LUTHEE
452
LUTBXE
dMibto oonoeming the institutional words finding their
restful solution in a dream. Unlike Luther at the
Wartburg, he did not remember whether this appari-
tion was in black or white [Monitor iste ater an aUma
fiierit nikU memini (P4anck, op. cit., II, 256)]. Whether
Xutber followed his own custom of never reading
tiirough " the books that the enemies of truth have
written against me" (Morikofer, Ulrich Zwingli".
n, Leipzig, 1869, 205), whether there was a tinge of
jealousy " that the Swiss were anxious to be the most
prominent in the reform movement, the mere fact
that Zwingli was a confederate of Carlstadt and had
an unfortunately dubious dream, afforded subject
matter enough for Luther to displav his accustomed
dialectic methods at their best. A "scientific dis-
cussion was not to be conducted with Luther^ since he
attributed every disagreement with his doctnne to the
devil" (Hausrath). This poisoned the controversy at
its source, because, with the devil he would make no
truce" (Hausrath, op. cit., II, 188-223). That the
^es of the masses were turning from Wittenberg to
Zurich, was only confirmatory evidence of devilish
delusion. Luther's replies to Zwingli 's unorthodox
private letter to Alber (16 Nov., 1524) and his nettling
treatises came in 1527 (Walch, op. cit., XX, 950-1118)
and 1528 (Idem, op. cit., 1118-1386). They showed
that the injustice and barbarity of his polemics"
(Hiumack, "Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschicnte", III,
Freiburg, 1890, 733) was not reserved for the pope,
monks, or religious vows. "In causticity and con-
tempt of his opponent [they] surpassed aU he had ever
written", " they were the utterances of a sick man, who
had lost all self-control". The politics of Satan and
the artful machinations of the Prince of Evil are
traced in a chronological order from the heretical in-
cursions into the primitive Chureh to Carlstadt, (Eco-
lampadius, and Zwingli. It was these three satanic
agencies that raised the issue of the Lord's Supper to
frustrate the work of the " recovered Gospel' . The
professions of love and peace held out by the Swiss, he
curses to the pit of hell, for they are patricides and
matricides. '^Furious the reply can no longer be
called, it is disgraceful in the manner in which it drags
the holiest representations of his opponents throu^
the mire." Indiscriminate and opprobrious epithets
of pig, dog, fanatic, senseless ass, " go to your pigsty and
lollin your filth" ("Sftmmtl. W/',XXX, 68; Hausrath,
op. cit., II, 218; Thudichum, op. cit., II, 79; Lange,
M. Luther", 216-249) are some of the polemical
coruscations that illuminate this reply. Yet, in few
of his polemical writings do we find more conspicuous
glimpses of a soimdness of theological knowledge,
appositeness of illustration^ familiarity with the
Fathers, reverence for tradition — remnants of his old
training — than in this document, which caused sorrow
and consternation throughout the whole reform camp.
I'The hand which had pulled down the Roman Chureh
in Germany made the first rent in the Chureh which
was to take its place" (Cambridge History, II, 209).
The attempt made by the Landgrave Philip, to bring the contending forces together and effect a compromise at the Marburg Colloquy, 1-3 Oct., 1529 (Hausrath, op. cit., II, 229-256; Sohirrmacher, " Briefe u. Acten . . . Religiongespr&che zu Marburg", Gotha, 1876; M6rikofer, " Zwingfi", II, 226-246) was doomed to failure before its convocation. Luther's iron will refused to ^eld to any concession, his parting sahitti/- ti<xi to Zwingli, "your spirit is not our spirit" (De Wette, op. cit., IV, 28) left no further hope of negotia- tions^ and the brand he aflixed on this antagonist and his disciples as " not only liars, but the very incarna- tion of lying, deceit, and hjrpocrisy" (Idem, op. cit.) dosed the opening chapter of a possible reunion. Zwingli returned to Zunch to meet his death on the battlefield of Kappel (11 October, 1531). The dam- nation Luther meted out to him in life " accompanied his hated rival also in death" (Mdrikofer, op. dt., 11,
420; Mensel, II, 420). The next union of the two re«
form wings was when they became brothers in arms
against Rome in the Thirty Years War.
