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Want
to read a unique insight into Luther's life in Erfurt? We
are pleased to bring you an excerpt from "The Life and Times
of Martin Luther" by J. H. Merle D'Aubigne.
Gupta Electronic Edition - Copyright © 2001 Andrew Gupta. Used
with permission.
Chapter 2
ENTRANCE INTO A CONVENT
LUTHER had now reached his eighteenth
year. He had tasted the sweets of literature; he burned with a desire
for knowledge. He sighed for a university education, and wished
to repair to one of those fountains of learning where he could slake
his thirst for erudition. His father required him to study the law.
Full of hope in the talents of his son, he wished that he should
cultivate them and make them generally known. He already pictured
him discharging the most honorable functions among his fellow-citizens,
gaining the favor of princes, and shining on the theater of the
world. It was determined that the young man should go to Erfurt.
Luther arrived at this university
in 1501. Jodocus, surnamed the Doctor of Eisenach, was teaching
there the scholastic philosophy with success. Melanchthon regretted
that at that time nothing was taught at Erfurt but a system of dialectics
bristling with difficulties. His thought was that if Luther had
met with other professors, if they had taught him the milder and
calmer discipline of true philosophy, the violence of his nature
might have been moderated. The new disciple applied himself to study
the philosophy of the Middle Ages in the works of Occam, Duns Scotus,
Bonaventure, and Thomas Aquinas. In later times all this scholastic
divinity was his aversion. He trembled with indignation whenever
Aristotle's name was pronounced in his presence. He went so far
as to say that if Aristotle had not been a man, he should not have
hesitated to take him for the devil. But a mind so eager for learning
as his required other ailments; he began to study the masterpieces
of antiquity, the writings of Cicero, Virgil, and other classic
authors. He was not content, like the majority of students, with
learning their productions by heart; he endeavored to fathom their
thoughts, to imbibe the spirit which animated them, to appropriate
their wisdom to himself, to comprehend the object of their writings,
and to enrich his mind with their pregnant sentences and brilliant
images. He often addressed questions to his professors, and soon
outstripped his fellow-students. Blessed with a retentive memory
and a strong imagination, all that he read or heard remained constantly
present to his mind; it was as if he had seen it himself. "Thus
shone Luther in his early years. The whole university," says
Melanchthon, "admired his genius."
But even at this period the young
man of eighteen did not study merely to cultivate his intellect;
he had those serious thoughts, that heart directed heavenwards,
which God gives to those of whom He resolves to make His most zealous
ministers. Luther was aware of his entire dependence upon God, -
simple and powerful conviction, which is at once the cause of deep
humility and of great actions! He fervently invoked the divine blessing
upon his labors. Every morning he began the day with prayers; he
then went to church, and afterwards applied himself to his studies,
losing not a moment in the whole course of the day. "To pray
well," he was in the habit of saying, "is the better half
of study."
The young student passed in the
university library all the time he could snatch from his academic
pursuits. Books were as yet rare, and it was a great privilege for
him to profit by the treasures brought together in this vast collection.
One day - he had then been two years at Erfurt and was twenty years
old - he opened many books in the library one after another, to
learn their writers' names. One volume that he came to attracted
his attention. He had never until this hour seen its like. He read
the title - it was a Bible, a rare book, unknown in those times.
His interest was greatly excited and he was filled with astonishment
at finding other matters than those fragments of the Gospels and
epistles that the Church had selected to be read to the people during
public worship every Sunday throughout the year. Until that day
he had imagined that they composed the whole Word of God. Now he
saw many pages, many chapters, many books of which he had had no
idea! His heart beat fast as he held the divinely inspired Volume
in his hand. With eagerness and with indescribable emotion he turned
over these leaves from God.
The first page on which he fixed
his attention told the story of Hannah and of the young Samuel.
He read eagerly and his soul could hardly contain the joy it felt.
The child Samuel whom his parents lend to the Lord as long as he
lived; the song of Hannah, in which she declares that Jehovah "raiseth
up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the beggar from the dunghill,
to set them among princes"; Samuel's service in the temple
in the presence of the Lord; those sacrificers - the sons of Heli
- wicked men who live in debauchery, and "make the Lord's people
to transgress"; - all this history, all this revelation that
he had discovered, excited feelings till then unknown. He returned
home with a full heart. "Oh! that God would give me such a
book for myself," he thought. Luther was as yet ignorant both
of Greek and Hebrew. It is scarcely probable that be had studied
these languages during the first two or three years of his residence
at the university. The Bible that had filled him with such transports
was in Latin. He soon returned to the library to pore over his treasure,
then came repeatedly, in his astonishment and joy, to read it further.
