mouthed! how little and mean is the confidence of man in God! Do thou, O Lord, assist me against all worldly wisdom and understanding; do this, thou must do it, thou alone! It is not indeed my cause, but thine own; I myself have nothing to do here and with the great princes of this world. But it is thy cause, which is just and eternal; I rely upon no man. Come, O come! I am ready to give up even my life patiently, like a lamb; for the cause is just; it is thine, and I will not depart from thee eternally. This I resolve in thy name: the world cannot force my conscience. And should my body be destroyed therein, my soul is thine, and remaineth with thee forever." 46 The evening afterward, when he was about to appear before the emperor, he met at the very threshold of the hall the knight George of Frondsberg, who, laying his hand upon Luther's shoulder, said kindly, Monk, monk, ('Mönchlein' being a caressing diminutive,) thou enterest upon a path, and art about to take up a position, such as I and many other commanders have never braved even in our most serious battle-array. If thou have right on thy side, and be sure of thy cause, then go on, in the name of God, and be comforted; God will not forsake thee!" Thus spoke, if we are to believe in tradition, the knight of this world to the spiritual knight, the military hero to the hero of the faith; he spoke with noble modesty, as the inferior to the higher warrior. The two protecting figures above, to the right and left of Luther, represent two other German knights: Hutten, with his harp and sword, and the laurel-wreath of the poet on his brow; and his friend, the valorous Sickengen, with the general's baton in his hand. They were ready to protect their "holy friend, the unconquerable theologian and evangelist, at Worms, by their word and their sword," if necessary. LUTHER BEFORE THE EMPEROR AND THE EMPIRE, 1521. THE decisive moment has come! Before the emperor and the empire Luther is to prove whether the power of conscience is stronger in him than any other consideration. And it was stronger. "My conscience and the word of God," he says, "hold me prisoner; therefore I may not nor will recant! Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise; God help me. Amen!" "I was summoned in due form, and appeared before the council of the imperial diet in the Guildhall, where the emperor, the electors, and the princes were assembled. Doctor Eck, the official of the Bishop of Trèves, began, and said to me, 'Martin, you are called here to say whether you acknowledge the books on the table there to be yours?' and he pointed to them. 'I believe so,' I answered. But Doctor Jerome Schurff instantly added, 'Read over their titles.' When this was done, I said, 'Yes, these books are mine.' He then asked me, ' Will you disavow them?' I replied, Most gracious lord emperor, some of the writings are controversial, and in them I attack my adversaries. Others are didactic and doctrinal; and of these I neither can nor will retract an iota, for it is God's word. But as regards my controversial writings, if I have been too violent, or have gone too far against any one, I am ready to reconsider the matter, provided I have time for reflection.' I was allowed a day and a night. The next day I was summoned by the bishops and others who were to deal with me to make me retract. I told them, 'God's word is not mine, I cannot give it up; but in all else my desire is to be obedient and docile.' The margrave Joachim then took up the word, and said, 'Sir doctor, as far as I can understand, you will allow yourself to be counselled and advised, except on those points affecting Scripture?' 'Yes,' I answered, such is my wish.' They then told me that I ought to defer all to the imperial majesty; but I would not consent. They asked me if they themselves were not Christians, and able to decide on such things? To this I answered, 'Yes, provided it be without wrong or offense to the Scriptures, which I desire to uphold. I cannot give up that which is not mine.' They insisted, 'You ought to rely upon us, and believe that we shall decide rightly.' I am not very ready to believe that they will decide in our favor against themselves, who have but just now passed sentence of condemnation upon me, though under safe-conduct. But look what I will do: treat me as you like, and I will forego my safe-conduct and give it up to you.' On this, Baron Frederick von Feilitzsch burst forth with, 'And enough, indeed, if not too much." They then said, 'At least, give up a few articles to us.' I answered, 'In God's *** LUTHER BEFORE THE EMPEROR AND EMPIRE. name, I do not desire to defend those articles which do not relate to Scripture.' Hereupon, two bishops hastened to tell the emperor that I retracted. On which the bishop sent to ask me if I had consented to refer the matter to the emperor and the empire. I replied that I had never, and would never, consent to it. So I held out alone against all. My doctor and the rest