6,9.///

^ PRINCETON, N. J. ,^

Presented by "e5<7^v^ e^ O . YTA<2-\^Y-\ oV ,

^Pf^fi"5' M- J. 1810-1872.
D Aubigne's "History of the
Great Reformation in

D'AUBIGNE'S

HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION

REVIEWED.

IVAUBIGNE^S ^' HISTORY

OF THE

GREAT REFORMATION"

German}) anb Sroit^erlajj.^
RE VIE WE Df JUN 9

^(i

SL&ieu.

THE REFORMATION IN GERM
EXAMINED

IM ITS

INSTRUMENTS, CAUSES, AND MANNER,

AND IN 1T9

Inflxtence on Religion, ©ODernmeut,

LITERATURE, AND GENERAL CIVILIZATION.

By M. J. SPALDING, D.D.

Qufecumque dixi de Tuo, Domine, agnoscant et Tui ; si qufe de meo, et Tu ignosce
el Tui.— S<. Augustine,

BALTIMORE:
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY JOHN MURPHY,

146 MARKET STREET.

PITTSBURG: GEORGE Q.UIGLEY.

1844.

Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred
and forty-four, by John Mcrphy, in the Clerk -s office, of the District Court of
Maryland.

MURPHY, PRINTER.

EXPLANATION OF THE FRONTISPIECE.

The device is intended to represent Judas alone, separated from the other apostles,
and standing on the side of darkness, as displeased with, and protesting against the
Saviour's promise to Peter. He holds the purse which drags him backward to the
edge of the precipice from which he is about to fall into the waves of perdition.
Beyond him in the distance rises the toiver of opposition to the church, or " the gates
of hell"— but, broken, to signify that it cannot prevail. The cloud behind the apos-
tles is intended as a veil that shuts from their view the future church of which the
promises are now given, and which, itself, dimly appears beyond the cloud just over
which is seen the gate of the cross, by which all must enter. This gate leads through
u triple tower bearing the triangle, and representing Three in one. The distant
temple is a hint at St. Peter's at Rome, and the three embattled fortresses on which
it stands, may signify either the laity, priests and bishops, or the three orders of the
hierarchy. The two flanking towers, capped with mitres, represent the episcopacy.
The Holy Spirit dwells vvithin the church, and imparts his influence to the seven
streams which issue from the rock, and flow in a direction contrary to the spirit of
the world, watering trees that produce abundance of fruit. These streams arc
meant for the sacraments.

^0 t|)f

Hi Rev. Qr^an-cirj J^ci^ii^ (^t&?i/Uo£, D.

A ND AS A
SLIGHT TRIBUTE OF GRATITUDE FOR FAVORS RECEIVED

THE AUTHOR

rREFACE

The following pages were Avritten during intervals snatched
from severe missionary labors. Their appearance in the present
form^ is at least as much the result of accident as of previous
design. The writer had at first merely intended to prepare, for
one of our Catholic Magazines, two or three papers, reviewing
the late work of M. D'Aubigne on the Reformation. He had
made considerable progress in this undertaking, before the idea
of writing a book even occurred to his mind. He was, however,
subsequently led to adopt this resolution, by the great extent and
importance of the subject, and the utter impossibihty, in which
he found himself, of doing any thing like justice to it in a few
brief essays. These would scarcely have afforded sufficient space
to exhibit even a meagre catalogue of M. D'Aubigne's numerous
omissions, blunders, and misrepresentations.

M. D'Aubigne's '^'^ History of the Great Reformation" has
been widely circulated throughout the land. The edition which
the writer of the present Review has used is the ffteenth ; and
it was issued in three thick volumes duodecimo, at a very low
price. The book may be found everywhere — in the steam-
boat and in the hotel — in the city residence and in the coun-
try. The religionists of the day have everywhere hailed its
appearance as a perfect God-send. The press and the pulpit
have combined to sound its praises. And yet the work is -
tissue of niiserable cant and misrepresentation from V'-o*'^^'^^"^ °

XVI PREFACE.

end ! The reviewer hopes to make this appear by undeniable
evidence, consisting of facts taken from original documents and
other authentic sources. All that he asks of those who have
read and admired the work of M. D'Aubigne, is to read also and
to examine carefully the evidence which he has endeavored to
spread before the community. To the candid of aU denomina-
tions, he would beg leave to say: Hear the other side — audi
alteram partem.

The writer has not intended to confine himself to a mere
Review of M. D'Aubigne's History. He has designed to write
an extended and connected essay on the Protestant reformation
in Germany, examining that revolution in the character of the
men who brought it about, in its causes and manner, and in its
manifold influences on religion, on free government, on litera-
ture, and on general civilization. As far as this plan seemed to
demand or to allow, he has, as he proceeded, availed himself of
the admissions, supphed the omissions, and corrected the false
statements of the Protestant historian of the reformation.

Many of the facts which he has felt it his duty to republish,
from all the sources to which he could have access, exhibit
painful evidences of human depravity- in those men too, who
have been studiously held up as the leaders of God's people, and
as the very paragons of perfection. Though the truth of history,
and the necessity of doing justice to the reformation, required the
publication of many things, which a delicate and fastidious taste
would perhaps otherwise have omitted, yet the reviewer is not
aware of any intention unnecessarily to shock the prejudices,
much less wantonly to wound the feelings of any one. He is
deeply persuaded, that Christian charity — the great queen of
es — demands of us to have a due regard for the feehngs of
others ; v^^^ j^^., jg thoroughly persuaded, that no one was ever

PREFACE. XVll

yet converted by harsh means, or by abusive language. Charity
is, however, not only not incompatible with truth, but it even
demands that the whole truth should be told, especially when its
concealment would be a cause of error to many, in matters too
of most deep and vital importance.

A full and correct history of the reformation in Germany is, it
is believed, a desideratum in our English Catholic literature. The
writer of this essay, far from flattering himself that he has
supplied this deficiency, has merely wished to awaken attention
to the subject. How far he has succeeded, the public will best
judge. Conscious of the many imperfections of the work, he
could have wished that some one more competent, and more
experienced in writing, had engaged in the undertaking. To his
brethren of the clergy and laity, many of whom would have been
certainly better quahfied than himself for the task, he would say
with the old Latin poet :

" Si quid novisti rectius istis,
Candidas iinperti : Si non, his utere mecum."

Bardstown, Kentucky,

Feast of Christmas, 1843,

plan of tl)e Het)ietD

PART I.

PAGE

THE CHARACTER OF THE REFORMERS 38

PART II.
THE CAUSES AND MANNER OF THE REFORMATION 67

PART III.
THE INFLUENCE OF THE REFORMATION ON RELIfilON 162

P A R T IV.
THE INFLUENCE OF THE REFORMATION ON SOCIETY ' 245

CONTENTS

PAGE

Introduction 25

chapter i.
The character of the reformers 38

CHAPTER II.

The character of the reformation — Theory of M. D'Aubigne ex-
amined 67

CHAPTER HI.

Pretexts for the reformation 75

CHAPTER IV.

The true causes and manner of the reformation, and the means by
which it was effected 91

CHAPTER V.

The reformation in Switzerland 123

CHAPTER VI.

Reaction of Catholicity and decline of Protestantism 139

CHAPTER VII.

Influence of the reformation on doctrinal belief. 162

CHAPTER VIII.

Influence of the reformation on morals ; 185

CHAPTER IX.

Influence of the reformation on worship 206

XXII CONTENTS.

CHAPTER X.

PAGE

Influence of the reformation on the Bible; on Bible reading, and

biblical studies 220

CHAPTER XI.

Influence of the_ reformation on religious liberty 245

CHAPTER XII.

Influence of the reformation on civil liberty 275

CHAPTER XIII.

The reformation at Geneva, and its influence on civil and religious

liberty 300

CHAPTER XIV.

Influence of the reformation on literature 824

CHAPTER XV.

Influence of the reformation on civilization 358

Conclusion 377

ERRATA.

Owing to the distance of the author's residence from the place of pub-
lication, some errors of print were unavoidable. The author, however,
takes great pleasure in saying, that, having received by mail corrected
proof-sheets embracing 216 pages — from page 25 to page 240 — he was
able to discover but few faults, most of them in proper names, or per-
haps arising from mistakes in the manuscript. This remarkable cor-
rectness is ascribable to the well known accuracy of the publisher, and
to the close attention of the friend who kindly superintended the publi-
cation. To both the author returns his most sincere thanks ; and he
begs leave also to remark, that, had his position allowed him to correct
the proof-sheets himself, he would, have been able to make some addi-
tions to the text, as well as several corrections in the style and phrase-
ology. The following are the chief typographical errors alluded to.

Page 29, line 27, for modeste read modiste.

" 66, " 11, " judgment read private judi^menl.

" 116, " 17, " all sins read all their ain^,

'< « " 19, " they read the latter. -

" " first note, for serpent read serpunt.

" *' last note, third line from bottom, for at read as.

" 125, line 24, for Glavia read Glaris.

" 151, " 19, " Fassevin read Posseim.

" 162, in tlie Sunmiary, for Munger read Munzer.

" 163, and seq. in title of ch. vii, (or religion read doctrinal betitf.

" 215, line 16, for preface of read Preface and.

" 227, " 8, " Brentans read Brentano.

" 239, " S, " influenced read have influenced.

" " first note, for fads read faults.

D'AUBIGNE'S
HISTOEY OF THE REFORMATION

REVIEWED.

INTRODUCTION.

PRINCIPAL WRITERS ON THE REFORMATION THEIR RESPECTIVE

CHARACTERS FOR RESEARCH AND VERACITY VIL-

LERS ROBELOT AUDIN d'aUBIGNE.

I. History of the great Reformation of the Sixteenth
Century in Germany, Switzerland, &c. By J. H. Merle
D'Aubigne, President of the Theological School of Geneva, and
member of the " Societe Evangelique." 3 vols. 12mo, 15th edition.
Robert Carter : N. York, 1843.

II. History of the Life, Writings, and Doctrines of Mar-
tin Luther. By J. M. V. Audin. Translated from the French.
1 vol. 8vo, pp. 511. Philadelphia : M. Kelly. 1841.

III. Influence de la Reformation de Luther, sur la croy-

ANCE RELIGIEUSE, LA POLITIQUE, ET LE PROGRES DES LUMIERES.

Par M. Robelot, ancien chanoine de I'Eglise cathedrale de Dijon.
A Lyon. 1822. 1 vol. 8vo, pp. 440. (Influence of the reformation
of Luther on religious belief, on politics, and on the progress of en-
lightenment. By M. Robelot.)

We have placed these three works at the head of our
remarks, because thej all treat of the same great religious
revolution, viewed under different aspects. They all pro-
pose to exhibit to us the great drama of the sixteenth cen-
tury, with its prominent actors, its numerous stirring and
startling scenes, and its powerful effect on the great au-
dience of the world. Such another drama has not been
permitted by heaven, or witnessed by mankind, at any
previous period of history.

26 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

The landmarks of faith, hallowed by antiquity, were
then violently removed : time-honored institutions were
destroyed ; and new ones, exercising various influences
on religion, on literature, and on government, were reared
in their place. Antiquity was then decried, and innova-
tion became the order of the day. The principles of the
ancient faith having been unsettled, new doctrines, vary-
ing with the private judgment or fancy of each religionist,
were zealously promulgated as the revelation of God. A
vertigo seems then to have seized upon the minds of men ;
and its symptoms are clearly traceable in the constant
uncertainty and perpetual changes of religious belief
since that period. No portion of history is more worthy
of our serious attention, whether w^e consider the interest
of the facts which it discloses, or the high considerations
which they involve for good or for evil.

The friends of the religious changes in question have
been in the habit of styling the revolution in which they
originated — '* the reformation :" and it would have been
strange, indeed, if they could not at least have given it
a good name. The great body of Christians, who firmly
believe that the change of religion was unwarranted and
for the worse, have still in general employed the same
term; though- the word deformation would more accu-
rately express their view of the subject. Of the three
writers to whose works we at present invite attention,
the first named is a zealous advocate of the reformation ;
while the two last are no less zealously opposed to its
claims, either to divine origin, or to usefulness in its va-
ried influences on mankind. It is not our purpose to
give a lengthy review of their respective productions :
still we must, as an introduction to our own remarks, say
a few words on the general character of each ; and we
begin with M. Robelot, the last named.

At the beginning of the present century, the National
Institute of France off'ered a premium for the best essay
" on the character and influence of the reformation of

INTRODUCTION. 27

Luther." About the year 1802, the prize was awarded
to a work by Charles Villers, ** on the spirit and influence
of the reformation of Luther."* This writer — an infidel
in principle — labored hard to prove that the reformation
has been beneficial to society, in a literary, political, and
religious point of view. His essay was spirited, and
adorned with all the graces of rhetoric; and it was per-
haps as much to these qualities, as to the cogency of his
reasoning, or the soundness of his position, that his work
was indebted for the crown which it received. The
French Institute had not yet recovered from the vertigo
of that most disastrous revolution in France, which had
but carried out the principles sustained in that of Luther.
Its decision is but another of the many proofs of sympa-
thetic feeling among errorists of every varying shade of
opinion. The whole French revolution in fact had af-
forded numerous evidences of a kindred feeling. Though
Catholics were every where proscribed and persecuted,
and though Catholic priests in particular were hunted
down, and butchered in multitudes ; yet do we never
read of one Protestant having been molested, or of one
Protestant minister having suffered martyrdom for his
faith, during that whole period of wide-spread desolation,
of terror, and of bloodshed ! Besides, the French Insti-
tute had political motives to subserve. Napoleon, then
first consul, was already beginning to set up again the
altars which that revolution had desecrated and thrown
down. The Institute, jealous of his growing power,
wished, by the decision alluded to, to oppose some coun-
terpoise to its further increase.

An unexceptionable and very competent witness, Henry
Hallam, a Protestant, pronounces the following opinion
on the merits of the work of M. Villers : *' The essay on
the influence of the reformation by Villers, which ob-
tained a prize from the French Institute, and has been
extolled by a very friendly but better informed writer in

* " Essai Sur I'esprit et influence de la reformation de Luther." 12mo.

28 d'aubigne's bistort reviewed.

the Biographic Universelle, appears to me the work of a
man who had not taken the pains to read any one con-
temporary work, or even any compilation which contains
many extracts. No wonder that it does not represent, in
the slightest degree, the real spirit of the times, or the-
tenets of the reformers. Thus, ex. gr., * Luther,' he
says, * exposed the abuse of the traffic of indulgences, and
the danger of believing that heaven and the remission of
all crimes could be bought with mbney ; while a sincere
repentance and an amended life were the only means of
appeasing divine justice.' (Page 65, Eng. translation.)
This at least is not very like Luther's antinomian con-
tempt for repentance and amendment of life ; it might
come near to the notions of Erasmus."* This is the
opinion of a man, as learned as he is judicious, to whose
judgment we shall have occasion frequently to appeal in
the sequel.

M. Robelot's work was intended as a refutation of that
by Villers. He completed it in 1807; but, owing to
various petty vexations from the French police, and from
the censors of the press, he was not able to publish it un-
til 1822. See his preface, p. xiv. It evidences consid-
erable research, is analytical and well reasoned through-
out, and, what few works are, it is clear and lucid in its
arrangement. The author views the Protestant reforma-
tion in its influence on religion, on government, and on
literature ; and shows, against the flippant assertions and
flimsy arguments of Villers, that, in each of these aspects,
it has proved injurious to society. The chief defects of
the work are, that it is somewhat wanting in point, and
rather meagre in facts. This is especially true of the
second part, in which the writer discusses the political
bearing of the reformation. Belonging himself, it would
seem, to the political school of legitimacy, or ultra royal-

* Hallam — " Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the xv, xri
and xviith Centuries," in 2 vols. 8vo edit. Harper & Brothers : New
Fork, 1841. Vol. i, p. 16G, note.

INTRODUCTION. 29

ism, he labored under great disadvantage in the attempt
to prove that the reformation had tended to prevent what,
in his view, is the summum bonum of political govern-
ment — a fixed and hereditary monarchy. Nothing is
more certain, as we shall endeavor hereafter to establish,
than that the tendency of that revolution was to crush
the democratic principle, and to favor absolute systems
of government. But these defects apart, the work of M.
Robelot is a valuable contribution to the portion of his-
tory of which it professes to treat. Still, we look with
great anxiety for the new work on the same subject prom-
ised us by M. Audin, at the close of his Life of Luther.*
This writer has labored indefatigably and successfully in
elucidating the history of the reformation. To qualify him-
self for the task, he visited all the libraries of Europe, espe-
cially those of France, Switzerland, and Germany. He
discovered many works hitherto neglected or unknown.
On the theatre of the reformation itself he collected many
valuable facts, picked up many incidents rich in interest,
and gathered much ancient lore, based on local traditions
and public monuments. His two Lives of Luther and
Calvin have given to the world the results of these labors.
The former has been translated into English by an accom-
plished clerical scholar of the United States : and so well
does the English dress sit on the French author, that he
does not seem ill at ease in his new garb ; even the most
fastidious Parisian modeste being judge. His style is live-
ly, piquant, and dramatic. In fact almost the only serious
fault we have to find with the work, is that the writer
sometimes sacrifices the clearness and order of the narra-
tive to its dramatic effect. He exhibits Luther in the
various scenes of his private and of his public life — in
his confidential conversations with his boon companions,
while drinking beer with them at the " Black Eagle" of
Wittemberg, as well as in his eloquent invectives from

* Page 511. The work is to be entit'ed : "Sur les influences de
Luther." — " On the influence of Luther."

so d'aubigne's history reviewed.

the pulpit, and his more studied harangues before the
diets of the empire. So lively is the picture, that the re-
former seems to reappear on the stage of life, and to act
over again, before our eyes, the stirring scenes of his
great drama. But what we chiefly admire, is the histo-
rian's impartiality. He gives us both sides of the ques-
tion — the redeeming as well as the odious features of
Luther's character : for some virtues the reformer had,
even after he began the work of the reformation!

We wish we could say as much for M. I)'x\ubigne, the
first on our list. Impartiality is not certainly a leaf in
his historic crown. Finding that he hailed from Geneva,
we expected to see him imbued with the deistic spirit
which is now so fashionable in that former hot-bed of
Calvinism. We guessed that he was either a German
naturalist — deist — or at least — what amounts to almost
the same thing — a philosopher, according to the modern
French school of eclectism, a system which makes it
fashionable, especially for the writer of history, to make
statements on both sides of every question, with so much
skill that it would require a wizard to divine his real
meaning, or to define his position ! But he is neither the
one nor the other. He is a Protestant of the olden type :
there is more of fanaticism than of indifferentism in his
complexion. His spirit is worthy that of Luther, though
his manner of showing it is a little softened down, to suit
modern taste.

He is a partisan of the most violent stamp. And yet
he seeks to mislead his readers in the very first lines of
his preface. " The work I have undertaken," be begins,
" is not the history of a party. It is the history of one of
the greatest revolutions ever effected in human affairs —
the history of a mighty impulse communicated to the
world three centuries ago — and of which the operation is
every where discernible in our own days. The history
of the reformation is altogether distinct from the history
of Protestantism. In the former all bears the character
of a regeneration of human nature, a religious and social

INTRODUCTION. 81

transformation emanating from God himself. In the latter
we see too often a glaring depravation of first princi-
ples — the conflict of parties — a sectarian spirit — and the
operation of private interests."

It is very convenient at least to separate the history of
the reformation from that of Protestantism : it saves the
writer much perplexing labor. But the separation is un-
natural and illogical. We cannot judge properly of a
cause without witnessing its necessary effects. As well
might we undertake to give the natural history of the
tree without speaking of its fruits ; or to paint the dread-
ful hurricane without alluding to the ruins which it left in
its course. It is a divine maxim to judge the tree by its
fruits. This principle once admitted, it requires a large
amount of credulity to believe that a ** transformation
emanated from God "himself," the fruits of which were
avowedly *' a depravation of first principles — the conflict
of parties — a sectarian spirit — and the operation of pri-
vate interests:'' and he might have added : sects innu-
merable of every motley hue — endless variations in reli-
gious belief — a breaking up of all unity of faith by war-
ring creeds — and the loss of all settled belief, with the
sacrifice of charity ! These are the natural and neces-
sary fruits of the reformation, according to the stern evi-
dence of facts. Protestantism is the best and the only
authentic commentary on the reformation.

He exhibits himself the partisan throughout his entire
history. On every page he manifests his partiality. Else
why does he so incessantly miscolor or suppress facts ?
Why does he omit almost every thing that could compro-
mise the character of the reformers, or vindicate that of
their opponents ? To select a few out of a hundred in-
stances, why does he give us only nine of the more odious,
out of more than fifty of the Theses, or Propositions, of
Tetzel,* while he gives those of Luther entire ? Why
does he make the learned and amiable Cardinal Cajetan
* Vol. i, pp. 269-70.

appear so supremely ridiculous in his interview with Lu-
ther ?* Why does he labor to vindicate Luther and the
reformers in every thing, either wholly suppressing their
many glaring faults, or maliciously ascribing them to a
remnant of '* popish superstition," as when he so gently
alludes to the reformer's famous " conference with the
devil'.' at the castle of Wartburg, in 1521 ?t Why does
he, on the other hand, ascribe all the actions of the popes,
and of Catholic prelates, who came into collision with
the reformers, to wicked cunning and malicious finesse?
Why bring his preconceived theory to bear on every fact
of his history? Is all this, and much more that might be
alleged, no evidence of partisanship ? If he sought to
be really impartial, why rely, for almost all his state-
ments, upon the testimony of the most decided parti-
sans — of Luther, Melancthon, Mathesius, Seckendorf,
and others ? And why suppress even the better half of
the testimony of these partial witnesses ? We shall take
occasion to supply many of his omissions, as we proceed,
as well as to correct many of his misrepresentations.

His history, as far as it is comprised in the three vol-
umes which we have seen, is very incomplete, embracing
only the first eight years of the reformation, and closing
a few months after the diet of Augsburg, which was held
in December, 1525. His style is lively, and his narrative
interesting and abounding in incident. It would be per-
haps an agreeable romance, but for the insufferable cant
with which it is overcharged. What cool assurance in
the false statements, repeated usque ad nauseam — that the
Catholic church did not know the Gospel, until Luther
revealed this hitherto hidden treasure — that she denied
the merits of Christ, the necessity of faith and grace for
justification — and many other such absurdities ! And
yet, upon these unfounded allegations, which he reite-
rates without a shadow of evidence, his entire history is
based ! He is no partisan, forsooth !

* Vol. i, 350 seqq, ] Vol. iii, 40.

INTRODUCTION. S3

His theory of Christianity is not new. It pursues the
same old beaten track of error. He develops it in his
preface and in his first book;* and makes all his subse-
quent history bend to its maxims. He very conveniently
narrows down the whole Christian system to two cardi-
nal principles: 1st, perfect equality among Christians,
based on the supremacy of private judgment, to the ex-
clusion of authoritative teaching ; and, 2d, salvation by
faith alone without works, and by grace without human
merit. " The church,'* he says, *' was in the beginning a
community of brethren. All its members were taught of
God ; and each possessed the liberty of drawing for him-
self from the fountain of life."t Again : " as soon as
salvation was taken out of the hands of God, it fell into
the hands of the priests. The latter put themselves in
the place of the Lord ; and the souls of men, thirsting
for pardon, were no longer taught to look to heaven, but
to the church, and especially to its pretended head."|

Throughout the whole first book he labors to prove
that the Catholic church trampled on these two princi-
ples. *' Christianity had declined, because the two guid-
ing truths of the new covenant had been lost."§ The
papacy arose in the " dark" ages by a series of usurpa-
tions — the whole church bowed to the tyranny, and fell
into fatal error: "the living church retiring by degrees
to the lonely sanctuary of a fev/ solitary souls. "[}
" Works of penance, substituted for the salvation of God,
multiplied in the church from the time of Tertullian to
the thirteenth century."^ Tertullian, he tells us, towards
the close of the second century had said: "it is neces-
sary to change our dress and food, we must put on sack-
cloth and ashes, we must renounce all comfort and adorn-
ing of the body, and, falling down before the priest,
implore the intercession of the brethren."** Rank popery

* Vol. i, from p. 15 to p. 118. f Vol. i, p. 17. J Vol. i, p. 34,
§ Vol. i, p. 68. ilVol.i, p. 20. H Vol. i, p. 35. **Ibui.

34 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

even in the second century ! Only think of such things
being "necessary" for Protestants of M. D'Aubigne's
delicate nerve ! These same works of penance never
were fashionable among Protestants: they went out of
vogue through the glorious " emancipation of the human
mind" by Luther ! He pointed out an easier way to
heaven !

M. D'Aubigne winds up his long-winded string of as-
sertions by these remarkable antitheses, which contain
the gist of his theory. *' Popery interposes the church
between God and man : Christianity and the reformation
bring God and man face to face. Popery separates man
from God : the gospel reunites them."* He then brings
up, as witnesses of the truth against Rome, all the driv-
elling sectaries of the middle ages — Claudius of Turin,
Peter de Bruys, Peter Waldo, Wicliffe, and Huss.t He
sneers at the Catholic church for teaching ** that the sin-
ner is justified by faith and by works :"J and yet St.
James teaches the self-same doctrine in almost the same
identical words ;§ and for his teaching thus, Luther reck-
lessly rejected his Epistle ** as one of straw, and un-
worthy of an apostle !"

In the midst of all his rant, he however occasionally, at
lucid intervals, waxes wonderfully liberal. *' But first,"
says he, "let us do justice to that church of the middle
age, which intervened between the age of the apostles
and the reformers. The church was still the church,
although fallen, and more and more enslaved. (!) In a
word, she was at all times the most powerful friend of
man. Her hands, though manacled, still dispensed bless-
ings. Many eminent servants of Christ diffused through
these ages a beneficent light," &c.l| Among these emi-
nent servants of God, he names a poor Carthusian monk,
brother Martin, who confessed that Christ had redeemed
him, and hid away his confession in a box, which was

* Vol. i, pp. .39-40. ]Yo\.i,i>. 70 seqq. J Vol. i, p. 33.

§ St. James ir, 14-17. 1| Vol. i, p. 40.

INTRODUCTION. 35

wonderfully discovered on the Slat December, 1776, in
taking down the wall of an old convent !*" We could
point him to a thousand and one other witnesses in the
church of the middle age, who taught this same doctrine,
and, along with it, more maxims of piety than M. D'Au-
bigne " ever dreamed of in his philosophy," Let him
but read Digby's *' Ages of Faith," in five large oc-
tavo volumes, which is a tissue of such heavenly maxims
borrowed from the middle ages. Let him read the works
of Thomas a Kempis, of St. Bernard, of St. Bonaventure,
of St. Anselm, of St. Thomas Aquinas, and of others.
Luckily, their confessions are not hidden in a box ! And
we defy him or any one else to prove that the Catholic
church ever taught that man can be saved without faith
or without grace. She has invariably taught the precise
contrary, against the Pelagian and Semi-Pelagian here-
sies, which she has always proscribed.

Palmer, a Protestant writer, bears the following evi-
dence to the faith of the Catholic church on this subject:
•* During the period now under consideration (from 1054
to the reformation) all the most learned and eminent the-
ologians of the western church continued to believe that
man cannot merit salvation hy his own works, but that he
must place his whole trust and confidence in the mercy of
God, and the atonement, merits, and intercession of our
Lord Jesus Christ." Compendious Ecclesiastical His-
tory, p. 114. N. York, 1841.

M. D'Aubigne devoutly believes that the reformation
was the direct work of God, and that the reformers were
chosen instruments of heaven for bringing it about. He
is certainly not wanting in faith to believe all this. Pity
he did not attempt to show which of the many contra-
dictory systems of reform was tlie work of God; or
which of the jarring sects, to which that revolution gave
rise, carried out the design of God. We apprehend that

* Vol. i, p. 73.

36 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

God could not sanction contradictions. But we forget —
M. D'Aubigne has anticipated this difficulty : he is not
writing the history of Protestantism — not he. He pities
the " perverseness of the human heart," which led the
great Bossuet to write his history ** of the variations of
the Protestant churches !" He is too practised to under-
take any such thorny work ! Were he to write a volume
on each of the Protestant sects, with a separate chapter to
give an account of every successive change of belief by
each sect, his lifetime would not suffice to complete the
history. New volumes and new chapters should be daily
added to the work, until at last ** the world would
scarcely contain the books that would be written !"
** Calvin was wise for not writing on the Apocalypse ;"*
and his disciple, D'Aubigne, shows similar sagacity in
not attempting to write the history of Protestantism !

We propose to exami ne in a series of chapters whether the
reformation was really the work of God ; and whether it
has been of real benefit to mankind ? And that our read-
ers may the more readily follow our line of argument, we
think it better to advise them — though formal divisions
are growing unfashionable in this frivolous age — that we
shall inquire ; —

I. Whether the men who brought about the reformation
in Germany were such as God could or would have em-
ployed to do his work ?

II. Whether the motives which prompted, and the
means which were employed to accomplish that revolution,
were such as God could sanction ?

III. Whether the reformation really effected a reform
in religion and in morals ?

And IV, whether its influence was beneficial to society,
by developing the principles of free government, and pro-
moting literature and civilization ?

Our inquiry will be chiefly confined to Germany, Swit-

* " Calvinus sapuit quia non scripsit in Apocalypsim." Scaliger.

INTRODUCTION. S7

zerland, and the northern kingdoms of Europe ; and we
propose to avail ourselves of the authority of M. D'Au-
bigne, and to refute his false statements, as we advance ;
so far at least as the train of our remarks may seem to
call for, or to warrant.

JPart I.

CHAPTER I

CHARACTER OF THE REFORMERS.

M. D'Aubigne's opinion — A reformed key — Luther's parents — His
early training — A naughty boy — Convents — Being "led to God,"
and " not led to God" — He enters the Augustinian convent — Aus-
terities — A " bread bag" — His faith and scruples — His humility and
zeal — Luther a reformer — Grows w^orse — Becomes reckless — His
sincerity tested — Saying and unsaying — Misgivings — Tortuous
windings — Kovf to spite the Pope — Curious incident — Melanc-
thon and his mother — Luther's talents and eloquence — His
taste — His courage and fawning — His violence and coarseness —
Not excusable by the spirit of his age — His blasphemies — Recrimi-
nation — Christian compliments — " Conference with the devil" —
Which got the better of the argument — Luther's morality — Table-
talk — His sermon on marriage — A Vixen — How to do " mischief to
the Pope" — A striking contrast — How to fulfil vows — His marriage
— Misgivings — Epigrams and satires — Curious incidents in his last
sickness — Death-bed confession — His death — The reformed key
used — Character of the other reformers.

M. D'AuBiGNE compares the reformers to the Apos-
tles ;* and his favorite theory is, that the reformation itself
was but ** the reappearance of Christianity."t Speaking
of the life and character of Luther, he says "the whole
reformation was there. "J ** The different phases of this
work succeeded each other in the mind of him who was to be
the instrument for it, before it was publicly accomplished
in the world. The knowledge of the reformation effected
in the heart of Luther himself is, in truth, the key to the
reformation of the church. "§

* B. ii, p. 118, vol. i. t Pref. iv. . J Vol. i, p. 118. § Ibid

CHARACTER OF THE REFORMERS. 39

We will abide by this test. We will examine for a
brief space the external form, and the internal structure —
the many tortuous turnings and intricate wards of this
** key" of the Protestant reformation ; and we will be en-
abled to estimate the character of the latter, — which, as
we hope to show, was a '* lock on the understanding" —
from the properties of the former. Dropping the figure,
we will compare the character of Luther while he contin-
ued a Catholic, during the first thirty-four years of his life,
with what it subsequently became after he had turned re-
former, or for the last twenty-nine years of his life — from
1517 to 1546. If we ascertain that his own character un-
derwent a change greatly for the worse during the latter
period, we will be compelled, by M. D'Aubigne's own
rule, to admit that the general tendency of the reforma-
tion was evil.

To facilitate the understanding of our remarks, and to
obviate repetition, we here state that Luther was born at
Eisleben, in Saxony, on the 10th of November, 148S —
that he attended successively the schools of Mansfeld,
Magdeburg, and Eisenach, and completed his education
in the university of Erfurth — that he was ordained priest in
1506, turned reformer in 1517, was married in 1525, and
died on the 17th of Feb. 1546, in the 63d year of his age.

While under the influence of the Catholic church, he
was probably a very good man — he was certainly a very
bad one after he left the church. His parents were poor,
but they seem to have been pious, especially his mother.
From an early age, they labored to train him up in sen-
timents of piety, as well as to imbue his mind with the
elements of learning. ** As soon as he was old enough
to receive instruction," says M. D'Aubigne, ** his parents
endeavored to communicate to him the knowledge of God,
to train him in his fear, and to form him to the practice
of the Christian virtues. They applied the utmost care to
his earliest domestic education.* He was taught the heads

♦D'Aubigne i, 122.

40 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

of the catechism, the ten commandments, the Apostles'
creed, the Lord's prayer, some hymns, some forms of
prayer, a Latin grammar composed in the fourth century
by Donatus ; in a word, all that was studied in the Latin
school of Mansfeld."* In the good old Catholic times,
then, parents knew their duty to their children, and peo-
ple were not so stupidly ignorant after all!

Luther seems to have been a very naughty boy; for
while at school in Mansfeld, ** his master flogged him fif-
teen times in one day ;"t and, in his after-life, he was
wont to complain of the cruel treatment he received from
his parents. " My parents treated me cruelly, so that I
became very timid : one day, for a mere trifle, my mother
whipped me till the blood came. They truly thought they
were doing right; but they had no discernment of charac-
ter, which is yet absolutely necessary, that we may know
when, on whom, and how, punishment should be in-
flicted.":}: His parents acted on the old maxim ; " spare
the rod and spoil the child" — and if he was subsequently
so much spoiled, even with all the previous training of the
rod, what would he have been without its salutary re-
straint }

Though '•' it appears that the child was not yet led to
God,"§ still he evinced a great fund of piety. " But even
at this early age, the young man of eigliteen did not study
merely with a view of cultivating his understanding ;
there was within him a serious thoughtfulness, a heart
looking upwards, which God gives to those whom he de-
signs to make his most zealous servants. Luther felt that
he depended entirely on God, — a simple and powerful
conviction, which is at once a principle of deep humility,
and an incentive to great undertakings. He fervently
invoked the Divine blessing upon his labors. Every morn-
ing he began the day with prayer ; then he v/ent to church ;

* D'Aubigne i, p. 123. f Ibid, t Luth. 0pp. Wittemb. xxii, 17S5.
§D'Aubigne i, p. 123.

CHARACTER OF THE REFORMERS. 41

afterwards he commenced his studies, and he never lost
a moment in the course of the day. * To pray well,' he
was wont to say, * was the better half of study.' "* This
looked a little like being *' led to God."

On the 17th of August, 1505, he entered into the Au-
gustinian convent at Erfurth, being then in the 22d year
of his age. He was induced to take this important step
by avow he had made to consecrate himself entirely to
God, in case of his deliverance from a terrific storm, by
which he was overtaken near Erfurth, and in which, ac-
cording to one account,! his friend Alexis was stricken
dead by lightning at his side. " At length he is with
God," says M. D'Aubigne. " His soul is safe. He is now
to obtain that holiness he so ardently desired.":{; The
monasteries were then not so bad as Protestants would
fain represent them. "They often contained Christian
virtues" — M, D'Aubigne himself tells us — ** which grew
up beneath the shelter of a salutary retirement ; and which
if they had been brought forth to view, would have been
the admiration of the world. They who possessed these
virtues, living only with each other and with God, drew
no attention from without, and were often unknown even
to the small convent in which they were inclosed — their
life was known only to God."§

Luther entered the convent with the purest motives,
and labored in it to overcome himself by mortification and
self-denial, and to acquire humility and all the Christian
virtues. *• But it was not to gain the credit of being a
great genius that he entered the cloister ; it was to find
the aliments of piety to God."ll The monks ** imposed on
him the meanest offices." They perhaps wished to hum-
ble the doctor of philosophy, and to teach him that his
learning did not raise him above his brethren. . . . The for-

* Mathesius 3, apud D'Aub. i, 130.

t Discredited, perhaps with reason, by D'Aubigne (ibid. p. 135, note.)
t Ibid. p. 136. §Ibid. p. 14G-7. || Ibid- p. 141.

42 dVubigne's history reviewed.

mer master of arts was obliged to perform the functions
of door-keeper, to open and shut the gates, to wind up the
clock, to sweep the church, to clean the rooms. Then,
when the poor monk, who was at once porter, sexton, and
servant of the cloister, had finished his work — *• cum sac-
CO per civitatem^^ — ** with your bag through the town !"
cried the brothers ; and, loaded with his bread bag, he was
obliged to go through the streets of Erfurth, begging from
house to house, and perhaps at the doors of those very
persons who had been either his friends or his inferiors.
But he bore it all. Inclined from his natural disposition,
to devote himself heartily to whatever he undertook, it
was with his whole soul that he had become a monk. Be-
sides, could he wish to spare the body ? To regard the
satisfying of the flesh ? Not thus could he acquire the hu-
mility, the holiness he had come to seek within the walls
of a cloister."* How does this spirit of self-denial, con-
trast with the gross self-indulgence of his subsequent life,
when he had thrown off all those antiquated trammels !
Well does his panegyrist remark, that " there was then
in Luther little of that which made him in after-life the
reformer of the church."! As we shall see, this remark
is strikingly true.

He received ordination with fear and trembling at his
own un worthiness. So great was his awe of the holy
sacrament, that in a procession at Eisleben, on the feast
of Corpus Ckristi, he almost fainted through overpowering
reverence for Christ truly present. J He was scrupulous
to a fault. He frequently gave way to fits of despondency
and melancholy, which were with difiiculty removed. As
a panacea for his troubled mind, an aged monk called his
attention to that article of the Apostles' creed in which
we profejss to believe, " in the forgiveness of sins."§ The
humble confidence in our forgiveness through God's mer-

♦ Ibid. p. 139. t Ibid. p. 138. % Ibid. p. 157. § Ibid. p. 154.

CHARACTER OF THE REFORMERS. 43

cjy which this article is so well calculated to inspire, was
afterwards reduced bj the reformer to an absolute and
infallible certainty, that his own sins were forgiven. So
apt are men to run into extremes, especially those who are
addicted to scruples ! When these are removed — as was
unhappily the case with Luther — they too often are ex-
changed for the opposite extreme of wanton reckless-
ness. This remark is a key to the reformer's subsequent
life.

