Part 41 (2/2)

[11] _Serne_, XXVIII, 585

[12] Cf Vol I, p 187

[13] See above, p 355

[14] Luther has here departed from the customary Roman division of the Creed into twelve articles

[15] _Gemein_

[16] _Gemeine_

[17] _Christenheit_, cf Vol I, p 338

[18] _Kirche_

[19] In the catechisms of 1529 Luther abandons this interpretation of the bread

[20] i e The sacrament of the Lord's Supper

THE EIGHT WITTENBERG SERMONS

1522

INTRODUCTION

After the bold utterance of unshaken conviction at the Diet of Worms Luther disappeared froht he was taken by the friendly ”foe” to the secure hiding-place where the imperial proscription could not affect hi on May 4, 1521 But the ”crowded canvas of the sixteenth century,” bereft of its central figure, threatened to beco and other places the new life of the soul had burst its ancient fetters and was about to lose its spiritual value in a destructive lateralelector and the helpless Melanchthon to steard of personal safety, to return to his beloved city on March 6, 1522, and on Sunday, March 9th, and the seven days following to preach the _Eight Ser the turbulent waves of popular uprising into the channelshis absence others had heeded the clarion call to lead the Church out of its ”Babylonian Captivity,” and had put into practice the measures which would carry out the principles he had uttered The mass was abolished[1], monks left the monasteries, some priests took wives, and communion under both kinds was instituted With these measures Luther was in sympathy, which is evident from his letters to Melanchthon[2] and to Wenceslaus Link, Staupitz's successor as the Augustinian vicar[3], and the treatises _De votis anda missa privata_[4] But these treatises also show that Luther was not fully infor the new reat leader was soon , could not hold back the radical procedure of Carlstadt and Zwilling

Carlstadt, moderate at first in his conduct, nevertheless had sown the seeds, in his teaching, which resulted in the bountiful harvest of disorder Without Luther's clearness of vision and aptness of speech, he likewise failed to discern the pitfalls which Luther so carefully avoided ”In my opinion, he who partakes only of the bread, sins”[5]

”In all things of divine appointht and observed, even if it cause offence”[6] ”The Gregorian chant keeps the spirit away fro to theatrical exhibitions and princes' palaces”[7] ”That we have i and contrary to the first co on the altar is even more harmful and devilish”[8] For his Scripture proof in other places, too, particularly concerning vows, Carlstadt drew largely from the Old Testament On Christ to confession before receiving coarb he then proceeded to celebrate an ”evangelical”co the elements directly into their hands Many of the communicants had not previously confessed, nor observed the prescribed rule of fasting Froy and laity, Carlstadt finally progressed to a conde as unnecessary to an understanding of the Divine Word, since it is given directly froical acuustinianlabored in season and out of season for the new order of things In December the Zwickau prophets, Niclas Storch, Thomas Drechsel, weavers by trade, and Marcus Stubner, a for direct divine inspiration, and preached the overturn of present conditions

Earlier in the month (December 3d) some students and citizens had caused a disturbance in the parish church and driven off the priests ere saying mass Soon after a number of citizens crowded into the council chamber and de the abolition of the mass by law, the restitution of the cup, and the release of those in custody for causing the tumult of December 3d On Christmas Eve both the parish and the castle churches witnessed scenes of wild disorder On January 11th the , destroyed all the altars except one in the convent church, and cast out the ies The city council, in the endeavor to restore order, on January 24, 1522, in full accord with a commission of the university, adopted a ”Worthy Ordinance for the princely City of Wittenberg,”[10] in which the popular dees should be removed from the parish church--the only one of the four churches of Wittenberg subject to the council's control But the excited populace did not await the day

Taking the es and pictures from the walls and burned them up

The council and the university turned to Luther I in Dece and elsewhere, he issued his _Faithful Exhortation for all Christians to shun Riot and Rebellion_[11], in which he eht Serently with the weak But the ti had passed ”Satan had broken into his sheepfold” and had caused such havoc that he could not ”[12] In spite of the elector's instruction to remain--the same whose ineffectual measures had failed to avert the stor On his way to Wittenberg, in Borna on March 5th, he wrote the famous letter to the elector[13]

in which he declared that he desired no protection froher protection” He arrived in Wittenberg on Thursday, March 6th, and on the following Sunday, March 6th, the first Sunday in Lent, he again ascended the pulpit in the parish church In an interesting report of an eye and ear witness--Johann Kessler--we are told that he first gave an explanation of the Gospel for the day on the temptation of Christ (Matt 4:1 ff), after which ”he dropped the text and took up the present affair”[14]

This earlier portion of the sermon has not come down to us It may be that Luther likewise first preached on the Gospel for the day on the following Sunday, and for that reason it is called ”a brief summary”

(see Sermon No 8) in the early printed editions, when, in reality, it is longer than that of Saturday (No 7)

The sermons, delivered in a _vox suavis et sonora_[15], produced immediate results In a letter by Schurf, dated March 15th, even before the last of the ser] has confessed that he rong” Carlstadt was silenced, the city council ifts and Wittenberg bowed to law and order