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he was engaged in. Others had tried to do what he was now attempting, and had failed. Even this did not dishearten him. He believed the times were fast growing ripe, and was sure that either he or some one else for whom he was preparing the way-his colleague Melanchthon, for instance-would yet accomplish the hitherto impossible. Fantastic notions that the end of the world was at hand, notions very common in that day, began to find lodgment in his mind, and were never afterward altogether abandoned. It was a time of feverish excitement for him, not altogether conducive to calm and deliberate work.

The months succeeding the Leipsic disputation were very busy ones for Luther. He was more active with his pen than ever, continually sending pamphlets to the press and occasionally books of considerable size. In one of his letters he complained of his inability to publish as rapidly as he wished because of the limitations of the printing-office, and a little later informed a friend that he kept three presses going all the time. It was his habit to send copy to the printer day by day, and he was nearly always reading the proof of the earlier pages of a book while writing the later. Often the preface was in type before the work itself was even begun. It is surprising not that much of his published work bears the marks of haste, but that so many of his writings still richly repay reading after the lapse of four centuries. He had, as he once remarked, a quick hand and a ready memory, and all he wrote flowed from his pen without effort. His speed was the despair of friends and foes alike. It is amusing to see how often, when requested by Spalatin or the elector or some other anxious sympathizer to refrain from a publication likely to make trouble, he replied that their protests were too late, for the deed was already done. The physical and mental vitality of the man was one of the most amazing things about him and one of the secrets of his tremendous power.

He was indefatigable in controversy, determined to let no attack go unanswered, and the attacks during these months were many and severe. He welcomed them as invitations to let his views be known, and many a reply was rather a statement of his own doctrines than an answer to his

antagonists. For the latter, he often contented himself with personal abuse instead of reasoned argument. His treatment of opponents has always been a ground of offense to his enemies and of confusion to his friends. After the not uncommon fashion of the day, error in opinion was taken as a sign of moral obliquity, and the inexhaustible stores of his rich and racy vocabulary were freely drawn upon to portray the character of those venturing to oppose him. His violence has been excused by appealing to the prevailing tone of contemporary polemics, but the appeal is futile. Though his form of expression might have been different in another century, the man he was would have been violent and vituperative in any. Often he went beyond all reason and broke the canons of good taste recognized even in that freespoken age; but he was not engaged in a parlor exhibition, and he would have cared as little for our criticisms of his style of fighting as he did for the criticisms of his contemporaries. Had he been other than he was, he might have been better liked by many a delicate soul, but he could not have wielded the influence he did. His fiercest onslaughts carried terror and joy to the ends of Christendom, and by them no less than by his inimitable appeals to the finer sentiments he swayed and dominated the masses. He needs no apologies from us. As well apologize for the fury of the wind as for the vehemence of Martin Luther.

When Spalatin found fault with the strong language of his reply to the Bishop. of Meissen, he wrote:

Greeting. Good God! how excited you are, my Spalatin! You seem even more stirred up than I and the others. Do you not see that my patience in not replying to Emser's and Eck's five or six wagon-loads of curses is the sole reason why the framers of this document have dared to attack me with such silly and ridiculous nonsense? For you know how little I cared that my sermon at Leipsic was condemned and suppressed by a public edict; how I despised suspicion, infamy, injury, hatred. Must these audacious persons even be permitted to add to these follies scandalous pamphlets crammed full of falsehoods and blasphemies against gospel truth? Do you forbid even to bark at these wolves? The Lord is my

witness how I restrained myself lest I should not treat with reverence this accursed and most impotent document issued in the bishop's name. Otherwise I should have said things those heads ought to hear, and I will yet, when they acknowledge their authorship by beginning to defend themselves. I beg, if you think rightly of the gospel, do not imagine that its cause can be accomplished without tumult, scandal, and sedition. Out of the sword you cannot make a feather, nor out of war, peace. The word of God is a sword, war, ruin, destruction, poison, and, as Amos says, it meets the children of Ephraim like a bear in the way and

a lioness in the woods.

I cannot deny that I have been more vehement than is seemly. But since they knew this, they ought not to have stirred up the dog. How difficult it is to temper one's passions and one's pen you can judge even from your own case. This is the reason I have always disliked to engage in public controversy; but the more I dislike it, the more I am involved against my will, and that only by the most atrocious slanders brought against me and the word of God. If I were not carried away thereby either in temper or pen, even a heart of stone would be moved by the indignity of the thing to take up arms; and how much more I, who am both passionate and possessed of a pen not altogether blunt! By these monstrosities I am driven beyond modesty and decorum. At the same time I wonder where this new religion came from, that whatever you say against an adversary is regarded as slander. What do you think of Christ? Was he a slanderer when he called the Jews an adulterous and perverse generation, the offspring of vipers, hypocrites, sons of the devil? And what about Paul when he uses the words dogs, vain babblers, seducers, ignorant, and, in Acts xiii so inveighs against a false prophet that he seems almost insane: "Oh, thou full of all deceit and of all craft, thou son of the devil, enemy of truth"? Why did he not gently flatter him, that he might convert him, rather than thunder in such a way? It is not possible, if aware of the truth, to be patient with inflexible and ungovernable enemies of the truth. But enough of this nonsense. I see that everybody wishes I were gentle, especially my enemies, who shew themselves least so of all. If I am too little gentle, I am at least simple and open, and therein, as I believe,

surpass them, for they dispute only in a deceitful fashion. Farewell, and be not afraid.

