test the question. If reconciliation were to be had at all, the sermon "Of the Freedom of a Christian Man" (Wittenb. 1520) breathed the very spirit in which alone it was possible. It is " pleasant, without polemics, fuU of devoutness, and of the overwhelming might of love to God and love to man. In it the reformatory princi- ple appears in its depth, its rich devotional spirit, its re- ligious freshness. Its life-breath is the spirit of the higher peace ; it contains a treasure of new impulses for the intellectual, and, indeed, the speculative life of the Christian soul. The evangelical principle, as it involves faith and love, has perhaps never been luifoldcd with such clearness, fullness, and depth. It is noble and full ■ of significance that Luther appended this golden little book to his last letter to the pope (Sept. 6, 1520), as if with a petition for a peaceful separation and a more kindly construction. But it is a happy thing besides to note the quiet self-possession, the profound repose, and clearness of soul with which Luther stood as llie strife grew more threatening, and the bull of excommunica- tion was impending. This undoubted mirror of a child- like heart, reflecting the peace of heaven, is in amazing contrast with the thunder-storm which gathered about it, and is a demonstration that the confessor of the jus- tification which is by faith had what he confessed, and was what he taught" (Dorner, Gesch. der Prof. T/ieol. p. 101, 108). Rome had meanwhile been getting ready to settle the whole matter by a coup de main. In Sep- tember, 1520, Eck appeared in Germany with the papal bull, dated June 15. It condemned as heresies forty- one pi'opositions extracted from Luther's knifings, or- dered his works to be burned wherever they were found, and summoned him, on pain of excommunication, to confess and retract his errors within sixty days, and to throw himself upon the mercy of the pope. This bull brought Lutlier to a step decisive beyond recall. Sus- ceptible to gentleness, he met violence and threatening with unshakable courage. Like a great general, prompt- ly accepting the warfare forced upon him, he carried the war instantly into the heart of the enemy's tcrriton,'. Before the gate which opens towards the river Elster, at Wittenberg, in the presence of a vast multitude fif all ranks and orders, he burned the papal bull, anil with it the decree, the decretals, the Clementines, the Extrav- agants, the entire code of Romish canon law, as the root of all the evil, Dec. 10, 1520. Archdeacon Manning, whose testimony here will carry peculiar weight, says : " The just causes of complaint which made Luther first address the bishops, his steady appeals through eveiy gradation of ecclesiastical order to the award of a gen- eral council ; and, on the other, the violent and corrupt administration of Leo X, ending in an excommunication against a man whose cause was stiU unheard, seem ef- fectually to clear both him and those who, for his sake, were driven from the unity of the Church from the guilt of schism" (^Unily of the Church [London, 1842], p. 328, 329). Thus Luther broke openly, as he had already broken virtually, with Rome, forever. This final rupture gave a character of sharpest decision to his appeal to a general council, with which he prefaced the burning of the bull, and to his writings Against the Bull of Ant i- cki-ist, against Emser, and others. He still continued a faithful member of the Catholic Church of the West, holding its old faith, which knew nothing of a pope with unlimited despotic authority. He stood then iu many respects in the same general position whicli is oc- cu|iicd l)y Diillinger now. The bull of excommunica- tion promptly followed, Jan. 6, 1521. In consequence of Luther's daring act, the papal legate, Alexander, de- manded of the Diet sitting at Worms that he should be put under the ban of the empire. But it was the wish of the estates of the empire that, in advance of giving effect to the pajial bull, Luther should be summoned to apjiear and have a hearing before the Diet. To this Diet, against the urgeiit advice of his friends, under a safeguard from Charles Y, who had succeeded Jlaximil- ian in 1519, Lutlier went, saying, "Though there were
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as manj'- devils in Worms as there are tiles on its roofs, still would I enter." In the memorable transaction at Worms, " the most splendid scene in history," as it has been styled, Luther stood in the presence of the emper- or, the archduke Ferdinand, six electors, twenty-four dukes, eight margraves, thirty bishops, and other prin- ces and prelates of the realm, AprU. 17, 18, 1521. It " was tlie most remarkable assembly ever convened on earth — an empire against a man ! Lucas Cranach's pic- ture represents Luther as he stood there, so lone and strong, with his great full heart — a second Prometheus, confronting the Jove of the IGth century and the Ger- man Olympus." '• His friends were yet few, and of no great intluence; his enemies were numerous and power- ful, and eager for his destruction : the cause of truth, the hope of religious regeneration, appeared to be placed at that moment in the discretion and constancy of one man. The faithful trembled." But Luther was victo- rious in his good confession. Having examined the books laid before him, April 17, he acknowledged them as his own. After deep reflection, for which he had so- licited time, he defended himself on the following day in an address of two hours in length. He upheld free- dom of conscience, and denied the right of the priest- hood to control by force the religious convictions of men. His manner was free from all vehemence, his expression was modest, gentle, and humble ; " but in the matter of his public apology he declined in no one particular from the fulness of his convictions. Of the numerous opin- ions which he had by this time adopted at variance with the injunctions of Rome, there was not one which in the hour of danger he consented to compromise." At the close of his speech, which was in German, he com- plied with the request to repeat it in Latin, for the sake of the emperor and of others. When urged with the direct question whether he would recant, he replied in Latin, '• Unless I shall be convinced by the testimonies of the Scriptures or by evident reason (for I believe nei- ther pope nor councils alone, since it is manifest they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted, and my con- science is held captive by the word of God; and as it is neither safe nor right to act against conscience, I can- not and will not retract anything." He added in Ger- man, '• Here I stand ; I cannot otherwise ; God help me. Amen" {Acta lVo)-inati(B habitw, in (9pe?"a [Jena], ii, 41-1. The historical character of these last [German] words has been disputed [see Burckhardt, Stud. u. Krit. 1869], but without good grounds). Luther's enemies now made violent efforts to effect his ruin. They counselled the violation of the imperial safe-conduct. They ap- pealed to the crime of Constance as a precedent. Charles replied that if honor were banished from every other home, it ought to find refuge in the heart of kings. The ban of the empire was published May 25, 1521. It made Luther an outlaw.