The disorders which sprang up in the progress of the reformation recalled Luther to Wittenberg. Ile felt that his presence was necessary to restrain Carlstadt and others, and, defying any dangers to which lie might still be exposed, he returned to the old scene of his labors, rebuked the unruly spirits who had acquired power in his absence, and resumed with renewed energy his interrupted work. He strove to arrest the excesses of the Zwickau fanatics, and counseled peace and order to the inflamed peasants, while lie warned the princes and nobles of the unchristian cruelty of many of their doings, which had driven the people to exaSperation and frenzy. At no period of his life is he greater than now in the stand which he made against lawlessness on the one hand and tyranny on the other. He vindicated his claim to be a reformer in the highest sense by the wise and manly part which he acted in this great social crisis in the history of Germany.
IIis next act of importance was by no means so commendable. Although he had been at first united in a comtnon cause with Erasmus. estrangement had gradually sprung up between the scholar of Rotterdam and the enthusiastic reformer of Witten berg. This estrangement came to an open breach in the year 1525, when Erasmus pub lished his treatise De Libero Arbitrio. Luther immediately followed with his counter creatise, De Servo Arbitrto. The controversy raged loudly between them; and in the vehemence of his hostility to the doctrine of .Erasmus, Luther was led into various asser tions of a very questionable kind, besides indulginm in wild abuse of his opponent's character. The quarrel was an unhappy one on bah sides; and it must be confessed there is especially a want of generosity in the manner in which Luther continued to cherish the dislike which sprung out of it.
In the course of the same year, Luther married Katharina von Bora, one of nine nuns, who, under the influence of his teaching, had emancipated themselves from their relig ious vows. The step rejoiced his enemies, and even alarmed some of his friends like Melanchthon. But it greatly contributed to his happiness, while it served to enrich and strengthen his character. All the most interestino. and touching glimpses We get of him. henceforth are in connection with his wife and (Aitken.
Two years after his rnarriage he fell into a dangerous sickness and depression of spirits, from which he was only aroused by the dangers besetting Christendom from the advance of the Turks. Two years later, in 1529, he engaged in his famous conference. at Marburg with Zwingli and other Swiss divines. In this conference he obstinately maintained his peculiar views as to the sacrament of the Lord's-supper (q.v.; see also IMPANATION); and, as in the controversy with Erasmus, distinguished himself more by the inflexible dogmatism of his opinions than by the candor and comprehensiveness of his arguments, or the fairness and generosity of his temper. Aggressive and reforming in the first stage of his life, and while he was dealing with practical abuses, he was yet in many respects essentially conservative in his intellectual character, and he shut his mind pertinaciously after middle life to any advance in doctrinal opinion. The follow
ing year finds him at Coburg, while the diet sat at Augsbum It was deemed prudent to intrust the interests of the Protestant cause to Melanchthcon, who attended the diet, but Luther removed to Coburg, to be conveniently at hand for consultation. The estab lishinent of the Protestant creed at Augsburg marks the culmination of the German refortnation; and the life of Luther from henceforth possesses comparatively little inter est. He survived 16 years lon,rer, but they are years marked. by few incidents of importance. He died in the endof Feb., 1546.
Luther's character presents an imposinz combination of great qualities. Xndowed with broad human sympathies, massive energy, manly and affectionate simplicity, and rich, if sometimes coarse humor, he is at the same time a spiritual genius. His intui tions of divine truth were bold, vivid, and penetrating, if not comprehensive; and he possessed the art which God alone gives to the finer and abler spirits that he calls to do special work in this world, of kindling other souls with the fire of his own convictions, and awakening them to a higher consciousness of religion and duty. Lie was a leader of men, therefore, and a reformer in the highest sense. His powers were fitted to his appointed task: it was a ta-sk of Titanic magnitude, and he was a Titan in intellectual robustness and moral strength and courag,e. It was only the divine energy which swayed him, and of which he recognized himself the organ, that could have accomplished what he did.
Reckoned as a mere theologian, there are others who take higher rank. There is a lack of patient thoughtfulness and philosophical temper in his doctrinal discussions; but the absence of these very qualitiesgave wings to his bold, if sometimes crude, con ceptions, and enabled him to triumph in the struggle for life or death in whieh he was engaged. To initiate the. religious movement Which was destined to renew the face of Europe, and give a nobler and more enduring life to the Saxon nations, required a gigantic will, which, instead of beinn. crushed by opposition or frightened .by hatred, shonld only gather strength from the fierceness of the conflict before it. To clear the air thoroughly, as he himself said, thunder and lightning are necessary; and he was well content to represent these agencies in the great work of reformation in the 16th centurr'. Upon the whole, it may be said that history presents few greater charac ters—few that excite at once more love and admiration, and in which we see tenderness, humor, and a certain picturesque grace and poetic sensibility more happily combine with a lofty and magnaniraous, if sometimes rugged sublimity.
Luther's works are very voluminous, partly in Latin, and partly in German. Among those of more general interest are his Table-talk, his Letters, and Sermons. De Wette has given to the public a copious and valuable edition of his Letters, which, along with his Table-talk, are the chief authority for his life. Many special lives of him, however, have been written, by Melanclithon, Michelet, Audin, and others.