INTRODUCTION

LUTHER'S declaration of emancipation from the spiritual pre-eminence of the Church of Rome, which, said he, "is proven solely by the empty papal decretals of the last four hundred years, and against which there stands the testimony of the authentic history of eleven hundred years, the text of Holy Scripture, and the decree of the Nicene Council," appeared in print in the spring of 1519.1 It was in the form of a counter-thesis2 to Eck's specious and celebrated "Thirteenth Thesis." It culminated in the Leipzig Disputation in July.

Before another summer had passed, this Disputation bore marvelous and unlooked-for fruits. In a series of epochal pamphlets, written in part for the clergy, and in part for the newly awakened laity, Luther with remarkable rapidity developed his new and scriptural teaching on the nature of the Church, on the duties of the state, on the essence of the sacraments, and on the inner life of the individual Christian.

The tractates of 1520, to which that on "The Papacy at Rome" belongs, like most of Luther's writings, were drawn forth from him in large part defensively, under provocation from the other side, or by the exigencies of the occasion. His correspondence during the first half of 1520 reveals them as a result (with fresh causes arising) of the stir at Leipzig.

Said Luther (February, 1520), "You cannot make a pen out of a sword: the Word of God is a sword. I was unwilling to be forced to come forward in public; and the more unwilling I am, the more I am drawn into the contest." Widely and eagerly read, these piquant publications made Luther the awakener, the developer, and, as Harnack declares, the spiritual center of the reformatory thought that was now rising to a crisis.

1 Still earlier, in his Resolutions of the 95 Theses (Resolut. Disputat., etc., Erl.-Fr. Ed. II, 122 sqq., 137 sqq.), Luther had in an historical and objective way spoken of a time when the Roman Church had not been exalted above the other churches, at least not above those of Greece; that it was thus yet in the time of Pope Gregory I.

2 Luther's Thirteen Theses against Eck's Thirteen Theses. Frater Mart. Luth. Disput. etc., Erl.-Fr. Ed. III, 4 sqq., 11 sqq. "Bruder Martin Luther's Disputation und Entschuldigung wider die Anschuldigungen des D. Johann Eck." St. Louis Ed. XVIII, 718. The oldest print is doubtless one in possession of the University at Halle.

3 January 10, 1520, to Spalatin; January 26, to John Lang; February 5, to Spalatin; February 18, to Spalatin; April, Alveld to Luther; May 5, May 17, May 31, June 8, and July 20, to Spalatin, with a letter of July or August to Peter Mosellanus, rector of the University at Leipzig.

Fortunate it was, that the infancy of modern printing and the birth of Luther were contemporary, and that Luther turned to the printing press to such an extent in that critical period, that in the single year under discussion the number of printed German works was doubled.

Our little book of June 26, 1520, is the earliest of his writings to present a full outline of his teaching on the nature of the Christian Church. Driven by an antagonist, to whom his work is a reply, to write1 in German for the laity, Luther gives them a clear and fundamental insight into this burning subject. His teachings "which he had just one year before maintained at the Leipzig Disputation are here unfolded, followed to their logical conclusions and clearly presented." This flying counter-attack against the "famous Romanist at Leipzig" thus becomes, in the judgment of Köstlin,3 "one of the most important of his general doctrinal treatises of that period."

Luther's reply was written in short order during the last two weeks in May.* It came about in this wise: Eck at the Disputation had driven Luther to declare that belief in the divine supremacy of Rome was not necessary to salvation. Following this, in fall, a Franciscan friar, Augustine von Alveld, had risen to attack Luther and glorify the papacy, having received an appointment from Adolf, the Bishop of Merseburg (who had posted the inhibition on the Leipzig churches against the Disputation)," to write against the Reformer. Alveld's work, justifying the divine right of the Apostolic Chair, to all learned men, appeared early in May," in the Latin language, in a first edition full of errors, followed quickly by a second edition.' Alveld attempted to cut Luther to pieces with "seven swords," of which the

1 He alluded to the subject in his Sermon on the Ban.

KÖSTLIN, Theology of Luther, translated by Hay, I, 363. 3 Martin Luther, I, 299.

4 Alveld's second book, the Confutatio Inepti, was dedicated to the Council and honorable citizens of the city of Leipzig on the 23d of April, and appeared in print in the middle of May. Its smooth and popular form roused Luther to this reply, which was put in press before the end of May, and published before the end of June.

5 See Luther to Spalatin, July 20, 1519.

* See Luther to Spalatin, May 5, 1520, "Exiit tandem frater Augustinus Alveldensis cum sua offa," etc. He characterizes Alveld in this letter, and refers to the approval it found in Meissen in his letter to Spalatin of May 17th.

