I. We have witnessed the commencement, the struggles, the reverses, and the progress of the Reformation; but the conflicts that we have hitherto described have been but partial; we are entering upon a new period,—that of general battles. Spire (1529) and Augsburg (1530) are two names that shine forth with more immortal glory than Marathon, Pavia, or Marengo. Forces that up to the present time were separate, are now uniting into one energetic band; and the power of God is working in these brilliant actions, which open a new era in the history of nations, and communicate an irresistible impulse to mankind. The passage from the middle ages to modern times has arrived. A great protest is about to be accomplished; and although there have been protestants in the Church from the very beginning of Christianity, since liberty and truth could not be maintained here below, save by protesting continually against despotism and error, Protestantism is about to take a new step. It is about to become a body, and thus attack with greater energy that "mystery of iniquity" which for ages has taken a bodily shape at Rome, in the very temple of God. TWOFOLD MOVEMENT OF REFORM. But although we have to treat of protests, it must not however be imagined that the Reformation is a negative work. In every sphere in which anything great is evolved, whether in nature or society, there is a principle of life at work,—a seed that God fertilizes. The Reformation, when it appeared in the sixteenth century, did not, it is true, perform a new work, for a reformation is not a formation; but it turned its face toward the beginnings of Christianity, thither were its steps directed; it seized upon them with adoration, and embraced them with affection. Yet it was not satisfied with this return to primitive times. Laden with its precious burden, it again crossed the interval of ages, and brought back to fallen and lifeless Christendom the sacred fire that was destined to restore it to light and life. In this twofold movement consisted its action and its strength. Afterwards, no doubt, it rejected superannuated forms, and combated error; but this was, so to speak, only the least of its works, and its third movement. Even the protest of which we have to speak had for its end and aim the re-establishment of truth and of life, and was essentially a positive act. REFORM THE WORK OF GOD. This powerful and rapid twofold action of reform, by which the apostolic times were re-established at the opening of modern history, proceeded not from man. A reformation is not arbitrarily made, as charters and revolutions are in some countries. A real reformation, prepared during many ages, is the work of the Spirit of God. Before the appointed hour, the greatest geniuses and even the most faithful of God's servants cannot produce it; but when the reforming time is come, when it is God's pleasure to intervene in the affairs of the world, the divine life must clear a passage, and it is able to create of itself the humble instruments by which this life is communicated to the human race. Then, if men are silent, the very stones will cry out. It is to the protest of Spire (1529) that we are now about to turn our eyes; but the way to this protest was prepared by years of peace, and followed by attempts at concord that we The Duke of Brunswick had brought into Germany the threatening message of Charles the Fifth. The Emperor was about to repair from Spain to Rome to come to an understanding with the Pope, and from thence to pass into Germany to constrain the heretics. The last summons was to be addressed to them by the Diet of Spire, 1526. On the 25th June, 1526, the diet opened. In the instructions, dated at Seville, 23d March, the Emperor ordered that the Church customs should be maintained entire, and called upon the diet to punish those who refused to carry out the edict of Worms, PALLADIUM OF REFORM. Never also had the evangelical princes showed so much hope. Instead of presenting themselves frightened and trembling, like guilty men, they were seen advancing, surrounded by the ministers of the Word, with uplifted heads and cheerful looks. Their first step was to ask for a place of worship. The Bishop of Spire, count-palatine of the Rhine, having indignantly refused this strange request, It was not only the ministers, but the knights and the grooms, "mere idiots," who, unable to control their zeal, everywhere extolled the Word of the Lord. This was not all. The Protestants knew that the mere worship was not sufficient: the Landgrave had therefore called upon the Elector to abolish certain "court customs" which dishonoured the Gospel. These two princes had consequently drawn up an order of living which forbade drunkenness, debauchery, and other vicious customs prevalent during a diet. FIRMNESS OF THE REFORMERS. Perhaps the Protestant princes sometimes put forward their dissent beyond what prudence would have required. Not only they did not go to Mass, and did not observe the prescribed fasts, but still further, on the meagre days, their attendants were seen publicly bearing dishes of meat and game, destined for their masters' tables, and crossing, says Cochloeus, in the presence of the whole auditory, the halls in which the worship was celebrating. "It was," says this writer, "with The Elector in effect had a numerous court: seven hundred persons formed his retinue. One day he gave a banquet at which twenty-six princes with their gentlemen and councillors were present. They continued playing until a very late hour—ten at night. Everything in Duke John announced the most powerful prince of the empire. The youthful Landgrave of Hesse, full of zeal and knowledge, and in the strength of a first Christian love, made a still deeper impression on those who approached him. He would frequently dispute with the bishops, and thanks to his acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures, he easily stopped their mouths. This firmness in the friends of the Reformation produced fruits that surpassed their expectation. It was no longer possible to be deceived: the spirit that was manifested in these men was the spirit of the Bible. Everywhere the sceptre was falling from the hands of Rome. "The leaven of Luther," said a zealous Papist, "sets all the people of Germany in a ferment, and foreign nations themselves are agitated by formidable movements." It was immediately seen how great is the strength of deep convictions. The states that were well disposed towards the Reform, but which had not ventured to give their adhesion publicly, became emboldened. The neutral states, which demanded the repose of the empire, formed the resolution of opposing the edict of Worms, the execution of which would have spread trouble through all Germany, and the Papist states lost their boldness. The bow of the mighty was broken. PROCEEDINGS OF THE DIET. Ferdinand did not think proper, at so critical a moment, to The laymen immediately recovered the influence of which the clergy had dispossessed them. The ecclesiastics resisted a proposal in the college of princes that the diet should occupy itself with church abuses, but their exertions were unavailing. Undoubtedly a non-political assembly would have been preferable to the diet, but it was already something that religious matters were no longer to be regulated solely by the priests. The deputies from the cities having received communication of this resolution, called for the abolition of every usage contrary to the faith in Jesus Christ. In vain did the bishops exclaim that, instead of abolishing pretended abuses, they would do much better to burn all the books with which Germany had been inundated during the last eight years. "You desire," was the reply, "to bury all wisdom and knowledge." Then was manifested the profound disgust inspired by the priests of Rome. "The clergy," said the deputy from Frankfort, "make a jest of the public good, and look after their own interests only." "The laymen," said the deputy from Duke George, "have the salvation of Christendom much more at heart than the clergy." THE PAPACY DESCRIBED. The commissions made their report: people were astonished at it. Never had men spoken out so freely against the pope and the bishops. The commission of the princes, in which The evangelical Christians, at the sight of this glorious prospect, redoubled their exertions. "Stand fast in the doctrine," said the Elector of Saxony to his councillors. Greedy priests, see, roll in gold Forgetful of the humble Jesu: under another: and under a third: We can fast and pray the harder With an overflowing larder. "Not one of these orders," said Luther to the reader, "thinks either of faith or charity. This one wears the tonsure, the other a hood; this a cloak, that a robe. One is white, another black, a third gray, and a fourth blue. Here is one holding a looking-glass, there one with a pair of scissors. Each has his playthings......Ah! these are the palmer worms, the locusts, the canker-worms, and the caterpillars which, as Joel saith, have eaten up all the earth." THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. But if Luther employed the scourges of sarcasm, he also blew the trumpet of the prophets; and this he did in a work entitled The Destruction of Jerusalem. Shedding tears like Jeremiah, he denounced to the German people a ruin like that of the Holy City, if like it they rejected the Gospel. These works had a very great sale. THE INSTRUCTIONS OF SEVILLE. Then Rome, which had appeared to slumber, awoke. Fanatical priests, monks, ecclesiastical princes, all beset Ferdinand. Cunning, bribery, nothing was spared. Did not Ferdinand possess the instructions of Seville? To refuse their publication was to effect the ruin of the Church and of the empire. Let the voice of Charles oppose its powerful veto to the dizziness that is hurrying Germany along, said they, and Germany will be saved! Ferdinand made up his mind, and at length, on the 3d August, published the decree, drawn up more than four months previously in favour of the edict of Worms. The persecution was about to begin; the reformers would be thrown into dungeons, and the sword drawn on the banks of the Guadalquivir would pierce at last the bosom of Reform. The effect of the imperial ordinance was immense. The breaking of an axle-tree does not more violently check the velocity of a railway train. The Elector and the Landgrave announced that they were about to quit the diet, and ordered their attendants to prepare for their departure. At the same time the deputies from the cities drew towards these two princes, and the Reformation appeared on the brink of entering immediately upon a contest with the Pope and Charles the Fifth. But it was not yet prepared for a general struggle. It was necessary for the tree to send out its roots deeper, before the Almighty unchained the stormy winds against it. A spirit of blindness, similar to that which in former times was sent out upon Saul and Herod, CHANGE OF POLICY. The first movement of trouble was over. The friends of the Gospel began to consider the date of the imperial instructions, and to weigh the new political combinations which seemed to announce to the world the most unlooked-for events. "When the Emperor wrote these letters," said the cities of Upper Germany, "he was on good terms with the Pope, but now everything is changed. It is even asserted that he had told Margaret, his deputy in the Low Countries, to proceed gently with respect to the Gospel. Let us send him a deputation." That was not necessary. Charles had not waited until now to form a different resolution. The course of public affairs, taking a sudden turn, had rushed into an entirely new path. Years of peace were about to be granted to the Reform. RELIGIOUS LIBERTY PROPOSED. Clement VII., whom Charles was about to visit, according to the instructions of Seville, in order to receive in Rome itself and from his sacred hands the imperial crown, and in return to give up to the pontiff the Gospel and the Reformation,—Clement VII, seized with a strange infatuation, had suddenly turned against this powerful monarch. The Emperor, unwilling to favour his ambition in every point, had opposed his claims on the states of the Duke of Ferrara. Clement immediately became exasperated, and cried out that Charles wished to enslave the peninsula, but that the time was come for re-establishing the independence of Italy. This great idea of Italian independence, entertained at that period by a few literary men, had not, as now, penetrated the mass of the nation. Clement therefore hastened to have recourse to political combinations. The Pope, the Venetians, and the King of France, who had scarcely recovered his liberty, formed a holy league, of which the King of England was by a bull proclaimed the preserver and protector. Charles did not hesitate. He wheeled to the right as quickly as the Pope had done to the left, and turned abruptly towards the evangelical princes. "Let us suspend the Edict of Worms," wrote he to his brother; "let us bring back Luther's partisans by mildness, and by a good council cause the evangelical truth to triumph." At the same time he demanded that the Elector, the Landgrave, and their allies should march with him against the Turks—or against Italy, for the common good of Christendom. Ferdinand hesitated. To gain the friendship of the Lutherans was to forfeit that of the other princes. The latter were already beginning to utter violent threats. What was to be done? The edict of Worms could neither be repealed nor carried into execution. This strange situation led of necessity to the desired solution: religious liberty. The first idea of this occurred to the deputies of the cities. "In one place," said they, "the ancient ceremonies have been preserved; in another they have been abolished; and both think they are right. Let us allow each one to do as he thinks fit, until a council shall re-establish the desired unity by the Word of God." This idea gained favour, and the