History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume I Part 46

[611] "Ne tam cito in Galliam irem." (Luth. Ep. i, p. 195.)

[612] "Firma Christus propositum non cendi in me." (Ibid.)

Luther at this time published the "_Acts of the Conference at Augsburg_." Spalatin, on the part of the Elector, had written him not to do it; but it was too late. After the publication had taken place the prince approved of it; "Great G.o.d!" said Luther in the preface, "what new, what astonishing crime, to seek light and truth! And more especially to seek them in the Church, in other words, in the kingdom of truth." In a letter to Link he says, "I send you my _Acts_. They are more cutting, doubtless, than the legate expected; but my pen is ready to give birth to far greater things. I know not myself whence those thoughts come. In my opinion the affair is not even commenced;[613] so far are the grandees of Rome from being ent.i.tled to hope it is ended. I will send you what I have written, in order that you may see whether I have divined well in thinking that the Antichrist of which the Apostle Paul speaks is now reigning in the court of Rome. I believe I am able to demonstrate that it is at this day worse than the very Turks."

[613] "Res ista necdum habet initium suum meo judicio." (Luth. Ep. i, p. 19.)

Ominous rumours reached Luther from all quarters. One of his friends wrote to him, that the new envoy of Rome had received orders to seize him, and deliver him up to the pope. Another told him, that in travelling he had fallen in with a courtier, and the conversation having turned on the affairs of Germany, the courtier declared that he had come under an obligation to deliver Luther into the hands of the sovereign pontiff. "But," wrote the Reformer, "the more their fury and violence increase, the less I tremble."[614]

[614] "Quo illi magis furunt, et vi affectant viam, eo minus ego terreor." (Ibid., p. 191.)

At Rome there was great dissatisfaction with Cajetan. The chagrin which they felt at the failure of the affair at first turned upon him.

The Roman courtiers thought themselves ent.i.tled to reproach him with a want of that prudence and finesse which, if they are to be believed, const.i.tute the first quality of a legate, and with having failed on so important an occasion, to give pliancy to his scholastic theology. He is wholly to blame, said they. His lumbering pedantry has spoiled all.

Of what use was it to irritate Luther by insults and menaces, instead of gaining him over by the promise of a good bishopric, or even of a Cardinal's hat.[615] These hirelings judged the Reformer by themselves. However, it was necessary to repair this blunder. On the one hand, Rome must give her decision, and, on the other, due court must be paid to the Elector, who might be of great use in the election of an emperor, an event which must shortly take place.

[615] Sarpi, Council of Trent, p. 8.

As it was impossible for Roman ecclesiastics to suspect what const.i.tuted the strength and courage of Luther, they imagined that the Elector was much more implicated in the affair than he really was. The pope, therefore, resolved to follow another line of conduct. He caused his legate in Germany to publish a bull, confirming the doctrine of indulgences in the very points in which they were attacked, but without mentioning either the Elector or Luther. As the Reformer had always expressed his readiness to submit to the decision of the Roman Church, the pope thought that he must now either keep his word, or stand openly convicted as a disturber of the peace of the Church, and a contemner of the holy Apostolic See. In either case it seemed that the pope must gain. But nothing is gained by obstinately opposing the truth. In vain had the pope threatened to excommunicate every man who should teach otherwise than he ordered; the light was not arrested by such orders. The wise plan would have been to curb the pretensions of the venders of indulgences. This decree of Rome was therefore a new blunder. By legalising clamant errors, it irritated all the wise, and made it impossible for Luther to return. "It was thought," says a Roman Catholic historian, a great enemy of the Reformation,[616] "that this bull had been made solely for the interest of the pope and the mendicants, who began to find that n.o.body would give anything for their indulgences."

[616] Maimbourg, p. 38.

The Cardinal de Vio published the bull at Lintz, in Austria, on the 13th December, 1518, but Luther had already placed himself beyond its reach. On the 28th November, in the chapel of Corpus Christi at Wittemberg, he had appealed from the pope to a general council of the Church. He foresaw the storm which was gathering around him, and he knew that G.o.d alone could avert it. Still he did as duty called him.

He must, no doubt, quit Wittemberg (were it only for the sake of the Elector) as soon as the Roman anathema should arrive; but he was unwilling to quit Saxony and Germany without a strong protestation.

This he accordingly drew up; and, in order that it might be ready for circulation the moment the furies of Rome, as he expresses it, should reach him, he caused it to be printed, under the express condition that the bookseller Should deposit all the copies in his custody. But the bookseller, in his eagerness for gain, sold almost the whole, while Luther was quietly waiting to receive them. He felt annoyed, but the thing was done. This bold protestation spread every where. In it Luther declared anew that he had no intention to say any thing against the Holy Church, or the authority of the Apostolic See, or the pope well advised. "But," continues he, "considering that the pope, who is the vicar of G.o.d upon earth, may, like any other vicar, err, sin, or lie, and that the appeal to a general council is the only safeguard against unjust proceedings which it is impossible to resist, I feel myself obliged to have recourse to it."[617]

[617] Loscher. Ref. Act.

Here, then, we see the Reformation launched on a new course. It is no longer made to depend on the pope and his decisions, but on an universal council. Luther addresses the whole Church, and the voice which proceeds from the chapel of Corpus Christi, must reach the whole members of Christ's flock. There is no want of courage in the Reformer, and here he gives a new proof of it. Will G.o.d fail him? The answer will be found in the different phases of the Reformation which are still to be exhibited to our view.

END OF VOLUME FIRST.