His deep humility caused him to shrink from the office
of preaching. It was with great difficulty that Staupitz,
his superior, could overcome this reluctance. *' In vain
Staupitz entreated him : * No, no,' replied he, * it is no
light thing to speak to men in God's stead.' " '* An affect-
ing instance of humility in this great reformer of the
church,"* adds M. D'Aubigne. He unhappily gave no
evidence of any such spirit, after he had turned reformer,
as we shall see presently. Had he always preserved this
Christian spirit, the peace of the church would in all pro-
bability never have been disturbed.

In 1516, but one year before the commencement of the
reformation, Staupitz directed him to make the visitation
of the forty convents belonging to the Augustinian Order
in Germany.! He discharged this difficult office with
singular prudence and zeal. He every where reformed
abuses, gave salutary counsels, and animated the monks to
the practice of every virtue. A little later, he gave ad-
ditional evidence of Christian humility. Having received
a new gown from the elector Frederick of Saxony, he
thus wrote to Spalatin, the elector's secretary. *' It would
be too fine if it were not a prince's gift. I am not wor-
thy that any man should think of me, much less a prince,
and so noble a prince. Those are most useful to me who
think worst of me. Present my thanks to our prince for
his favor, but know that I desire neither the praises of thy-

* Ibid. p. 161. t lb. p. 191, seqq.

44 d'aubigne'8 history reviewed.

self nor of others : all the praise of man is Tain, the praise
that cometh from God being alone true."*

He was no less zealous and devoted than he was hum-
ble. When the plague broke out in Wittemburg, in 1516,
his friends advised him to flj from a malady which swept
off whole multitudes. Luther answered : *' you advise me
to flee — but whither shall I flee ^ I hope the world will
not go to pieces, if brother Martin should fall. If the
plague spreads, I will send the brethren away in all direc-
tions; but for my part, I am placed here : obedience does
not allow me to leave the spot, until He who called me
hither, shall call me away."t He did not behave thus
courageously, when the pest again visited Wittemberg,
after he had left the church ; he then stated that the minis-
ter of God fulfilled his duty, if he administered the sacra-
ments to his flock once or twice in the year; and that it
was an intolerable burden to be under the obligation to do
more, especially in time of plague!

Such was Luther before he began the reformation in
1517. How changed, alas! was he after this period — heu!
quantum mutatus ab illo ! He is no longer the humble
monk, the scrupulous priest, the fervent Christian, that
he was before! Amidst the storm which he excited, he
gradually suffered shipwreck of almost every virtue, and
became reckless and depraved — the mere creature of im-
pulse, the child of pride, the victim of violent and degra-
ding passion ! We trust to make all this appear from cer-
tain and undoubted facts, which no one can deny. And
the result of our reasoning will be the irresistible conclu-
sion, that for him at least, the reformation was a down-hill
business : and, according to M. D'Aubigne's test, that this
was its general tendency.

His own deterioration, and the work of the reformation
were both gradual — they went hand in hand. He did not

* Luihni Episiolie edit. Wette. i. 45, 46: apud D'Aubigne i, 195.
t Epist. r, 42. 26 Oct. 1516. Apnd D'Aub. i, 194.

CHARACTER OF THE REFORMERS. 45

at first seem to aim at any cliange in the doctrines and
institutions of the Catholic church : this thought was de-
veloped only afterwards. In the 38th, 67th, and 71st of
his famous 95 i/ieses published against Tetzel on the 1st
of Nov. 1517, he expressly maintained the authority of
the Pope, and the Catholic doctrine on indulgences. He
professed only to aim at the correction of abuses.

It is a mooted question, whether jealousy of tlie Domin-
ican order, which had been entrusted with the preaching
of the indulgences, to the exclusion of his own rival order
of the Augustinians, influenced him in his first attack on
Tetzel. Such seems to have been the opinion of the en-
lightened pontiff Leo X, who, when the controversy was
first reported to him, remarked, smiling, "that it was all
a mere monkish squabble originating in jealousy."* Such
also was the opinion of many other ancient writers. Cer-
tain it is that this jealousy, if it did not originate, at least
fed and maintained the discussion. Luther's order, with
its principal members — Staupitz, Link, Lange, and others
—were his warmest advocates ; while the Dominicans —
Cajetan, Hochstraet, Eck, and Prierias — were his chief
opponents. The Dominican order continued faithful to
the church; the Augustinians of Germany abandoned it
almost without an exception.

Had he paused at the proper time, had he con-tinued to
leave untouched the venerable landmarks of Catholic
faith, and confined himself to the correction of local dis-
orders, all Catholics would have applauded his zeal. In-
stead of being reckoned with Arius, Pelagius, Wicliffe,
and other heresiarchs, he would then have found a niche
in the temple of Catholic fame, with an Ambrose and a
Gregory VII, and a Bernard ! His great talents, properly
regulated, might have been immensely beneficial to the
church of God. But, standing on the brink ofapreci-

* Che coiesie erano invidie fraiesche. Brandelli, a cotemporary Do-
minican writer. Hist. Trag. pars 3.

46 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

pice, he became dizzy, and fell; and, like Lucifer of old,
he drew after him one-third of the stars of God's kingdom
' on earth ! The old Catholic tree bore some evil fruits of
abuses — generally local and unauthorized, as we shall see
in the proper place — and, instead of pruning it discreetly
and nurturing its growth, he recklessly lopped off all its
branches, and even attempted to tear it up by the roots,
under the pretext, forsooth, of making it bear fruit ! !

The question has often been asked, — was Luther sin-
cere ? We have no doubt of his sincerity nor of his piety,
until he turned reformer. Perhaps, too, he might have
been sincere during the first year or two of his reforma-
tive career. God, only, can judge his heart; and it would
be rash in us to attempt to fathom, what only He can search
with unerring accuracy. Still we have some facts where-
on to base a judgment in the matter. There is little
doubt that he had some miso-iving-s at first. He himself
tells us that '' he trembled to find himself alone against
the whole church."* He himself testifies on this subject
as follows : ** How often has my conscience disturbed me 1
How often have I said to myself: dost thou imagine thy-
self wiser than all the rest of mankind ? Barest thou
imagine that all mankind has been in error for so long a
series of years.''! And again: "I am not so bold as to
assert that I have been guided in this affair by God —
upon this point I would not wish to undergo the judgment
ofGod."t

He regretted at first, that his Theses had become so pub-
lic, and had made so great a stir among the people. ** My
design," says he, " was not to make them so public. I
wished to discuss the various points comprised in them
with some of our associates and neighbors. If they had
condemned them, I would have destroyed them ; if they
had approved of them, I would have published them."§

* " Solus primb eram." 0pp. in Praef. Edit. V/ittenb.

t 0pp. Lutheri. Germ. Edit. Geneva, vol. ii, fol. 9. J lb. vol.i, 364,

§ Epist. Collect. Wette, I, p. 05.

CHARACTER OF THE REFORMERS. 4T

*' He was disturbed and dejected at the thought" — of
standing alone against the church — '* doubts which he
thought he had overcome, returned to his mind with fresh
force. He trembled to think that he had the whole au-
thority of the church against him. To withdraw himself
from that authority — to resist that voice which nations and
ages had humbly obeyed — to set himself in opposition to
that church which he had been accustomed from his in-
fancy to revere as the mother of the faithful : he, a despi-
cable monk — it was an effort beyond human power."*

Luther himself tells us how he struggled against this
feeling — how he lulled to rest that still small voice of con-
science within his bosom. " After having triumphed, by
means of the Scriptures, over all opposing arguments, I
at last overcame, by the grace of Christ (!) with much an-
guish, labor, and great difficulty, the only argument that
still stopped me, namely, ' /Aa/ / mw5^ hear the church;^
for, from my heart, I honored the church of the Pope as
the true church," &/C.t He foresaw the dreadful commo-
tions of which he would be the author, and trembled at the
thought ! *' I tremble — I shudder at the thought, that I
may be an occasion of discord to such mighty princes.":}:
Still he recklessly persevered!

But these scruples were but *' a remnant of popery :"
soon he succeeded in lulling his conscience into a fatal
security. An awful calm succeeded the storm. The
pride of being at the head of a strong party — the praises
of the students and professors of the Wittemberg univer-
sity — the flattery of friends, and the smiles of the power-
ful elector of Saxony — soon quieted the qualms of con-
science. The following facts — selected almost at random
from a mass of evidence of the same kind — may con-
tribute to throw additional light on the question of his
sincerity.

* D'Aubign^ i, 257. f Luth. 0pp. Lat. i, 49.

J " Inter tantos principes dissidii origo esse valde horreo et iimeo." Ep. i, 93.

48 d'aubigxe's history reviewed.

On the 30th of May, 1518, Trinity Sunday, he wrote a
letter to Leo X, of which the following is the concluding
passage : *• Therefore, most holy father, I throw myself
at the feet of your holiness, and submit myself to you
with all that I have and all that I am. Destroy my cause
or espouse it; pronounce either for or against me; take
my life or restore it, as you please : I will receive your
voice as that of Christ himself, who presides and speaks
through you. If I have deserved death, I refuse not to
die : the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof.
May he be praised for ever and ever. May he maintain
you to all eternity ! Amen."* The sequel tested the
sincerity of this declaration. But even while he was
penning it, or very shortly after, he preached from the
pulpit of Wittemberg against the power of the pope to ful-
minate excommunication, and he was engaged in circu-
lating inflammatory tracts breathing the same spirit.!

In 1519 he had a conference with Miltitz, the papal
envoy, to whose perfect satisfaction he arranged every
thing, promising to keep silence in future, as to the ques-
tions in controversy. The good nuncio embraced him,
wept with joy, and invited him to a banquet, at which he
loaded him with caresses. While this scene was being
acted, Luther, in a private letter to a friend, called him
**a deceiver, a liar, who. parted from him with a Judas-
like kiss and crocodile tears ;"J and, in another letter, to
Spalatin, he wrote : "let me whisper in your ear; I do
not know whether the pope is Antichrist, or only his
apostle, "§ &c. And yet, at this very time, on the 3d
March, 1519, he wrote to the pope in these words:

* Luth. Epist. vol. i, p. 121. Edit. Wette.

t " Habui nuper sermonem ad populuni de virtuie excommunicationiSy
ubi taxavi obiter tyrannidem et inscitiam sordidissimi illiiis vulgi qffici-
alium commissariorum vicariorum," ^c. Epist. ad WencesL Link, Julii,
1518. X Epist. Sylvio Egrano, 2 Feb. 1519

§ Epist. Spalatino, 12 Feb. 1519. See Audin, Life of Luther, p. 91,
and D'Aubigne ii, 15, 16.

CHARACTER OF THE REFORMERS. 49

**Most holy father, I declare it in the presence of God,
and of all the world, I never have sought, nor will I ever
seek to weaken by force or artifice the power of the Ro-
man church or of your holiness. I confess that there is
nothing in heaven or earth that should be preferred above
that church, save only Jesus Christ the Lord of all."*
The same man who wrote this, impugned the primacy of
the pope the very same year in the famous discussion
with Doctor Eck at Leipsic ! Was he — could he be sin-
cere in all this ? But, farther, when on the Sd of Oct.
1520, he became acquainted with the bull of Leo X, by
which his doctrines were condemned, he wrote these re-
markable words : " I will treat it as a forgery, though I
know it to be genuine. "t

The following evidence will greatly aid us in judging
of the motives which guided Luther Ln the work of the
reformation. What those motives were he surely was
the best judge. Let us then see what himself tells us on
this subject. In his famous harangue against Karlstadt
and the image breakers, delivered from the pulpit of the
church of All Saints at Wittemberg, he plainly says that,
if his recreant disciples will not take his advice, " he
will not hesitate to retract every thing he had either
taught or written, and leave them ;" and he adds emphat-
ically : ** this I tell you once for all.":j: In an abridged
confession of faith, which he drew up for his partisans, he
says in a vaunting tone : " I abolished the elevation of the
host, to spite the pope ; and I had retained it so long to
spite Karlstadt."§ In the new form of service, which he
composed as a substitute for the mass, he says in a simi-
lar spirit : " if a council were to order the communion to
be taken in both kinds, he and his would only take it in
one or none ; and would, moreover, curse all those who

* Epist. i, p. 234, f D'Aubigne ii,. 128.

X "Non dubitabo funem reducere, et omnium quag aut scrips! aut
docui palinodiam canere : hoc vobis dictum esto." Sermo docens abusus
non manibus, &c. § Confessio Parva.

50 d'aubione's history reviewed.

should, in conformity with this decree of the council,
communicate in both kinds."* Could the man be sincere
who openly boasted of being governed by such motives ?

We might continue to discuss the question of his sin-
cerity, by showing how he said one thing to Cardinal Ca-
jetan, and in the diet of Worms in 1521, and other things
precisely contradictory to his friends, at the same time :
how, before Cajetan, he appealed first to the universities,!
then to the pope, better informed, J and subsequently to a
general council :§ and how, when all these tribunals had
decided against him, he would abide by none of their de-
cisions, his reiterated solemn promises to the contrary
notwithstanding ! Did the Spirit of God direct him in all
these tortuous windings of artful policy ? Do they mani-
fest aught of the uprightness of a boasted apostle ? Do
they not rather bespeak the wily heresiarch — an Arius, a
Nestorius, or a Pelagius ?

We say nothing at present of his consistency : we
speak only of his sincerity and common honesty. No one
ever praised his consistency : he was confessedly a mere
creature of impulse and of passion, constant in nothing
but in his hatred of the pope and of the Catholic church.
His inconsistencies would fill a volume, and a mere allu-
sion to them would swell this chapter to an unwarrantable
length. II

But there is one incident in the private life of Luther
too curious to be passed over in silence. We give it in
the words of M. Audin, with his references to cotempo-
rary historians. *' After the labors of the day, he would
walk with Catharine" — the nun whom he had wedded—
*• in the little garden of the convent, near the ponds in

* Forma Missse. f D'Aubigne i, 357.

X Id. i, 376. § Id. i, 389, and again, ii, 134.

II Those who may be curious to investigate this subject will find abun-
dant facts in " Audin's Life of Luther." We direct the attention of
such to the following pages : 81, 82, 85, 94, 95, 102, 110, 354, 472, 238,
239, 240, 291, 312, 397, 398, 410, 430, 511, &c. &c.

CHARACTER OF THE REFORMERS. 51

which colored fish were disporting ; and he loved to ex-
plain to her the wonders of the creation, and the good-
ness of Him who had made it with his hands. One even-
ing the stars sparkled with unwonted brightness, and the
heavens appeared to be on fire. • Behold what splendor
those luminous points emit,' said Catharine to Luther.
Luther raised his eyes. * What glorious light,' said he :
' it shines not for us.^ * Why not r' replied Bora ; * have
we lost our title to the kingdom of heaven ?' Luther
sighed — • Perhaps so,' said he, * because we have aban-
doned our state.' ' We ought to return to it, then,' said
Catharine. * It is too late — the car is sunk too deeply ^"^
added the doctor. The conversation dropped."*

We may here be pardoned for making a digression, to
relate a somewhat analogous incident of Melancthon,
Luther's bosom friend and cherished disciple. Lu-
ther was wont to flatter him immoderately, and the
grateful disciple repaid him with interest in the same
gilded coin. When he had finished his Scholia on the
Epistles of St. Paul, Luther said to him, after having
read the work : *' What matter is it whether it pleases
you or not, if it pleases me ? I tell you that the com-
mentaries of Origen and Jerome, compared with yours,
are nothing but absurdities."! Melancthon too had his
misgivings. " He recalled to his mind the image of his
old father, George Schwartzerd, the smith, whose lively
faith made him rise often at night to offer up his prayer
to God. He thought of the last prayer of his dying mo-
ther, who, raising her hands towards him, said: * My
son, it is for the last time you see your mother. I am
about to die : your turn will one day come, when you
must render an account of your actions to your Judge.
You know that 1 was a Catholic, and that you have in-
duced me to abandon the religion of my fathers. Tell

* Georg Joanneck — Norma Vilfp. Krans — Ovicul. part ii. Col. 39.
Apud Aiuiin, p. 3S2. f Apud Andin, p. 4-!5.

52 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

me now, for God's Bake, in what religion I ought to die.'
Melancthon answered : * Mother, the new doctrine is
the more convenient ; the other is the more secure.' "*
But the gentle and wavering Melancthon was kept in
error by the fascination of Luther, who, serpent-like, had
coiled himself around his very heart-strings, and held
him captive !

Luther's intellectual attainments were of a high order.
As a popular orator, few surpassed him in ancient or
modern times. Nothing could withstand the foamy tor-
rent of his eloquence, or resist the effect of his withering
invective. " When he preached, the people listened
with trembling expectation to the words which fell from
his lips. His eye, which seemed to revolve in a fiery
orbit — his large and seer-like forehead — his animated
figure, especially when much excited — his threatening
gesture, his loud voice which thundered on the ear — the
spirit of inspiration with which he seemed possessed — all
awakened either terror, or ecstatic admiration in his
auditory."!

An excellent judge, Frederick Von Schlegel, passes the
following opinion on his mental powers. *' In the first
place, it is evident of itself that a man who accomplished
so mighty a revolution in the human mind, and in his age,
could have been endowed with no common powers of in-
tellect, and no ordinary strength of character. Even his
writings display an astonishing boldness and energy of
thought, united with a spirit of impetuous, passionate,
and convulsive enthusiasm. The latter qualities are in-
deed not very compatible with a prudent, enlightened,
and dispassionate judgment.''^

His indefatigable industry and untiring energy brought
out all his mental resources. He was restless and dis-
quieted : his spirit could never be still, after it had lost

* ^gidius Albertinus iin 4. Theil des Deutchcn Lust Hauses, v. 143.
Apud Audin, p. 447, note.

t Audin, p. 225. J Philosophy of History, vol. ii, p. 204.

CHARACTER OF THE REFORMERS. 53

the peace it once possessed in the bosom of the Catholic
church. His mind was not elevated or refined ; it could
not appreciate the beauties of art in Rome, which he vis-
ited during the splendid pontificate of Leo X. He seems
to have gleaned nothing else from his journey to the
" eternal city" but a few ** house-wife stories or menda-
cious anecdotes."*

Much has been said of his courage, and of his disregard
of danger. That he was bold and daring, we do not pre-
tend to deny. It however required but little courage to be
bold in his interview with Cajetan, or at the diet of Worms
in 1521. With the safe-conduct of the emperor, and the
certain protection of the powerful elector of Saxony, he
had little to apprehend. Besides, any man might become
courageous, at least at times, who had a powerful party to
sustain him in every thing. Luther was certainly most
courageous where there was least danger. He is alto-
gether a different character at the diet of Worms and at
Wittemberg. He could hurl defiance at popes, emperors,
and princes, when these were far off, and he was out of
their reach : but if h« had any thing to fear from them,
the scene changed altogether. He became as obsequious
and crouching as he had before been bold and reckless.

How meanly sycophantic was he on all occasions to the
elector of Saxony ! We will give one instance of this.
When Henry VIII, of England, complained to the elec-
tor of Luther's outrageous insults to his royal majesty,
the elector barely intimated the fact in a very mild and
indirect way to the reformer, without even insinuating the
propriety of making any reparation. Luther seized his
pen, and indited the following singular amende honorable,
•* Most serene king! most illustrious prince ! I should be
afraid to address your majesty, when I remember how
much I must have offended you in the book which, under
the influence of bad advice, rather than of my own feel-

♦ See Audin, p. 135, for facts under this head.

54 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

ings, I published against you, through pride and vanity.
... I blush now, and scarcely dare to raise my eyes to
you — I, who, by means of these workers of iniquity, have
not feared to insult so great a prince — I, who am a worm
and corruption, and who only merit contempt and dis-
dain. ... If your majesty thinks proper that, in another
work, I should recall my words, and glorify your name,
vouchsafe to transmit to me your orders. I am ready and
full of good will,"* &c. In fact, as we shall hereafter
prove, Luther was indebted, in a great measure, to his
sycophancy to princes for the success of his pretended
reformation.

His passions were violent, and he seems to have made
little effort to govern them. His violence in fact often
drove him to the very verge of insanity. His cherished dis-
ciple, Melancthon, deplored his furious outbursts of tem-
per. ** I tremble when I think of the passions of Luther :
they yield not in violence to the passions of Hercules."!
The weak and timid disciple had reason to tremble; for
he testifies that Luther occasionally inflicted on him per-
sonal chastisement.!

If he thus treated his most intimate friends, what are
we to suppose his conduct was towards his opponents
and enemies ? In his conferences with Cajetan and Mil-
titz, and in his letter to Leo X, as well as in his famous
speech at Worms, he acknowledged the violence of his
writings. Still, instead of correcting this fault, it seems
to have grown with his growth. Hear the manner in
which he replies to Tetzel. ** It seems to me, at the
sound of these invectives, that I hear a great ass braying
at me. I rejoice at it, and should be sorry that such peo-
ple should call me a good Christian. "§

* 0pp. Lutheri, Tom. ix, p. 234. Cochlasus, p. 156, Ulenberg, p.
502. See Audin, p. 300.

f Melancthon Epist. ad Theodorum.

X •* j3b ipso colaphos accept" Epist. ad eundem.

§ Luth. 0pp. Leipsic, xvii, 132.

CHARACTER OF THE REFORMERS. 55

He exhausts all the epithets of the coarsest ribaldrj
against his opponents, no matter how respectable. We
cannot pollute our pages with a tithe of his foul language.
Behold the spirit that breathes in the following passage,
in which he speaks of Emser: ** After a little time I will
pray against him ; I will beseech God to render to him
according to his works : it is better that he should perish,
than that he should continue to blaspheme Christ. I do
not wish you to pray for this wretch; pray for us alone."*
His adversaries are full of devils : if they die, the devil
has strangled them ; " one foams at the mouth ; another
has the horns and tail of Satan. This one is clad as
Antichrist ; that man changed into block. Oftentimes
the same personage, in the same page, is travestied as a
mule, a camel, an owl, and a mole."t

What are we to think of the spirit of the following lan-
guage, addressed to an assembly of his disciples. " My
brethren, be submissive, and communicate only under one
kind. If you do what I say to you, I will he to you a
good master ; I will be to you a father, brother, friend.
I will obtain graces and privileges from his majesty for
you. If you disobey me, I declare that I will become
your enemy, and do all the mischief possible to this city.":j:
Volumes might be filled with extracts from Luther's writ-
ings, replete with the coarsest vulgarity : the specimens
we have given are among the mildest. §

It is usual to excuse this coarseness of Luther by the
spirit of the age in which he lived. This is scarcely
a valid apology for one who set himself up as a reformer
of religion and of morals, and who claimed a divine com-
mission to establish a new sj'stem of doctrine. Besides,
we look in vain for any such examples of vulgarity among
his chief opponents in the Catholic church : Emser, Eck,

* Epist. ad Nicholas Hausman, 26 April, 1520.
t Aud. p. 118. X Table Talk, p. 376.

§ For more instances consult the following pages of Audin, 136, 163,
235, 237, 239, 240, 24S, 273, 2S5, 287, 288, 299, &c. &c.

56 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

Cajetan, Erasmus, and the great Leo X, were far too re-
fined to employ any such weapons. The reformers seemed
to claim a special privilege in this way. Let us exhibit
a few specimens of the manner in which some of these,
who differed from Luther in their doctrinal views, spake
of the Saxon reformer. They returned railing for railing.

** This man," says one of his cotemporary reformers,
** is absolutely mad. He never ceases to combat truth
against all justice, even against the cry of his own con-
science.'^* "He is puffed up," says another, ** with
pride and arrogance, and is seduced by Satan. "t " Yes,"
re-echoes another, " the devil is master of Luther to such
a degree as to make one believe that he wishes to gain
entire possession of him."J

Luther had said of this last witness, Zuingle, •* that he
was possessed not by one, but by a whole troop of devils."^
The church of Zurich returned the compliment, and said
of Luther that *'he wrote all his works by the impulse
and the dictation of the devil, with whom he had dealing,
and who in the struggle seemed to have thrown him by
victorious arguments."!!

This last charge was not without foundation. Luther
himself relates his " conference with the devil" in full,
and acknowledges, at the close of it, that he was unable
t^ answer the arguments of Satan !^ The devil, as was
quite natural, argued against the lawfulness of private
masses, which Luther feebly defended : and so con-
vincing were the reasons of his satanical majesty, that
Luther wrote to his intimate friend Melancthon imme-
diately after: **I will not again celebrate private masses
for ever."** And he faithfully kept his promise ! It was

• Hospinian. t CEcolampadiu3. J Zuingle.

§ " Non ab uno d?mone obsessum, sed d toloL c iterva." Lib. contra
Sacramentarios. |! Contra Confessionem Lutheri, p. Gl.

f In his treatise dt Missd. privata. See the conference in full in Au-
din, p. 181, segq.

** '• Sed et ego ampliua non faciam missam privatam in aicrnum"
Ad Melaneth. Aug. 1, 1521.

CHARACTER OF THE REFORMERS. 57

a favorite saying of his that, " unless we have the devil
hanging about our necks, we are but pitiful theologians !"*

Can we wonder then at this compliment paid him by
his brother Protestants of the church of Zurich : " But
how strangely does this fellow let himself be carried away
by his devils ! How disgusting is his language, and how
full are his words of the devil of hell !"t If these say-
ings are hard, it is surely not our fault : Luther bore sim-
ilar testimony of himself, and of his brother Protestants,
who happened to differ from him ; and these did but re-
tort on him the same compliments ! We are but the
humble witnesses and historians of the conflict. The
reformers are certainly unexceptionable witnesses of each
other's characters. Is it likely that God selected such
instruments to reform his church ?

Luther's standard of morality was about as high as that
of his good breeding. St. Paul tells us that a Christian's
" conversation is in heaven :"J Luther's, on the contrary,
was not only earthly, but often immoral and revolting in
the extreme. He discussed, in all their most disgusting
details, subjects which St. Paul would not have so much
as " named among Christians. "§ His famous •' Table
Talk" is full of such specimens of decency. Wine and
women, the pope and the devil, are the principal subjects
of which the reformer liked to treat, when alone with his
intimate friends, in private and unreserved conversation.
For fifteen years — from 1525 to 1540 — he was a nightly
visiter to the ** Black Eagle" tavern of Wittemberg,
where he met and conversed, over the ale-jug, with his
bosom friends, Melancthon, Amsdorf, Aurifaber, Justus
Jonas, Lange, Link, and Staupitz.

* Nisi diabolum habemus collo affixum, nihil nisi speculaiivi theologi
sumus." Colloquia Mensalia, fol. 23. See, for more on this subject, an
article on " demonology and the reformation," published in the ninth
number of the Catholic Cabinet, for January, 1844.

■{■ Church of Zurich — Contra Cojifess, Lutheri.

X Philip, iii, 20. § Ephes. v, 3.

58 d'aubigne's history reviev/ed.

His disciples carefully collected and published these
conversations of their *' beloved master," as so many
oracles. Erasmus Albert, one of them, tells us, in a
work against Karlstadt, that " these table discourses of
the doctor are better than any sermons ;" and Frederick
Mecum, another early Lutheran, calls them ** affecting
conversations, which ought to be diffused among the peo-
ple."* The first editions of the work were published in
German and in Latin by Mathesius, Peter Rebstock, and
Aurifaber, all zealous disciples of the reformer.t If there
was any indiscretion in thus revealingto the world the secret
conversations of this *' ale pope of the ' Black Eagle' "
with his boon companions, their zeal is alone to blame
for the exposure. The " Table Talk," or Tisck Reden,
as it is called in German, revealing as it does the heart of
Luther in his most unguarded moments, is perhaps the
best key to his character.

We will not soil our pages with extracts from the ** Ta-
ble Talk," revealing the moral turpitude of Luther. Those
who may doubt the truth of the picture we have drawn, or
who may feel a curiosity in such matters, are referred to
the work itself — a ponderous folio of 1350 pages, besides
an index, which alone would make a volume of considera-
ble size.ij: Luther's immorality was not, however, con-
fined to private conversations at the Black Eagle : he un-
blusiiingly and sacrilegiouslj' exhibited it in the very sanc-
tuary of God's holy temple! His '* sermon on matri-
mony," delivered in the German language, from the pul-
pit of the public church of All Saints at Wittemberg, en-
ters into the most revolting details upon a most delicate

• Apud x\udin, p. 336.

t The first edition was that of Eisleben, Luther's birth place, in 1566,
twenty years after his death. It was speedily followed by others, at
Frankfort on the Oder in 1567 and 1571 ; at Jena in 1591 ; at Leipsic
in 1G03 and 17C0 ; at Dresden and again at Leipsic in 1723.

X M. Audin has exhibited copious extracts from the work, p. 3S7,
seqq.

CHARACTER OF THE REFORMERS. 59

subject. The perusal of that sermon, even in the French
language — under the veil of which the translator of M.
Audin has wisely thought proper to leave it partially con-
cealed — is enough to raise a blush on the cheek of mo-
desty ! He preached this sermon in 1521, immediately
after his return from the Castle of the Wartburg, where he
had held his famous ** conference with the devil ;" and it
is worthy of such a master, if indeed the demon himself,
who is said to have little gusto for such matters, would
not have blushed at the obscenity of his wanton disciple !

We may as well remark here, en passant, that it was
in this same church, about the same time, that Luther de-
livered the withering invective against Karlstadt and some
other ultra reformers, who had torn down or defaced the
statues and paintings of the church, during his absence
at the Wartburg. The following extract from this ora-
tion contains a boast characteristic of Luther. ** I have
done more mischief to the pope, even while I slept, or
was drinking beer with Philip and Amsdorf, than all the
princes and emperors put together !"*

We shudder, while we record the following horrid blas-
phemies, taken from his •* Table Talk ;" and we should
have refrained from publishing them, had he not set him-
self up as a reformer of God's church, and in that garb
seduced many. *' May the name of the pope be d' — — d :
may his reign be abolished; may his will be restrained !
If I thought that God did not hear my prayer, I woul4
address the devil. "t Again : " I owe more to my dear
Catharine and to Philip, than to God himself.":|: Finally :
** God has made many mistakes. I would have given him
good advice, had I assisted at the creation. I would have
made the sun shine incessantly ; the day would have been
without end."§ Could human wickedness or temerity
have gone farther than this !

* 0pp. Lutheri, Tom vii. Chytr, Chron. Sax. p. 247.

t Table Talk, p. 213, Edit. Eisleben.

X Ibid. p. 124. § Id. Ed. Frank, part ii, fol. 20.

60 d'aubigxe's history reviewed.

It is not a little remarkable, that from the date of his
"conference with the devil," Luther's moral career was
constantly downward ; until at last he reached the lowest
grade of infamy, and became utterly steeped in vice.
How strongly does his reckless conduct after this period,
contrast with his vigils, long prayers, and fasts, while
an humble monk in the Catholic church. He himself
draws the contrast in his own forcible manner. He tells
us that while a Catholic, ** he passed his life in austeri-
ties, in watchings, in fasts and praying, in poverty, chas-
tity and obedience."* When he had abandoned Catholi-
city, he says of himself, that he was no longer able to re-
sist the vilest propensities,! and that, *' as it did not de-
pend upon him not to be a man, so neither did it depend
upon him to be without a woman.":}: His immorality was
generally known, and he himself often acknowledged it.
** He was," says Sleidan, a Protestant historian of the
time, " so well aware of his immorality, as we are informed
by his favorite disciple (Melancthon,) that he wished
they would remove him from the office of preaching. "§
In his Table Talk, he often avowed the base passions
which raged within him ; but in language much top gross
for our pages. He sometimes complained, that *' the Wit-
tembergers who supply all the monks with wives, will not
give me one.''Il

Though he had made a solemn vow of chastity ; and
though the Holy Scriptures command us to fulfil our
vows ;^ yet he married Catharine Bora, a nun bound by
similar sacred engagements ! He hesitated long before he
took this step, and had some misgivings even •^vhiIe taking
it: his conscience did not become wholly seared, until

* Tom. V. 0pp. Coramentar. in c. i ad Galatas v, 14.
t " Carnis me<B indomiice uror magnin ignibus, came, libidine.'" Apud
Audin, p. 355.

X 0pp. Tom. V, fol. 119. Sermo de Mairimonio.
§ Sleidan, B. ii. An. 1520. || See Meyer— Ehren Gedachiniss, fol. 26.
IT Psalm Ixxv, 12.

CHARACTER OF THE REFORMERS. 61

some time afterwards ! While at the Wartburg in 1521 —
a little before his sutanical interview — he uttered the fol-
lowing exclamation of horror, on being shown some theses
of his recreant disciple, Karlstadt, in which this man al-
lowed wives to priests and monks — " Good heaven ! will
our Wittemberg friends allow wives even to monks !
Ah ! at least thej will not make me take a wife."* And
again he says : " the friars have of their own accord
chosen a life of celibacy — they are therefore not at liberty
to withdraw from the obligations they have laid them-
selves under."! Three years later, in 1524, he said:
" God may change my purpose, if such be his pleasure;
but at present I have no thought of taking a wife.":}:

And yet, but a few short weeks elapsed, and he espou-
sed Catharine Bora! That he had some misgivings on
the occasion, would appear from these words of his letter
to an intimate friend, Wenceslaus Link — ** Away with
your scruples : let the Lord be glorified. I have my lit-
tle Catharine. I belong to Bora, and am dead" to the
world"§ — and to conscience (!). To Koeppe, another boon
companion, he wrote : " you know well what has happen-
ed to me. lam caught in the snares of a woman. God
must have been angry with me and with the world."||
Luther at first felt the degradation to which he had stoop-
ed, by violating his sacred vows. In a letter to his inti-
mate friend Spalatin', immediately after his marriage, he
says, *' that he had made himself so vile and contemptible
by these nuptials, that he hopes all the angels will laugh,
and all the demons weep !"^ And yet this feeling soon
gave way to a conviction, which he expressed in a confi-

* At mihi non ohlrudeni uxorem. Lib. Epist. ii, p. 40. D'Aubigne
iii, 26. t If^^d' P- 3^ ; D'Aubigne, ib p. 26, 27.

} Epist. ii, p. 570, 30th Nov. 1524.

§ Epist. Tom. ii, p. 245. Wittemb. edit. Seckendorf, 1. i, s. 63,
clxxxii. il Ibid. Tom. ii, p. 903. Edit. Altenb.

IF Epistola Spalatino. " Sic me vilem et contemptura his nuptii?
feci, ut angelos ridere, et demones flere sperem."

62 D'ArBIONE's HISTORY RKVILWED.

dential letter to another friend, " that God himself had
inspired him with the thought of marrying that nun — Ca-
tharine de Bora! !"* Could infatuation go farther than
this ?

The whole world was astounded or shocked at this con-
duct of the Saxon reformer. The Catholics viewed it as
open sacrilege : many Protestants were saddened and
gcandalized. Among these was Melancthon, who deplo-
red this conduct of his master in a letter to Camerarius ;
but with singular inconsistency adds : " Wo, however, to
him who would reject the doctrine, on account of the sins
of the teacher." The accomplished, but wavering Eras-
mus, viewed it as but another proof of his caustic remark,
•' that the tragedy of the reformation ever terminated in
the comedy of marriage." In a letter written on the oc-
casion, he says: "this is a singular occurrence; Luther
has thrown off the philosopher's cloak, and has just mar-
ried a young woman of twenty-six — handsome, well-made,
and of'a good family, but who has no dowry, and who for
some time had ceased to be a vestal. The nuptials were
most auspicious ; for a few days after the hymeneal songs
were sung, the bride was delivered ! Luther revels, while
a hundred thousand peasants descend to the tomb!"t
The circumstance here developed may perhaps explain
Luther's haste in the matter. All Germany was aroused
by the tidings of Luther's marriage. His opponents, as
well as those who were indifferent, laughed at his expense
through all the notes of the gamut ! Sonnets, epigrams,
satires, epithalamia and caricatures, poured in on his de-
voted head like a hail storm, from every quarter: among
these, the best perhaps were those of Doctors Emser and
Wimpina. The former extemporized an epiihalamium in

* Epist. Wenceslao Link.
+ Epist. Danieli Manckis Ulmcnsi. Oct. 6, 1525. This letter of
Erasmus has given rise to an animated controversy between the friends
and opponents of Luther. Those who may wish to see both sides, are
referred to Audio, p. 362, seqq.

CHARACTER OF THE REFORMERS. 63

.Latin verse, and set it to music : *• Farewell ! cowl, prior,
guardian, abbot: adieu to all vows: adieu to matins and
prayers, fear and shame: adieu to conscience!"* The
latter is a wood-cut caricature, exhibiting, in withering
and ludicrous contrast, the marriage of Luther and the
divine injunction: " Vow ye, and pay to the Lord your
God" — Vovete, et reddite Domino Deo tuo.'f

Luther seems to have retired for a time from the pitiless
peltings of the storm—" dead to the world, with his little
Catharine" — but he again emerged from solitude, more
reckless and violent than ever. As Erasmus remarked,
** marriage had not tamed him !" Indeed, it would seem
that " his little Catharine," gave him no U,'tle trouble and
annoyance. She sometimes played the part of the scold
and the vixen. He used to call her — after the honey-moon
of course — '* my master Ketha":}: — poor man !

Before he left the Catholic church, he was temperate
and abstemious: during the last twenty-one years of his
life — from his marriage in 1525 to his death in 1546 — he
was much given to the luxuries of the table, and drank
beer copiously, if not to excess. Maimbourg and others
tell us, that he lost the use of reason at many of the sump-
tuous banquets, in which he was wont to revel with his
intimate friends ; and Seckendorf, his warmest admirer,
admits that " he used food and drink joyfully, and indulg-
ed in jokes"§ — even on the eve of bis death. In fact, so

* Cuculla, vale, capa!
Vale prior, custos, abbal
Cum obedientia,
Cumjubilo.
Ite voia, preces, horse.
Vale timor cum pudore :
Vale conscientia ! &c.

CocMmis in J d. Luihcri,i6\. lis.
t Psalm Ixxv, 12 ; Prot. vers. Ixxvi, 12. The only answer Luther
made to Wimpina, was this : " Let the sow gntnt."
X " JJomi?nis mens Ketha."
^"Ciboet potn Mlariier usvs est; ei faceins indnhit." Seckendorf,
Commentar. de Lutheranismo.

64 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

little was he in the habit of restraining his passions, or of
concealing his vices, that they all stood out in bold relief
— strong even in death !

