Luther's Two Narratives of His Hearings
Before the Diet at Worms
NARRATIVE ONE
NARRATIVE TWO
Luther Before the Diet at
Worms
Source:
The Life of Luther Written by Himself
Collected and arranged by M. Michelet
Translated by William Hazlitt
(London, 1904)
pp.
75-78
Introduction
Meantime, the emperor had summoned Luther to
appear at Worms*, before the imperial diet;
and the two parties were now about to meet face to face.
Another man of letters, Helius Eobanus
Hessus, also urged Hutten to take up arms for Luther.
"Franz Von Sickengen will be there to back us, and you
two together, I predict, will be the thunder and lightning that shall
crush the monster of Rome."
The hostile biographer of Luther, Cochlaeus, relates in a satirical
manner, the reformer's progress to the diet:—"A chariot was prepared
for him in the form of a closed litter. Around him were many learned
personages; the provost Jonas, Doctor Schurf, the theologian Amsdorff,
&c. Wherever he passed, there was a great concourse of people. In
the taverns was good cheer, joyous libations, and even music. Luther himself, to draw all eyes upon him,
played the harp like another Orpheus—a shaved and capuchined Orpheus.
Although the safe-conduct of the emperor prohibited him from preaching
on his route, he yet preached at Erfurt on Easter Sunday, and had his
sermon printed." This portrait of Luther by no means accords with the one
given of him by a friendly contemporary, Mosellanus, some time before
the diet:—
" Martin is of the middle height; cares
and studies have made him so thin, that one may count all the bones in
his body; yet he is in all the force and verdure of his age. His voice
is clear and piercing. Powerful in his doctrine, wonderful for his
knowledge of the Scriptures, every one of the verses of which, almost,
he could recite one after another, he learned the Greek and Hebrew for
the purpose of comparing and weighing the translations of the Word. He
is never at a loss, and has at his disposition a world of thought! and
words. In his conversation he is agreeable and easy, and there is
nothing hard or austere in his air. He even
permits himself to enjoy the pleasures of life. In society he is gay,
jocund, and unembarrassed; and preserves a perfect serenity of
countenance, despite the atrocious menaces of his adversaries. It is
difficult to believe that this man could undertake such great things
without Divine protection. The only reproach that almost everybody
joins in making against him, is, that
he is too caustic in his replies— hesitating at no bitterness of
expression when he is angry."
....We are indebted to Luther himself for a fine narrative of what
took place at the diet—a narrative in all essential points conformable
with that which has been given of it by his enemies:—
First Narrative of Luther
pp. 79-85
"The herald
summoned me on the Tuesday in Holy Week, and brought me safe-conducts
from the emperor, and from several princes. On the very next day,
Wednesday, these safe conducts were, in effect, violated at Worms,
where they condemned and burned my writings. Intelligence of this
reached me when I was at Worms. The condemnation, in fact, was already
published in every town, so that the herald himself asked me whether I
still intended to repair to Worms.
"Though, in
truth, I was physically fearful and trembling, I replied to him—' I
will repair thither, though 1 should find there as many devils as there
are tiles on the house tops.' When I arrived at Oppenheim, near Worms,
Master Bucer came to see me, and tried to dissuade me from entering the
city. He told me that Glapion, the emperor's confessor had been to him,
and had entreated him to warn me not to go to Worms; for that if I did,
I should be burned. I should do well, he added, to stop in the
neighbourhood, at Franz Von Sickengen's, who would be very glad to
entertain me.
"The
wretches did this for the purpose of preventing me from making my
appearance within the time prescribed; they knew that if I delayed
only three more days, my safe-conduct would have been no longer
available, and then they would have shut the
gates in my face, and, without hearing what I had to say, have
arbitrarily condemned me. I went on, then, in the purity of my heart,
and on coming within sight of the city, at once sent forward word to
Spalatin that I had arrived, and desired to know where I was to lodge.
