History of the Great Reformation Part 32

[592] Grosser und hoher Werk. (Mathesius, Hist. p. 93-98.)

The Emperor, having descended from his throne, approached the Protestant princes, and begged them in a low tone not to publish the Confession;[593] they acceded to his request, and every one withdrew.

[593] In still angeredet und gebethen. (Corp. Ref. ii. p. 143.)

[Sidenote: LUTHER DEMANDS RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.]

VIII. The Romanists had expected nothing like this. Instead of a hateful controversy, they had heard a striking confession of Jesus Christ; the most hostile minds were consequently disarmed. "We would not for a great deal," was the remark on every side, "have missed being present at this reading."[594] The effect was so prompt, that for an instant the cause was thought to be definitively gained. The bishops themselves imposed silence on the sophisms and clamours of the Fabers and the Ecks.[595] "All that the Lutherans have said is true,"

exclaimed the Bishop of Augsburg; "we cannot deny it."[596]--"Well, doctor," said the Duke of Bavaria to Eck, in a reproachful tone, "you had given me a very different idea of this doctrine and of this affair."[597] This was the general cry; accordingly the sophists, as they called them, were embarra.s.sed. "But, after all," said the Duke of Bavaria to them, "can you refute by sound reasons the Confession made by the Elector and his allies?"--"With the writings of the Apostles and Prophets--no!" replied Eck; "but with those of the Fathers and of the Councils--yes!"[598] "I understand," quickly replied the Duke; "I understand. The Lutherans, according to you, are in scripture; and we are outside."

[594] Brucks Geschichte der Handl. in den Sachen des Glaubens zu Augsbourg. (Forstemann Archiv. p. 50.)

[595] Multi episcopi ad pacem sunt inclinati. (L. Epp. iv. p. 70.)

[596] Illa quae recitata sunt, vera sunt, sunt pura veritas; non possumus inficiari. (Corp. Ref. ii. p. 154.)

[597] So hab man Im vor nicht gesagt. (Mathes. Hist. p. 99.)

[598] Mit Propheten und Aposteln schriften----nicht. (Ibid.)

The Archbishop Hermann, elector of Cologne, the Count-palatine Frederick, Duke Erick of Brunswick-Luneburg, Duke Henry of Mecklenburg, and the Dukes of Pomerania, were gained over to the truth; and Hermann sought erelong to establish it in his electorate.

The impression produced in other countries by the Confession was perhaps still greater. Charles sent copies to all the courts; it was translated into French, Italian,[599] and even into Spanish and Portuguese; it circulated through all Europe, and thus accomplished what Luther had said: "Our Confession will penetrate into every court, and the sound thereof will go through the whole earth."[600] It destroyed the prejudices that had been entertained, gave Europe a sounder idea of the Reformation, and prepared the most distant countries to receive the seeds of the Gospel.

[599] Caesar sibi fecit nostram confessionem reddi Italica et Gallica lingua. (Corp. Ref. ii. p. 155.) The French translation will be found in _Forstemann's Urkunden_, i. p. 357.--_Articles princ.i.p.aulx de la foy._

[600] Perrumpet in omnes aulas Principum et Regum. (L. Epp. iv. p.

96.)

[Sidenote: LUTHER'S DOMINANT IDEA.]

Then Luther's voice began to be heard again. He saw that it was a decisive moment, and that he ought now to give the impulse that would gain religious liberty. He boldly demanded this liberty of the Roman-catholic princes of the diet;[601] and at the same time endeavoured to make his friends quit Augsburg. Jesus Christ had been boldly confessed. Instead of that long series of quarrels and discussions which was about to become connected with this courageous act, Luther would have wished for a striking rupture, even should he seal with his blood the testimony rendered to the Gospel. The stake, in his idea, would have been the real catastrophe of this tragedy. "I absolve you from this diet, in the name of the Lord,"[602] wrote he to his friends. "Now home, return home, again I say home! Would to G.o.d that I were the sacrifice offered to this new council, as John Huss at Constance!"[603]

[601] Epistle to the Elector of Mentz. (Ibid. p. 74.)