Twenty years and more later, referring to one of his bitterest and most scathing invectives, he remarked: "I have read my book over again, and wonder how it happened that I was so moderate. I ascribe it to the state of my head, which was such that my mind was prevented from working more freely and actively."

But if we would do justice to this extraordinary man, it must be remembered that the conflict he was engaged in did not keep him from performing his ordinary duties with his accustomed vigor and effectiveness. He did more than a man's full work quite apart from his controversy, though the latter, it would seem, was alone enough to absorb all his attention and tax all his powers. He preached regularly in the city church and the convent, lectured as usual in the university, and gave a surprising amount of attention to administrative matters, concerning himself even with the pettiest details of faculty business. He also worked steadily upon the interpretation of the Bible, issuing in the autumn his famous commentary on Galatians and continuing the publication of his careful and laborious exposition of the Psalms, printed many moral and religious pamphlets, and wrote beautiful letters and tracts for the solace and inspiration of the sick and suffering.

A couple of brief passages may be quoted from his "Tesseredecas," written at this time for the comfort of the Elector Frederick, who was lying grievously ill:

When you regard as sacred relics, and love, kiss, and embrace the coat, the vessels, the water-jars, and all the things Christ touched and used, why do you not much more love, embrace, and kiss pains, worldly evils, ignominy, and death? For these he not only made sacred, but bathed and blessed them with his blood, enduring them with willing heart and deepest devotion.

When Jacob heard that his son Joseph was a ruler in Egypt, like one awaking out of deep sleep he believed it not until the wagons sent by Joseph proved the truth of all his sons told him. Thus it would be indeed difficult to believe so great blessings are given us unworthy creatures in Christ,

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redemption, and wisdom. For I am a sinner, but I am borne in his righteousness given to me; I am impure, but his holiness is my sanctification wherein I sweetly ride; I am foolish, but his wisdom carries me; worthy of damnation I am, but his liberty is my redemption, a wagon most secure.

multiplying. Particularly important was the recognition received from leading humanists both at home and abroad. In the autumn of 1518, speaking of Albrecht Dürer, Lazarus Spengler, and other celebrated lights of Nuremberg, Christopher Scheurl remarked: "Nearly all the conversation at table concerns a certain Mar

Luther showed the simplicity of his tin. Him they celebrate, adore, and cham

pion. For him they are prepared to endure everything." A few months later he wrote Eck, expostulating with him for his attack on Luther:

You are bringing upon yourself, unless I am mistaken, the strong disfavor and hatred of most followers of Erasmus and Reuchlin, nearly all friends of learning, and even modern theologians. I have recently traveled through a number of important dioceses and everywhere found a great many adherents of Martin. The clergy's love for the man is astonishing. They are flying to him in flocks, like jackdaws and starlings. They subscribe to his opinions, they applaud him, they bless him.

About the same time Luther received letters from John Froben, the publisher of Basel, and from Wolfgang Capito, a well-known humanist, informing him that he had many warm and influential friends in Switzerland and along the Rhine, and that his books

were widely read

not only there, but

manists everywhere now began to realize that Luther's enemies were theirs and his struggle a renewal of the Reuchlin conflict between the representatives of the old and the new learning. In such a battle it could not be doubtful where their sympathies would lie.

In October he received a couple of notable letters from an acquaintance of his Erfurt student days, the humanist Crotus Rubeanus, principal author of the famous "Letters of Obscure Men." Crotus was

From an old print

LUTHER'S SUPPORTER,

ULRICH VON HUTTEN

in Italy at the time, and gave Luther first-hand information of the efforts there on foot to crush him. He also hailed him in enthusiastic terms as a father of the fatherland, "worthy of a golden statue and an annual feast."

This recognition of the national importance of Luther's work, taken with the unconcealed contempt for the Roman curia. which breathes in the letters of Crotus, was full of significance. It foreshadowed alliance between Luther and another group of Germans

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an

also in Italy, France, Spain, and Eng- who were chiefly interested in economic land.

Even the great Erasmus spoke of him in a friendly way, and guarded as his utterances were, for he early realized the difference between Luther's spirit and his own, his attitude was generally interpreted as sympathetic, and greatly enhanced Luther's credit with men of modern tendencies.

The Leipsic debate still further increased his reputation. The humanist Mosellan had expected to hear only old and threadbare themes discussed in traditional scholastic fashion, and was surprised and delighted at Luther's attitude, as he was careful to inform his correspondents. Hu

and political reform. The leading spokesman of the group was Ulrich von Hutten, one of the most interesting and picturesque figures of the age. Son of a poor knight, and, on account of his delicate physique, destined for the priesthood, he early ran away and spent the remainder of his brief life in wandering from place to place, at times in abject poverty, and again enjoying the favor and protection of the great. He was a poet of no mean gifts and an enthusiastic humanist. While in Italy, in 1517, he ran across Lorenzo Valla's work on the donation of Constantine and was led to believe there was no basis for the old papal claim.

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