His death was in every respect worthy of his life since
he had turned reformer. His last words contained a refu-
sal to retract his errors, and a declaration that he wished
to die as he had lived ! We will give a few incidents con-
nected with his last moments. " I am ready to die," he
said, ''whenever it shall please God my Saviour; but I
would wish to live till Pentecost, that I might stigmatize
before the whole world this Roman beast, whom they call
the pope, and with him his kingdom." His pains becom-
ing very acute, he said one day to his nurse: "I wish
there was a Turk here to kill me." Hear how he prays,
while suffering: "my sins — death, the devil — give me no
rest! What other consolation have I but thy grace, O
God ! Ah ! let it not abandon the most miserable of men,
the greatest of sinners !" Witness again the spirit of the
following characteristic orison : '* O my God ! how I
would wish that Erasmus and the Sacramentarians, did for
a moment experience the pains that I suffer: then I would
become a prophet and foretell their conversion."*

After the sumptuous feast alluded to above, he gave
vent to his humor in the following strain, the subject of
which is the devil — his usual hobby: " my dear friends,
we cannot die, till we have caught hold of Lucifer by the
tail! I saw his back yesterday from the castle turrets. "t
The discourse subsequently turned on the study of the
Scriptures, and Luther made the following declaration,
which is valuable as a death-bed confession. *' It is no
trifle to understand the Scriptures. Five years' hard la-
bor will be required to understand Virgil's Georgics :
twenty years' experience to be master of Cicero's Epistles :
and a hundred years' intercourse with the prophets Elias,

• For more facts of a similar kind, see Aiidin, p. 482, seqq.
t Rareburgius, in his MS. Seckendorf. lib. iil, s. 36, cxxxiv.

CHARACTER OF TIIK REFOR.IIKRS. ^5

Eliseus,John the Baptist, Christ and the apostles, to know
the Scriptures ! — Alas! poor human nature !"* And yet
the last twenty-nine years of his life had been devoted to
the promulgation of the cardinal principle of his new re-
ligion — that every one was fully competent to understand
the Scriptures by his own private judgment ! Well may
we exclaim — ** Alas ! poor human nature !"

Such was Martin Luther, after he had left the holy
Catholic church ! Compare his character then with what
it was before that event ; and then apply M. D'Aubigne's
test given above, and the conclusion is irresistible — that
he was not a chosen instrument in the hands of God for
reforming the church, which *' He had purchased with His
blootl.'l- Before he left the church, he was, as we have
seen, humble, patient, pious, devoted, chaste, scrupulous —
afterwards, he was, in every one of these particulars, di-
rectly the reverse! Does God choose such instruments
to do his work ? Was Moses, was Aaron, were the apos-
tles such characters? He, like the apostles, forsooth!
They were humbla, chaste, patient, temperate and modest:
he was proisd, immoral, impatient and shameless. They
had a mission from God, and proved it by miracles: he
had not the one, nor did he claim the other; though chal-
lenged on the subject, by the Zuinglians and by the Ana-
baptists.:]: Therefore God did not send him — and all of
M. D'Aubigne's canting theory falls to the ground. What
must the "lock" of the reformation be, if Luther's cha-
racter be the **key" — which suits its internal structure?

It would be easy to show, by unquestionable evidence,
that the other reformers were not a whit better than Lu-
ther. We have seen already what testimony they bore to

* Floriraond Remond, b. iii, c. ii, fol. 287. Laign, vita Lutheri,fol. 4.

t Acts XX, 28.

X See Audin, p. 239. Stiibncr, an Anabaptist, asked him to produce
his miracles. He was silent, though a little before, he had made the
very same challenge to Karlstadt, and renew«d it afterwards to the
Zuinglians !

66 d'aubignb's history reviewed.

the character of each other ; and we shall have occasion to
recur to the subject in the sequel of our essay. "The
historian, Hume, has truly characterized the reformers
as * fanatics and bigots;' but with no less justice might he
have added, that they were (with one exception joerAa/35)*
the coarsest hypocrites :t men, who, while professing the
most high-flown sanctity in their writings, were in their
conduct, brutal, selfish and unrestrainable ; who, though
pretending, in matters of faith, to adopt reason as their
guide, were in all things else, the slaves of the most vul-
gar superstition; and who, with the boasted right of judg-
ment forever on their lips, passed their lives in a course
of mutual recrimination and persecution ; and transmitted
the same warfare as an heir-loom to their descendants. Yet,
'these be thy Gods,' O Protestantism! — these the coarse
idols which heresy has set up in the niches of the saints
and fathers of old, and whose names, like those of all for-
mer such idols, are worn like brands upon the foreheads
of their worshippers.''^ Whoever will read attentively
the veridical history of the reformation, will admit the
truth of this picture drawn by the great Irish bard.

* Melancthon.

t Bucer admits the justice of this reproach. Epist. ad Calvin.
} "Travels of an Irish Gentleman," &c. p. 200, 201. Doyle, New
York, 1835.

Part II

CHAPTER II.

CHARACTER OF THE REFORMATION-
EXAMINED.

The question stated — M. D'Aubigne's opinion — Mother and daughter —
Argumentum ad hominem — Jumping at a conclusion — Second
causes — Why Germany was converted — Why Italy and Spain were
not— Luther and Mohammed — Reasoning by contraries — Why
France continued Catholic.

We have seen what was the character of the chief in-
struments who brought about the reformation in Germany;
we are now to examine what was the character of the
work itself, and how it was effected. Were the reasons
assigned as the great motives for this alleged reform in
religion, sufficient to justify it, according to the judgment
of impartial men ? Were the means employed for bringing
it about such as would lead us to believe, that it was re-
ally a change for the better ; and were they such as God
would or could have approved and sanctioned ? Finally,
weighing these motives and these means, and making all
due allowance for the condition of the times, was there
any thing very remarkable in the rapid progress of the
reformation .? We will endeavor to solve these inquiries
in the following chapters.

M. D'Aubigne devoutly believes, that the reformation
was not only sanctioned by God, but that it was directly
his work. Let us hear how he discourses on the subject.
"Christianity and the reformation are, indeed, the same
revolution, but working at different periods, and in dis-

68 d'aubigne*s history reviewed.

similar circumstances. They differ in secondary features
— thev are alike in their first lines, and leading character-
istics. The one is the reappearance of the other. The
former closes the old order of things — the latter begins
the new. Between them is the middle age. One is the
parent of the other; and if the daughter is in some re-
spects inferior, she has in others, characters altogether
peculiar to herself."* In opposition to this flattering
theory, we will endeavor to prove that the reformation
differs from Christianity, not only " in secondary features,"
but also "in its first lines and leading characteristics;"
and that, if the former was the daughter of the latter, she
was a most recreant and degenerate daughter truly, with
scarcely one lineament in common with her parent. Ve-
rily, she had ** characters altogether peculiar to herself,"
and she was not only " in some respects,". but in almost
every thing, not only " inferior" to, but the direct oppo-
site, of her alleged parent!

According to M. D' Aubigne, one of these '* characters
of the reformation peculiar to itself," was "the sudden-
ness of its action." He illustrates the rapidity with which
the reformation was established, by the figure employed
by our blessed Saviour to denote the suddenness of his
second comino;: •♦ As the lightninfj; coraeth forth from the
west and shineth to the east, so shall also the coming of
the Son of man be." ** Christianity," he says, " was one
of those revolutions, which was slowly and gradually
prepared ;" the reformation, on the contrary, was instan-
taneous in its effect: ** a monk speaks — and in half of
Europe the power and glory" — of the church of Rome —
"crumbles in the dust!"t This rapidity he views as a
certain evidence, that the reformation was the work of God.
For *' how could an entire people — how could so many
nations, have so rapidly performed so difficult a work ?
How could such an act of critical judgment,'' on the neces-

* Preface, p. iv. f Ibid.

CHARACTER OF THE REFORMATION. 69

sity and measure of the reform, "kindle the enthusiasm
indispensable to great, and especially to sudden revolu-
tions ? But the reformation was a work of a very different
kind ; and this, its history will prove. It was the pouring
forth anew of that life which Christianity had brought into
the world."*

We trust to make it appear in the sequel, that the ra-
pidity with which the reformation was diffused, was the
result of " the pouring forth" of a different spirit alto-
gether. Meantime, we would beg leave to ask M.D'Au-
bigne to answer this argumentum ad hominem. If the
suddenness of the reformation be a proof that it was brought
about by the *' pouring forth anew of that life which
Christianity had brought into the world ;" would not the
contrary feature of Christianity — its gradual operation! —
be a conclusive evidence, that this system was not the
work of God ? And if this argument be not valid, what
truth is there in M. D'Aubigne's whole theory ? Would
not his reasoning, if reduced to the strict laws of logic,
rather prove that the reformation, differing avowedly as
it does in an essential feature from Christianity, was not
effected by the agency of the Divine Spirit, but was the
mere result of violent human passions, which usually
bring about sudden revolutions, both in the religious and
in the social system ?

It is curious to trace the farther development of his the-
ory. *' Two considerations will account for the rapidity
and extent of this revolution. One of these must be sought
in God, the other among men. The impulse was given
by an unseen hand of power, and the change which took
place was the w^ork of God. This will be the conclusion
arrived at by every one who considers the subject with im-
partiality and attention, and does not rest in a superficial
view. But the historian has a farther office to perform —

* Preface, p. iv.

t This we merely suppose with M. D'Aubigne, who gives no proof
of its truth.

70 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

Gofl acts bj second causes. Many circumstances, which
have often escaped observation, gradually prepared men
for the great transformation of the sixteenth century, so
that the human mind was ripe when the hour of its eman-
cipation arrived."* Now, we have given no little atten-
tion to the subject, and we claim at least as much im-
partiality as our historian .of •* the great reformation ;"
and yet, for the life of us, we can arrive at no such con-
clusion : we have reached one precisely contrary. And
the reasons which have forced us to make this inference
are so many and so cogent, that we are even under the
conviction, that all will agree with us, who *' consider the
subject with impartiality and attention, and do not rest in
a superficial view."

In examining the secondary causes, by which God
** gradually prepared men for the great transformation of
the sixteenth century," our historian assigns a prominent
place to Germany. *' As Judea, the birth-place of our
religion, lay in the centre of the ancient world, so Ger-
many was situate in the midst of Christian nations. She
looked upon the Netherlands, England, France, Switzer-
land, Italy, Hungary, Bohemia, Poland, Denmark, and
the whole of the. north. It was fit that the principle of
life should develop itself in the heart of Europe, that its
pulses might circulate through all the arteries of the body
the generous blood designed to vivify its members. "t

He alleges the following most singular reasons why Ger-
many was *' ripe" for the reformation : " the Germans had
received from Rome that element of modern civilization,
the faith. Instruction, legislation — all, save their courage
and their weapons, had come to them from the sacerdotal
city. Strong tics had from that time attached Germany
to the papacy."! Therefore was she *' ripe" for a rup-
ture with Rome ! This connexion witli Rome " made the
reaction more powerful at the moment of avvakening."§

* Preface, p. v. f B"'^!^' '- P- "«• X Tb. pp. 78, 7f». >^ lb. p. 7J>.

CHARACTER OF THE REFORMATION. 71

Again : ** the j:;ospel had never been offered to Germany
in its primitive purity; the first missionaries who visited
the country gave to it a religion already vitiated in more
than one particular. It was a law of the church, a spir-
itual discipline, that Boniface and his successors carried
to the Trisons, the Saxons and other German nations.
Faith in the * good tidings,' that faith which rejoices the
heart and makes it free indeed, had remained unknown
to them."*' Therefore, when Luther and his brother re-
formers announced these ** good tidings" in all their pu-
rity for the first time — fraught too with endless variations
and contradictions — the Germans were prepared for the
*• awakening," and received the Gospel with enthusiasm! !
Truly, M. D'Aubigne loves to reason by contraries, and
to startle his readers by palpable absurdities !

No less curious is his reason for explaining why the
Italians did not receive the " Gospel." " And if the truth
was destined to come from the north," he says, *' how could
the Italians, so enlightened, of so refined a taste and so-
cial habits, so delicate in their own eyes, condescend to
receive any thing at the hands of the barbarous Germans }
Their pride, in fact, raised between the reformation and
themselves a barrier higher than the Alps. But. the
very nature of their mental culture was a still greater ob-
stacle than the presumption of their hearts. Could men,
who admired the elegance of a well cadenced sonnet more
than the majestic simplicity of the Scriptures, be a propi-
tious soil for the seed of God's word ^ A false civilization
is, of all conditions of a nation, that which is most repug-
nant to the Gospel. "t Those who have read Roscoe's
"Life and pontificate of Leo X," will greatly question
the accuracy of this picture of Italian civilization.

We shall prove in the sequel that before, and during
t^^e time of the reformation, Italy did much more than
Germany, to evidence her admiration "for the majestic

* Ibid. p. 73. t Ibid. p. 84.

72 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

simplicity of the Scriptures." At present we will barely
remark, that the gist of M. D'x\ubigne's theory consists in
the assertion, that Italy was too "enlightened," too "re-
fined in taste and social habits," too " delicate in her own
eyes," and too *' proud and presumptuous" to receive the
"Gospel;" while Germany, being on the contrary less
enlightened, less refined, and more corrupt in doctrine and
morals, was a more genial soil — just the one, in fact, which
was most "ripe" for its reception, and most likely to fos-
ter its growth!! We award him cheerfully the whole
benefit of this, his speculation on the " preparation of the
Gospel."

To confirm his theory still farther, he thus accounts for
the singular fact that Spain did not embrace Protestantism.
" Spain possessed, what Italy did not — a serious and noble
people, whose religious mind has resisted even the stern
trial of the eighteenth century, and of the revolution
(French), and maintained itself to our own days. In
every age this people has had among its clergy men of
piety and learning, and it was sufficiently remote from
Rome to throw off without difficulty her yoke. There are
few nations wherein one might more reasonably have
hope^ for a revival of that primitive Christianity, which
Spain had probably received from St. Paul himself. And
yet Spain did not then stand up among the nations. She
was destined to be an example of that word of the divine
wisdom, * the first shall be last.' "* What a pity ! We
have little doubt ourselves, that these were precisely
among the principal reasons, why Spain did not stand up
among "the nations," who revolted against Catholicity in
the sixteenth century : and her having passed unscathed
through this fiery ordeal, may also serve to explain to us,
how she was enabled " to resist even the stern trial of the
eighteenth century, and of the revolution." Her people
were too "serious and too noble" — their mind was too

^ Ibid. p. S5.

CHARACTER OF THE REFORMATION. 73

"religious" — and their clergy had too much "piety and
learning" — to allow them to be carried away by the novel
vagaries of Protestantism.

Among the "various circumstances which conduced to
the deplorable result" — of her remaining Catholic, M.
D'Aubigne mentions her *' remoteness from Germany,''
the *^ hearV of Europe — "an eager desire after riches" in
the new world — the influence of her " powerful clergy" —
and her military glory, which had just risen to its zenith,
at the conquest of Grenada and the expulsion of the Moors.
In reference to this last cause, he asks emphatically :
" how could a people who had expelled Mahomet from
their noble country, allow Luther to make way in it ?''*
This question is at least characteristic ! Was there then,
in the ideas of the " serious and noble" Spaniards, so lit-
tle difference between Luther and Mohammed !

" Few countries," he says, " seemed likely to be bet-
ter disposed than France for the reception of the evangel-
ical doctrines. Almost all the intellectual and spiritual
life of the middle ages was concentrated in her. It might
have been said, that the paths were every where trodden
for a grand manifestation of the truth. "t Perhaps this
preservation of the " intellectual and spiritual life of the
middle ages," was a principal reason why France contin-
ued Catholic. A little farther on,:j: he says : "the (French)
people, of quick feeling, intelligent, and susceptible of
generous emotions, were as open, or even more so than
other nations, to the truth. It seemed as if the reforma-
tion must be, among them, the birth which should crown
the travail of several centuries. But the chariot of France,
which seemed for so many generations to be advancing to
the same goal, suddenly turned at the moment of the re-
formation, and took a contrary direction. Such was the
will of Him, who rules nations and their kings." We ad-
mire his pious resignation to the will of God ! This sen-

* Ibid. p. 86. I Ibid. | Ibid. p. 87.

74 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

timent will console him for his disappointment : ** that the
augury of ages was deceived,"* in regard to France. He
adds, in the same pious strain : ** perhaps, if she had re-
ceived the Gospel, she might have become too powerful !"

He winds up his jeremiad with these and similar pas-
sages : "France, after having been almost reformed, found
herself, in the result, Roman Catholic. The sword of her
princes, cast into the scale, caused it to incline in favor
of Rome. Alas ! another sword, that of the reformers
themselves, ensured the failure of the effort for reforma-
tion. The hands that had been accustomed to warlike
weapons, ceased to be lifted up in prayer. It is by the
blood of its confessors, not by that of its adversaries, that
the Gospel triumphs. Blood shed by its defenders, extin-
guishes and smothers it."t That is, the reformation
sought to establish itself in France by violence and by
force, and signally failed ! Elsewhere, as we shall see, it
was more successful in the employment of such carnal
weapons. But Protestantism obtained sufficient foot-hold
in France to do incredible mischief for a century and a
half; and it sowed upon her beautiful soil the fatal seeds
which, two centuries and a half later, produced the bitter
fruits of anarchy, infidelity and bloodshed, during the
dreadful ** reign of terror !"

Such is the theory of M. D'Aubigne: and we now pro-
ceed to its refutation, which is no difficult task, as in fact
it sufficiently refutes itself.

• Ibid. t Ibid-

CHAPTER III.

PRETEXTS FOR THE REFORMATION.

Usual plea — Abuses greatly exaggerated — Three questions put and
answered — Origin of abuses — Free-will unimpaired — Councils to ex-
tirpate abuses — Church thwarted by princes and the world — Con-
troversy on investitures — Extent of the evil — Sale of indulgences —
St. Peter's Church — John Tetzel — His errors greatly exaggerated —
Public penance — License to sin — Nature of indulgences — Tetzel
rebuked and his conduct disavowed by Rome — Miltitz and Cardinal
Cajetan — Kindness thrown away — Luther in tears — Efforts of Rome
— Leo X and Adrian VI — Their forbearance censured by Catholic
writers — Their tardy severity justified by D'Aubigne — Luther'i
real purpose — The proper remedy — The real issue — Nullification —
Curing and cutting a throat — Luther's avowal — Admissions of the
confession of Augsburg and of Daille — Summing up.

The most usual plea for the reformation is, that it was
necessary for the correction of the abuses which had crept
into the Catholic church. These are exaggerated and
painted in the most glowing colors, by M. D'Aubigne,
and by other writers favorable to the reformation. He
dwells with evident complacency on the vices of one or
two popes, and of many of the Catholic bishops and
clergy, secular and regular, during the fifteenth and six-
teenth centuries. He represents the whole church as
thoroughly corrupt, and states that, but for the reforma-
tion, religion would have perished entirely from the face
of the earth ! We have already seen how he compared
the reformers, preaching up their new-fangled doctrines
among the benighted Roman Catholics of the sixteenth
century, to the apostles preaching the Gospel to the Pa-
gans of their day ! And how coolly he assured us that the
•* reformation was but the re-appearance of Christianity !"
We record our solemn protest against the gross injustice
of this whole view of the subject.

76 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

But we are asked — " What? do you deny the existence
of abuses in the Catholic church ? Do you deny, that those
abuses were great and wide spread ? Do you deny, that
it was proper, and even necessary to correct them ?"
We deny none of these things ; except that there is an
implied exaggeration in the second question. W^e admit
the existence of the evil complained of, especially about
the bep;inning of the sixteenth century ; and we deplore
it, as sincerely at least, as do the opponents of the Catho-
lic church. A good cause can never suiFer from the truth,
and the whole truth. Let genuine history pronounce its
verdict as to the real facts of the case ; and we bow to the
decision. But what was the origin of the abuses com-
plained of .^ what was their extent? and what was the ad-
equate and proper remedy for them ? We will endeavor
briefly to answer these three questions.

I. It was not the intention of Christ, nor was it the de-
sign of the Christian religion wholly to prevent the possi-
bility of abuses. He willed, indeed, that all men sliould
embrace his religion, and reduce its holy principles to
practice; in which case, there would have been no disor-
ders nor abuses on the face of the earth : and the world
would have been an earthly paradise, free from all stain
of sin. But this state of perfection could not have been
effectually brought about, without offering violence to
man's free will, which God, in his moral government of
the world, has ever wished to leave unimpaired. Religion
was offered to mankind with all its saving truths, its holy
maxims, its purifying institutions, and its powerful sanc-
tions of rewards and punishments in an after life. Suffi-
cient grace was also offered to all, to enable them to learn
and believe its doctrines, and to reduce to practice its
commandments. But no one was compelled to do either.
Among the twelve, who were trained under the imme-
diate eye of Christ, there was one ** devil."

Christ himself foresaw and foretold that scandals would
come; and contented himself with pronouncing a ** wo on

PRETEXTS FOR THE REFORMATION. 17

that man bj whom the scandal comefh."* In his king-
dom, there was to be cockle, as well as the good wheat,
and he willed ** that both should grow until the harvesf't
of the general judgment, in which only, the final separa-
tion of the good and evil will take place. Nothing is more
foreign to the nature of Christ's church, than the proposi-
tion, that it was intended only to comprise the elect and
the just. The struggle between good and evil — between
truth and error — between the powers of heaven and the
** gates of hell" — is to go on until the consummation of
the world : and Christ has pledged his solemn word, that
** the gates of hell shall not prevail against his church ;":j:
and that he will be with the body of his pastors and teach-
ers "all days even to the consummation of the world. "§

Abuses existed in all ages of the church, even during
her palmiest days. The writings of the earliest fathers —
of St. Cyprian, of Tertullian, of St. Ambrose, and St.
John Chrysostom — paint them in the most glowing co-
lors. The church never approved of them — she could not
do so even for a day ; for Christ had solemnly promised
to guard her from error. She bore her constant testi-
mony against them, and labored without intermission for
their removal. Her eighteen general councils — one for
each century — and her local ecclesiastical assemblies,
almost without number — diocesan, provincial, and na-
tional — what are they but evidences of this her constant
solicitude, and records of her noble and repeated strug-
gles for the extirpation of error and vice ? There is not
an error that she has not proscribed ; not a vice or an
abuse upon which she has not set the seal of her condem-
nation. She was divinely commissioned for this purpose :
and well and fully has she discharged the commission !

Whenever she was not opposed nor thwarted in her
purpose, error and vice disappeared before her, like the

* Math, xviii, 7. ' t Ibid, xiii, 30.

t Math, xvi, 18. • § Ibid, xxviii, 20.

78 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

mists before the rising sun. But she had at all times to
contend with numerous obstacles. This was particularly
the case during the middle ages. The princes of the
earth, especially in Germany, sought, during that whole
period, to enslave the church, and to make the bishops
the mere subservient instruments of their worldly pur-
poses and earthly ambition. This they endeavored to
effect by making them their vassals, and by claiming a
right to confer on them even the insignia of their spirit-
ual office. The effect of this last claim was to render the
appointment of bishops, as well as the exercise of their
spiritual jurisdiction, dependent on the whims of the secu-
lar power. The Roman pontiffs maintained an arduous
contest, for centuries, with the emperors of Germany and
with other princes, against this usurpation. The question
of investitures was one of vital consequence — of liberty
or slavery for the church. After a protracted struggle
the pontiffs succeeded ; but their success was neither so
complete nor so permanent as the friends of the church
could have wished. Emperors, kings, and princes, espe-
cially those of the Germanic body, had still far too much
power in the nomination of bishops.

II. The consequences were most disastrous for the
church. LFnworthy bishops were often intruded into the
principal sees. The example and the influence of these
were frequently baneful to the character of the inferior
clergy. Owing to the operation of these causes, the bish-
ops and clergy of Germany, many of them, had greatly
degenerated, about the beginning of the sixteenth century.
Still there were many brilliant exceptions. The evil
was by no means so general or so wide-spread as it is
usually represented. We are yet free to avow that it is
difficult to explain how such large bodies of the clergy
abandoned the church in many countries of the north, in
any other supposition than that they had sadly degene-
rated from primitive fervor. At the bidding of their
prince, or at the prompting of their own self-interest.

PRETEXTS FOR THE REFORMATION. 79

they left that church which they had promised to defend,
and at whose altars they had been consecrated !

The abuse and alleged sale of indulgences afforded the
principal pretext for the first movements of the reforma-
tion. The church had always maintained her power to
grant indulgences : she never sanctioned, in her official
capacity, the abuses which, at some times and in some
places, grew out of the exercise of this power. In the
early church the canons imposed long and painful public
penances on certain grievous transgressions, A canon of
the general council of Nice, in 325, had given to the bish-
ops a discretionary power to remit the whole or a part of
those penances, when the penitent manifested special fer-
vor. Other councils made similar enactments. During
the middle ages the rigor of the ancient penitential sys-
tem was greatly softened down : and the penances them-
selves were often commuted into alms or other pious
works.

About the beginning of the sixteenth century Leo X
conceived the purpose of erecting in Rome a temple,
which should far surpass, in dimensions and magnificence,
any thing that the world had ever yet seen. The origina-
tion of the plan of St. Peter's church was an idea worthy
the mind of that magnificent pontiff; and its erection,
which he commenced, is the noblest monument to his
fame. To promote an object so splendid, he promulgated
a bull, in which he promised ample indulgences to all who
would contribute to so laudable an undertaking. And, if
there were no other proof of the utility of indulgences,
the erection of that splendid temple, mainly due to them,
is a monument which would alone suffice to remove every
cavil on the subject. No one can enter that church with-
out being forcibly impressed with the majesty of God and
the grandeur of the Christian religion. His soul becomes
*'as colossal as the building itself!''

Albert, archbishop of Mayence and Magdeburg, was
appointed by the pontiff to carry out the intentions of the

80 d'aubigne-s history reviewed.

bull in Germany. He nominated John Tetzel, a Domini-
can friar, to be the chief preacher of the indulgences.
We have no mission to defend the extravagances imputed
to this man. To us it appears that much injustice has
been done him, and that his errors have been greatly ex-
ao-o-erated by his enemies. He seems to have been in the
main a good man, with little prudence or discretion. The
magnificent terms in which he set forth the utility and
efficacy of the indulgences should have been explained, in
common justice, according to the well known doctrine
and practice of the church on this subject.

One thing is certain, that the abuses of which he is
accused were not authorized by the church or the pontiff.
M. D'Aubigne, an unexceptionable witness, tells us as
much. He admits that, ** in the pope's bull, something
was said of the repentance of the heart and the confession
of the lips :" but adds that *' Tetzel and his companions
cautiously abstained from all mention of these ; otherwise
their coffers might have remained empty ;''* and that this
omission was in consequence of instructions from Arch-
bishop Albert, *' who forbade them even to mention con-
version or contrition. 't And yet, on the same page, he
acknowledges that confession, which necessarily presup-
poses conversion and contrition of heart, was a prerequi-
site to the granting of the indulgence ! *' Confession
being gone through (and it was soon despatched), the
faithful hastened to the vender."±

We have strong reason to object to this term "vender :"
the granting of the indulgence, even according to the
avowedly unauthorized practice of Tetzel, did not justify
the idea of a sale or traffic, properly so called. The of-
fering made on the occasion was entirely free : those who
were unable to contribute any thing, still obtained the
boon ; and those who M^ere able, contributed according to
their ability or will, no fixed amount being determined.

• Vol. i, p. 214. t Ibid. p. 215. J Ibid.

PRETEXTS FOR THE REFORMATION. 81

All that even D'Aubigne asserts on this subject is, that
*' an angrj look was cast on those who dared to close their
purses."* When Protestant preachers take up collections
at the close of their sermons, for the support of themselves,
their wives and children^ can it be said with propriety, that
they sell their sermons for the amounts thus contributed,
even should it happen that those sums more than equalled
the value received ? But the questors of indulgences did
not go thus far, even according to the showing of our very
partial historian. He tells us, *• that the hand that deli-
vered the indulgence could not receive the money: that
was forbidden under the severest penal ties. ''t

He even admits, that, notwithstanding the boasted effi-
cacy of the indulgences, public penance was still enjoined
by Tetzel and his associates, for offences which had given
public scandal. " If, among those who pressed into the
confessionals, there came one whose crimes had been
public, and yet untouched by the civil laws, such person
was obliged, first of all, to do public penance.":}: Did this
look like patronizing vice ? Was it not rather a salutary
restraint on guilt, imposed as a condition for obtaining the
indulgence ? The very nature of the indulgence itself,
and the conditions always required to obtain it, and set
forth in the Bull of Leo X, far from fiivoring sin, or being
an incentive to its commission, necessarily precluded both.
An indulgence is merely a sequel to the sacrament of pe-
nance: it removes only the temporal penalty, which may
remain due after the sin itself and the eternal punishment
due to it, have been al ready remitted : and, according to
its very nature, it cannot take effect, until all grievous
sin has been already pardoned through sincere repentance
and the sacrament of penance. It offers then, essentially,
a most powerful inducement to repentance and amendment
of life.

* Vol. i, p. 216. t Ibid.

X Ibid. True, he calls this a " wretched mummery," because Pro-
testants cannot, or will not, understand or appreciate these works of
penance ! These are not to their taste !

82 d*aubigne'3 history reviewed.

The acts of Tetzel were officially disavowed by the
court of Rome. In 1519, Charles Miltitz, the papal envoy,
openly rebuked him for his conduct in the affair of the
indulgences; and even charged him with having been the
occasion of most of the troubles which during the previous
two years had afflicted Germany.* He, however, con-
demned the friar unheard, relying chiefly upon the exag-
gerated representations of his enemies. He M^ould not
even allow the Dominican to defend himself against the
grievous charges brought against him by Luther.t Among
these was the accusation, that he had uttered horrid blas-
phemies against the Blessed Virgin Mary. In a letter to
Miltitz, Tetzel indignantly repelled this charge : but the
spirit of the monk was broken; and he died soon after,
most probably of chagrin. Most writers of impartiality
blame the conduct of the papal envoy, who immoderately
flattered Luther on the one hand, and sacrificed Tetzel on
the other.f His motive, however, was a good one : to
conciliate Luther by removing all reasonable causes of
complaint, and thus to heal the schism with which he
menaced the church of God.

But Miltitz did not know his man. All conciliation was
entirely thrown away on him. The learned and amiable
Cardinal Cajetan, a year before, had made the attempt to
win him by kindness, in the interview they had at Augs-
burg. Luther was affected even unto tears by this good-
ness ; and, at the close of the conference, addressed the
cardinal nuncio in the following strain : ** I return to you,
my father ! . . . I am moved. I have no more fear : my
fear is changed into love and filial respect ; you might
have employed force, but you have chosen persuasion and
charity. Yes, I avow it now — I have been violent and
hostile, and have spoken irreverently of the pope. I was
provoked to these excesses; but I should have been more

* D'Aubigne, vol. ii, p. Id.
t See Audin, " Life of Luther/' p. 89, 90. | Ibid,

PRETEXTS FOR THE REFORMATION. * 83

guarded on so serious a question, and, in answering a
fool, I should have avoided imitating his folly. I am
affected and penitent, and ask for pardon. I will ac-
knowledge my repentance to whoever wishes to hear it
declared. For the future, I promise you, father, to speak
and act otherwise than 1 have done : God will assist me;
I will speak no more of indulgences, provided you impose
silence on all those who have involved me in these diffi-
culties."* He concludes this letter with the followinor
sentence : ** I beseech you then, with all humility, to re-
port this whole affair to our holy father, Pope Leo X,
that the church may decide on what is to be believed, and
what is to be rejected."! And yet, but a few weeks later,
he published an inflammatory tract, in which he com-
plained bitterly of the severity of Cajetan, spoke harshly
of the pope, and appealed to a general council .J We
have already seen how, while he promised every thing to
Miltitz, he laughed, in letters to his private friends, at
the ** crocodile tears" and ** Judas-like kiss" of that
weak and duped nuncio !

The reformation of abuses in the matter of indulgences
was but a pretext : the real motives of Luther and his
partisans were very different, as the result proved. The
pope, through his legates, had done every thing that could
have been reasonably asked for the removal of the evils
complained of. If the court of Rome was guilty of any
fault, it was that of excessive leniency to Luther, and of
too great a spirit of conciliation towards his partisans.^
This was especially true of the good Adrian VI, who suc-

* Apud, Audin, ibid. p. 81. f Ibid.

} Lutheri Opera, Tom. i, fol. 217. Audin, p. 85, seqq.
§ Pallavicini censures Leo X for his excessive forbearance with Lu-
ther, and for having commissioned Doctor Eck to publish the bull
against him in Germany. {Storia del Cone, di Trenio cap. xxv.) Mu-
ratori joins in the censures : " Papa Leone che ruminando alii pensieri
di gloria mondana, e piu che agli affari della religione agonizante in Ger-
mania pensando aL' ingrandimenlo della chiesa Umporale." (Annali,
vol. X, p. 145.) Audin ably defendg the pontiff, p. 115.

84 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

ceeded Leo X in the pontificate early in the year 1522.
He immediately set about the work of reform with great
zeal, both at Rome and in Germany. He took from the
questors the power of distributing indulgences. In the
diet of Nuremberg, in 1522, he offered, through his le-
gate, Cheregat, to reform every abuse.* How were his
advances met ? They were repaid by triumphant insult
and indignity. The diet, under Lutheran influence, drew
up an inflammatory paper containing the famous centum
gravamina — or ** hundred grievances" — fraught with un-
founded and highly exaggerated charges against Rome.
And yet the good pontiff did not return railing for railing.
He still promised to do every thing in his power to re-
move all causes of reasonable complaint. This pontiff,
** who thought not of evil, and of whom the world was not
worthy," according to the testimony of a Protestant his-
torian,! died of a broken heart after the return of Chere-
gat. All the poor of Rome followed his hearse, and be-
wailed him: they said, "our father is dead!" While
they passed, the people knelt down and burst into tears.
Never had funeral pomp called forth so deep a feeling.J

What, in fact, could Rome have done, v/hich she did
not do to redress every grievance, and to carry out every
necessary measure of reform ? Did the reformers ask for
forbearance ? Rome was perhaps too forbearing. Did they
wish for a spirit of conciliation ? Rome descended from
her lofty dignity, and met them half way — and then they
rudely repulsed her advances ! Even M. D'Aubigne
praises the forbearance of Leo X, and the ** equity of the
Romish synod," which prepared the bull against Luther.§
He says : *' in fact, Rome was brought into the necessity
of having recourse to measures of stern severity. The
gauntlet was thrown down, the combat must be to the
death. It was not the abuses of the pontiff's authority,

* « Neaere Geschichte der Deutcheu, von Karl Ad. Menzel," a Pro-
testant. T. 1. Apud Audin, p. 280.

t Adolph Menzel, supra. Tom. i. p. iii. Apud Audin, p. 282,
X Audin, ibid. § Vol. ii, p. 101.

PRETEXTS FOR THE REFORMATION. 85

that Luther had attacked. At his bidding, the pope was
required to descend meekly from his throne, and become
again a simple pastor or bishop on the banks of the
Tiber !*

Had Luther sought only the truth, why did he so often
consent to preserve silence, if the same obligation were
imposed on his adversaries ? Was this conduct worthy
the apostle of reform, and the boasted champion of the
Gospel in its purity? If he sought only truth, why did he
not abide by the decisions of those numerous tribunals, to
whose authority he himself had voluntarily appealed, as
the arbiters of the matters in dispute.^ Why abuse them
so intemperately, for having decided against him? The
love of truth and the reform of abuses, were but shallow
pretexts ; the successive appeals just alluded to, were but
crafty expedients to gain time : the real object was sepa-
ration from the church, and the forming of a schismatical
party of which he would be the head.

III. One of the tribunals to which Luther had appealed —
the general council of Trent — adopted every measure that
discreet zeal could have asked, for the reformation of
abuses. By far the larger portion of its decrees are de-
voted to the work of reformation. On the subject of in-
dulgences, the council employs this emphatic language :
" wishing to correct and amend the abuses which have
crept into them, and on occcasion of which, this signal
name of indulgences is blasphemed by heretics, the holy
synod enjoins in general by the present decree, that all
wicked traffic for obtaining them, which has been the
fruitful cause of many abuses among the Christian people,
should be wholly abolished."! The same decree recom-

* Ibid. p. 97.

f Sessio XXV. Decret. de Indulg. " Abusus vero, qui in his irrep-
serunt, et quorum occasione insigne hoc Indulgentiarum nomen ab
haereticis blasphematur, emeiidatos et correctos cupiens, praesenti de-
creto gerieraliter statuit, pravos quffistus omnes pro his consequendis,
unde plurima in Christiano populo abusuum causa fluxit, omnino abo-
lendos esse."

86 d'aubigne's history revie^ved.

mends great moderation in the granting of indulgences,
and directs the bishops throughout the world, to detect
and refer all local abuses in the matter to provincial coun-
cils to be held every three years, whence they are to be
reported to the Roman pontiiF. Could any wiser or greater
measure of reform have been reasonably demanded ?
Mr. Hallam, a witness whose authority will not be sus-
pected, bears testimony to the merit of the Tridentine
fathers. After having refuted at some length ** a strange
notion that has been started of late years in England, that
the Council of Trent made important innovations in the
previously established doctrines of the western church:
an hypothesis," he says, " so paradoxical in respect to
public opinion, and, it must be added, so prodigiously at
variance with the known facts of ecclesiastical history,
that we cannot but admire the facility with which it has
been taken up ;-' he thus continues : " no council ever
contained so many persons of eminent learning and ability
as that of Trent ; nor is there ground for believing that
any other ever investigated the questions before it with so
much patience, acuteness, temper, and desire of truth.
The early councils, unless they are greatly belied [very
probably the case), would not bear comparison in these
characteristics. Impartiality and freedom from prejudice
no Protestant will attribute to the fathers of Trent ; but
where will he produce these qualities in an ecclesiastical
synod ? But it may be said, that they had but one lead-
ing prejudice (!), that of determining theological faith ac-
cording to the tradition of the Catholic church, as handed
down to their own age. This one point of authority con-
ceded, I am not aware that they can be proved to have
decided wrong, or, at least, against all reasonable evi-
dence. Let those who have imbibed a different opinion
ask themselves, whether they have read Sarpi through
with any attention, especially as to those sessions of the
Tridentine council which preceded its suspension in

rRKTEXTS FOR THE REFORMATIOX. S7

1547."* The history of the council of Trent by cardinal
Pallavicini, which Hallam acknowledges he never read,
would greatly confirm this conclusion.

