History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume II Part 26

"Shall I enumerate all the crimes of this audacious monk? He sins against the dead, for he denies purgatory; he sins against heaven, for he says, he would not believe an angel from heaven; he sins against the Church, for he pretends that all Christians are priests; he sins against the saints, for he despises their venerable writings; he sins against the councils, for he terms that of Constance an a.s.sembly of demons; he sins against the world, for he forbids the punishment of death to be inflicted on any one who has not committed a mortal sin.[419] Some say he is a pious man ... I have no wish to attack his life, I would only remind this a.s.sembly that the devil deceives men by semblances of truth."

[419] "Weil er verbiete jemand mit Todes Strafe zu belegen der nicht ein Todtsunde begangen." (Seckend. p. 333.)

Aleander having spoken of the condemnation of purgatory by the council of Florence, laid the papal bull on this council at the feet of the emperor. The archbishop of Mentz took it up and handed it to the archbishops of Cologne and Treves, who received it reverently, and pa.s.sed it to the other princes. The nuncio, having thus accused Luther, now proceeded to the second point, which was to justify Rome.

"At Rome," says Luther, "they promise one thing with the lip and do its opposite with the hand. If this fact is true, must not the inference be the very reverse of what he draws from it? If the ministers of a religion live conformably to its precepts it is a proof that it is false. Such was the religion of the ancient Romans.... Such is that of Mahomet, and that of Luther himself; but such is not the religion which the pontiffs of Rome teach us. Yes, the doctrine which they confess condemns all as faulty, several as culpable, and some even (I say it candidly) as criminal.[420]... This doctrine delivers their actions to the censure of men during their life, and to historical infamy after their death.[421] Now what pleasure, what advantage, I ask, could the pontiffs have found in inventing such a religion?

[420] "Multos ut quadantenus reos, nonnullos (dicam ingenue) ut scelestos." (Pallavicini, i, p. 101.)

[421] "Linguarum vituperationi dum vivunt, historiarum infaminae post mortem. (Ibid.)

"The Church, it will be said, was not governed in primitive times by Roman pontiffs--What must the conclusion be? With such arguments they might persuade men to live on acorns, and princesses to be their own washerwomen."

[Sidenote: ALEANDER'S ADDRESS.]

But it was against his adversary, the Reformer, that the nuncio chiefly directed his attack. Full of indignation against those who said that he ought to be heard, he exclaimed, "Luther will not allow any one to instruct him." The pope summoned him to Rome, but he did not obey. The pope summoned him to Augsburg before his legate, and he would not appear without a safe-conduct from the emperor, _i. e._ until the hands of the legate were tied, and nothing left free to him but his tongue.[422] "Ah!" said Aleander, turning towards Charles V, "I supplicate your imperial majesty not to do what would issue in disgrace. Interfere not with a matter of which laics have no right to take cognisance. Do your own work. Let Luther's doctrine be interdicted throughout the empire: let his writings be everywhere burnt. Fear not: there is enough in the writings of Luther to burn a hundred thousand heretics.[423]... And what have we to fear?... The populace? Before the battle they seem terrible from their insolence; in the battle they are contemptible from their cowardice. Foreign princes? The king of France has prohibited Luther's doctrine from entering his kingdom, while the king of Great Britain is preparing a blow for it with his royal hand. You know what the feelings of Hungary, Italy, and Spain are, and none of your neighbours, how great soever the enmity he may bear to yourself, wishes you any thing so bad as this heresy. If the house of our enemy is adjacent to our own we may wish him fever, but not pestilence.... Who are all these Lutherans? A huddle of insolent grammarians, corrupt priests, disorderly monks, ignorant advocates, degraded n.o.bles, common people misled and perverted. Is not the Catholic party far more numerous, able, and powerful? A unanimous decree of this a.s.sembly will enlighten the simple, give warning to the imprudent, determine those who are hesitating, and confirm the feeble.... But if the axe is not laid to the root of this poisonous shrub, if the fatal stroke is not given to it, then.... I see it covering the heritage of Jesus Christ with its branches, changing the vineyard of the Lord into a howling forest, transforming the kingdom of G.o.d into a den of wild beasts, and throwing Germany into the frightful state of barbarism and desolation to which Asia has been reduced by the superst.i.tion of Mahomet."

