's court a person remarkable for his wisdom and candor: this was George Spalatin.
He was born at Sj)alatus or Spalt, in the bishopric of Eichstadt, and had been originally curate of the village of Hohenrich, near the Thuringian forests.
He was afterwards chosen by Frederick the Wise to be his secretary, chaplain, and tutor to his nephew John Frederick, who was one day to wear the electoral crown.
" Spalatin was a simple-hearted man in the midst of the court ; he appeared timid in the presence of great events ; circumspect and prudent, like his master, before the ardent Luther, w^ith wdiom he corresponded daily.
Such men are necessary; they are like those delicate substances in which jewels and crystals are wrapped to secure them from the injuries of transport.
They seem useless, and yet without them all these precious objects would be broken and lost.
" Spalatin was not a man to effect great undertakings ; but he faithfully and noiselessly performed the task imposed upon him.
He was at first one of the principal aids of his master in collecting those relics of saints of which Frederick was so Ipng a great admirer.
But he, as well as the prince, turned by degrees towards the truth. then reappeared in the church did not lay such violent hold upon him as upon Luther ; it guided him by slower methods.
He became Luther's friend at court : the minister through whom passed all matters between the reformer and the princes ; the mediator between the church and the state.
" The elector honored Spalatin with great intimac}-.
They always travelled together in the same carriage.
Nevertheless the atmosphere of the court oppressed the good chaplain ; he was affected by a profound melancholy ; he could have desired to quit all these honors, and become once more a simple pastor in the forests of Thuringia.
But Luther consoled him, and exhorted him to remain at his post.
Si3alatin acquired general esteem ; princes and learned men showed him the most sincere regard.
' I inscribe Spalatin's name not only among those of my principal friends, but still further, among those of my most honored protectors
; and that not upon paper, but on my heart.'"* To Spalatin Luther poured out his full heart, laid bare his hopes, his fears, and detailed the progress he was making in his Avarfare against scholasticism at Wittemberg.
Writing to another friend, the monk Spenbein, in 1516, he said, " I desire to know what your soul is doing ; whether, wearied at length of its own righteousness, it leans to refresh itself" and to rest in the righteousness of Christ.
• D'Aubigne's Hist, of the Ref., Vol.
THE LIFE AND TIMES tation of presumption in our age is strong in many, and es23eciallj in those who labor to be just and good with all their might, and at the same time are ignorant of the righteousness of God, which in Christ is conferred upon us with a rich exuberance of gratuitous liberality.
They seek in themselves to work that which is good, in order that they may have a confidence of standing before God adorned with virtues and merits, which is an impossible attempt.
" You, my friend, used to be of this same opinion, or rather this same mistake ; but now I am fighting against the error, but have not yet prevailed."^'"
" Thus," says an eloquent historian, " the doctrine of grace, which had already saved the world in the days of the apostles, and which was a second time to save it in the days of the reformers, was set forth by Luther fearlessly and clearly.
Keaching across many centuries of ignorance and superstition, he, in this, gave his hand to St. Paul."
* Seckendorf s Hist, of Liitheranism, p. 20.
In the year 1516, the elector, having completed the grand cathedral at "Wittemberg, whose foundations had been already laid when Luther preached his first sermon in the half-ruined chapel of the Augustinians, dispatched Staupitz into the Netherlands to collect relics for the ornamentation of the new edifice.
Meantime the vicar-general commissioned Luther to replace him during his absence, requesting him especially to visit fort}^ monasteries of their order in Misnia and Thuriugia.*
In conformity with this commission, Luther quitted for a time his Wittemberg duties, and set out upon his tour of inspection.
He went first to Grimma, thence to " appearing to discharge the functions of vicar-general in that very convent where, eleven years before, he had wound up the clock, opened the gates, and swept out the chapel
"—and to Neustadt on the In many of these monasteries even the external evidences of Christianity were no longer to be seen.
Dissension and bitterness reigned in religious houses Avhich had been formally set aside and consecrated to brotherly love and God's service.
