Miltitz at length escaped from the dangerous hospitality of the elector's subjects, and repaired to Leipsic, where, summoning Tetzel before him, he rebuked him v/ith the utmost severity in the presence of his provincial
; proved that he had appropriated considerable amounts of money to his own vile uses, and dismissed him broken and despairing to the gloom of his monastic dungeon.
Here this poor tool of the papal iniquity lingered out a few months of ignominious existence, deserted by the very churchmen who had set him on, and a mark for scorn to point her finger at.
Luther's heart was touched when he learned of " I am sorry for him," he wrote to Spalatin, and shortly afterwards he gave formal utterance to his pity by addressing his old opponent a very kind and earnest letter.
Thus Luther,'upon whom Tetzel had poured the vile torrent of his wrath so often, was tlie only one Avho was found in this hour of need to assuage his misery; but the broken monk did not long survive his disgrace, dying shortly after the receipt of Luther's letter, verjmiserabl}'.*
It will be remembered that in his conference v>^itli Miltitz, Luther had expressed a willingness to write Leo, apol:>gizing for his hasty expressions regarding the sovereign pontifT.f
Accordingl}- on the 3d of March he indited this xcrj humble letter to the pope : o Seckendorf, Milncr, D'Aubigne, IMicliclet, and otliera.
'•'Blessed Fatheii—May your lioliiiess condescend to incline your paternal ear, wliicli is that of Christ himself, towards your poor sheep, and listen kindl}' to his bleating.
AYhat shall I do, most holy father?
I cannot bear the lightnings of your anger, and I know not how to escape them.
I am called on to retract.
I would most readily do so, could that lead to the desired result.
But the persecutions of my adversaries have circulated my writings far and wide, and they are too deeply graven on the hearts of men to be by any possibility erased.
A recantation would only still more dishonor the church of Kome, and draw from the lips of all a cry of accusation against her.
" Most holy father, I declare in the presence of God, and of all his creatures, that I have never desired, and that I shall never desire, to infringe, either by force or by stratagem, the power of the Roman church or of your holiness.
I confess that nothing in heaven or in earth should be preferred above that church, except Jesus Christ alone, the The comments of historians upon this singular letter have been various.
Upon a fair survey of all the facts, we are inclined to accept Milncr's resume:
" In proposing a compromise of silence on both sides, and in what he wrote to Leo X., Luther may have been thought to have acted inconsistently with his former declarations, and to have conceded too much to the hierarchy; but the answer is, that he o L. Epp.
THE LIFE AND TIMES has already manfully resisted the Koman see ; now he began to hesitate how far it was his proper business to proceed further in a matterjof that sort
; in a word, his conscience was at present puzzled respecting the EXTENT of the obedience which he owed to the rulers whose authority he then allowed.
" Harassed with doubts, and perfectly aware of the danger that threatened him, he would have given the world for a sound and discreet counsellor: of the danger he sought no partner
; but, alas, his best and wisest friends, when j)ressed closely concerning the most critical and perilous part of the contest, stood absolutely aloof.
After he had conferred with Miltitz, he wrote to his friend Spalatin ; he also particularly entreated the elector Frederick, that, for the sake of Almighty God, he would use so much clemency towards him as freely to say what he wished him to do in the present circumstances."*
" After long and diligent reflection on the best authenticated facts, and in the peculiar situation of Lvither, the very doubts which arose in his mind appear to me, I confess, to imply both extraordinary integrity of princii^le and great vigor of intellect."t
D'Aubigne, in commenting on this letter to pope " These words might appear strange and even reprehensible in Luther's mouth, did we not remember that he reached the light not suddenly, but by a slow and progressive course.
They are a very important evidence that the Reformation was not ^Miluer's Ch. Hist.. Vol. simply an opposition to the papacy
•waged against certain forms; nor was it the result of a merely negative tendency.
Opposition to the pope was in the second line of the battle : a newlife, a positive doctrine, was the generating principle,
' Jesus Christ the Lord of all, and who must be preferred above all,' even above Kome itself, as Luther writes at the end of his letter, was the essential cause of the Eeformation of the sixteenth ceatary."*
1519, the presaged death of the emperor MaximiHan occurred.
Pending the election of the new emperor, Frederick of Saxony was selected to administer the emj)ire.
Instantly the sky which lowered over Wittemberg brightened.
On its part the court of Pome became more cautious, subtle, conciliatory, and intriguing.