AH previous councils, both general and local, had
adopted measures for reform, marked with similar wis-
dom and zeal. Many of the decrees of the general coun-
cil of Constance, in the beginning of the fifteenth century,
as well as those of the general council of Basle,t towards
the middle of the same century, had been distinguished
by the same solicitude. M. D'Aubigne admits this.
** Had not gentler means been tried for ages? Had they
not seen council after council convoked with the intention
of reforming the church !"J True, he says, without how-
ever even the shadow of proof, that " all had been in
vain."§ He also asserts against all evidence, that Mar-
tin V, who was chosen pontiff in the council of Constance,
A. D. 1418, with the express stipulation, that he should
carry out the measures of reform commenced by the coun-
cil, subsequently refused to redeem his pledge. II But did
not this pontiff' convoke councils for the purpose succes-
sively at Pavia, Sienna, and Basle ? And was it his fault
that his intentions were not fully carried out ?

The controversy did not turn on the necessity of reform,
but on the means best calculated to bring it about. There
were two ways of reforming abuses in the church ; the one
from within, the other from without — the one by gentle and
legal means, the other by lawless violence. The Catholics
were in favor of the former, the Protestants of the latter
mode. The former wished to remain in the church, which
Christ had commanded thein to hear, and to labor therein
for the extirpation of abuses ; the latter separated from
the church, and covered it with obloquy, against the so-
lemn injunction of its divine founder. Were not the

* " History of Literature," supra citat. vol. i, p. 277, note.
t Before it degenerated into a scliismatical conventicle, during the
last sessions.

+ Vol. i, p. 104. § Ibid. I! Ibid. p. 5G.

Catholics right ? Had they not the sanction of ages, which,
following the precedent set them by the inspired Apostles
themselves in the council at Jerusalem, had ever sought
to proscribe error and to correct abuses, by legal enact-
ments in general or particular councils ? And did not the
Protestants, on the contrary, follow the precedent set
them by the separatists and heretics of every age of the
church ? What difference is there, in the principle, be-
tween the Lutherans protesting against the decisions of
the council of Trent, in the sixteenth century, and the
Arians, against those of the council of Nice, in the fourth.

Besides, was not reason clearly on the side of the Catho-
lics ? Which is the proper way to cure a sick patient;
to remain with him, and to administer to him medicine, or
to separate from him, and to denounce him for his malady ?
Which is the preferable way to repair an edifice ; to re-
main within or near it, and to labor patiently to re-estab-
lish it in its former strength and beauty, or to leave it and
bedaub its walls with mud and slime ? Finally, which
would be the better patriot : he who would remain faithful
to the republic, and patiently await the progress of legal
enactments for the redress of grievances, or he who would
nullify the union under pretext of those grievances ? liCt
the seal of public reprobation set upon a recent attempt
of the kind — in which the principle of disorganization was
precisely the same as that which urged the reformers to
nullify the unity of the church — answer this question. An
old Protestant divine of the church of England, illustrates
the evil of separation from the church, under pretext of
reforming it, by the following quaint comparison : *' You
may cure a throat when it is sorCy but not when it is cut.'^*
This is, we suppose, in the style coupe.

Luther himself avowed the correctness of these princi-
ples, about two years after he had commenced his pre-
tended reformation. " That the Roman church," he says,

* South. « Sermons," vol. v, p. 946. Edit. London, 1737.

PRETF.XT3 FOR THE REFORMATION. 89

•* is more honored by God than all others, is not to be
doubted. St. Peter, St. Paul, forty-six popes, some hun-
dreds of thousands of martyrs, have laid down their lives
in its communion, having overcome hell and the world ;
so that the eyes of God rest on the Roman church with
special favor. Though now-a-days every thing is in a
wretched state, it is no ground for separating from it. On
the contrary, the worse things are going, the more should
we hold close to it ; for it is not by separation from it that
we can make it better. We must not separate from God
on account of any work of the devil, nor cease to have fel-
lowship with the children of God, who are still abiding in
the pale of Rome, on account of the multitude of the un-
godly. There is no sin, no amount of evil, which should
be permitted to dissolve the bond of charity, or break the
unity of the body. For love can do all things, and no-
thing is difficult to those who are united."* Sentiments
worthy of a Gregorj^ VII, or of a Bernard ! Had he per-
severed in them — had he not immediately after substituted
a principle of hatred, for that principle of love ** which
can do all things-' — the world might never have been
cursed with the countless evils of schism !

The sentiments of Luther just given were re-echoed by
the confession of Augsburg, the official expositor of Lu-
theran doctrines. In the conclusion of its exposition of
faith, it is freely admitted, that the Roman Catholic
church had retained every article of doctrine essential to
salvation, and that the abuses which had crept into the old
church were unauthorized, and aiforded no sufficient
cause for separation. " Such is the abridgment of our faith,
in which nothing will be found contrary to Scripture, or
to the Catholic church, or even to the Roman church, as
far as we can know it from its writers. The dispute turns
upon some few abuses, which have been introduced into
the churches without any certain authority ; and should

* Lutheri Opera Lat. torn, xvii, p. 224, Apud D'Aubigne, ii, IS, 19.
8*

90 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

there be found some difference, that should be borne with,
since it is not necessary that the rites of the church should
be every where the same."* Even the Calvinist minister
of Charenton, M. Daille, much as he hated the Catholic
church, makes a similar avowal. After having enumera-
ted those articles of his belief, which he is pleased to call
fundamental, he says : " Rome does not call in question
the articles which we believe ; it even professes to believe
them. Who can deny, even in our day, that Rome admits
the necessary articles ?"t Why then separate from her ?
Hitherto we have treated of the origin and extent of the
evils which afforded the reformers a pretext for the refor-
mation ; and we have also endeavored to point out the
proper means of effecting reformation — the true method of
solving the great problem of the sixteenth century. We
will now proceed to examine the means adopted by the
reformers for that alleged purpose, and will endeavor
through them to account for the rapidity with which the
reformation was diffused.

* Art. xxi. Anno Dom. 1530. Confessio Augustana.
t " Institut. Chretiennes," 1. iv, ch. ii, and "LaLoifondee," part. iii.

CHAPTER IV.

THE TRUE CAUSES AND MANNER OF THE REFORMATION, AND
THE MEANS BY WHICH IT WAS EFFECTED.

Saying of Frederick the great — What we mean to prove — Testimony
of Hallam — Doctrines of Luther— Justification without works — Its
dreadful consequences avowed — The "slave-will" — Man, a beast
with two riders — Dissuasive from celibacy — An easy way to heaven
— D'Aubigne's discreet silence — Testimony of the Diet of Worms on
Luther's doctrines — An old lady emancipated — Protection of princes
— Schlegel's testimony — The reformers flatter princes and pander to
their vices — A reformed dispensation — Character of reformed princes
— Their cupidity — Fed by Luther — Protestant restitution — Open
violence and spoliation — The modus operandi of the reformation —
Schlegel again — Abuse of the press — Vituperation and calumny —
Policy of Luther's marriage — Apostate monks — Recapitulation — A
distinction — The reformation '-'a reappearance of Christianity."

We believe it was Frederick the Great, of Prussia, who
first made the well known remark, *' that pride and ava-
rice had caused the reformation in Germany, lawless love
in England, and the love of novelty in France." Perhaps
the greatest severity of this remark, is its strict historic
truth. It, of course, was intended merely to designate
the first and most prominent among a variety of other
causes. Wm. Cobbett has proved — and no one has yet
answered his arguments — that in England, the first cause
alluded to above, was powerfully aided by cupidity,
which fattened on the rich spoils of the church, and by
the reckless pride of ascendancy, which revelled in, and
was cemented by, the blood of vast numbers of innocent
victims, whose only crime was their conscientious adhe-
rence to the religion of their fathers.

We will present a mass of evidence to prove that in
Germany, the reformation, which was commenced in the

9:2 d'aubwsne's history reviewed.

pride of revolt, was fed and kept alive by avarice and li-
centiousness, vv^as propagated bv calumny, by violence,
and by pandering to the worst passions, and was consum-
mated and rendered permanent by the fostering care of
secular princes, without whose protection it would have
died away and come to naught. This is strong language ;
but it is more than justified by the facts of history : not
indeed as those facts have been travestied, miscolored
and perverted by such partial writers as M. D'Aubigne;
but, as they are clearly set forth by cotemporary historians,
and as they appear in the original documents. AVe shall
allege only such as are undoubted and clearly established
from these sources.

But before we adduce this evidence, let us see what a
very learned and enlightened living Protestant historian
thinks on this subject, to the investigation of which he has
devoted much labor. Mr. Hal lam gives us the result of
his researches in the following passages, which we quote
from his latest work. ** Whatever may be the bias of our
minds as to the truth of Luther's doctrines, we should be
careful, in considering the reformation as a part of the
history of mankind, not to be misled by the superficial
and ungrounded representations which we sometimes find
in modern writers. (M, IVAubigne for example). Such
is this, that Luther, struck by the absurdity of the pre-
vailing superstitions, was desirous of introducing a more
rational system of religion ; or, that he contended for free-
dom of inquiry, and the boundless privileges of individual
judgment; or, what others have been pleased to suggest,
that his zeal for learning and ancient philosophy led him
to attack the ignorance of the monks and the crafty policy
of the church, which withstood all liberal studies. These
notions are merely fallacious refinements, as every man
of plain understanding (except M. D\^uhigne) who is ac-
quainted with the writings of the early reformers, or has
considered their history, must acknowledge."*

* " History of Literature." Sup. Cit. vol. i, p. 165, sec. 60-61.

CAUSES AND MANNER OF THE REFORMATION. 93

In another place, he has this remarkable passage: *' the
adherents to the church of Rome have never failed to cast
two reproaches on those who left them : one, that the re-
form was brought about by intemperate and calumnious
abuse, by outrages of an excited populace, or bj the ty-
ranny of princes; the other, that, after stimulating the
most ignorant to reject the authority of their church, it
instantly withdrew this liberty of judgment, and devoted
all who presumed to swerve from the line drawn by law,
to virulent obloquy, and sometimes to bonds and death.
These reproaches^ it may be a shame to us to own, can
he uttered and canjiot he refuted.^^^ After making this
painful avowal, he enters upon a labored argument to prove
that the reformation could have succeeded by no other
means !t

The reformers, as we have seen, were not content with
clamoring for the reform of abuses : they laid violent
hands on the sacred deposit of the faith. Like Oza of old,
they put forth their hands to the ark of God, mindless of
Oza's fate !J Under the plea that the Catholic church had
fallen into numerous and fatal doctrinal errors, and that
the reformation could not be thorough, without the remo-
val of these, they rejected many doctrines which the whole
world had hitherto revered as the revelation of God; and
substituted in their place new tenets, which they professed
to find more conformable to the word of God. This is
not the place to examine whether these new doctrines are
true ; all that our plan calls for at present, is to inquire
what those doctrines were, and what was their practical
bearing on the v/ork of the reformation ? Were they real-
ly calculated to exercise an influence beneficial to morals
and to society? Were they adequate means to reform the
church ? As it would be tedious to exhibit even a brief
summary of all the contradictory tenets held by the early
reformers, or even by the early Lutherans themselves, we

* Ibid. p. 200, sec. 34. j Ibid. X 2 Kings (or Samuel) vi, 6.

must confine ourselves to those broached and defended
by Luther, the " father of the reformation." And we
shall state nothing for which we will not exhibit chapter
and verse from his own writings.*

The leading tenet of Luther's doctrine was, a belief in
justification by faith alone without works. This is the
key to his entire system. Let us hear the modest way in
which he asserts this doctrine, one that he always styled
•*a fundamental article." "Well, then, I, Doctor Mar-
tin Luther, an unworthy evangelist of our Lord Jesus
Christ, do confess this article, ' that faith alone without
works justifies in the sight of God;' and I declare that,
in spite of the emperor of the Romans, the emperor of the
Tui ks, the emperor of the Tartars, the emperor of the
Persians, the pope, all the cardinals, bishops, priests,
monks, nuns, kings, princes, nobles, all the world, and
all the devils, it shall stand unshaken for ever ! That, if
they will persist in opposing this truth, they will draw
upon their heads the flames of hell. This is the true and
holy gospel, and the declaration of me. Doctor Luther,
according to the light given to me by the Holy Ghost,"t

This declaration was made in 1531 ; and, according to
M. D'Aubigne, who quotes Seckendorf, Luther's most
ardent admirer, he received ** this new light of the Holy
Ghost" while visiting " Pilate's stair-case"+ in Rome, a
few years before he turned reformer. This we apprehend
was an after-thought. Certain it is that, to get rid of the
conclusive argument against this cardinal doctrine drawn

• Some of the rao.iern editions of Luther's works have been greatly
expurgated by his admirers. We shall quote from the oldest and most
authentic editions, those of Wittemberg, of Jena, of Frankfort, of Alten-
berg, of Leipsic, and Geneva. That of Wittemberg was put forth by the
immediate disciples of Luther.

t Glossa in Edict. Imperiale. Opera Lat. tom. xx. Apud D'Au-
bigne i, 172.

X Properly called the " scala santa," or " holy stairway ;" from having
been once consecrated by the Saviour's footsteps, while he was enter-
ing into the pretorium to be judged by Pilate.

CAUSES AND MANNER OF THE REFORMATION. 95

from the Epistle of St. James, he rejected this Epistle
*' as one of straw ;" and that, to confirm this doctrine
still more, he boldly corrupted the text of St. Paul —
(Romans iii, 28) '* for we account a man to be justified
by faith v\ithout the works of the law" — by adding the
word alone after faif/i: and that, when challenged on the
subject, he made this characteristic reply: "So I will —
so I order. Let my will stand for a reason."* So much
had he this doctrine at heart !

He pushed this tenet to the utmost extremes, and
boldly avowed all the consequences which logically flowed
from it. With him, faith was every thing — works were
nothing. On the 1st of August, 1521, he wrote from the
Wartburg a letter to Melancthon, from which the follow-
ing is an extract: ** Sin, and sin boldly; but let your
faith be greater than your sin. It is enough for us,
through the riches of the glory of God, to have known the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. -Sin
will not destroy in us the reign of the Lamb, although we
were to commit fornication or to kill a thousand times
in one day."t In his " Treatise on Christian liberty,"
which he sent along with a most brutal letter^ to Leo X,
in 1520, "as a pledge of his filial piety and love,'' he
lays down as doctrines founded on the gospel : ** the in-
compatibility of faith with woi ks, which he regarded as so
many sins ; the subjection of the creature to the demon,
even when he endeavors to escape from him; and his
identification with sin, even when he rises towards his
Creator — when his hand distributes alms, when his lips

* " Sic volo — sic jubeo — slat pro ratione voluntas.'" He added : " I
wish I had also said, ' without any of the works, oi all laws !' "

t " Sufficit quod agnovimus per divitias glorise Dei Agnum qui tollit
peccatum mundi : ab hoc non avellet nos peccatum etiamsi millies uno
die fornicemur aut occidamus." Epist. Melanc. 1 Aug. 1521. Apud
Audin, p. 178.

X See this savage letter in Audin, p. 110, 111. It was written before
the papal bull had been issued, shortly after his conference with Mil-
titz, in which he had given and received the kiss of peace ! I

96 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

open to pray, or invoke a blessing, and even when he
weeps and repents — he sins : * for,' says he, * all that is
in us is crime, sin, damnation, and man can do nothing
good.' "* On the contrary, sin is not imputed to those
who have faith : *' because," says he, *' although I have
sinned, Christ who is within me has not sinned : this
Christ, in whom I believe, acts, thinks, and lives in me,
and alone accomplishes the law."t

Another cardinal doctrine of Luther's, much akin to
this, was the denial of free will, and the assertion that all
our actions are the result of stern fatalism. He v/rote a
work expressly on " the slave will,"! and carried on a
rude controversy with Erasmus on this subject. His
principles in this matter are explicitly and openly avowed.
According to him, free will is incompatible with the di-
vine foreknowledge. *' Let the Christian know, then,
that God foresees nothing in a contingent manner ; but
that he foresees, proposes, and acts from his eternal and
unchangeable will. This is the thunder-stroke which
breaks and overturns free will."§ God is thus plainly the
author of sin, and Luther shrinks not from the avowal !
He maintains ** that God excites us to sin, and produces
sin in us :"|| and that ** God damns some who have not
merited this lot, and others before they were born."^
Man's nature, according to him, is thoroughly and radi-
cally corrupted : he is a mere automaton. *' Man is like
a beast of burden: if God sits in the saddle, he wills and

* Apud Audin, p. 111.

t Ibid. See Episiola Lulheriana ad Leonem summum Pontiftcem.
Liber de Libertate Christiana. Wittemb. 1520, 4to.

X " De Servo jlrbiirio,'' in opposition to the usual term, " liberum ar-
bitrium."

§ De Servo Arbit. adv. Erasm. Rotcrod. Luth. 0pp. Lat. Jenae, torn.
iii, p. 170, seqq,

II Opera Jenae, iii, 199. Wittemb. tom. vi, fol. 522, 523. '^ Dass
Goit die menschcn zur s'unde antreibe, und alle lasier in ihnem icurcke.^'

II Ibid. Jenae edit, iii, 207— Witt, vi, 534, 535— Altenb. iii, 2l9, 250.

CAUSES AND MANNER OF THE REFORMATION. 97

goes whithersoever God wills ; ... if Sa<an ride him,
he wills and goes whither Satan directs : nor is it in his
power to determine his rider — the two riders contend for
obtaining and possessing him."* This is truly a charac-
teristic illustration of a most hideous doctrine!

Inhisiamous speech at the diet of Worms, in 1521,
he expressed his delight at the prospect that his doctrine
would produce discord and dissension : " You must know
that I have well weighed the dangers that I incur, the
displeasure that T cause, and the hatred which my doctrine
will excite in this world. I delight to see the word of
God bring forth discord and dissension. This is the lot
of the Saviour, who says : * I am come not to bring peace
but the sword ; I am come to separate the son from the
father.' "t Was there ever a more fiendish joy, or a
more glaring perversion of God's holy word ?

He rejected continence with horror, and looked on the
law of celibacy as an " awful blindness — a relentless cru-
elty of the pope — a diabolical precept — an imposing of an
obligation which is impossible to human nature.":]: In
1522 he wrote a letter to the knights of the Teutonic
order, in which he urged them, by arguments pandering
to the basest passions of the human heart, to rid them-
selves of this '* diabolical" yoke. We almost shrink
from transcribing the following passage from this appeal,
which was, alas ! too successful. "My friends, the pre-
cept of multiplying is older than that of continence en-
joine<l by the councils" (and he should have added, sanc-
tioned by the most solemn vows, voluntarily made, the

* " Sic humana voluntas in medio posiia est ceu jumenium : siinsederit
Veils, vuli et vadil sicut vult Deus ; . . . si insederit Satan, rult ct vadit
sicut Satan : nee est in ejus arbitrio ad vtrum sessorem currerc, aut eum
gucerere, sed ipsi sessores certant ad ipsum obtinendum et possidendum."
Opera, Jenae, hi, 176, 177.

t Apud Aiidiri, p. 163. D'Aubigne, ii, 235.

X " Perinde facere qui continenier vivere institnunt, ac si quis excre-
mcnta vet lotiuin contra natures impetnm retincre vdit.'^ Luther, Contra
falsa Edicta Csesaiis, T. ii.
9

98 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

binding obligation of which he himself had recognized
but one year before*) : " it dates from Adam. It would
be better to live in concubinage than in chastity. Chas-
tity is an unpardonable sin ; whereas concubinage, with
God's assistance, should not make us despair of salva-
tion."!

He rejected in fact every doctrine, and abolished every
practice of the Catholic church, which was humbling to
human pride, painful to corrupt nature, or which imposed
a salutary restraint on the passions. Confession he re-
jected, as the " executioner of consciences. "J He es-
chewed monastic vows, fasting and abstinence, and pro-
scribed good works and free will. In his new-fangled
religion, the ministers of God were no longer bound to
say mass, or to read the divine office ; this would have
been an intolerable burden, incompatible with Christian
liberty ! In fact, he was no great advocate for prayer at
all — especially for frequent prayer : *' for," he says, ** it
is enough to pray once or twice; since God has said * ask
and you shall receive;' to continue always in prayer, is
to show that we have not faith in God."§ He forgot to
mention that Christ had also said : *' pray always and faint
not:" and St. Paul, " pray without intermission."

What, in fine, was left in his new system of Christianity
to fulfil those essential conditions of discipleship, which
our blessed Lord pointed out, when he said : "if any man
will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his
cross, and follow me ?"|1 Or to imitate the example of St.
Piiul — whose great admirer Luther affected to be — when

* Supra, p. 61.
f " In staht scorfationis vel peccaii, Dei prcssidio ijnploraio, de aaluie
non deaperandum." Ad Milites Ord. Teutonici, 0pp. Jenae, torn, ii, p.
211-216.

\ " Comdcniicc carnificina.'"
§ Letter to Bartholomew Voii Starenburg; 1 Sept., 1523. — Audin
p. 208.

fl Matth. xvi, 24.

CAUSES AND MANNER OF THE REFORMATION. 99

he savs of himself: " I chastise mj body, and bring it in-
to subjection, lest perhaps, when I have preached to
others, T myself should become reprobate ?"*

M. D'Aubigne, though he professes to give a very de-
tailed history of the reformation, found it corivenienty
however, to forget, or at least to pretermit most of the
facts related above ; which, however, are essential to the
history ! But they did not suit his purpose, which was to
persuade the world, that Luther and his associates were
new apostles of God, and that the reformation was but
"the re-appearance of Christianity!" His whole view, in
fact, of Luther's doctrine, and of the entire reformation,
is a miserable perversion of history — an ill -contrived ro-
mance. His picture is no doubt viewed with delight by
those for whose special benefit it was drawn; but it ia
false in almost every light and shade ! Else why did he
omit so many essential facts ?

What was the necessary tendency of these new doc-
trines of Luther? Were they calculated to effect a reform
in morals and religion ? Or was their influence on society
essentially evil ? To aid us in answering these questions,
we will adduce the evidence of a cotemporary official
document of the Germanic empire — an extract from the
decree of the Diet of Worms in 1521 — which decree M.
D'Aubigne professes to give us entire.t "The Augustine
monk, Martin Luther, regardless of our exhortations, has
madly attacked the holy church, and attempted to destroy
it, by writings full of blasphemy. He has shamefully vili-
fied the unalterable law of holy marriage; he has labored
to excite the laity to imbrue their hands in the blood of
their priests;:}: and, defying all authority, has incessantly
excited the people to revolt, schism, war, murder, theft,

• 1 Corinth, ix, 27. f Vol. ii, p. 261 seqq.

X The Diet here cites Luther's works; and M. D'Aubigne furnishes
the reference to the present works of the reformer.— Luther 0pp. Lat.
xvii, 598.

100 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

incendiarism, and the utter destruction of the Christian
faith. . . . I n a word, a nd passing ove r many other., £xil
intentions, this being, who is no man, but Satan him self,
under the semBIanl!B-ofTrtYttnT-TTrXTnonKTiood, has^col-
lected in one offensive ma^satrtTie'lv^rs^^ for-

mer ages, adding his own to the number." Making all
proper allowance for the circumstance that this document
emanated from a body opposed to Luther, it is still a sat-
isfactory proof of the evil tendency of his doctrines.
Would the great Charles V, — would the first princes of
the empire — in an official document, have stated facts at
random, and without sufficient warrant ? They were com-
petent v.'itnesses of events passing under their own eyes ;
they could scarceh^ be deceived, and they would not have
hazarded false statements, which could have been so
readily refuted.

But, if the doctrines of Luther were not adapted to the
reformation of the church, they were at least easy and flat-
tering to human nature ; and, under these points of view,
they were powerful means of rapidly diff"using the pre-
tended reformation which was predicated on them. Luther
could hope through their instrumentality, to gain over to
his party, the wicked of every class in society. To the
corrupt among the priests and monks, he held out the
inducements of getting rid of the painful duties of their
state — of bidding adieu to vigils, to matins and to prayers
— and of crowning their apostacy with the blooming gar-
lands of hymen I To the unmortified — and these were a
very large class — he promised exemption from confession,
from fasts and from long prayers. To the proud and pre-
sumptuous — and their number was legion — he off'ered the
flattering principle of private judgment in matters of reli-
gion ; assuring them, that every one, no matter how stupid
or ignorant, had an equal right, with the learned, and the
talented, to expound the Scriptures for himself.

How consoling this assurance to the old lady, who, sit-
ting in tiic chimney corner, had been hitherto content to

CAUSES AND MANNER OF TUB REFORMATION. 101

con her prayers in private — to abide by the decisions of
the church, which Christ had commanded her to hear, un-
der penalty of being reckoned *' with heathens and publi-
cans" — and to leave the thorny paths of theological con-
troversy to the more skilful and learned ! She awoke to
new life — her eyes sparkled again with the joys of youth —
and she burst forth into a canticle of praise to the Lord,
for her emancipation from the degrading servitude of po-
pery ! And, what bright careers of glory were opened to
the ambition of young students in the universities, who,
through the new doctrines, could hope to shine in the pul-
pit, and to settle themselves advantageously in the world,
with their wives and families: and all this without any
sacrifice, or any great previous labor in preparing them-
selves for the ministry ! Verily, as Melancthon had said
to his dying mother: *• the way of the reformers was more
convenient' ' — and what mattered it, '* if that of the Catho-
lics was more safe!" This was a consideration of minor
importance ; or of weight only at the hour of death ! And
what thought they of death ?

But the chief resource of Luther, for establishing and
consolidating his new religion, lay in the fostering pro-
tection of princes. He understood this, and he accordingly
determined to gain them over to his party, by the most
immoderate flattery, and by pandering to their worst pas-
sions. The great and moderate Frederick Von Schlegel
assures us of this. "Luther was by no means an advo-
cate for democracy, like Zuinglius and Calvin,* but he
asserted the absolute power of princes, though he made
his advocacy subservient to his own religious views and
projects. It was by such conduct and the influence which
he thereby acquired, as well as by the sanction of the civil
power, that the reformation was promoted and consoli-
dated. W^ithout this. Protestantism would have sunk

* Wc shall see in the sequel what kind of " advocates for democracy"
they were.

9*^

102 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

into the lawless anarchy which marked the proceedings of
the Hussites, and to which the war of the peasants rapidly
tended; and it would have been inevitably suppressed,
like all other popular commotions."* The whole history
of the reformation proves the justice of these remarks.

Luther thoroughly understood his true policy in regard
to princes, and he never failed to carry it out. Even as
late as 1530, when Charles V was about to enter Augs-
burg to attend the diet assembled there, he cherished hopes
of gaining over this great emperor to his party. In his
letters and other writings about this time, he painted
Charles V ** as a man of God, an envoy of heaven, a new
Augustus, the admiration and delight of the whole world. "t
But when the emperor published at that same diet his fa-
mous conciliatory decree — by which he merely allowed to
the Protestants the free ** enjoyment of their temples and
creeds," but enjoined silence on them until the meeting
of the general council — the whole scene changed. Charles
was no longer **a new Augustus;" but *'heand his coun-
sellors were not even men, but* gates of hell' — ^judges
who could not judge his cause, and to whom he would not
give up a hair of his head."J

We have already seen how meanly subservient he was
on all occasions to his immediate sovereign, the elector of
Saxony. This prince was the most powerful protector
of the reformation, and, as we shall see, reaped a golden
harvest for his protection. But he had another motive
for defending Luther and his partisans. Luther and Me-
lancthon were the principal professors in his cherished
university of Wittemberg; and their great talents had
attracted to it vast numbers of youth from all parts of
Germany. At the period of the reformation, the univer-
sity became the focus of the new doctrines, and the ren-

♦ "Philosophy of History," vol. ii, p. 205, G: edit. Appleton 8c Co.
N. York, 1841.

I See the authorities quoted by Audin, p. 440. t Ibid.

CAUSES AND MANNER OF THE REFORMATION. 1Q3

dezvous of all who favored them. The attractive nov-
elty, the stirrino; interest, the startling boldness of these
new tenets, together with the rude but overpowering elo-
quence of Luther, and the winning graces and versatile
genius of Melancthon, rendered this university famous
throughout Germany. The elector could not but look
with complacency on the men who shed such lustre on
an institution which he had erected, and the prosperity of
which was identified with his own glory. This was one
of the reasons which first inclined him to favor Luther.
It is not a little remarkable, too, that this same univer-
sity of Wittemberg was erected chiefly from the proceeds
of those very indulgences, the inveighing against which
was the first movement of the reformation !

A remarkable instance of Luther's mean subserviency
to princes, is the permission which he and his chief parti-
zans gave to Philip, landgrave of Hesse, to have two
wives at once ! This fact is as astounding as it is un-
doubted. Philip had been married for sixteen years to
Christiana, daughter of George, duke of Saxony ; and he
had already several children. According to Menzel, a
Protestant historian, he was '' violent and passionate, un-
faithful and superstitious."* But he was a good Lu-
theran, nay, one of the most powerful friends of the re-
formation ; and he read his Bible incessantly. He be-
came enamored of Margaret Saal, a maid of honor to his
sister Elizabeth. She proved inexorable, and the land-
grave lost his appetite, and was seized with a fit of de-
spondency. In this distress, he h^d recourse to his Bi-
ble : he opened it at the fifth chapter of Genesis, and,
finding that Lamech had had two wives at once, he
resolved to imitate his example.

He however thought it advisable to seek counsel at the
hands of the principal reformers. Through Martin Bucer,
a learned reformed theologian, and a devoted courtier of

* Ncucre Gcschichie der Deutchen, torn. i.

104

his, he proposed his case of conscience to the '* new apos-
tles" of VVittemberg. He stated " that he could not ab-
stain from fornication, and that lie must expect eternal
damnation unless he changed his life : that, when he
espoused Christiana, it was not through inclination or
love : that the officers of his court and her maids of honor
might be examined regarding her temper, her charms,
and her love of wine : that he had read in the Old Testa-
ment that many holy personages, Abraham, Jacob, David,
and Solomon, had many wives, and yet pleased God:
and that, finally, he had resolved to renounce his licen-
tious habits, which he could not do, unless he could get
Margaret for his wife. He. therefore asks Luther and
Philip to grant him what he requested."

The case was plainly and roundly stated ; and the an-
swer was no less direct. It was divided into twenty four
articles, and was signed by the eight principal reformers
of Wittemberg — Luther, Melancthon, Bucer, Anthony
Corvin, Adam, L Leningen, J. Vinfert, and D. Melanther.
The twenty-first article runs as follows : '* If your high-
ness is resolved to marry a second wife, we judge that it
should be done privately, as we have said when speaking
of the dispensation you have asked for. There should be
no one present, but the bride and a few witnesses who
are aware of the circumstance, and who would be bound
to secrecy, as if under the seal of confession. Thus all
opposition and great scandal will be avoided ; for it is
not unusual for princes to have concubines, and although
the people take scandal at it, the more enlightened will
suspect the truth. We ought not to be very anxious
about what the world will say, provided the conscience be
at rest. Thus we approve of it. Your highness has then,
in this writing, our approbation in all the exigencies that
may occur, as also the reflections we have made on
them."

The marriage took place on the Sd of March, 1540, in
the presence of Melancthon, Bucer, and other theologians.

CAUSES AND MANNER OF TUB RErORMATION, 105

The marriage contract was drawn up by a Lutheran doc-
tor, and duly signed by a notary public. In this instru-
ment Philip declares " that he does not take Margaret
lightly, or througli contempt of the civil law; but solely
for other considerations, and because, without a second
wife, he could not live godly, or merit heaven !"* Was
there ever a more startling instance of utter depravity
and unprincipled sycophancy ! Here, then, is a Protest-
ant " indulgence," in the very sense attached to the
term by Protestant writers ! And these men claimed to
be sent by God to reform the church ! !t

By such means as these did the reformers secure the
protection of princes. What was the character of such
of these as espoused the reformation ? Were they men
whose lives reflected honor on the new religion, and gave
a pledge of the purity of motives which had led to its
adoption ? Let us see. In the first place, there was
John, elector of Saxony, who, according to Menzel,^ was
one of the most gluttonous princes of his age, fond of
wine and of good cheer, and whose stomach, overcharged
with excessive feeding, was supported by an iron circle.
** He had enriched his sideboard — the best furnished in
all Germany — with vessels of all sorts taken from the

* See the Insirumenium Copulationis Pkilippi landgrave et Margariia
de Saal, given in full by Bossiiet, Variations, vol. i. See also Ad.
Menzel, a Protestant, torn, ii, pp. 179, 192 ; and Audin, p. 479.

t Those who wish to see all the documents connected with this dis-
graceful proceeding, are referred to Bossuet's " Variations," book vi,
and to Bayle's Dictionary, art. Luther. They were kept hidden for a
long time, until Charles Lewis, the elector palatine, published them to
the world. There is no doubt whatever as to their genuineness. Bayle
twits the reformers on their mean subserviency to the landgrave, who,
he shrewdly suspects, had thrown out " certain menaces" in case of
their refusal to grant the asked-for dispensation ; and made them cer-
tain munificent promises in case of their compliance. The latter he
fully redeemed ; for after the death of Frederick, elector of Saxony, in
1525, he became the great Ajax of the reformation party in Germany,
M. D'Aubign^ admits this.

I Ad. Menzel, Neuere Gcschichic, torn, i, fol. 338.

106 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

refectories of the monasteries, or the sacristies of the
churches."* He embraced eagerly a religion wliich had
abolished fasting, and which permitted him to indulge his
favorite appetite without restraint. Then came the pious
and scrupulous Philip, landgrave of Hesse, whose troubled
conscience was soothed by the panacea to which we have
just alluded. The second pillar of the reformation had
inscribed on the clothes of the domestics who served him
at table, the initials V. D. M. I. JFi., signifying Verhum
Domini manet in seternum — *' the word of the Lord re-
maineth for ever !" Lastly came Wolfgang, prince of
Anhalt, whose stupid ignorance was proverbial : and
"Ernest and Francis Lunenberg, who did not trouble
their vassals to pillage the churches, but with their own
hands despoiled the tabernacles of their sacred vessel8."t
Such were the princes to whose patronage the reformation
was indebted for its success and permanency !

To secure their protection, which was essential to the
triumph of his cause, Luther left no means untried. He
recklessly appealed to the worst passions which sway the
human bosom. He held out to them, as baits, the rich
booty of the Catholic churches and monasteries. He said
to them, in a publication entitled Argyrophijax : "You
will find out, within a few months, how many hundred
thousand gold pieces the monks and that class of men
possess within a small portion of your territory. "J He
acknowledged, in one of his sermons, " that the church
ostensories made many converts to the new gospel. "§
And M. Audin is entirely correct in his caustic remark,
*' that the convent spoils resembled the martyrs' blood,

* Audin, p. 424. f Id. p. 425.

X " Experiemini intra paucos menses, quot centum aureorummillia unius
exigucB ditionis vcstrcB monachi et id genus hominum possideant." Cf.
Cochlaeus, p. 149.

§ " Viele sind noch fiiut evangelisch, well es noch Caiholische monstran-
zen gibt." Luther Pred. xii, apud Jak. Marx. p. 174, and Menzel, torn,
i, pp. 371-9.

CAUSES AND MANNER OF THE REFORMATTON. 107

mentioned bj Tertullian, and brought forth daily new
disciples to the reformation."*

It was cupidity that induced Albert of Brandenburg
to apostatize from the Catholic church, *' that he might
plunder, with a safe conscience, the country of Prussia,
which belonged to the Teutonic order" — of which order
he was superior general — ** and which he erected into a
hereditary principality."! Francis Von Sickengen was
another of these spoilers, who, at the head of twelve thou-
sand men, " invaded the archbishopric of Treves, track-
ing his path by the blood he shed, the churches he pil-
laged, and the licentious excesses of his soldiery.":}: He
was but one of those powerful robbers who, according to
the testimony of an ancient historian, then converted
Germany, once so powerful and noble, into a den of
thieves. § The candid Melancthon ** avowed that in the
triumph of the reformation the princes looked not to the
purity of doctrine, or the propagation of light, to the tri-
umph of a creed, or the improvement of morals, but only
regarded the profane and miserable interests of this
world."!|

The rich spoils of the Catholic church and of the mon-
asteries not only induced many princes of the Germanic
body to embrace the reformation, but also caused them to
persevere in the cause they had thus espoused. In the
famous diet of Augsburg, in 1530, the conciliatory course
of Melancthon, who there represented the reformed party,
bade fair to heal the rupture, by reconciling the Protest-
ants to the Catholic church. But the Catholic theologians
insisted on two things: that the married priests should
abandon their wives, and that the Protestant princes should

* P. S45. t Rotteck, p. 93. Apud Audin. Ibid. X Ibid.

§ " Potentissima Germania et nobilissima, sed ea tota nunc unum
latrocinium est, et ille inter nobiles gloriosior qui rapacior." Campa-
nus ad Freher-Script. German, torn, ii, p. 294, 295.

II *' Sie beciimmerten sich gar nicht um die lehre, es sie ihnen blosz
um die freiheit, und die herrschaft zu thun." Apud Audin, p. 313.

108 D'aubigne's history reviewed.

restore the goods of the church upon which they had seized.
The former condition would probably have been complied
with; but, as Erasmus remarks, "the Lutheran princes
would not hear any thing about restitution."* The same
insurmountable difficulty interposed when, five years
later, Rome made her last effort towards bringing back
the Protestant party to the bosom of the Catholic church.
The benevolent labors of Cardinal Verger, legate of Paul
III, in 1535, might not have proved abortive, but for the
indomitable insolence of Luther,t and the refusal of the
princes of his party to disgorge their ill-gotten plunder.

After all this, we can scarcely restrain a smile, on hear-
ing the lamentations of Luther over the rapacity of the
princes of his party, whom he himself had excited to the
unholy work of spoliation. " To the d — 1," he cried out
in a rage, *' with senators, manor lords, princes, and
mighty nobles, who do not leave for the preachers, the
priests, the servants of the gospel, wherewith to support
their ivives and children J^^X '^^ey were, it seems, more
rapacious than even he could have desired. ** They gave,
with admirable generosity, the sacred vessels of the secu-
larized monastery to the parish priest, provided, however,
he had adopted Lutheranism. The rest went to their
mistresses, their courtiers, their dogs, and their horses.
Some, who were as greedy as the landgrave of Hesse,
kept even the habits and sacerdotal vestments, the tapes-
tries, the chased silver vases, and the vessels of the sanc-
tuary. "§ They would not abide by Luther's rules for
the partition of the confiscated property :11 and hence the
wrath of the reformer !

He indeed occasionally condemned this rapacity in a
voice of thunder: he sometimes clothed himself in the

* " Res propemodum ad concordiam deducta est, nisi quod Lutherani
principes nihil audire voluerunt de restituendo." Erasm. Ep. p. 998.

t For an account of the outrageous conduct of Luther to the legate^
and of the whole negotiation, see Audin, p. 474. seqq.

; Table Talk, cited by Jak. Marx, p. 175. § Audin, 346. || lb.

