§ 86. LUTHER AND MILTITZ. JANUARY, 1519. 175
solemnly appealed from the Pope to a general council, and thus anticipated the papal sentence of excommunication. He expected every day maledictions from Rome, and was prepared for exile or any other fate.1_ He was already tormented with the thought that the Pope might be the Anti- Christ spoken of by St. Paul in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, and asked his friend Link (Dec. 11) to give him his opinion on the subject.? Ultimately he lost faith - “also in a general council, and appealed solely to the Scriptures and his conscience. The Elector urged him to moderation through Spalatin, but Luther declared: “The more those Romish grandees rage, and meditate the use of force, the less do I fear them, and shall feel all the more free to fight against the serpents of Rome. I am prepared for all, and await the judgment of God.”
§ 36. Luther and Miltitz. January, 1519.
LoscHER, 11. 552-569 ; III. 6-21, 820-847. LuTHER’s Werke, WALCH, XV. 308 sqq.; Weimar ed., II. 66sqq. Letters in DE WETTE, I. 207 sqq., 233 sqq.
Jou. K. SEIDEMANN: Karl von Miltitz. . . . Eine chronol. Untersuchung. Dresden, 1844 (pp. 37). The respective sections in MARHEINEKE, ΚΑΗΝΙΒ (I. 235 sqq.), and KOsTLIN (I. 238 sqq. and 281 sqq.).
Before the final decision, another attempt was made to silence Luther by inducing him to revoke his heresies. Diplomacy sometimes interrupts the natural development of principles and the irresistible logic of events, but only for a short season. It usually resorts to compromises which satisfy neither party, and are cast aside. Principles must work themselves out.
Pope Leo sent his nuncio and chamberlain, Karl von Miltitz, a noble Saxon by birth, and a plausible, convivial
1 Letter to Spalatin, Nov. 25 and Dec. 2. De Wette, I. 188 sqq.
2“ Mittam ad te nugas meas, ut videas, an recte divinem Antichristum illum verum juzta Paulum in Romana curia regnare: pejorem Turcis esse hodie, puto me demonstrare posse.’’ De Wette, 1. 193,
176 THE GERMAN REFORMATION. A.D. 1517 To 1580.
gentleman, to the Elector Frederick with the rare present of a golden rose, and authorized him to negotiate with Luther. He provided him with a number of the highest recommendations to civil and ecclesiastical dignitaries.
Miltitz discovered on his journey a wide-spread and grow- | ing sympathy with Luther. He found three Germans on his | side, especially in the North, to one against him. He heard bad reports about Tetzel, and summoned him; but Tetzel was afraid to travel, and died a few months afterwards (Aug. 7, 1519), partly, perhaps, in consequence of the severe censure from the papal delegate. Luther wrote to his opponent a letter of comfort, which is no more extant. Unmeasured as he could be in personal abuse, he harbored no malice or revenge in his heart.?
Miltitz held a conference with Luther in the house of) | Spalatin at Altenburg, Jan. 6, 1519. He was exceedingly | polite and friendly ; he deplored the offence and scandal of the Theses-controversy, and threw a great part of the blame on poor Tetzel; he used all his powers of persuasion, and entreated him with tears not to divide the unity of the holy Catholic Church.
They agreed that the matter should be settled by a German bishop instead of going to Rome, and that in the mean time both parties were to keep silence. Luther promised to ask the pardon of the Pope, and to warn the people against the sin of separating from the holy mother-church. After this . agreement they partook of a social supper, and parted with — a kiss. Miltitz must have felt very proud of his masterpiece of ecclesiastical diplomacy.
Luther complied with his promises in a way which seems
1 He was charged with intemperance, and is reported to have fallen from the boat in crossing the Rhine or the Main near Mainz in a state of intoxication, a. 1529. See the reports in Seidemann, l.c. p. 33 sqq.
2 He speaks generously of Tetzel in a letter to Spalatin, Feb. 12, 1519 (De Wette, I. 223): ‘‘ Doleo Tetzelium et salutem suam in eam necessitatem venisse .. . multo mallem, si posset, servari cum honore,”’ etc.