recess of the diet, dated the 27th August, decreed Thus they escaped from their difficulty by a middle course; and this time it was really the true one. Each one maintained his rights, while recognising another's. The diet of 1526 forms an important epoch in history: an ancient power, that of the middle ages, is shaken; a new power, that of modern times, is advancing; religious liberty boldly takes its stand in front of Romish despotism; a lay spirit prevails over the sacerdotal spirit. In this single step there is a complete victory: the cause of the Reform is won. Yet it was little suspected. Luther, on the morrow of the day on which the recess was published, wrote to a friend: "The diet is sitting at Spire in the German fashion. They drink and gamble, and there is nothing done except that." Yet Ferdinand still hesitated. Mahomet himself came to the aid of the Gospel. Louis, king of Hungary and Bohemia, drowned at Mohacz on the 29th August, 1526, as he was fleeing from before Soliman II., had bequeathed the crown of these two kingdoms to Ferdinand. But the Duke of Bavaria, the Waywode of Transylvania, and, above all, the terrible Soliman, contested it against him. This was sufficient ITALIAN WAR. II. The Emperor immediately reaped the fruits of his new policy. No longer having his hands tied by Germany, he turned them against Rome. The Reformation had been exalted and the Papacy was to be abased. The blows aimed at its pitiless enemy were about to open a new career to the evangelical work. Ferdinand, who was detained by his Hungarian affairs, gave the charge of the Italian expedition to Freundsberg, that old general who had patted Luther in a friendly manner on the shoulder as the reformer was about to appear before the diet of Worms. Thus the mighty Charles, instead of marching with the Pope against the Reform, as he had threatened at Seville, marches with the Reform against the Pope. A few days had sufficed to produce this change of direction: there are few such in history in which the hand of God is more plainly manifested. Charles immediately assumed all the airs of a reformer. On the 17th September, he addressed a manifesto to the Pope, ITALIAN CAMPAIGN. Now began that terrible campaign during which the storm burst on Rome and on the Papacy that had been destined to fall on Germany and the Gospel. By the violence of the blows inflicted on the pontifical city, we may judge of the severity of those that would have dashed in pieces the reformed churches. While we retrace so many scenes of horror, we have constant need of calling to mind that the chastisement of the seven-hilled city had been predicted by the Divine Scriptures. MARCH ON ROME. In the month of November, Freundsberg, at the head of fifteen thousand men, was at the foot of the Alps. The old general, avoiding the military roads, that were well guarded by the enemy, flung himself into a narrow path, over frightful precipices, that a few blows of the mattock would have rendered impassable. The soldiers are forbidden to look behind them; nevertheless their heads turn, their feet slip, and horse and foot fall from time to time down the abyss. In the most difficult passes, the most sure-footed of the infantry lower their long pikes to the right and left of their aged chief, by way of barrier, and Freundsberg advances, clinging to the The Constable of Bourbon, who since the death of Pescara was commander-in-chief of the imperial army, had just taken possession of the duchy of Milan. The Emperor having promised him this conquest for a recompense, Bourbon was compelled to remain there some time to consolidate his power. At length, on the 12th February, he and his Spanish troops joined the army of Freundsberg, which was becoming impatient at his delays. The Constable had many men, but no money: he resolved therefore to follow the advice of the Duke of Ferrara, that inveterate enemy of the princes of the Church, and proceed straight to Rome. REVOLT OF THE TROOPS. A few slight advantages gained by the papal soldiers in the kingdom of Naples, led to the conclusion of a truce that was to be ratified by the Pope and by the Emperor. At this news a frightful tumult broke out in the Constable's army. The Spanish troops revolted, compelled him to flee, and pillaged his tent. Then approaching the lansquenets, they began to shout as loudly as they could, the only German words THE ASSAULT. Whilst the storm descending from the Alps was approaching On the evening of the 5th May Bourbon arrived under the walls of the capital; and he would have begun the assault at that very moment if he had had ladders. On the morning of the 6th the army, concealed by a thick fog which hid their movements, His death, far from checking, served only to excite the army. Claudius Seidenstucker, grasping his long sword, first cleared the wall; he was followed by Michael Hartmann, and these two reformed Germans exclaimed that God himself marched before them in the clouds. The gates were opened, the army poured in, the suburbs were taken, and the Pope, surrounded by thirteen cardinals, fled to the Castle of St. Angelo. The Imperialists, at whose head was now the Prince of Orange, offered him peace on condition of his paying three hundred thousand crowns. But Clement, who thought that the Holy League was on the point of delivering him, and who fancied he already saw their leading horsemen, rejected every proposition. After four hours' repose, the attack THE SACK. Then began the famous "Sack of Rome." The Papacy had for centuries put Christendom in the press. Prebends, annates, jubilees, pilgrimages, ecclesiastical graces,—she had made money of them all. These greedy troops, that for months had lived in wretchedness, determined to make her disgorge. No one was spared, the imperial not more than the ultramontane party, the Ghibellines not more than the Guelfs. Churches, palaces, convents, private houses, basilics, banks, tombs—every thing was pillaged, even to the golden ring that the corpse of Julius II. still wore on its finger. The Spaniards displayed the greatest skill; they scented out and discovered treasures in the most mysterious hiding-places; but the Neapolitans were still more outrageous. GERMAN HUMOURS. At first the Germans found a certain pleasure in making the Papists feel the weight of their swords. But ere long, happy at finding food and drink, they were more pacific than their allies. It was upon those things which the Romans called "holy" that the anger of the Lutherans was especially discharged. They took away the chalices, the pyxes, the silver remonstrances, and clothed their servants and camp-boys with the sacerdotal garments. Nothing pleased the Germans more than to mock the papal court. "Many prelates," says Guicciardini, "were paraded on asses through all the city of Rome." One day a lansquenet named Guillaume de Sainte Celle, put on the Pope's robes, and placed the triple crown upon his head; others, adorning themselves with the red hats and long robes of the cardinals, surrounded him; and all going in procession upon asses through the streets of the city, arrived at last before the castle of Saint Angelo, where Clement VII. had retired. Here the soldier-cardinals alighted, and lifting up the front of their robes, kissed the feet of the pretended pontiff. The latter drank to the health of Clement VII., the cardinals kneeling did the same, and exclaimed that henceforward they would be pious popes and good cardinals, who would have a care not to excite wars, as all their predecessors had done. They then formed a conclave, and the Pope having announced to his consistory that it was his intention to resign the Papacy, all hands were immediately raised for the election, and they cried out "Luther is Pope! Luther is Pope!" VIOLENCE OF THE SPANIARDS. The Spaniards did not let them off so easily. Clement Thus did the pontifical city expire in the midst of a long and cruel pillage, and that splendour with which Rome from the beginning of the sixteenth century had filled the world faded in a few hours. Nothing could preserve this haughty city from chastisement, not even the prayers of its enemies. "I would not have Rome burnt," Luther had exclaimed; "it would be a monstrous deed." Clement VII., besieged in the castle of Saint Angelo, and fearful that the enemy would blow his asylum into the air with their mines, at last capitulated. He renounced every alliance against Charles the Fifth, and bound himself to remain a prisoner until he had paid the army four hundred thousand ducats. The evangelical Christians gazed with astonishment on this judgment of the Lord. "Such," said they, "is the empire of Jesus Christ, that the Emperor, pursuing Luther on account of the Pope, is constrained to ruin the Pope instead of Luther. All things minister unto the Lord, and turn against his adversaries." PROFITABLE CALM. III. And in truth the Reform needed some years of repose that it might increase and gain strength; and it could not enjoy peace, unless its great enemies were at war with each other. The madness of Clement VII. was as it were the lightning-conductor of the Reformation, and the ruin of Rome built up the Gospel. It was not only a few months' gain; from 1526 to 1529 there was a calm in Germany by which the Reformation profited to organize and extend itself. A constitution was now to be given to the renovated Church. The papal yoke having been broken, the ecclesiastical order required to be reestablished. It was impossible to restore their ancient jurisdiction to the bishops; for these continental prelates maintained that they were, in an especial manner, the Pope's servants. A new state of things was therefore called for, under pain of seeing the Church fall into anarchy. Provision was made for it. It was then that the evangelic nations separated definitely from that despotic dominion which had for ages kept all the West in bondage. Already on two occasions the diet had wished to make the reform of the Church a national work; the Emperor, the Pope, and a few princes were opposed to it; the Diet of Spire had therefore resigned to each state the task that it could not accomplish itself. But what constitution were they about to substitute for the papal hierarchy? They could, while suppressing the Pope, preserve the Episcopal order: it was the form most approximate to that which was on the point of being destroyed. They might, on the contrary, reconstruct the ecclesiastical order, by having recourse to the sovereignty of God's Word, and by re-establishing the rights of the christian people. This form was the most remote from the Roman hierarchy. Between these two extremes there were several middle courses. PHILIP OF HESSE. The latter plan was Zwingle's; but the reformer of Zurich had not fully carried it out. He had not called upon the christian people to exercise the sovereignty, and had stopped The step before which Zwingle had hesitated might be taken, and it was so. A prince did not shrink from what had alarmed even republics. Evangelical Germany, at the moment in which she began to try her hand on ecclesiastical constitutions, began with that which trenched the deepest on the papal monarchy. It was not, however, from Germany that such a system could proceed. If the aristocratic England was destined to cling to the episcopal form, the docile Germany was destined the rather to stop in a governmental medium. The democratic extreme issued from Switzerland and France. One of Calvin's predecessors then hoisted that flag which the powerful arm of the Genevese Reformer was to lift again in after-years and plant in France, Switzerland, Holland, Scotland, and even in England, whence it was a century later to cross the Atlantic and summon North America to take its rank among the nations. None of the evangelical princes was so enterprising as Philip of Hesse, who has been compared to Philip of Macedon in subtlety, and to his son Alexander in courage. Philip comprehended that religion was at length acquiring its due importance; and far from opposing the great development that was agitating the people, he put himself in harmony with the new ideas. The morning-star had risen for Hesse almost at the same time as for Saxony. In 1517, when Luther was preaching in Wittemberg the gratuitous remission of sins, men and women were seen in Marburg repairing secretly to one of the ditches of the city, and there, near a solitary loophole, listening to the words that issued from within, and that preached doctrines of consolation through the bars. It was the voice of the Franciscan, James Limburg, who having declared that, for fifteen centuries, the priests had falsified the Gospel of Christ, had been thrown into this gloomy dungeon. These mysterious Scarcely had Philip prevailed in the Diet of Spire, when he resolved on devoting himself to the Reformation of his hereditary states. Lambert's Paradoxes. His resolute character made him incline towards the Swiss reform: it was not therefore one of the moderates that he required. He had formed a connexion at Spire with James Sturm, the deputy from Strasburg, who spoke to him of Francis Lambert of Avignon, who was then at Strasburg. Of a pleasing exterior and decided character, Lambert added to the fire of the South the perseverance of the North. He was the first in France to throw off the cowl, and he had never since then ceased to call for a radical reform in the Church. "Formerly," said he, "when I was a hypocrite, I lived in abundance; now I consume frugally my daily bread with my small family; Lambert, desiring to prepare the reform of Hesse, drew up one hundred and fifty-eight theses, which he entitled "paradoxes," and posted them, according to the custom of the times, on the church doors. Friends and enemies immediately crowded round them. Some Roman catholics would have torn them down, but the FRIAR BONIFACE. A young priest, Boniface Dornemann, full of self-conceit, whom the bishop, on the day of his consecration, had extolled above Paul for his learning, and