LVTHXE
448
LUTUER
proclamation of a new code of ethics: that concupi-
scence is invincible, the sensual instincts irrepressible,
the gratification of sexual propensities as natural and
inexorable as the performance of any of the physio-
logical necessities of our beine. It was a trumpet call
to priest, monk, and nun to oreak their vows of chas-
tity and enter matrimony. The impossibility" of
successful resistance to our natural sensual passions
was drawn with such dazzling rhetorical fascination
that the salvation of the soul, the health of the body,
demanded an instant abrogation of the laws of celi-
bacy. Vows were made to Satan, not to God; the
devil's law was absolutely renounced by taking a wife
or husband. The consequences of sucn a mond code
were immediate and eeneral. They are evident from
the stinging rebuke of his old master, Staupitz, less,
than a year after its promulgation, that the most
vociferous advocates ot his old pupil were the fre-
quenters of notorious houses, not synonymous with a
high type of decency (Enders, op. cit.. Ill, 406). To
us the whole treatise would have nothing more than
an archaic interest were it not that it inspired the
most notable contribution to Reformation history
written in modern times, Denifle's Luther una
Lutherthum " (Mainz. 1904) . In it Luther's doctrines,
writings, and sayings have been subjected to so searching an analysis, his historical inaccuracies have been
proved so flagrant, his conception of monasticism such
a caricature, nis knowledge of Scholasticism so super-
ficial , his misrepresentation of medieval theology so un-
blushing, his interpretation of mysticism so erroneous,
and this with such a merciless circumstantial mastery
of detail, as to cast the shadow of doubt on the whole
fabric of Reformation history.
In the middle of the summer of this year (4 Aug.) he sent his reply to the "Defence of the Seven Sacraments " by King Henry VIII. Its <mly claim to attention is its tone of proverbial coarseness and scur- rility. The king is not only an "impudent liar", but is delueed with a torrent of foul abuse, and every unworthy motive is attributed to him (Walch, XIX, 295-346) . It meant, as events proved, in spite of Lu- ther's tardy and sycophantic apologies, the loss of Eng- land to the German Reformation movement (PlancE, "Gesch. des protest. I^hrbegriflfs", II, Leipzig, 1783, 102; Hausrath, op. cit., II, 71; Thudichum. op. cit., 1, 238) . About this time he issued in Latin ana German his broadside, " Against the falsely called spiritual state of Pope and Bishops", in which his vocabulary of* vituperation attains a height equalled only ^himself, and then on but one or two occasions. Seemingly aware of the incendiary character of his langua^, he tauntingly asks: "But they say, 'there is fear that a rebellion may arise against the spiritual Estate'. Then the reply is ' Is it just that souls are slaughtered eternally, that these moimtebanks mav disport them- selves quiethr '? It were better that all bishops should be muraered, and all religious foundations and monas- teries razed to the ground, than that one soul ediould Krish, not to Bpe& of all the souls ruined by these )ckheads and manikins" (S&mmtl.W.,XXVin, 148).
During his absence at the Wartbure (3 Apr., 1521- 6 March, 1522) the storm centre of the reform agita- tion veered to Wittenberg, where Carlstadt took up the reins of leadership, aided and abetted by Melanch- thon and the Augustinian Friars. In the narrative of conventional Reformation history Carlstadt is made the scapegoat for all the wild excesses that swept over Wittenberg at this time; even in more critical nistory he is painted as a marplot, whose officious meddline almost wrecked the work of the Reformation. Still, in the hands of cold scientific Protestant investigators, his character and work have of late undeigone an astounding rehabilitation, one that calls for a re- appraisement of all historical values in which he figures. He appears not only as a man of " extensiye learning, fearless intrepidity . . . glowing enthusiasm
for the truth " (Thudichum, op. cit., 1, 178), but as the
actual pathbr^dcer for Luther, whom he anticipated
in some of his most salient doctrines and audacious
innovations. Thus, for example, this new appraisal
establishes the facts: that as early as 13 April, 1517,
he published his 152 theses against indulgences; that
on 21 June, 1521, he advocated and defended the ri^ht
of priests to many, and shocked Luther by includmg
monks; that on 22 July. 1521, he c^ed for the re-
moval of all pictures ana statuary in sanctuary and
church ; that on 13 May, 1521, he made pulDlic protest
against the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament, the
elevation of ^e Host, and denounced the withholding
of the Chalice from the laity; that so early as 1 March,
1521, while Luther was still in Wittenberg, he in-
veighed a^iinst prayers for the dead and demanded
that Mass oe said in the vernacular German (Barge,
"Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt", Leipzig, 1905,
I-II, passim; Thudichum, op. cit., I, 178-83; Bar^e,
" Frtthprotestant. Gemeindechristentum '\ Leipzig,
1909). While in this new valuation he still retains
the character of a disputatious, puritanical polemist,
erratic in conduct, surly in manner, irascible in tem-
per, biting in speech, it invests him with a shrinking
reluctance to aaopt any action however radical with-
out the approval of the congregation or its accredited
representatives. In the lignt of the same researches,
it was the mild and gentle Melanchthon who prodded
on Carlstadt until he found himself the vortex of the
impending disorder and riot. " We must begin some-
time ", he expostulates, " or nothing will be done. He
who puts his hand to the plough should not look back "
(Ba^ge, op. cit., I, 323).
The floodgates once opened, the deluge followed. On 9 October, 1521, thirty-nine out of the forty Augus- tinian Friars formally declared their refusal to sav pri- vate Mass any longer; Zwilluig, one of the most rabid of them, denounced the Mass as a devilish institution; Justus Jonas stigmatized Masses for the dead as sacri- legious pestilences of the soul; Communion under two kmds was publidy administered. Thirteen friars (12 Nov.) doned their habits, and with tumultuous demonstrations fled from the monastery, with fifteen more in their immediate wake; those remaining loyal were subjected to ill-treatment and insult by an in- furiated rabble 1^ by Zwilling; mobs prevented the saying of Mass; on 4 Dec., forty students, amid derisive cheers, entered the Franciscan monastery and demolished the altars; the windows of the house of the resident canons were smashed, and it was threatened with pillage. It was clear that these excesses, uncon- trolled by the civil power, unrestrained by the religious leaders^ were symptomatic of social and religious revolution. Luther, who in the meantime paid a surreptitious visit to Wittenberg (between 4 and 9 Dec.), had no words o£ disapproval for these proceed-
9 Dec., 'Ilpleases me immensely (Enders, op. cit.. Ill,
253). The collapse and disintegration of religious life
kept on apace. At a chapter of Augustinian Friars
held at Wittenberg, 6 Jan.^ 1522, six resolutions, no
doubt inspired by Luther himself (Reindell, " Doktor
Wenseslaus Linck " . I, Leipzig, 1902, 162) , were unani-
mously adopted, wnich aimai at the subversion of
the whole monastic system: five days later the Augus-
tinians removed all altars but one from their church,
and burnt the pictures and holy oils. On 19 Jan.,
Carlstadt, now forty-one years of age, married a young
giri of fifteen, an act that called forth the hearty en-
dorsement of Luther (De Wette, op. cit., II, 123); on
9 or 10 Feb., Justus Jonas, and about the same time
J<^nn Lange, prior of the Augustinian monastery at
Erfurt, followea his example. On Christmas Day
(1521) Carlstadt ."in civilian dress, without any vest-
ment ", ascended the pulpit, preached the "evangeli-
