Opening
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
—Obvious print and punctuation errors were corrected.
—Where a suitable character is unavailable, superscripts are rendered as word^[sup].
LUTHER
IMPRIMATUR EDM. CAN. SURMONT, Vic. Gen.
Westmonasterii, die 13 Decembris, 1915.
LUTHER
BY
HARTMANN GRISAR, S.J.
PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF INNSBRUCK
AUTHORISED TRANSLATION FROM THE GERMAN BY
E. M. LAMOND
EDITED BY
LUIGI CAPPADELTA
VOLUME V
LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO., LTD. BROADWAY HOUSE, 68-74 CARTER LANE, E.C. 1916
A FEW PRESS OPINIONS OF VOLUMES I-IV.
“His most elaborate and systematic biography ... is not merely a book to be reckoned with; it is one with which we cannot dispense, if only for its minute examination of Luther’s theological writings.”—The Athenæum (Vol. I).
“The second volume of Dr. Grisar’s ‘Life of Luther’ is fully as interesting as the first. There is the same minuteness of criticism and the same width of survey.”—The Athenæum (Vol. II).
“Its interest increases. As we see the great Reformer in the thick of his work, and the heyday of his life, the absorbing attraction of his personality takes hold of us more and more strongly. His stupendous force, his amazing vitality, his superhuman interest in life, impress themselves upon us with redoubled effect. We find him the most multiform, the most paradoxical of men.... The present volume, which is admirably translated, deals rather with the moral, social, and personal side of Luther’s career than with his theology.”—The Athenæum (Vol. III).
“Father Grisar has gained a high reputation in this country through the translation of his monumental work on the History of Rome and the Popes in the Middle Ages, and this first instalment of his ‘Life of Luther’ bears fresh witness to his unwearied industry, wide learning, and scrupulous anxiety to be impartial in his judgments as well as absolutely accurate in matters of fact.”—Glasgow Herald.
“This ‘Life of Luther’ is bound to become standard ... a model of every literary, critical, and scholarly virtue.”—The Month.
“Like its two predecessors, Volume III excels in the minute analysis not merely of Luther’s actions, but also of his writings; indeed, this feature is the outstanding merit of the author’s patient labours.”—The Irish Times.
“This third volume of Father Grisar’s monumental ‘Life’ is full of interest for the theologian. And not less for the psychologist; for here more than ever the author allows himself to probe into the mind and motives and understanding of Luther, so as to get at the significance of his development.”—The Tablet (Vol. III).
“Historical research owes a debt of gratitude to Father Grisar for the calm unbiased manner in which he marshals the facts and opinions on Luther which his deep erudition has gathered.”—The Tablet (Vol. IV).
XXIX. ETHICAL RESULTS OF THE NEW TEACHING pages 3-164
1. PRELIMINARIES. NEW FOUNDATIONS OF MORALITY.
Difficulties involved in Luther’s standpoint; poverty of human reason, power of the devil, etc. How despair may serve to excite humility pages 3-7
2. THE TWO POLES: THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
His merits in distinguishing the two; what he means by “the Gospel”; his contempt for “the Law”; the Law a mere gallows pages 7-14
3. ENCOUNTER WITH THE ANTINOMIANISM OR AGRICOLA.
Connection between Agricola’s doctrine and Luther’s. Luther’s first step against Agricola; the Disputations; the tract “Against the Antinomians”; action of the Court; end of Agricola; the reaction of the Antinomian movement on Luther pages 15-25
4. THE CERTAINTY OF SALVATION AND ITS RELATION TO MORALITY.
Psychology of Luther’s conception of this certainty as the very cause and aim of true morality. Luther’s last sermons at Eisleben; notable omissions in these sermons on morality; his wavering between Old and New pages 25-43
