J
josie_L
Guest
He steps from the arena of academic gravity and verbal precision to the forum of the public in “an invective of dazzling rhetoric”. He addresses the masses; his language is that of the populace; his theological attitude is abandoned; his sweeping eloquence fairly carries the emotional nature of his hearers—while even calm, critical reason stands aghast, dumbfounded; he becomes the hieratic interpreter, the articulate voice of latent slumbering national aspirations. In one impassioned outburst, he cuts from all his Catholic moorings—the merest trace left seeming to intensify his fury. Church and State, religion and politics, ecclesiastical reform and social advancement, are handled with a flaming, peer-less oratory. **He speaks with reckless audacity; he acts with breathless daring. War and revolution do not make him quail—has he not the pledged support of Ulrich von Hutten, Franz von Sickingen, Sylvester von Schaumburg? Is not the first the revolutionary master spirit of his age—cannot the second make even an emperor bow to his terms? The “gospel”, he now sees “cannot be introduced without tumult, scandal, and rebellion”; “the word of God is a sword, a war, a destruction, a scandal, a ruin, a poison” (De Wette, op. cit., I, 417). As for pope, cardinals, bishops, “and the whole brood of Roman Sodom”, why not attack it “with every sort of weapon and wash our hands in its blood” (Walch, XVIII, 245). **
**Luther the reformer had become Luther the revolutionary; the religious agitation had become a political rebellion **(Maurenbrecher, op. cit., 155, 394; Treitschke, “Preussische Jahrbücher”, LII, 476; Paulsen, op. cit., 173; Weizsäcker, “Goöttingen Gelehrt. Anzeigen”, 1881, 846; Droysen, “Gesch. der preuss. Politik”, I, 145, 178; Barkhausen, “Gesch. der Philosophic”, III, 258; Hansen, “Sind wir nosh Lutheraner”, Copenhagen, 1885, 9, 10, 13, 86; “Athenaeum”, February 2, 1884, 146; “Academy”, January 26, 1884, 54; Creighton, “Hist. of the Papacy”, VI, 1891, 169; Bayne, op. cit., II, 165; “Cambridge Hist.”, II, 166).
Luthers theological attitude at this time, as far as a formulated cohesion can be deduced, was as follows: The Bible is the only source of faith; it contains the plenary inspiration of God; its reading is invested with a quasi-sacramental character. Human nature has been totally corrupted by original sin, and man, accordingly, is deprived of free will. Whatever he does, be it good or bad, is not his own work, but God’s. Faith alone can work justification, and man is saved by confidently believing that God will pardon him. This faith not only includes a full pardon of sin, but also an unconditional release from its penalties. The hierarchy and priesthood are not Divinely instituted or necessary, and ceremonial or exterior worship is not essential or useful. Ecclesiastical vestments, pilgrimages, mortifications, monastic vows, prayers for the dead, intercession of saints, avail the soul nothing. All sacraments, with the exception of baptism, Holy Eucharist, and penance, are rejected, but their absence may be supplied by faith. The priesthood is universal; every Christian may assume it. A body of specially trained and ordained men to dispense the mysteries of God is needless and a usurpation. There is no visible Church or one specifically established by God whereby men may work out their salvation. The emperor is appealed to in his three primary pamphlets, to destroy the power of the pope, to confiscate for his own use all ecclesiastical property, to abolish ecclesiastical feasts, fasts, and holidays, to do away with Masses for the dead, etc.** In his “Babylonian Captivity”, particularly, he tries to arouse national feeling against the papacy, and appeals to the lower appetite of the crowd by laying down a sensualized code of matrimonial ethics, little removed from paganism, which “again came to the front during the French Revolution” (Hagen, “Deutsche literar. u. religiöse Verhältnisse”, II, Erlangen, 1843, 235). His third manifesto, “On the Freedom of a Christian Man”, more moderate in tone, though uncompromisingly radical, he sent to the pope. **
**Luther the reformer had become Luther the revolutionary; the religious agitation had become a political rebellion **(Maurenbrecher, op. cit., 155, 394; Treitschke, “Preussische Jahrbücher”, LII, 476; Paulsen, op. cit., 173; Weizsäcker, “Goöttingen Gelehrt. Anzeigen”, 1881, 846; Droysen, “Gesch. der preuss. Politik”, I, 145, 178; Barkhausen, “Gesch. der Philosophic”, III, 258; Hansen, “Sind wir nosh Lutheraner”, Copenhagen, 1885, 9, 10, 13, 86; “Athenaeum”, February 2, 1884, 146; “Academy”, January 26, 1884, 54; Creighton, “Hist. of the Papacy”, VI, 1891, 169; Bayne, op. cit., II, 165; “Cambridge Hist.”, II, 166).
Luthers theological attitude at this time, as far as a formulated cohesion can be deduced, was as follows: The Bible is the only source of faith; it contains the plenary inspiration of God; its reading is invested with a quasi-sacramental character. Human nature has been totally corrupted by original sin, and man, accordingly, is deprived of free will. Whatever he does, be it good or bad, is not his own work, but God’s. Faith alone can work justification, and man is saved by confidently believing that God will pardon him. This faith not only includes a full pardon of sin, but also an unconditional release from its penalties. The hierarchy and priesthood are not Divinely instituted or necessary, and ceremonial or exterior worship is not essential or useful. Ecclesiastical vestments, pilgrimages, mortifications, monastic vows, prayers for the dead, intercession of saints, avail the soul nothing. All sacraments, with the exception of baptism, Holy Eucharist, and penance, are rejected, but their absence may be supplied by faith. The priesthood is universal; every Christian may assume it. A body of specially trained and ordained men to dispense the mysteries of God is needless and a usurpation. There is no visible Church or one specifically established by God whereby men may work out their salvation. The emperor is appealed to in his three primary pamphlets, to destroy the power of the pope, to confiscate for his own use all ecclesiastical property, to abolish ecclesiastical feasts, fasts, and holidays, to do away with Masses for the dead, etc.** In his “Babylonian Captivity”, particularly, he tries to arouse national feeling against the papacy, and appeals to the lower appetite of the crowd by laying down a sensualized code of matrimonial ethics, little removed from paganism, which “again came to the front during the French Revolution” (Hagen, “Deutsche literar. u. religiöse Verhältnisse”, II, Erlangen, 1843, 235). His third manifesto, “On the Freedom of a Christian Man”, more moderate in tone, though uncompromisingly radical, he sent to the pope. **
For the Gates of hell can not prevail over it! Thus the reason for only one set of keys to the Kingdom, not thousands.
