᾿ §55. LUTHER’S TESTIMONY BEFORE THE DIET. 909
“ Hutten only barks, but does not bite,” was a saying in Worms.
The papal party triumphed in the Diet. Nothing else could be expected if the historic continuity of the Latin Church and of the Holy German Roman Empire was to be preserved. Had Luther submitted his case to a general council, to which in the earlier stages of the conflict he had himself repeatedly appealed, the result might have been different, and a moderate reform of the medizval Church under the headship of the Pope of Rome might have been accomplished; but no more. By denying the infallibility of a council, he openly declared himself a heretic, and placed himself in opposition to the universal opinion, which regarded cecumenical councils, beginning with the first of Nicza in 325, as the ultimate tribunal for the decision of theological controversies. The infallibility of the Pope was as yet an open question, and remained so till 1870, but the infallibility of a general council was at that time regarded as settled. A protest against it could only be justified by a providential mission and actual success.
It was the will of Providence to prepare the way, through the instrumentality of Luther, for independent church-organizations, and the development of new types of Christianity on the basis of the word of God and the freedom of thought.
NOTE ON LUTHER’S SENTENCE: “HERE I STAND,” ETC.
These words of Luther have been reported again and again, not only in popular books, but in learned histories, without a doubt of their genuineness. They are engraven on his monument at Worms.
But this very fact called forth a critical investigation of the Saxon Archivarius, Dr. C. A. H. Burkhardt (author of the learned work: Luther’s Briefwechsel), Ueber die Glaubwirdigkeit der Antwort Luthers: “‘ Hie steW’ ich, ich kann nicht anders, Gott helff mir. Amen,’’ in the ‘‘ Theol. Studien und Kritiken ”’ for 1869, III. pp. 517-531. He rejects all but the last three words (not the whole, as Janssen incorrectly reports, in his History, II. 165, note). His view was accepted by Daniel Schenkel (1870), and W. Maurenbrecher (Gesch. ἃ. kath. Reform., 1880, I. 398). The latter calls the words even “improper and unworthy,” because theatrical, which we cannot admit.
310 THE GERMAN REFORMATION. A.D. 1517 To 1580.
On the other hand, Professor K6stlin, the biographer of Luther, has come to the rescue of the whole sentence in his Easter-program: Luther’s Rede in Worms, Halle, 1874; comp. his notes in the *‘ Studien und Kritiken”’ for 1882, p. 551 sq., and his Martin Luther, I. 453, and the note, p. 800 sq. (second ed. 1883). His conclusion was accepted by Ranke in the sixth ed. of his Hist. of Germany (I. 336), and by Monckeberg (pastor of St. Nicolai in Hamburg), who supports it by new proofs, in an essay, Die Glaubwirdigkeit des Lutherwortes in Worms, in the ‘‘ Studien und Kritiken’’ for 1876, No. IL. pp. 295-306.
The facts are these. In Luther’s own Latin notes which he prepared, probably at Worms, for Spalatin, there is no such sentence except the words, ‘*God help me.’’ The prayer which he offered loudly in his chamber on the evening before his second appearance before the Diet, and which some one has reported, concludes with the words, ‘‘ Gott helfe mir, Amen!’’ (Walch, X. 1721; Erl.-Frkf. ed., LXIV. 289 sq.). Spalatin in his (defective) notes on the acts of the Diet, preserved at Weimar (Gesammtarchiv, Reichtagsacten, 1521), and in his Annals (ed. by Cyprian, p. 41), vouches likewise only for the words, “" Gott helfe mir, Amen!’’ With this agrees the original © edition of the Acta Luthert Wormatice habita which were published immediately after the Diet (reprinted in the Frankf. ed. of the Opera Lat., vol. VI. p. 14, see second foot-note).
But other contemporary reports give the whole sentence, though in different order of the words. See the comparative table of Burkhardt, l.c. pp. 525-529. A German report (reprinted in the Erl.-Frkf. ed., vol. LXTIV. p. 383) gives as the last words of Luther (in reply to Eck): ““ Gott kumm mir zu Hilf! Amen. Da bin ich.”? The words “ Da bin ich’’ (Here I am) are found also in another source. Mathesius reports the full sentence as coming from the lips of Luther in 1540. In a German contemporary print and on a fly-leaf in the University library of Heidelberg (according to Késtlin), the sentence appears in this order: ‘‘ Ich kann nicht anders ; hier steh’ ich; Gott nelfe mir.”’ In the first edition of Luther’s Latin works, published 1546, the words appear in the present order: ‘‘ Hier steh’ ich,’’ etc. In this form they have passed into general currency.
Kostlin concludes that the only question is about the order of words, and whether they were spoken at the close of his main declaration, or a little afterwards at the close of the Diet. I have adopted the latter view, which agrees with the contemporary German report above quoted. Kolde, in his monograph on Luther at Worms (p. 60), agrees substantially with Kostlin, and says: ‘* Wir wissen nicht mehr, in welchem Zusammenhang diese Worte gesprochen worden sind, auch konnen sie vielleicht etwas anders gelautet haben ; bei der herrschenden Unruhe hat der eine Berichterstatter den Ausspruch so, der andere ihn so verstanden ; sicherlich driickten sie zu gleicher Zeit seine felsenfeste Uberzeugung von der Wahrheit seines in sich gewissen Glaubens aus, wie das Bewusstsein, dass hier nur Gott helfen konne.”’