THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
In Oct., 1520, at the instance of Miltitz, Luther sent his De libertate Christiani to the pope, adding the significant phrase: " I submit to no laws of interpreting the word of God." Meanwhile it had been rumored in August that Eck had arrived at Meissen with a papal ban, which was actually pronounced there on Sept. 21. This last effort of Luther's for peace was followed on Dec. 12 by his burning of the bull, which was to take effect on the expiration of 120 days, and the papal decretals at Wittenberg, a proceeding defended in his Warum des Papstes und seiner Junger Biicher verbrannt sind and his Assertio omnium articulorum. The execution of the ban, however, was prevented by the pope's relations with the elector and by the new emperor, who, in view of the papal attitude toward him and the feeling of the Diet, found it inadvisable to lend his aid to measures against the Reformer.
The final judgment of the Roman Catholic Church
had been pronounced on Luther in the ban, but the
papal legate, Aleander, was obliged to acquiesce
in the desire of the Diet to summon
9. At the Luther under a safe-conduct to Worms. Diet of Luther quietly awaited the result, oc-
Worms. cupied with polemics against Emser and the Dominican Ambrosius Catharinus, and with work on a postilla. Entering Worms on Apr. 16, he was brought before the Diet on the following day and asked simply whether he acknowledged his writings, which were laid before him and read by title, and whether he retracted their contents or persisted in them, all debate on the truth of their statements being excluded by the emperor's agreement with Aleander. Luther requested a day for consideration, and on the evening of Apr. 18 replied to the question of Johann von Eck, the official of the elector of Treves, who asked whether he defended all his writings or would retract some, by distinguishing three divisions of them: those on faith and life, recognized as harmless and even useful by his opponents; against papal institutions and claims injurious to body and soul, of which he would retract none; and polemics against protagonists of that falsehood and tyranny, where again he would make no retraction of matter. His demand that he be refuted by arguments from the Bible was met by referring him to the decisions of the Church, particularly at the Council of Constance, on similar heresies. The debate which followed resulted in a stormy adjournment, though not before Luther had declared: " Unless I shall be convinced by the testimonies of the Scriptures or by clear reason, I neither
can nor will make any retraction, since it is neither safe nor honorable to act against conscience; God help me! Amen! " (other versions vary slightly, having, " I can naught else! Here I stand! God help me!"; "Here I stand! I can naught else! God help mel "; and "God come to my help! Amen! Here I am!"). The archbishop of Treves still sought to change Luther's views, but in vain, since he persisted in the tenet, condemned by the Council, that " the Church universal is the number of the elect." On May 25 he was declared an outlaw, and, leaving Worms on the following day,
he was seized, with his own connivance, by the Elector Frederick and taken to the Wartburg, where he remained in hiding under the name of Junker Georg.
With Luther's residence in the Wartburg began the constructive period of his career as a reformer; while at the same time the struggle was inaugurated against those who, claiming to proceed from the same Evangelical basis, were deemed by him to
swing to the opposite extreme and to
io. In hinder, if not prevent, all constructive
Hiding measures. In his " desert " or " Pat-
at the mos " (as he called it in his letters,)
Wartburg. of the Wartburg, moreover, he began
his translation of the Bible, of which the New Testament was printed in Sept., 1522 (see Bible Versions, B, VII., § 3). Here, too, besides other pamphlets, he prepared the first portion of his German postilla and his Von der Beichte, in which he denied compulsory confession, although he admitted the wholesomeness of voluntary private confessions. He also wrote a polemic against Archbishop Albrecht, which forced him to desist from reopening the sale of indulgences; while in his attack on Jacobus Latomus (q.v.) he set forth his views on the relation of grace and the law, as well as on the nature of the grace communicated by Christ. Here he distinguished the objective grace of God to the sinner, who, believing, is justified by God because of the justice of Christ, from the saving grace dwelling within sinful man; while at the same time he emphasized the insufficiency of this " beginning of justification," as well as the persistence of sin after baptism and the sin still inherent in every good work.
Meanwhile some of the Saxon clergy, notably Bernhardi of Feldkirchen, had renounced the vow of celibacy, while others, including Melanchthon,
had assailed the validity of monastic ii. Opposi- vows. Luther in his De votis monastion to ticis, though more cautious, concurred, Extreme on the ground that the vows were gen- Radicalism, erally taken " with the intention of
salvation or seeking justification." With the approval of Luther in his De abroganda missa privata, but against the firm opposition of the prior, the Wittenberg Augustinians began changes in worship and did away with the mass. Their violence and intolerance, however, were displeasing to Luther, and early in December he spent a few days among them. Returning to the Wartburg, he wrote his Eine treue Vermahnung vor Aufruhr und Emporung; but in Wittenberg Carlstadt and the ex-Augustinian Zwilling demanded the abolition of the private mass, communion in both kinds, the removal of pictures from churches, and the abrogation of the magistracy [i.e., the noninterference of the civil ruler in ecclesiastical matters.— a. h.n.]. About Christmas Anabaptists from Zwickau added to the anarchy. Thoroughly opposed to such radical views and fearful of their results, Luther entered Wittenberg Mar. 7, and the Zwickau prophets left the city. The canon of the mass, giving it its sacrificial character, was now omitted, but the cup was at first given only to those of the laity who desired it. Since confession had