5. ABASEMENT OF PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY.
Faith, praise and gratitude our only duties towards God. “All works, apart from faith, must be for our neighbour’s sake.” There are “no good works save such as God commands.” Good works done without faith are mere sins. Annulment of the supernatural and abasement of the natural order. The Book of Concord on the curtailment of free-will. Christianity merely inward. Divorce of Church and World, of Religion and Morals. Lack of obligation and sanction pages 43-66
6. THE PART PLAYED BY CONSCIENCE AND PERSONALITY. LUTHER’S WARFARE WITH HIS OLD FRIEND CASPAR SCHWENCKFELD.
On Conscience and its exercise; how to set it to rest. Help of conscience at critical junctures. Conscience in the religious questions of the day. Schwenckfeld pages 66-84
7. SELF-IMPROVEMENT AND THE REFORMATION OF THE CHURCH.
Whether Luther founded a school of godly, Christian life. A Lutheran theologian on the lack of any teaching concerning emancipation from the world. The means of self-reform and their reverse side. Self-reform and hatred of the foe. Companion phenomena of Luther’s hate. Kindlier traits and episodes: The Kohlhase case in history and legend. The Reformation of the Church and Luther’s Ethics; His work “Against the new idol and olden devil.” The Reformation in the Duchy of Saxony. The aims of the Reformation and the currents of the age pages 84-133
8. THE CHURCH APART OF THE TRUE BELIEVERS.
Luther’s earlier theory on the subject; Schwenckfeld; the proceedings at Leisnig; the Popular Church supported by the State; the abortive attempt to create a Church Apart in Hesse pages 133-144
9. PUBLIC WORSHIP. QUESTIONS OF RITUAL.
The “Deutsche Messe”; the liturgy not meant for “true believers”; place of the sermon pages 145-154
10. SCHWENCKFELD AS A CRITIC OF THE ETHICAL RESULTS OF LUTHER’S LIFE-WORK.
Schwenckfeld disappointed in his hope of a moral renovation. Luther’s wrong teaching on Law and Evangel; on predestination, on freedom and on faith alone, on the inward and outward Word. Schwenckfeld on the Popular Church and the new Divine Service pages 155-164
XXX. LUTHER AT THE ZENITH OF HIS LIFE AND SUCCESS, FROM 1540 ONWARDS. APPREHENSIONS AND PRECAUTIONS pages 165-224
1. THE GREAT VICTORIES OF 1540-1544.
Success met with at Halle and Naumburg; efforts made at Cologne, Münster, Osnabrück, Brunswick, and Merseburg. Progress abroad; the Turkish danger; the Council pages 165-168
2. SAD FOREBODINGS.
False brethren; new sects; gloomy outlook for the future pages 169-174
3. PROVISIONS FOR THE FUTURE.
A Protestant Council suggested by Bucer and Melanchthon. Luther’s attitude towards the Consistories. He seeks to reintroduce the Lesser Excommunication. The want of a Hierarchy begins to be felt pages 174-191
4. CONSECRATION OF NICHOLAS AMSDORF AS “EVANGELICAL BISHOP” OF NAUMBURG (1542).
The Ceremony. Luther’s booklet on the Consecration of Bishops. Excerpts from his correspondence with the new “Bishop” pages 192-200
5. SOME FURTHER DEEDS OF VIOLENCE. FATE OF ECCLESIASTICAL WORKS OF ART.
End of the Bishopric of Meissen. Destruction of Church Property. Luther’s attitude towards pictures and images. Details as to the fate of works of art in Prussia, Brunswick, Danzig, Hildesheim, Merseburg, etc. Protest of the Nuremberg artists pages 200-224
XXXI. LUTHER IN HIS DISMAL MOODS, HIS SUPERSTITION AND DELUSIONS pages 225-318
1. HIS PERSISTENT DEPRESSION IN LATER YEARS. PERSECUTION MANIA AND MORBID FANCIES.
Weariness and pessimism. Grounds of his low spirits; suspects the Papists; and his friends. His single-handed struggle with the powers of evil pages 225-241