above the Virgin for his chastity, finding himself too short to reach Lambert's placard, had borrowed a stool, and surrounded by a numerous audience, had begun to read the propositions aloud. "All that is deformed, ought to be reformed. The Word of God alone teaches us what ought to be so, and all reform that is effected otherwise is vain." This was the first thesis. "Hem!" said the young priest, "I shall not attack that." He continued. "It belongs to the Church to judge on matters of faith. Now the Church is the congregation of those who are united by the same spirit, the same faith, the same God, the same Mediator, the same Word, by which alone they are governed, and in which alone they have life." "I cannot attack that proposition," said the priest. "The Word is the true key. The kingdom of heaven is open to him who believes the Word, and shut against him who believes it not. Whoever, therefore, truly possesses the Word of God, has the power of the keys. All other keys, all the decrees of the councils and popes, and all the rules of the monks, are valueless." Friar Boniface shook his head and continued. DISPUTATION AT HOMBURG. "Since the priesthood of the Law has been abolished, This proposition smelt of heresy. Dornemann, however, was not discouraged; and whether it was from weakness of mind, or from the dawning of light, at each proposition that did not too much shock his prejudices, he failed not to repeat: "Certainly, I shall not attack that one!" The people listened in astonishment, when one of them,—whether he was a fanatical Romanist, a fanatical Reformer, or a mischievous wag, I cannot tell—tired of these continual repetitions, exclaimed: "Get down, you knave, who cannot find a word to impugn." Then rudely pulling the stool from under him, he threw the unfortunate clerk flat in the mud. On the 21st October, at seven in the morning, the gates of the principal church of Homburg were thrown open, and the prelates, abbots, priests, counts, knights, and deputies of the towns, entered in succession, and in the midst of them was Philip, in his quality of first member of the Church. After Lambert had explained and proved his theses, he added: "Let him stand forth who has anything to say against them." There was at first a profound silence; but at length Nicholas Ferber, superior of the Franciscans of Marburg, who in 1524, applying to Rome's favourite argument, had entreated the Landgrave to employ the sword against the heretics, began to speak with drooping head, and downcast eyes; but as he invoked Augustin, Peter Lombard, and other doctors to his assistance, the Landgrave observed to him: "Do not put forward the wavering opinions of men, but the Word of God, which alone fortifies and strengthens our hearts." The Franciscan sat down in confusion, saying: "This is not the place for replying." The disputation, however, recommenced, and TRIUMPH OF THE GOSPEL IN HESSE. In vain did the Chancellor Feige declare to him that each man had the right of maintaining his opinion with full liberty; in vain did the Landgrave himself exclaim that the Church was sighing after truth: silence had become Rome's refuge. "I will defend the doctrine of purgatory," a priest had said prior to the discussion; "I will attack the paradoxes under the sixth head (on the true priesthood)," had said another; Upon this Lambert, clasping his hands, exclaimed with Zacharias: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people. After three days of discussion, which had been a continual triumph for the evangelical doctrine, men were selected and commissioned to constitute the churches of Hesse in accordance with the Word of God. They were more than three days occupied in the task, and then their new constitution was published in the name of the synod. The first ecclesiastical constitution produced by the Reformation should have a place in history, so much the more as it was then set forward as a model for the new Churches of Christendom. CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH. The autonomy or self-government of the Church is its fundamental principle: it is from the Church, from its representatives assembled in the name of the Lord, that this legislation A second distinctive feature in this constitution is its simplicity both of government and worship. The assembly conjures all future synods not to load the Churches with a multitude of ordinances, "seeing that where orders abound, disorder superabounds." They would not even continue the organs in the churches, because, said they, "men should understand what they hear." "The Church can only be taught and governed by the Word of its Sovereign Pastor. Whoever has recourse to any other word shall be deposed and excommunicated. "Every pious man, learned in the Word of God, whatever be his condition, may be elected bishop if he desire it, for he is called inwardly of God. "Let no one believe that by a bishop we understand anything else than a simple minister of the Word of God. "The ministers are servants, and consequently they ought not to be lords, princes, or governors. CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH—BISHOPS. "Let those who are elected bishops be consecrated to their office by the imposition of the hands of three bishops; and as for the deacons, if there are no ministers present, let them receive the laying on of hands from the elders of the Church. "If a bishop causes any scandal to the Church by his effeminacy, or by the splendour of his garments, or by the levity of his conduct, and if, on being warned, he persists, let him be deposed by the Church. "Let each church place its bishop in a condition to live with his family, and to be hospitable, as St. Paul enjoins; but let the bishops exact nothing for their casual duties. "On every Sunday let there be in some suitable place an assembly of all the men who are in the number of the saints, to regulate with the bishop, according to God's Word, all the affairs of the Church, and to excommunicate whoever gives occasion of scandal to the Church; for the Church of Christ has never existed without exercising the power of excommunication. "As a weekly assembly is necessary for the direction of the particular churches, so a general synod should be held annually for the direction of all the churches in the country. TWO ELEMENTS IN THE CHURCH. "All the pastors are its natural members; but each church shall further elect from its body a man full of the Spirit and "Three visiters shall be elected yearly, with commission to go through all the churches, to examine those who have been elected bishops, to confirm those who have been approved of, and to provide for the execution of the decrees of the synod." It will no doubt be found that this first evangelical constitution went in some points to the extreme of ecclesiastical democracy; but certain institutions had crept in that were capable of increase and of changing its nature. Six superintendents for life were afterwards substituted for these annual visiters (who, according to the primitive institution, might be simple members of the church); and, as has been remarked, It was not the less a remarkable work. Romish doctors have reproached the Reformation for making the Church a too interior institution. LUTHER ON THE MINISTRY. One great question presented itself: Will these principles be adopted by all the Churches of the Reformation? Everything seemed to indicate as much. The most pious men thought at that time that the ecclesiastical power proceeded from the members of the Church. By withdrawing from the hierarchical extreme, they flung themselves into a democratical one. Luther himself had professed this doctrine as early as 1523. The Calixtins of Bohemia, on seeing the bishops of their country refuse them ministers, had gone so far as to take the first vagabond priest. "If you have no other means of procuring pastors," wrote Luther to them, "rather do without them, and let each head of a family read the Gospel in his own house, and baptise his children, sighing after the sacrament of the altar as the Jews at Babylon did for Jerusalem. "First, seek God by prayer; ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. Luther, in thus calling upon the people alone to nominate their pastors, submitted to the necessities of the times. It was requisite to constitute the ministry; but the ministry having But another necessity, proceeding in like manner from the state of affairs, was to incline Luther to deviate from the principles he had laid down. The German Reformation can hardly be said to have begun with the lower classes, as in Switzerland and France; and Luther could scarcely find anywhere that christian people, which should have played so great a part in his new constitution. Ignorant men, conceited townspeople, who would not even maintain their ministers—these were the members of the Church. Now what could be done with such elements? But if the people were indifferent, the princes were not so. They stood in the foremost rank of the battle, and sat on the first bench in the council. The democratic organization was therefore compelled to give way to an organization conformable to the civil government. The Church is composed of Christians, and they are taken wherever they are found—high or low. It was particularly in high stations that Luther found them. He admitted the princes as representatives of the people; and henceforward the influence of the state became one of the principal elements in the constitution of the evangelical Church. In the mind of the Reformer, this guardianship of the princes was only to be provisional. The faithful being then in minority, they had need of a guardian; but the era of the Church's majority might arrive, and with it would come its emancipation. We may admit that this recourse to the civil power was at that time necessary, but we cannot deny that it was also a source of difficulties. We will point out only one. When Protestantism became an affair of governments and nations, it ceased to be universal. The new spirit was capable of creating a new earth. But instead of opening new roads, and of purposing the regeneration of all Christendom, and the conversion of the whole world, the Protestants sought to settle themselves as comfortably as possible in a few German duchies. The organizing power being once discovered, the Reformers thought of organization, and Luther applied to the task; for although he was in an especial manner an assailant and Calvin an organizer, these two qualities, as necessary to the reformers of the Church as to the founders of empires, were not wanting in either of these great servants of God. It was necessary to compose a new ministry, for most of the priests who had quitted the Papacy were content to receive the watchword of Reform without having personally experienced the sanctifying virtue of the Truth. There was even one parish in which the priest preached the Gospel in his principal church, and sang mass in its succursal. GERMAN MASS. Luther did not shrink from before this double necessity; and he made provision for it. Understanding that a general visitation of the churches was necessary, he addressed the Elector on this subject, on the 22d October 1526. "Your highness, in your quality of guardian of youth, and of all those who know not how to take care of themselves," said he, "should compel the inhabitants, who desire neither pastors nor schools, to receive these means of grace, as they are compelled to work on the roads, on bridges, and such like services. Luther was not content with soliciting in writing the intervention of the prince. He was indignant at seeing the courtiers, who in the time of the Elector Frederick had shown themselves the inveterate enemies of the Reformation, rushing now, "sporting, laughing, skipping," as he said, on the spoils of the Church. Accordingly, at the end of this year, the Elector having come to Wittemberg, the Reformer repaired immediately to the palace, made his complaint to the prince-electoral, whom he met at the gate, then without caring about those who stopped him, made his way by force into his father's bedchamber, and addressing this prince, who was surprised at so unexpected a visit, begged him to remedy the evils of the Church. The visitation of the churches was resolved upon, and Melancthon was commissioned to draw up the necessary instructions. In 1526, Luther had published his "German Mass," by which he signified the order of church service in general. "The real evangelical assemblies," he said, "do not take place publicly, pellmell, admitting people of every sort; MELANCTHON'S INSTRUCTIONS. It was also with a conviction that he must give the Church, The German Reformation at that time tacked about, as it were. If Lambert in Hesse had gone to the extreme of a democratical system, Melancthon in Saxony was approximating the contrary extreme of traditional principles. A conservative principle was substituted for a reforming one. Melancthon wrote to one of the inspectors: They retained, therefore, the Latin liturgy, a few German hymns being mingled with it; It is but right to confess the dominion of facts and circumstances upon these ecclesiastical organizations; but there is a dominion which rises higher still—that of the Word of God. Perhaps what Melancthon did was all that could be effected at that time: but it was necessary for the work to be one day resumed and re-established on its primitive plan, and this was Calvin's glory. DISAFFECTION. A cry of astonishment was heard both from the camp of Rome and from that of the Reformation. "Our cause is betrayed," On their part the Ultramontanists triumphed in Melancthon's moderation: they called it a retractation, and took advantage of it to insult the Reform. Cochloeus published a "horrible" engraving, as he styles it himself, in which, from beneath the same hood was seen issuing a seven-headed monster representing Luther. Each of these heads had different features, and all, uttering together the most frightful and contradictory words, kept disputing, tearing, and devouring each other. The astonished Elector resolved to communicate Melancthon's paper to Luther. But never did the Reformer's respect for his friend show itself in a more striking manner. He only made one or two unimportant additions to this plan, and sent it back accompanied with the highest eulogiums. The Romanists said that the tiger caught in a net was licking the hands that clipped his talons. But it was not so. Luther knew that the aim of Melancthon's labours was to strengthen the very soul of the Reformation in all the churches of Saxony. That was sufficient for him. He thought besides, that in every thing there must be a transition; and being justly convinced that his friend was more than himself a man of transition, he frankly accepted his views. The general visitation began. Luther in Saxony, Spalatin in the districts of Altenburg and Zwickau, Melancthon in Thuringia, and Thuring in Franconia, with ecclesiastical deputies and several lay colleagues, commenced the work in October and November 1528. IMPORTANT RESULTS. They purified the clergy by dismissing every priest of scandalous life; The organization of the churches in Saxony, notwithstanding its imperfections, produced for that time at least the most important results. This was because the Word of God prevailed; and because, wherever this Word exercises its power, secondary errors and abuses are paralyzed. The very discretion that was employed proceeded in reality from a good principle. The reformers, unlike the enthusiasts, did not utterly reject an institution because it was corrupted. They did not say, for example: "The sacraments are disfigured, let us do without them! the ministry is corrupt, let us reject it!"