XIII. Polemics and Irenics. — Inflexilile in his opposi- tion to Rome, he yet showed himself solicitous to pre- serve peace while peace was possible. Very gradually and very cautiously he declared himself for the right of armed resistance, when, in the conscientious judgment of men learned in the law, the nature of the violation of rights is such as to demand war as the sole possible mode of self-defence.
1. The doctrine of the Lord's Supper grew to a sub- ject of extended conflict, and of far-reaching doctrinal and practical power in Luther's life and in the Reforma- tion. It became, indeed, a touchstone. The lav>-s of interpretation which determined the doctrine of the Sup]ier cither way, conditioned more or less the entire distinctive cliaracteristics of both tendencies in the Ref- ormation. While he ^vas engaged in the controversy with Carlstadt, he heard. Nov. 12, 1524, that Zwingle, and Jan. 13, 1525, that (Ecolampadius held the same views — " the poison widely creeping." There ^vere, in- deed, three mutually contradictory processes of interpre- tation ; each of the three overthrew the other two, and
LUTHER
571
LUTHER
was overthrown by them ; but as they concurred in the one result, the denial of the true presence, Luther regard- ed them from the beginning as essentially one view.
2. Luther^s course in the sacramental controvei'sies ex- ercised an immense influence on the internal and exter- nal history of the Keformation, and on nothing in his history has Protestant sentiment been so completely and so passionately divided. In his sermon on the venera- ble sacrament (1519), in which he for the first time pre- sented with comparative fulness the evangelical view of the Lord's Supper, he still retained the doctrine of transubstantiation. His own doctrine of the true pres- ence of the body and blood of Christ without a change in the elements ('"true bread and wine remains") he first brought clearly forth in his work on the adoration of the holy sacrament (1523), addressed to the Bohe- mian Brethren, who had directed their inquiries to him. They claimed that they held an objective gift of God in the sacrament ; and, although their doctrine has been asserted by some to be that of a purely spiritual pres- ence, they gave it such an approximation to the doc- trine maintained by Luther that he was entirely satis- tied with their statement. He discussed the question further in a letter to the preacher at Strasburg (1525), and in a preface to the Suabian Syngramma (1526), with which he declared himself in harmony. He fought earnestly againjt the doctrine of the Lord's Supper pro- posed by Carlstadt and Zwingle, which had the common feature that it regarded the Lord's Supper not so much a divine institution as a movement of man towards God. Over against their views Luther designates the forgive- ness of sins as the special, distinctive grace of this sac- rament, as in that forgiveness Christ has laid the efficacy of his passion. That bread remains bread, and is j-et, in the sacramental complex, the body of Christ, involves to faith no contradiction. He defended his views in the Ser)non of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ (1526) ; that the Words " This is m>j Body'' still stand fast (1527) ; and in Confession touching the Supper (1529). The colloquy at Marburg (1529) only in part removed his suspicions of Zwingle : " You have another spirit than we." The Schwabach Articles gave rtaew- ed expression to the doctrine of the true presence, even stronger than that in the articles which were drawn up at Marburg to express the consent and dissent of the two parties. A more hopeful turn of mind was called forth by the visit of Bucer to Coburg in 1530. As a re- sult of this visit, Luther, in letters to Albert of Prussia and to the people of Frankfort, expressed himself more gently towards Zwingle. The Wittenberg Concord of 1536 resulted from this new movement. This Concord led to a temporary friendly recognition of the Swiss, and a correspondence with them ; but all the old dis- trust showed itself again in the Short Confession touch- ing the Holy Saciximent (154-1). Luther had set himself with unshakable decision against every league of the Evangelical (Lutheran) States with the Swiss. He had not been able, however, to deter the landgrave Philip from forming a league with them. In the conflict with Zwingle there had been a special development of Lu- ther's Christological views, and an expansion and dis- tinctiveness imparted to his entire theological thinking.
3. The controversies which most deeply distressed Luther were those which took place within the Evan- gelical Church itself. The Osiandrian controversy in NiiremljLTg, 1533, in regard to the general form of public absolution, to which Andrew Osiandcr (q. v.), who was constitutionally self-opinionated, olijccted on the ground that many were unprepared for absolution, was decided by LutluT with that thorough moderation which never fiiiled him when he believed that principle was not com- promised. He thought the form unobjectionable, but advised that if Osiander felt scruples he should be al- lowed to omit it, without censuring those who used it, or being censured by them. He quenched the Antino- mistic controversy excited in Wittenberg in 1537 by John Agricola (q. v.), who had been one of his dearest