believed, and to a very large extent still believes, regarding
Luther's attitude toward the right of the individual to choose his own
religion and to determine for himself matters of faith. The position
which Luther occupies in his final answer before the Emperor at Worms is
generally believed to state Luther's position on the question of
religious liberty in a nutshell. "Unless convinced by the Word of God or
by cogent reason" that he was wrong, he declared at the Diet of Worms,
he could not and would not retract what he had written. The individual
conscience, he maintained, cannot be bound. Each man must determine the
meaning of the Word for himself. And the inevitable result of this
principle is individual liberty. This principle Luther maintained to the
end of his life. His appeal to the magistrates to suppress the Peasants'
Revolt was not a call to suppress the false teachings of the peasants,
but their disorderly conduct. Against their spiritual aberrations Luther
proposed to wage war with his written and oral testimony. "The peace and
order of the State must be maintained against disorder, personal
violence, destruction of property, public immorality, and treason,
though they come in the guise of religion. The State must grant liberty
of conscience, freedom of speech, and the privilege of the press. These
are inalienable rights belonging alike to every individual, subject only
to the limitation that they are not permitted to encroach upon the
rights of others. The natural, the almost inevitable, consequence of the
declaration and recognition of these principles was eventually the
establishment of modern constitutional law. It was not in consequence of
his teaching, but merely in spite of it, that for the next two centuries
(in certain instances) monarchical government became more autocratic, as
feudalism was being transformed into civil government. . . . All through
Luther's writings, and in his own acts as well, is to be read the right
of the individual to think and believe in matters political, religious,
and otherwise as he sees proper. His is the right to read the Bible, and
any other book he may desire. He has the right to confer and counsel,
with others, to express and declare his views _pro_ and _con,_ in speech
and print, so long as he abides by, and remains within, the laws of the
land. Luther firmly believed in the liberty of the individual as to
conscience, speech, and press. The search for truth must be