proofs, in an essay, Die Glaubwürdigkeit des Lutherwortes in Worms, in the "Studien und Kritiken"
for 1876, No. II. pp. 295–306.
The facts are these. In Luther’s own Latin notes which he prepared, probably at Worms,
for Spalatin, there is no such sentence except the words, "God help me." The prayer which he
offered loudly in his chamber on the evening before his second appearance before the Diet, and
which some one has reported, concludes with the words, "Gott helfe mir, Amen!" (Walch, X. 1721;
Erl. -Frkf. Ed., LXIV. 289 sq.). Spalatin in his (defective) notes on the acts of the Diet, preserved
at Weimar (Gesammtarchiv, Reichtagsacten, 1521), and in his Annals (Ed. by Cyprian, p. 41),
vouches likewise only for the words, "Gott helfe mir, Amen!" With this agrees the original edition
of the Acta Lutheri Wormatiae habita which were published immediately after the Diet (reprinted
in the Frankf. ed. of the Opera Lat., vol. VI. p. 14, see second foot-note).
But other contemporary reports give the whole sentence, though in different order of the
words. See the comparative table of Burkhardt, I.c. pp. 525–529. A German report (reprinted in
the Erl. -Frkf. ed., vol. LXIV. p. 383) gives as the last words of Luther (in reply to Eck): "Gott
kumm mir zu Hilf! Amen. Da bin ich." The words "Da bin ich" (Here I am) are found also in another
source. Mathesius reports the full sentence as coming from the lips of Luther in 1540. In a German
contemporary print and on a fly-leaf in the University library of Heidelberg (according to Köstlin),
the sentence appears in this order: "Ich kann nicht anders; hier steh’ ich; Gott helfe mir." In the
first edition of Luther’s Latin works, published 1546, the words appear in the present order: "Hier
steh’ ich," etc. In this form they have passed into general currency.
Köstlin concludes that the only question is about the order of words, and whether they were
spoken at the close of his main declaration, or a little afterwards at the close of the Diet. I have
adopted the latter view, which agrees with the contemporary German report above quoted. Kolde,
in his monograph on Luther at Worms (p. 60), agrees substantially with Köstlin, and says: "Wir
wissen nicht mehr, in welchem Zusammenhang diese Worte gesprochen worden sind, auch können
sie vielleicht etwas anders gelautet haben; bei der herrschenden Unruhe hat der eine Berichterstatter
den Ausspruch so, der andere ihn so verstanden; sicherlich drückten sie zu gleicher Zeit seine
felsenfeste Überzeugung von der Wahrheit seines in sich gewissen Glaubens aus, wie das
Bewusstsein, dass hier nur Gott helfen könne."
§ 56. Reflections on Luther’s Testimony at Worms.
Luther’s testimony before the Diet is an event of world-historical importance and far-reaching
effect. It opened an intellectual conflict which is still going on in the civilized world. He stood there
as the fearless champion of the supremacy of the word of God over the traditions of men, and of
the liberty of conscience over the tyranny of authority.
For this liberty, all Protestant Christians, who enjoy the fruit of his courage, owe him a debt
of gratitude. His recantation could not, any more than his martyrdom, have stopped the Reformation;
but it would have retarded its progress, and indefinitely prolonged the oppressive rule of popery.