History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume III Part 21

[315] Nondum triginta annorum. Ibid.

THE MARTYRS.--"We believe in the Christian Church, but not in your Church."

Half an hour elapsed: the inquisitors hesitated, and hoped that the prospect of so terrible a death would intimidate these youths. But alone tranquil in the midst of the turbulent crowd in the square, they sang psalms, stopping from time to time to declare boldly: "We will die for the name of Jesus Christ."

"Be converted--be converted," cried the inquisitors, "or you will die in the name of the devil."--"No," replied the martyrs, "we will die like Christians, and for the truth of the Gospel."

[Sidenote: MARTYRDOM.]

The pile was lighted. While the flames were ascending slowly, a heavenly peace filled their hearts, and one of them went so far as to say: "I seem to be lying on a bed of roses."[316] The solemn hour was come; death was near: the two martyrs cried with a loud voice: "_O Domine Jesu! Fili David! miserere nostri!_ O Lord Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us!" They then began solemnly to repeat the Apostle's Creed.[317] At last the flames reached them, burning the cords that fastened them to the stake, before their breath was gone. One of them, taking advantage of this liberty, fell on his knees in the midst of the fire,[318] and thus worshipping his Master, exclaimed, clasping his hands: "Lord Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us!" The flames now surrounded their bodies: they sang the _Te Deum_; soon their voices were stifled, and nothing but their ashes remained.

[316] Dit schijnen mij als roosen te zijn. Brandt, Hist. der Reformatie, i. 79.

[317] Admoto igne, canere cperunt symbolum fidei, says Erasmus.

Epp. i. 1278.

[318] Da ist der eine im Feuer auf die Knie gefallen. L. Opp. xviii.

481.

This execution had lasted four hours. It was on the 1st of July 1523 that the first martyrs of the Reformation thus laid down their lives for the Gospel.

All good men shuddered when they heard of it. The future filled them with the keenest apprehension. "The executions have begun," said Erasmus.[319]--"At last," exclaimed Luther, "Christ is gathering some fruits of our preaching, and has created new martyrs."

[319] Cpta est carnificina. Epp. i. 1429.

But the joy Luther felt at the constancy of these two young Christians was troubled by the thought of Lambert. The latter was the most learned of the three; he had succeeded to Probst's station as preacher at Antwerp. Agitated in his dungeon, and alarmed at the prospect of death, he was still more terrified by his conscience, which reproached him with cowardice, and urged him to confess the Gospel. He was soon delivered from his fears, and after boldly proclaiming the truth, died like his brethren.[320]

[320] Quarta post exustus est tertius frater Lambertus. L. Epp. ii.

361.

[Sidenote: LUTHER'S SYMPATHY.]

A rich harvest sprang from the blood of these martyrs. Brussels turned towards the Gospel.[321] "Wherever Aleander raises a pile,"

said Erasmus, "there he seems to have been sowing heretics."[322]

[321] Ea mors multos fecit Lutheranos. Er. Epp. p. 952; Tum demum cpit civitas favere Luthero. Ibid. p. 1676. Erasmus to Duke George; Ea civitas antea purissima. Ibid. p. 1430.

[322] Ubic.u.mque fumos excitavit nuntius, ibi diceres fuisse factam heresean s.e.m.e.ntem. Ibid.

"Your bonds are mine," said Luther; "your dungeons and your burning piles are mine![323]......We are all with you, and the Lord is at our head!" He then commemorated the death of these young monks in a beautiful hymn, and soon, in Germany and in the Netherlands, in city and country, these strains were heard communicating in every direction an enthusiasm for the faith of these martyrs.

[323] Vestra vincula mea sunt, vestri carceres et ignes mei sunt. L.

Epp. ii. 464.

No! no! their ashes shall not die!

But, borne to every land, Where'er their sainted dust shall fall Up springs a holy band.

Though Satan by his might may kill, And stop their powerful voice, They triumph o'er him in their death, And still in Christ rejoice.

CHAPTER V.

The New Pope, Clement VII.--The Legate Campeggio--Diet of Nuremberg--Demand of the Legate--Reply of the Diet--A Secular Council projected--Alarm and Exertions of the Pope--Bavaria--League of Ratisbon--Severity and Reforms--Political Schism--Opposition--Intrigues of Rome--Decree of Burgos--Rupture.

Adrian would doubtless have persisted in these violent measures; the inutility of his exertions to arrest the reform, his orthodoxy, his zeal, his austerity, and even his conscientiousness, would have made him a cruel persecutor. But this Providence did not permit. He died on the 14th of September 1523, and the Romans, overjoyed at being delivered from this stern foreigner, crowned his physician's door with flowers, and wrote this inscription over it: "To the saviour of his country."

[Sidenote: CLEMENT VII.--CAMPEGGIO.]

Giulio de Medici, cousin to Leo X., succeeded Adrian VI., under the name of Clement VII. From the day of his election there was no more question of religious reform. The new pope, like many of his predecessors, thought only of upholding the privileges of the papacy, and of employing its resources for his own aggrandizement.

