



Produced by Giovanni Fini, David Garcia, Marilynda
Fraser-Cunliffe and the Online Distributed Proofreading
Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from
images generously made available by The Internet
Archive/Canadian Libraries)







                         TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:

—Obvious print and punctuation errors were corrected.

—Whereas adequate character is unavalaible, superscripts are rendered
 as word^[sup].




LUTHER




  NIHIL OBSTAT
                  C. SCHUT, S.T.D.,
                                      _Censor Deputatus._


  IMPRIMATUR
                 EDM. CAN. SURMONT,
                    _Vic. Gen._

                    _Westmonasterii, die 10 Julii, 1913._




                                LUTHER

                                  BY

                         HARTMANN GRISAR, S.J.

               PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF INNSBRUCK


               AUTHORISED TRANSLATION FROM THE GERMAN BY

                             E. M. LAMOND


                               EDITED BY

                           LUIGI CAPPADELTA


                               VOLUME IV


                                LONDON
                KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO., LTD.
                BROADWAY HOUSE, 68-74 CARTER LANE, E.C.
                                 1915




A FEW PRESS OPINIONS OF VOLUMES I-III.


 “His most elaborate and systematic biography... is not merely a book
 to be reckoned with; it is one with which we cannot dispense, if only
 for its minute examination of Luther’s theological writings.”--_The
 Athenæum_ (Vol. I).

 “The second volume of Dr. Grisar’s ‘Life of Luther’ is fully as
 interesting as the first. There is the same minuteness of criticism
 and the same width of survey.” _The Athenæum_ (Vol. II).

 “Its interest increases. As we see the great Reformer in the thick of
 his work, and the heyday of his life, the absorbing attraction of his
 personality takes hold of us more and more strongly. His stupendous
 force, his amazing vitality, his superhuman interest in life,
 impress themselves upon us with redoubled effect. We find him the
 most multiform, the most paradoxical of men.... The present volume,
 which is admirably translated, deals rather with the moral, social,
 and personal side of Luther’s career than with his theology.”--_The
 Athenæum_ (Vol. III).

 “There is no room for any sort of question as to the welcome ready
 among English-speaking Roman Catholics for this admirably made
 translation of the first volume of the German monograph by Professor
 Grisar on the protagonist of the Reformation in Europe.... The
 book is so studiously scientific, so careful to base its teaching
 upon documents, and so determined to eschew controversies that are
 only theological, that it cannot but deeply interest Protestant
 readers.”--_The Scotsman._

 “Father Grisar has gained a high reputation in this country through
 the translation of his monumental work on the History of Rome and the
 Popes in the Middle Ages, and this first instalment of his ‘Life of
 Luther’ bears fresh witness to his unwearied industry, wide learning,
 and scrupulous anxiety to be impartial in his judgments as well as
 absolutely accurate in matters of fact.”--_Glasgow Herald._

 “This ‘Life of Luther’ is bound to become standard... a model of
 every literary, critical, and scholarly virtue.”--_The Month._

 “Like its two predecessors, Volume III excels in the minute analysis
 not merely of Luther’s actions, but also of his writings; indeed,
 this feature is the outstanding merit of the author’s patient
 labours.”--_The Irish Times._

 “This third volume of Father Grisar’s monumental ‘Life’ is full of
 interest for the theologian. And not less for the psychologist; for
 here more than ever the author allows himself to probe into the
 mind and motives and understanding of Luther, so as to get at the
 significance of his development.”--_The Tablet._




                               CONTENTS


 CHAPTER XXI. PRINCELY MARRIAGES                            _pages_ 3-79

 1. LUTHER AND HENRY VIII OF ENGLAND. BIGAMY INSTEAD OF DIVORCE.

  The case of Henry VIII; Robert Barnes is despatched to
  Wittenberg; Luther proposes bigamy as a safer expedient
  than divorce (1531); Melanchthon’s advice: _Tutissimum
  est regi_ to take a second spouse. The conduct of
  Pope Clement VII. The Protestant Princes of Germany
  endeavour to secure the good-will of the King of
  England; final collapse of the negotiations; Luther’s
  later allusions to Henry VIII                             _pages_ 3-13

 2. THE BIGAMY OF PHILIP OF HESSE.

  The question put by Philip to Luther in 1526; Philip
  well informed as to Luther’s views. Bucer deputed by
  the Landgrave to secure the sanction of Wittenberg for
  his projected bigamy; Bucer’s mission crowned with
  success; Philip weds Margaret von der Sale; Luther’s
  kindly offices rewarded by a cask of wine; the bigamy
  becomes known at the Court of Dresden; the Landgrave is
  incensed by Bucer’s proposal that he should deny having
  committed bigamy. Luther endeavours to retire behind
  the plea that his permission was a “dispensation,”
  a piece of advice given “in confession,” and,
  accordingly, not to be alleged in public. Some
  interesting letters of Luther to his sovereign and
  to Hesse; his private utterances on the subject
  recorded in the Table-Talk. “_Si queam mutare!_” The
  Eisenach Conference; Luther counsels the Landgrave to
  tell a good, lusty lie; the Landgrave’s annoyance.
  Melanchthon’s worries; an expurgated letter of his
  on Landgrave Philip. Duke Henry of Brunswick enters
  the field against Luther and the Landgrave; Luther’s
  stinging reply: “Wider Hans Worst.” Johann Lening’s
  “Dialogue”; how it was regarded by Luther, Menius and
  the Swiss theologians. The Hessian bigamy is hushed
  up. The Bigamy judged by Protestant opinion; Luther’s
  consent to some extent extorted under pressure           _pages_ 13-79


 CHAPTER XXII. LUTHER AND LYING                           _pages_ 80-178

 1. A BATTERY OF ASSERTIONS.

  Luther’s conduct in the matter of the Bigamy an excuse
  for the present chapter. His dishonest assurances
  in his letters to Leo X, to Bishop Scultetus his
  Ordinary, and to the Emperor Charles V (1518-1520);
  his real feelings at that time as shown in a letter to
  Spalatin; Luther’s later parody of Tetzel’s teaching;
  his insinuation that it was the Emperor’s intention
  to violate the safe-conduct granted; he calls into
  question the authenticity of the Papal Bull against
  him, whilst all the time knowing it to be genuine; he
  advises _ordinandi_ to promise celibacy with a mental
  reservation; his distortion of St. Bernard’s “_perdite
  vixi_”; his allusion to the case of Conradin, “slain
  by Pope Clement IV,” and to the spurious letter of
  St. Ulrich on the babies’ heads found in a convent
  pond at Rome. His allegation that his “Artickel” had
  been subscribed to at Schmalkalden; his unfairness
  to Erasmus and Duke George; his statement, that, for
  a monk to leave his cell without his scapular, was
  accounted a mortal sin, and that, in Catholicism,
  people expected to be saved simply by works; his
  advocacy of the “Gospel-proviso”; his advice to the
  Bishop of Samland to make a show of hesitation in
  forsaking Catholicism                                    _pages_ 80-99

 2. OPINIONS OF CONTEMPORARIES IN EITHER CAMP.

  Bucer, Münzer, J. Agricola, Erasmus, Duke George, etc.,
  on Luther’s disregard for truth                         _pages_ 99-102

 3. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEM. SELF-SUGGESTION AND SCRIPTURAL GROUNDS OF
    EXCUSE.

  The