LUTHER ANS

Those Christians who follow the opinions of Martin Luther. This sect took its rise from the just offence which was taken at the indulgences (see Indulgences ) which, in 1517, were granted by Pope Leo X., to those who contributed towards the finishing St. Peter’s church, at Rome. It is said, the pope at first gave the prince Cibo, his sister, that branch of the revenue of indulgences which were collected in Saxony; that afterwards these indulgences were farmed out to those who would give most for them; and that these purchasers, to make the most of their bargain, pitched upon such preachers, receivers, and collectors of indulgences, as they thought proper for their purpose, who managed their busine in a scandalous manner. The pope had sent these indulgences to Prince Albert, archbishop of Mentz, and brother to the Elector of Brandenburg, to publish them in Germany. This prelate put his commi ion into the hands of John Tetzel, a Dominican, and an inquisitor, who employed several of his own order to preach up and recommend these indulgences to the people. These Do mini cans managed the matter so well, that the people eagerly bought up all the indulgences. And the farmers, finding money come in very plentifully, spent it publicly in a luxurious and libertine manner. John Staupitz, vicar-general of the Aug us tines in Germany, was the first who took occasion to declare against these abuses; for which purpose he made use of Martin Luther, the most learned of all the Aug us tines. He was a native of Eisleben, a town of the county of Mansfeld, in Saxony; and he taught divinity at the university of Wittemberg. This learned Augustine mounted the pulpit, and declaimed vehemently against the abuse of indulgences. Nor did he stop here; he fixed ninety-five propositions upon the church doors of Wittemberg, not as dogmatical points which he himself held, but in order to be considered and examined in a public conference. John Tetzel, the Dominican, immediately published 106 propositions against them, at Frankfort upon the Oder; and, by virtue of the office of inquisitor, ordered those of Luther to be burnt; whose adherents, to revenge the affront offered to Luther, publicly burnt those of Tetzel at Wittemberg. Thus war was declared between the Do mini cans and Aug us tines, and soon after between the Roman Catholics and the Luther an party, which from that time began to appear openly against the Western Church. In the year 1518, Eckius, profe or of divinity at Ingolstadt, and Silvester Prierius, a Dominican, and master of the sacred palace, wrote against Luther’s Theses , who answered them in a tract, which he sent to the pope and the bishop of Brandenburg, his diocesan, offering to submit to the Holy See in the points contested. But Prierius having published a discourse full of extravagant amplifications of the pope’s power, Luther took occasion from thence to make the papal authority appear odious to the Germans. In the mean time, the proce against Luther going on at Rome, the pope summoned him to appear there within sixty days: but, at the instance of the duke of Saxony, his Holine consented that the cause should be examined in Germany, and delegated his legate, Cardinal Cajetan, to try it. This cardinal gave Luther a peremptory order to recant, and not to appear any more before him unle he complied; upon which Luther, in the night-time, posted up an appeal to the pope, and retired to Wittemberg. Afterwards, fearing he should be condemned at Rome, he published a protestation in form of law, and appealed to a general council. In the beginning of the next year, 1519, the emperor Maximilian dying, and the Elector of Saxony, who protected Luther, being vicar of the empire during the interregnum, that reformer’s interest and character were greatly raised, and he was generally looked upon as a man sent from God to correct the abuses which had crept into the Roman Church. In June, the same year, there was a famous conference between Luther, Eckius, and Carolostadius, at Leipsic; in which they agreed to refer themselves to the universities of Erfurt and Paris. The points debated upon were, free-will, purgatory, indulgences, penance, and the pope’s supremacy. In 1520, Luther sent his book De Libertate Christianâ to the pope; in which he grounds justification upon faith alone, without the a istance of good works; and a erts, that Christian liberty rescues us from the bondage of human traditions, and particularly the slavery of papal impositions. Afterwards, in a remonstrance written in High Dutch, he proceeded to deny the authority of the Church of Rome. In June the same year, the pope resolved to apply the last remedies which the Church makes use of against her enemies, and began with condemning in writing forty-one propositions extracted from Luther’s writings, giving him sixty days to recant: but Luther refusing to comply, the pope declared him excommunicated, and sent the bull by Eckius to the Elector of Saxony and the university of Wittemberg, who agreed to defer the publication of it. In the mean time Luther wrote against the bull with great warmth and freedom, and appealed once more from the pope to a general council. Besides which, he caused a large bonfire to be made without the walls of Wittemberg, and threw into it with his own hands the pope’s bull, together with the decretals, extra vag ants, and Clementines. This example was followed by his disciples in several other towns. The emperor Charles V. declared against Luther, and ordered his books to be burnt. Upon the opening of the Diet of Worms, in 1521, Luther, with