The first glimmerings of a new truth were beginning to dawn upon
his mind.
Thus God led him to the discovery
of that Book of which he was to give the admirable translation which
Germany has used for three centuries. That may have been the first
time that the precious volume had been taken down from its place
in the library of Erfurt. That Book, deposited on the unknown shelves
of a gloomy hall, was about to become the Book of Life to a whole
nation. In that Bible the Reformation lay hidden.
It was in the same year that Luther
took his first academic degree - that of bachelor. The excessive
labor he had expended in order to pass his examination brought on
a dangerous illness. Death seemed imminent, and serious reflections
occupied his mind. His case excited general interest. "It is
a pity," his friends thought, "to see so many expectations
blighted so early." Among the many friends who came to visit
him was a venerable priest who had noticed Luther's work at Mansfield
in his academic career. The young man could not conceal the thoughts
that occupied his mind. "Soon," said he, "I shall
be called away from this world." But the old man kindly replied,
"My dear bachelor, take courage; you will not die of this illness.
Our God will yet make of you a man who, in turn, shall console many.
For God layeth His cross upon those whom He loveth, and they who
bear it patiently acquire much wisdom." These words impressed
Luther. When he was so near death he had heard the voice of a priest
reminding him that God, as Samuel's mother said, raiseth up the
miserable. The old man had poured sweet consolation into his heart
and had revived his spirits; never would he forget it. "This
was the first prediction that the worthy doctor heard," says
Mathesius, Luther's friend, who records the incident, "and
he often used to call it to mind." We may easily comprehend
in what sense Mathesius calls the priest's words a prediction.
When Luther recovered, there was
a great change in him. The Bible, his illness, the words of the
aged priest - all seem to have made a new appeal, but as yet he
had not made the great decision. Another circumstance awakened serious
thoughts within him. At the festival of Easter, probably in the
year 1503, Luther was on his way to pass a short time with his family.
According to the custom of the age, he was wearing a sword; as he
struck it with his foot, the blade fell out, cutting one of the
principal arteries. His companion having dashed off for assistance,
Luther found himself alone. Unable to check the flow of blood, he
lay down on his back and put his finger on the wound. In spite of
this, the blood continued to flow, and Luther, feeling the approach
of death, cried out, "O Mary, help me!" At last a surgeon
arrived from Erfurt and bound up the cut. The wound opened in the
night, and Luther fainted, again calling loudly upon the Virgin.
"At that time," said he in after years, "I should
have died relying upon Mary." Soon after that he invoked a
more powerful Savior.
He continued his studies. In 1505
he was admitted master of arts and doctor of philosophy. The University
of Erfurt was then the most celebrated in all Germany. The other
schools were inferior in comparison with it. The ceremony was conducted,
as usual, with great pomp. A procession by torchlight came to pay
honor to Luther. The festival was magnificent. It was a general
rejoicing. Luther, encouraged perhaps by these honors, felt disposed
to apply himself entirely to the law. in conformity with his father's
wishes.
But the will of God was different.
While Luther was occupied with various studies, and beginning to
teach the physics and ethics of Aristotle, with other branches of
philosophy, his heart never ceased to cry to him that religion was
the one thing needful, and that above all things he should secure
his salvation. He knew the displeasure that God manifests against
sin; he called to mind the penalties that God's Word denounces against
the sinner; and he asked himself, with apprehension whether he was
sure of possessing the divine favor. His conscience answered, No!
His character was prompt and decided; he resolved to do all that
might ensure him a firm hope of immortality. Two events occurred,
one after the other, to disturb his soul, and to hasten his resolution.
Among his closest friends at the
university was one named Alexis. One morning a report was spread
in Erfurt that Alexis bad been assassinated. Luther hastened to
ascertain the truth of this rumor. This sudden loss of his friend
agitated him, and his mind was filled with keenest terror as he
asked himself, "What would become of me, if I were thus called
away without warning?"
It was in the summer of 1505 that
Luther, whom the ordinary university vacations left at liberty,
resolved to go to Mansfeldt, to revisit the dear scenes of his childhood
and to embrace his parents. Perhaps also he wished to open his heart
to his father, to sound him on the plan that he was forming in his
mind, and to obtain his permission to engage in another profession.