—but they rejected the abuse, and restored the use. This prudence is the mark of a work of God; and if Luther sometimes permitted the chaff to remain along with the wheat, Calvin appeared later, and more thoroughly purged the Christian threshing-floor. THE REFORMATION ADVANCES. The organization which was at that time accomplishing in Saxony, exerted a strong reaction on all the German empire, and the doctrine of the Gospel advanced with gigantic strides. The design of God in turning aside from the reformed states of Germany, the thunderbolt that he caused to fall upon the seven-hilled city, was clearly manifest. Never were years more usefully employed; and it was not only to framing The duchies of Luneburg and Brunswick, many of the most important imperial cities, as Nuremberg, Augsburg, Ulm, Strasburg, Gottingen, Gosslar, Nordhausen, Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg, removed the tapers from the chapels, and substituted in their place the brighter torch of the Word of God. In vain did the frightened canons allege the authority of the Church. "The authority of the Church," replied Kempe and Zechenhagen, the reformer of Hamburg, "cannot be acknowledged unless the Church herself obeys her pastor Jesus Christ." In Franconia, the Margrave George of Brandenburg, having reformed Anspach and Bayreuth, wrote to his ancient protector, Ferdinand of Austria, who had knit his brows on hearing of his reforming proceedings: "I have done this by God's order; for he commands princes to take care not only of the bodies of their subjects, but also of their souls." In East Friesland, on new-year's day, 1527, a Dominican named Resius, having put on his hood, A PIOUS PRINCESS. At Berlin, Elizabeth, electress of Brandenburg, having read Luther's works, felt a desire to receive the Lord's supper in conformity with Christ's institution: a minister secretly administered At the same time, Holstein, Sleswick, and Silesia decided in favour of the Reformation: and Hungary, as well as Bohemia, saw the number of its adherents increase. EDICT OF OFEN. In every place, instead of a hierarchy seeking its righteousness in the works of man, its glory in external pomp, its strength in a material power, the Church of the Apostles reappeared, humble as in primitive times, and like the ancient IV. All these triumphs of the Gospel could not pass unperceived; there was a powerful reaction, and until political circumstances should permit a grand attack upon the Reformation on the very soil where it was established, and of persecuting it by means of diets, and if necessary by armies, they began to persecute in detail in the Romish countries with tortures and the scaffold. On the 20th August, 1527, King Ferdinand, by the Edict of Ofen in Hungary, published a tariff of crimes and penalties, in which he threatened death by the sword, by fire, or by water, Such was not the legislation of Luther. Link having asked him if it were lawful for the magistrate to put the false prophets to death, meaning the Sacramentarians, whose doctrines Luther attacked with so much force, PERSECUTIONS—WINKLER AND CARPENTER. They sometimes had recourse to more expeditious proceedings than the scaffold itself. George Winkler, pastor of Halle, having been summoned before Archbishop Albert in the spring of 1527, for having administered the sacrament in both kinds, had been acquitted. As this minister was returning home along an unfrequented road in the midst of the woods, he was suddenly attacked by a number of horsemen, who murdered him, and immediately fled through the thickets without taking anything from his person. At Munich George Carpenter was led to the scaffold for having denied that the baptism of water is able by its own virtue to save a man. "When you are thrown into the fire," said some of his brethren, "give us a sign by which we may know that you persevere in the faith."—"As long as I can open my mouth, I will confess the name of the Lord Jesus." PERSECUTIONS—KEYSER. At Landsberg nine persons were consigned to the flames, and at Munich twenty-nine were thrown into the water. At Scherding, Leonard Keyser, a friend and disciple of Luther, having been condemned by the bishop, had his head shaved, and being dressed in a smock-frock, was placed on horseback. As the executioners were cursing and swearing, because they could not disentangle the ropes with which he was to be Thus, the Reformation manifested by such striking works the truth that it had come to re-establish; namely, that faith is not, as Rome maintains, an historical, vain, dead knowledge, These martyrdoms filled Germany with horror, and gloomy forebodings descended from the thrones among the ranks of the people. Around the domestic hearth, in the long winter evenings, the conversation wholly turned on prisons, tortures, scaffolds, and martyrs; and the slightest noise alarmed the old men, women, and children. These narratives gained strength from mouth to mouth; the rumour of a universal conspiracy against the Gospel spread through all the Empire. Its adversaries, taking advantage of this terror, announced with a mysterious air that they must look during this year (1528) for some decisive measure against the Reform. PACK'S FORGERY. No blows are more terrible to a cause than those which it Otho of Pack, vice-chancellor to Duke George of Saxony, was a crafty and dissipated man, No one entertained greater suspicions with regard to the Papists than the Landgrave of Hesse. Young, susceptible, and restless, he was always on the alert. In the month of February 1528, Pack happening to be at Cassel to assist Philip in some difficult business, the Landgrave imparted to him his fears. If any one could have had any knowledge of the designs of the Papists, it must have been the vice-chancellor, one of the greatest enemies to the Reform. The crafty Pack heaved a sigh, bent down his eyes, and was silent. Philip immediately became uneasy, entreated him, and promised to do nothing that would injure the Duke. Then, Pack as if he had allowed an important secret to be torn from him The Landgrave was amazed: he restrained himself, however, wishing to see the act with his own eyes before informing his allies. He therefore repaired to Dresden. "I cannot," said Pack, "furnish you with the original: the Duke always carries it about his person to read it to other princes whom he hopes to gain over. Recently at Leipsic, he showed it to Duke Henry of Brunswick. But here is a copy made by his highness's order." The Landgrave took the document, which bore all the marks of the most perfect authenticity. It was crossed by a cord of black silk, and fastened at both ends by the seal of the ducal chancery. Many circumstances tended to confirm the authenticity of this paper. Ferdinand, Joachim of Brandenburg, and George of Saxony, had in fact met at Breslau on the day indicated, and an evangelical prince, the Margrave George, had seen Joachim leave Ferdinand's apartments, holding in his hand a large parchment to which several seals were attached. The agitated Landgrave caused a copy to be taken of this document, promised secrecy for a time, paid Pack four thousand florins, and engaged to make up the sum agreed upon, if he would procure him the original. And then, wishing to prevent the storm, he hastened to Weimar to inform the Elector of this unprecedented conspiracy. "I have seen," said he to John and his son, "nay more—I have had in my hands, a duplicate of this horrible treaty. Signatures, seals—nothing was wanting. ADVICE OF THE REFORMERS. The Elector had no reason to doubt the account the Landgrave had just given him: he was stunned, confounded, and overpowered. The promptest measures alone could avert such unheard of disasters: everything must be risked to extricate them from certain destruction. The impetuous Philip breathed fire and flames; But God was watching over them. Supported on the rock of the Word, Melancthon and Luther replied: "It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." As soon as these two men whom the danger threatened (for it was they who were to be delivered up to the papal power) saw the youthful Landgrave drawing the sword, and the aged Elector himself putting his hand on the hilt, they uttered a cry, and this cry, which was heard in heaven, saved the Reform. Luther, Pomeranus, and Melancthon immediately forwarded the following advice to the Elector: "Above all things, let not the attack proceed from our side, and let no blood be shed through our fault. Let us wait for the enemy, and seek after peace. Send an ambassador to the Emperor to make him acquainted with this hateful plot." LUTHER'S PACIFIC COUNSEL. Thus it was that the faith of the children of God, which is so despised by politicians, conducted them aright, at the very The Elector, drawn in different directions by the theologians and the politicians, at last took a middle course: he resolved to assemble an army, "but only," said he, "to obtain peace." Philip of Hesse at length gave way, and forthwith sent copies of the famous treaty to Duke George, to the Dukes of Bavaria, and to the Emperor's representatives, calling upon them to renounce such cruel designs. "I would rather have a limb cut off," said he to his father-in-law, "than know you to be a member of such an alliance." SURPRISE OF THE PAPIST PRINCES. Philip of Hesse saw that he had been deceived; Pack fled in alarm to the Landgrave, who caused him to be arrested; and envoys from the several princes whom this scoundrel had compromised met at Cassel, and proceeded to examine him. He maintained that the original act of the alliance had really existed in the Dresden archives. In the following year the Landgrave banished him from Hesse, showing by this action that he did not fear him. Pack was afterwards discovered in Belgium; and at the demand of Duke George, who had never shown any pity towards him, he was seized, tortured, and finally beheaded. The Landgrave was unwilling to have taken up arms to no purpose. The archbishop-elector of Mentz was compelled, on the 11th June, 1528, to renounce in the camp of Herzkirchen all spiritual jurisdiction in Saxony and Hesse. PACK'S SCHEME NOT IMPROBABLE. Scarcely had the arms been laid aside, before Luther took up his pen, and began a war of another kind. "Impious Melancholy were the results of this affair. It inspired division in the bosom of the Reformation, and fanned the hatred between the two parties. ALLIANCE BETWEEN CHARLES AND CLEMENT. V. The sack of Rome, by exasperating the adherents of the Papacy, had given arms to all the enemies of Charles V. The French army under Lautrec had forced the imperial Germany felt the seriousness of the position. Mournful omens filled every mind. About the middle of January, a great light had suddenly dispersed the darkness of the night. OMENS. The letters of convocation issued by the imperial government agreed but too well with these prodigies. The Emperor, writing from Toledo to the Elector, accused him of sedition and revolt. Alarming whispers passed from mouth to mouth that were sufficient to cause the fall of the weak. Duke Henry of Mecklenburg and the Elector-palatine hastily returned to the side of Popery. Never had the sacerdotal party appeared in the diet in such numbers, or so powerful and decided. The divergence of men's minds soon became manifest. A Papist did not meet an Evangelical in the street without casting angry glances upon him, and secretly threatening him with perfidious machinations. HOSTILITY OF THE PAPISTS. The Roman party now quickened their proceedings: their plan was simple but energetic. It was necessary to put down the religious liberty that had existed for more than three years, and for that purpose they must abrogate the decree of 1526, and revive that of 1521. On the 15th March the imperial commissaries announced to the diet that the last resolution of Spire, which left each state free to act in conformity with the inspirations of its conscience, having given rise to great disorders, the Emperor had annulled it by virtue of his supreme power. This arbitrary act, and which had no precedent in the Empire, as well as the despotic tone with which it was accompanied, filled the evangelical Christians with indignation and