[602] Igitur absolvo vos in nomine Domini ab isto conventu. (L. Epp.

iv. p. 96.)

[603] Vellem ego sacrificium esse hujus novissimi concilii, sicut Johannes Huss Constantiae. (Ibid. p. 110.)

But Luther did not expect so glorious a conclusion: he compared the diet to a drama. First, there had been the exposition, then the prologue, afterwards the action, and now he waited for the tragic catastrophe, according to some, but which, in his opinion, would be merely comic.[604] Everything, he thought, would be sacrificed to political peace, and dogmas would be set aside. This proceeding, which, even in our own days, would be in the eyes of the world the height of wisdom, was in Luther's eyes the height of folly.

[604] Sed catastrophen illi tragicam, nos comicam expectamus. (Ibid.

p. 85.)

[Sidenote: SONG OF TRIUMPH.]

It was the intervention of Charles which especially alarmed him. To withdraw the Church from all secular influence, and the governments from all clerical influence, was then one of the dominant ideas of the great Reformer. "You see," wrote he to Melancthon, "that they oppose to our cause the same argument as at Worms, to wit, still and for ever the judgment of the Emperor. Thus Satan is always harping on the same string, and that emaciated strength[605] of the civil power is the only one which this myriad-wiled spirit is able to find against Jesus Christ." But Luther took courage, and boldly raised his head. "Christ is coming," continued he; "he is coming, sitting at the right hand......Of whom? not of the Emperor, or we should long ago have been lost, but of G.o.d himself: let us fear nothing. Christ is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. If he loses this t.i.tle at Augsburg, he must also lose it in all the earth, and in all the heavens."

[605] Sic Satan chorda semper oberrat eadem, et mille-artifex ille non habet contra Christum, nisi unum illud elumbe robur. (Ibid. p. 100.)

Thus a song of triumph was, on the part of the Confessors of Augsburg, the first movement that followed this courageous act, unique doubtless in the annals of the Church. Some of their adversaries at first shared in their triumph, and the others were silent; but a powerful reaction took place erelong.

On the following morning, Charles having risen in ill-humour and tired for want of sleep, the first of his ministers who appeared in the imperial apartments was the Count-palatine, as wearied and embarra.s.sed as his master. "We must yield something," said he to Charles; "and I would remind your majesty that the Emperor Maximilian was willing to grant the two kinds in the Eucharist, the marriage of priests, and liberty with respect to the fasts." Charles the Fifth eagerly seized at this proposition as a means of safety. But Granvelle and Campeggio soon arrived, who induced him to withdraw it.

[Sidenote: AN INGENUOUS CONFESSION.]

Rome, bewildered for a moment by the blow that had struck her, rose up again with energy. "I stay with the mother," exclaimed the Bishop of Wartzburg, meaning by it the Church of Rome; "the mother, the mother!"

"My lord," wittily replied Brenz, "pray, do not, for the mother, forget either the Father or the Son!"--"Well! I grant it," replied the Archbishop of Salzburg to one of his friends, "I also should desire the communion in both kinds, the marriage of priests, the reformation of the Ma.s.s, liberty as regards food and other traditions......But that it should be a monk, a poor monk, who presumes to reform us all, is what we cannot tolerate."[606]--"I should have no objection," said another bishop, "for the Divine worship to be celebrated everywhere as it is at Wittemberg; but we can never consent that this new doctrine should issue from such a corner."[607] And Melancthon insisting with the Archbishop of Salzburg on the necessity of a reform of the clergy: "Well! and how can you wish to reform us?" said the latter abruptly: "we priests have always been good for nothing." This is one of the most ingenuous confessions that the Reformation has torn from the priests. Every day fanatical monks and doctors, brimful of sophisms, were seen arriving at Augsburg, who endeavoured to inflame the hatred of the Emperor and of the princes.[608] "If we formerly had friends," said Melancthon on the morrow of the Confession, "now we possess them no longer. We are here alone, abandoned by all, and contending against measureless dangers."[609]

[606] Sed quod unus monachus debeat nos reformare omnes. (Corp. Ref.

ii. p. 155.)