[422] "Quod idem erat, ac revincti legati brachiis et lingua solum soluta." (Ibid. p. 109.)

[423] Da.s.s 100,000 Ketzer ihrenthalben verbrannt werden. (Seckend. p.

332.)

[Sidenote: EFFECT OF ALEANDER'S ADDRESS.]

The nuncio ceased. He had spoken for three hours. The torrent of his eloquence had moved the a.s.sembly. "The princes shaken and alarmed,"

says Cochlus, "looked at each other; and murmurs were soon heard from different quarters against Luther and his partisans."[424] Had the mighty Luther been present, had he been permitted to answer the discourse, had he, availing himself of the concession forced from the Roman orator by the remembrance of his old master, the infamous Borgia, been permitted to show that these arguments, designed to defend Rome, const.i.tuted her condemnation, and that the doctrine which gave proof of her iniquity was not invented by him, as the orator said, but was the very religion which Christ had given to the world, and which the reformation was establishing in its primitive l.u.s.tre, could he have presented an exact and animated picture of the errors and abuses of the papacy, and shown how it had perverted the religion of Jesus Christ into an instrument of aggrandis.e.m.e.nt and rapine,--the effect of the nuncio's harangue would have been neutralised at the moment of its delivery; but n.o.body rose to speak. The a.s.sembly remained under the impression of the address, and, excited and carried away, showed themselves ready violently to eradicate the heresy of Luther from the soil of the empire.[425]

[424] Vehementer exterriti atque commoti, alter alterum intuebantar, atque in Lutherum ejusque fautores murmurare cperunt (Cochl., p.

28.)

[425] Lutheranam haeresin esse funditus evellendam. (Pallavicini, i, p.

101, Roscoe's Life of Leo X, p. 50.)

Still the victory was only apparent. It was the will of G.o.d that Borne should have an opportunity of displaying her reasons and her strength.

The greatest of her orators had addressed the a.s.sembled princes, and said all that Rome had to say. But the last effort of the papacy was the very thing which was destined to become, in regard to several of those who witnessed it, the signal of her defeat. If, in order to secure the triumph of truth, it is necessary to proclaim it aloud, so in order to secure the destruction of error, it is sufficient to publish it without reserve. Neither the one nor the other, in order to accomplish its course, should be concealed. The light judges all things.

CHAP. IV.

Sentiments of the Princes--Speech of Duke George--Character of the Reformation--A hundred and one grievances--Charles yields--Tactics of Aleander--The Grandees of Spain--Luther's peace--Death and not Retractation.

A few days sufficed to wear off these first impressions, as always happens when an orator shrouds the emptiness of his arguments in high sounding phrases.

[Sidenote: SPEECH OF DUKE GEORGE.]

The majority of the princes were ready to sacrifice Luther, but none were disposed to sacrifice the rights of the empire and the redress of German grievances. There was no objection to give up the insolent monk who had dared to speak so loud, but it was wished to make the pope so much the more sensible of the justice of a reform which was demanded by the heads of the kingdom. Accordingly, it was the greatest personal enemy of Luther, Duke George of Saxony, who spoke most energetically against the encroachments of Rome. The grandson of Podiebrad, King of Bohemia, repulsed by the doctrines of grace which the Reformer proclaimed, had not yet abandoned the hope of seeing a moral and ecclesiastical reform, and what irritated him so much against the monk of Wittemberg, was that he had spoiled the whole affair by his despised doctrines. But now, seeing the nuncio sought to confound Luther and reform in one common condemnation, George suddenly stood up among the a.s.sembled princes, and, to the great astonishment of those who knew his hatred to the Reformer, said, "The Diet must not forget the grievances of which it complains against the Court of Rome. What abuses have crept into our states! The annats which the emperor granted freely for the good of Christendom now demanded as a debt--the Roman courtiers every day inventing new ordinances, in order to absorb, sell, and farm out ecclesiastical benefices--a mult.i.tude of transgressions winked at; rich offenders unworthily tolerated, while those who have no means of ransom are punished without pity--the popes incessantly bestowing expectancies and reversions on the inmates of their palace, to the detriment of those to whom the benefices belong--the commendams of abbeys and convents of Rome conferred on cardinals, bishops, and prelates, who appropriate their revenues, so that there is not one monk in convents which ought to have twenty or thirty--stations multiplied without end, and indulgence shops established in all the streets and squares of our cities, shops of St.