alarm. "Christ," exclaimed Sturm, "has again fallen into the hands of Caiaphas and Pilate." A commission was charged to examine the imperial proposition. The Archbishop of Salzburg, Faber, and Eck, that is to say, the most violent enemies of the Reformation, were among its members. "The Turks are better than the Lutherans," said Faber, "for the Turks observe fast-days and the The priests called for the execution of the Edict of Worms, 1521, and the evangelical members of the commission, among whom were the Elector of Saxony and Sturm, demanded on the contrary the maintenance of the Edict of Spire, 1526. The latter thus remained within the bounds of legality, whilst their adversaries were driven to coups d'État. In fact, a new order of things having been legally established in the Empire, no one could infringe it; and if the diet presumed to destroy by force what had been constitutionally established three years before, the evangelical states had the right of opposing it. The majority of the commission felt that the re-establishment of the ancient order of things would be a revolution no less complete than the Reformation itself. How could they subject anew to Rome and to her clergy those nations in whose bosom the Word of God had been so richly spread abroad? For this reason, equally rejecting the demands of the priests and of the Evangelicals, the majority came to a resolution on the 24th March that every religious innovation should continue to be interdicted in the places where the Edict of Worms had been carried out; and that in those where the people had deviated from it, and where they could not conform to it without danger of revolt, they should at least effect no new reform, they should touch upon no controverted point, they should not oppose the celebration of the Mass, they should permit no Roman catholic to embrace Lutheranism, THE REFORMATION IN DANGER. The majority no longer voted as in 1526: the wind had turned against the Gospel. Accordingly this proposition, after having been delayed a few days by the festival of Easter, was laid before the diet on the 6th April, and passed on the 7th. If it became a law, the Reformation could neither be extended into those places where as yet it was unknown, nor be established on solid foundations in those where it already existed. The re-establishment of the Romish hierarchy, stipulated in the proposition, would infallibly bring back the ancient abuses; and the least deviation from so vexatious an ordinance would easily furnish the Romanists with a pretext for completing the destruction of a work already so violently shaken. The Elector, the Landgrave, the Margrave of Brandenburg, the Prince of Anhalt, and the Chancellor of Luneburg on one side, and the deputies for the cities on the other, consulted together. An entirely new order of things was to proceed from this council. If they had been animated by selfishness, they would perhaps have accepted this decree. In fact they were left free, in appearance at least, to profess their faith: ought they to demand more? could they do so? Were they bound to constitute themselves the champions of liberty of conscience in all the world? Never, perhaps, had there been a more critical situation; but these noble-minded men came victorious out of the trial. What! should they legalize by anticipation the scaffold and the torture! Should they oppose the Holy Ghost in its work of converting souls to Christ! Should they forget their Master's command: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature?" If one of the states of the empire desired some day to follow their example and be reformed, should they take away its DECISION OF THE PRINCES. "Let us reject this decree," said the princes. "In matters of conscience the majority has no power."—"It is to the decree of 1526," added the cities, "that we are indebted for the peace that the empire enjoys: to abolish it would be to fill Germany with troubles and divisions. The diet is incompetent to do more than preserve religious liberty until a council meets." Such in fact is the grand attribute of the state, and if in our days the protestant powers should seek to influence the Romish governments, they should strive solely to obtain for the subjects of the latter that religious liberty which the Pope confiscates to his own advantage wherever he reigns alone, and by which he profits greatly in every evangelical state. Some of the deputies proposed refusing all assistance against the Turks, hoping thus to force the Emperor to interfere in this question of religion. But Sturm called upon them not to mingle political matters with the salvation of souls. They resolved therefore to reject the proposition, but without holding out any threats. It was this noble resolution that gained for modern times liberty of thought and independence of faith. Ferdinand and the priests, who were no less resolute, determined however on vanquishing what they called a daring obstinacy; and they commenced with the weaker states. They began to frighten and divide the cities, which had hitherto pursued a common course. On the 12th April they were summoned before the diet: in vain did they allege the absence of some of their number, and ask for delay. It was refused, and the call was hurried on. Twenty-one free cities accepted the proposition of the diet, and fourteen rejected it. It was a bold act on the part of the latter, and was accomplished in the midst of the most painful sufferings. "This is the first trial," said Pfarrer, second deputy of Strasburg; "now will VIOLENCE OF FERDINAND. A violent proceeding of Ferdinand immediately commenced the series of humiliations that were reserved for the evangelical cities. A deputy of Strasburg should, in conformity with the decree of Worms, have been a member of the imperial government from the commencement of April. He was declared excluded from his rights, until the Mass should be re-established in Strasburg. All the cities united in protesting against this arbitrary act. At the same time, the Elector-palatine and King Ferdinand himself begged the princes to accept the decree, assuring them that the Emperor would be exceedingly pleased with them. "We will obey the Emperor," replied they calmly, "in everything that may contribute to maintain peace and the honour of God." It was time to put an end to this struggle. On the 18th April it was decreed that the evangelical states should not be heard again; and Ferdinand prepared to inflict the decisive blow on the morrow. When the day came, the king appeared in the diet, surrounded by the other commissaries of the Empire, and by several bishops. He thanked the Roman catholics for their fidelity, and declared that the resolution having been definitively agreed to, it was about to be drawn up in the form of an imperial decree. He then announced to the Elector and his friends, that nothing more remained to them than to submit to the majority. THE SCHISM COMPLETED. The evangelical princes, who had not expected so positive a declaration, were excited at this summons, and passed, according to custom, into an adjoining chamber to deliberate. But Ferdinand was not in a humour to wait for their answer. He rose, and all the imperial commissaries with him. Vain were all endeavours to stop him. "I have received an Thus Charles's brother notifies an order to the christian princes, and then he retires without caring even if there was any reply to make. To no purpose they sent a deputation entreating the King to return. "It is a settled affair," repeated Ferdinand; "submission is all that remains." VI. If the imperial party displayed such contempt, it was not without a cause. They felt that weakness was on the side of the Reformation, and strength on the side of Charles and of the Pope. But the weak have also their strength; and this the evangelical princes were aware of. As Ferdinand paid no attention to their reclamations, it remained for them to pay none to his absence, to appeal from the report of the diet to the Word of God, and from the Emperor Charles to Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords. They resolved upon this step. A declaration was drawn up to that effect, and this was the famous Protest that henceforward gave the name of Protestant to the renovated Church. The Elector and his allies having returned to the common hall of the diet, thus addressed the assembled states:— THE PROTEST.
Thus, in presence of the diet, spoke out those courageous men whom Christendom will henceforward denominate The Protestants. They had barely finished when they announced their intention of quitting Spire on the morrow. This protest and declaration produced a deep impression. The diet was rudely interrupted and broken into two hostile parties,—thus preluding war. The majority became the prey of the liveliest fears. As for the Protestants relying, jure humano, upon the Edict of Spire, and jure divino, upon the Bible, they were full of courage and firmness. THE SUPREMACY OF THE GOSPEL. The principles contained in this celebrated protest of the 19th April 1529, constitute the very essence of Protestantism. Now this protest opposes two abuses of man in matters of faith: the first is the intrusion of the civil magistrate, and the second is the arbitrary authority of the Church. Instead of these two abuses, Protestantism sets up above the magistrate the power of conscience; and above the visible Church the authority of the Word of God. It declines, in the first place, the civil power in divine things, and says with the Prophets and Apostles: We must obey God rather than man. In presence of the crown of Charles the Fifth, it uplifts the crown of Jesus Christ. But it goes farther: it lays down the principle, A Romish historian maintains that the word Protestant signifies enemy of the Emperor and of the Pope. FERDINAND REJECTS THE PROTEST. The Protestants of Spire were not content to exalt the truth; they defended charity. Faber and the other Papal partizans had endeavoured to separate the princes, who in general walked with Luther, from the cities that ranged themselves rather on the side of Zwingle. Œcolampadius had immediately written to Melancthon, and enlightened him on the doctrines of the Zurich Reformer. He had indignantly rejected the idea that Christ was banished into a corner of heaven, and had energetically declared that, according to the Swiss Christians, Christ was in every place upholding all These declarations were not useless. There were at Spire two men who from different motives opposed the efforts of Faber, and seconded those of Œcolampadius. The Landgrave, ever revolving projects of alliance in his mind, felt clearly that if the Christians of Saxony and of Hesse allowed the condemnation of the Churches of Switzerland and of Upper Germany, they would by that very means deprive themselves of powerful auxiliaries. As Ferdinand had not heard the protest of the 19th April, a deputation of the evangelical states went the next day to present it to him. The brother of Charles the Fifth received it at first, but immediately after desired to return it. Then was witnessed a strange scene—the king refusing to keep the protest, and the deputies to take it back. At last the latter, from respect, received it from Ferdinand's hands; but they laid it boldly upon a table, and directly quitted the hall. JOY OF THE PROTESTANTS. The king and the imperial commissaries remained in presence of this formidable writing. It was there—before their eyes—a significant monument of the courage and faith of the Protestants. Irritated against this silent but mighty witness, which accused his tyranny, and left him the responsibility of all the evils that were about to burst upon the Empire, the brother of Charles the Fifth called some of his councillors, All this was unavailing; the protest had been enregistered in the annals of the world, and nothing could erase it. Liberty of thought and of conscience had been conquered for ages to come. Thus all evangelical Germany, foreseeing these things, was moved at this courageous act, and adopted it as the expression of its will and of its faith. Men in every quarter beheld in it not a political event, but a christian action, and the youthful electoral prince, John Frederick, in this respect the organ of his age, cried to the Protestants of Spire: "May the Almighty, who has given you grace to confess energetically, freely, and fearlessly, preserve you in that christian firmness until the day of eternity!" While the christians were filled with joy, their enemies were frightened at their own work. The very day on which Ferdinand had declined to receive the protest, Tuesday, 20th April, at one in the afternoon, Henry of Brunswick and Philip of Baden presented themselves as mediators, announcing, however, that they were acting solely of their own authority. They proposed that there should be no more mention of the decree of Worms, and that the first decree of Spire should be maintained, but with a few modifications; that the two parties, while remaining free until the next council, should oppose every new sect, and tolerate no doctrine contrary to the sacrament of the Lord's body. EXULTATION OF THE PAPISTS. On Wednesday, 21st April, the evangelical states did not appear adverse to these propositions; and even those who had embraced the doctrine of Zwingle declared boldly that such a proposal would not compromise their existence. "Only let us call to mind," said they, "that in such difficult matters we must act, not with the sword, but with the sure Word of God. The fanatics of the Roman party trembled as they saw the victory nearly escaping from them; for they rejected all compromise, and desired purely and simply the re-establishment of the Papacy. Their zeal overcame everything, and the negotiations were broken off. On Thursday, 22d April, the diet assembled at seven in the morning, and the Recess was read precisely as it had been drawn up before, without even mentioning the attempt at conciliation which had just