were ill-pleased at my tenacity. Some told me that if I would defer the whole to them, they would in their turn forego and cede the articles which had been condemned by the council of Constance. To all this I replied, Here is my body and my life.' Then, after some worthy individuals had interposed with, How? You would bear him off prisoner? That can't be '-the chancellor of Trèves said to me, 'Martin, you are disobedient to the. imperial majesty, wherefore you have leave to depart under the safe-conduct you possess.' I answer ed, 'It has been done as it has pleased the Lord. And you, in your turn, consider where you are left.' Thus, I took my departure in my simplicity, without remarking or understanding all their subtilities." Next to the young Emperor Charles sits his brother Ferdinand: at their sides the three spiritual and the three temporal electors-the wise Frederick of Saxony sits in front; opposite, on the bench for the princes, we see Philip of Hesse looking attentively at Luther. Dr. Hieronymus Schorf stands behind him as his legal adviser; opposite to him, at the table covered with Luther's works, we see the imperial orator and official of the Archbishop of Trèves, Dr. John Eck; nearer to the emperor, the Cardinal Alexander holds in his hand the bull containing the condemnation of Luther. In the background are seen the Spanish sentinels who mocked the German monk as he retired from the presence. IN THE CATACOMBS OF ROME. a preceding article we gave a description and brief history of the Roman Catacombs. We propose now to present some examples of their inscriptions and symbols, preparatory to the deductions to be hereafter drawn from them respecting theological and ecelesiastical questions. We have already referred to the simplicity, we should, perhaps, say meagerness, of these epitaphs, and of their almost total lack of artistic style; the reader must not therefore follow us in our reverent walks among them, with any exaggerated or fastidious expectations. They speak but the more affectingly and power- | terranean excavator; while the spike by fully to the Christian heart by their direct, their humble and unpretending speech. They prove to us, what Christ assumed to be the glory and demonstration of our faith, that the poor had the gospel preached to them. They prove to us, too, what the history of the Church generally attests, that the poor are not only the first but the purest fruits of the faith; and there, in those dark and labyrinthine aisles-the great subterranean cathedral of Romehallowed by the saintliest memories of primeval Christian worship, of heroic suffering, and of innumerable martyrs, what a contrast have we with the superb, but meretricious pomps of the fallen Church above them! We give an engraving of one of these earliest Christians-one of the fossors, or quarrymen. The inscription reads::"Diogenes the Fossor, buried in peace on the eighth before the kalends of October." Maitland, in explaining it, cannot avoid some suggestive and very relevant remarks: "On either side is seen a dove with an olive branch, the common emblem of Christian peace; the pick-ax and amp together plainly designate the sub which the lamp is suspended from the Could we look out from the entrance to the crypt, Such was the estimation in which these humble men-the grave-diggers of the martyrs were held, that old Jerome says: "The first order among the clergy is that of the fossors, who, after the manner of holy Tobit, are employed in burying the dead." This underground city, larger even than the one above, doubtless had a vast popu.ation-a class the very lowest, it is probable, among the urban masses of the empire. Our fine dreams of classic culture and luxury are relevant only to the higher grades of Greek and Roman life. The lower strata of the masses, like these arenarii and fossors, were but the more depressed and crushed by the superincumbent pressure of luxury and magnificence. To them the new religion, with its humble but angelic virtues, its humane sympathies, and its pledges of future and eternal deliverance, could not but be acceptable. Hence the first prayers to the "unknown God" uttered in the eternal city were breathed in these dark caverns of toil, and the first hymns of Christian hope and gratitude flowed along these dreary mazes. The earliest inscriptions everywhere bear testimony to the illiteracy of these poor but devout men. They are often mere scratches, the letters presenting all kinds of irregularities. The orthography is so bad in some instances as almost to defy the VOL. V.-10 MRTURUS UIXLTANUDN XCIELE XITD OMVMUIUS INPACE "In Christo. Martyrius vixit annos XCI. "In Christ. Martyrius lived ninety-one years. Here is another, whose irregular letters show the effect of an unskilled but affectionate hand to record, in hasty brevity, perhaps in momentary apprehension of the persecutor, a name and a blessing for a departed disciple. AVONIOSHDA SOILASI) Legurius Successus. In peace. |