[607] Aus dem Loch und Winckel. (L. Opp. xx. p. 307.)

[608] Quotidie confluunt huc sophistae ac monachi. (Corp. Ref. ii. p.

141.)

[609] Nos hic soli ac deserti. (Ibid.)

[Sidenote: FAILURE OF THE POPISH INTRIGUES.]

Charles, impelled by these contrary parties, affected a great indifference. But without permitting it to be seen, he endeavoured, meanwhile, to examine this affair thoroughly. "Let there not be a word wanting," he had said to his secretary, when requiring from him a French translation of the Confession. "He does not allow anything to be observed," whispered the Protestants one to another, convinced that Charles was gained; "for if it were known, he would lose his Spanish states: let us maintain the most profound secresy." But the Emperor's courtiers, who perceived these strange hopes, smiled and shook their heads. "If you have money," said Schepper, one of the secretaries of state, to Jonas and Melancthon, "it will be easy for you to buy from the Italians whatever religion you please;[610] but if your purse is empty, your cause is lost." Then a.s.suming a more serious tone: "It is impossible," said he, "for the Emperor, surrounded as he is by bishops and cardinals, to approve of any other religion than that of the Pope."

[610] Nos, si pecuniam haberemus, facile religionem quam vellemus emturos ab Italis. (Corp. Ref. ii. p. 156.)

This was soon evident. On the day after the confession (Sunday, 26th June), before the breakfast hour,[611] all the deputations from the imperial cities were collected in the Emperor's antechamber. Charles, desirous of bringing back the states of the Empire to unity, began with the weakest. "Some of the cities," said the count palatine, "have not adhered to the last Diet of Spire: the Emperor calls upon them to submit to it."

[611] Heute vor dem morgenessen. (Ibid. p. 143.)

Strasburg, Nuremberg, Constance, Ulm, Reutlingen, Heilbronn, Memmingen, Lindau, Kempten, Windsheim, Isny, and Weissemburg, which were thus summoned to renounce the famous protest, found the moment curiously chosen. They asked for time.

The position was complicated; discord had been thrown in the midst of the cities, and intrigue was labouring daily to increase it.[612] It was not only between the Popish and the Evangelical cities that disagreement existed; but also between the Zwinglian and the Lutheran cities, and even among the latter, those which had not adhered to the Confession of Augsburg manifested great ill-humour towards the deputies of Reutlingen and Nuremberg. This proceeding of Charles the Fifth was therefore skilfully calculated; for it was based on the old axiom, _Divide et impera_.

[612] Es sind unter uns Stadten, viel practica und Selt Sames wesens.

(Corp. Ref. ii p. 151.)

But the enthusiasm of faith overcame all these stratagems, and on the next day (27th June), the deputies from the cities transmitted a reply to the Emperor, in which they declared that they could not adhere to the _Recess_ of Spire "without disobeying G.o.d, and without compromising the salvation of their souls."[613]

[613] Ohne Verletzung der gewissen gegen Gott. (F. Urkunden. ii. P.

6.)

[Sidenote: THE EMPEROR'S COUNCIL.]

Charles, who desired to observe a just medium, more from policy than from equity, wavered between so many contrary convictions. Desirous nevertheless of essaying his mediating influence, he convoked the states faithful to Rome on Sunday, 26th June, shortly after his conference with the cities.

All the princes were present: even the Pope's legate and the most influential Roman divines appeared at this council, to the great scandal of the Protestants. "What reply should be made to the Confession?" was the question set by Charles the Fifth to the senate that surrounded him.[614]