failed. Faber triumphed. Proud of having the ear of kings, he tossed himself furiously about, and one would have said, to see him, relates an eye-witness, that he was a Cyclops forging in his cavern the monstrous chains with which he was about to bind the Reform and the Reformers. The last sitting of the diet took place on the 24th April. The princes renewed their protest, in which fourteen free and imperial cities joined: and they next thought of giving their appeal a legal form. CHRISTIAN UNITY A REALITY. On Sunday, 25th April, two notaries, Leonard Stetner of Freysingen and Pangrace Saltzmann of Bamberg, were seated before a small table in a narrow chamber on the ground-floor of a house situated in St. John's Lane, near the church This little house belonged to an humble pastor, Peter Muterstatt, deacon of St. John's, who, taking the place of the Elector or of the Landgrave, had offered a domicile for the important act that was preparing. His name shall in consequence be transmitted to posterity. The document having been definitively drawn up, one of the notaries began reading it. "Since there is a natural communion between all men," said the Protestants, "and since even persons condemned to death are permitted to unite and appeal against their condemnation; how much more are we, who are members of the same spiritual body, the Church of the Son of God, children of the same heavenly Father, and consequently brothers in the Spirit, After reviewing all that had passed in the diet, and after intercalating in their appeal the principal documents that had reference to it, the Protestants ended by saying: "We therefore appeal for ourselves, for our subjects, and for all who receive or who shall hereafter receive the Word of God, from all past, present, or future vexatious measures, to his Imperial Majesty, and to a free and universal assembly of holy Christendom." This document filled twelve sheets of parchment; the signatures and seals were affixed to the thirteenth. ESCAPE OF GRYNÆUS. Thus in the obscure dwelling of the chaplain of St. John's was made the first confession of the true Christian union. In presence of the holy mechanical unity of the Pope, these confessors of Jesus raised the banner of the living unity of Christ; and, as in the days of our Saviour, if there were many synagogues in Israel, there was at least but one single temple. The Christians of Electoral Saxony, of Luneburg, of Anhalt, MELANCTHON'S DEJECTION. After this appeal each one returned silently to his dwelling. Several tokens excited alarm for the safety of the Protestants. A short time previously Melancthon hastily conducted through the streets of Spire towards the Rhine his friend Simon GrynÆus, pressing him to cross the river. The latter was astonished at such precipitation. Nothing could detain the Protestants longer in Spire. Accordingly, on the morning after their appeal (Monday, 26th April), the Elector, the Landgrave, and the Dukes of Luneburg, quitted the city, reached Worms, and then returned by Hesse into their own states. The appeal of Spire was published by the Landgrave on the 5th, and by the Elector on the 13th May. Melancthon had returned to Wittemberg on the 6th May, persuaded that the two parties were about to draw the sword. His friends were alarmed at seeing him agitated, exhausted, and like one dead. THE PRINCES, THE TRUE REFORMERS. It was Melancthon's greatest affliction, that all these evils were attributed to him, as indeed he ascribed them himself. "One single thing has injured us," said he; "our not having approved, as was required of us, the edict against the Zwinglians." Posterity has not ratified this decision, and, on the contrary, dating from this epoch the definitive formation of Protestantism, it has hailed in the Protest of Spire one of the greatest movements recorded in history. Let us see to whom the chief glory of this act belongs. The part taken by the princes, and especially by the Elector of Saxony, in the German Reformation, must strike every impartial observer. These are the true Reformers—the true Martyrs. The Holy Ghost, that bloweth where it listeth, had inspired them with the courage of the ancient confessors of the Church; and the God of Election was glorified in them. A little later perhaps this great part played by the princes might have produced deplorable consequences: there is no grace of God that man may not pervert. But nothing should prevent us from rendering honour to whom honour is due, and from adoring the work of the eternal Spirit in these eminent men who, under God, were in the sixteenth century the saviours of Christendom. The Reformation had taken a bodily form. It was Luther alone who had said No at the Diet of Worms: but Churches and ministers, princes and people, said No at the Diet of Spire. In no country had superstition, scholasticism, hierarchy, and popery, been so powerful as among the Germanic nations. These simple and candid people had humbly bent their neck to the yoke that came from the banks of the Tiber. But, there was in them a depth, a life, a need of interior liberty, which, sanctified by the Word of God, might render them the most energetic organs of christian truth. It was from them that was destined to emanate the reaction GERMANY AND REFORM. VII. The protest of Spire had still further increased the indignation of the Papal adherents; and Charles the Fifth, according to the oath he had made at Barcelona, set about preparing "a suitable antidote for the pestilential disease with which the Germans were attacked, and to avenge in a striking manner the insult offered to Jesus Christ." The Protestant states that had already laid the foundations of an evangelical alliance at Spire, had agreed to send deputies to Rothach; but the Elector, staggered by the representations of Luther, who was continually saying to him, "It is by keeping yourselves tranquil and in quietness that you will be saved," DIFFICULTY OF UNION. Philip of Hesse, who was vexed at Luther's obstinacy, was convinced that it arose from a dispute about words. "They will hear no mention of alliances because of the Zwinglians," said he; "well then, let us put an end to the contradictions that separate them from Luther." The union of all the disciples of the Word of God seemed in fact a necessary condition to the success of the Reform. How could the Protestants resist the power of Rome and of the Empire, if they were divided? The Landgrave no doubt wished to unite their minds, that he might afterwards be able to unite their arms; but the cause of Christ was not to triumph by the sword. If they should succeed in uniting their hearts and prayers, the Reform would then find such strength in the faith of its children, that Philip's spearmen would no longer be necessary. Unfortunately this union of minds, that was now to be sought after above all things, was a very difficult task. Luther in 1519 had at first appeared not only to reform, but entirely renovate the doctrine of the Lord's Supper, as the Swiss did somewhat later. "I go to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper," he had said, "and I there receive a sign from God that Christ's righteousness and passion justify me; such is the use of the Sacrament." A LUTHERAN WARNING. Luther in fact was never Zwinglian as regards the Communion. Far from that, in 1519, he still believed in Transubstantiation. Why then should he speak of a sign? It was for this reason. While, according to Zwingle, the bread and wine are signs of the body and blood of Christ, according to Luther, the very body and blood of Jesus Christ are signs Erelong this disagreement declared itself. In 1527 Zwingle in his Friendly Exposition Zwingle wrote two replies "to the excellent Martin Luther," in a cold tone and with a haughty calmness more difficult to pardon than the invectives of the Saxon doctor. "We ought to esteem you a vessel of honour, and we do so with joy," said he, "notwithstanding your faults." Pamphlet followed pamphlet, Luther always writing with the same impetuosity, and Zwingle with the same coolness and irony. PROPOSED CONFERENCE AT MARBURG. Such were the doctors whom the Landgrave undertook to reconcile. Already, during the sitting of the Diet of Spire, Philip of Hesse, who was afflicted at hearing the Papists continually repeating, "You boast of your attachment to the pure Word of God, and yet you are nevertheless disunited," It seemed, however, that great difficulties would detain Zwingle. To travel from Zurich to Marburg, it was necessary to pass through the territories of the Emperor and of other enemies to the Reformation; the Landgrave himself did not conceal the dangers of the journey; Reasons of another kind detained Luther and Melancthon. "It is not right," said they, "that the Landgrave has so much to do with the Zwinglians. Their error is of such a nature that people of acute minds are easily tainted by it. Reason loves what it understands, particularly when learned men clothe their ideas in a scriptural dress." Melancthon did not stop here, but put forth the very extraordinary notion of selecting Papists as judges of the discussion. "If there were no impartial judges," said he, "the Zwinglians would have a good chance of boasting of victory." Zwingle, on the contrary, who would have gone to the end of the world, made every exertion to obtain from the magistrates of Zurich permission to visit Marburg. "I am convinced," said he to the secret council, "that if we doctors meet face to face, the splendour of truth will illuminate our eyes." Upon this Zwingle decided for himself. He felt that his presence was necessary for the maintenance of peace in Zurich; but it was the welfare of all Christendom that summoned him to Marburg. Accordingly, raising his eyes towards heaven, he resolved to depart, exclaiming, "O God! Thou hast never abandoned us; Thou wilt perform thy will for thine own glory." RUMOURS IN ZURICH. As he was writing these words, a fourth message arrived from the Landgrave, more pressing still than the preceding ones. The Reformer sent the prince's letter to the burgomaster with his own; he then quitted his house privily by night, During the day the rumour of Zwingle's absence spread through Zurich, and his enemies were elated. "He has fled the country," said they; "he has run away with a pack of scoundrels!" "As he was crossing the river at Bruck," said others, "the boat upset and he was drowned." "The devil," affirmed many with a malicious smile, "appeared to him bodily and carried him off." Zwingle arrived safe and sound at Basle, THE REFORMERS AT MARBURG. Zwingle, after discussing with the Strasburg magistrates Luther, on his side, accompanied by Melancthon, Cruciger, and Jonas, had stopped on the Hessian frontier, declaring that nothing should induce him to cross it until he had a safe-conduct from the Landgrave. This document being obtained, Luther arrived at Alsfeld, where the scholars, kneeling under the Reformer's windows, chanted their pious hymns. He entered Marburg on the 30th September, a day after the arrival of the Swiss. Both parties went to inns; but they had scarcely alighted, before the Landgrave invited them to come and lodge in the castle, thinking by this means to bring the opposing parties closer together. Philip entertained them in a manner truly royal. PRELIMINARY DISCUSSIONS. The unhappy Carlstadt, who had begun all this dispute, was at that time in Friesland, preaching the spiritual presence But how bring Luther and Carlstadt face to face? and yet how repel the unhappy man? The Landgrave, to extricate himself from this difficulty, referred him to the Saxon Reformer. Carlstadt did not appear. Philip of Hesse desired that, previously to the public conference, the theologians should have a private interview. It was however considered dangerous, says a contemporary, for Zwingle and Luther, who were both naturally violent, to contend with one another at the very beginning; and as Œcolampadius and Melancthon were the mildest, they were apportioned to the roughest. MELANCTHON AND ZWINGLE. The principal contest took place in the room of Zwingle and Melancthon. "It is affirmed," said Melancthon to Zwingle, "that some among you speak of God after the manner of the Jews, as if Christ was not essentially God." "I think on the Holy Trinity," replied Zwingle, "with the Council of Nice and the Athanasian creed." "Councils! creeds! What does that mean?" asked Melancthon. "Have you not continually repeated that you recognise no other authority than that of Scripture?" "We have never rejected the councils," replied the Swiss Reformer, "when they are based on the authority of the Word of God. "But you teach," resumed Melancthon, "like Thomas Munster, that the Holy Ghost acts quite alone, independently of the sacraments and of the Word of God." "The Holy Ghost," replied Zwingle, "works in us justification by the Word, but by the Word preached and understood, by the soul and the marrow of the Word, by the mind and will of God clothed in human language." "At least," continued Melancthon, "you deny original sin, and make sin to consist only in actual and external works, like the Pelagians, the philosophers, and the Papists." This was the principal difficulty. "Since man naturally loves himself," replied Zwingle, "instead of loving God; in that there is a crime, a sin that condemns him." Luther had pursued the same method with Œcolampadius as Melancthon with Zwingle. The discussion had in particular turned on baptism. Luther complained that they would not acknowledge that by this simple sign a man became a member of the Church. "It is true," said Œcolampadius, "that we require faith—either an actual or a future faith. Why should we deny it? Who is a Christian, if it be not he who believes in Christ? However, I should be unwilling to deny that the water of baptism is in a certain sense a water of regeneration; for by it he whom the Church knew not becomes its child." These four theologians were in the very heat of their discussions, when