All were astonished at hearing of my near approach; for it had been
generally imagined that, a victim to the trick sought to be practised
on me, my terrors would have kept me away.
"Meantime, there came a doctor of the retinue of the margrave of Baden,
who essayed to move me by fine flourishes: I ought, he said, to do a
very great deal, to grant a very great deal, for the love of charity,
that peace and union might continue, and no tumult arise. All, he
urged, were called upon to obey his imperial majesty, as being the
supreme authority; we ought all to avoid creating unseemly
disturbances, and therefore, he concluded, I ought to retract. 'I
will,' replied I, 'with all my heart, in the name of charity, do all
things, and obey in all things, which are not opposed to the faith and
honour of Christ.'
"Then the
chancellor of Treves said to me: 'Martin, thou
art disobedient to his imperial majesty; wherefore depart hence, under
the safe-conduct which has been given thee.' I answered: 'It has been
as it pleased the Lord it should be. And you,' I added, 'do all of
you, on your part, consider well the position in which you are.' And so
I departed, in singleness of heart, without remarking or comprehending
their machinations.
"Soon
afterwards they put in force their cruel edict—that ban, which gave all
ill men an opportunity of taking vengeance with impunity on their
personal enemies, under the pretext of their being Lutheran heretics;
and yet, in the end, the tyrants found themselves under the necessity
of recalling what they had done.
" And this is
what happened to me at Worms, where I had no other aid than the Holy
Spirit."
Second
Narrative of Luther
pp. 85-95
We find other
curious details in a more extended narrative of the conference at
Worms—written immediately afterwards, by Luther
himself, in all probability, though he speaks in the
third person:
"The day after,
at four in the afternoon, the imperial chamberlain, and the herald who
had accompanied him from Wittemberg, came to him at his inn, The Court
of Germany, and conducted him to the town hall, along bye-ways, in
order to avoid the crowds which had assembled in the leading streets.
Notwithstanding this precaution, there were numbers collected at the
gates of the town hall, and who essayed to enter with him, but the
guards kept them back. Many persons had got upon the roofs of houses to
see Dr. Martin. As he proceeded tip
the kail, several noblemen successively addressed to him words of encouragement. ' Be bold,' said they, 'and fear
not those who can kill the body, but are powerless against the soul.' Monk,' said the famous
captain George Freundesberg, putting his hand cheeringly on Martin's
shoulder, 'take heed what thou doest; thou art adventuring on a more
perilous path than any of us have ever trod. But if thou art in the
right, God will not abandon thee.' Duke John of Weimar had previously
supplied the doctor with the money for his journey.
"Luther made his answers in Latin and German.
"The official
opened the proceedings: ' Martin Luther, yesterday
you acknowledged the books published in your name. Do you retract those
books, or not ? This is the question we before addressed to you, and
which you declined answering, under the pretext that it was a question
of faith we were putting, and that you had need of time for reflection
ere you replied, though a theologian like you must know very well that
a Christian should always be ready to answer any questions touching his
faith. Explain yourself now. Will you defend all your writings, or
disavow some of them?'
" 'Most serene
emperor,' replied Martin, 'illustrious
princes, most clement lords, I am again before you, appearing at the
hour appointed, and supplicating you to listen to me with benevolence
and equity. If in my statement' or my replies, I should omit to give
you the titles of honour due to you, if I offend against the etiquette of courts, you will, I
trust, pardon me, for I have never been accustomed to palaces; I am
nothing but a poor monk, the inmate of a humble cell, who have, I
assure you, never preached aught, never written aught, but in
singleness of heart, and for the glory of my God, and the honour of the
Gospel.
"'Most serene
emperor, and princes of the empire: to the two questions put to me
yesterday, whether I acknowledged as mine the books published in my
name, and whether I persevered in defending them, I answer now, as
before, and as I will answer to the hour of my death—Yes, the books
which have been published by me, or which have been published in my
name, are mine; I acknowledge them, I avow them, and will always avow
them, so long as they remain the same as I sent them forth, undistorted
by malice, knavery, or mistaken prudence. I acknowledge, further, that
whatever I have written, was first matured in
my mind by earnest thought and meditation.
