§ 87. THE LEIPZIG DISPUTATION. JUNE-JULY, 1519. 179
was in Latin, but Luther broke out occasionally in his more vigorous German.
The disputation began with the solemnities of a mass, a procession, an oration of Peter Mosellanus, De ratione disputandi, and the singing of Veni, Creator Spiritus. It ended with a eulogistic oration by the Leipzig professor John Lange, and the Te Deum.
The first act was the disputation between Eck and Carlstadt, on the freedom of the human will, which the former
maintained; and the latter denied. The second and more | important act began July 4, between Eck and aie chiefly,
on the subject of the papacy.
Dr. Eck (Johann Mair), professor of theology at Ingolstadt in Bavaria, was the champion of Romanism, a man of great learning, well-stored memory, dialectical skill, ready speech, and stentorian voice, but over-confident, conceited, and boisterous. He looked more like a butcher or soldier than a theologian. Many regarded him as a mere charlatan, and expressed their contempt for his audacity and vanity by the nicknames Keck (pert) and Geck (fop), which date from this dispute.}
Carlstadt (Andreas von Bodenstein), Luther’s impetuous and ill-balanced friend and colleague, was an unfortunate
debater.2- He had a poor memory, depended on his notes, got |
embarrassed and confused, and furnished an easy victory to Eck. It was ominous, that, on entering Leipzig, his wagon broke down, and he fell into the mud.
Luther was inferior to Eck in historical learning and flow- | ing Latinity, but surpassed him in knowledge of the Bible, ὦ
χυμῶν καῖ:
independent judgment, originality, and depth of thought,
and had the law of progress on his side. While Eck looked to the fathers, Luther went back to the grandfathers; he ascended from the stream of church history to the fountain
1 As he complained twenty years later: see Seidemann, p. 80, 2 Luther calls him an infelicissimus disputator.
- inate
180 THE GERMAN REFORMATION. A.D. 1517 To 1580.
of God’s Word; yet from the normative beginning of the apostolic age he looked hopefully into the future. Though pale and emaciated, he was cheerful, wore a little silver ring, and carried a bunch of flowers in his hand. Peter Mosellanus, a famous Latinist, who presided over the disputation, thus describes his personal appearance at that time : 1 --- “Luther is of middle stature; his body thin, and so wasted by care and study that nearly all his bones may be counted. He is in the prime ot life. His voice is clear and melodious. His learning, and his knowledge of Scripture are so extraordinary that he has nearly every thing at his fingers’ ends. Greek and Hebrew he understands sufficiently well to give his judgment on interpretations. For conversation, he has a rich store of subjects at his command; a vast forest (silva angens) of thoughts and words is at his disposal. He is polite and clever. There is nothing stoical, nothing supercilious, about him; and he understands how to adapt himself to different persons and times. In society he is lively and agreeable. He is always fresh, cheerful, and at his ease, and has a pleasant countenance, however hard his enemies may threaten him, so that one cannot but believe that Heaven is with him in his great undertaking.2 Most people, however, reproach him with want of moderation in polemics, and with
| being rather imprudent and more cutting than befits a theo- ᾿ logian and a reformer.”
The chief interest in the disputation turned on the subject of the authority of the Pope and the infallibility of the Church. Eck maintained that the Pope is the successor of
1 In a letter to Julius Pflug, a young Saxon nobleman. Mosellanus describes also Carlstadt and Eck, and the whole disputation. See Loscher, ITI. 242-251 (especially p. 247); Walch, XV. 1422; Seidemann, 51 and 56. I find the description also in an appendix to Melanchthon’s Vita Lutheri, Gottingen, 1741, pp. 32-44.
2 “Ut omnia pene ossa liceat dinumerare.’’? But in later years Luther grew stout and fleshy.
8. “Ut haud facile credas, hominem tam ardua sine numine Divaim moliri.”’