888 THE GERMAN REFORMATION. A.D. 1517 To 1580.
the flesh, by luxury, indolence, idleness, somnolence. Is it that God has turned away from me, because you no longer pray forme? You must take my place; you, richer in God’s gifts, and more acceptable in his sight. Here, a week has passed away since I put pen to paper, since I have prayed or studied, either vexed by fleshly cares, or by other temptations. If things do not improve, I will go to Erfurt without concealment; there you will see me, or I you, for I must consult physicians or surgeons. Perhaps the Lord troubles me so much in order to draw me from this wilderness before the public.” }
Notwithstanding his complaints of illness and depression, and assaults from the evil spirit, he took the liveliest interest in the events of the day, and was anxious to descend to the arena of conflict. He kept writing letters, books, and pamphlets, and sent them into the world. His literary activity during those few months is truly astounding, and contrasts strangely with his repeated lament that he had to sit idle at Patmos, and would rather be burned in the service of God than stagnate there.
He had few books in the Wartburg. He studied the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures very diligently ;? he depended for news on the letters of his friends at Wittenberg; and for his writings, on the resources of his genius.
He continued his great Latin commentary on the Psalms, dwelling most carefully on Psalm 22 with reference to the crucifixion, and wrote special expositions of Psalms 68 and 387. He completed his book on the Magnificat of the Holy Virgin, in which he still expresses his full belief in her sinlessness, even her immaculate conception. He attacked auricular confession, which was now used as a potent power against the reading of Protestant books, and dedicated the
1 De Wette, IT. 21 sq. 2 “ Bibliam Grecam et Hebraicam lego.’”? To Spalatin, May 14 (De Wette, II. 6).
8 61.. LUTHER AT THE WARTBURG. 1521-1522. 339
tract to Sickingen (June 1). He resumed his sermons on the Gospels and Epistles of the church year (Kirchenpostille), which were afterwards finished by friends, and became one of the most popular books of devotion in Germany. He declared it once the best book he ever wrote, one which even the Papists liked.!_ He replied in Latin to Latomus, a Louvain theologian. He attacked in Latin and German the doctrine of the mass, which is the very heart of Roman Catholic worship, and monastic vows, the foundation of the monastic system. He dedicated the book against vows to his father who had objected to his becoming ἃ monk.
He also dealt an effectual blow at Cardinal Albrecht of Mainz, who had exposed in Halle a collection of nearly nine thousand wondrous relics (including the manna in the wilderness, the burning bush of Moses, and jars from the wedding at Cana) to the view of pilgrims, with the promise of a “surpassing”’ indulgence for attendance and a charitable contribution to the Collegiate Church. Luther disregarded the fact: that his own pious Elector had arranged a similar exhibition in Wittenberg only a few years before, and prepared a fierce protest against the “Idol of Indulgences ”| (October, 1521). Spalatin and the Elector protested against the publication, but he wrote to Spalatin: “I will not put up with it. I will rather lose you and the prince himself, and every living being. If I have stood up against the Pope, why should I yield to his creature?” At the same time he addressed a sharp letter to the archbishop (Dee. 1), and reminded him that by this time he ought to know that indulgences were mere knavery and trickery ; that Luther was still alive; that bishops, before punishing priests for marrying, better first expel their own mistresses. He threatened him with the issue of the book against the Idol of Halle. The archbishop submitted, and made a humble apology in a letter
1 See Preface to the St. Louis ed. of Walch, XI. (1882), p. 1 sqq., and K6stlin, I. 486-489,