2. LUTHER’S FANATICAL EXPECTATION OF THE END OF THE WORLD. HIS HOPELESS PESSIMISM.
Why he was convinced that the end was nigh. Allusions to the end of the world in the Table-Talk pages 241-252
3. MELANCHTHON UNDER THE DOUBLE BURDEN, OF LUTHER’S PERSONALITY AND HIS OWN LIFE’S WORK.
Some of Melanchthon’s deliverances. His state of servitude. His last years. His real character. Unfounded tales about him pages 252-275
4. DEMONOLOGY AND DEMONOMANIA.
Luther’s devil-lore. On all the evil the devil works in the world. On the devil’s dwelling-place, his shapes and kinds. Witchcraft. Connection of Luther’s devil-mania with his character and doctrine. The best weapons to use against the devil pages 275-305
5. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF LUTHER’S JESTS AND SATIRE.
His humour in the home and in his writings. He finds relief in it amidst his troubles. Some instances of his jests pages 306-318
XXXII. A LIFE FULL OF STRUGGLES OF CONSCIENCE pages 319-375
1. ON LUTHER’S “TEMPTATIONS” IN GENERAL.
Some characteristic statements concerning his “combats and temptations” pages 319-321
2. THE SUBJECT-MATTER OF THE “TEMPTATIONS.”
“Supposing you had to answer for all the souls that perish!” “If you do not penance shall you not likewise perish?” “See how much evil arises from your doctrine!” pages 321-326
3. AN EPISODE. TERRORS OF CONSCIENCE BECOME TEMPTATIONS OF THE DEVIL.
Schlaginhaufen falls into a faint at Luther’s house. Luther persuades himself that his remorse of conscience comes from the devil pages 326-330
4. PROGRESS OF HIS MENTAL SUFFERINGS UNTIL THEIR FLOOD-TIDE IN 1527-1528.
“What labour did it not cost me ... to denounce the Pope as Antichrist.” The height of the storm; “tossed about between death and hell”; “I seek only for a gracious God.” Luther pens his famous hymn, “A safe stronghold our God is still”; the hymn an echo of his struggles pages 330-345
5. THE TEN YEARS FROM 1528-1538. HOW TO WIN BACK PEACE OF CONSCIENCE.
At the Coburg. “I should have died without a struggle.” The waning of the “struggles by day and by night”; thoughts of suicide; how to reach peace pages 346-356
6. LUTHER ON HIS FAITH, HIS DOCTRINE, AND HIS DOUBTS, PARTICULARLY IN HIS LATER YEARS.
His notion of faith, (a) the accepting as true, (b) the believing trust. His picture of himself and his difficulties in late years; he compares his case with that of St. Paul and with that of Christ in the Garden. Some misunderstandings and false reports as to Luther’s having himself condemned his own life-work pages 356-375
XXXIII. THE COUNCIL OF TRENT IS CONVOKED, 1542. LUTHER’S POLEMICS AT THEIR HIGHEST TENSION pages 376-431
1. STEPS TAKEN AND TRACTS PUBLISHED SUBSEQUENT TO 1537 AGAINST THE COUNCIL OF THE CHURCH.
The Schmalkalden meeting in 1537. Luther, after having asked for a Council, now opposes such a thing. His “Von den Conciliis.” The Ratisbon Interim. The Council is summoned pages 376-381
2. “WIDER DAS BAPSTUM ZU ROM VOM TEUFFEL GESTIFFT.” THE PAPACY RENEWS ITS STRENGTH.
Luther is urged by highly placed friends to thwart the plans of Pope Paul III. The fury of his new book. How to deal with Pope and Cardinals. The “Wittenberg Reformation” drawn up as a counterblast against the Council of Trent pages 381-389
3. SOME SAYINGS OF LUTHER’S ON THE COUNCIL AND HIS OWN AUTHORITY.
“If we are to submit to this Council we might as well have submitted twenty-five years since to the lord of the Councils.” How Luther would have spoken to the Fathers of the Council had he attended it pages 389-394
4. NOTABLE MOVEMENTS OF THE TIMES ACCOMPANIED BY LUTHER WITH “ABUSE AND DEFIANCE DOWN TO THE VERY GRAVE.” THE CARICATURES.