While occupied with his manifold pressing duties, all of them performed with indefatigable zeal and con- suming energy, alarmed at the excesses attending the upheaval of social and ecclesiastical fife, his reform movement generally viewed from its more destructive side, he did not neglect the constructive elements de- signed to give cohesion and permanency to his task. These again showed his intuitional apprehension of the racial susceptibilities of the people and his oppor- tune political sagacity in enlistmg the forces of the princes. His appeal for schools and education (" An die Bargermeister und Rathsherren", 1524; "S^m- mtl. W.'\ XXIV, 168-199) was to counteract the in- tellectual chaos created by the suppression and deser- tion of the monastic and chureh schools (*Schulmann, "Die Volksschule vor und nach Luther", Trier, 1903; ♦DdlUnger, "Die Ref.", I, 425^49); his invitation to the congregation to sing in the vernacular German in the liturgical services ("SammlunggeistlicherGesftnge u. Psahnen", 1524; '^Sftmmtl. W.", LVI, 291-366) in spite of the record of more thafi 1400 vernacular hymns before the Reformation (Wackemagel, "Das deutsche Kirchenlied", Leipzig, 1867, II, 1-1168) proved a masterstroke and gave him a most potent adjimct to his preaching; the Latin Mass, which he re- tamed, more to chagrin Carlstadt (Lang, 151) than for any otner accountable reason, he now abandoned, with many excisions and modifications for the German ("Deutsche Messe u. Ordnungdes Gotteadienstes", 1526; "Sftmmtl. W.",.XXII, 226-244). Still more impor- tant and far-reaching was the plan which Melanchthon, under his supervision, drew up to supply a workable regulative machinery for the new Church ("Unter- rioht der Visitatoren u. die Pfarrherren im Kurfiirst- lichen Sachsen", 1527). To introduce this effectively " the evangelical princes with their territorial powera stept in" (Kastlin-Kawerau, op. cit., II, 24). The Elector of Saxony especially showed a disposition to act in a summary, drastic manner, which met with Luther's full approval. " Not only were priests, who would not conform, to lose their benefices, but recalci- trant laymen, who after instruction were still obsti- nate, had a time allowed within which they were to sell their property and then leave the country" (Beard, op. cit., 177). The civil power was invoked to decide controversies among preachers, and to put down theological discussion with the secular arm (Corp. Ref« 1, 819). The publication of a popular catechism [" Kleiner Katechismus", 1529(Sammtl. W.,XXI,5- 25); "Grosser Katechismus"^ 1529 (op. cit., 20-155)] in simple idiomatic, colloquial German, had an in- fluence, in spite of the many Catholic catecnetical works already in existence ('^'Moufang, " Katholische Kathe- chismen des Sechzehnten Jahrhunderts in deutscher Sprache", Maims, 1881; ♦Janssen, op. cit., I, 42-52) iD&t can hardly be over-estimated.
The menacing religious war, between the adherents of the " Gospel" and the fictitious Catholic League (15 May, Breslau), ostensibly formed to exterminate the Protestants, which with a suspicious precipitancy on the part of its leader, Landgrave Philip, had actually gone to a formal declaration of war (15 May, 1528), was fortunately averted. It proved to be based on a rather clumsily forged document of Otto von Pack, a member of Duke George's chancery. Luther, who first shrank from war and counselled peace, by one of those characteristic reactions "now that peace had been established, began a war in real earnest about the League" (Planck, op. cit., II, 434) in whose existence, in spite of unquestionable exposure, he still firmly be- lieved (* Janssen, op. cit., Ill, 128-130, note).
The Diet of Spe/er ^1 Feb.-22 April, 1529), pre- sided over by Kmg Ferdinand, as the emperor's deputy, like that held in the same city three years
