Posted on 10/24/2014 8:52:18 AM PDT by Gamecock
AFTER many a weary league, Luther's feet stand at last within the gates of Rome. What now are his feelings? Is it a Paradise or a Pandemonium in which he is arrived?
The enchantment continued for some little while. Luther tried hard to realise the dreams which had lightened his toilsome journey. Here, thought Luther, the martyrs had died; on the floor of this stupendous ruin, the Coliseum, had they contended with the lions; on this spot, where now stands the sumptuous temple of St. Peter, and where the Vicar of Christ has erected his throne, were they used "as torches to illumine the darkness of the night". Over this city, too, Paul's feet had walked, and to this city had that letter been sent, and here had it first been opened and read, in which occur the words that had been the means of imparting to him a new life - "The just shall live by faith."
Profane levity
The first weeks which Luther passed in Rome were occupied in visiting the holy places and saying mass at the altars of the more holy of its churches. But it was not long till he began to see that these outward blemishes were as nothing to the hideous moral and spiritual corruptions that existed beneath the surface. The luxury, lewdness, and impiety that shocked him in the first Italian towns he had entered, and which had attended him in every step of his journey since crossing the Alps, were all repeated in Rome on a scale of seven-fold magnitude. His practice of saying mass at all the more favoured churches brought him into daily contact with the priests; he saw them behind the scenes; he heard their talk, and he could not conceal from himself - though the discovery unspeakably shocked and pained him - that these men were simply playing a part, and that in private they held in contempt and treated with mockery the very rites which in public they celebrated with so great a show of devotion. If he was shocked at their profane levity, they on their part were no less astonished at his solemn credulity, and jeered him as a dull German.
Panis es, et panis manebis
One day Luther was saying mass in one of the churches of Rome with his accustomed solemnity. While he had been saying one mass, the priests at the neighbouring altars had sung seven. "Make haste, and send Our Lady back her Son" was the horrible scoff with which they reproved his delay, as they accounted it. To them "Lady and Son" were worth only the money they brought. But these were the common priests. Surely, thought he, faith and piety still linger among the dignitaries of the Church! How mistaken was even this belief, Luther was soon to discover.
One day he chanced to find himself at table with some prelates. Taking the German to be a man of the same easy faith with themselves, they lifted the veil a little too freely. They openly expressed their disbelief in the mysteries of their Church, and shamelessly boasted of their cleverness in deceiving and befooling the people. Instead of the words, "Hoc est meum corpus" - This is my body etc. - the words at the utterance of which the bread is changed, as the Church of Rome teaches, into the flesh and blood of Christ - these prelates, as they themselves told him, were accustomed to say, "Panis es, et panis manebis," etc. - Bread thou art, and bread thou wilt remain - and then, said they, we elevate the Host, and the people bow down and worship.
Luther's horror
Luther was literally horrified: it was as if an abyss had suddenly yawned beneath him. But the horror was salutary; it opened his eyes. Instead of a city of prayers and alms, of contrite hearts and holy lives, Rome was full of mocking hypocrisy, defiant skepticism, jeering impiety, and shameless revelry. (Dr Gillis - Amongst the 100.000 population of Rome at this time there is documentary evidence there were 6,800 prostitutes walking the streets in their nun - like apparel).
Borgia had lately closed his infamous Pontificate, and the warlike Julius II. was now reigning. A powerful police patrolled the city every night. They were empowered to deal summary justice on offenders, and those whom they caught were hanged at the next post or thrown into the Tiber. But all the vigilance of the patrol could not secure the peace and safety of the streets. Robberies and murders were of nightly occurrence. "If there be a hell," said Luther, "Rome is built over it."
The Scala Sancta
One day he went, under the influence of these feelings, to the Church of the Lateran. There is the Scala Sancta, or Holy Stairs, which tradition says Christ descended on retiring from the hall of judgment, where Pilate had passed sentence upon him. These stairs are of marble, and the work of conveying them from Jerusalem to Rome was reported to have been undertaken and executed by the angels, who have so often rendered similar services to the Church - Our Lady's House at Loretto for example. The stairs so transported were enshrined in the Palace of the Lateran, and every one who climbs them on his knees merits an indulgence of fifteen years for each ascent.
Luther, who doubted neither the legend touching the stairs, nor the merit attached by the bulls of the Popes to the act of climbing them, went thither one day to engage in this holy act. He was climbing the steps in the appointed way, on his knees namely, earning at every step a year's indulgence, when he was startled by a sudden voice, which seemed as if it spoke from heaven, and said, "The just shall live by faith." Luther started to his feet in amazement. This was the third time these same words had been conveyed into his mind with such emphasis, that it was as if a voice of thunder had uttered them. It seemed louder than before, and he grasped more fully the great truth which it announced. What folly, thought he, to seek an indulgence from the Church, which can last me but a few years, when God sends me in his Word an indulgence that will last me for ever! How idle to toil at these performances, when God is willing to acquit me of all my sins not as so much wages for so much service, but freely, in the way of believing upon his Son! "The just shall live by faith."