domestics came to inform them that the prince's dinner was on the table. They immediately rose, and Zwingle and Melancthon meeting Luther and Œcolampadius, who were also quitting their chamber, the latter approached Zwingle, and whispered mournfully in his ear: "I have fallen a second time into the hands of Dr. Eck." It does not appear that the conference between Luther and Œcolampadius was resumed after dinner. Luther's manner held out little hope; but Melancthon and Zwingle returned to the discussion, and the Zurich doctor finding the Wittemberg professor escape him like an eel, as he said, and take "like Proteus a thousand different forms," seized a pen in order to fix his antagonist. Zwingle committed to writing whatever Melancthon dictated, and then wrote his reply, giving it to the other to read. Zwingle requested that it should be an open one; Luther opposed this. It was resolved that the princes, nobles, deputies, and theologians should be admitted; but a great crowd of citizens, and even many scholars and gentlemen, who had come from Frankfort, from the Rhine districts, from Strasburg, from Basle and other Swiss towns, were excluded. Brenz speaks of fifty or sixty hearers; Zwingle of twenty-four only. OPENING OF THE CONFERENCE. On a gentle elevation, watered by the Lahn, is situated an old castle, overlooking the city of Marburg; in the distance is seen the beautiful valley of the Lahn, and beyond, the mountain-tops rising one above another, until they are lost in the horizon. It was beneath the vaults and Gothic arches of an ancient hall in this castle, called the Knights' Hall, that the conference was to take place. On Saturday morning (2d October) the Landgrave took his seat in the hall, surrounded by his court, but so plainly dressed that no one would have taken him for a prince. He wished to avoid the appearance of playing the part of a Constantine in the affairs of the Church. Before him was a table which Luther, Zwingle, Melancthon, and Œcolampadius approached. Luther, taking a piece of chalk, bent over the velvet cloth which covered it, and steadily wrote four words in large characters. All eyes followed the movement of his hand, and soon they read Hoc est Corpus Meum. Behind these four theologians were seated their friends,—Hedio, Sturm, Funck, Frey, Eberard, Than, Jonas, Cruigerc, and others besides. Jonas cast an inquiring glance upon the Swiss: "Zwingle," said he, "has a certain rusticity and arrogance; ADDRESS OF CORDUE. Other sentiments animated those who contemplated this assembly from a distance. The great men who had led the people in their footsteps on the plains of Saxony, on the banks The Landgrave's chancellor, John Feige, having reminded them in the prince's name that the object of this colloquy was the re-establishment of union, "I protest," said Luther, "that I differ from my adversaries with regard to the doctrine of the Lord's Supper, and that I shall always differ from them. Christ has said, This is my body. Let them show me that a body is not a body. I reject reason, common sense, carnal arguments, and mathematical proofs. God is above mathematics. THE DISCUSSION—FIGURES. "It cannot be denied," said Œcolampadius, "that there are figures of speech in the Word of God; as John is Elias, the rock was Christ, I am the vine. The expression This is my body, is a figure of the same kind." Luther granted that All the various parties, however, of which the Christian Church is composed see a figure in these words. In fact, the Romanists declare that This is my body signifies not only "my body," but also "my blood," "my soul," and even "my Divinity," and "Christ wholly. "What Christ rejected in the sixth chapter of St. John, he could not admit in the words of the Eucharist. "Now Christ, who said to the people of Capernaum, The flesh profiteth nothing, rejected by those very words the oral manducation of his body. "Therefore he did not establish it at the institution of his Supper." Luther.—"I deny the minor (the second of these propositions); Christ has not rejected all oral manducation, but only a material manducation, like that of the flesh of oxen or of swine." Œcolampadius.—"There is danger in attributing too much to mere matter." SCRIPTURE EXPLAINED BY SCRIPTURE. Luther.—"Every thing that God commands becomes spirit and life. If it is by the Lord's order that we lift up a straw, in that very action we perform a spiritual work. We must pay attention to him who speaks, and not to what he says. God speaks: Men, worms, listen!—God commands: Œcolampadius.—"But since we have the spiritual eating, what need of the bodily one?" Luther.—"I do not ask what need we have of it; but I see it written, Eat, this is my body. We must therefore believe and do. We must do—we must do! At this point Zwingle interfered in the discussion. "We must explain Scripture by Scripture," said he. "We cannot admit two kinds of corporeal manducation, as if Jesus had spoken of eating, and the Capernaites of tearing in pieces, for the same word is employed in both cases. Jesus says that to eat his flesh corporeally profiteth nothing (John vi. 63); whence it would result that he had given us in the Supper a thing that would be useless to us.—Besides there are certain words that seem to me rather childish,—the dung, for instance. The oracles of the demons were obscure, not so are those of Jesus Christ." Luther.—"When Christ says the flesh profiteth nothing, he speaks not of his own flesh, but of ours." Zwingle.—"The soul is fed with the Spirit and not with the flesh." Luther.—"It is with the mouth that we eat the body; the soul does not eat it." Zwingle.—"Christ's body is therefore a corporeal nourishment, and not a spiritual." Luther.—"You are captious." Zwingle.—"Not so; but you utter contradictory things." Luther.—"If God should present me wild apples, I should THE SPIRITUAL EATING. Zwingle then quoted a great number of passages from the Holy Scripture, in which the sign is described by the very thing signified; and thence concluded that, considering our Lord's declaration in St. John, The flesh profiteth nothing, we must explain the words of the Eucharist in a similar manner. Many hearers were struck by these arguments. Among the Marburg professors sat the Frenchman Lambert; his tall and spare frame was violently agitated. He had been at first of Luther's opinion, Luther was, however, by no means shaken. "This is my body," repeated he, pointing with his finger to the words written before him. "This is my body. The devil himself shall not drive me from that. To seek to understand it, is to fall away from the faith." "But, doctor," said Zwingle, "St. John explains how Christ's body is eaten, and you will be obliged at last to leave off singing always the same song." AGITATION IN THE CONFERENCE. "You make use of unmannerly expressions," replied Luther Luther.—"Mr. Zwingle, you wish to stop my mouth by the arrogancy of your language. That passage has nothing to do here." Zwingle, hastily.—"Pardon me, doctor, that passage breaks your neck." Luther.—"Do not boast so much! You are in Hesse, and not in Switzerland. In this country we do not break people's necks." Then turning towards his friends, Luther complained bitterly of Zwingle; as if the latter had really wished to break his neck. "He makes use of soldier-like and blood-stained words," said he. Zwingle resumed: "In Switzerland also there is strict justice, and we break no man's neck without trial. That expression signifies merely that your cause is lost and hopeless." Great agitation prevailed in the Knights' Hall. The roughness of the Swiss and the obstinacy of the Saxon had come into collision. The Landgrave, fearing to behold the failure of his project of conciliation, nodded assent to Zwingle's explanation. "Doctor," said he to Luther, "you should not be offended at such common expressions." It was in vain: the agitated sea could not again be calmed. The prince therefore arose, and they all repaired to the banqueting hall. After dinner they resumed their tasks. "I believe," said Luther, "that Christ's body is in heaven, but I also believe that it is in the sacrament. It concerns me little whether that be against nature, provided that it is not against faith. METAPHOR. Œcolampadius, quoting a passage from St. Paul: "We know not Jesus Christ after the flesh." Luther.—"After the flesh means, in this passage, after our carnal affections." Œcolampadius.—"You will not allow that there is a metaphor in these words, This is my body, and yet you admit a synecdoche." Luther.—"Metaphor permits the existence of a sign only; but it is not so with synecdoche. If a man says he wishes to drink a bottle, we understand that he means the beer in the bottle. Christ's body is in the bread, as a sword in the scabbard, The discussion was proceeding in this manner, when Osiander, pastor of Nuremberg, Stephen Agricola, pastor of Augsburg, and Brenz, pastor of Halle in Swabia, author of the famous Syngramma, entered the hall. These also had been invited by the Landgrave. But Brenz, to whom Luther had written that he should take care not to appear, had no doubt by his indecision retarded his own departure as well as that of his friends. Places were assigned them near Luther and Melancthon. "Listen, and speak if necessary," they were told. They took but little advantage of this permission. "All of us, except Luther," said Melancthon, "were silent personages." The struggle continued. When Zwingle saw that exegesis was not sufficient for Luther, he added dogmatical theology to it, and, subsidiarily, natural philosophy. CHRIST'S HUMANITY FINITE. "I oppose you," said he, "with this article of our faith: Ascendit in cÆlum—he ascended into heaven. If Christ is in heaven as regards his body, how can he be in the bread? The Word of God teaches us that he was like his brethren Luther.—"Were I desirous of reasoning thus, I would undertake to prove that Jesus Christ had a wife; that he had black eyes, "There is no question of mathematics here," said Zwingle, "but of St. Paul, who writes to the Philippians, ??f?? d????? ?a??." Luther, interrupting him.—"Read it to us in Latin or in German, not in Greek." Zwingle (in Latin).—"Pardon me: for twelve years past I have made use of the Greek Testament only." Then continuing to read the passage, he concluded from it that Christ's humanity is of a finite nature like our own. Luther, pointing to the words written before him.—"Most dear sirs, since my Lord Jesus Christ says, Hoc est corpus meum, I believe that his body is really there." Here the scene grew animated. Zwingle started from his chair, sprung towards Luther, and striking the table before him, said to him: "You maintain then, doctor, that Christ's body is locally in the Eucharist; for you say Christ's body is really there—there—there," repeated Zwingle. "There is an adverb of place. Luther.—"I repeat that I have nothing to do with mathematical proofs. As soon as the words of consecration are pronounced over the bread, the body is there, however wicked be the priest who pronounces them." PRESENCE OF CHRIST'S BODY. Luther.—"This is not done through the priest's merits, but because of Christ's ordinance. I will not, when Christ's body is in question, hear speak of a particular place. I absolutely will not." Zwingle.—"Must every thing, then, exist precisely as you will it?" The Landgrave perceived that the discussion was growing hot; and as the repast was waiting, he broke off the contest. The next day was Sunday, the 3d October. The conference was continued, perhaps because of an epidemic (the Sweating Sickness) that had just broken out at Marburg, and did not allow of the conference being prolonged. Luther, returning to the discussion of the previous evening, said: "Christ's body is in the sacrament, but it is not there as in a place." Zwingle.—"Then it is not there at all." Luther.—"Sophists say that a body may very well be in several places at once. The universe is a body, and yet we cannot assert that it is in a particular place." Zwingle.