of the conservative and churchly elements in his theology.^824 He smarted under the defeat he had
suffered in 1522, and first silently, then openly, opposed Luther, regarding him henceforth as his
enemy, and as the author of all his misfortunes. In this way he mixed, from the start, the gall of
personal bitterness into the eucharistic controversy. Luther would probably have been more moderate
if it had been free from those complications.
In 1524 Carlstadt came out with a new and absurd interpretation of the words of institution
(Matt. 26:26 and parallel passages); holding that the Greek word for "this" being neuter (tou'to),
could not refer to the bread, which is masculine in Greek (a[rto"), but must refer to the body of
Christ (to; sw'ma), to which the Saviour pointed, so as to say, "Take, eat! This here [this body] is
my body [which will soon be] broken for you; this [blood] is my blood [which will be] shed for
you." This resolves the words into a tautology and platitude. At the same time Carlstadt opposed
infant-baptism, and traced his crude novelties to higher inspiration.^825 After his expulsion from
Saxony he propagated them, together with slanderous assaults upon Luther as, a double Papist," in
several publications which appeared in Basel and Strasburg.^826 He excited some interest among the
Swiss Reformers, who sympathized with his misfortunes, and agreed with his opposition to the
theory of a corporal presence and oral manducation, but dissented entirely from his exegesis, his
mysticism, and radicalism. Capito and Bucer, the Reformers of Strassburg, leaned to the Swiss
view, but regretted the controversy, and sent a deacon with Carlstadt’s tracts to Luther for advice.
Luther exhorted the Strassburgers, in a vigorous letter (Dec. 14, 1524), to hold fast to the
evangelical doctrines, and warned them against the dangerous vagaries of Carlstadt. At the same
time he issued an elaborate refutation of Carlstadt, in a book "Against the Heavenly Prophets"
(December, 1524, and January, 1525, in two parts). It is written with great ability and great violence.
"A new storm is arising," he begins. "Dr. Andreas Carlstadt is fallen away from us, and has become
our worst enemy." He thought the poor man had committed the unpardonable sin.^827 He describes,
in vivid colors, the wild and misty mysticism and false legalism of these self-styled prophets, and
defends the real presence. He despised the objections of reason, which was the mistress of the
Devil. It is characteristic, that, from this time on, he lowered his estimate of the value of reason in
theology, although he used it very freely and effectually in this very book.^828
§ 106. Luther and Zwingli.(^824) See §§ 66 and 68, pp. 378 sqq. and 387. Carlstadt is the real author of the eucharistic controversy, not Luther, as Hospinian and
Hottinger assumed. But Luther and Zwingli were the chief actors in it. Carlstadt’s view passed out of sight, when the Swiss view was
brought out.
(^825) This is the reason why Luther called Carlstadt and his sympathizers enthusiasts and fanatics. Schwarmgeister or Schwärmer.
(^826) His eucharistic tracts in crude and unreadable German are printed in Walch, XX. 138-158, 378-409, 2852-2929. Comp., also, vol.
XV. 2414-2502. Carlstadt’s earlier eucharistic writings of 1521 strongly defend the corporal presence, and even the adoration of bread
and wine, because they were the body and blood of Christ. Planck, l.c., II. 210 sqq., gives a full exposition of his earlier and later views.
See, also, M. Göbel on Carlstadt’s Abendmahlslehre in the "Studien und Kritiken," 1842.
(^827) Letter to Briesmann, Jan. 11, 1525, De Wette, II. 612.
(^828) KöstIin (M. L., I. 726): Luther’s Widerwille gegen die menschliche Vernunft im Gebiete des Religiösen und Göttlichen wurde, seit
er hier [in Carlstadt’s writings] sie auftreten sah, noch stärker und heftiger als früher. Früher stellte er hin und wieder noch unbefangen
die Berufung auf Schriftbeweise und auf helle, evidente, vernünftige Gründe nebeneinander, indem er durch die einen oder anderen
widerlegt zu werden begehrte: so ja auch noch beim Wormser Reichstag; solchen Ausdrücken werden wir fortan nicht leicht mehr
begegnen."On Luther’s views of the relation of reason to faith, see above, § 9, p. 29 sqq.