Anthony, shops of the Holy Spirit, of St. Hubert, of St. Cornelius, of St. Vincent, and many others besides--societies purchasing from Rome the right of holding such markets, then purchasing from their bishop the right of exhibiting their wares, and, in order to procure all this money, draining and emptying the pockets of the poor--the indulgence, which ought to be granted solely for the salvation of souls, and which ought to be merited only by prayers, fastings, and the salvation of souls, sold at a regular price--the officials of the bishops oppressing those in humble life with penances for blasphemy, adultery, debauchery, the violation of this or that feast day, while, at the same time, not even censuring ecclesiastics who are guilty of the same crimes--penances imposed on the penitent, and artfully arranged, so that he soon falls anew into the same fault, and pays so much the more money.[426]... Such are some of the crying abuses of Rome; all sense of shame has been cast off, and one thing only is pursued ... money!

money! Hence preachers who ought to teach the truth, now do nothing more than retail lies--lies, which are not only tolerated, but recompensed, because the more they lie, the more they gain. From this polluted well comes forth all this polluted water. Debauchery goes hand in hand with avarice. The officials cause women to come to their houses under divers pretexts, and strive to seduce them, sometimes by menaces, sometimes by presents; or, if they cannot succeed, injure them in their reputation.[427] Ah! the scandals caused by the clergy precipitate mult.i.tudes of poor souls into eternal condemnation! There must be a universal reform, and this reform must be accomplished by summoning a general Council. Wherefore, most excellent princes and lords, with submission I implore you to lose no time in the consideration of this matter." Several days after Aleander's address, Duke George produced the list of grievances which he had enumerated.

This important doc.u.ment is preserved in the archives of Weimar.

[426] Sondern da.s.s er est bald wieder begehe und mehr Geld erlegen musse. (Archives of Weimar, Seckend. p. 328.)

[427] Da.s.s sie Weibesbilder unter mancherley schein beschicken, selbige sodann mit Drohungen und Geschenken su fallen suchen, oder in einen bosen verdacht bringen. (Weimar Arch. Seck., p. 330.)

Luther had not spoken more forcibly against the abuses of Rome but he had done something more. The duke pointed out the evil, Luther had, along with the evil, pointed out both the cause and the cure. He had shown that the sinner receives the true indulgence, that which comes from G.o.d, solely by faith in the grace and merits of Jesus Christ, and this simple but powerful doctrine had overturned all the markets established by the priests. "How can one become pious?" asked he one day. "A Cordelier will reply, Put on a grey hood, and tie a cord round your waist. A Roman will reply, Hear ma.s.s, and fast. But a Christian will say, Faith in Christ alone justifies and saves. Before works we must have eternal life. After we are born anew, and made children of G.o.d by the word of grace, then it is we do good works."[428]

[428] L. Op. (W.) xxii, 748-752.

The duke spoke the language of a secular prince--Luther, the language of a reformer. The great sore of the Church was that she had devoted herself entirely to externals; had made all her works and her graces to consist of outward and material things. Indulgences had carried this to its extreme point, and pardon, the most spiritual thing in Christianity, had been purchased in shops like meat and drink. The great work of Luther consisted in his availing himself of this extreme point in the degeneracy of Christendom, in order to bring back the individual and the Church to the primitive source of life, and to re-establish the reign of the Holy Spirit within the sanctuary of the heart. Here, as often happens, the cure sprung out of the disease, and the two extremes met. Henceforward the Church, which during so many ages had been developed externally by ceremonies, observances, and human practices, began again to be developed within by faith, hope, and charity.

[Sidenote: LIST OF GRIEVANCES.]