Luther's wisdom and charity were conspicuously exhibited at this time.
When at Dresden, he was informed that * D'Aubigne's History of the Eeformatioii, Vol. I., p. 220.
THE LIFE AND TIMES one of the monks bad fled from his monastery, and had been received by the prior of the Angustines at Thereupon Luther wrote requesting the prior to return the stray sheep to his own fokl, adding these gentle words
" I know that offences must needs come.
It is no marvel that man falls ; but it is so, that he rises again, and stands upright.
Peter fell, that he might know that he was but a man.
Even in our days, the cedars of Lebanon are seen to fall.
The very angels—a thing that exceeds all imagination—have fallen in heaven, and Adam in Wh}' then should we be surprised if a reed is shaken by the whirlwind, or if a smoking taper is extinguished ?"*
Luther appointed his good friend John Lange, a learned and Christian man, but inclined to severit}^ and quickness of temper, to the priorship of his old monastery at Erfurth, particularly exhorting him to the exercise of patience and gentleness.
Lange had had a severe quarrel with the prior of Nurem-berg, and Luther wrote him shortly after his instalment at Erfurth
" Put on a spirit of meekness towards the prior of Nuremberg ; this is but proper, seeing that he has assumed a spirit of bitterness and harshness.
Bitterness is not expelled by bitterness ; that is to say, the devil by the devil ; but sweetness dispels bitterness; that is to say, the finger of God casts out the evil spirit."t
After an absence of six weeks, during which HI time lie had done liis utmost to inculcate liis fundamental doctrine, that " Holy Scrij)ture alone shows us the way to heaven," and exerted all his powers of eloquence to persuade his Augustinian brethren to "dwell together in unity," holiness, and peace, the young doctor returned to Wittemberg.
" There is no doubt," says a historian of those times, " that much good seed was sown in the different Augustine convents during this journey of the reformer.
The monastic orders which had long been the support of Rome, did perhaps more for the Eeformation than against it.
This is true in. particular of the Augustines.
Almost all the pious men of liberal and elevated mind who were living in the cloisters turned towards the gospel.
A new and generous blood ere long circulated through these orders, which were, so to speak, the arteries of the German church.
"As yet little was known in the world of the new ideas of the Wittemberg Augustine, while they were already the chief topic of conversation in the chapters and monasteries.
Many a cloister thus became a nursery of reformers.
As soon as the great struggle took place, pious and able men issued from their obscurity, and abandoning the seclusion of a monastic life, entered upon the active career of ministers of God's word.
At the period of this inspection of 1516, Luther awaked many drowsy souls by his words.
Hence this year has been nkmed ' the morning star of the gospel day.'
Upon reaching Wittemberg, Luther discovered THE LIFE AND TIMES that the affairs of the university had fallen into some disorder during his absence.
He was accordingly obliged, without pausing to rest from the severe labors of his recent visitation, to overwhelm himself Avith Avork.
Lange, "I have need almost continually of two secretaries, for I do nothing all the day long but write letters.
I am preacher to the convent, I read the prayers at table, I am pastor and parish minister, director of studies, the prior's vicar—that is to saj, prior eleven times over—inspector of the fish-ponds at Litzkau, counsel to the inns of Herzberg at Torgau, lecturer on St. Paul, and commentator on the I have rarely time to repeat the daily prayers and sing a hymn
; without speaking of my struggles Avith flesh and blood, Avitli the devil and the Learn from this Avhat an idle man I am."*
In this same month of October, Luther's cares Avere aggravated by the appearance of the plague at Of course this dreaded epidemic created great excitement, and half depopulated the toAvn.
Teachers, students, and citizens alike fled.
In the midst of the excitement, the brave and placid monk Avrbte Lange, "I am not certain that the plague Avill let me finish the epistle to the Galatians.
Its attacks are sudden and It is making great ravages among the young in particular.
Whither shall I fly ?
I hope that the Avorld will not come to an end if broth- * Letter to John Lange, Epp.