—"Ah! you speak of sophists, doctor: really you are, after all, obliged to return to the onions and flesh-pots of Egypt. TESTIMONY OF AUGUSTIN. "Listen," said he, "to what Fulgentius, bishop of Ruspa, in Numidia, said, in the fifth century, to Trasamond, king of the Vandals: 'The Son of God took the attributes of true humanity, and did not lose those of true Divinity. Born in time, according to his mother, he lives in eternity according to the Divinity that he holds from the Father: coming from man, But Luther still replied: "It is written, This is my body." Zwingle, becoming impatient, said, "All that is idle wrangling. An obstinate disputant might also maintain this expression of our Saviour to his mother, Behold thy son, pointing to St. John. Vain would be all explanation; he would not cease to cry, No, no! He said, Ecce filius tuus, Behold thy son, behold thy son! Listen to a new testimony; it is from the great Augustin: 'Let us not think,' says he, 'that Christ, according to his human form, is present in every place; let us beware, in our endeavour to establish his Divinity, of taking away his truth from his body. Christ is now every where present like God; and yet, in consequence of his real body, he is in a definite part of heaven.'" "St. Augustin," replied Luther, "is not here speaking of the Eucharist. Christ's body is not in the Eucharist as in a place." Œcolampadius saw that he might take advantage of this assertion of Luther's. "The body of Christ," said he, "is not locally in the Eucharist, therefore no real body is there; for every one knows that the essence of a body is its existence in a place." Here finished the morning's discussion. LUTHER'S VIOLENCE. Œcolampadius, upon reflection, felt convinced that Luther's assertion might be looked upon as an approximation. "I remember," said he after dinner, "that the doctor conceded this morning that Christ's body was not in the sacrament as in "You will not make me take a step further," exclaimed Luther, who saw where they wished to drag him; "you have Fulgentius and Augustin on your side, but all the other Fathers are on ours." Œcolampadius, who seemed to the Wittembergers to be vexatiously precise, "We will not name them to you," "If this be the case," said Œcolampadius, "we had better leave off the discussion. But I will first declare, that, if we quote the Fathers, it is only to free our doctrine from the reproach of novelty, and not to support our cause by their authority." No better definition can be given of the legitimate use of the Doctors of the Church. END OF THE CONFERENCE. There was no reason, in fact, for prolonging the conference. "As Luther was of an intractable and imperious disposition," says even his great apologist Seckendorf, "he did The Chancellor, alarmed at this termination of the colloquy, exhorted the theologians to come to an understanding. "I know but one means for that," said Luther; "and this it is: Let our adversaries believe as we do." "We cannot," replied the Swiss. "Well then," replied Luther, "I abandon you to God's judgment, and pray that he will enlighten you." "We will do the same," added Œcolampadius. While these words were passing, Zwingle was silent, motionless, and deeply moved; and the liveliness of his affections, of which he had given more than one proof during the conference, was then manifested in a very different manner. He burst into tears in the presence of all. The conference was ended. It had been in reality more tranquil than the documents seem to show, or perhaps the chroniclers appreciated such matters differently from ourselves. "With the exception of a few sallies, all had passed off quietly, in a courteous manner, and with very great gentleness," says an eye-witness. THE LANDGRAVE MEDIATES. The contagion that had suddenly broken out in Marburg was creating frightful ravages, and filled everybody with alarm. Philip of Hesse had all along shown the most constant attention, and each one imagined him to be on his side. "I would rather place my trust in the simple words of Christ, than in the subtle thoughts of man," was a remark he made, according to Jonas; The time of departure drew near, and nothing had been done. The Landgrave toiled earnestly at the union, as Luther wrote to his wife. A final general meeting took place and undoubtedly the Church has seldom witnessed one of greater solemnity. Luther and Zwingle, Saxony and Switzerland, met for the last time. The Sweating Sickness was carrying off men around them by thousands; "Let us confess our union in all things in which we agree," said Zwingle; "and as for the rest, let us remember that we are brothers. There will never be peace between the Churches if, while we maintain the grand doctrine of salvation by faith, we cannot differ on secondary points." "Yes, yes!" exclaimed the Landgrave; "you agree! Give then a testimony of your unity, and recognise one another as brothers."—"There is no one upon earth with whom I more desire to be united, than with you," said Zwingle, approaching the Wittemberg doctors. "Acknowledge them! acknowledge them as brothers!" continued the Landgrave. SECTARIAN SPIRIT OF THE GERMAN. A brief consultation took place among the Wittemberg doctors. Luther, Melancthon, Agricola, Brenz, Jonas, and Osiander, conferred together. Convinced that their peculiar doctrine on the Eucharist was essential to salvation, they considered all those who rejected it as without the pale of the faith. "What folly!" The Swiss were far from partaking of this sectarian spirit. "We think," said Bucer, "that your doctrine strikes at the glory of Jesus Christ, who now reigns at the right hand of the Father. But seeing that in all things you acknowledge your dependence on the Lord, we look at your conscience, which compels you to receive the doctrine you profess, and we do not doubt that you belong to Christ." "And we," said Luther—"we declare to you once more that our conscience opposes our receiving you as brethren."—"If such is the case," replied Bucer, "it would be folly to ask it." "I am exceedingly astonished that you wish to consider me as your brother," pursued Luther. "It shows clearly that you do not attach much importance to your own doctrine." BROTHERHOOD REJECTED. "Take your choice," said Bucer, proposing a dilemma to the Reformer: "either you should not acknowledge as brethren those who differ from you in any point—and if so, you will not find a single brother in your own ranks The Swiss had exhausted their solicitations. "We are conscious," said they, "of having acted as if in the presence of God. Posterity will be our witness." Luther was staggered, and conferred anew with his colleagues. "Let us beware," said he to his friends, "of wiping our noses too roughly, lest blood should come." Then turning to Zwingle and Œcolampadius, they said: "We acknowledge you as friends; we do not consider you as brothers and members of Christ's Church. The hearts of Zwingle, Œcolampadius, and Bucer, were ready to burst, Luther then advanced towards the Swiss, and said: "We consent, and I offer you the hand of peace and charity." The Swiss rushed in great emotion towards the Wittembergers, and all shook hands. LUTHER'S REPORT OF THE CONFERENCE. It was desirable to confirm this important result by a report. "We must let the christian world know," said the Landgrave, "that, except the manner of the presence of the body and blood in the Eucharist, you are agreed in all the articles of faith." Luther retired to his closet, lost in thought, uneasy, and finding the task very difficult. "On the one hand," said he, "I should like to spare their weakness; UNITY OF DOCTRINE. These articles are of importance. The two doctrines that were evolved in Switzerland and in Saxony, independently of each other, were brought together and compared. If they were of man, there would be found in them a servile uniformity, or a remarkable opposition. This was not the case. Luther took his paper, and reading the first article, said: "First, we believe that there is one sole, true, and natural God, Creator of heaven and earth and of all creatures; and that this same God, one in essence and in nature, is threefold in person, that is to say, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as was declared in the Nicene Council, and as all the Christian Church professes." To this the Swiss gave their assent. They were agreed also on the divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ; on his death and resurrection, on original sin, justification by faith, the operation of the Holy Ghost and of the Word of God, baptism, good works, confession, civil order, and tradition. Thus far all were united. The Wittembergers could not recover from their astonishment. The Reformer resumed: "We all believe with regard to the Lord's Supper, that it ought to be celebrated in both kinds, according to the primitive institution; that the Mass is not a work by which a Christian obtains pardon for another man, whether dead or alive; that the sacrament of the altar is the sacrament of the very body and very blood of Jesus Christ; and that the spiritual manducation of this body and blood is specially necessary to every true Christian." UNITY AMONG DIVERSITY. It was now the turn of the Swiss to be astonished. Luther continued: "In like manner, as to the use of the sacrament, we are agreed that, like the Word, it was ordained of Almighty God, in order that weak consciences might be excited by the Holy Ghost to faith and charity." The joy of the Swiss was redoubled. Luther continued: "And although at present we are not agreed on the question whether the real body and blood of Christ are corporeally present in the bread and wine, yet both the interested parties shall cherish more and more a truly christian charity for one another, so far as conscience permits; and we will all earnestly implore the Lord to condescend by his Spirit to confirm us in the sound doctrine." The Swiss obtained what they had asked: unity in diversity. It was immediately resolved to hold a solemn meeting for the signature of the articles. They were read over again. Œcolampadius, Zwingle, Bucer, and Hedio, signed them first on one copy; while Luther, Melancthon, Jonas, Osiander, Brentz, and Agricola, wrote their names on the other; both parties then signed the copy of their adversaries, and this important document was sent to the press. REMARKS. Thus the Reformation had made a sensible step at Marburg. The opinion of Zwingle on the spiritual presence, and of Luther on the bodily presence, are both found in christian antiquity; but both the extreme doctrines have been always rejected: that of the Rationalists, on the one hand, who behold in the Eucharist nothing but a simple commemoration; and of the Papists, on the other, who adore in it a transubstantiation. These are both errors; while the doctrines There was another advantage. The evangelical divines at Marburg marked with one accord their separation from the Papacy. Zwingle was not without fear (unfounded, no doubt) with regard to Luther: these fears were dispersed. It was not, then, in vain that, after the protest of Spire, Philip of Hesse endeavoured, at Marburg, to bring together the friends of the Gospel. But, if the religious object was partially attained, the political object almost entirely failed. They could not arrive at a confederation of Switzerland and Germany. Nevertheless, Philip of Hesse and Zwingle, with a view to this, had numerous secret conversations, which made the Saxons uneasy, as they were not less opposed to Zwingle's politics than to his theology. "When you have reformed the peasant's cap," said Jonas to him, "you will also claim to reform the sable hat of princes." The Landgrave, having collected all the doctors at his table on the last day, they shook hands in a friendly manner, LUTHER'S DEJECTION. On Tuesday the 5th October, the Landgrave quitted Marburg early, and in the afternoon of the same day Luther departed, accompanied by his colleagues; but he did not go forth as a conqueror. A spirit of dejection and alarm had taken possession of his mind. STATE OF POLITICAL AFFAIRS. This state might partly arise from Luther's want of brotherly feeling; but it had other causes also. Soliman had come to fulfil a promise made to King Ferdinand. The latter having demanded, in 1528, the surrender of Belgrade, the Luther did not keep in the background. He had already written against the Turks, and now he published a Battle Sermon. "Mahomet," said he, "exalts Christ as being without sin; but he denies that he was the true God; therefore he is his enemy. Alas! to this hour the world is such that it seems everywhere to rain disciples of Mahomet. Two men ought to oppose the Turks: the first is Christian, that is to say, Prayer; the second is Charles, that is to say, The sword." And in another place, "I know my dear Germans well, fat and well-fed swine; as soon as the danger is removed, they think only of eating and sleeping. Wretched man! if thou dost not take up arms the Turk will come; he will carry thee away into his Turkey; he will there sell thee like a dog; and thou shalt serve him night and day, under the rod and the cudgel, for a glass of water and a morsel of bread. Think on this; be converted, and implore the Lord not to give thee the Turk for thy schoolmaster." VARIETY OF CHARACTER. The two arms pointed out by Luther were, in reality, vigorously employed; and Soliman, perceiving at last that he was not the "soul of the universe," as his poets had styled him, But Luther imagined that, when retiring from before the walls of Vienna, "the Turk, or at least his god, who is the devil," had rushed upon him; and that it was this enemy of Christ and of Christ's servants that he was destined to combat and vanquish in his frightful agony. Without, however, overlooking the essential qualities of a Reformer that Luther manifested at Marburg, there are in God's work, as in a drama, different parts. What various characters we see among the Apostles and among the Reformers! It has been said that the same characters and the same parts were assigned to St. Peter and to Luther, at the time of the Formation and of the Reformation of the Church. But there was perhaps in the Reformer a characteristic that was not found to the same degree in the Apostle; this is firmness. EXASPERATION OF THE PAPISTS. As for Zwingle, he quitted Marburg in alarm at Luther's intolerance. "Lutheranism," wrote he to the Landgrave, "will lie as heavy upon us as Popery." If it should be asked on which side the victory really was, perhaps we ought to say that Luther assumed the air of a conqueror, but Zwingle was so in reality. The conference propagated through all Germany the doctrine of the Swiss, which had been little known there till that time, and it was adopted by an immense number of persons. Among these were Laffards, first rector of St. Martin's School at Brunswick, Dionysius Melander, Justus Lening, Hartmann, Ibach, and many more. The Landgrave himself, a short time before his death, declared that this conference had induced him to renounce the oral manducation of Christ. Still the dominant principle at this celebrated epoch was unity. The adversaries are the best judges. The Roman-catholics were exasperated that the Lutherans and Zwinglians had agreed on all the essential points of faith. "They have a fellow-feeling against the Catholic Church," said they, "as Herod and Pilate against Jesus Christ." The enthusiastic sects said the same, THREATENING PROSPECTS. Erelong a greater agitation eclipsed all these rumours, and events which threatened the whole evangelical body, proclaimed its great and intimate union with new force. The Emperor, it was everywhere said, exasperated by the Protest of Spire, has landed at Genoa with the pomp of a Such was the news that then agitated all Germany. The grand question was, whether the Protest of Spire could be maintained against the power of the Emperor and of the Pope. This was seen in the year 1530. |