It set in motion the whole prodigious machinery of the apostolic see to secure the election of one of its favorites to the vacant throne of the German Csesars.
To secure his ends, Leo stooped with easy gi'ace to dissemble and to procrastinate.
Since the Poman vulture could not now safely seize its prey, it looked meek and harmless, covered its bloody talons with scrupulous care, and croaked, " Do not fear ; I mean you no evil."
Thus it happened that Luther's letter refusing to retract was suffered to pass unnoticed.
Leo bent his energies with renewed zeal to the accomplishment of his purposes in the German Confederation, knowing full well that success there meant Pome universally triumphant.
There was therefore at this moment a brief hush ; the ecclesiastical tumult was stilled, but only to be reinaugurated ere long with redoubled fierceness.
To Luther the interval brought no decrease of labor, though his controversial writings were suppressed for a little.
He immersed himself, with that ardor which was peculiar to his temperament, in the duties of the university and of his parish, occupying busily every leisure moment in diligent study, and especially in increasing his ecclesiastical knowledge.
He was surprised by some of the discoveries which he made on these voyages of theological exploration.
" I am reading," he wrote Spalatin, " the decretals of the pope's, and, let me whisper it in your ear, I know not whether the pope is antichrist himself, or only his apostle, so misrepresented and even crucified does Christ appear in them."^'
StiU Luther was not 5'et prepared for separation from the Roman communion.
His object M^as reformation, not abolition.
"Although every thing is now in a very wretched state in the church, this is no reason for separating from it.
God on account of the devil, or abandon the children of God who are still in the Eoman communion, because of the multitude of the ungodly.
Charity can do all things, and to unity nothing is difficult."t Thus it appears that even so late as the year 1519 Luther stiU regarded the Roman church as the shechinah of the living God.
Indeed the strict historical truth should seem to be, that Luther never did abandon Rome.
Rome in its haughty paganism—for the apostolic see had paganized Christian-" ity—departed from the primitive tenets of its faith, o L. Epp.,
THE LIFE AND TIMES and thus itself formally rejected and abandoned the pure Christianity which Martin Luther only reinaiigurated.
Luther was slowly growing into a more robust knowledge of the Roman shibboleths, while he was toilfully acquainting himself with the intricacies of the pontifical lab3'rinth, his reputation w^as constantly spreading wider and wider.
The thunders of the Reformation were no longer confined within the limits of the German empire, but they shook the robber castles of the Ehine, and reverberated through Christendom,
We have already spoken of the flourishing condition of the Wittemberg university.
Its fame continued to advance hand in hand with that of its most illustrious professor.
Among the students w^ere numbered the most distinguished youth of "Our city," wTote Luther, " can scarcely hold the numbers which are arriving, and they increase upon us like an overflowing tide."*
It will be remembered that in the articles of agreement drawn up between himself and Miltitz, Luther had not only consented to remain silent while his adversaries respected the truce, but he had also consented to accept the arbitration of any impartial bishop whom Leo might be pleased to designate.
Miltitz, who saw^ that a resort to violence in accomplishing the object of his mission could only result fatally to himself, since the temporary assumption of the imperial piifple by Frederick of Saxony, had retired to Treves, where he was joined by Cajetan.
Putting their heads together, the two foiled nuncios scrutinized the articles of agreement to see if haply they might discover some uncovered point
Avhere Luther might be safely grappled.
They came to that passage in which he consented to accept the arbitration of a bishop.
Says Miltitz to Cajetan, " I think we can make use of this clause to lure him into our hands.
I will get the archbishop of this ancient city of Treves appointed arbitrator, and we will then summon Luther to appear for judgment."
Miltitz hurried iu hot haste to his grace of " Luther," said the nuncio to the electorarchbishop, " has accepted 3'our grace as arbitrator.
Summon him before you."
But unfortunately for the success of this last stratagem, the archbishop of Treves was a personal friend of Frederick, and he was desirous of remaining so.
Knowing full well the strong hold which the Wittemberg theologian had upon the affection of the imperial elector, he very prudently declined to summon Luther immediately before him, but, accepting the arbitratorship, he postponed the whole inquiry to the next diet, which was to assemble at This scheme thus hajDpily thwarted, Luther once more apphed himself to his books
; he had scrupu^ lously respected the truce arranged between himseK and the legate at Altenburg, but the calm was now