CAUSES AND MANNER OF THE REFORMATION. 109

garb of a messenger of peace, and bewailed the violence
and other disorders which he had himself occasioned, and
even caused, by his frequent appeals to the passions.
But he could not arrest the course of the turbid torrent
of passion, which he himself had in the first instance
caused to flow. As well might he have labored to turn
back the waters of the Rhine ! Had he not, in one of his
inflammatory appeals to the princes of the empire, used
the following language, ** There is Rome, Romagna,
and the duchy of Urbino: there is Bologna, and the
states of the church; take them: they belong to you:
take, in God's name, what is your own ?"* Had he not
threatened them with the wrath of heaven, in case they
did not seize on the property of the monasteri.es ?t Had
he not, at almost every page of his works, made "a bru-
tal appeal against the priests, a maddening shout against
the convents — in a word, had he not preached up the sanc-
tification of robbery, the canonization of rapine ?"J

Erasmus bears abundant evidence to the violence which
almost every where marked the progress of the reforma-
tion. We will give an extract from one of his writ-
ings, premising the remark that he was an eye-witness
of what he relates, and not at least a violent enemy of the
reformers. ** I like to hear Luther say," says he, "that
he does not wish to take their revenues from the priests
and monks, who have not any other means of support.
This is the case probably at Strasburg. But is it so else-
where ? Truly it is laughable to say : * we will give food
to those who apostatize ; let others starve if they please.'
Still more laughable to hear them protest that they do not
wish to harm anyone. What! is it no injury to drive
away canons from their churches, monks from their monas-
teries, and to plunder bishops and abbots? But ' we do
not kill!' Why not? Because your victims take the

* 0pp. edit. Jenfe, torn, viii, fol. 209-2 18. A. D. 1545.
t "Gottloss seyen dienigen die diese giiternicht an sich zogen, und
sie besser verwendeten, als die inonche. + Audin, p. 349.

110 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

prudent precaution of running away. ' We let our ene-
mies live peaceably among us.' Who are your enemies?
Are all Catholics ? Do our bishops and priests regard
themselves as secure in the midst of you ? If you are so
mild and tolerant, wherefore these emigrations, and these
multiplied complaints addressed to the throne? . . . But
then, why destroy the churches which they built?"*

It is curious to mark the modus operandi of the reform-
ers in doing their godly work of violence and spoliation.
We will furnish a few instances out of many. ** At Bre-
men, during Lent, the citizens got up a masquerade, in
which the popes, the cardinals, and nuns were repre-
sented. On the place of public execution they raised a
pile, on which all these personifications of Catholicity
were thrown, and burnt, amidst shouts of joy. The re-
mainder of the day was spent in celebrating, by large
libations, the downfall of popery. "t

" At Zwickau, on Shrove Tuesday, hare-nets were laid
on the market-place ; and monks and nuns, hunted by the
students, fell into them, and w^ere caught. At a short
distance was the statue of St. Francis, tarred and feath-
ered!" Tobias Schmidt, the cotemporary historian of
this outrage, here exclaims: *• Thus fell, at Zwickau,
popery, and thus rose there the pure light of the gospel !":j:
He assures us, in the same place, that "a band of citi-
zens attacked the convent, whose gates they broke, and,
when they had pillaged the chests and the treasures,
threw the books about and broke the windows :"§ the
town authorities, meantime, standing looking on, with
their arms crossed, in perfect composure, without even
affecting indignation ! Similar scenes were enacted else-
where. •* At Elemberg, the pastor's house was given up

* " In Pseudo-Evangelicos." Epist. 47, lib. xxxi. London, Flesher.
t Arnold, 1. c. th. 2, bd. IG, leap. 6, s. 60. Apud Audin, p. 847.
X " Also ist das Pabsthiim abgeschafft und hingegen die evangelische
rcine lehre fortegeplanzt worden." Tob. Schmidt, p. 3S6.
§ Ibid. p. 334. Apud Audin, p. 34S.

CAUSES AND MANNER OF THE REFORMATION. Ill

for several hours to pillage; and one of the students, who
was a conspicuous actor in this scene, which excited the
laughter of the mob, clothed himself in priests' vestments,
and made his entry on an ass into the church."*

We must also briefly state the tactics of Luther's great
patron, John, elector of Saxony, while gallantly attacking
a monastery of poor monks, or a convent of defenceless
women. He did not seek to stain his victory with blood ;
he sought rather the spoils of war. M. Audin compares
him very appropriately to Verres, the rapacious Roman
proconsul of Sicily, whom Cicero lashed with his wither-
ing invective. *' The proconsul of Sicily was not more
ingenious than Duke John of 'Saxony in plundering a
monastery. Some days before opening the campaign, he
was accustomed to send and demand the register of the
house, and then he set out with a brisk detachment of
soldiers. They surrounded the monastery ; the abbot was
summoned, and the prince, holding the registry in his
hand, caused every thing contained in it to be deliv-
ered.'-t

This illustrious example was followed up by the civil
authorities at Rosteck, Torgau, and other places. An
old chronicle of Torgau, printed in 1524, miuutely de-
scribes the revolting particulars of a nocturnal excursion
made to the Franciscan convent of the city, by Leonard
Koeppe and some other young students, who made an
open boast of their cruelty and profligacy on the occa-
sion.J At Magdeburg the magistrates resolved to act
more humanely. They put a stop to the work of plunder,
and allowed the monks to remain quietly in their cells
during the rest of their lives; "provided, however, they
laid aside the religious habit, and embraced the reforma-

* See " Das resultat meiner wanderungen," &c. Von Julius Hon-
inghaus, p. 339 ; and Audin, ibid.

t Arnold, loc. cit. th. 2. Bd. 16, kap. 6, 568, cited by Honinghaus,
supra. I Arnold, ut supra.

112

tion:"* and manj of them, alas! preferred apostacj to
starvation. Such as would not apostatize were, in most
places, driven from their convents, *' were reduced to beg
their bread, and were the victims of heartless calumny.
They seemed abandoned by all. Art was as ungrateful
as mankind : it forgot that it owed its progress to their
labors. The people laughed when they saw them pass
half naked, and had no word of pity, no sigh of compas-
sion, for so many unfortunate creatures. Whither could
they go } The roads were not safe ; in those times there
were knights who scoured the high-ways and hunted after
monks, whom they took pleasure" in making eunuchs
" for the greater glory of God !"t

With all these facts before our eyes, can we wonder at
the testimony borne by the diet of Worms, quoted above,
as to the character and tendency of the Lutheran doc-
trines ? Protestants have acknowledged that the reform-
ation was indebted to this violence for its successful es-
tablishm'ent in Germany and the countries of the north.
We have already seen the testimony of Melancthon. Ju-
rieu, the famous Calvinist minister who had the confer-
ence with the great Bossuet, acknowledges ** that Geneva,
Switzerland, the republics and the free cities, the electors,
and the German princes, England, Scotland, Sweden, and
Denmark, got rid of popery, and established the reforma-
tion, by the aid of the civil power. "J A sweeping admis-
sion, truly, as candid as it is clearly founded on the facts
of history !

The great Frederick Von Schlegel has v/ell observed
that " Protestantism was the work of man ; and it appears
in no other liglit even in the history which its own disci-
ples have drawn of its origin. The partisans of the re-

* Marcheineke, th. 2, s. 41. Audin, ibid.

t Ulrich Hutten boasts of this. Epist. ad Lutherum, part ii, p. 128.
Cf. Audin, p. 200.

X Cf. Jak. Marx. " Die Ursachen der Schncllsn verbrcitung der
Eeibrmation^" p. 164 ; apud Audin, p. 843.

CAUSES AND MANNER OF THE REFORMATION. 113

formation proclaimed indeed, at the outset, that, if it
were more than a human work, it would endure, and that
its duration would serve as a proof of its divine origin.
But surely no one will consider this an adequate proof,
when he reflects that the great Mohammedan heresy,
which, more than any other, destroys and obliterates the
divine image stamped on the human soul, has stood its
ground for full twelve hundred years; though this reli-
gion, if it proceed from no worse source, is at best a human
work."*

He says also : " that the reformation was established in
Denmark chiefly, though not exclusively, as in Sweden,
by the sovereign power: in Iceland its establishment was
almost the work of violence. "t True, he indicates the
opinion that Protestantism was introduced into other
German countries ** by the torrent of popular opinion :''J
but we have already seen what kind of a torrent this was,
what ruins it left in its course ; how its waters were
swollen by the rude eloquence of Luther and his parti-
zans ; and how their maddening violence was increased
by the lawless passions of the princes who espoused the
cause of the reformation !

Our summary of the means employed to promote the
success of the reformation would be incomplete, without
adverting to one other cause which contributed, at least
as much as those already named, to produce that effect.
We allude to the flagrant abuse of the press, which,
during that period, poured forth a torrent of ridicule, in-
vective, abuse, misrepresentation, and calumny against
the Catholics, flooding all Germany with pestiferous publi-
cations. The violence of the pulpit powerfully seconded
that of the press. Luther thundered from the pulpit of
All Saints at Wittemberg, as well as from those of the
other principal cities of Saxony. He lashed, with his
burning invectives, popes, bishops, priests, and monks :

* " Philosophy of History," ii, 218. f Ibid. p. 225. J lb. 224.
10*

114 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

wherever his words fell they were a consuming fire. In-
defatigable in his exertions, he published book after
book, inflammatory pamphlet after inflammatory pamph-
let, against the abominations of Rome. His books were
eagerly sought after, and as greedily devoured. That
" On the Captivity of Babylon," in which he painted the
pope as Antichrist, went rapidly through ten editions !
The annual book-fairs at Leipsic and Frankfort never
before presented so animated a spectacle, or drove so
brisk a business.

The works of the champions of Catholicity — of Eck,
Emser, Prierias, and Hochstraet — found not so ready a
sale. They had not the overweening charm of novelty ;
they dealt not in such rude denunciations; they were not
so replete with ridicule or vulgar conceits ! Even the
veteran Erasmus, who had been erewhile styled " the
prince of letters," " the star of Germany," " the high-
priest of polite literature" — even the witty, and polished,
and classical Erasmus could not find purchasers for his
Hyperasjndes and other works which he had published,
after he had at length consented to enter the lists with
Luther ! His glory had faded, and the book-publishers
complained of having to keep his works on hand unsold !

Many causes contributed to this result. In that period
of maddening excitement, nothing suited the popular
palate which was not new and startling. The calm and
dignified defence of truth, alas ! now grown antiquated
and obsolete, could not cope with the exciting character
and versatile graces of error. It has been ever so. Per-
verse human nature has ever been inclined to relish what
is most agreeable to its passions. It more readily believes
what is evil than what is good, especially when the former
is served up with the winning graces of rhetoric, and sea-
soned with sarcasm, ridicule, and denunciation. Besides,
the press sent forth the works of the reformers neatly and
correctly printed ; whereas those of the Catliolics were
often so clumsily executed as to excite ridicule and dis-

CAUSES AND MANNER OF THR REFORMATION. 115

gust. The principal book sellers had joined the reform
party, and many of the apostate monks had exchanged
their former occupation of transcribing manuscripts for
that of type-compositors and proof-readers in the princi-
pal printing establishments. The press thus became al-
most wholly subservient to the Protestant party ; and the
recreant monks became the most zealous champions of the
new opinions.

A Catholic book which passed through their hands was
generally mutilated, or at least printed with great negli-
gence. Cochlseus and others complain of this injustice.
He says " that the works of Catholics were often so badly
printed that they did more service to the Lutheran party
than to their own cause ; and that the Frankfort mer-
chants openly laughed at their clumsy execution."*

Froben, the great bookseller of Basle, made a splendid
fortune by selling the works of Luther, which he repro-
duced in every form, and published at the cheapest rates.
In a letter to the reformer, he chuckles with delight over
his success : ** All your works are bought up ; I have not
ten copies on hand : never did books sell so well."t
Erasmus, in a letter to Henry VIII of England, com-
plains that " he could find no printer who would dare
publish any thing against Luther. Were it against the
pope," he adds, " there would be no difficulty.":}:

The great Bellarmine, who, towards the close of the
sixteenth century, undertook the herculean task of refut-
ing the works of the .reformers — a task which he executed
in a most masterly and triumphant manner — assures us

*<'£atamen neglectim, ita festinanter et vitiose imprimebant, ut
majorem giatiain eo obsequio referrent Lutheranis quam Catholicis.
Si quis eorum justiorem Catholicis operam impenderent, hi a caeteris in
publicis mercatibus Frankofordise ac alibi, vexabantur et ridebantur,
velut papistse et saccrdotura servi." Cochl. p. 58, 59.

t 0pp. Lutheri, torn, i, p. 3SS, 389.

+ Epist. Erasmi, p. 752. For further particulars, see Audin, p. 337,
seqq.

116 d'aubigxe's history reviewed.

** that there were few among the Protestant party who
did not write something, and that iheir books not only
spread like a cancer, but that they were diffused over the
land like swarms of locusts.* Books of every size, from
the ponderous folio to the humble pamphlet, were scat-
tered through Germany on the wings of the press. And
what were the weapons which these productions wielded
with so great effect ? Were they those of truth and of
sound argument ? Or were they those of low abuse, scur-
rilous misrepresentation, and open calumny ? If there
is any truth in history, the latter were put in requisition
much oftener than the former. Catholic doctrines traves-
tied and misrepresented — Catholic practices ridiculed —
Catholic bishops and priests vilified and openly calumni-
ated — these were the means which the reformers em-
ployed with so murderous an effect.!

And though all sins should not in justice be visited on
their children in the faith, yet truth compels the avowal
that, in these respects at least, they have not proved rec-
reant disciples. This is still the panoply of Protestant
warfare! We wish from our hearts it were otherwise !
The poet's remark is true both of the first reformers and

* " Rari sunt apud adversaries qui non aliquid scribunt, quorum libri
nori jam ut cancer serpent, sed velut agmina locustarum volitant.**
0pp. torn, i, de Controv. in Praefat.

t To calumny might be added forgery, which was not uncommon
in the palmy days of the reformation. In fact, Whitaker, a Protestant
parson, says that it was peculiar to the reformed party. We will allude
to one notorious instance in Germany. Otho Pack, vice-chancellor of
Duke George of Saxony, forged a pretended Catholic plot, which he
professed to have learned by prying into the secrets of the duke. His
forgery caused the elector of Saxony and the landgrave of Hesse to
take up arms, which they however laid down when the falsehoods of
this wretch were detected. Yet the forgery, though thus exposed, was
greedily seized up, and published all over Germany ; and there are yet
several writers who speak of the conspiracy it had fabricated at the
league of Passau ! Titus Gates had a predecessor, it seems, in Ger-
many, though he far surpassed him in wickedness.

CAUSES AND MANNER OF THE REFORMATION. 117

of their modern disciples, in their writings against the
Catholic church :

" A hideous figure of their face they drew,

Nor hues nor looks, nor colors true :

And this grotesque design exposed to public view."*

We shall make a few specifications, to prove that we
have not done injustice to the character of the writings
published by the early reformers. One means of attack-
ing the character of the Catholics, was that of the Dia-
logue, invented by Ulrich von Hutten, one of the most
unscrupulous writers of the reform party. It consisted
in introducing, with dramatic effect, the various distin-
guished men of both sides, the Catholic and the Protest-
ant — and letting them speak out their own sentiments.
These dialogues were often acted on the stage, with great
effect among the populace. The Catholics were traves-
tied, and made to appear in the most ridiculous light;
while their adversaries were always victorious. Two of
these principal scenic representations were designed to
ridicule two of the chief champions of Catholicity in Ger-
many — Doctors Hochstraet and Eck. The lowest humor
— with certain specimens of which we will not dare sullj
our pages — was employed against these distinguished
divines.t The result was, that they became objects of
contempt throughout Germany. This was one way to
answer their arguments !

Every one, who has glanced at the history of those
turbulent times, is familiar with the vulgar legends of the
** Pope-Ass and Monk Calf," published by Melancthon
and Luther, and circulated with prodigious effect. The
** Pope-Ass" was extracted from the bottom of the Tiber
in 1494; and the "Monk-Calf," was discovered at Fri-

* Dryden.

t The curious are referred, for copious extracts from these " dia-
logues," to Audin,p. 186, seqq.

118 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

burg, in Misnia, in 1523.* Lucas Kranach, a painter of
the time, sculptured this vulgar conceit on wood ; and
this illustration accompanied the description of the two
monsters. What surprises us most is, that the temperate
Melancthon should have lent himself to this low ribaldry,
which was then current for wit !

Erasmus and other cotemporary writers, openly accused
the reformers of gross calumny. The former alleges
many facts to justify his charge. *' Those people are
profuse of calumnies. They circulated a report of a
canon, who complained of not finding Zurich as moral
after the preaching of Zuinglius as before. ... In the
same spirit of candor they have accused another priest of
libertinism, whom I, and all other persons acquainted
with him, know to be pure in word and action. They
have calumniated the canon because he hates sectaries;
and the priest, because, after having manifested an incli-
nation to their doctrines, he suddenly abandoned them."t

We might fill a volume with specimens of the scurril-
ous abuse and wicked calumnies of Luther against the
popes, bishops, monks, and Catholic priesthood ! We con-
sult brevity, and furnish but one or two instances from
his Table-Talk, which abounds with such specimens of
decency. ** The monks are lineal descendants of Satan.
When you wish to paint the devil, mufile him up in a
monk's habit."j: Elsewhere he says, ** that the devil
strangled Emser,"§ and other Catholic clergymen.

Luther's marriage was not only a sacrilegious violation
of his solemn vows — it was also a master-stroke of policy.
Through its influence, he secured the adherence and per-

* " Interpretatio duorum horribilium monstrorum," he, per Philip-
pum Meiancthonem et Martinum Lutherum — inter 0pp. Luth. torn.
ii, p. 392.

j " In Pseudo-Evangelicos," Epist. lib. xxxi, 47. London, Flesher.

X " Table Talk," p. 109, where he adds : " What a roar of laughter
there must be in hell when a monk goes down to it 1" Cf. Audin, p.
395, and also p. 393, seqq. § Ibid.

CAUSES AND MANNER OF THE REFORMATION. 119

severing aid of a whole army of apostate monks, who
eagerly followed his example. Until he took this decisive
step, marriage among the clergy and monks was viewed
with ridicule, if not with abhorrence by the people.
After his marriage, it became on the contrary a matter of
boast : priests, monks, and nuns hastened to '* the ale-pope
of the Black Eagle," to obtain this strange absolution
from their vows plighted to heaven : and he received them
with open arms, and granted them an *' Indulgence,"
which never pope had granted before ! Sacrilegious
impurity stalked abroad with shameless front throughout
Germany.

The married priests became the most untiring friends of
the reform, to which they were indebted for their emanci-
pation from popery, and for their loives. We have seen
them already in the book shops and the printing presses.
Many of them obtained their livelihood, by circulating
Lutheran pamphlets through the country.* Others '* took
their stand near the church-gates, and often, during the
divine offices, exhibited caricatures of the pope and the
bishops."! They carried on a relentless war against the
pope, con amore ; and it is remarked, that few, if any of
these married priests and monks, ever repented, or relent-
ed in their opposition against the Catholic church ! Lu-
ther thus, by his marriage, raised up a whole army of zea-
lous and efficient partisans, whose co-operation powerfully
aided the progress of reform.^

Such then were some of the principal means adopted
by the reformers and their partisans, for carrying out the
work of the reformation. Were they such as God could
have sanctioned ? Could a cause indebted to such means
for its success be from heaven ? On the other hand, con-
sidering the corrupt state of society in Germany, at the

* " Infiriitus jam erat numerus qui victura ex Lutheranis libris quae-
ritantes, in speciem bibliopolarum longe lateque per Germaniae provin-
cias vagabar.tur." Cochlaeus, p. 58.

t Ibid. X Cf. Audin, p. 3.37, seq.

130 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

beginning of the sixteenth century, can we wonder at the
great success which attended a movement promoted by
such means ? We would be suprised, indeed, on the con-
trary, if similar success had not attended it, under all the
circumstances of the case.

The distinctive doctrines of the reformation, throwing
off the wholesome restraints of the old religion, flattering
pride and pandering to passion — the protection of power-
ful princes, secured by feeding their cupidity and cater-
ing to their basest passions — the furious excitement of the
people, fed by maddening appeals from the pulpit and the
press, made to revel in works of spoliation and violence—
this excitement, lashed into still greater fury by the con-
stant employment of ridicule, low raillery, misrepresenta-
tion and calumny of every person and of every thing
Catholic — and the marriage of many apostate priests and
monks, bindi,ng them irrevocably to the new doctrines —
can we wonder that all these causes combined — and acting
too upon an age and country avowedly depraved — should
have produced the effect of rapidly diffusing the soi disant
reformation ?

AVe do not of course mean to imply, that all who em-
braced the reformation were corrupt, or led by evil mo-
tives : we have no doubt that many were deceived by the
specious appearance of piety. This was especially the
case with the common people, who often followed the ex-
ample and obeyed the teaching of their princes and pas-
tors, without taking much trouble to ascertain the right.
But we have intended to speak more particularly of the
leading actors in the great drama; and to paint the chief
parts they played on the stage.

Much less would we be understood, as indiscriminately
and wantonly censuring Protestants of the present day.
A broad line of distinction should be drawn between the
first teachers and the first disciples of error, and those
who have inherited it through a long line of ancestry. The
latter might be often Nvithout ;^reat censure, where the for-

CAUSES AND MANNER OF THE REFORMATION. 121

mer would be wholly Inexcusable. The strong and close
meshes which the prejudices of early education have wo-
ven around them — the dense and clouded medium, through
which they have been accustomed to view the sun of Ca-
tholic truth — the strong influence of parental authority
and of family ties — and many such causes, combine to
keep them in error. Besides, history, which should be a
witness of truth, has been polluted in its very sources :
and the injustice which its voice has done to the truth,
has been accumulating for centuries. But can Protestants
of the present day, notwithstanding all these disadvan-
tages, hold themselves inexcusable, if they neglect to ex-
amine both sides of the question, with all the diligence
and attention that so grave a subject demands ?

To enable them to do this the more easily, was one
principal motive that induced us to review the partial and
unfounded statements of M. D'Aubigne. If it be thought,
that our picture of the causes and manner of the reforma-
tion and of the means to which it owed its success, is too
dark, we beg leave to refer to the facts and authorities we
have alleged. If there be any truth in history, our paint-
ing has not been too highly colored. Had we adduced all
the evidence bearing on the subject, the coloring might
have been still deeper! We had to examine and refute
M. D'Aubigne's flippant assertions : that the reformers
were chosen instruments of heaven for a divine work ; and
that the *' reformation was but the reappearance of Chris-
tianity."

A *' reappearance of Christianity," forsooth! It is from
the facts accumulated above, such a ** reappearance," as
darkness is of light! Strip the reformation of all that it
borrowed from Catholicism — let it appear in its own dis-
tinctive character, in all its naked deformity; and it has
scarcely one feature in common with early Christianity.
Did the apostles preach doctrines which pandered to the
passions of mankind ? Did they flatter princes, by oft'ering
to them the plunder of their neighbors, and by allowing
11

122 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

tliem to have two wives at once, to quiet their troubled
conscience ? Did thej employ the weapons of ridicule, sar-
casm, and calumny against their adversaries? Did they
excite their followers to deeds of lawless violence against
the established order of things ? Did they break their so-
lemn engagements to heaven ? The reformers did all this
and more, as we have shown.

CHAPTER V.

THE REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND.

'« The spirit that I have seen

May be a devil ; and the devil hath pow^er

To assume a pleasing shape."— SAa/ispeare.

The reformation in Switzerland more radical than that in Germany —
Yet like it— Sows dissensions— Zuingle warlike and superstitious —
Claims precedency over Luther — Black or white — Precursory distur-
bances — Aldermen deciding on faith — How the fortress was en-
trenched — Riot and conflagration — Enlightenment — Protestant mar-
tyrs — Suppression of the mass — Solemniiy of the reformed worship —
Downright paganism — The reformation and matrimony — Zuingle 's
marriage and misgivings — Romance among nuns — How to get a hus-
band — Perversion of Scripture— St. Paul on celibacy — Recapitulation.

Before we proceed to examine the manifold influences
of the reformation, it may be well briefly to glance at the
history of its establishment in Switzerland. M. D'Au-
bigne devotes two whole books* to this portion of his his-
tory, which, as it concerns his own fatherland, is evidently
a favorite topic with him. Our limits will not permit us
to follow him through all his tedious and romantic details :
we will content ourselves with reviewing some of his lead-
ing statements.

After what we have already said concerning the causes
and manner of the reformation in Germany, it will scarcely
be necessary to dwell at great length on that of Switzer-
land. The one was but a ** reappearance" of the other —
to use one of our author's favorite words. The same great
features marked both revolutions, with this only difter-
ence : that the Swiss was more radical and more thorough,
and therefore more to M. D'Aubigne's taste. Like the

* Book viii, vol. ii, p. 267 to 400 : and book xi, vol. iii, p. 255 to 341.

124 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

German, however, its progress was everywhere signalized
by dissensions, civil commotions, rapine, violence and
bloodshed. And like the German, it was also indebted
for its permanent establishment to the interposition of the
civil authorities. Without this, neither revolution would
have had either consistency or permanency. M. D'Au-
bigne himself bears unwilling testimony to all these facts,
though, as usual, he suppresses many things of vital im-
portance. We will supply some of his omissions, and
avail ourselves of his concessions, as we proceed.

The reformation found the thirteen Swiss cantons
united, and in peace among themselves and with all the
world. It sowed disunion among them, and plunged
them into a civil war, that threatened rudely to pluck up
by the roots the venerable old tree of liberty which, centu-
ries before, their Catholic forefathers had planted and
watered with their blood ! The shrines sacred to the me-
mory of William Tell, Melchtal, and Fiirst, the fathers
of Swiss independence, were attempted to be rudely dese-
crated : and the altars at which their forefathers had wor-
shipped in quietness for ages were recklessly overturned.
The consequences of this attempt to subvert the national
faith by violence, were most disastrous. The harmony of
the old Swiss republic was destroyed, and the angel of
peace departed forever from the hills and the valleys of
Switzerland ! That this picture is not too highly colored,
the following brief summary of facts will prove.

The four cantons of Zurich, Berne, Schaifhausen, and
Basle, which first embraced the reformation, began very
soon thereafter to give evidence of their turbulent spirit.
They formed a league against the cantons which still re-
solved to adhere to the Catholic faith. One article of their
alliance forbade any of the confederates to transport pro-
visions to the Catholic cantons. Arms were in conse-
quence taken up on both sides, and a bloody contest en-
sued. Ulrich Zuingle, the father of the reformation in
Switzerland, marched with the troops of the Protestant par-

THE REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 125

tj, and fell, bravely fighting with them " the battles of the
Lord," on the 11th of Oct. 1531 ! Did he in this give any
evidence of the apostolic spirit, which M. D'Aubigne as-
cribes to him ? Did ever an apostle die on the field of
battle, while seeking the lives of his fellow mortals ? He
was as superstitious, as he was fierce. The historians of
his life tell us, that a little before the battle he was
stricken with sad forebodings by the appearance of a
comet, which he viewed as portending direful disasters to
Zurich, and as announcing his own death !

Our author says nothing of all this, which the historians
of Switzerland all agree in relating : but in justice to him
we must say, that his history does not come down to this
period. Perhaps in one of his forthcoming volumes, he
may undertake to enlighten us on this subject, and to di-
late on his favorite apostle's skill in augury, as well as on
his apostolic spirit on the battle field. He, however, fur-
nishes us with a little incident which marks the warlike
spirit of the Swiss reformer. *' In Zurich itself," he says,
" a few worthless persons, instigated to mischief by foreign
agency, made an attack on Zuingle in the middle of the
night, throwing stones at his house, breaking the windows,
and calling aloud for the * red-haired Uli, the vulture of
Glavis' — so that Zuingle started from his sleep, and caught
up his sword. The action is characteristic of the man."*

Zuingle was at Zurich what Luther was at Wittem-
berg. Each claimed the precedency in the career of the
reformation. Mr. Hallam thus notices their respective
claims : ** it has been disputed between the advocates of
these leaders to which the priority in the race of reform
belongs. Zuingle himself declares that in 1516, before he
had heard of Luther, he began to preach the Gospel at
Zurich, and to warn the people against relying upon hu-
man authority, l^ut that is rather ambiguous, and hardly
enough to substantiate his claim Like Luther, he

* Vol. iii, p. 275.
11*

126 d'aitbigne's history reviewed.

had the support of the temporal magistrates, the council
of Zurich. Upon the whole, thej proceeded so nearly
with equal steps, and were so connected with each other,
that it seems difficult to award either any honor of prece-
dence."*

We shall have occasion hereafter to refer at some length
to the bitter controversy, which raged between these two
boasted apostles. They taught contradictory doctrines :
one warmly defended, the other as warmly denied the
real presence. Were they both guided by the spirit of
God ? Can the Holy Spirit inspire contradictory systems
of belief ? If God' was with Luther, he certainly was not
with Zuingle; and vice versa.

By the way, what a pity it is that M. D'Aubigne, while
lauding the Swiss reformer to the skies, could not settle
the importdint previous question which had so sadly puz-
zled Zuingle — whether the spirit which appeared to him
in his sleep, and suggested the text of Scripture by which
he might disprove the real presence, was black or white?
How gently he touches on this passage in the history of
Zuingle ! He merely gives vent to his surprise by a note
of admiration, that this circumstance should have "given
rise to the assertion that the doctrine promulgated by the
reformer was delivered to him by the devil !"t Did not
the reformer's own account of the vision^ — of which he
was certainly the most competent witness — "give rise to
the assertion ?" And did not his brother reformers openly
make the charge ?

Zurich was the first city of Switzerland, which was
favored with the new Gospel. Our author treats in great
detail§ of all the circumstances which attended its intro-
duction; and of the preliminary discussions, commotions

* " History of Literature," si/p. cit. vol. i,p. 163, 4. He cites Gerdes
Histor. Evang. Reform. 1, 103. f HI, 272, 3.

X " Jltcr/uerit an albus nihil memini, somniiim enim nnrro.^' — Ibid.
§ Vol. iii, p. 238, segq.

THE REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 127

and riots, which were its harbingers. We will present a
few specimens. Leo Juda, one of the precursors of the
"Gospel" arrived in Zurich "about the end of 1522, to
take the duty of pastor of St. Peter's church." Soon
after his arrival, being at church, he rudely interrupted
an Augustinian monk while he was preaching. " Rever-
end father Prior," exclaimed Leo, *' listen to me for an
instant; and you, my dear fellow citizens, keep your
seats — I will speak as becomes a Christian" — and he
proceeded to show the unscriptural character of the teach-
ing he had just been listening to. A great disturbance
ensued in the church. Instantly several persons angrily
attacked " the little priest" from Einsidlen (Zuingle).
Zuingle, repairing to the council, presented himself before
them, and requested permission to give an account of his
doctrine, in presence of the bishop's deputies ; — and the
council, desiring to terminate the dissensions, convoked a
conference for the 29th of January. The news spread
rapidly throughout Switzerland."*

After having given a very lengthy account of the con-
ference, which, as might have been anticipated, terminated
in nothing, our author thus manifests his joy at the bright-
ening prospects of the ** Gospel." *' Every thing was
moving forward at Zurich ; men's minds were becoming
more enlightened — their hearts more steadfast. The
reformation was gaining strength. Zurich was a fortress,
in which the new doctrine had entrenched itself, and from
within whose enclosure it was ready to pour itself abroad
over the whole confederation. "t

Our historian tells us how the " reformation gained
strength," and how " the new doctrine entrenched itself
in the fortress" — to say nothing of the "enlightenment,"
of which we will treat hereafter. The " enlightened"
council of Zurich decided in favor of the reformed doc-
trines ; and resorted to force in order to suppress the an-

* Ibid. p. 239. t Ibid. p. 2.51.

128

cient worship. Only think of a town council, composed of
fat aldermen and stupid burgomasters, pronouncing defini-
tively on articles of faith ! In reading of their high-handed
proceedings, we are forcibly reminded of the wonderful
achievements, in a somewhat different genre, of the far-
famed governors and burgomasters of New-Amsterdam,
as fully set forth by the inimitable Knickerbocker !
The one is about as grotesque as the other. They of
Zurich did not, however, belong to the class of Walter,
the Doubter : they were perhaps too fat and stupid to
doubt.

Let us see some of the proceedings of this famous board
of councilmen at Zurich. "Nor did the council stop here.
The relics, which had given occasion to so many super-
stitions, were honorably interred. And then, on the fur-
ther requisition of the three (reformed) pastors, an edict
was issued, decreeing that, inasmuch as God alone ought
to be honored, the images should be removed from all the
churches of the Canton, and their ornaments applied to
the relief of the poor. Accordingly twelve counsellors —
one for each tribe — the three pastors, and the city archi-
tect, with some smiths, carpenters and masons, visited
the several churches; and, having first closed the doors,
took down the crosses, obliterated the paintings {the Van-
dals!), whitewashed the walls, and carried away the images,
to the great joy of the faithful (!) who regarded this pro-
ceeding," Bullinger tells us, *' as a glorious act of homage
to the true God." In some of the country parishes, the
ornaments of the churches were committed to the flames,
"to the greater honor and glory of God." Soon after this
the organs were suppressed, on account of their connec-
tion with many "superstitious observances, and a new
form of baptism was established from which every thing
unscriptural was carefully excluded."* What enlighten-
ment, and taste for music !

* Ibid. p. 257.8-

THE REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 129

" The triumph of the reformation," our author con-
tinues, '-'threw a joyful radiance over the last hours of
the burgomaster Roush and his colleague. They had lived
long enough ; and they both died within a few days after
the restoration of a purer (!) mode of worship."* And
such a triumph ! ! Before we proceed to show by what
means this " purer mode of worship" was established at
Zurich, we will give, from our historian, an instance of a
scene of riot and conflagration enacted by the '* faithful"
children of the reformation. It details the proceedings
of a party, which went out foraging with the bailiff Wirth.

" The rabble, meanwhile, finding themselves in the
neighborhood of the convent of Ittingen, occupied by a
community of Carthusians, who were generally believed
{by the *faithfuV) to have encouraged the bailiff Am-
Berg in his tyranny, entered the building and took pos-
session of the refectory. They immediately gave them-
selves up to excess, and a scene of riot ensued. In vain
did Wirth entreat them to quit the place ; he was in dan-
ger of personal ill-treatment among them. His son
Adrian had remained outside of the monastery: John
entered it, but shocked by what he beheld within, came
out immediately. The inebriated peasants proceeded to
pillage the cellars and granaries, to break the furniture to
pieces and to hum the hooksy\ Again, what enlighten-
ment !

This is M. D'Aubigne's statement of the affair : but the
deputies of the Cantons, found the Wirths guilty, and
pronounced sentence of death on them. Our author
views them as martyrs, and tells us,:j: in great detail, how
cruelly they were ** mocked," how they were '* faithful
unto death," and how intrepidly the "father and son"
ascended the scaffold ! His whole account is truly affect-
ing ! The reformation is welcome to such martyrs.

He exclaims : "now at length blood had been spilt —

* Ibid. t Ibid. p. 264-5. % Ibid. p. 266, seqq.

ISO

innocent blood. Switzerland and the reformation were
baptized with the blood of the martyrs. The great enemy
of the Gospel had effected his purpose ; but in effecting
it, he had struck a mortal blow at his own power. The
death of the Wirths was an appointed means of hastening
the triumph of the reformation."* ** The reformers of
Zurich," he adds, •' had abstained from abolishing the
Mass when they suppressed the use of images ; but the
moment for doing so seems now to have arrived. "t

He thus relates the manner in which the Mass w^as
suppressed, and the ** purer worship" introduced in its
place. *' On the 11th of August, 1525, the three pastors
of Zurich, accompanied by Megander, and Oswald and
Myconius, presented themselves before the great council,
and demanded the re-establishmentof the Lord's Supper.
Their discourse was a vv^eighty one, and was listened to
with the deepest attention — every one felt how important
was the decision which the council \vas called upon to
pronounce. The JNIass — that mysterious rite which for
three [fifteen) successive centuries had constituted the
animating principle in the worship of the Latin Church
[and in all churches) — was now to be abrogated — the cor-
poreal presence of Christ was to be declared an illusion,
and of that illusion the minds of the people were to be
dispossessed ; some courage was needed for such a reso-
lution as this, and there were individuals in the council
who shuddered at so audacious a design."^

The grave board of councilmen did not how^ever hesitate
long: they made quick work in this most important mat-
ter. " The great council w^as convinced by his (Zuingle's)
reasoning, and hesitated no longer." (How could they
resist his reasonino;, based as it was, on the teachino- of

ft' ' o

the spirit, ^/acA; ov white?) "The evangelical doctrine
had sunk deep into every heart, and moreover, since the
separation from Rome hud taken place, there was a kind

* Ibid. p. 270. t Ibid. p. 271. % Ibid.

THE REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND, 151

of satisfaction felt in making that separation as complete
as possible, and digging a gulph, (the reformation was a
gulph) as it were, between the reformation and her. The
council decreed that the Mass should be abolished, and it
was determined that on the following day, which was
Maunday Thursday, the Lord's Supper should be cele-
brated in conformity with the apostolic model."* This
was indeed quick and sweeping work !

*' The altars disappeared," he continues ; " some plain
tables, covered with the sacramental bread and wine,
occupied their places, and a crowd of eager communicants
was gathered around them. There was something exceed-
ingly solemn in that assemblage."! No doubt it was
much more solemn than had been the Catholic worship !
Our author thus describes the ** solemnity." *• The peo-
ple then fell on their knees : the bread was carried round
on large wooden dishes or platters, and every one broke
off a morsel for himself; the wine was distributed in
wooden drinking cups; the resemblance to the primitive
supper was thought to be the closer. (!) The hearts of
those who celebrated this ordinance were affected with
alternate emotions of wonder and joy."| Truly there
was much to excite both wonder and joy ! This whole
description seems to be in the mock heroic style of writing.

In the same strain is the following passage : ** Such
was the progress of the reformation at Zurich. The sim-
ple commemoration of our Lord's death caused a fresh
overflow " in the church of love to God, and love to the
brethren. . . . Zuingle rejoiced at these affecting mani-
festations of grace, and returned thanks to God that the
Lord's Supper was again working those miracles of cha-
rity, which had long since ceased to be displayed in con-
nexion with the Sacrifice of the Mass (!) * Our city,' said
he, * continues at peace. There is no fraud, no dissen-
sion, no envy, no wrangling among us. Where shall we

* Ibid. p. 272. t Ibid. p. 273. | Ibid.