"'Before
replying to the second question, I entreat your majesty and the states
of the empire to consider that my writings do not all treat of the same
matter. Some of them are preceptive, destined for the edification of
the faithful, for the advancement of piety, for the amelioration of
manners; yet the bull, while admitting
the innocence and advantage of such treatises, condemns these equally
with the rest. If I were to disavow them, what practically should I be
doing? Proscribing a mode of instruction which every Christian
sanctions, and thus putting myself in opposition to the universal voice
of the faithful.
"'There is
another class of writings in which I attack the papacy and the belief
of the papists, as monstrosities, involving the ruin of sound doctrine
and of men's souls. None can deny, who will listen to the cries and the
evidences of the conscience within, that the pope's decretals have
thrown utter disorder into Christianity, have surprised, imprisoned,
tortured the faith of the faithful, have devoured as a prey this noble
Germany, for that she has protested alond against lying tales, contrary
to the gospel and to the opinions of the Hither. If I were to retract
these writings, I should lend additional strength and audacity to the
Roman tyranny, I should open the floodgates to the torrent of impiety,
making for it a breach by which it would rush in and overwhelm the
Christian world. My recantation would only serve to extend and
strengthen the reign of iniquity; more especially when it should be
known that it was solely by order of your majesty, and your serene
highnesses, that I had made such retraction.
"'Finally, there is another class of
works, which have been published under my name; I speak of those books
of polemics, which I have written against some
of my adversaries, advocates of the Roman tyranny. I have no hesitation
in admitting that in these I have shown greater violence than befitted
a man of my calling; I do not set up for a saint, I do not say that my
conduct has been above reproach; my dispute is not about that conduct,
but about the doctrine of Christ. But though I have been violent
overmuch at times, I cannot consent to disavow these writings, because
Rome would make use of the disavowal, to extend her kingdom and oppress
men's souls.
"'A man, and
not God, I would not seek to shield my books under any other patronage
than that with which Christ covered his doctrine. When interrogated
before the high-priest, as to what he taught, and his cheek buffeted by
a varlet: "If I have spoken evil," he said, " bear witness of the
evil." If the Lord Jesus, who knew himself incapable of sin, did not
reject the testimony which the vilest mouths might give respecting his
Divine Word, ought not I, scum of the earth that I am, and capable only
of sin, to solicit the examination of my doctrines ?
"'I therefore,
in the name of the living God, entreat your sacred majesty, your
illustrious highnesses, every human creature, to come and depose what
they can against me, and, with the
Prophets and the Gospel in their hands, to convict me, if they can, of
error. I stand here, ready, if any one can prove me to have written
falsely, to retract my errors, and to throw my books into the fire with
my own hand.
"' Be assured I
have well weighed the dangers, the pains, the strife, and hatred that
my doctrine will bring into the world; and I rejoice to see the word of
God producing, as its first fruits, discord and dissension, for such is
the lot and destiny of the Divine Word, as our Lord has set forth: I
came not to send peace, but a sword, to set the son against his father.
"'Forget not
that God is admirable and terrible in all his counsels ; and beware,
least, if you condemn the Divine Word, that Word send forth upon you a
deluge of ills, and the reign of our noble young emperor, upon whom,
next to God, repose all our hopes, be speedily and sorely troubled.
"'I might
here, in examples drawn from Holy Writ, exhibit to you Pharaoh, king
of Egypt, and the kings of Israel, ruined from seeking to reign at
first by peace, and by what they termed wisdom. For God confounds the
hypocrite in his hypocrisy, and overturns mountains ere they know of
their fall: fear is the work of God.
