So Here I Stand and Then Again Ill Say
Martin Luther had a lot to say about a lot of things. The poor homo fifty-fifty ate dinner with people sitting around taking notes every time he spoke. Every bit a result of Luther saying so much for so long, Luther quotes can often be counterfeit in nature. When I hear i of these quotes, I like to say, "Well that certainly sounds like something Luther could accept said, and maybe he should have said it, but he really never did, as far equally nosotros know."
Hither's a good instance of ane of the most common: "If I knew the earth was going to end tomorrow, I'd found a tree." It'south a prissy idea. Did Luther say information technology? No, it has never been found in any of his extant writings.
Simply you would recall that at the very moment when he stood before the about powerful ruler of the solar day, the Emperor Charles Five, and uttered his famous "Here I stand!" remarks, nosotros would exist certain of what he said. Just as is frequently the case with matters scholars delve into, information technology is not as articulate as we might hope it would be. We do take a word-for-word transcript of the proceedings at Worms, and at that time handwritten transcripts were very accurate, using a highly refined course of shorthand, allowing a full transcript to be produced.
So, looking at those transcripts, what practise we find? In some cases, we exercise notice the words, "Here I stand. I cannot practice otherwise. God aid me. Amen." In other transcripts, they are not in that location. Scholars offering several explanations, and frankly a lot of speculation also. Some streams of traditional Luther scholarship suggest that the person taking the notes added the words, in a well-intentioned endeavor to bolster the public'southward perception of Luther's courage and piety.
Hither's what we know happened when Luther was called before the highest authorities of his time to answer for his teachings. In April 1521, he came earlier Emperor Charles V and various other officials of church and state in the city of Worms. On the first day he appeared, people witnessing the effect said he spoke so quietly that everyone had a hard fourth dimension hearing what he was saying. He waffled a scrap, explaining that he needed time to consider his answer, which outraged his opponents who understandably felt he knew total well what he was coming to Worms to practice. Just the Emperor graciously granted his request for twenty-four hours to consider his response, which had to be given in person and orally, not in writing.
When Luther came dorsum the side by side day, on April xviii, 1521, he spoke much more confidently, and his demeanor was said to be that of a changed human from the twenty-four hour period before. He spoke in German language first and and so in Latin. His voice was loud and clear. It was six o'clock in the evening past this time, and the room was lit with torches. The room was crowded and very hot, and given the kind of vesture they wore in those days (heavy wool) anybody was extremely uncomfortable. Luther was literally pressed in from all sides with people straining to hear his every give-and-take (this is an important particular, as nosotros volition soon run into). The proceedings were held in a larger room from the previous solar day. It was wall-to-wall with people. The richest, about powerful, and most influential leaders of Luther'southward earth were all there waiting to hear his answer: practice you lot recant or non?
Luther was asked again to admit that the books on the tabular array in front of him were his and to say whether he recanted what he had written in them. He responded in a at-home, measured, and diplomatic way, excusing his lack of courtly elegance since he was merely a monk accustomed to living in relative seclusion and not well versed in the means of formal address and gestures before such loftier-ranking officials. He said that he had to this point wanted simply to honour God with his writing and teach the truths of God's Word to the people. The books before him contained diverse types of writings: some devotional in nature, some simply laying forth common piety and morals that everyone would concord with, and, yes, some containing language that was also precipitous, and he apologized for exceeding the bounds of common civility at times. Only some of his writings independent assertions nigh common public mistake that violated the very Gospel itself, and therefore he could non recant of those things, for to exercise then would permit tyranny and godlessness in the Church building.
Luther rose to a crescendo in his remarks and asserted that only the clear testimony of Scripture should make up one's mind matters of such gravity in the Church. Nothing else would do. But if anyone would demonstrate to him where he had erred in his interpretation of Scripture, he would himself burn any of his books with whatsoever such errors in them.
Merely still, Luther had not answered the crucial question, "Do y'all or do you not recant?" The Roman Catholic Church and imperial officials were getting quite fed up by at present. And after Luther had given his rather long-winded, nonresponsive response in German, he started to repeat himself in Latin. Finally, Luther was ordered that he must now simply requite a straight answer, one that was simple, honest, and unambiguous, without "horns"—that is, without rhetorical flourishes and sophistry. Would Luther recant his writings and the errors in them or not? From every reliable source bachelor, we are admittedly certain he said the following:
"Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures and past articulate reason (for I practise not trust in the pope or councils alone, since it is well known that they have frequently erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I accept quoted. My conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not retract anything, since information technology is neither safe nor right to get against conscience. May God help me. Amen."
Simply then come the words that are fifty-fifty more than famous, "Here I stand. I cannot practise otherwise. God help me. Amen." These words Luther spoke in German, "Hier stehe ich. Ich kann nicht anders. Gott helfe mir. Amen."
Did he say those words? After reading many different opinions and many different period transcripts of the proceedings, I've come to the determination that yeah, Luther did say them. And here is why I take reached that conclusion. When Luther finished his master response, the room erupted into noisy cheers or jeers, depending on whose side the people were on. Luther quickly was hustled out of the room, with people yelling things such as, "To the fire with him!" I think the room remained quiet enough for the official notetakers to hear his main comments, merely at the decision information technology was also noisy for anyone besides those closest to him to hear him say, "Here I stand." This, likewise, is the decision of other scholars. Others, still, cull to suggest the words were added by friends to his statement. I observe it difficult to imagine that on such a momentous occasion these primal words would be only a event of pious afterthought.
Almost immediately, woodcuts showing Luther before the emperor began to circulate, and what words were written on the panel showing Luther making his statement? Yes, the "Hither I stand" remarks. I've seen several flow woodcuts, some fifty-fifty in color, and they all incorporate the words, in German, "Hier stehe ich," etc. Y'all tin can see one of these woodcuts in the image to a higher place.
Ultimately, it actually does non make too much divergence if he actually said those words or not. Clearly, he refused to recant of what he had been teaching: that nosotros are saved by God, by grace alone, through organized religion lonely, on account of Christ alone, something that the Roman Church had thoroughly obscured and contradicted.
And and so with Luther, we, besides, can and should say, "Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen."
Learn more than virtually the life of Martin Luther in "Who Was Martin Luther?"
Source: https://blog.cph.org/read/everyday-faith/lutheranism/did-luther-really-say-here-i-stand
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