132 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

discover the cause of this agreement except in the Lord's
good pleasure, and the harmlessness and meekness of tiie
doctrine we profess ?' " M. D'Aubigne however spoils
this beautiful picture, bj the following cruel sentence,
which immediately follows: ** charity and unity were
there — but not uniformity."*

To establish this, he refers to certain strange doctrines
broached by Zuingle, this same year, 1525, in his famous
*• Commentary on true and false religions," addressed to
Francis I, king of France. He labors hard to defend the
reformer from the charge of Pelagianism, which his asso-
ciates in the reformation did not fail to make. But was
it honest in him to conceal the notorious fact, that, in this
same *' Commentary," Zuingle had placed Theseus, Her-
cules, Numa, Scipio, Cato, and other heathen worthies,
in heaven among the elect ? This was something worse
than Pelagianism — it was downright paganism. Could
•* charity and unity" reign in the midst of the fiercest
wranglings, of the most bitter civil feuds and dissensions,
and amidst the bloodshed of a protracted civil war ? Yet
these were the scenes amid which the Swiss reformation
revelled !

** Such," then, " was the progress of the reformation at
Zurich !" In other places — at Berne and at Basle — its
proceedings were marked by similar demonstrations. It
was every where the same. Every where, it invoked the
civil power, and was established, as at Zurich, by the
decisions of boards of councilmen, and was enforced by
violence. M. D'Aubigne alleges facts which prove all
this; and we deem it unnecessary to repeat them. It
would be but telling over the same story.

CEcolampadius was the chief actor on the reformation
stage at Basle. He was a learned and moderate man, the
early friend of Erasmus, and, in some respects, the coun-
terpart of Mclancthon. The Gospel-light seems to have

* Ibid. p. 274.

THE REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 133

first beamed upon him from the eye of a beautiful young
lady, whom, in violation of his solemn vows plighted to
heaven, he espoused; "probably," as Erasmus wittily
remarked, " to mortify himself!" In the race of matri-
mony, at least, he could claim the precedency over his
brother reformers. Yet they did not long remain behind.
Matrimony was, in all cases, the denouement of the drama
which signalized the zeal for reformation. Zuingle him-
self, "the priest of Einsidlin," espoused a rich widow.
A widow also caught Calvin, a little later. Martin Bucer,
another reformer, who figured chiefly in Switzerland, far
outstripped any of his fellows in the hymeneal career. lie
became the husband of no less than three ladies in succes-
sion : and one of them had been already married three
times — all too, by a singular run of good luck, in the
reformation line! !*

It is really curiou? to observe, how M. D'Aubigne treats
this subject. Speaking of the Swiss reformers, he says:
" Several among ihem at this period (1522) returned to
the "apostolic usaget (!!!). Xyloclect was already a
husband. Zuingle also married about this time. Among
the women of Zurich, none was more respected than Anna
Reinhardt, widow of Meyer von Knonau, mother of Cer-
oid. From Zuingle's coming among them, she had been
constant in her attendance on his ministry | she lived near
him, and he had remarked her piety, modesty, and mater-
nal tenderness. Young Gerold, who had become almost
like a son to him, contributed farther to bring about an
intimacy with his mother. The trials that had already
befallen this Christian woman — whose fate it was to be

* For a full account of this matter, see " Travels of an Irish gentle-
man," ch. xlvi, where the great Irish poet enters into the subject at
length ; giving his authorities as he proceeds, and playing off his
caustic wit on the hymeneal propensities of the reformers,

t How very absurd ! Was St. Paul married ? Were any of the apos-
tles ever married, except St. Peter, of whose wife the Scripture says
nothing after he became an apostle ? She was probably dead.
12

134 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

one day more severely tried than any woman whose
history is on record — had formed her to a seriousness
which gave prominency to her Christian virtues. She was
then about thirty-five, and her whole fortune consisted of
four hundred florins.* It was on her that Zuingle (ki?id,
sympathetic soul) fixed his eyes for a companion for life."t

Still he had his misgivings at breaking his solemn vows :
he ** did not make his marriage public. This was beyond
doubt a blameable weakness in one who was in other
respects so resolute [reckless?) . The light he and his
friends possessed on the subject of celibacy was by no
means general. The weak might have been stumbled. "J
This last is a new phrase, introduced, we suppose, to
unfold a new idea — that the people retained conscience
longer than the boasted reformers, who misled them from
»• the old paths."

On this same subject, M. D'Aubigne treats us to some
fine touches of romance — \\\?, forte — about nuns who em-
braced the reformation, and then immediately, as a neces-
sary sequel, got married. We will give a few instances :

*' At Koningsfeld upon the river Aar, near the castle
of Hapsburg, stood a monastery adorned with all the
magnificence of the middle ages, and in which reposed the
ashes of many of that illustrious house which had so often
given an emperor to Germany. To this place the noble
families of Switzerland and of Suabia used to send their

daughters to take the veil The liberty enjoyed in

this convent had favored the introduction not

only of the Bible (they had it already, and were obliged
to read portions of it daily hy their rule), but the writings
of Luther and Zuingle; and soon a new spring of life and
joy changed the aspect of its interior !"§

A **new spring of life and of joy" was certainly thus
opened to the nuns. They soon became tired of retire-

* A very large sum at that lime, f Vol. ii, p. 383. I Ibid. p. 384,
§ Vul. iii, p. 2S0, 2S1.

THE REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 135

ment and of prayer : they sighed for the flesh-pots of Egypt
to which they had bidden adieu — for the *' life and joy" of
the world. Margaret Watteville, one of them, wrote a
letter* to Zuingle, full of piety and of affection; and de*
clared that she expressed not " her own feelings only, but
those of all the convent of Koningsfeld who loved the
Gospel."

M. D'Aubigne tells us, that a *' convent into which the
light of the Gospel had penetrated with such power, could
not long continue to adhere to monastic observances.
Margaret Watteville and her sisters, persuaded that they
should better serve God in their families than in the clois-
ter, solicited permission to leave it."t The council of
Berne heard their prayer : the convent " gates were open*
ed ; and a short time afterwards, Catharine Bonnsteten
{one of the nuns) married William Von Diesbach."J The
nun Margaret Watteville was equally fortunate: she
*' was about the same time united to Lucius Tscharner
of Coira."§ Such was invariably the denouement of the
reformation plot.

Our historian, in fact, views the sacrilegious marriages
of the priests and nuns — against their solemn vows freely
plighted to God at his holy altar — as the most conclusive
proof of the progress of the reformation ! Mark this cu-
rious passage : " But it was in vain to attempt to smother
the reformation at Berne. It made progress on all sides.
The nuns of the convent D'lle had not forgotten Haller's
visit. (This was a wretched apostate, who had held im-
proper discourse in the convent, which drew upon him a
sentence of perpetual banishment from the ' lesser coun-
cil' of Berne ; which sentence was however mitigated by
the 'grand council,' which. was content with merely re-
buking him and his associate reformers, and ordering them
to confine themselves in future to their own business and

* Given in full, Ibid. p. 281, 282. f Ibid. t Ibid.

§ Ibid. p. 285.

136 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

let the convents alone).* * Clara May, (one of the nuns)
and many of her friends, pressed in their consciences (!)
what to do, wrote to the learned Henry Bullinger. In
answer, he said : * St. Paul enjoins young women not to
take on them vows, but to marry, instead of living in idle-
ness under a false show of piety. (1 Tim. v. 13, 14).
Follow Jesus in humility, charity, patience, purity, and
kindness.' Clara, looking to heaven for guidance, re-
solved to act on the advice, and renounce a manner of life
at variance with the word of God (and her own inclinations)
— of man's invention — and beset with snares. Her grand-
father Bartholomew, who had served for fifty years in the
field and council hall, heard with joy of the resolution
she had formed. Clara quitted the convent, "t and mar-
ried the provost, Nicholas Watteville.±

What an evidence of piety — "looking to heaven for
guidance" — it is — to get married ! And what a perversion
of Scripture was that by Henry Bullinger, to induce those
to marry, who had taken solemn vows of devoting them-
selves wholly to God in a life of chastity ! As this is a
pretty good specimen of the manner in which the reformers
"wrested the Scriptures to their own perdition, "§ we will
give entire the quotation of St. Paul to Timothy, referred
toby the "learned Bullinger," including the two previous
verses, which he found it convenient not to quote, proba-
bly because they would have convicted him of the most
glaring perversion of God's holy word.

1 Timothy, chap, v, verse 11. " But the younger widows
shun: for when they have grown wanton in Christ, they
will marry ; (this advice the reformers took special care
not to follow).

Verse 12. "Having damnation, because they have made
void their first faith, (by violating their vows to God).

V. 13. ** And withal, being idle, they learn to go about

♦ Such at least is the statement of M. D'Aubign6 — iii, p. 279.
t Ibid. p. 284. X Ibid. p. 285. § 2 Peter, iii, 16.

THE REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 1S7

from house to house (as the escaped nuns did at the time
of the reformation) : not only idle, but talkers also, and in-
quisitive, speaking things which they ought not."

V. 14. "I will, therefore, that the younger (who had
not taken vows) should marry, bear children, be mis-
tresses of families, give no occasion to the adversary to
speak evil."

This passage of St. Paul speaks for itself, and needs no
commentary. While the reformers were quoting St. Paul,
to induce the nuns to escape from their convents and to
get married, why did they not also refef to the following
texts :

"But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: it is
good for them so to continue, even as I."*

*' Art thou bound to a wife? Seek not to be loosed.
Art thou loosed from a wife ? Seek not a wife.'^^\

*' But I would have you to be without solicitude. Tie
that is without a wife, is solicitous for the things that be-
long to the Lord, how he may please God. But he that is
with a wife, is solicitous for the things of the world, how
he may please his wife : and he is divided."!

And why did they conceal the following texts, which had
special reference to the nuns who, '* having grown wanton
in Christ, would marry, having damnation, because they
had made void their first faith ?"

** And the unmarried woman and the virgin thinketh on
the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body
and spirit. But she that is married, thinketh on the
things of the world, how she may please her husband.
Therefore, both he who giveth his virgin in marriage
doeth well ; and he that giveth her not, doeth better."§

Alas ! the carnal minded reformers understood little of
this sublime perfection ! They could not appreciate it.
They were satisfied with *' doing well ;" nor did they even

* I Corinth, vii, S. j l^i^l- v. 27. X I^^id. vv. S2, 33.

§ Ibid. vv. 34, 38.
12*

138 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

come up to this standard, any farther, at least, than to
get married ! Their case is explained bj St. Paul, in the
same epistle from which the above texts are extracted.
** But the sensual man perceiveth not the things that are
of the spirit of God: for it is foolishness to him, and he
cannot understand: because it is spiritually examined."*
We shall here close our remarks on the reformation in
Switzerland, which, as we have, we hope, sufficiently
shown, pandered to the worst passions, created disturb-
ance and civil commotions wherever it appeared, revelled
in war and bloodshed, and was finally established by the
strong arm of the civil power. We shall hereafter devote a
separate chapter to the Calvinistic branch of the reforma-
tion established at Geneva.

* 1 Corinth, ii, 14.

CHAPTER VI.

REACTION OF CATHOLICITY,, AND DECLINE OF PROTESTANTISM.

Two parallel developments — The brave old ship — Modern Protestant-
ism quite powerless — A " thorough godly reformation" needed —
Qualities for a reformer — The three days' battle — The puzzle — A
thing doomed — Which gained the victory ? — The French revolu-
tion — Kanke and Hallam — The rush of waters stayed — Persecution
en passant — Protestant spice — The council of Trent — Revival of
piety — The Jesuits — Leading causes and practical results — Decline
of Protestantism — Apt comparison — What stemmed the current? —
Thread of Ariadne — Divine Providence— Reaction of Catholicity —
Casaubon and Grotius — Why they were not converted — Ancient and
modern Puseyism — Justus Lipsius and Cassander — The inference —
Splendid passage of Macauley — Catholicity and enlightenment — The
church indestructible — General gravitation to Rome — The circle and
its centre.

No feature in the whole history of the reformation is
perhaps more remarkable than that which is presented bv
the speedy decline of Protestantism, on the one hand, and
the no less rapid reaction of Catholicity on the other. A
rapid glance at the history of these two great develop-
ments of the two systems of religion will throw much
additional light on their respective characters, and will
serve to explain to us yet more fully what we have been
endeavoring to elucidate thus far — the character, causes,
and manner of the reformation. It is a divine maxim to
judge the tree by its fruits : and we propose, in the pre-
sent chapter, to make a general application of this rule ;
reserving, however, more special details on the subject to
those which will follow.

The reformation swept over the world like a violent
storm : and it left as many ruins in its course. It threat-
ened to overturn every thing, and to carry all before it.
So rapid was its work of destruction, that its admirers —

140 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

those " who moved in the whirlwind" — confidently pre-
dicted the speedy downfall of the old religion, and the
triumphant establishment of the new ones on its ruins.
Even many of those who remained steadfast in the an-
cient faith, though firmly relying on the solemn promises
of Christ, yet trembled not a little for the safety of the
church. Jesus seemed to be asleep while the tempest
was raging on the sea of the world ; and his disciples,
who were in the good old ship of the church tossed on the
waves, like their prototypes of the Gospel, ** came to him,
and awaked him, saying : ' Lord, save us, we perish.'
And Jesus said to them: * Why are ye fearful, O ye of
little faith ?' Then rising up, he commanded the winds
and the sea, and there came a great calm."*

Such was precisely the phenomenon presented by the
history of the church in the sixteenth century. Soon the
storm of the reformation had spent its fury, and settled
down into a *' great calm" — the calm of indifferentism
and infidelity on the lately troubled sea of Protestantism ;
and of peace and security on the broad ocean of Catholi-
cism. When men's minds had had time to recover from
the exdtement produced by the first movements of the re-
formation, they were enabled to estimate more justly the
motives and causes of that revolution. The result was,
that many enlightened protestants returned to the bosom
of the Catholic church ; while others plunged into the
vortex of infidelity. Thus Catholicity, far from being
extinguished, powerfully reacted.

Like the sturdy oak of the forest, which, instead of
oeing thrown down by the storm, vanquishes its fury, and
even sends its roots farther into the earth in consequence
of the agitation so also the tree of the church, planted
by Christ and watered with his blood and that of his mar-
t rs, successfully resisted the violence of the storm of
Protestantism, and became, in consequence of it, more

' St. Mattli. viii, 24—26.

CATHOLIC reaction; the reform declines. 141

firmly and solidly fixed in the soil of the world — more
strongly '* rooted and founded in charity."*

Nothing is more certain in history, than this two-fold
development. Even M. D'Aubigne, surely an unexcep-
tionable witness, admits its entire truth, however he may
seek to disguise it by the thin mantle of sophistry .t
Speaking of the decline of modern Protestantism, he em-
ploys this emphatic language. " But modern Protestant-
ism, like old Catholicism (!), is, in itself, a thing from
which nothing can be hoped — a thing quite povv^erless.
Something very different is necessary to restore to men
of our day the energy which saves.'':}: So that, the expe-
riment of Protestantism, notwithstanding all the noise it
has made in the world, and all its loud boasting about
destroying superstition and enlightening mankind, has
yet turned out a complete failure, even according to the
explicit avowal of its most unscrupulous advocate ! ! It
has been " enlightening and saving" the world for full
three hundred years ; and in the end it has lost itself, and
become " a thing quite powerless, from which nothing
can be hoped !"

A new reformation is necessary to reform the old one,
and to impart to it " the energy which saves." M.D'Au-
bigne, we presume, is ip be the father of this new " tho-
rough-godly" reformation ! We wish him joy of his new
apostleship, and hope he may succeed better than his pre-
decessors. He has, we humbly think, all the qualities
requisite for a reformer, according to the type of the six-
teenth century, viz. a smattering of learning, — a sancti-
monious air, in which he greatly excels some of his prede-
cessors — a skill in sophistry, which has the admirable
simplicity of not being always even specious — and, to
crown all, an utter recklessness of truth.

We will here give a passage from our historian, which

* Epheaians, iii, 17.

t The mantle of his sophistry is always ihin ; and it requires not the
gift of clairvoyance to see through it. % Vol. i. Preface, p. ix.

142 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

has the double merit of exhibiting the gist of his theory
on our present subject, and of being a perfect curiosity in
its genre. M. D'Aubigne's whole work is, however, we
may remark, en passant, a perfect *' cabinet of curiosi-
ties" in this way. The passage is found in the third vol-
ume of his " History of the Great Reformation." It is
an attempt to answer a writer of the Port Royal,* who
had compared the struggle of the last three centuries to a
battle of three days' duration ; and who had accumulated
evidence to prove that the infidel philosophers of France,
who brought about the French revolution, had but carried
out the principles broached by the reformers. Our author
" willingly adopts the comparison, but not the part that is
allotted to each of these days." He politely declines re-
ceiving the well deserved compliment the Frenchman was
paying him, with his most gracious bow. Then follows
the curious passage.

**No, each of those days had its marked and peculiar
characteristic. On the first (the sixteenth century) the
word of God triumphed, and Rome was defeated; and
philosophy, in the person of P^rasmus, shared in the defeat.
On the second (the seventeenth century) we admit that
Rome, her authority, her discipline, and her doctrine, are
again seen on the point of obtaining the victory, through
the intrigues of a far-famed society (the Jesuits), and the
power of the scaffold, aided by certain leaders of eminent
character, and others of lofty genius. The third day, (the
eighteenth century) human philosophy arises in all its
pride, and finding the battle-field occupied, not by the
Gospel, but by Rome, it quickly storms every entrench-
ment, and gains an easy conquest. The first day's bat-
tle was for God, the second for the priest, and the third
for reason — what shall the fourth be ?"t

Aye, that's the puzzle ! He piously hopes that it will
be for "the triumph of him to whom triumph belongs, "J

* Port Royal, par Sainte Beuve, vol. i,p. 20. f Vol. iii, p. 304. l]j^

CATHOLIC reaction; the reform declines. 143

that is, for his own new system of reformation, which is to
be but the ** reappearance" of the old. But this is mani-
festly hoping against all hope; for modern Protestantism,
he confesses, is " a powerless thing.^^ It has settled down
into an almost mortal lethargy, in all those countries where
it was first established, and where the progress of enlight-
enment has laid bare to the world its endless vagaries and
ever growing inconsistencies — its hopeless powerlessness.
Its tendency is necessarily downward ; it bears in its own
bosom the seeds of death ; it must share the fate of all other
mere human institutions, and must aiford another verifica-
tion of our blessed Saviour's prophetic declaration: "every
plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be
rooted up."* No human eloquence or effort can prevent
it from abiding this doom, the seal of which is already, in
fact, branded on its forehead, M. D'Aubigne himself being
witness! And had he been silent, "the stones would have
cried out" — to pronounce this fate !

It is needless for us to dwell long in the examination of
his theory about the " three days' battle." The triumph
which he ascribes to the reformation on the first day was
not real — it was scarcely even apparent. Notwithstand-
ing the premature shouts of victory by the reformed party,
the old church still retained a vast ascendency in point of
numbers, of extension, and also, as we shall prove in the
sequel, of intelligence. In compensation for her losses on
the battle field of Europe, she gained great accessions to
her numbers in the East Indies, in Asia, and in the new
world, which her navigators had discovered, and her mis-
sionaries converted. When a portion of Europe spurned
her voice, she "turned to the Gentiles," and waved the
banner of her cross in triumph over new worlds. She cer-
tainly then gained the advantage, even in the " first day's
battle."

In the second, she was avowedly in the ascendant.
During it, she, (o a great extent, retrieved her losses in
* St. Matth. XV, 13.

144 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

Europe itself. Of course, all the talk about "the in-
trigues of a far-famed society and the power of the scaf-
fold," is mere palaver. We shall soon prove it to be little
better, on unquestionable Protestant authority. As to the
scaffold, we hope to show hereafter,* by a mass of evidence
which cannot be answered, that it was much oftener
erected by those who raised the clamor for the emancipa-
tion of thought, than by those who continued to abide in
the old church.

In the third day's battle, Catholicity again triumphed.
The French revolution was, in fact, but the "reappear-
ance" of the " great reformation," in another and more
terrific shape. The French infidels made as much noise
about liberty of thought, and inveighed as fiercely against
the corruptions of the Catholic church-, as had been done
by the reformers two and a half centuries before. The
former did little more than catchup the Babel-like sounds
of the latter, and re-echo them in a voice of thunder
throughout Europe. But this mere human thunder was
drowned by the divine thunder of the Vatican ! Rome
conquered the daughter, as she had erewhile conquered
the mother. If she alone "occupied the battle field," it
was because the Protestants had retired from it — had inglo-
riously fled, and left Christianity to its fate, in this, its
fiercest struggle with infidelity ! Did Protestants win one
laurel in that battle field ? Can they count one martyr
who fell a victim in that bloody effort to put down Chris-
tianity ? The Catholic clergy were massacred in hun-
dreds ; they poured out their blood like water, for the de-
fence of religion. Did the French infidels attack Pro-
testants ? If they did not — and they certainly did not —
then how are we to explain this phenomenon, but on the
principle of a sympathetic feeling } Men seldom go to bat-
tle against their friends and allies.

To show the rapid decline of Protestantism, after the

* In chapter x. " On Religious Liberty."

CATHOLIC reaction; the reform declines. 145

first fifty years of its violent existence; and to unfold the
parallel reaction of Catholicism, we had intended to pre-
sent a rapid analysis of what a famous living Protestant
writer of Germany — Leopold Ranke — has abundantly
proved on the subject, in his late •* History of the Papacy
during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries."* But
Henry Hallam, another eminent living Protestant writer
of great research and authority, has anticipated us in our
labor. In his History of Literature, already quoted, he fol-
lows Ranke, and presents every thing of consequence,
bearing on our present subject, which the eminent Ger-
man historian had more fully exhibited, as the result of
much patient labor and research. Mr. Hallam also adds
many things of his own. His work has thus greatly
abridged our labor, and we shall do little more than
cull from its pages, and put into order what may serve
to elucidate the matter in hand. We presume that no
impartial man will question our authorities.

The decline of Protestantism, and the reaction of Ca-
tholicism were intimately connected : they went hand in
hand. The same causes that explain the one, will in a
great measure account for the other ; with perhaps this
exception, that Protestantism, like all other mere human
institutions, carried within its own bosom an intrinsic
principle of dissolution ; whereas Catholicity, on the other
hand, had within itself strongly developed the principle of
vitality and of permanency. These two opposite features
were, in fact, distinctive of the two systems.

According to Mr. Hallam, Protestantism began to de-
cline, and Catholicity to gain ground, shortly after the
middle of the sixteenth century. The immediate disci-
ples of the reformers, after the death of the latter, soon
lost the fierce and v/arlike spirit manifested by those who
had first reared the banner of revolt against Rome. The

* " Histoire de la Papaute pendant les xvi et xvii siecles." Tra-
duite de I'AlIemand par M.J. B. Haiber. 4 vols. 8vo. A Paris, 1838.
13

146 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

enthusiasm of the first onslaught speedily died away, and
the principle of hatred which had originated the reforma-
tion, was gradually weakened. A counter principle of
love — the very essence of Christianity and of God himself
— gradually gained the ascendant in the bosom of those
who, in a moment of fierce excitement, had been estranged
from the Catholic church. The consequence was that
vast bodies of Protestants re-entered its pale.

Both Ranke and Hallam bear evidence to the truth of
these remarks. The latter says : '* This prodigious increase
of the Protestant party in Europe after the middle of the
century (xvi) did not continue more than a few years. It
was checked and fell back, not quite so rapidly or com-
pletely as it came on, but so as to leave the antagonist
church in perfect security." After a tedious apology for
entering on this subject in a history of literature, he pro-
poses '* to dwell a little on the leading causes of this retro-
grade movement of Protestantism ; a fact," he continues,
•'as deserving of explanation as the previous excitement
of the reformation itself, though from its more negative
character, it has not drawn so much of the attention of
mankind. Those who behold the outbreaking of great re-
volutions in civil society or in religion, will not easily be-
lieve that the rush of waters can be stayed in its course;
that a pause of indifference may come on, perhaps very
suddenly, or a reaction bring back nearly the same preju-
dices anel passions (!) as those which men had renounced.
Yet this has occurred not very rarely in the annals of man-
kind, and never on a larger scale than in the history of
the reformation !"*

He then proceeds to assign some of the leading causes
which, according to his view, " stayed the rush of waters"
of the revolution, called by courtesy the reformation.
After speaking of the stern policy of Philip II of Spain,
and assigning undue prominence to the inquisition, "wiiich

* "History of Literature," kc. sujj. cli. voLi, p. 272, ?6.

CATHOLIC reaction; the reform declines. 147

soon extirpated the remains of heresy in Italy and Spain"
— into which countries Protestantism never penetrated, at
least to any extent, and therefore could not be "extirpa-
ted" — he next alludes to the civil wars in France betvi^een
the Huguenots and the Catholics, and then comes down
to Germany. *'But in Bavaria Albert V, with whom,
about 1564, this reaction began, in the Austrian dominions,
Rodolph II, in Poland Sigismund III, by shutting up
churches, and by discountenancing in all respects their
Protestant subjects, contrived to change a party once
powerful, into an oppressed sect."*

We hate persecution, no matter what is made the pre-
text for its exercise ; but every candid man must allow
that, in resorting to these measures of severity, the Ger-
man princes did but repay their " Protestant subjects" in
their own coin. If they took from them their churches,
it must be borne in mind that those same churches were
erected by Catholics to whom they rightfully belonged, and
that, in the first effervescence of the reformation they had
been seized on violently by the Protestant party. They did
but take back bylaw what had been wrested from the rightful
owners by lawless violence, and what would not have been
otherwise surrendered. If ** they discountenanced their
Protestant subjects," it was only after a long and bitter
experience of the troubles they had caused, of the riots
and conflagrations they had brought about in the abused
name of religion, and of the utter fruitlessness of concilia-
tory measures.

Besides, had not the German Protestant princes pro-
ceeded with still greater harshness against their Catholic
subjects, whose only crime was their calm and inoffensive
adherence to the religion of their fathers ? The account
was certainly more than balanced, as we shall show more
fully hereafter.! These are at least extenuating circum-
stances, which a man of Mr. Hallam's moderate principles

• Ibid. p. 273, ? 7. t Chapter x.

148 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

should not have wholly concealed. But, we presume, he
deemed it expedient to add a little Protestant spice in
order to season for the palate of his English Protestant
readers, the otherwise insipid viands of admissions in fa-
vor of Catholicity, which he was serving up for them.

One leading cause of the reaction of Catholicity, accord-
ing to him, was the promulgation and general adoption of
the decrees of the council of Trent. *' The decrees of the
council of Trent were'received by the spiritual princes of
the empire (German) in 1566; * and from this moment,'
says the excellent historian who has thrown most light on
this subject, * began a new life for the Catholic church in
Germany.' "* We heartily concur in the truth of this
remark. Divine Providence, which draws good out of
evil, wisely brought about the council of Trent, and
watched over its long protracted and often interrupted
labors till they were brought to a happy termination.
This was the only legal, as well as the only adequate re-
medy to the evils of the church in the sixteenth century.
The Tridentine canons and decrees for reformation, exer-
cised a powerful influence throughout Christendom. Faith
was every where settled on an immoveable basis, local
abuses disappeared, and piety revived. The reformation
was the indirect cause of all this good ; and in this point
of view, if in few others, it deserves our gratitude.

The revival of piety, through the influence of the Tri-
dentine council, is thus attested by Mr. Hallam. "The
reaction could not, however, have been efl*ected by any
efforts of the princes against so preponderating a majority
as the Protestant churches had obtained, if the principles
that originally actuated them had retained their animating
influence, or had not been opposed by more effieacious re-
sistance. Every method was adopted to revive an attach-
ment to the ancient religion, insuperable by the love of
novelty, or the power of argument (!). A stricter disci-

* flank6, ii, p. 46. Hallam, ibid.

CATHOLIC reaction; the reform declines. 149

pline and subordination were introduced among the clergy :
they were early trained in seminaries, apart from the sen-
timents and habits, the vices and virtues (!) of the world.
The monastic orders resumed their "rigid observances."*

" But, far above all the rest, the Jesuits were the instru-
ments for regaining France and Germany to the church
they served. And we are more closely concerned with
them here, that they are in this age among the links be-
tween religious opinion and literature. We have seen in
the last chapter|with what spirit they took the lead in
polite letters and classical style ; with what dexterity they
made the brightest spirits of the rising generation, which
the church had once dreaded and checked (more spice),
her most willing and effective instruments. The whole
course of liberal studies, however deeply grounded in eru-
dition, or embellished by eloquence, took one direction,
one perpetual aim — the propagation of the Catholic
faith.f .... They knew how to clear their reasoning
from scholastic pedantry and tedious quotation for the
simple and sincere understandings which they addressed;
yet, in the proper field of controversial theology, they
wanted nothing of sophistical (!) expertness or of erudition.
The weak points of Protestantism they attacked with em-
barrassing ingenuity; and the reformed churches did not
cease to give them abundant advantages by inconsistency,
extravagance, and passion.":]:

** At the death of Ignatius Loyola," he continues, "in
1556, the order he had founded was divided into thirteen
provinces besides the Roman; most of which were in the
Spanish peninsula, or its colonies. Ten colleges belonged
to Castile, eight to Aragon, and five to Andalusia. Spain
was for some time the fruitful mother of the disciples, as
she had been of the master. The Jesuits who came to
Germany were called ' Spanish priests.' They took pos-

* Ibid. §8. t Ibid. §9.

X Ibid. § 10, where he cites Hospiaian, Ranke, and Tiraboschi, the
first a declared enemy of the Jesuits.
13*

150 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

session of the universities : * they conquered us,' says
Ranke, * on our own ground, in our own homes, and strip-
ped us of a part of our ov/n country.' This, the acute
historian proceeds to say, sprung certainly from the want
of understanding among the Protestant theologians, and
of sufficient enlargement of mind to tolerate unessential
differences. The violent opposition among each other,
left a way open to these cunning strangers, who taught a
doctrine not open to dispute."*

He then proceeds to treat of the practical results
brought about by these causes. These were a rapid de-
clension of Protestantism, and a correspondent increase
of Catholicism. ''Protestantism, so late as 1578, might
be deemed preponderant in all the Austrian dominions,
except the Tyrol.t In the Polish diets, the dissidents,
as they were called, met their opponents with vigor and
success. The ecclesiastical principalities were full of
Protestants ; and even in the chapters some of them might
be found. But the contention was unequal, from the dif-
ferent character of the parties ; religious zeal and devo-
tion (!), which fifty years before had overthrown the an-
cient rites in northern Germany, were now more invigo-
rating sentiments in those who secured them from farther
innovation. In religious struggles, where there is any
thing like an equality of forces, the question soon comes to
be which party will make the greatest sacrifice for its own
faith. And while the Catholic self-devotion had grown
far stronger, there was much more of secular cupidity,
lukewarmness, and formality in the Lutheran church.
In very few years, the effects of this were distinctly vis-
ible. The Protestants of the Catholic principalities went
back into the bosom of Rome. In the bishoprick of
Wartzburg alone, sixty-two thousand converts are said to
have been received in the year 1586.":}:

** The reaction," he continues a little afterwards, *' was

* Ibid. p. 274, § U. t Ranke, ii, p. 78. | Ranke, ii, p. 121.

CATHOLIC reaction; the reform declines. 151

not less conspicuous in other countries. It is asserted
* that the Huguenots had already lost more than two-
thirds of their number in 1580;'* comparatively, I pre-
sume, with twenty years before. And the change in their
relative position is manifest from all the histories of this

period At the close of this period of fifty years

(A.D. 1600), the mischief done to the old church in its first
decennium (from 1550 to 1560) was very nearly repaired ;
the proportions of the two religions in Germany coin-
cided with those which had existed at the pacification of
Passau. The Jesuits, however, had begun to encroach
a little on the proper domain of the Lutheran church ;
besides private conversions, which, on account of the ri-
gor of the laws, not certainly less intolerant than in their
own communion, could not be very prominent; they had
sometimes hcpes of the Protestant princes, and had once,
in 1578, obtained the promise of John, king of Sweden,
to' embrace openly the Romish (!) faith, as he had already
done in secret to Passevin, an emissary (!) despatched by
the pope on this important errand. But the symptoms of
an opposition, very formidable in a country which has
never allowed its kings to trifle with it {except at the time
of the reformation), made this wavering monarch retrace
his steps. His successor, Sigismund, went farther, and
fell a victim to his zeal, by being expelled from his king-
dom."! Here was Protestant toleration !

*' This great reaction of the papal (!) religion," he pro-
ceeds, *' after the shock it had sustained in the first part
of the sixteenth century, ought for ever to restrain that
temerity of prediction so frequent in our ears. As wo-
men sometimes believe the fashion of last year in dress
to be wholly ridiculous, and incapable of being ever again
adopted by any one solicitous for her beauty,:}: so those
who affect to pronounce on future events are equally con-

* Ranke, ii, p. 147. f Hallam, ibid. p. 275, § 14.

X A very apposite eomparison, truly, to illustrate the new religious
fashions !

152 p'aubigne's history reviewed.

fident against the possibility of a resurrection of opinions
which the majority have for the time ceased to maintain.
In the year 1560, every Protestant in Europe doubtless
anticipated the overthrow of popery (!); the Catholics
could have found little else to warrant hope than their
trust in heaven. The late rush of many nations towards
democratical opinions has not been so rapid and so gene-
ral as the change of religion about that period. It is im-
portant and interesting to inquire what stemmed this cur-
rent. We readily acknowledge the prudence, firmness,
and unity of purpose that, for the most part, distinguished
the court of Rome, the obedience of its hierarchy, the
severity of intolerant laws, and the searching rigor of the
inquisition {more spice) ; the resolute adherence of the
great princes of the Catholic faith, the influence of the
Jesuits over education : but these either existed before,
or would, at least, not have been sufficient to withstand
an overwhelming force of opinion.

" It must he acknowledged that there was a principle of vi-
tality in that religion independent of its external strength.
By the side of its secular pomp, its relaxation of morali-
ty (!), there had always been an intense flame of zeal and
devotion. Superstition it might be in the many, fanati-
cism in a few ; but both of these imply the qualities
which, while they subsist, render a religion indestructi-
ble. That revival of an ardent zeal through which the
Franciscans had in the thirteenth century, with some
good, and much more evil efl*ect (!)j spread a popular en-
thusiasm over Europe, was once more displayed in coun-
teraction of those new doctrines, that themselves had
drawn their life from a similar development of moral
emotion."*

Coming from the source it does, this is truly a valuable
avowal. After all the talk, then, about the " downfall of
popery" — after all the loud boasting and high pretensions

* Ibid. p. 275, 276, § 15.

CATHOLIC REACTION ; THE REFORM DECLINES. 153

of Protestantism — the experiment of three hundred years
is beginning to convince all reasonable men of what they
should have known before — that the Catholic religion
" has a principle of vitality in her," and that she is " in-
destructible." It could not be otherwise : Christ him-
self had pledged his solemn word that "the gates of hell
should not prevail against his church, built on a rock :"*
and this simple promise solves the whole mystery which
so sadly puzzled Ranke and Hallam. It is the thread of
Ariadne, which would have conducted them with security
from the tortuous windings of the labyrinth of history.
It would have explained to them, among other things,
why it is that in all the great emergencies of the church,
God has raised up, as instruments to do his high behests,
men and institutions just such as the exigency of the
times demanded. Thus, for instance, the Franciscans
and Dominicans (why did Mr. Hallam omit the latter ?)
in the thirteenth century, and the Jesuits and St. Charles
Borromeo, to pass over many more illustrious names, in
the sixteenth, St. Athanasius in the fourth century, St.
Cyril, St. Leo, St. Chrysostom, and St. Augustine in the
fifth, St. Gregory the Great in the end of the sixth, St.
Gregory VII in the eleventh, St. Bernard in the twelfth,
St. Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth, and many others
in various other ages, all are examples of this providence
of God watching over the safety of his church, •* the pil-
lar and ground of the truth. "t

The reaction in favor of the Catholic church continued
with redoubled force in the seventeenth century. ** The
progress of the latter church" (the Catholic), s^ys Mr.
Hallam, •' for the first thirty years of the present (seven-
teenth) century, was as striking and uninterrupted as it
had been in the final period of the sixteenth. Victory
crowned its banners on every side. . . , The nobility,
both in France and Germany, who in the last age had

* St. Matth. xvi, 18. t 1 Timoth.iii, 15.

154 d'aubigne's history reviewed..

been the first to embrace a new faith, became afterwards
the first to desert it. Many also of the learned and able
Protestants gave evidence of the jeopardy of that cause
by their conversion. It is not just, however, to infer that
they were merely influenced by this apprehension. Two
other causes mainly operated : one, to which we have
already alluded, the authority given to the traditions of
the church, recorded by the writers called fathers, and
with which it was found difficult to reconcile all the Pro-
testant creed {any of it); another, the intolerance of the
reformed churches, both Lutheran and Calvinistic, which
gave as little latitude [less) as that which they had quit-
, ted."*

" The defections," he continues, " from whatever cause,
are numerous in the seventeenth century. But two, more
eminent than any who actually renounced the Protestant
religion, must be owned to have given evident signs of
wavering, Casaubon and Grotius. The proofs of this are
not founded merely on anecdotes which might be dis-
puted, but on their own language.! Casaubon was stag-
gered by the study of the fathers, in which (whom) he
discovered many things, especially as to the eucharist,
which he could not in any manner reconcile with the te-
nets of the French Huguenots. Perron used to assail him
with arguments he could not parry. If we may believe
this cardinal, he was on the point of declaring publicly
his conversion, before he accepted the invitation of James I
to England : and even while in England, he promoted the
Catholic cause more than the world was aware." After
a feeble endeavor to impair the validity of this statement
of Perron, he adds : *' Yet if Casaubon, as he had much
inclination to do, being on ill terms with some in Eng-

* Vol. ii, p. 30, § 11.

t In a very lengthy and learned note, he here accumulates evidence
from the writings and correspondence of Casaubon, in support of the
statement made in the text. He also speaks at length of the labors of
the learned Cardinal Perron.