"'I seek not
herein to offer advice to your high and mighty understandings ; but I
owed this testimony of a loving heart to my native Germany. I conclude
with recommending myself to your sacred majesty and your highnesses,
humbly entreating you not to suffer my enemies
to indulge their hatred against me under your sanction. I have said
what I had to say.'
"Then the
emperor's orator hastily rose, and exclaimed that Luther had not directed himself to the
question; that what the assembly had to do was not to listen to a
discussion whether councils had decided right or wrong, but to
ascertain from Luther whether he would
retract; this was the question to which he had to reply: yay or no.
"Thereupon Luther resumed in these words:
"'Since then
your imperial majesty and your highnesses demand a simple answer, I
will give you one; brief and simple, but deprived of neither its teeth
nor its horns. Unless I am convicted of error by the testimony of
Scripture, or by manifest evidence (for I put no faith in the mere
authority of the pope, or of councils, which have often been mistaken,
and which have often contradicted one another, recognising, as I do, no
other guide than the Bible, the Word of God), I cannot and will not
retract, for we must never act contrary to our conscience.
"'Such is my
profession of faith, and expect none other from me. I have done: God
help me! Amen !'
"The states
retired to deliberate; on their return, the official thus addressed Luther:
"'Martin, you
have assumed a tone which becomes not a man of your condition; and you
have not answered the questions put to you. Doubtless you have written
some pieces which are in no way liable to censure ; and had you
retracted those works of yours, in which you inculcate your mischievous
errors, his majesty, in his infinite goodness, would not have permitted
any proceedings to be taken against those
which contain only right doctrine. You have resuscitated dogmas which
have been distinctly condemned by the council of Constance, and you
demand to be convicted thereupon out of the Scriptures. But if every
one were at liberty to bring back into discussion points which for ages
have been settled by the church and by councils, nothing would be
certain and fixed, doctrine or dogma, and there would be no belief
which men must adhere to under pain of eternal damnation. You, for
instance, who today reject the authority of the council of Constance,
tomorrow may, in like manner, proscribe all councils together, and
next the fathers, and the doctors; and there would remain no authority
whatever, but that individual word which you call to witness, and which
we also invoke. His majesty, therefore, once more demands a simple and
precise answer, affirmative or negative; will you defend all your
principles, as catholic principles, or are there any of them which you
are prepared to retract?'
"Then Luther besought the emperor not to permit
him to he thus called upon to belie his conscience, which was bound up
with the sacred writings. They had required of him a categorical
answer, and he had given one. He could only repeat what he had already
declared : that unless they proved to him by irresistible arguments
that he was in the wrong, he would not go back a single inch; that what
the councils h id laid down, was no article of faith ; that councils
had oft an erred, had often contradicted each other, and that their
testimony, consequently, was not convincing ; and that lie could not
disavow what was written in the inspired books.
"The official
sharply observed, that Luther could
not show the councils to have erred.
"Martin said he would undertake to do so at
any time that might be assigned him.
"By this time,
the evening drawing in, it grew dark, and the diet arose. When the man
of God left the town hall to return to his lodging, he was followed and
insulted by some Spaniards.**
"Next day, the
emperor*** sent for the electors and
states to discuss with them the form of the imperial ban against Luther and his adherents. The
safe-conduct, however, was retained in it.****
"Meantime, Luther was visited by a great number of
princes, counts, barons, prelates, and other persons of distinction,
lay and ecclesiastical. ['The doctor's little room,' writes Spalatin,
'could not contain all the visitors who presented themselves. I saw
among them duke William of Brunswick, the landgrave, Philip of Hesse,
count Wilhebn of Henneburg, the elector Frederick, and many others.']
"On the
Wednesday following, (eight days after his first appearance before the
diet,) he was requested by the
archbishop of Treves to wait upon him. Luther accordingly
presented himself before that prelate, attended by the imperial herald,
and accompanied by the friends who had followed him from Saxony and
Thuringia. In the apartment of the archbishop they found assembled
Joachim of Brandenburg, the elector George, the bishops of Augsburg and
Brandenburg, count George, grand-master of the Teutonic order; John
Boeck of Strasburg, and Dr. Peutinger. Veh, (Vehus,) chancellor of
Baden, opened the proceedings, in the name of those present, by
declaring that they had not invited Luther there
with any view to polemical discussion, but out of a pure feeling of
charity and kindness towards him.