The Brunswick raid and Luther’s treatment of Duke Henry. His wrath against the Zwinglians: “A man that is a heretic avoid.” The exception Luther made in favour of Calvin, the friendly relations between the two, their similarities and divergencies. Luther vents his anger on the Jews in his “Von den Jüden” and “Vom Schem Hamphoras” (1543); exceptional foulness of his language in these two screeds. An earlier work of his on the Jews; reason why, in it, he is fairer to the Jews than in his later writings; some special motives for his later polemics against the Jews; his “De ultimis verbis Davidis.” His crusade against the Turks; his translation of the work of Richardus against the Alcoran. His last effort against the Papacy: “Popery Pictured”; some of the abominable woodcuts described; the state of soul they presuppose. Pirkheimer on “the audacity of Luther’s unwashed tongue” pages 394-431
XXXIV. END OF LUTHER’S LITERARY LABOURS. THE WHOLE REVIEWED pages 432-556
1. TOWARDS A CHRISTIANITY VOID OF DOGMA. PROTESTANT OPINIONS.
Harnack, etc., on Luther’s abandonment of individual points of Christian doctrine and destruction of the older idea of faith: The Canon and true interpretation of Scripture; speculative theology. Luther’s own admissions that Christian doctrine is a chain the rupture of any link of which involves the rupture of the whole. Luther’s inconsistencies in matters of doctrine as instanced by Protestant theologians: Original sin and unfreedom; Law and Gospel; Penance; Justification and good works; his teaching on merit, on the sacraments and the supper; on the Church and Divine worship pages 432-469
2. LUTHER AS A POPULAR RELIGIOUS WRITER. THE CATECHISM.
Collected works: Luther’s preface to the Latin and German Collections. The Church-postils and Home-postils; advantages and shortcomings of his popular works; his silence regarding self-denial. Origin and character of the Larger and Smaller Catechisms. His Catechisms compared with the older catechetic works pages 470-494
3. THE GERMAN BIBLE.
The work of translation completed in 1534; how it was launched on the public and the extent of its success. The various revisions of the work and the notes of the meetings held under Luther’s presidency. His anxiety to use only the best German; “Chancery German.” The language of the German Bible, its scholarship; its inaccuracies; Luther’s “Sendbrieff” to defend his addition of the word “alone” in Romans iii. 28. The corrections of Emser the Dresden “scribbler.” How Luther belittled certain books of Scripture. Some side-lights into the psychology of Luther’s translation. The Bible in earlier ages; the “Bible in chains.” Luther’s indebtedness to earlier German translators pages 494-546
4. LUTHER’S HYMNS.
His efforts to interest his friends in the making of hymns. His best-known hymn, “A safe stronghold our God is still.” Other hymns; their character and musical setting. The “Hymn for the Out-driving of Antichrist” once falsely ascribed to Luther pages 546-556
XXXV. LUTHER’S ATTITUDE TOWARDS SOCIETY AND EDUCATION (continued in Vol. VI) pages 557-606
1. HISTORICAL OUTLINES FOR JUDGING OF HIS SOCIAL WORK.
Luther’s “signal services” as they appear to certain modern Protestants. The fell results of his twin principle: 1º, that the Church is alien to the world, and 2º, has no power to make binding laws pages 557-568
2. THE STATE AND THE STATE CHURCH.
The State de-Christianised and the Church regarded as a mere union of souls. Luther as “Founder of the modern State.” The secular potentate assimilated to King David. The New Theocracy. The Established Church. Significance of the Visitation introduced in the Saxon Electorate. The “Instructions of the Visitors.” Luther to the end the plaything of divergent currents pages 568-606
VOL. V.
THE REFORMER (III)
LUTHER