WEBVTT

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Karlstadt, Luther, and Zwingel.

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Andrew Bodenstein, better known as Dr.
Karlstadt, once a professor at Wittenberg,

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commenced the attack.

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This man has the reputation of having been
both able and learned, and really devoted

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to the cause of the Reformation,
from his extreme views on that subject and

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the impetuosity of his spirit,
his measures were sweeping revolutionary.

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He would have all the images destroyed,
and all the rites of potpourri abolished

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at once.

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We have met with him before.

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He was one of the earliest and warmest
friends of Luther, but he had rejected

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Luther's notion of the real presence in
the Eucharist, and that was the

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unpardonable sin in the eyes of the
Reformer.

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He had also given too much countenance and
encouragement to the excesses of the

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Anabaptists, or, the Celestial Prophets,
as they were called, and this gave Luther

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a show of reason for visiting with the
same condemnation the and the Anabaptists.

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But this was most unjust, as Zwingle and
his followers were as opposed to the

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fanaticism of the so-called Prophets,
as were Luther and his colleagues.

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In refutation of Dr. Karlstadt,
Luther wrote a pamphlet against these

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Prophets in 1525, in which he says,
Dr. Karlstadt has fallen away from us,

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and become our bitterest foe.

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Although I deeply regret this scandal,
I still rejoice that Satan has shown the

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cloven foot, and will be put to shame by
these as Heavenly Prophets, who have long

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been peeping and muttering in concealment,
but never would come fairly out until I

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enticed them with a gilder, that,
by the grace of God, has been too well

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laid for me to rue it.

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But still the whole infamy of the plot is
not yet brought forward, for still more

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lies concealed which I have long
suspected.

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I know also, that Dr. Karlstadt has long
been brewing this heresy in his mind,

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though till now he has not found courage
to spread it abroad.

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Zwingle was now persuaded that the time
for silence was past.

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Although he sympathized with Karlstadt's
views of the Eucharist, he greatly

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objected to his offensive style and
levity.

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He published in the year 1525,
an important treatise, concerning true and

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false religion.

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His own views of the Eucharist are fully
and clearly stated in this book,

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besides his utter condemnation of the
seditious spirit of the Anabaptists,

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and the errors of the Papists on the
subject in dispute.

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An opponent soon appeared in a pamphlet,
against the new error of the

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sacramentaries.

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To this Zwingle replied in the same year,
1525, and took occasion to remind his

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opponents, the Lutherans, that they should
be less personal in their abuse,

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and more rational and scriptural in their
arguments.

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There was a mildness and respect in the
writings of the Swiss, which the Saxons

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were utter strangers to, even Melanchthon,
at times, became the reflection of his

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violent master.

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Ecolampadius, the intimate friend of
Zwingle, was preaching the simple doctrine

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of the New Testament, as to the Lord's
Supper, at Baal, just about this time.

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But finding that his enemies were
associating him with Karlstadt,

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he published and defended his own views.

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The effect of this book was great,
written in such a Christian spirit,

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so full of the closest reasoning,
and the fairest arguments, both from the

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Scriptures and the most eminent among the
Fathers, that many were drawn to consider

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the new opinions.

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Erasmus himself was well nigh converted by
the book.

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A new dogma has arisen, he writes to a
friend, that there is nothing in the

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Eucharist but bread and wine.

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To confute this is now a very difficult
matter, for John Oecolampadius has

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fortified it by so many evidences and
arguments, that the very elect might

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almost be seduced by it.

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An abusive reply to this book very soon
appeared, signed by 14 German theologians,

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with a preface written by Luther.

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Zwingle was deeply offended, and
complained of the insults offered to a

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brother reformer by his German brethren.

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I have seen nothing in this age,
he says, less praiseworthy than this

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reply, on account both of the violence
offered in it to Holy Writ, and of its

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immoderate insolence.

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Oecolampadius, of all men the most
harmless, a very model of every sort of

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piety in learning, he, from whom most of
them have learned what they know of

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literature, is so infamously treated by
them, with such filial ingratitude,

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that we are called upon, not for
reproaches, but for execrations.

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Thus the controversy went on.

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Luther was deeply grieved and astonished
to find so many learned and pious men

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holding the same views as Zwingle,
and many of whom he had entertained the

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highest opinion now expressed themselves
favourable to the new views.

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This was gall and wormwood to the spirit
of Luther, and filled him with

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inexpressible grief and anger.

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In his letters and writings at this time
he expressed himself in the most

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unmeasured and unguarded terms.

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He calls them, his absolums, sacrament
conjurers, in comparison with whose

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madness the papists are mild opponents the
satanic instruments of my temptation.

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Luther's followers took up the tone of
their master, and he transferred to this

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controversy all the vehemence and
obstinacy of his own nature.

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From about the close of the year 1524 till
the year 1529, Luther had written so

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violently against the Swiss, and so little
against the papists, that it was

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sarcastically said by Erasmus,
the Lutherans are eagerly returning to the

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bosom of the church.

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Luther's followers took up the tone of
their master, and he transferred to this

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controversy all the vehemence and
obstinacy of his own nature.

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From about the close of the year 1529 till
the year 1529, Luther had written so

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violently against the Swiss, and so little
against the papists, that it was

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sarcastically said by Erasmus,
the Lutherans are eagerly returning to the

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bosom of the church.