"Then Veh
commenced a long harangue on the obedience due to the church and its
decisions, to the councils and their decrees. He maintained that the
church, like any other power, had its constitutions which might be
modified according to the requirements of the particular nations to
which they were applied, the diversity of manners, of climate, of epochs; and that herein lay the apparent
contradictions which Luther had
denounced as existing in the internal system of the church. These
contradictions, in fact, only proved more emphatically the religious
care with which the church regulated its spiritual administration, and
in no degree affected the integrity of the catholic dogma. That dogma
was yesterday what it is to-day, and what it will continue to be till
the end of time. He called Luther's attention to the disturbances to
which his innovations were everywhere giving rise. 'See,' said he, your book, De Libertate Christiana: what
does that teach men? To throw off every species of subjection— to erect
disobedience into a maxim. We no longer live at a time when every child
of the Christian family had but one heart and one soul; when the
precept was one, like the society; when the rule was one, like the
precept. It became necessary to modify all this, when time itself had
modified society; but without the catholic dogma ever receiving the
slightest prejudice. I am quite aware, Martin,'
he added, 'that many of your writings breathe a sweet
odour of piety; but we have judged the general spirit of your works, as
we judge a tree, not by its flowers, but by its fruits. The advice
given you by the states of the empire is given in a desire of peace,
with all good feeling towards yourself. Those states were established
by God to watch over the security of a people whose tranquillity your
doctrines are calculated to disturb. To resist them is to resist God.
Doubtless, it is better to obey God than to obey man; but do you think
that we, any more than yourself, are deaf to his word, or have not
meditated thereupon?'
"Luther, after having expressed his thanks
for the peaceful and charitable expressions made use of towards him,
proceeded to answer what Veh had said respecting the authority of
councils. He maintained that the council of Constance had erred in
condemning this proposition of John Huss: 'Tantum una est sancta,
universalis ecclesia qua est numerus prmdestinalorum.' ' No
retractation!' he said, in conclusion, with an animated and firm voice:
"you shall have my blood, my life, rather than a single word of
retractation; for it is better to obey God than to obey man. It is no
fault of mine that this matter creates confusion among you. I cannot
prevent the word of Christ becoming a stumbling block to men. If the sheep of the good Shepherd were fed upon
evangelical marrow, faith would live, and our spiritual masters would
be honest and trustworthy. I know well that we must pay obedience to
the civil magistrate, even though he be not a man after God's own
heart; and I am quite ready to pay that obedience in all things that
does not shut out the Word of God." Luther was
then about to take his leave, but he was told to remain, and Veh
pressingly urged upon him his previous arguments, and conjured him to
submit his writings to the decision of the princes and states of the
empire.
"Luther gently
replied: ' I would fain have it understood, that I do not decline the
judgment of the emperor and of the states; but the word of God, on
which I rely, is to my eyes so clear, that I cannot retract what I have
said, until a still more luminous authority is opposed to that Word.
St. Paul has said—If an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to
you let him be accursed; and I say to you, do not oner violence to
my conscience, which is chained up with the Scripture.'
