Chapter XXII: LUTHER AND LYING pages 80-178

1. A BATTERY OF ASSERTIONS.

Luther’s conduct in the matter of the Bigamy an excuse
for the present chapter. His dishonest assurances
in his letters to Leo X, to Bishop Scultetus his
Ordinary, and to the Emperor Charles V (1518-1520);
his real feelings at that time as shown in a letter to
Spalatin; Luther’s later parody of Tetzel’s teaching;
his insinuation that it was the Emperor’s intention
to violate the safe-conduct granted; he calls into
question the authenticity of the Papal Bull against
him, whilst all the time knowing it to be genuine; he
advises _ordinandi_ to promise celibacy with a mental
reservation; his distortion of St. Bernard’s “_perdite
vixi_”; his allusion to the case of Conradin, “slain
by Pope Clement IV,” and to the spurious letter of
St. Ulrich on the babies’ heads found in a convent
pond at Rome. His allegation that his “Artickel” had
been subscribed to at Schmalkalden; his unfairness
to Erasmus and Duke George; his statement, that, for
a monk to leave his cell without his scapular, was
accounted a mortal sin, and that, in Catholicism,
people expected to be saved simply by works; his
advocacy of the “Gospel-proviso”; his advice to the
Bishop of Samland to make a show of hesitation in
forsaking Catholicism _pages_ 80-99

2. OPINIONS OF CONTEMPORARIES IN EITHER CAMP.

Bucer, Münzer, J. Agricola, Erasmus, Duke George, etc.,
on Luther’s disregard for truth _pages_ 99-102

3. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEM. SELF-SUGGESTION AND SCRIPTURAL GROUNDS OF
EXCUSE.

The palpable untruth of certain statements which
Luther never tires of repeating. How to explain his
putting forward as true what was so manifestly false:
The large place occupied by the jocular element; his
tendency to extravagance of language; he comes, by dint
of repetition, to persuade himself of the truth of
his charges. The new theology of mendacity: Luther’s
earlier views consistent with the Church’s; study of
the Old Testament leads him to the theory that only
such untruths as injure our neighbour are real lies;
influence of his teaching on the theologians of his
circle: Melanchthon, Bucer, Bugenhagen, Capito, etc. _pages_ 102-116

4. SOME LEADING SLANDERS ON THE MEDIÆVAL CHURCH HISTORICALLY
CONSIDERED.

Luther’s distortions of the actual state of things
before his coming; admissions of modern scholars. The
olden Catholics’ supposed “holiness-by-works”; on the
relations between creature and Creator; the Lamb of
God; the Eucharistic sacrifice; “personal religion”;
Luther’s plea that he revived respect for the secular
calling; the olden teaching concerning perfection _pages_ 116-131

5. WAS LUTHER THE LIBERATOR OF WOMANKIND FROM “MEDIÆVAL DEGRADATION”?

Luther’s claim to be the saviour of woman and
matrimony; what he says of the Pope’s treatment of
marriage; marriage “a state of sin”; witnesses to the
contrary: Devotional and Liturgical books; Luther’s own
attachment in his younger days to St. Anne. Various
statements of Luther’s to the advantage or otherwise
of woman and the married life; his alteration of
outlook during the controversy on the vow of Chastity;
the natural impulse, and the honour of marriage;
expressions ill-befitting one who aspired to deliver
womankind; practical consequences of the new view
of woman: Matrimonial impediments and divorce; Duke
George on the saying “If the wife refuse then let the
maid come.” Respect for the female sex in Luther’s
conversations. The new matrimonial conditions and the
slandered opponents; the actual state of things in
Late Mediæval times as vouched for in the records. Two
concluding pictures towards the history of woman: A
preacher’s matrimonial trials; the letters of Hasenberg
and von der Heyden and the “New-Zeittung” and “Newe
Fabel” which they called forth _pages_ 131-178

CHAPTER XXIII. FRESH CONTROVERSIES WITH ERASMUS (1534, 1536) AND DUKE GEORGE († 1539) _pages_ 179-193

1. LUTHER AND ERASMUS AGAIN.

Their relations since 1525; the “_Hyperaspistes_”;
Luther’s attack in 1534 and Erasmus’s “_Purgatio_”;
Luther on the end of Erasmus _pages_ 179-186

2. LUTHER ON GEORGE OF SAXONY AND GEORGE ON LUTHER.

Luther exhorts the Duke to turn Protestant; the Duke’s
answer; how George had to suffer at Luther’s hands;
his true character utterly at variance with Luther’s
picture; the Duke repays Luther in his own coin _pages_ 187-193