the emperor’s permi ion, appeared there, and made a speech in defence of himself and his opinions. But, when the diet found that he would neither stand to the decisions of councils nor the decrees of popes, the emperor gave him twenty days to retire to a place of security, and, a month after, published his imperial edict, by which Luther was put under the ban of the empire, as an heretic and schismatic. But the duke of Saxony gave private orders to convey Luther to the castle of Wartburg, where he was concealed three quarters of a year. He worked hard in this retirement, which he called his Isle of Patmos , and kept up the spirit of his party by writing new books; among which were his “Tracts” against auricular confe ion, private ma es, monastic vows, and the celibacy of the clergy. About this time the university of Paris, to which he had appealed, condemned a hundred propositions extracted out of his books; and King Henry VIII. of England wrote against him in defence of the seven sacraments. Luther replied both to the Sorbonne and to the king of England, but in a very rude and unmannerly way. Soon after he broke out of his retirement, and was so hardy as to publish a bull against the pope’s bull In cœna Domini , calling it the Bull and Reformation of Doctor Luther. About this time he published part of his translation of the Bible, in which he departed from the Vulgate , so long authorized and received by the Church. The Elector of Saxony, who all along favoured and protected Luther, now gave him leave to reform the churches of Wirtemberg as he thought fit. The reformer proposed likewise a regulation concerning the patrimony of the Church; which was, that the bishops, abbots, and monks should be expelled, and all the lands and revenues of the bishoprics, abbeys, and monasteries, should escheat to the respective princes; and that all the convents of Mendicant friars should be turned into public schools or hospitals. This project pleased the princes and magistrates, who began to relish Luther’s doctrine extremely; insomuch that, at the Diet of Wirtemberg in 1523, when Pope Adrian VI. insisted upon the bull of Leo X. and the Edict of Worms against Luther, he could not prevail with the princes to put them in execution, but was answered, that a general council ought to be called, and that there ought to be a reformation of the ecclesiastics, and especially of the court of Rome. This year, Luther had the satisfaction to see a league contracted between Gustavus, king of Sweden, and Frederick, king of Denmark, who both agreed to establish Luther an ism in their dominions. And now Luther’s persuasion, which, from the Upper Saxony, had spread itself into the northern provinces, began to be perfectly settled in the duchies of Lunenburg, Brunswick, Mecklenburg, and Pomerania; and in the archbishoprics of Magdeburg and Bremen; and in the towns of Hamburg, Wismar, Rostock; and all along the Baltic, as far as Livonia and Pru ia. About this time Luther left off the habit of a monk, and dre ed himself like a doctor, refusing to be saluted with the title of reverend father . Erasmus having written a book concerning free-will, ( De Libero Arbitrio ,) Luther answered it in another, entitled De Servo Arbitrio . In 1525, Thomas Münzer and Nicholas Storc, taking their leave of Luther, put themselves at the head of the Anabaptists and Fanatics . About this time Luther married a nun, called Catharine Boren, exhorting all the ecclesiastics and monks to follow his example. In 1526, Philip, Landgrave of He e, turned Luther an, who gave great life and spirit to that party. In March, 1529, the Diet of Spire decreed that the Catholics should not have the liberty to change their religion; that the Luther ans should be tolerated till the meeting of a council, but not allowed to molest the Catholics; and that the preachers should deliver nothing in their sermons contrary to the received doctrines of the Church. The Luther an princes entered a solemn protestation against this decree, from whence came the name of Protestants , taken up first by the Luther ans, and afterwards received among the Calvinists. The beginning of October, this year, was held at Marburg the conference between Luther and Zwinglius, in relation to the eucharist; the latter affirming that there is nothing more than bread and wine in the Lord’s supper, which elements are the figure and representation of his body and blood; and Luther a erting that his body and blood are really present, but under the substance of bread and wine, and that only in the act of receiving the sacrament; after which he did not acknowledge the continuance of this presence. This conference broke up without coming to any accommodation. In 1530, the Luther ans or Protestants drew up a Confe ion of Faith, which they presented to the Diet of Augsburg. (See Augsburg, Confe ion of .) The year after, the Protestant princes made the famous league of Smalcalde , which obliged the emperor to grant the Luther ans a toleration, till the differences in religion were settled by a council, which he engaged himself to call in six months. The Luther an party gaining strength every day, and having refused the bull for convening a council at Mantua, the emperor summoned a general diet at Ratisbon, where a scheme of religion for reconciling the two parties was examined: but, after they had examined and disputed for a month together, the divines could agree upon no more than five or six articles, concerning justification, free-will, original sin, baptism, good works, and episcopacy; for, when they came to other points, and