7 The title is as follows: "Super apostolica se- de, An Videlicet diuino sit iure nec ne, anque pōtifex qui Papa dici caeptus est, iure diuino in ea ipsa presideat, nō paru laudanda ex sacro Biblior. canone declaratio. aedita p. F. Augustinữ Alueidesem Franciscanu, regularis (vt dicif) obseruätiae sacerdotē, Prouin ciae Saxoniae, Sancte crucis, Sa- criq Bibliorü canonis publi- cù lectore i cōuētu Lipsico, ad Reuerendů in Chro patre & dñm, dâm Adolphú pricipé Illust. I Anhaldt ič Episcopa Mersen- burgē sem." See Super apostolica sede declaratio edita per Augustinum Alveldensem Bl., Ab f.; E. S. CYPRIAN, Nützliche Urkunden, Leipzig, 1718, II S. 160 f.

first was recta ratio; the second, canonica scriptura; the third, vera scientia (gained through the Church teachers and scholastics); the fourth, pietas sacra; the fifth, sanus intellectus; the sixth, simplex et pudica sapientia; the seventh, pura et integra scientia.

On Alveld's miserable jumble, in which the Reformer is alluded to as a "heretic," "lunatic," "wolf," Luther was not willing to waste any time (despite a threatening letter from Alveld); but jotted down some points for John Lonicer,1 who on June 1st published a sharp exposé2 of the Leipzig Romanist's weaknesses. Although the monastic authorities at Leipzig, fearing Luther, now attempted to suppress Alveld, that worthy at once came out with a new work on the same theme and this time in the German language. It stirred Luther's blood. "If the jackanapes had not issued his little book in German to poison the defenceless laity," he said, "I would have looked on it as too small a matter to take up." As it was, with great rapidity he wrote his "The Papacy at Rome against the Celebrated Romanist at Leipzig." Going to press in May, the book was completed on the 26th of June. The twelve known editions are all quartos and range in size from twenty-two to thirty-two leaves. The first two editions were printed by Melchior Lotther in Wittenberg; one by Peypus in Nuremberg;

1 Luther's famulus. "Ich werde meinen Bruder Famulus anstellen."-To Spalatin already on May 5th.

2 "Contra Romanistam fratrem Augustinu Aluelden. Fran- ciscanu Lipsica Canonis Biblici publicù lictorēs tortorē eiusdem. F. Joanes Lonicerus. Augustinianus. VVITTENBERGAE, APVD COLLEGIVM NOVVM. ΑΝΝΟ,

MD. XX."

'Lonicer's reply had been preceded by one more detailed and less impetuous by Bernhardi Feldkirch, teacher in the Wittenberg High School. This work is wrongly regarded as Melanchthon's. Its title is: "CONFVTATIO INEP- ti & impii Libelli F. August. AL- VELD. Franciscani Lipsici, pro D. M. Luthero. Vuittenbergae, apud Melchiorem Lottherum iuniorem, Anno M. D. XX." "He requested the Nuncio Miltitz to secure authority for him to write. 5 Cf. Luther in the Tractate: "They cling to me like mud to a wheel."

6"Eyn gar fruchtbar và nutzbarlich buchleyn vỏ de Babstliche stul: vnnd von sant Peter: vnd võ den, die warhafftige schef- lein Christi sein, die Christus vnser herr Petro befolen hat in sein hute vnd regirung, gemacht durch bruder Augustinù Alueldt sant Francisci ordens tzu Leiptzk."

See CYPRIAN, Urkunden, II, 161 f.

On May 31, Luther puts the whole situation graphically in a letter to Spalatin as follows: "Lonicers Schrift wird morgen fertig sein. Die Leipziger sind besorgt, ihre Schüler zu behalten; sie rühmen, dass Erasmus zu ihnen kommen werde. Wie geschäftig und doch wie unglücklich ist der Neid. Vor einem Jahre, da sie über uns, als wären wir besiegt, spotteten, sahen sie nicht voraus, dass ihnen dies Kreuz bevorstehe. Der Herr regiert. Ochsenfart soll sich wider das Büchlein Feldkirchens rüsten, in welchem er durchgehechelt wird. Ich habe ein deutsches Buch wider den Esel von Alveld fertiggestellt, welches jetzt unter der Presse ist."

7 "Von dem Bapstum zu Rome: wid der den hochberumpten Romanisten zu Leipzck D. Martinus Lu- ther August. Vuittenberg." 30 leaves, quarto, last page blank.

two by Silvan Otmar in Augsburg; one by George Nadler in Augsburg; one by Adam Petri in Basel and one by Andrew Exatander.1

3

Incidentally Luther handles the "Alveld Ass" and the Roman cause without gloves, but in substance he explains to the laymen what Christianity really is, i. e., unfolds to them the essence of the Christian Church.* In doing so he takes advanced ground for civil and religious liberty. The traditional mediæval idea of universal monarchy is dealt a heavy blow. Neither in Civil Government nor in the Church is there need of a single monarchical head. "The Roman Empire governed itself for a long time, and very well, without the one head, and many other countries in the world did the same. How does the Swiss Confederacy govern itself at present?"