"The meeting then broke up; but the
archbishop of Treves retained Luther, and
went with him into another apartment. Jerome Schurff and Nicholas
followed. John Eck, and Cochlaeus, dean of the church of the Holy
Virgin at Francfort, were already in the room. Eck addressed Luther:—
" ' Martin,' said he, ' there is no one of the
heresies which have torn the bosom of the church, which has not derived
its origin from the various interpretation of the Scripture. The Bible
itself is the arsenal whence each innovator has drawn his deceptive
arguments. It was with biblical texts that Pelagius and Arius
maintained their doctrines Arius, for instance, found the negation of
the eternity of the Word—an eternity which you admit, in this verse of
the New Testamcn—Joseph knew not his wife till she had brought forth
her first-born son; and he said, in the same way that you say,
that this passage enchained him. When the fathers of the council of
Constance condemned this proposition of John Huss— The church of
Jesus Christ is only the community of the elect, they condemned an
error; for the church, like a good mother, embraces within her arms all
who bear the name of Christian, all who are called to enjoy the
celestial beatitude.' Luther replied,
reproducing all the arguments he had before made use of. Cochkeus took
him by both hand;-, and conjured him to restore
peace to the church. Luther was
inflexible, and so they separated.
"In the
evening, the archbishop of Treves sent word to Luther
that, by order of the emperor, his safe-conduct had been
extended two days, and requested him to wait upon him the next day, to
have another conference.
"Peutinger and
the chancellor of Baden came to see Luther next
morning, and renewed the conversation of the preceding evening, using
every argument they could devise to induce him to submit his writings
to the judgment of the emperor.
"'Yes,' said Luther, ' I am ready to do so, if you will
come and controvert me, Bible in hand; otherwise, not. God has said by
the mouth of the prophet-king: Put not your trust in princes, for
in them there is no salvation; and, by the mouth of Jeremiah, Cursed
be he who putteth his trust in man.' They urged him still more
pressingly: «I will submit everything to the judgment of man,'
said he, ' except the Word of God.' They then left him, saying they
would return in the evening, when they hoped to find him in a better
frame of mind. They came; but it was all in vain.
"There was
another interview with the archbishop. In this last conference, the
prelate said: 'But, dear doctor, if you will not submit this matter to
the diet, or to a council, by what means shall we avert the troubles
which menace the church? What remedies can we apply?'
"Luther replied: 'Nothing better can be said
in this case than was said, according to St. Paul, by Gamaliel: If
this work be of men, it will come to nought. The emperor and the
states may write to the pope thus: if the work of Luther is not an inspiration from on high,
in three years it will be no more spoken of.'
"The archbishop
persisted: 'Suppose,' said he, 'that we made from your books faithful
extracts of articles we object to. Would you submit them to a
council?'
"'Provided they
were none of those,' returned Luther, 'which
the council of Constance has already condemned.'
"'But if they
were?'
"Then,' said Luther,
'I would not consent to submit them to a council, for I
am certain that the decrees of that council condemned the truth : I
would rather lose my head than abandon the divine word. In what
concerns the word of God and the faith, every Christian is as good a
judge for himself as the pope can be for him; for each man must live
and die according to that faith. The word of God is the common heritage
of the whole Christian world, each member of which is competent to
explain it. The passage of St. Paul (1 Corinthians, xiv.): If
anything be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his
peace, proves clearly that the master must follow the disciple, if
the latter understand the .word of God better than he himself does."
"And thus ended
the conference.
"Soon after
this, the official sent for Luther, and
in the presence of the arch-chancellor, read to him the imperial
sentence.
"'Luther,' he added, 'since you have not
chosen to listen to the counsels of his majesty and of the states of
the empire, and to confess your errors, it is now for the emperor to
act. By his order, I give you twenty days, wherein to return to
Wittemberg, secure under the imperial safe-conduct, provided that on
your way you excite no disorders by preaching or otherwise.'
"As the
official concluded, Sturm, the herald, inclined his staff, in token of
respect.
"Luther bowed,
and said: 'Be it as the Lord pleases; blessed be the name of the Lord.'
He added the expression of his warm gratitude towards the emperor
personally, and towards his ministers, and the states of the empire,
for whom, he affirmed, with his hand on his heart, he was ready to
sacrifice life, honour, reputation— all, except the word of God.
"Next day, 26th
April, after a collation given him by his friends, the doctor resumed
the route to Wittenberg."
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Notes:
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