Before leaving Augsburg, be left an appeal from Cajetan to the Pope, and "from the Pope
ill informed to the Pope to be better informed "(a papa male informato ad papam melius
informandum). Soon afterwards, Nov. 28, he formally and solemnly appealed from the Pope to a
general council, and thus anticipated the papal sentence of excommunication. He expected every
day maledictions from Rome, and was prepared for exile or any other fate.^206 He was already
tormented with the thought that the Pope might be the Anti-Christ spoken of by St. Paul in the
Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, and asked his friend Link (Dec. 11) to give him his opinion
on the subject.^207 Ultimately he lost faith also in a general council, and appealed solely to the
Scriptures and his conscience. The Elector urged him to moderation through Spalatin, but Luther
declared: "The more those Romish grandees rage, and meditate the use of force, the less do I fear
them, and shall feel all the more free to fight against the serpents of Rome. I am prepared for all,
and await the judgment of God."
§ 36. Luther and Miltitz. January, 1519.
Löscher, II. 552–569; III. 6–21, 820–847. Luther’s Werke, Walch, XV. 308 sqq.; Weimar ed., II.
66 sqq. Letters in De Wette: I. 207 sqq., 233 sqq.
Joh. K. Seidemann: Karl Von Miltitz .... Eine chronol. Untersuchung. Dresden, 1844 (pp. 37). The
respective sections in Marheineke, Kahnis (I. 235 sqq.), and Köstlin (I. 238 sqq. and 281 sqq.).
Before the final decision, another attempt was made to silence Luther by inducing him to revoke
his heresies. Diplomacy sometimes interrupts the natural development of principles and the
irresistible logic of events, but only for a short season. It usually resorts to compromises which
satisfy neither party, and are cast aside. Principles must work themselves out.
Pope Leo sent his nuncio and chamberlain, Karl von Miltitz, a noble Saxon by birth, and a
plausible, convivial gentleman,^208 to the Elector Frederick with the rare present of a golden rose,
and authorized him to negotiate with Luther. He provided him with a number of the highest
recommendations to civil and ecclesiastical dignitaries.
Miltitz discovered on his journey a wide-spread and growing sympathy with Luther. He
found three Germans on his side, especially in the North, to one against him. He heard bad reports
about Tetzel, and summoned him; but Tetzel was afraid to travel, and died a few months afterwards
(Aug. 7, 1519), partly, perhaps, in consequence of the severe censure from the papal delegate.
Luther wrote to his opponent a letter of comfort, which is no more extant. Unmeasured as he could
be in personal abuse, he harbored no malice or revenge in his heart.^209
Miltitz held a conference with Luther in the house of Spalatin at Altenburg, Jan. 6, 1519.
He was exceedingly polite and friendly; he deplored the offence and scandal of the
(^206) Letter to Spalatin, Nov. 25 and Dec. 2. De Wette, 1. 188 sqq.
(^207) "Mittam ad te nugas meas, ut videas, an recte divinem Antichristum illum verum juxta Paulum in Romana curia regnare: pejorem
Turcis esse hodie, puto me demonstrare posse." DeWette, I. 193.
(^208) He was charged with intemperance, and is reported to have fallen from the boat in crossing the Rhine or the Main near Mainz in a
state of intoxication, a. 1529. See the reports in Seidemann, l.c. p. 33 sqq.
(^209) He speaks generously of Tetzel in a letter to Spalatin, Feb. 12, 1519 (De Wette, I. 223): "Doleo Tetzelium et salutem suam in eam
necessitatem venisse ... multo mallem, si posset, servari cum honore," etc.