CATHOLIC reaction; the reform declines. J 55

land, and disliking the country, had returned to France,
it seems probable that he would not long have continued
in what, according to the principles he had adopted, would
appear a schismatical communion."*

** Grotius," he says, " was, from the time of his turn-
ing his attention to theology, almost as much influenced
as Casaubon by primitive authority, and began, even in
1614, to commend the Anglican church for the respect it
showed, very unlike the rest of the reformed, to that
standard.! But the ill usage he sustained at the hands of
those who boasted their independence of papal tyran-
ny (!); the caresses of the Galilean clergy after he had
fixed his residence at Paris ;X the growing dissensions and
virulence of the Protestants; the choice that seemed
alone to be left in their communion between a fanatical
anarchy, disintegrating every thing like a church on the
one hand, and a domination of bigoted and vulgar eccle-
siastics on the other; made him gradually less and less
averse to the comprehensive and majestic unity of the
Catholic hierarchy, and more and more willing to concede
some point of uncertain doctrine, or some form of ambig-
uous expression. This is abundantly perceived, and has
been often pointed out, in his Annotations on the Consult-

» Ibid.

t Truly, as the wisest of men has said, there is nothing new under
the sun. Grotius, Casaubon, and many other learned Protestants, more
than two hundred years ago, seem to have taken the identical ground
now occupied by the Puseyites in England. This will appear from a
perusal of the copious notes of Hallam on their writihgs. (Ibid.)
Speaking of the effort of Grotius to extract from the council of Trent
a meaning favorable to his own semi-catholic views, he says : " hig
aim was to search for subtle interpretations, by which he might pro-
fess to believe the words of the church, though conscious that his sense
was not that of the imposers. It is needless to say that this is not very
ingenuous," &cc. Perhaps the history of Grotius and Casaubon may
serve to throw some additional light on the end and aim of the Pusey-
te controversy.

1 It is remarkable that Grotius, persecuted by brother Protestants in
Holland, found a peaceful shelter from the storm in Catholic France !

156 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

ation of Cassander, written in 1641 ; in his Animadver-
sions on Rivet, who had censured the former treatise as
inclining to poperv ; in the Votum pro Pace Ecclesiastica,
and in the Rivetiani Apologetici Discussio ; all which are
collected in the fourth volume of the theological works of
Grotius. These treatises display a uniform and progress-
ive tendency to defend the church of Rome in every thing
that can be reckoned essential to her creed ; and in fact
he will be found to go farther in this direction than Cas-
sander."*

But, alas ! neither Casaubon nor Grotius ever pene-
trated beyond the threshold of the temple of Catholi-
city. Though they seem to have had light enough to
know and to love the truth, yet were they not worthy of
the gift of faith, which is granted to those only who become
** as little children" for Christ's sake. We have already
seen by what circumstances the former was prevented
from entering the Catholic pale. Of the latter Hallam
says : ** Upon a dispassionate examination of all these
testimonies, we can hardly deem it an uncertain question
whether Grotius," if his life had been prolonged, would
have taken the easy leap which still remained; and there is
some positive evidence of his design to do so. But, dying
on a journey, and in a Protestant country, this avowed
declaration (in favor of Catholicity) was never made."t

It is dangerous to tamper with the proffered grace of
heaven, or to put off conversion ! The learned Lipsius
went farther; he was faithful to grace, and *' took the
easy {not so easy) leap" into the Catholic church. Mr.
Hallam tells us that he spent the latter years of his life
" in defending legendary miracles, and in waging war
against the honored (!) dead of the reformation !":j: This

* Ibid. p. 32 — 35, § 13. Cassander was a Catholic theologian, who
was commissioned by the emperor Ferdinand to write a work to con-
ciliate the Protestant party. Many think that, in executing this task,
he had, through the best motives no doubt, conceded too much. He'
died in 1566, aged 53 years. t Ibid. p. 35, § 16. | Ibid.

CATHOLIC reaction; the reform declines. 157

was of course intended as an evidence of his Protestant
orthodoxy, and as a douceur to English bigotry. This
unworthy virulence, however, but enhances the more the
value of his previous admissions in favor of Catholicity,
which could have been wrung from him only by the stern-
est evidence of facts. Justus Lipsius was a prodigy of
classical learning and erudition. He became a most ex-
emplary Catholic, and died at liOuvain in 1606.

We have now completed our rapid analysis of the facts
connected with the decline of Protestantism on the one
hand, and the reaction of Catholicity on the other. We
have shown, on unquestionable Protestant authority, the
existence and extent of both these parallel developments.
Every candid man will easily draw the natural inference
from these facts: that Protestantism was a human, and
Catholicity a divine institution. We can explain the
facts on no other principle. To attempt to explain them
on the principles of mere human philosophy is a misera-
ble fallacy. If Protestantism was true, it would have
conquered and endured ; if Catholicity was false, it must
have fallen.

We will close our remarks on this subject by a splen-
did avowal of another living Protestant writer of great
eminence — Thomas Babington Macauley — whose testi-
mony, though already often quoted, is too apposite to the
matter in hand to be here omitted. The passage which
we will quote is taken from an article in the Edinburg
Review on Ranke's History of the Papacy, another cir-
cumstance which entitles it to a place in this chapter.

*' There is not, and there never was, on this earth, a
work so well deserving; of examination as the Roman
Catholic Church. The history of that church joins to-
gether the two great ages of human civilization. No
other institution is left standing which carries the mind
back to the times when the smoke of sacrifice rose from
th'^ Pantheon ; and when cameleopards and tigers bounded
in the Flavian amphitheatre. The proudest royal houses
14

158 D attbigne's history reviewed.

are but of yesterday, when compared with the line of the
Roman pontiffs. This line we trace back, in an unbroken
series, from the pope who crowned Napoleon in the nine-
teenth century, to the pope who crowned Pepin in the
eighth; and far beyond the time of Pepin, the august
dynasty extends until its origin is lost in the twilight of
fable ! {Was the apostolic age " the twilight of fahle?''^)
The republic of Venice came next in antiquity. But the
republic of Venice was modern when compared with the
papacy; and the republic of Venice is gone, and the
papacy remains. The papacy remains, not in decay, nor
a mere antique, but full of life and youthful vigor. The
Catholic church is still sending forth, to the furthest ends
of the world, missionaries as zealous as those who landed
in Kent with Augustine, and still confronting hostile
kings with the same spirit with which she confronted At-
tila. The number of her children is greater than in any
former age. Her acquisitions in the new world have
more than compensated her for what she has lost in the
old. Her spiritual ascendency extends over the vast
countries which He between the plains of the Missouri
and Cape Horn, countries which, a century hence, may
not improbably contain a population as large as that which
now inhabits Europe. The members of her communion
are certainly not fewer than a hundred and fifty millions,*
and it will be difficult to show that all the other Chris-
tian sects united amount to one hundred and twenty mill-
ions.f

• The number of Catholics in the world has been variously stated.
An official statistical account, lately published in Rome, makes the
number 160,842,424. Malte Brun estimates it at above 164,000,000 ;
and others have stated it at 180 or even 200,000,000. The Roman state-
ment is perhaps the most to be relied on. It does not at least exceed ;
it may even fall below the mark, in consequence of the probable in-
completeness of the returns.

f This embraces the Greek and oriental churches, and is still doubt-
less excessive. The total number of Protestants, including free-think^
era, &,c., 19 not probably over 30,000,000.

CATHOLIC reaction; the reform declines. 159

Nor do we see any sign which indicates that the term
of her long dominion is approaching. She saw the com-
mencement of all the governments, and of all the eccle-
siastical establishments that now exist in the world; and
we feel no assurance that she is not destined to see the
end of them all. She was great and respected before the
Saxon set foot on Briton — before the Frank had passed
the Rhine — when Grecian eloquence still flourished at
Antioch — when idols were still worshipped in the Temple
of Mecca. And she may still exist in undiminished
vigor, when some traveller from New Zealand shall, in
the midst of a vast solitude, take his stand on a broken
arch of Londoii bridge to sketch the ruins of St. Paul's !"

Truly splendid testimony to the vitality of the Catholic
church, coming, as it does, from the pen of a sworn
enemy — of a Scotchman and a Presbyterian ! Speaking
of the trite remark that, as the world becomes more en-
lightened, it will renounce Catholicity and embrace Pro-
testantism, he says : **Yet we see that, during these 250
years Protestantism has made no conquests worth speak-
ing of. Nay, we believe, that as far as there has been a
change, that change has been in favor of the church of
Rome. We cannot therefore feel confident that the pro-
gress of knowledge will necessarily be fatal to a system,
which has, to say the least, stood its ground in spite of
the immense progress which knowledge has made since
the days of Queen Elizabeth." He a little after adds:
**four times since the authority of the church of Rome
was established in western Christendom, has the human
intellect risen up against her. Twice she remained com-
pletely victorious. Twice she came forth from the con-
flict bearing the marks of cruel wounds, but with the
principle of life still strong within her. When we reflect
on the tremendous assaults which she has survived, we
find it difiicult to conceive in what way she is to perish !"

Yes — it must be avowed : the Catholic church is inde-
structible, and therefore divine ! You might as well try to

160 D'aUBIGXe's IIISTORV REVIEVv'ED.

blot out the sun from the heavens, as to extinguish the
bright light of the Catholic church on earth ! Clouds may
hide for a time the sun's disc from the eye of the behold-
er — but the sun is still there, the same as when he shone
with his most brilliant light upon us: so also, the clouds
of persecution and prejudice may cover for a time the
fair face of the church — but the eye of faith penetrates
those dark clouds, and assures us, that though partially
concealed, she is still there ! And when those clouds
clear away, she again shines out with a more brilliant and
a more cheering light than ever! He who said : " heaven
and earth may pass away, but my words shall not pass
away," has also pronounced that " the gates of hell shall
not prevail against her."

Perhaps the most remarkable feature in modern society,
is the general and manifest reaction of Catholicity through-
out the world, and especially in Protestant countries.
There seems to be a universal gravitation of all spirits
towards Rome !* Germany, the first theatre of the refor-
mation, led the way in this awakening. Besides the
works of Voight, Hurter and Ranke, which are well
known, there are also: the "Universal History" and the
** Journeys of the Popes," by the great Protestant histo-
rian John Miiller — the " History of the Princes of the
house of Hohenstaufen," by the famous Raumur — the
** History of the Church," and "the History of Italy,"
by M. Leo — not to mention a host of other wor^s by
eminent German Protestant writers of the day — all of
which evidence, by their spirit and their justice to the
popes and to the old religion, this wonderful resuscita-
tion of Catholic feeling in Protestant Germany. Eng-
land, Scotland, and the United States even, have partici-
pated in this movement. We trust that De Maistre's pro-
phetic remark— that when sectarianism should have run

* See the " Introduction to Ranke's Papaut^" by M. Alexandre de
Saint Cheron, page xv, seqq.

CATHOLIC reaction; the reform declines. 161

through the whole circle of error, it would return again to
the great Catholic centre of truth — is on the eve of its
fulfilment !

What we will now proceed to prove in relation to the
manifold influences of tiie reformation, will throw addi-
tional light upon the matter we have treated in this chap-
ter; and may serve also greatly to explain why it was
that, after a brief storm of excitement, Catholicity reacted
and Protestantism declined.

14*

fart III.

INFLUENCE

OF THE

REFORMATION ON RELIGION.
CHAPTER VII.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORMATION ON DOCTRINAL BELIEF.

** Who would ever have believed that the reformation from the beginning would
have attacked morality, dogma, and faith ; or that the seditious genius of a monk
could have caused so much disturbance ?" Erasm. {Epist Georgia Dud).

" As long as words a different sense will bear,
And each maybe his own interpreter,
Our airy faith will no foundation find,
The word's a weathercock for every wind."— Drtden.

The nature of religion — A golden chain — Question stated — Private
judgment — Church authority — As many religions as heads — M.
D'Aubigne's theory — Its poetic beauty — Fever of logomachy — " Sons
of liberty" — The Eible dissected — A hydra-headed monster — Eras-
mus — Curing a lame horse — Luther puzzled — His plaint — His incon-
sistency — Missions and miracles — Zuingle's inconsistency — Strange
fanaticism — Storck, Mlinger, Karlstadt, and John of Leyden — A new
deluge — Retorting the argument — Discussion at the "Black Boar" —
Luther and the cobbler — Discussion at Marburg — Luther's avowal —
Breaking necks — Melancthon's lament — The inference — Protestant-
ism the mother of infidelity — Picture of modern Protestantism in
Germany by Schlegel.

Religion is a divinely established system, which came
down from heaven to conduct man thither. By the diso-
bedience of Adam, man, originally created upright, fell
from grace, and was, as it were, loosed from heaven to
which he had been previously bound by the most sacred

EFFECTS OF THE REFORM ON RELIGIOX. 163

ties of fellowship. Religion is a golden chain reaching
down from heaven to earth, which, according to the ety-
mological import of the term, hiyids man again to heaven.
And to pursue the illustration a little farther, as the loss
of even one link would destroy the integrity of a chain,
and would render it useless as a means of binding together
distant objects ; so also, the removal of one link from the
chain of religion, would destroy its integrity and mar its
lofty purpose. These links are united together in three
divisions, comprising severally the doctrines revealed by
and through Jesus Christ; the moral precepts which he
gave; and the sacraments and sacrifice which he instituted.
All these are as essentially and as intimately connected
together, as are the parts of a chain. " He that oflfendeth
in one, is guilty of all :*'* because he rebels against the
authority from which the whole emanates.

Religion then consists of three parts : doctrines to be
believed, commandments to be observed, and sacramental
and sacrificial ordinances to be received and complied
with. The third department partakes of the nature of the
other two: being partly doctrinal and partly moral. In
other words, the Christian religion embraces, as essential
to its very nature and divine purposes, doctrines, morals,
and worship: and we propose briefly to examine the influ-
ence of the pretended reformation on each of these sepa-
rately. Was this influence beneficial .^ Did it really re-
form religion, as it purported to do ? M. D'Aubigne tells
us : that " the reform saved religion, and with it society."!
We shall see hereafter what it did for society; and we
will now inquire whether it ** saved religion ?"

And first, what was its influence on the doctrines of
Christianity ? Did it teach them in greater purity, and
integrity, or with greater certainty, than the Catholic
church had done ? Did it shed on them a clearer or more
steady light? Or did it, on the contrary, give out a very

* St. James ii, 10. t "^"olr ». P- 67.

Ib4 d^'aubigne's history reviewed.

doubtful and uncertain light ; leaving the minds of men in
perplexity as to the doctrines to be believed ; and per-
mitting its disciples " to be tossed to and fro bj every
wind of doctrine,'^* on the stormy sea of conflicting hu-
man opinions ? We shall see. It will not, however, be
necessary to our inquiry, to examine the grounds which
establish the truth of the various Catholic, or the falsity
of the Protestant doctrines in controversy: all that will
be requisite for our purpose, will be an investigation of ihe
facts bearing on the question.

The great distinctive feature of the reformation, was its
rejection of church authority, and its assertion of the prin-
ciple of private judgment in matters of religion. This is
the key of that new system : this the proudest boast of
those who aiTected to bring about the '* emancipation of
the human mind." This is the cardinal principle of
** Christian liberty," as asserted by Martin Luther, in a
special work on the subject : this the means of being res-
cued from the degrading " captivity of Babylon. "t The
Catholic religion had taught that, in matters of contro-
"versy. Christians were bound by the solemn command of
Christ, "to hear the church. "± Church authority was
the uJtima ratio of controversy, the great means of attain-
ing to certainty in what we are to believe and to reject —
the bond of union among Christians. Not that the church
meant to decide on every controverted point: she only
decided where she found sufficient warrant in revelation
to guide her with certainty. In other matters — and they
were numerous — she wisely abstained from any definition,
and allowed her children a reasonable latitude of opinion,
provided however they did not either directly or indirectly
infringe on the principles of faith. This was hallowed
ftnd consecrated ground, Vi'hich was not to be trodden by

* Ephes. iv, 14.
f See the two works of Luther " De Christiana Libertate," an(i
<« De Captivitate Babylonica
X Matth. xviii, 17.

EFFECTS OF THE REFORM ON RELIGION, 165

the rude foot of controversy. She said to the stormy
billows of human opinion : " thus far shall you come, and
no farther: and here shall you break your boiling
waves!"*

When the reformers cast off this yoke of church au-
thority, and said "they would not serve" any longer,
they had no alternative left, but to decide, each one for
himself, what was the doctrine of Christ. Private judg-
ment was thus substituted for the teaching of the church :
human opinion for faith. As men were diflferently con-
stituted, they naturally took different views of the reli-
gion of Christ. Each one struck out a new system for
himself: and soon, instead of the one religion which had
been received with reverence for ages, the world beheld
the novel spectacle of almost as many religions as there
were heads among the Protestant party !

M. D'Aubigne's theory on this subject is as curious as it
is liberal^ in the modern sense of this term. He thus dis-
courses on the diversities of the reformation: "We are
about to contemplate the diversities, or, as they have been
since called, the variations of the reformation. These
diversities are among its most essential characters. Uni-
ty in diversity, and diversity in unity, is a law of nature,
and also of the church. Truth may be compared to the
light of the sun. The light comes from heaven colorless,
and ever the same : and yet it takes different hues on
earth, varying according to the objects on which it falls.
Thus different formularies may sometimes express the
same Christian truth, viewed under different aspects.
How dull would be this visible creation, if all its bound-
less variety of shape and color were to give place to an
unbroken uniformity !"t

* Job xxxviii, 12. " Hue usque venies et non amplius ; et hie con-
fringes tumentes fluctus tuos."

t Vol. iii, p. 285, in the introduction to the eleventh book, in which
he treats of the controversies between the partisans of Zuingle and
Luther.

l66 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

A beautiful theory truly, and aptly illustrated ! So,
then, "the diffeteiU formularies" of Luther, openly as-
serting the real presence of Christ in the sacrament, and
of Zuingle flatly denying this presence, "both express
the same Christian truth viewed under different aspects!"
These great champions of Protestantism, as we have seen-,
mutually anathematized and denounced each other as
children of Satan, on this very ground, and yet, in sooth,
they maintained " the same Christian truth under differ-
ent aspects!" They plainly contradicted each other on
many other important points, and the Wittemberg doctor
would consent to hold no communion with him of Zu-
rich ;* and yet they maintained "the same Christian
truth !" Luther said to Zuingle, who proposed mutual
communion, at the close of the famous conference of
Marburg, in 1528, " No, no: cursed be the alliance which
endangers the truth of God and the salvation of souls.
Away v/ith you : you are possessed by a different spirit
from ours. But take caret before three years the anger
of God will fall on you !"t And yet M. D'Aubigne
would have us believe that they agreed as to the sub-
stance of "Christian truth!" Verily, he must think
others as credulous as he himself seewi^ to be!

And then, the charming illustration from the light of the
sun ! It is almost a pity to spoil its poetical beauty ; though
even a poet would lay himself open to the severest criti-
cism, were bis figures no more appropriate or true to na-
ture. M. D'Aubigne has taken more than even a poetic
license. Does the light of the sun, no matter how diversi-
fied, reflect contradictory images " of the objects on which
it falls?" Is it so very uncertain, as to leave us in doubt,
as to the shape and color of external objects ? Does it make
us the dupes of constant optical illusions ? The light which

* In the conference of Marburg. Cl". Autlin, " Life of Luther," p.
415, 416.

t Audin, ibid. See also Luther's Ep. ad Jacobum, praep. Bremens.

EFFECTS OF THE REFORM ON RELIGION. 167

the reformers professed to borrow from heaven did all
this. And then, does it fall much short of blasphemy to
maintain that God is indifferent as to wliether we believe
truth or error ; and that he delights in such a "diversity"
of opinions as runs into open contradictions ? And this too,
when " his well beloved Son" came on earth " to bear tes-
timony to the truth," and laid down his life to seal it with
his blood ! And when he also pronounced the declaration :
** he that believeth not shall be condemned ;"* which de-
claration referred to the necessity of belief '* in all things
whatsoever he had commanded !''t

The doctrine of private judgment broached by the re-
formers, led to endless inconsistencies and contradictions.
It was the prolific parent of sects almost innumerable.
More than fiftyl of these arose before the death of Luther !
It was natural that it shoukl be so: "these diversities
were among the most essential fea<ures of the reforma-
tion. "§ The tree was only bearing its natural fruits;
and the latter, according to the divine standard, are the
best criterion whereby to judge of the former : ♦• by their
fruits ye shall know them." "The reformation, which
promised to put an end to the reign of disputatious theol-
ogy, had, on the contrary, awakened in all minds a fond-
ness for dispute, bordering on fanaticism : it was the fever
of logomachy, Haifa century before, men indeed dis-
puted ; but then the doctrine of the church was not called
into question : now however it was attacked on all sides.
In each university, and even in every private house, Ger-
many saw a pulpit erected for whoever pretended to have
received the understanding of the divine word. "|| This fever
has continued to rage in the bosom of Protestantism even
to the present day: it has not abated in the progress of
ages. True, in Germany, and on the continent of Europe,

* St. Mark, xvi, 16. f The parallel passage in St. Matth. xxviii, 20.
\ See Audin, p. 331. § D'Aubign6 ut supra.

II Audin, ibid. p. 190, 191.

168 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

it has cooled down into a state of mortal apathy, a more
dangerous symptom far than the malady which it has super-
seded : but elsewhere, it has left the patient in the same
restless condition, as erewhile.

Most of the reformers found in the Bible, that a priest
who had made a solemn vow of celibacy to God, might
and even ought to break it, by taking a wife. The first
who made this consoling discovery, were Bernard of Fel-
kirk, abbot of Remberg, and the aged Karlstadt, arch-
deacon of Wittemberg. Their discovery was hailed with
delight by the lovers of " Christian liberty" throughout
Germany. Some went still farther, and maintained, Bible
in hand, with Bucer, Capito, Karlstadt and other evange-
lists, that marriage was not indissoluble; and that a
Christian could dismiss his wife, or even retain her, and
take one or more others at the same time, after the exam-
ple of the ancient patriarchs. These styled themselves
" the sons of liberty" — they should have said lihertinism.

We shall see, a little later, to what frightful conse-
quences these doctrines led ! '* All the hallucinations of
a disordered intellect were for a time ascribed to the Holy
Ghost. Never had the divine wisdom communicated itself
more liberally to the human mind ! The Bible was laid
open as an anatomical subject on an operator's table, and
every doctor came with his lance in hand — as afterwards
did Dumoulin — to anatomize the word of God, and to seek
the spirit, which before Luther had escaped the eye of
Catholicism. It was an epoch of glosses and commenta-
ries, which time has not had the trouble of destroying,
for they abounded with absurdity, and fell beneath the
weight of ridicule which crushed them at their birth.
There were new lights, who came to announce that they
had discovered an irresistible argument against the mass,
purgatory, and prayers to the saints. This was simply to
deny the immortality of the soul."* This startling im-

* Audin, p. 192.

EFFECTS OF THE REFORM ON RliLIGlON. 169

piety was really maintained in full school at Geneva, by
certain " new lights," who came from Wittemberg.*

From the earliest period of its history, ** the hydra of
the reformation had a hundred heads. The anabaptists
believed with Mi^inzer, that without a second baptism,
man could not be saved. The Karlstadtians preached up
polygamy. The Zuinglians rejected the real presence.
Osiander taught that God had predestined only the elect.
The Majorists taught that works were not necessary for
salvation; while the followers of Flaccus accused the
Majorists of popery. The Synergists preached up man's
liberty. The Ubiquitarians believed, that the humanity
of Christ was, like his divinity, omnipresent. Some held
original sin to be the nature, the substance, the essence of
man ; while others regarded it as a mere mode of his
being. All these sects boasted of the Bible, as a suffi-
cient rule of faith; they published confessions, composed
creeds, and insisted on faith, as a condition of communion.
Children of the same father, whom they had severally de-
nied, they cursed and proscribed each other : they gave
the name of heretic to, and shut the gates of heaven against,
all their brethren in revolt, who happened to differ from
them."t Other fanatics preached up the community of
goods, with Stork and the Anabaptists; others, with the
prophets of Alstell, *' the demolition of images, of churches,
of chapels, and the adoration of the Lord on high places ;"J
and others, the inutility of the law, and of prayer. The
feverish spirit of innovation knew no rest; every day
brought forth a new sect. And is it not so, even in our
own age and country ?

Erasmus hit off, in his own polished and caustic style,
the extravagant inconsistencies of the Protestant rule of

* " Quidquid de animariim habetur immortalitate, ab antichristo ad
statuendam suam culinara excogitatvmi est." Prateolus — Elench. voce
Athei, p. 72. See also Bayle's Dictionary, art. Luther.

t Audin, p. 208, 209. See the authorities he quotes, ibid. note.

t Idem. p. 331.
15

170 ■ d'aubigne's history reviewed.

faith. "They say: * do philosophy and learning aid us
in understanding the holy books ?' I reply : * will igno-
rance assist you r' They say : ' of what authority are
these councils, in which not perhaps a single member re-
ceived the Holy Ghost?' 1 ask in reply : ' is not the gift
of God, probably, as rare in your conventicles?' The
apostles would not have been believed, had they not proved
the -truth of their doctrines by miracles. Among you
every individual must be believed on his own word.
When the apostles lulled the serpents, healed the infirm,
and raised the dead to life, people were forced to believe
in them, though they announced incomprehensible myste-
ries. Among these doctors, who tell us so many wonder-
ful things, is there one who has been able to cure a lame
horse? .... Give me miracles. * They are unnecessary :
there have been enough of them : the bright light of the
Scriptures is not so very clear, since I see so many men
wander in the dark. Although we had the spirit of God,
how can we be certain that we have the knowledge of his
word ? What must I believe, when I see, in the midst of
contradictory doctrines, all lay claim to dogmatical infal-
libility, and rise up with oracular authority against the
doctrines of those who have preceded us ? Is it then likely
that during thirteen centuries, God should not have raised
up, among the many holy personages he has given to his
church, a single one to whom he revealed his doctrine ?"*
Luther was often saddened by the defection of his own
disciples, as well as grievously puzzled, when they played
off on him the same arguments which he had used against
the pope. His cherished disciple Mathesius relates the
mental anguish he endured, wl-.en, being at the castle of
the Wartberg in 1521, he heard of the revolt and strange'
doings of Karlstadt at Wittembeig. He yielded to de-
jection; he seemed to himself to have been abandoned by
God and by men: " his head grew weary, his forehead

* •' De Libero Arbihio." Diatribe, and Menzel, i, 140.

EFFECTS OF THE REFORM ON RELIGION. 171

burned with the excitement of his mintl, his eye grew
dim — and he would open his window" to inhale the
breezes of heaven, to cool his fevered soul — then he would
again struggle '* to forget the world and his wrongs !"*
But all his efforts to quiet his own mind proved inef-
fectual : he chafed like a tiger in his cage. At length he
resolved, against the advice of his friends, to leave the
Wartbnrg, and to show himself in the midst of his recreant
disciples at Wittemberg. He harangued them for full
two hours on the wickedness of their defection from his
standard ; and concluded his burning invective with the
following memorable sentence : *' Yes, if the devil himself
had entreated me" — to remove the images from the church
by violence — " I v/ould have turned a deaf ear to him !"t

He draws a graphic sketch of his own perplexity in a let-
ter to the Christians of Antwerp, written in 1525. We
will furnish a few extracts. " The devil has got among you :
he daily sends me visiters to knock at my door. One will
not hear of baptism ; another rejects the sacrament of the
eucharist ; a third teaches that a new world will be created
by God before the day of judgment; another, that Christ
is not God : in short, one this, another that. There are
almost as many creeds as individuals. There is no booby,
who, when he dreams, does not believe himself visited by
God, and who does not claim the gift of prophecy. I am
often visited by these men who claim to be favored by
visions, of which they all know more than I do, and which
they undertake to teach me. I would be glad they were
what they profess to be."

"No later than yesterday one came to me: *sir, I am
sent by God who created heaven and earth;' and then he
began to preach as a veritable idiot, that it was the order
of God that I should read the books of Moses for him.

* Ah ! where did you find this commandment of God?'

* In the Gospel of St. John ?' After he had spoken much, I

* alathesius. In Vita Lutheri, apnd Audin, p. 209,
t See the harxingue in Audin, p. 237, 2>3S.

172 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

said to him: 'friend, come back to-morrow, for I cannot
read for you, at one sitting, the books of Moses.' * Good-
bye, master; the heavenly Father, who shed his blood for
us, will show us the right way through his son Jesus.
Amen!' .... While the papacy lasted there were 7io such
divisions or dissensions : the strong man peaceably ruled
the minds of men ; but now one stronger is come, whoHias
vanquished and put him to flight, and the former one
storms and wishes not to depart. A spirit of confusion is
thus among you, which tempts you, and seeks to withdraw
you from the true path." He concludes this strange epis-
tle with these characteristic words : ** begone, ye cohort
of devils — marked with the character of error: God is a
spirit of peace and not of dissension."*

But Luther could not succeed in exorcising the demons,
whom his own principle of private judgment had evoked
from the abyss. True, he occasionally made trial of the
good old Catholic' specifics for this purpose; but they
proved powerless in his bands. Thus, when pressed by
the Anabaptists, to prove infant baptism from the Scrip-
tures — his only rule of faith — he had recourse to the good
old Catholic argument of church authority founded on tra-
dition* He appealed to the testimony of St. Augustine
and to the teaching of the church during his day. *' But,
it is objected," he says, "what if Augustine and those
whom you call and believe to be the church, erred in this
particular ? But this objection can be easily impugned. If
you do not admit the right, (jus) at least will you not ad-
mit the fact (factum) of this having been the belief of the
church? And to deny that this was the faith of the true
and lawful church, I deem most impious. "t

* " Ein Briefe D. Martin Luther an die Christen zu Antorf." Wit-
temberg, 1525, 4to, "Doct. M. Luther Briefe," torn, iii, p. 60.

t "Objicitur vero : quid si Augustinus, et quos ecclesiam vocas vel
esse credis, in hac parte errarint? .... At eadem objectio facile im-
pugnabitur. Si non jus, tamen factum proprie credendi inecclesia?
Hanc autem confessionem negare esse ecclesice illius verse et legitimae,
arbitror impiissimum esse." Epist. Melancthoni, 13 January, 1522.

EFFECTS OF THE REFORM ON RELIGION'. 173

Another argument he eraplojed to refute the Anabap-
tists, was that drawn from the necessity of a lawful mission
to preach the Gospel, and of miracles to confirm it, when
it was not derived through the ordinary channels of the
church. In a sermon delivered at Wittemberg against
their ''prophets," in 1522, he used this language: "Do
you wish to found a new church ? Let us see : who has
sent you ? From whom have you received your mission ?
As you give testimon^^'of yourselves, we are not at once
to believe you, but according to the advice of St. John, we
must try you. God has sent no one into this world who
was not called by man, or announced by signs — not even
excepting his own Son. The prophets derived their title
from the law, and from the prophetic order, as we do
from men. I do not care for you, if you have only a mere
revelation to propose : God would not permit Samuel to
speak, except by the authority of hell (!). When the law
is to be changed, miracles are necessary. Where are
your miracles? What the Jews said to the Lord, we now
say to you : * master, we v/ish for a sign.'"*

Luther often used this argument:! and yet, it might
have been retorted with unanswerable force against him-
self. And it was retorted by Stiibner and Cellarius, two
of the Anabaptist prophets, whom he had attacked. The
answer of the Saxon reformer is not recorded :f perhaps
he had none to give. According to Erasmus, the re-
formers never succeeded even " in curing a lame horse !"
Luther himself, somewhat later, acknowledged, that he
had never performed any miracles, except that *' he had
slapped Satan in the face, and struck the papacy in its
core."§ Astonishing miracles truly !

* Apud Audin, p. 238.

t As in lib. iii, c. iv. " Contra Anabaptistas ;" and elsewhere.

X In his letter to Spalatin, in which he relates his interview with
Stubner and Cellarius, Luther is silent on this retort. Epist. Spalatino,
12 Ap. 1522. Yet the Anabaptist historians relate it. Cf. Audin, p. 239.

§ See Audin, p. 233, note, for authority for this feat.
15*

174 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

Luther was not alone, in inconsistently appealing to
aro-uments which condemned himself and his own cause.
Many of the other principal reformers were driven to the
same straits. In order to refute George Blaurock, an Ana-
baptist, enthusiast, Zuingle used the following argument:
"If we allow every enthusiast or sophist to diffuse among
the people all the foolish fancies of his heated imagina-
tion, to assemble together disciples and make a sect, we
shall see the church of Christ splic up into an infinity of
factions, and lose that unity which she has maintained at
so great sacrifices. It is necessary then to consult the
church, and not to listen to passion or prejudice. The
interpretation of Scripture is not the right of individuals,
but of the church : she has the keys, and the power of un-
locking the treasures of the divine word."*

Blaurock was not satisfied, as might have been expected,
with this appeal to authority. Bullingert tells us, that he
answered in a loud voice : " Did not you Sacramentarians
break with the pope, without consulting the church which
you abandoned — and that too, a church which was not of
yesterday ? Is it not lawful for us to abandon your church,
which is but a few days old ? Cannot we do what you
have done ?" Zuingle was nonplussed.

We will give a few instances of the strange fanaticism
to which this same principle of private judgment naturally
led. "We might fill a volume with such examples ; but our
limits will permit only a few.J Hear this announcement
of Storck in one of his sermons. *' Behold, what I an-
nounce to you. God has sent his angel to me during the
night, to tell me that I shall sit on the same throne as the
archangel Gabriel. Let the impious tremble and the just

hope It is to me, Storck, that heaven has promised

the empire of the world. Would you desire to be visited

* Zuinglius. " De Baptismo," p, 72.
t " In Apologia Anabaptist," p. 254.

X Those who wish to see more are referred to Catrou, Hisioire du
Fanaiisme, torn, i ; and to Mesbovius.

EFFECTS OF THE REFORM ON RELIGION. 175

by God ? Prepare your hearts to receive the Holy Spirit.
Let there be no pulpit whence to announce the word of
God: no priests, no preachers, no exterior worship: let
your dress be plain; your food bread and salt; and God
will descend upon you."

Miinzer, another Anabaptist, thus pleaded for the gene-
ral division of property : " Ye rich of the earth who keep
us in bondage, who have plundered us, give us back our
liberty and possessions. It is not only as men that we
now demand what has been taken from us : we ask it as
Christians. In the primitive church, the apostles divided
with their brethren in Jesus Christ the money that was
laid at their feet. Give us back the goods you unjustly
retain. Unhappy flock of Jesus Christ, how long will you
groan in oppression under the yoke of the priest and the
magistrate ?" " And then the prophet suddenly fell into
an epileptic fit: his hair stood erect; perspiration rolled
down his face, and foam issued from his mouth. The
people cried out: * silence, God visits his prophet!'"*

At the termination of his ecstacy, which continued for
some minutes, the prophet cried out at the top of his sten-
torian voice: *' Eternal God, pour into my soul the trea-
sures of thy justice, otherwise I shall renounce thee and
thy prophets."! A Lutheran having appealed to the Bible.
*'The Bible ? Babe) !" cried Miinzer.J

What will be thought of this strange conceit of Karl-
stadt ? *' One day, Karlstadt was seen running through
the streets of Wittemberg with the Bible in his hand, and
stopping the passers-by to inquire of them the meaning of
difficult passages of the sacred books : * What are you
about,' said the Austin friars to him. * Is it not written'
— answered the archdeacon — ' that the voice of truth shall
be heard from the lips of infants ? I only accomplish the
orders of heaven.' "§ Who has not heard of the revolt-

* Aiidin, p. 231. f Meshovius, p. 4. Catron, sup cit.

t Ibid. § Ibid

176 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

ing obscenities of John of Leyden, and of the prophets of
Munster ? All perpetrated too under the bright new light
of the reformation ! Who, in fine, that has even glanced at
the history of this period, has not remarked the endless
extravagances, the absurd conceits, the astonishing fanati-
cism which marked almost every day of its annals !

Truly, then "the fountains of the great deep were bro-
ken up, and the flood-gates of heaven were opened ;"''^ and
a new deluge flooded the earth, more destructive than that
which had buoyed up Noah's ark ! For this destroyed only
the bodies of men ; that carried away and ruined men's
souls. " The flood-gates of heaven" — did we say ? No,
the origin of those waters must be sought elsewhere. Lu-
ther himself aids us in detecting their source. We have
seen above, his opinion on the subject, in his letter to the
Christians of Antwerp. And in his subsequent contro-
versies with the Sacramentarians, after having spoken of
their dissensions among themselves, he said : " this is a
great proof that these Sacramento-magists come not from
God, but from the devil."t And we have seen how Zu-
inglius retorted the compliment on Luther and his refor-
mation.

Cannot we turn this, and all the other arguments em-
ployed by the several reformers to refute each other,
against all of them ? Cannot we point to the numberless
dissensions of Protestants among themselves — dissensions
perpetuated a hundred fold unto this day — to prove against
them all, that their pretended reformation, which always
produced such fruits, is not from that God, •' who is not
the God of dissension, but of peace ?" Cannot we ask
them, whence they had their mission to reform the church?
And if they answer, "from heaven;" ask them again to
prove it to us by miracles ? How will they — how can they
answer these arguments, which they themselves so often
wielded against one another.

* Genesis vi, 11.

t "An die Christen zu Reutlingen," 5 January, 1526.

EFFECTS OF THE REFORM ON RELIGION. 177

To illustrate this matter still farther, and to show what
spirit originated and perpetuated the dissensions with
which early Protestantism was torn into fragments, we
will here exhibit a few specimens of the manner in which
controversies among the reformers were then conduct-
ed. In 1524, Luther went to Jena, where he preached
against the "prophets" of the Anabaptists, whose argu-
ments had been answered by their brother Protestants
with the convincing weapons 'of fire and sword ! Tens of
thousands of the vast multitudes, whom these fanatics had
misled, had been butchered ; but yet their spirit was not
wholly subdued. Karlstadt, then pastor at Jena, feeling
himself aggrieved by the violence of Luther's sermon,
challeno;ed him to an oral discussion. The challeno;e was
accepted, and the tavern of the *• Black Boar," was the
place appointed for the meeting. After some preliminary
discussion, in which the two " new apostles" indulged in
insulting personalities — Karlstadt maintaining that Luther
had meant him in his sermon, and Luther calling on him
for proof, telling him **if he saw the likeness in the pic-
ture, it must have suited him," &c. — the discussion pro-
ceeded after this wise :

Karlstadt. " Well then, I will dispute in public, and I
will manifest the truth of God, or my own confusion.

Luther. Your own folly rather. Doctor.

Karlstadt. My confusion, which I shall bear for God's
glory.

Luther. And which will fall back on your own shoul-
ders. I care little for your menaces. Who fears you ?

Karlstadt. Whom do I fear } My doctrine is pure ; it
comes from God.

Luther. If it comes from God, why have you not im-
parted to others the spirit that made you break the images
at Wittemberg ?

