Lord’s Day, Vol. 5 No. 45
16th Century Reformation in Germany
- Martin Luther (Part 4)
When Luther left Worms, he anticipated a speedy journey to Wittenberg, but the unexpected happened. At a considerable distance from Worms, the path entered a glen, thickly forested even to the tops of the surrounding hills. Suddenly there emerged from the woods a company of horsemen, armed to the teeth. They surrounded the carriage in which the reformer was riding, seized him and hurried away. Their journey ended at a stately castle some eight miles away. Its name was Wartburg, and it occupied the top of a hill overlooking Eisenach.
The friends of Luther, and Frederick the Wise, in particular, had arranged for this to happen, so that the reformer might be taken from the busy and hostile world for a time and provided with a safe retreat where his foes could not find him or molest him. For almost a year, therefore, the world lost sight of Luther, not knowing his whereabouts. But to him, the Wartburg was a Patmos, a place of banishment indeed, yet not to unpleasing as was the real Patmos to John, the apostle. He was to remain in hiding until the storm had somewhat abated. He was dressed in the garb of a knight, was addressed as Squire George, and having grown a beard and with a sword in his belt, was left to his own sweet will.
How was he to spend his time? Mainly in the study of the Scriptures, but, in addition, in the work of translating them into the German tongue. The printing press had been set up in Germany in 1454, and the first book printed was the Gutenberg, but as it was in Latin, it was of little use to the mass of the German people. Nine years later a Strassburg printer produced the so-called Mentel Bible in the German language, but it had two great defects; it was a translation from a translation, that is, from the Latin Vulgate, and not from the original Hebrew and Greek originals; also it was clumsily worded and partly incomprehensible.
Luther was ideally qualified for the work of translation. He had given close attention to Hebrew and Greek for a number of years, and he was supremely gifted in the use of his own German language. It was said of him that ‘no one wrote or spoke the German language as well as he.’ At this point, the Greek New Testament edited by Erasmus in 1516 proved immensely useful. Working at a tremendous pace Luther completed the first draft of the German New Testament in eleven weeks, and with the help of Melanchthon, he gave it a thorough revision. By 1522 it was on sale in German shops for a sum equivalent to the week’s wage of a carpenter or similar workman, and it sold at lightning speed. Next came the translation of the Old Testament, which was published in parts and completed by 1534. Luther having been helped by his friends Bugenhagen, Cruciger, and Justus Jonas, as well as by Melanchthon.
After spending ten months at the Warburg Luther heard of disturbances which had broken out at Wittenberg, so without waiting for permission from Frederick, he hurried to that city, greatly to the joy of his friends. Unhappily, however, social unrest and a rising of peasants against princes occurred at this time, and Luther, a strong supporter of princely power, did not always write and speak wisely about the peasants’ demands. The rising was not suppressed without bloodshed. Until agitation died down the progress of the Reformation was much hindered.
In 1525 Luther believed that the time comes for him to marry. His choice of wife fell upon an escaped nun, Catherine von Bora, and his subsequent home and family life gave him much joy. It was a special joy to Luther that, at the marriage ceremony, his parents, Hans and Greta Luther, were present, and particularly because they believed the truths which God had used their son to proclaim so loudly and effectively. Sometimes the reformer called his wife ‘dear rib’, in allusion to Genesis 2:21. Luther himself was generous almost to a fault, but his wife seems to have exercised a restraining influence upon him in domestic matters, much as Melanchthon did in more public matters. Catherine even set to work rearing pigs and making a small fishpond, all for the good of her household. By means of his numerous publications, Luther might have become rich, for there was always a ready market for his books through northern and western Europe. But the reformer did not look for his reward in gold. He received but a meager salary and was very liberal, often giving away more than he could well afford to the cause of the Reformation and to the poor so that he often lacked money to buy ordinary necessities for his family. But Catherine and he were supremely happy in each other. In his will, he described her as his ‘pious, faithful and devoted wife, always loving, worthy and beautiful.’ She cared for his health and his general well-being.
Luther remained a busy man to the end of his life. It was indeed marvelous how much he wrote in the space of about 25 years. To transcribe his works would take a rapid writer an average lifetime if he worked at the rate of ten hours a day. It is a striking fact that Luther’s writings have been translated into English and can be purchased in an American edition at the present day in 55 volumes. His best-known books are his Larger and Small Catechisms. Luther was also a musician and a poet. One of his hymns has been called the battle-song of the Reformation – ‘A Mighty Fortress is our God.’
Luther died in the year 1546 in Eisleben, the city in which he was born. Although he suffered much from ill health during the last few years of his life, his final illness was of short duration. He fervently prayed at intervals and exclaimed three times in quick succession, ‘Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit, for thou hast redeemed me, thou God of truth.’ He remained to stand fast in Christ and in the doctrine which had preached. He was buried in the castle church at Wittenberg, on the door of which, 29 years before, he had nailed his famous 95 theses. In the summer following Charles V stood at Luther’s grave. One of his captains, standing by his side, asked him whether it would not be fitting for the bones of the arch-heretic to be burned. But Charles replied, ‘O make war upon the living, not upon the dead. Let this man rest until the day of resurrection and of judgment.’
[Extracted and edited from Sketches from Church History by S.M Houghton, pp 90-94]
Yours Lovingly,
Pastor Lek Aik Wee