Against the modern demand that the Church shall socialize itself, that it shall organize as the public center in a community of the people's civic life, that it shall enter the nation's political activities for moral uplift, and that ministers should become what Luther would call "preachers of dreams in material communities," our book places itself on record.5

Against the widespread demand that Christianity should get together into one world-wide visible ecclesiastical order, Luther's words are peremptory. He declares that the one true Church is already a spiritual community composed of all the believers in Christ upon earth, that it is not a bodily assembly, but "an assembly of the hearts in one faith," that the true Church is "a spiritual thing, and not anything external or outward," that "external unity is not the fulfilment of a divine commandment," and that those who emphasize the externalization of the Church into one visible or national order "are in reality Jews."

1 For titles of these editions see Weimar Ed., vi, 281.

2 Luther in this tractate aims beyond the "undersized scribe of the barefoot friars at Leipzig," at the "brave and great flag-bearers who remain in hiding, and would win a notable victory in another's name," namely Prierias, Cajetan, Eck, Emser and the Universities of Cologne and Louvaine. Luther uses the epithet quoted above in one of his letters to Spalatin.

3 "I welcome the opportunity to explain something of the nature of Christianity for the laity."

4 "I must first of all explain what these things mean, the Church, and the One Head of the Church."

5 "On this point we must hear the word of Christ, Who, when Pilate asked Him concerning His Kingdom, answered, My kingdom is not of this world. This is indeed a clear passage in which the Church is made separate from all temporal communities. Is not this a cruel error, when the one Christian Church, separated by Christ Himself from temporal cities and places, and transferred to spiritual realms, is made a part of material communities?"

"No hope is left on earth except in the temporal."

6

• Among the many things that Luther says on this point are the following: "According to the Scriptures the Church is called the assembly of all the believers in Christ upon earth. This community consists of all those who live in true faith, hope and love, so that the essence, life and nature of the Church is not a bodily assembly, but an assembly of the hearts in one faith. Thus, though they be a thousand miles apart in body, they are yet called an assembly in spirit, because each

Luther refers to those without the unity of the Roman Church as still within the true Church. "For the Muscovites, Russians, Greeks, Bohemians, and many other great peoples in the world, all these believe as we do, baptise as we do, preach as we do, live as we do.

But if Luther attacks the supremacy of outer organization in the Church, he no less forcibly disputes the supremacy of man's own inner thinking, his reasoning, in theology. He defines human reason as He defines human reason as "our ability which is drawn from experience in temporal things" and declares it ridiculous to place this ability on a level with the divine law.1 He compares the man who uses his reason to defend God's law with the man who in the thick of battle would use his bare hand and head to protect his helmet and sword. He insists that Scripture is the supreme and only rule of faith,2 and ridicules

one preaches, believes, hopes, loves, and lives like the other. So we sing of the Holy Ghost: "Thou, Who through diverse tongues gatherest together the nations in the unity of the faith.' That means a spiritual unity. And this unity is of itself sufficient to make a Church, and without it no unity, be it of place, of time, of person, of work, or of whatever else, makes a Church."

"A man is not reckoned a member of the Church according to his body, but according to his soul, nay, according to his faith. . . . It is plain that the Church can be classed with a temporal community as little as spirits with bodies. Whosoever would not go astray should therefore hold fast to this, that the Church is a spiritual assembly of souls in one faith, that no one is reckoned a Christian for his body's sake; that the true, real, essential Church is a spiritual thing, and not anything external or outward."

"All those who make the Christian communion a material and outward thing, like other communities, are in reality Jews, who wait for their Messiah to establish an external kingdom at a certain definite place, namely, Jerusalem; and so sacrifice the faith, which alone makes the kingdom of Christ a thing spiritual or of the heart." In this and the following notes, for brevity's sake, various quotations are summarized and connected.

1 "For the teachings of human experience and (Deut. xii: 8) reason are far below the divine law. The Scriptures expressly forbid us to follow our own reason, Deut. xii: 'Ye shall not do . . . every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes'; for human reason ever strives against the law (Gen. vi: 5) of God. Therefore the attempt to establish or defend divine order with human reason, unless that reason has previously been established and enlightened by faith, is just as futile, as if I would throw light upon the sun with a lightless lantern, or rest a rock upon a reed. For Isaiah vii makes reason subject to faith, when he says (vii: 9): 'Except ye believe, ye shall not have understanding or reason.' He does not say, Except ye have reason, ye shall not believe. Therefore this scribe would better not have put forth a claim to establish the faith and the divine law by mere reason."

2 "That the serpent lifted up by Moses, signifies Christ, is taught by John iii. If it were not for that passage, my reasoning might evolve many strange and weird fancies out of that type. That Adam was a type of Christ, I learn not from myself, but from St. Paul. That the rock in the wilderness represents Christ is not taught by my reason, but by St. Paul. None other explains the type but the Holy Spirit Himself. He has given the type and wrought the fulfilment, that both type and fulfilment and the interpretation may be God's own and not man's, and our faith be founded not on human, but on divine words. What leads the Jews astray but that they interpret the types as they please, without the Scriptures? What has led so many heretics astray but the interpretation of the types without reference to the Scriptures?"