He foresaw all the difficulties. The idle life of the majority of
priests was displeasing to the active miner of Mansfeldt. Besides,
the ecclesiastics were but little esteemed in the world. For the
most part their revenues were scanty, and the father, who had made
great sacrifices to maintain his son at the university, and who
now saw him teaching publicly in a celebrated school, although only
in his twentieth year, was not likely to renounce the proud hopes
he had cherished.
We are ignorant of what transpired
during Luther's stay at Mansfeldt. Perhaps the decided wish of his
father made him fear to open his heart to him. He again left his
father's house to take his seat on the benches of the academy. He
was already within a short distance of Erfurt, when he was overtaken
by a violent storm, such as often occurs in those mountains. The
lightning flashed - the bolt fell at his feet. Luther threw himself
upon his knees, thinking that his hour, perhaps, had come. Death,
the judgment, and eternity, with all their terrors, summoned him
and he heard a voice that he could no longer resist. "Encompassed
with the anguish and terror of death," as he expressed it,
he made a vow that if the Lord should deliver him from this danger,
he would abandon the world, and devote himself entirely to God.
After rising from the ground, having
still present to him that death which must one day overtake him,
he examined himself seriously, and asked what he ought to do. The
thoughts that had agitated him now returned with greater force.
He had endeavored, it is true, to fulfill all his duties, but what
was the state of his soul? Could he appear before the tribunal of
a terrible God with an impure heart? He must become holy. He had
now as great a thirst for holiness as he had had formerly for knowledge.
But where could he find it, or how could he attain it? The university
provided him with the means of satisfying his first desires. Who
should calm that anguish and quench the fire that now consumed him?
To what school of holiness should he direct his steps? He resolved
to enter a cloister; the monastic life would save him. Oftentimes
had he heard of its power to transform the heart, to sanctify the
sinner, and to make man perfect! He would enter a monastic order,
and there become holy; thus would he secure eternal life.
Such was the event that changed
the calling, the whole destiny of Luther. In this we perceive the
finger of God. It was His powerful hand that on the highway cast
down the young master of arts, the candidate for the bar, the future
lawyer, to give an entirely new direction to his life. Rubianus,
one of Luther's friends at the University of Erfurt, wrote thus
to him many years later: "Divine Providence looked at what
you were one day to become, when on your return from your parents,
the fire from heaven threw you to the ground, like another Paul,
near the city of Erfurt, and withdrawing you from our society, drove
you into the Augustine order." Analogous circumstances have
marked the conversion of the two greatest instruments that divine
Providence has used in the two greatest revolutions that have been
effected upon the earth: the apostle Paul and Luther.
Luther re-entered Erfurt, but his
resolution was unalterable. It was not without a pang that he prepared
to break the ties so dear to him. Telling his intention to no one,
he invited his university friends to a cheerful but frugal supper.
Music once more enlivened their social meeting - Luther's farewell
to the world. Henceforth, instead of these amiable companions of
his pleasures and his studies, he would have monks; instead of this
gay and witty conversation - the silence of the cloister; and for
these merry songs - the solemn strains of the quiet chapel. God
was calling him, and he must sacrifice everything. Now, for the
last time, he shared in the joys of his youth! The repast excited
his friends; Luther himself was the soul of the party. But at the
very moment that they were giving way to their gaiety, Luther could
no longer hide his serious thoughts and he revealed his intention
to his astonished friends. They endeavored to shake it, but in vain.
That very night Luther, perhaps fearful of their pleadings, quit
his lodgings, leaving behind him his clothes and books, taking only
Virgil and Plautus; he had no Bible as yet. Virgil and Plautus -
an epic poem and comedies - striking picture of Luther's mind! In
effect a whole epic had taken place within him - a beautiful sublime
poem; but as he had a disposition inclined to gaiety, wit, and humor,
he combined more than one feature with the serious and stately groundwork
of his life.
Provided with these two books, he
repaired alone, in the darkness of night, to the convent of the
hermits of St. Augustine. He asked admittance; the gate opened and
closed again. Behold him, separated forever from his parents, from
the companions of his studies, and from the world! It was August
17, 1505: Luther was then twenty-one years old.
The Life and Times of Martin
Luther by J. H. Merle D'Aubigne
Gupta Electronic Edition - Copyright © 2001 Andrew Gupta
Used with permission l
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