Anxious to repair Adrian's blunders, Clement sent to Nuremberg a legate of his own character, one of the most skilful prelates of his court, a man of great experience in public business, and acquainted with almost all the princes of Germany. Cardinal Campeggio, for such was his name, after a magnificent reception in the Italian cities on his road, soon perceived the change that had taken place in the empire. When he entered Augsburg, he desired, as was usual, to give his benediction to the people, but they burst into laughter. This was enough: he entered Nuremberg privately, without going to the church of St. Sebaldus, where the clergy awaited him. No priests in sacerdotal ornaments came out to meet him; no cross was solemnly borne before him;[324] one would have thought him some private individual pa.s.sing along the streets of the city. Everything betokened that the reign of the papacy was drawing to an end.

[324] Communi habitu, quod per sylvas et campos ierat per mediam urbem......sine clero, sine praevia cruce. Cochl. p. 82.

The Diet of Nuremberg resumed its sittings in the month of January 1524. A storm threatened the national government, owing to the firmness of Frederick. The Swabian league, the wealthiest cities of the empire, and particularly Charles V., had sworn his destruction. He was accused of favouring the new heresy. Accordingly it was resolved to remodify this administration without retaining one of its former members. Frederick, overwhelmed with grief, immediately quitted Nuremberg.

[Sidenote: THE LEGATE'S REPLY.]

The festival of Easter was approaching. Osiander and the evangelical preachers redoubled their zeal. The former openly declared in his sermons that Antichrist entered Rome the very day when Constantine left it to fix his residence at Constantinople. The consecration of the palm-branches and many other ceremonies of this feast were omitted: four thousand persons received the sacrament in both kinds, and the Queen of Denmark, the emperor's sister, received it publicly, in like manner, at the castle. "Ah!" exclaimed the Archduke Frederick, losing his temper, "would that you were not my sister!"--"The same womb bore us," replied the queen, "and I will sacrifice everything to please you, except the Word of G.o.d."[325]

[325] Wolle sich des Wortes Gottes halten. Seckend. p. 613.

Campeggio shuddered as he witnessed such audacity; but affecting to despise the laughter of the populace and the discourses of the preachers, and resting on the authority of the emperor and of the pope, he reminded the diet of the edict of Worms, and called upon them to put down the Reformation by force. At this language many of the princes and deputies gave vent to their indignation: "What has become of the list of grievances presented to the pope by the German nation?"

said they to Campeggio. The legate, following his instructions, a.s.sumed an air of candour and surprise, and answered, "Three copies of that list reached Rome; but we have received no official communication of it,[326] and neither the pope nor the college of cardinals could believe that such a paper could have emanated from your lordships. We thought that it came from some private individuals who had published it out of hatred to the court of Rome. In consequence of this I have no instructions on the matter."

[326] Tria solum exemplaria fuisse perlata Romam, ad quosdam privatim, ex iis unum sibi contigisse. Sleidan. lib. iv.

The diet was incensed at this reply. If it is thus the pope receives their representations, they will also know how to listen to those he addresses to them. "The people," said many deputies, "are thirsting for the Word of G.o.d; and to take it away, as the edict of Worms enjoins, would cause torrents of blood to flow."

[Sidenote: PLAN OF A SECULAR COUNCIL.]

The diet immediately made preparations for replying to the pope. As they could not repeal the edict of Worms, a clause was added to it rendering it ineffectual. They said, "The people must conform with it _as far as possible_."[327] Now many states had declared it impossible to enforce it. At the same time, raising up the importunate shade of the councils of Constance and of Basle, the diet demanded the convocation of a general council of Christendom to be held in Germany.

[327] Quantum eis possibile sit. Cochlus, p. 84.

The friends of the Reformation did not confine themselves to this.

What could they expect from a council which perhaps would never be convoked, and which, under all circ.u.mstances, would be composed of bishops from every nation? Will Germany submit her anti-Romish inclinations to prelates from France, Spain, Italy, and England? The government of the nation had already been abolished; for it a national a.s.sembly should be subst.i.tuted to protect the interests of the people.

In vain did Hannaart, the Spanish envoy from Charles V., and all the partisans of Rome and the emperor, endeavour to oppose this suggestion; the majority of the diet was immovable. It was agreed that a diet, a secular a.s.sembly, should meet at Spires, in the month of November, to regulate all religious questions, and that the states should immediately instruct their theologians to draw up a list of the controverted points to be laid before that august a.s.sembly.

They forthwith applied to their task. Each province drew up its memorial, and never had Rome been threatened with a more terrible explosion. Franconia, Brandenburg, Henneburg, Windsheim, Wertheim, and Nuremberg, declared in favour of the Gospel, and against the seven sacraments, the abuses of the ma.s.s, the adoration of saints, and the papal supremacy. "Here is coin of the right stamp," said Luther. Not one of the questions that are agitating the popular mind will be pa.s.sed by in this national council. The majority will carry general measures. The unity, independence, and reformation of Germany will be safe.

[Sidenote: THE POPE'S EFFORTS--BAVARIA.]

On being apprized of this, the pope could not restrain his wrath.