LUTHER, Martin

Wyder den gewaffete[n] man Cocleum schoner beschaid vom glauben und wercken

      [Johann Stuchs] [Nuremberg] 1523 Modern wrappers 4to . FIRST GERMAN EDITION of Luther's "Adversus Armatum virem Cokleum" which appeared the same year in Latin at Wittenberg. The German scholar Johannes Cochlaeus (d. 1552) having read Luther's An den Christlichen Adel and Captivitas Babylonica to which he wrote a refutation but was unable to find a publisher. He wanted to have a public debate, defending the sacraments, with Luther and privately met him twice while attending the Diet of Worms on the 4th of April 1521; "The final discussion in Luther's rooms convinced both of their basic differences of opinion. Thereafter Cochlaeus considered it his duty to preserve the unity of the church by attacking the reformers in his writings. Although this caused him to lose many of his former friends, he soon emerged as one of Germany's leading Catholic controversialists" (Contemporaries of Erasmus I, p. 321). Cochlaeus attacked a young and ardent admirer of Luther, Wilhelm Nesen (1493-1524: cf. Contemp. of Erasmus III, pp. 12-14) in his De gratia sacramentorum liber unus written in the form of a letter. Luther attacks Cochlaeus with wit and humor but also clearly sets out his positions on the sacraments as earlier had done at the Diet. Luther dedicates the work to Nesen and starts the work off with a twelve line poem to him. [18] pp., 1 blank leaf. § Benzing 1528; VD 16 L 3720; WA 11, 293 a