especially the eucharist, the Luther ans would by no means yield to the other party. The diet ended with a decree of the emperor, strictly forbidding the Luther ans to tamper with any person to make them quit their old religion, and at the same time suspending all the edicts published against them. Martin Luther lived to see the opening of the famous Council of Trent, for accommodating the differences in religion; which put him upon acting with more vigour and warmth against the Church of Rome, as foreseeing that his opinions would be condemned there. In short, he left no stone unturned to engage the Protestant princes to act against the council; which measures he continued to pursue until his death, which happened in February, 1546. Maurice, the Elector of Saxony, having taken the field against the emperor, and concluded a peace with him at Pa aw, in 1552, it was stipulated that the exercise of Luther an ism, as stated by the Confe ion of Augsburg, should be tolerated all over the empire; which toleration was to last for ever, in case the differences in religion could not be accommodated within six months. And thus Luther an ism was perfectly settled in Germany. The Luther ans are generally divided into the moderate and the rigid . The moderate Luther ans are those who submitted to the Interim , published by the emperor Charles V. Melancthon was the head of this party. (See Interim .) The rigid Luther ans are those who would not endure any alteration in any of Luther’s opinions. The head of this party was Matthias Flacius, famous for writing the Centuries of Magdeburg , in which he had three other Luther an ministers for his a istants. To these are added another division, called Luthero-Zwinglians , because they held some of Luther’s tenets and some of Zwinglius, yielding something to each side, to prevent the ill consequence of disunion in the Reformation . The Luther ans retain the use of the altar for the celebration of the holy communion, some of the ancient vestments, and the mitre and pastoral staff for their bishops, at least in Sweden. They likewise make use of lighted tapers in their churches, of incense, and a crucifix on the altar, of the sign of the cro , and of images, . Several of their doctors acknowledge that such materials add a lustre and majesty to Divine worship, and fix at the same time the attention of the people. The Luther ans retain the observance of several solemn festivals after their reformation. They keep three solemn days of festivity at Christmas. In some Luther an countries, the people go to church on the night of the nativity of our ble ed Saviour with lighted candles or wax tapers in their hands; and the faithful, who meet in the church, spend the whole night there in singing and saying their prayers by the light of them. Sometimes they burn such a large quantity of incense, that the smoke of it ascends like a whirlwind, and their devotees may properly enough be said to be wrapped up in it. It is customary, likewise, in Germany, to give entertainments at such times to friends and relations, and to send presents to each other, especially to the young people, whom they amuse with very idle and romantic stories, telling them that our ble ed Saviour descends from heaven on the night of his nativity, and brings with him all kinds of playthings. They have three holidays at Easter, and three at Whit sun tide, as well as those before mentioned at Christmas. These festivals have nothing peculiar in them with respect to the ceremonies observed at those times; but with regard to some particular superstitions, they are remarkable enough; as, for instance, that of the paschal water, which is looked on as a sovereign remedy for sore eyes, and very serviceable in uniting broken limbs. This paschal water is nothing more than common river water, taken up on Easter Day, before the rising of the sun. They have another superstitious notion with respect to their horses: they imagine that the swimming them in the river on Easter Day, before the sun rises, preserves them from lamene . The other festivals observed by the Luther ans are, New Year’s Day, or the Circumcision, a festival not near so ancient as the four above mentioned; the festival of the Three Kings, or, otherwise, the Epiphany; the Purification of the Ble ed Virgin, or Candle mas; and Lady Day, or the Annunciation. There is no public work nor service devoted to the Ble ed Virgin, nor are there any proce ions, or other ceremonies, which are observed by the Roman Catholics on the two latter festivals. The festival of the Sacred Trinity is solemnized on the Sunday after Whit sunday; that of St. John Baptist, on the 24th of June; and that of the Visitation of the Ble ed Virgin, on the 2nd of July, as it is by the Roman Catholics. To conclude, the festival of St. Michael the Archangel, or rather the ceremonies observed by the Luther ans on that day, are the remains only of an ancient custom, which has been preserved amongst them, although somewhat extraordinary, as the members of their communion retain no manner of veneration for angels. In 1523, Luther drew up a formulary of the ma and communion for the particular service of the church of Wittemberg. Without attempting to particularize the various parts of it, it may be observed that all the churches where Luther an ism prevailed were obliged entirely to conform to it. However, those orders were never punctually obeyed. Some Luther an countries have one ritual, and some another. There is a difference, likewise, in their liturgies, though, as to the fundamental articles, they all agree.— Brought on.