§ 55. LUTHER’S TESTIMONY BEFORE THE DIET. 808
conviction of divine truth. The torches were lighted when he was admitted.
Dr. Eck, speaking again in Latin and German, reproached him for asking delay, and put the second question in this modified form: “ Wilt thou defend all the books which thou dost acknowledge to be thine, or recant some part?”
Luther answered in a well-considered, premeditated speech, with modesty and firmness, and a voice that could be heard all over the hall.!
After apologizing for his ignorance of courtly manners, having been brought up in monastic simplicity, he divided his books into three classes:? (1) Books which simply set forth evangelical truths, professed alike by friend and foe: these he could not retract. (2) Books against the corruptions and abuses of the papacy which vexed and martyred the conscience, and devoured the property of the German nation: these he could not retract without cloaking wickedness and tyranny. (8) Books against his popish opponents: in these he confessed to have been more violent than was proper, but even these he could not retract without giving aid and comfort to his enemies, who would triumph and make things worse. In defense of his books he could only say in the words of Christ: “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou me?” If his opponents could convict him of error by prophetic and evangelical Scriptures, he would revoke his books, and be the first to commit them to the flames. He concluded with a warning to the young Emperor not to begin his reign by
1 ἐς Respondit Doctor Martinus et ipse latine et germanice, gquanquam suppliciter, non clamose, ac modeste, non tamen sine Christiana animositate et constantia.’’ Acta, etc. (Op. Lat., VI. 9). He began with the customary titles: ‘* Allerdurchlauchtigster, grossmdchtigster Kaiser, Durchlauchtige Churfiirsten, gnaddigste und gnadige Herren!’ ‘These fulsome titles are used to this day in Germany, as if a king or emperor were mightier than the Almighty !
2 In his report at Eisleben, he calls the three classes briefly Lehrbiicher, Zankbiicher, and Disputationes,
804 THE GERMAN REFORMATION. A.D. 1517 To 15380.
condemning the word of God, and pointed to the judgments over Pharaoh, the king of Babylon, and the ungodly kings of Israel.
He was requested to repeat his speech in Latin.! This he did with equal firmness and with eyes upraised to heaven. _
The princes held a short consultation. Eck, in the name of the Emperor, sharply reproved him for evading the question ; it was useless, he said, to dispute with him about views which were not new, but had been already taught by Hus, Wiclif, and other heretics, and had been condemned for sufficient reasons by the Council of Constance before the Pope, the Emperor, and the assembled fathers. He demanded a round and direct answer “ without horns.”
This brought on the crisis.
Luther replied, he would give an answer “with neither © horns nor teeth.”? From the inmost depths of his conscience educated by the study of the word of God, he made in both languages that memorable declaration which marks an epoch in the history of religious liberty : —
“ Unless I am refuted and convicted by testimonies of the Scriptures or by clear arguments (since I believe neither the Pope nor the councils alone; it being evident that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am conquered by the Holy Scriptures quoted by me, and my conscience is bound in the word of God: I can not and will not
1 So Luther says himself (in his Eisleben report of the Worms events, in the Erl. Frkf. ed., vol. LXIV. 370): ‘‘ Dieweil ich redete, begehrten sie von mir, ich sollt es noch einmal wiederholen mit lateinischen Worten ... Ich wiederholte alle meine Worte lateinisch. Das gefiel Herzog Friedrich, dem Churfirsten tiberaus wohl.” Spalatin confirms this in Epitome Actorum Lutheri, etc.: ‘‘ Dixit primo germanice, deinde latine.’’ Other reports put the Latin speech first; so the Acta Luth. (in the Erl. Frkf. ed. of Op. Lat., VI. 9: respondit D. Martinus et ipse latine et germanice). Késtlin follows the latter report (I. 445, 451), and overlooked the testimony of Luther, who must have known best.
2 In the German text, ‘‘ein unstiissige und unbeissige Antwort” (vol.
LXIV. 382); i.e., an answer neither offensive nor biting — with reference, no doubt, to his concluding warning.