The just shall live by faith
From this time the doctrine of justification by faith alone - in other words, salvation by free grace - stood out before Luther as the one great comprehensive doctrine of revelation. He held that it was by departing from this doctrine that the Church had fallen into bondage, and had come to groan under penances and works of self-righteousness. In no other way, he believed, could the Church find her way back to truth and liberty than by returning to this doctrine. This was the road to true reformation. This great article of Christianity was in a sense its fundamental article, and henceforward Luther began to proclaim it as eminently the Gospel - the whole Gospel in a single phrase. With relics, with privileged altars, with Pilate's Stairs, he would have no more to do; this one sentence, "The just shall live by faith," had more efficacy in it a thousand times over than all the holy treasures that Rome contained. It was the key that unlocked the closed gates of Paradise; it was the star that went before his face, and led him to the throne of a Saviour, there to find a free salvation. It needed but to re-kindle that old light in the skies of the Church, and a day, clear as that of apostolic times, would again shine upon her. This was what Luther now proposed doing.
The true City of God
This was what Luther learned at Rome. Verily, he believed, it was worth his long and toilsome journey thither to learn this one truth. Out of it were to come the life that would revive Christendom, the light that would illuminate it, and the holiness that would purify and adorn it. In that one doctrine lay folded the whole Reformation. "I would not have missed my journey to Rome," said Luther afterwards, "for a hundred thousand florins." When he turned his back on Rome, he turned his face toward the Bible. The Bible henceforward was to be to Luther the true city of God.
Taken from Wylie's History of Protestantism, and edited by Dr Clive Gillis
Who cares what feelings Luther the pig, anti-Semite had?
Yea, after he re-wrote it and redacted seven OT books.
I'm working on a new novel myself, even as I post this. It's called Catcher in the Rye.
Reason is needed in relation to faith. They counterbalance each other. Reason's focus is on the mind and faith's focus is in the soul. One without the other causes a person to become schizophrenic in their thinking and their believing.
“Who cares what feelings Luther the pig, anti-Semite had?”
Happy Friday to you as well and your day be filled with additional good cheer and love to your fellow man!
“Who cares what feelings Luther the pig, anti-Semite had?.”
Millions and millions of Catholics, apparently?
I care about what Paul the apostle said, seeing that the Spirit used him to pen 14 (if you count HEBREWS) of the New Testament letters. There’s gold in them thar hills!
In his letter to the Romans, Paul said “the just shall live by faith” Romans 1:17
Was Luther studying Romans while he was in that city ???
In the beginning was Logos...
Logos, the Word, the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ. To reject reason is to reject Christ. Unless, of course, Luther changed that verse too.
I know Luther found freedom in ROMANS. So, let’s go to the Spirit inspired Source ourselves!
The truth then and the truth today. The Vatican is a whorehouse for homosexual, cross-dressing vermin who cynically steal from fools hoping to buy paradise. These are the false ones about whom it is written,
"Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." - Matthew 7:22,23
Thanks for posting this. It was very interesting. He saw the truth and did something about it.
I care that someone saw the truth and did something. We all should depend on the Bible instead of man.
-Martin Luther
"From this time the doctrine of justification by faith alone - in other words, salvation by free grace - stood out before Luther as the one great comprehensive doctrine of revelation. He held that it was by departing from this doctrine that the Church had fallen into bondage, and had come to groan under penances and works of self-righteousness. In no other way, he believed, could the Church find her way back to truth and liberty than by returning to this doctrine."+1
Luther’s Protestant Reformation gave rise to the Catholic Counter Reformation. There was a series of battles that were called the 100 Year War all over the aspect of christian belief. Yes people should care what Luther had to say. Look at what the Protestant Reformation brought about.
Rome of Luther’s day was the equivalent of Las Vegas of today Sin City.
Marty didn’t fix the church.
He actually very well may have had a well-defined case of Asperger Syndrome as he hammered with an overly-focused solution trying to repair a very real set of problems that were however quite outside of his narrow approach. And he held to it like a maniac.
If salvation is as Marty defined it, you would see Jesus hammering on “faith alone” and “scripture alone” like Marty did. But open your Bible and study Jesus’ words and works. Study Paul’s words. Compare the focus of Jesus to Marty’s. Compare the focus of Paul to Marty’s
Certainly faith and scripture are indispensable in the road to salvation, but Marty Luther, although a man of high drama, unlike many canonized saints and the apostles, was not all that Christ-like.
Indeed, the Church was in bad shape and there were bad actors that needed to be exposed, but does that mean all Her doctrines needed to be turned about? He re-wrote Scripture to convince some people there was a shortcut to salvation. All by himself, without the aid of Councils, Synods, etc. Infallible teaching that was universally accepted by all of Christendom for 1400 years he changed in a few months. Ridiculous.
Back in Germany, where Luther was a priest, prior to Justification by Faith, there was several practices of the Catholic Church that happened in the communities throughout all the Roman See. - Relics were traveling through the cities whereby the common man was to pay a price to see the relics. The concept of indulgences was in place. Yes and the faithful must make a pilgrimage to Rome. All these were abusives practices and they did not make ones faith. Luther brought about the Bible for all to be able read in their own language (German Bible). From this Calvin in France later Switzerland, and Zwingli, Bucer wrote many of the tenants of Protestant Faith, England was transformed too. Keep this in mind too. Protestant Work Ethic came about due in nature to Luther. The son of a mine owner whom left law school
Luther’s 95 Theses nailed to the Wittenberg Door was the equivalent of today of a Theological Discussion to ensue. Today the theologians post their work in journals and others debate the tenants discussed.
No he didn't. If God gave up trying what chance did he have?
But open your Bible and study Jesus’ words and works.
That's what Martin Luther did and he saw the fallacy in trusting in Rome. If Rome is not the Whore of Babylon (Revelations), then she is a close runner up.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.