Before Luther entered upon the new phase in his career, he had a short rest on what he called
his "Patmos" (Rev. 1:9), and his "wilderness." It is the most romantic, as his stand at Worms is the
most heroic, chapter in his eventful life.
§ 61. Luther at the Wartburg. 1521–1522.
I. Luther’s Letters, from April 28, 1521, to March 7, 1522, in De Wette, vol. I. 5; II. 1–141. Very
full and very characteristic. Walch, XV. 2324–2402.
II. C. Köhler: Luther auf der Wartburg. Eisenach, 1798. A. Witzschell: Luthers Aufenthalt auf der
Wartburg. Wien, 1876. J. G. Morris: Luther at Wartburg and Coburg. Philadelphia, 1882.
III. Marheineke, Chap. X. (I. 276 sqq.). Merle D’Aubigné, bk. IX., chs. I. and II. Hagenbach, III.
105 sqq. Fisher, p. 112. Köstlin, I. 468–535.
Luther left Worms after a stay of ten days, April 26, 1521, at ten o’clock in the morning, quietly,
in the same company with which he had made his entrance under the greatest popular commotion
and expectation. His friend Schurf went along. The imperial herald joined him at Oppenheim so
as not to attract notice.
In a letter to his friend Cranach, dated Frankfurt, April 28, he thus summarizes the
proceedings of the Diet: "Have you written these books? Yes. Will you recant? No. Then get thee
hence! O we blind Germans, how childish we are to allow ourselves to be so miserably fooled by
the Romanists!"^405 In the same letter he takes leave of his Wittenberg friends, and intimates that
he would be hidden for a while, though he did not know where. He says that he would rather have
suffered death from the tyrants, especially "the furious Duke George," but he could not despise the
counsel of good people. "A little while, and ye behold me no more; and again a little while, and ye
shall see me (John 16:16). I hope it will be so with me. But God’s will, the best of all, be done in
heaven and on earth."
At Friedberg he dismissed the herald, and gave him a Latin letter to the Emperor, and a
German letter of the same import to the Estates. He thanked the former for the safe-conduct, and
defended his course at Worms. He could not trust in the decision of one man or many men when
God’s word and eternal interests were at stake, but was still willing to recant if refuted from the
Scriptures.^406
At Hersfeld he was hospitably entertained in the Benedictine convent by the Abbot Crato,
and urged to preach. He did so in spite of the Emperor’s prohibition, obeying God rather than men.
"I never consented," he says, "to tie up God’s word. This is a condition beyond my power."^407 He
preached also at Eisenach, but under protest of the priest in charge of the parish. Several of his
companions parted from him there, and proceeded in the direction of Gotha and Wittenberg.
From Eisenach he started with Amsdorf and Petzensteiner for Möhra to see his relations.
He spent a night with his uncle Heinz, and preached on the next Sunday morning. He resumed his
journey towards Altenstein and Waltershausen, accompanied by some of his relatives. On the 4th
of May, a company of armed horsemen suddenly appeared from the woods, stopped his carriage,
(^405) De Wette, I. 588.
(^406) De Wette, I. 589, 600.
(^407) See his letter to Spalatin, May 14, in De Wette, II. 6.