"The enemy endeavoured to embitter this honey to us by representing that Luther was testy and irritable, aggressive and sarcastic; that he attacked his opponents the great princes and ecclesiastical and lay lords, with audacity; had recourse to abuse and slander, and forgot all brotherly love and Christian moderation. He had, it is true, often displeased me by this, and I would not desire any one to do the like; but I could not on that account reject and cast aside his good Christian teaching, nor even condemn him in these respects; and for this reason, that I could not read his mind, nor the secret counsels of God, as perhaps it might be the means of drawing people from his teaching. And as it was not his own cause, but the divine word that he defended, much allowance should be made for him, and all should be attributed to zealous indignation for God. Even Christ, the source and pattern of all meekness, severely rebuked before others the stubborn and stony-hearted Pharisees, and called them false hypocrites, painted sepulchres, sons of harlots, blind leaders of the blind, and also the children of the devil, as may be seen in the gospels. (Matt. xii. 15, 23; John viii.) Perhaps Luther would gladly speak well of many if he could do so with truth; he may not think it fitting to call those who are in darkness, enlightened; nor rapacious wolves, good shepherds; nor the unmerciful, merciful; for without doubt, had God not been more merciful to him than they have been, he would not now be upon earth. But however this may be, I will not defend him in this place, but laying aside his expressions of contempt and abuse, accept with thankfulness the earnestness of his valiant Christian writings for our amendment.
"As I openly persevered in what I had undertaken advisedly, and would not desist at the bidding of any one, being bound as a Christian not to do so, the displeasure of my superior at Alpirsbach, and certain others of the monastery, greatly increased, and the sword of God's anger began to cause division and discord between the brothers. I was peremptorily ordered to abstain from my undertaking, and also not to speak of these matters with others; but as I could not do this, being bound to yield obedience to God's commands, rather than to those of man, I earnestly begged of my Abbot and monastery, that they would graciously give me leave of absence. I wished for a year or two to support myself at some school or elsewhere, without being any expense to the monastery, and perhaps in the mean while, by a godly examination of the cause of our discord, it might be brought to a peaceable end.
"This being however refused by them, I resolved, after having taken counsel with many wise, learned, and God-fearing men and friends, to leave the monastery." So far Ambrosius Blaurer.
Whilst brother Ambrosius was yet looking anxiously from the windows of his cell, over the pines of the Black Forest into the free expanse, another was riding out of the gate of a princely castle near the woodclad mountains of Thuringia. Behind him lay the dark Drachenschlucht; before him the long ridge of the magic Hörselberges, wherein dwelt an enchantress, to whom the Pope, that wicked forgiver of sins, had once driven back the repentant Tannhäuser. But the dry stick which the Pope had then thrust into the ground, brought forth green foliage during the night; God himself confuted the Pope. The poor penitent man no longer required the Bishop of Rome to enable him to find mercy and grace from his heavenly Father; but the wicked Pope himself would descend into the jaws of the old dragon.
The exterior of the man who was riding down from Wartburg to Wittenberg, shall be described by a young student who was travelling with a friend from Switzerland to Saxony. His narrative is well known, yet we must not omit it here.
His name was John Kessler; he was born at St. Gallen, in 1502; his parents were poor citizens; he attended the school of the monastery there, studied theology at Basle, and went early in the spring of 1522 with a companion to Wittenberg, to continue his studies under the Reformers. In the autumn of 1523, he returned to his native town, and as the new doctrines had not yet taken root there, being very poor he determined to learn a trade, and became a saddler. He soon collected a small community round him, taught and preached, laboured in his workshop, wrote books, and became at last schoolmaster, librarian and member of a council of education. He had an unpretending, pure nature, with a heart full of love and gentle warmth, but he took no active part in the theological controversies of his time. His narrative begins as follows:--
"When we were travelling to Wittenberg to study the Holy Scriptures, we arrived at Jena in Thuringia, in, God knows how wild a storm; and after many inquiries in the city for a lodging wherein we might pass the night, we could not find any; everywhere lodging was denied us, for it was Shrovetide,[25] when pilgrims and strangers were little cared for. So we determined to leave the town, and endeavour to reach a village where they would lodge us. In the mean while we met at the gate an honest man, who spoke kindly to us, and inquired where we were going so late, as there was neither house nor farm that we could reach before night; besides which, it was a road that was difficult to find; therefore he advised us to remain there.
"We answered: 'Dear father, we have tried all the inns to which we have been directed, and having everywhere been refused a lodging, we are obliged to proceed further.' Then he asked us whether we had made inquiry at the Black Bear; and we replied: 'It has never been mentioned to us; tell us, dear father, where we shall find it.' He then showed us a little way out of the town, and when we came to the Black Bear, behold, the landlord, instead of refusing us, as all the others had done, came to meet us at the door, and not only received us, but kindly begged of us to lodge there, and took us into a room.
"There we found a man sitting alone at a table, and before him lay a book; he greeted us kindly, and bid us approach and sit by him at the table; for we were seating ourselves quietly on a bench close to the door, as our shoes (if one may be allowed to write it) were so covered with mud and dirt, that we were ashamed to enter the room on account of our dirty footmarks. He invited us to drink, which we could not refuse, and as we found him so kind and cordial, we seated ourselves by him at his table as he had asked us, and called for a quart of wine, that we might return his civility by asking him to drink. We supposed him however to be a knight, as he was dressed in hosen and jerkin, with a red leather cap, and without armour, and sat, according to the custom of his country, with a sword at his side, with one hand resting on the pommel and the other clasping the hilt. His eyes were black and deep set, flashing and sparkling like stars, so that one could hardly bear to look at them.
"Shortly after, he asked where we were born, but answered himself: 'You are Swiss; from what part of Switzerland do you come?' We replied, 'From St. Gallen.' He then said, 'If you are going, as I hear, to Wittenberg, you will find there some good countrymen of yours, Dr. Jerome Schurf and his brother Dr. Augustin.'
"We said, 'We have letters to them;' and we proceeded to inquire: 'Can you inform us, sir, whether Martin Luther is now at Wittenberg; or if not, where he is?'
"He answered, 'I know for certain that Luther is not now at Wittenberg, but will return soon. Philip Melancthon is however there, who teaches Greek, and others who teach Hebrew. In truth I would advise you to study both, as they are needful for the right understanding of the Holy Scriptures.' We replied, 'So help us God! as long as He grants us life, we will not desist till we have seen and heard this man; for on his account we have undertaken this journey, as we learn that he will overthrow the priesthood, together with the mass, that being a service founded on error. As we have been brought up by our parents, and destined from our youth to be priests, we are anxious to hear what his teaching is, and what authority he can bring forward for such propositions.'
"After we had thus spoken, he inquired: 'Where have you studied hitherto?'--Answer: 'At Basle.'--Then he said: 'How are things going on at Basle? Is Erasmus of Rotterdam still there, and what is he doing?'
"We replied: 'We only know, sir, that all is going on well, and that Erasmus is there; but what he is about is unknown to and concealed from every one, as he keeps himself quite quiet and private.'
"This manner of talk appeared to us very strange in the knight; how could he know everything relative to the two Schurfs, of Philip, and Erasmus, and also be aware of the necessity of learning Greek and Hebrew? He