The duke's address produced the greater effect from his opposition to Luther being well known. Other members of the Diet stated different grievances. The ecclesiastical princes themselves supported these complaints.[429] "We have a pontiff," said they, "who spends his life in hunting and pleasure. The benefices of Germany are given at Rome to huntsmen, domestics, grooms, stable boys, body servants, and other people of that cla.s.s, ignorant unpolished people, without capacity, and entire strangers to Germany."[430] The Diet appointed a commission to collect all these grievances. Their number was found to be a hundred and one. A deputation, consisting of secular and ecclesiastical princes, presented the list to the emperor, imploring him to give redress, as he had engaged to do at his election. "How many Christian souls are lost?" said they to Charles V. "How many depredations, how much extortion, are caused by the scandals with which the spiritual chief of Christendom is environed? The ruin and dishonour of our people must be prevented. Therefore, we all, in a body, supplicate you most humbly, but also most urgently, to ordain a general reformation, to undertake it, and to accomplish it."[431]

There was, at this time, in Christian society, an unseen power influencing princes and their subjects, a wisdom from above dragging forward even the adversaries of the Reformation, and preparing that emanc.i.p.ation whose appointed hour had at length arrived.

[429] Seckend. Vorrede von Frick.

[430] Bucksenmeistern, Falknern, Pfistern, Eseltreibern, Stallknechten, Trabanten... (Kapp's Nachlese nutzl Ref. Urkunden, iii, p. 262.)

[431] Da.s.s eine Besserung und gemeine Reformation geschehe. (Ibid., p.

275.)

Charles could not be insensible to these remonstrances of the empire.

Neither himself nor the nuncio had expected them. His confessor had even denounced the vengeance of Heaven against him if he did not reform the Church. The emperor immediately withdrew the edict which ordered Luther's writings to be committed to the flames in every part of the empire, and in its place subst.i.tuted a provisional order remitting these books to the magistrates.

This did not satisfy the a.s.sembly, who were desirous that the Reformer should appear. It is unjust, said his friends, to condemn Luther without having heard him, and without knowing from himself whether he is the author of the books which are proposed to be burnt. His doctrine, said his opponents, has so taken possession of men's hearts, that it is impossible to arrest their progress without hearing him.

There need be no discussion with him. If he avows his writings, and refuses to retract them, then all of us, electors, princes, states of the whole empire, true to the faith of our ancestors, will, in a body, aid your majesty, by all the means in our power, in the execution of your decrees.[432]

[432] L. Op. (L.) xxii, p. 567.

[Sidenote: TACTICS OF ALEANDER.]

Aleander, alarmed, dreading both the intrepidity of Luther and the ignorance of the princes, immediately set himself to the task of preventing the Reformer's compearance. He went from the ministers of Charles to the princes who were most disposed to favour the pope, and from these princes to the emperor himself.[433] "It is unlawful," said he, "to bring into question what the sovereign pontiff has decided.

There will be no discussion with Luther, you say; but" continued he, "will not the power of this audacious man, will not the fire of his eye, and the eloquence of his tongue, and the mysterious spirit which animates him, be sufficient to excite some sedition?[434] Several already venerate him as a saint, and you everywhere meet with his portrait surrounded with a halo of glory, as round the head of the Blessed. If it is determined to cite him, at least let it be without giving him the protection of public faith."[435] These last words were meant to frighten Luther, or prepare his ruin.

[433] Quam ob rem sedulo contestatus est apud Caesaris administros...

(Pallavicini, i, p. 113.)

[434] Lingua promptus, ardore vultus, et oris spiritu ad concitandam seditionem... (Ibid.)

[435] Haud certe fidem publicam illi praebendam... (Ibid.)

The nuncio found easy access to the grandees of Spain. In Spain, as in Germany, the opposition to the Dominican inquisitors was national. The yoke of the inquisition, which had been discontinued for a time, had just been re-established by Charles. A numerous party in the Peninsula sympathised with Luther; but it was not so with the great, who, on the banks of the Rhine, again met with what they had hated beyond the Pyrenees. Inflamed with the most violent fanaticism, they were bent on annihilating the new heresy. In particular, Frederick, Duke of Alba, was transported with rage whenever the subject of Reformation was mooted.[436] His wish would have been to wade in the blood of all its adherents. Luther had not yet been called to appear, and yet his mere name was already agitating all the grandees of Christendom then a.s.sembled at Worms.

[436] Albae dux videbatur aliquando furentibus modis agitari...

(Pallavicini, i, p. 362.)