Karlstadt. I was not the only one concerned in that
enterprise. It was done after a mature decision of the

178

senate, and by the co-operation of some of your disciples,
who fled in the moment of peril.

Luther. False, I protest.

Karlstadt. True, I protest."

Karlstadt complained a little after, that Luther had
condemned him at Wittemberg without previous admo-
nition. This Luther flatly contradicted, stating that "he
had brought Philip and Pomeranius into his study," for
that purpose : hereupon Kaflstadt became enraged, and
exclaimed: "if you speak the truth, may the d — il tear
me in pieces!" The discussion ended in nothing — as
most discussions of the kind do. Luther challenged Karl-
stadt to write against him; the latter accepted the chal-
lenge : Luther then gave him a gold florin as stake money,
and the compact was duly ratified, after the old German
fashion, by two overflowing bumpers of ale.* Never had
the Black Boar of Jena been so crowded, or witnessed a
spectacle of such stirring interest ! And such a spectacle !

From Jena Luther proceeded to Orlamunde, \yhere he
carried on a spirited controversy, in the presence of the
town council, with a cobbler theologian, named Crispin,
who had recently learned — thanks to the reformation —
how to apply his craft to interpreting, if not mending the
Bible! The discussion was long and animated; Crispin
supplying his lack of argument by a stentorian voice, and
by furious gesticulations. The subject was the lawful-
ness of images ; Luther defending, and Crispin objecting ;
and both appealing to the Bible. What was most morti-
fying to the reformer, the town council sided with the
cobbler, and decided against the Wittemberg Doctor ! " so
then," said Luther to the council, "you condemn me?"

"Most assuredly;" cried out Crispin — "you and all
who teach what is opposed to God's word."

" A childish insult," said Luther as he mounted the car.

One of the chamberlains here caudit hold of his gar-

* Seo the whole discussion in Audin, p. 322, seqq.

EFFECTS OF THE REFORM ON RELIGION. 179

ments, and said: ''before you go away, master, a word
with you on baptism, and the sacrament of the eucharist."
*' Have you not my books P" said the monk to him. *' Read
them."

*' I have read them, and my conscience is not satisfied
with them;" said the chamberlain.

** If any thing displeases you in them write against me ;"
said Luther: and he started off. Luther himself relates
to us this adventure, and also gives to us the words of
awful malediction with which the people greeted him, when
he was leaving Orlamunde.*

But the most interesting discussion of all, was that held
at Marburg in 1528, on the subject of the holy sacrament;
between Luther, Melancthon, Justus Jonas, and Cruciger,
on the one part; and Zuingle, CEcolampadius, Martin Bu-
cer and Gaspard Hedio, on the other. Luther contended
for the real presence of the body and blood of Christ along
with that of the bread and wine; and Zuinglius main-
tained a figurative presence, or rather, no presence at all.
This point was the greatest subject of contention among
the reformers. *' In 1527, Luther counted already no
less than eight different interpretations of the text : * this
is my hudyP Thirty years afterwards, there were no less
than eighty-five !t Rasperger, who wrote at a somewhat
later period, reckoned no less than two hundred !:}: A
pretty good commentary this, on the principle of private
judgment. It must surely be a good rule of faith, since it
has thus led to those "diversities," which M. D'Aubigne
admires so much.§

* 0pp. torn, i, edit. Jen®, fol. 467; edit. Witt, i, 214. Cf. Audin,
p. 329.

-f See Audin, p. 408, note, for an account of the principal interpreta-
tions ; most of them singular enough, even for those days of Bible
mania.

I Apud Lieberman, Theologia Dogmat. De Eucharistia.

§ Bellarmine bears evidence that 200 interpretations of the words : —
this is my body — had been enumerated in a work published in 1577,
Controversise vol. iii, cap. viii, de Eucharist, p. 195. Edit. Venetiis,
1721— in 6 vols, folio.

180 d'aubigne's history reviewkd.

One of Zuingle's chief arguments against the real pre-
sence, was the fact, that this doctrine was held by the
Catholic church. Luther answered: ** wretched argu-
ment! Deny then the Scripture also; for we have re-
ceived it too from the pope We must acknowledge

that there are great mysteries of faith in the papacy; yea,
all the truths we have inherited : for it is in popery that
we found the true Scriptures, true baptism, the true sa-
crament of the altar, the true keys which remit sin, true
preaching, the true catechism, which contains the Lord's
prayer, the ten commandments — that is true Chris-
tianity."*

Precious avowal, coming as it does, from the father of
the reformation — the most inveterate enemy of Rome !
How it contrasts with many of his other declarations ?
Why abandon the Catholic church, if it taught all this,
and held *' true Christianity ?" " Out of thy own mouth,
I judge thee, thou wicked servant!" On another occa-
sion, Luther had said : *' had Karlstadt or any other proved
to me, five years ago that there was nothing but bread and
wine in the sacrament, he would have rendered me great
service. It would have been a great blow to the papacy :
but it is all in vain ; the text is too plain."! It was per-
haps too late : he had already taken his stand, and com-
mitted himself on the question.

The conference on this subject at Marburg, was long
and violent : instead of healing, it only widened the breach
among the reformers. We can furnish but one extract
from the debate. To prove the figurative presence, Zuin-
gle had appealed to Ezechiel's wheel, and to the famous
text from Exodus, ch. xii : " for it is the phase, that is, the
passover of the Lord," which text had been suggested to
him by a nocturnal visiter of whom " he could not say

* 0pp. Lutheri, Jense, fol. 408, 409.

t Lutheri 0pp. edit. Hall. torn, xv, p. 2448. Meiizel, i, 2(jy, 270.

EFFECTS OF THE REFORM ON RELIGION. 181

whether he was black or white !"* Luther answered :
** the pasch and the wheel are allegorical. I do not mean
to dispute with jou about a word. If is means signifies,
I appeal to the words of Christ, who says : " this is my
body." The devil cannot get out of them (Da Kann der
Teufel nichtfiXr). To doubt is to fall from the faith. Why
do you not also see a trope in " he ascended into heaven."
A God made man, the Word made flesh, a God who suffers
— these are all incomprehensible things, which you must
however believe under penalty of eternal damnation."

Zuingle. " You do not prove the matter. I will not
permit you to incur the begging of the question. You
must change your note (/Ar werdet mir aiideres singen).
Do you think that Christ wished to accommodate himself
to the ignorant?"

Luther. ** Do -you then deny it ? * This is a hard say-
ing,' muttered the Jews, who spoke of the thing as impos-
sible. This passage cannot serve you."

Zuingle. ** Bah ! it breaks your neck" (Nein JVeinj
hricht euch den Hah ab).

Luther. '* Softly, be not so haughty: you are not in
Switzerland, but in Hesse; and necks are not so easily
broken here" (Die Hdlse hrechen nicht also),\

The wavering, but often candid Melancthon wept bit-
terly over the dissensions of early Protestantism. He had
not the power to heal the crying evil, nor the courage to
abandon the system in which it originated. From many
passages of his writings bearing on the subject, we select
the following lament, in a confidential letter to a friend.
" The Elbe with all its waves could not furnish tears
enough to weep over the miseries of the distracted refor-
mation.":!:

* Florimond Remond, and Schlussenburg, in proem. Theolog. Cal-
vin. Zuingle's own words have been already quoted.

t For an account of the entire discussion, taken from Rodolph Collin,
an eye and ear witness, see Audin, p. 413, seqq.

X Epist. lib. ii, Ep. 202.
16

182 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

The inextricable confusion of doctrinal beliefs induced
by the principle of private judgment, even during the life
of the reformers themselves, reminds us of another
entanglement extraordinary, inimitably described by
Scott:

" Now, on my faith, this gear is all entangled.
Like to the yarn clew of the drowsy knitter.
Dragged by the frolic kitten through the cabin,
While the good dame sits nodding o'er the fire :
Masters attend: 'twill crave some skill to clear it."

The masters " did attend," Melancthon at their head :
but they had not the '* skill which was craved," to clear
the entanglement of the reformation, caused by the " frolic
kitten" of private judgment! Nor had they the common
prudence to muzzle or to confine the bitten which had
done such mischief. In this negligence, they ** nodded^'
more than Scott's "good dame!"

Such then were the " diversities" of early Protestan-
tism! Such its endless maze of inconsistencies, contra-
dictions, and absurdities ! Such the bitter fruits of that
tree of revolt which Luther planted in the centre of Ger-
many : and which was watered by the blood of the slaugh-
tered Anabaptists, of the hundred thousand men who fell
in the war of the peasants, and of the countless multitudes,
who perished in the thirty years' war ! Such was the in-
fluence of the reformation on the doctrines of Christianity !
It found but one faith on the earth; and it created a hun-
dred new ones, all contradicting each other ! Before it
came, mankind were of " one tongue and of one speech ;"
after it had done its work, there was a confusion of
tongues on the earth, and men no longer understood each
other. Does not St. Paul draw a lively picture of earl j —
and even of modern Protestantism — when he speaks of
those who are like ** children tossed to and fro, and car-
ried about with every wind of doctrine, in the wickedness
of men, in craftiness, in which they lie in wait to de-

EFFECTS OF THE REFORM ON RELIGION. 183

ceive?"* Could a system which thus divided and unset-
tled faith — which produced all these disastrous results, be
approved by heaven ?

Let it not be said, that the reformation did not produce
all these bitter consequences. It is fairly responsible for
them all. No effect everfoUowedmore necessarily or more
immediately, from any cause, than these divisions followed
from their first great, and their only cause — private judg-
ment, as the only rule of faith. This principle is respon-
sible for yet more evil results: it has led, by gradual but
by certain steps, to infidelity. History does not tell us
of any who made a profession of infidel principles in
Christian countries, during the first fifteen ages of the
church. And now, what is the state of that portion of the
world, which on the continent of Europe professes Pro-
testant Christianity ? Infidelity is the order of the day in
Germany, and in Switzerland ; the two fatherlands of
Protestantism. It is unnecessary to multiply proof on a
matter so unquestionable. Even M. D'Aubigne himself
admits, that the majority of Protestants have passed over
to the standard of rationalism, or the religion of men"t —
alias to rank deism. And even where Protestantism still
subsists, what is it, but a lifeless tree, the withered
branches of which are stirred only by the breath of its own
internal dissensions?

We will conclude this chapter with the picture of Pro-
testantism in modern Germany, drawn by the master hand
of Frederick Von Schlegel, whose mighty mind, disgusted
with the endless mazes of Protestantism, sought refuge
within the pale of Catholic unity. He is speaj^ing of the
boasted biblical learning of Germany, in which he says
*' the true key of interpretation, which sacred tradition
alone can furnish, was irretrievably lost, as the sequel has
but too well proved !" He then adds : *<this is no where
so fully understood, and so deeply felt, as in Protestant

* Ephesians, iv, 14. t Preface to vol. i, p. 9.

184 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

Germany of the present day — Germany, where lies the
root of Protestantism, its mighty centre, its all-ruling
spirit, and its life-blood — Germany, where, to supply the
want of the true spirit of religion, a remedy is sought
sometimes in the external forms of liturgy,* sometimes in
the pompous apparatus of biblical philology and research,
destitute of the true key of interpretation ; sometimes in
the empty philosophy of rationalism, and sometimes in the
mazes of a mere interior pietism."t

* He here refers to the ordinances promulgated a few years ago by
the king- of Prussia, for the reform of the Liturgy (Protestant.)
t Philosophy of History, ii, 207.

CHAPTER VIII.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORMATION ON MORALS.

" This world is fallen on an easier way ;

This age knows better than to fast and pray."— Dri/<fcn.

Two methods of investigation — Connexion of doctrines and morals —
Salutary influence of Catholic doctrines — Of confession — Objections
answered — Of celibacy — Its manifold advantages — Utility of the
doctrines of satisfaction and indulgences — Of fasting — Of prayers for
the dead — Of communion of saints — Sanctity of marriage — Divorces
— Influence of Protestant doctrines — Shocking disorders — Bigamy
and polygamy — Mohammedanism — Practical results — Testimonies of
Luther, Bucer, Calvin and Melancthon — and of Erasmus — Character
of Erasmus — John Reuchlin — Present state of morals in Protestant
countries.

We have seen what was the influence of the reformation
on the doctrines of Christianity. We will now briefly
examine its influence on morals. Was this beneficial, or
was it injurious ? There are two ways to decide this ques-
tion : the one by reasoning a priori on the nature and ten-
dency of the respective doctrines of Catholicism and of
Protestantism; the other, which will greatly confirm the
conclusions of the former, by facts showing v/hat was the
relative practical influence of both systems. We will
employ both these methods of investigation.

I. Doctrines have a powerful influence on morals. The
former enlighten the understanding, the latter guide and
direct the movements of the heart and will. These are of
themselves mere blind impulses, until light is reflected on
them from the understanding. A sound faith then, illu-
mining the intellect, is an essential pre -requisite to sound
16*

186 d'atjbigne's history reviewed.

morals, in the individual, as well as in society. True, we
are able, bj the exercise of our free will, to shut our eyes
to the light, and to continue acting perversely; but this
does not disprove the powerful influence, which the un-
derstanding enlightened by faith, has over our moral con-
duct.

What was the necessary moral influence of those doc-
trines of the Catholic church, which the reformation re-
jected ; and what that of those new ones which it substi-
tuted in their place ? We speak only, of course, of the
distinctive doctrines of both communions ; not of the com-
mon ground which they occupy. The reformation re-
tained many of the great principles of Christianity, which,
according to the testimony of Luther himself, referred to
above, it had borrowed from the Catholic church. Among
the doctrines, or important points of discipline which the
reformation repudiated, the principal were : confession ;
the celibacy of the clergy; the doctrine of satisfaction,
implied in fasting, purgatory, prayers for the dead, and
indulgences ; the honor and invocation of saints ; and the
indissoluble sanctity of marriage; to say nothing of the
real presence, which the greater portion of Protestants also
rejected. We will say a few words on the moral influ-
ence of each of these doctrines. We may say of them all
in general, that they had a restraining and elevating effect ;
that many of them were painful to human nature; and
opposed a strong barrier to the passions.

Even Voltaire admitted the salutary moral influence of
confession. He says: *' The enemies of the Catholic
church, who opposed an institution so salutary, seem to
have taken away from men the greatest possible check to
secret offences."* Another infidel, and mortal enemy of
Rome — Marmontel — says : " How salutary a preservative
for the morals of youth, is the practice and obligation of

* " Annales de I'Empire, quoted by Kobelot, "Influence," Sec. p. 24,
nofe.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORMATION ON MORALS. 187

going to confession every month ? The shame attending
this humble avowal of the most hidden sins, prevents per-
haps the commission of more of them, than all other mo-
tives the most holj taken together."* Nothing but stern
truth could have drawn such avowals from such men.

How many crimes, in fact, has not the practice of con-
fession prevented or corrected ! How much implacable
hatred has it not appeased ! How much restitution of ill-
gotten goods, and how much reparation of injured charac-
ter, has it not brought about ! How often has it not pre-
served giddy youth from confirmed habits of secret and
degrading vice ! How much consolation has it not poured
into bosoms torn by anguish, or weighed down by sorrow !
What amount of good and salutary advice has it not im-
parted ! How often has it not prevented the sinner from
being driven to the very verge of despair ! In a word,
how much has it not contributed to the preservation of
morals in every portion of society, which felt its influence !

Tell us not, that confession may be abused by corrupt
men — that it has been often made an instrument of unholy
ambition in the hands of the priesthood — and that it facili-
tates the commission of crime, by its offer of pardon.
These objections are all based on unfounded suspicion, or
gross misapprehension of the nature of confession. At
least the evils complained of are greatly exaggerated, and
are not to be put in comparison with the incalculable
amount of good, which this institution is calculated to
effect, and which it has really done. What good thing is
there, which has not been abused ? Has not the Bible
itself, abused by wicked men, been a source of incalcula-
ble mischief? Has not the church guarded against abuses
in the confessional, by the sternest enactments ? One of
these takes from the wicked priest all power of absolving
an accomplice in crime ; and another requires the peni-

* '« Mcinoires," torn, i, liv, i. Apud Robelct, ibid.

188 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

tent to denounce the unfaithful minister to the proper au-
thorities.*

And then, how sacred and inviolable has not the seal of
confession ever been ? History does not record one single
instance of its violation, among hundreds of thousands of
priests, in the long lapse of ages !t How can the priest
avail himself of the knowledge obtained through confes-
sion, in order to exercise political or any other undue in-
fluence, when he is bound by the most sacred obligation,
sanctioned by the most severe penalties, to make no use
whatever of the knowledge thus acquired ? Why reason
from mere suppositions and mere possibilities, against
the strongest evidences, and the most stubborn facts of
history ?

As to the other objection — that confession encourages
the commission of sin — it is as puerile as it is hackneyed.
Absurdity is stamped on its very face. What ? is it easier
then to commit a sin which you know you have to confess
to a fellow man, than it would be to commit the same sin,
without feeling any such obligation ? We would not be
guilty of an oftence, forsooth, which we believed we could
expiate by a mere act of internal repentance, joined with
confession to God; and yet we would be encouraged to
commit this same offence, if we felt that, in addition to all
this, we would be obliged to confess it to a priest ! The
objection is predicated on a strange ignorance of human
nature. The Catholic church requires, for the remission
of sin, all that Protestants demand, and, over and above
all this, it requires as essential conditions to pardon, many
painful things — confession, restitution, works of peniten-

* See the two bulls of Benedict XIV on this subject. They be-
gin, Sacramentum . and ^postolici. Another enactment to the same
effect was made by pope Gregory XV, in the year 1622. See Liguori —
«' Homo jlpostolicus'' Tract. XVI, numo. 95, seqq. and numo. 165, seqq.
De complice et sollicit.

t See the testimony of Marmontel to this effect. Memoires, torn. iv.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORMATION ON MORALS. 189

tial satisfaction — which Protestants do not require.
Wliich system encourages the commission of sin most ?

The people never could be induced to confess their sins
to a married clergy. From the testimony of Burkard,
bishop of Worms, it appears that the Catholic population
of that city refused to go to confession to those priests,
who, stimulated by the principles of the reformation then
just commencing, had broken their vows of celibacy by
taking wives. Confession and celibacy fell together. A
married clergy never can command the respect, which has
ever been paid to those who are unmarried. This is gene-
rally admitted by Protestants, and even is made a matter
of censure against the Catholic clergy, who are accused of
having too much influence over their flocks ! The true
secret of this influence lies in the greater abstraction from
the world — in the greater freedom from worldly solicitude
— in the more spiritual character of an unmarried clergy.
Does not St. Paul allege these very motives, in the strong
appeal he makes in favor of celibacy, in his first epistle to
the Corinthians ?* Does he not advise the embracing of
this state both by word and example? Can the Catholic
church be blamed for having adopted his principles, and
acted on his advice ?

Who can recount the immense advantages of priestly
celibacy to society ? Who can tell of all the splendid
churches it has erected ; of the hospitals for the sick and
the afllicted, it has reared ; of the colleges it has built; of
the ignorant it has instructed ; of the noble examples of
heroic charity it has given to the world ; and of the Pagan
nations it has converted to Christianity ? Catholic Europe
is full of noble monuments to religion, to literature and to
charity, which an unmarried priesthood has built up.

To advert briefly to the last consideration named above ;
can a married clergy, other things being equal, cope with
one that is unmarried, in missionary labors among heathen

* Chap. vii. Read the whole chapter.

190 D^AUBlGNli's HISTORY REVIEWED.

nations ? With the incumbrance of their wives and child-
ren, can the former be as free in their movements, be as
zealous and disinterested ; can they mingle as freel}' with
the people, labor as much, or succeed as well, in any re-
spect, as the latter? What say the annals of Protestant
missionary enterprise on this subject ? Can they point to
one single nation or people converted to Christianity by
their married preachers, notwithstanding the immense out-
lay of money for this purpose, and all the parade that is
made on the matter ? True, there are other weighty causes,
which have greatly contributed to this signal failure in
Protestant missions; but the want of celibacy in their
ministers is no doubt one great reason. Some Protestant
missionary societies in the U. States are beginning to feel
the truth of this remark.*

The doctrine of satisfaction was another strong Catholic
barrier against vice, which the reformation destroyed.
The reformers could not appreciate the utility of fasting,
of vigils, and of other works of penance, to expiate sin.
They had abolished the great sacrifice of the new law ; and
they wished also to abolish all those painful observances,
which could nourish and keep alive in the soul of the
Christian that spirit of sacrifice, which might incline him
"to deny himself, to take up his cross and to follow
Christ." Both kinds of sacrifice were intimately con-
nected ; and they both fell together. The reformers no
longer taught their disciples, after the example of St. Paul,
*' to chastise their bodies and bring them into subjection,"
or " to fill up those things that are wanting of the suffer-
ings of Christ, in their flesh. "t

And yet, besides expiating sin, and rendering Christians
more conformable to the image of the Saviour and of St.
Paul, this doctrine was fraught with incalculable advan-
tages to society. To expiate their sins. Catholics of the

* We shall treat of this subject in greater detail hereafter,
t Colossians i, 24.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORMATION ON MORALS. 191

olden time not only " chastised their bodies," but they
also bestowed abundant alms, and reared splendid institu-
tions of learning and of charity. Many of the colleges and
hospitals of Europe owe their erection to the operation of
this principle. It is quite common to find in the testa-
mentary dispositions of their pious founders, this conside-
ration expressed in such clauses as this : " for the expiation
of my sins."

We have seen that St. Peter's church and the university
of Wittemberg were both indebted for their erection mainly
to indulgences, which were predicated on the necessity of
satisfaction for sin. These are two instances, out of hun-
dreds which might be stated, to show the beneficial influ-
ence of this doctrine on society.* Alas ! Charity hath
grown cold in those places where this principle hath ceased
to exist ! Private interest — a fever for speculation — selfish
and sordid avarice — have dried up those deep fountains
of Catholic charity, which erewhile irrigated and fertilized
the earth !

How many are the advantages of fasting! How it ele-
vates the mind,t fosters temperance, and teaches us to re-
strain the passions, and to subdue the rebellious flesh!
*'Like another spring," according to the beautiful com-
parison of St. John Chrysostom,:}: ''it renews the spirit,
and brings calm and joy to the soul." It also promotes
health and conduces to longevity. Who has not remarked
the great age to which the anchorites of the desert attained ?
Malte Brun informs us, that of one hundred and fifty-two
anchorites, who lived in different climates, and in difi*er-
ent centuries, the average age was seventy-six years.§
By accustoming us to endure privation, fasting teaches us

* See " The Ages of Faith" by Kenelm Digby, which is full of such
examples.

t Vitia compriinit, mentem elevat, virixdem largitur et prcemia. — Prsef.
ad Missa.

J St. John Chrysostom — <'De excellentia Jejun." 0pp. T. ii.

§ " Precis de la Geographie" ii, 44.

192 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

to bear patiently the necessary ills of life, and disposes us
for great enterprises. In fact it is remarkable, that Moses
and Elias did not approach the Deity to receive his special
communications, but after the preliminary disposition of
long fasting: and that Christ himself " fasted forty days
and forty nights," ere he entered on his divine mission of
mercy.

How soothing to the soul is that communion with the
departed, which is kept up by the Catholic practice of
praying for the dead ? Even the stern Doctor Johnson felt
the beauty and the force of this sympathy: he not only
defended this practice, but he adopted it himself. He was
not satisfied with merely dropping a tear warm from his
heart over the grave of his departed mother; but he, at
the same time, wafted a fervent prayer to heaven for her
repose.* And how elevating and useful, on the other
hand, is that constant communion with heaven, which is
kept up by the invocation of saints ! It stimulates us, not
only to admire their supereminent glory and to implore
their aid; but also to imitate their virtues. The ofl&ces
of the church keep up a constant round of anniversary
celebrations of the virtues and triumphs of these heroes of
Christianity; their virtues are thus always kept fresh in
the minds of the faithful, who are by this means power-
fully stimulated to follow their example. Who does not
perceive the beneficial influence of this practice on the
morals of society ?

On the subject of marriage, the Catholic church has
never swerved in the least from the stern line of duty. She
has ever defended its sanctity and maintained its indisso-
lubility. Many of her struggles with princes during
the middle ages, were for the vindication of these sacred
principles. England was lost to the church, because the
unwavering firmness of the church would not permit
Henry VIII to repudiate a virtuous wife, and to wed

* See Bos well's Life of Johnson.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORMATION ON MORALS. 193

another more to his royal taste. She has won imperisha-
ble honors in this battle field, on which she has nobly and
victoriously contended with the army of the passions.

On this point, as we have seen, the reformers were not
so unyielding. They not only allowed two wives to the
landgrave of Hesse ; but they permitted divorce for trivial
causes ; and some of them even sanctioned polygamy after
the example of the patriarchs. What were the effects of
their teaching on this subject, we shall see more fully in
the sequel. It will suffice here to remark one obvious re-
sult of this laxity of doctrine, in regard to the sacredness
of the marriage contract. Before the reformation, divorces
were almost unheard of; great princes sometimes applied
for them, but met with determined resistance and a stern
rebuke, on the part of the church. Even at present, in
Catholic countries, they are almost unknown. Is it so in
those communities where the influence of the reformation
has been extensively felt ? Alas ! in these, men seem to
have lost sight of the divine injunction : ** What God has
united, let not man put asunder." •* Divorces have multi-
plied to a frightful extent. In the United States, our
legislatures receive annually thousands of petitions for
divorce : and what is more deplorable, they usually grant
the prayer of the petitioners ! Is not this a lamentable
evil, most injurious to society ? Whence does it origi-
nate, if not in the weakening of Catholic principles in re-
gard to the indissolubility of the marriage contract, by the
counter principles broached at the period of the refor-
mation ?

A volume might be written on the salutary influence on
society of those distinctive doctrines of the Catholic which
Protestants have rejected.t But our limits permitted only
the above rapid and imperfect sketch : and we must now

* Matth. xix, 6.

I Those who may wish to see more on this subject, are referred to
Scotti — Teorcmi di Polilica Christiana — an Italian work in 2 vols.Svo.
17

194

pass on to the inquiry; what was the moral influence of
those new doctrines which the reformation introduced ? We
have already seen what many of these doctrines were, and
we have already been enabled to estimate, in a great
measure, their effect on the morals of society. But we
will here give some farther details on a subject so in-
teresting.

Luther's famous (infamous !) sermon on marriage,
preached in the public church of Wittemberg in 1522,
gave great scandal, and was a source of incalculable moral
evil throughout Germany. It openly pandered to the
basest passions of human nature. It was busily circula-
ted and greedily devoured by all classes, among those
who were favorable to the reformation. Never was there
a grosser specimen of unblushing lubricity : aiid its having
been so much relished by the partisans of Luther, is a
certain index of a very low standard of morality at that
period. But this was not the only specimen of decency
given by the " father of the reformation." Many of his let-
ters to his private friends are too obscene to be exhibited,
even in the original Latin. Yet they had a powerful effect
on the morals of the age. Luther openly invited the Ca-
tholic priests, monks, and nuns, who had vowed celibacy,
to break their vows, which he styled the "bonds of anti-
christ." His soul overflowed with joy at the news of each
new sacrilegious marriage. He would congratulate the
infringer of his vows, " on his having overcome an impure
and damnable celibacy," by entering into marriage, which
he painted as *' a paradise even in the midst of poverty."*
He wrote a work against celibacy and monastic vows,
teeming with the strongest appeals to the passions. He
openly urged princes to expel by force the religious from
their monasteries.f

* " Paradisum arbitror conjiigium vel summa inopia laborans."
Epist. Nicholao Gerbellis, Nov. 1, 1521.

t See his words quoted by Audin, p. 335, seqq.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORMATION ON MORALS. 195

Erasmus, an eye witness, paints the disorders to wliich
Luther's epistles, sermons, and works against celibacy,
naturally led. He represents certain cities of Germany as
swarming with apostate monks, who drank beer to excess,
danced and sang in the public streets, and gave into all
manner of excesses. He says, "that if they could get
enough to eat and a wife, they cared not a straw for any
thing else."* *' When they found not wives among the
female religious, they sought them in the haunts of vice.
What cared they for the priestly benediction ? They mar-
ried each other, and celebrated their nuptials by orgies,
in which the new married couple generally lost their
reason."!

*' Formerly," says Erasmus, " men quitted their wives
for the sake of the gospel ; now-a-days, the gospel flour-
ishes most, when a few succeed in marrying wives with
rich dowries. "± He caustically remarks, " that (Ecolam-
padius had lately married a beautiful young girl, he sus-
pects, to mortify his flesh. "§ He also informs us, that
these ex-monks, after having become the most zealous
partisans of the reformation, subsisted by open robbery of
the churches and of their neighbors, indulged to excess in
drinking and in games of hazard, and presented a specta-
cle of the most revolting licentiousness. ||

Luther had taught that "as in the first da}s of Chris-
tianity, the church was forced to exalt virginity among
the Pagans, who honored adultery; so, now, when the
Lord had made the light of the gospel shine forth, it was
necessary to exalt marriage, at the expense of popish celi-
bacy. "•[[ The apostate monks eagerly seized on this and

* Amant viaticum et uxorem : coetera pili non faciunt." Erasmi
Epist. p. 637.

t Audin p. 336, who quotes from Erasmus — loco citaio.

X " Nunc floret evangeliura, si pauci ducant uxores bene dotatas
Erasmi Epist. p. 768.

§ Ibid. p. 632. II Ibid. p. 766.

II Luther 0pp. torn i, p. 526 seqq.

196 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

similar teachings of the reformer; and the above are some
of the disorders which naturally ensued. But even they
are not the worst. Bigamy was quite common among them,
at least for a time. They defended it too on scriptural
grounds. Luther was appealed to on the subject. In his
reply, he wavers and hesitates, wishes each individual to
be left to the guidance of his own conscience, and con-
cludes his letter in these words: " for my part I candidly
confess, that I could not prohibit any one, who might wish
it, to take many wives at once, nor is this repugnant to the
holy scriptures. But there are things lawful, which are
not expedient. Bigamy is of the number."*

Karlstadt went still farther: he wished to make poly-
gamy obligatory, or at least entirely permissible to all.
He said to Luther: " as neither you, nor I, have found a
text in the sacred books against bigamy, let us be biga-
mists and trigamists— let us take as many wives as we can
maintain. " Increase and multiply. Do you understand ?
Accomplish the order of heaven. "t This argument must
have had great weight v/ith Luther, as he had maintained
that celibacy was impossible, and had brought that very
text from Genesis, to prove that marriage was a divine
command obligatory on all. By the way, as Luther mar-
ried only at the age of forty-two, what are we to think of
the purity of his previous life, when he openly maintained
such principles as these? They were well calculated, at
any rate, to bring down the lofty standard of Christian
morality to that of Mohammedanism : and, if they did not
bring about this result, we owe no thanks at least to the
reformation. How strangely these loose principles of mo-
rality contrast with the stern teachings of the Catholic
church on marriage !

• Epist. ad K. Bruck 13. Janu. 1524. " Ego sane fateor me non
posse prohibere si quis velit plures ducere uxores, nee repugnat Sacris
Uteris ?"

t Apud Audin, p. 339.

IXFLUKNCE OF THE REFORMATION ON MORALS. 197

II. It was natural to expect, that the influence of such
principles as these, as well as of those we developed in
another place,* should have been most injurious to public
morals. And accordingly we find, from the testimony of
the reformers themselves, and of their earliest partisans,
that such precisely was the case. Luther himself assures
us of this deterioration in public morals. *' The world
grows worse and worse, and becomes more wicked every
day. Men are now more given to revenge, more avari-
cious, more devoid of mercy, less modest, and more incor-
rigible; in fine, more wicked than in the papacy.''! In
another place he says, speaking to his most intimate friends :
*' one thing no less astonishing than scandalous, is to see
that, since the pure doctrine of the gospel has been brought
to light (!), the world daily goes from bad to worse. ":{:
This is not at all astonishing, when we consider the na-
ture of that *' pure doctrine."

He draws this dreadful picture of the morals of his time,
after "the pure doctrine had been brought to light."
'* The noblemen and the peasants have come to such a
pitch, that they boast and proclaim without scruple, that
they have only to let themselves be preached at; but that
they would prefer being entirely disenthralled from the
word of God : and that they would not give a farthing for
all our sermons put together. And how are we to lay this
to them as a crime, when they make no account of the
world to come ? They live as they believe : they are and
continue to be sv/ine : they live like swine and they die
like real swine. "§ Aurifaber, the disciple and bosom
friend of Luther, and the publisher of his Table Talk,
tells us, that *' Luther was wont to say, that after the re-
velation of his gospel, virtue had become extinct, justice

* Supra, chap. iii. f Luther in Postilld sup. 1 Dom. Mventus.

X Idem, Table Talk, fol. 55.
§ Id. super i, Epist. Corinih. ch. xv.

17*

198 d'aubigne's history reviewed,

oppressed, temperance bound with cords, virtue torn in
pieces bj the dogs, faith had become wavering, and devotion
had been lost."* So notoriously immoral, in fact, were
the early Lutherans, that it was then a common saying in
Germany, to express a day spent in drinking and debauch :
*' hodie Lutheranice vivemus^^ — " to-day we will live like
Lutherans."!

In another place, Luther laments the moral evils of the
reformation, in the following characteristic strain. ** I
would not be astonished if God should open at length the
gates and windows of hell, and snow or hail down (up?)
devils, or rain down on our heads fire and brimstone, or
bury us in a fiery abyss, as he did Sodom and Gomorrha.
Had Sodom and Gomorrha received the gifts which have
been granted to us — had they seen our visions and heard
our instructions — they would yet be standing. They were
a thousand times less culpable than Germany, for they had
not heard the word of God from their preachers. And we
who have received and heard it — we do nothing but rise
up against God. . » . . Since the downfall of popery, and
the cessation of its excommunications and spiritual penal-
ties, the people have learned to despise the word of God.
They care no longer for the churches; they have ceased
to fear and to honor God. "J

Martin Bucer, another of the reformers, bears the fol-
lowing explicit testimony on the same subject. ** The
greater part of the people seem to have embraced the gos-
pel (!), only in order to shake off the yoke of discipline,
and the obligation of fasting, penances, &c., which lay upon
them in the time of popery, and to live at their pleasure,
enjoying their lust and lawless appetite without control.
They therefore lend a willing ear to the doctrine that we

* Aurifaber, fol. 623 ; and Floriraond Rernond, p. 225.
t Bened. Morgenstern — Traite de VEglise, p. 221.
X Luther Wercke Edit. Altenburg tome iii, p. 519. Reinhard's
«' Reformations Predigten," torn iii, p. 445.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORMATION ON MORALS. 199

are justified by faith alone, and not by good works, having
no relish for them."* The reformers ought to have known
what was the real tendency of the new gospel, and they
certainly had no motive to exaggerate.

John Calvin draws a picture not much more flattering of
the state of morals, in his branch of the ** glorious refor-
mation." He states that even the preachers of the new
doctrines were notoriously immoral. *' There remains
still a wound more deplorable. The pastors, yes the pas-
tors themselves who mount the pulpit .... are at the
present time the most shameful examples of waywardness
and other vices. Hence their sermons obtain neither more
credit nor authority than the fictitious tales uttered on

the stage by the strolling player I am astonished

that the women and children do not cover them with mud
and filth."t

Another leading reformer — Pliilip Melancthon — informs
us, that those who had joined the standard of the reforma-
tion at his day *Miad come to such a pitch of barbarity,
that many of them were persuaded that if they fasted one
day, they would find themselves dead the night follow-
ing."J And another early Protestant, Jacob Andreas,
says : " It is certain that God wishes and requires of his
servants a grave and Christian discipline ; but it passes
with lis as a new papacy, and a new monkery. "§ And
no wonder, after all the teaching on the subject of Luther
and the other leading reformers !

Such then were the moral effects of the reformation,
according to the testimony of the reformers themselves.
They are surely unexceptionable witnesses in the matter.
We might allege a multitude of other authorities to the
same effect, from Capito, Sturm, Judith, and other early
reformers and leading Protestants ; but those already ad-

* •' De regno Christi." f Livre — sur les scandales — p. 128.

X In vi, cap. Mathei.

§ Comment, in St. Lucam. ch. xxi, anno 1583,

200 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

duced will prove to the satisfaction of every impartial
mind, that the influence of the reformation on morals was
most injurious.^ The reformers professed indeed to re-
form the church in doctrine and morals : they inveighed
against the immorality of the Catholic priesthood, whom
they abused beyond measure: they set themselves up as
patterns for the world : but they forgot withal to reform
themselves and their disciples, They even went *' daily
from bad to worse." They were unmindful of the admo-
nition of the Saviour : "let him that is without sin among
you first cast a stone."t

Erasmus has well described this change for the worse
in the morals of those who embraced the reformation.
*' Those whom I had known to be pure, full of candor
and simplicity, these same persons have I seen afterwards,
when they had gone over to the sect [of the gospellers),
begin to speak of girls, flock to games of hazard, throw
aside prayer, give themselves up entirely to their interests ;
become the most impatient, vindictive, and frivolous ;
changed in fact, from men to vipers. I know well what
I say.":t^ And again; " I see many Lutherans, but few
evangelicals. Look a little at these people, and see
whether luxury, avarice and lewdness, do not prevail still
more amongst them, than among those whom they detest.
Show me one who by means of this gospel is become bet-
ter. I will show you very many, who are become worse.
Perhaps it has been my bad fortune : but I have seen none
who have not become v/orse by their gospel. "§

The testimony of Erasmus is above suspicion. Though
he continued in the Catholic church, yet he was the early
friend of Luther, Melancthon and many other principal
reformers, and he had himself contributed not a little —

* Those who may wish to see more on the subject, are referred to
the "Amicable Discussion" by bishop Trevern: vol. i, p. 84 seqq. ; anJ
to Audin's "Lives of Luther and Calvin."

f St. John viii, 7. J Epist. Traciibus Germanicc inferior is.

' \ Idem. Epist. Anno 152G.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORMATION ON MORALS. 201

perhaps onlj indirectly and unintentionally — to the suc-
cess of the pretended reformation. He was a mild, peace-
able man, who liked his ease more than any thing else,
and sought to please both sides, but succeeded in pleasing
neither. He had joined in the outcry against the Catholic
priesthood and monks, and had thereby no doubt greatly
aided in heightening the excitement against the Catholic
church. The proverb was current in Germany : that
*• Erasmus had laid the egg, and Luther had hatched it."*
This saying perhaps expressed too much ; but yet, like
most popular adages, it had some foundation in truth.
The famous humanist Reuchlin seems to have been another
of those wavering and uncertain characters which can
be moulded to almost every thing according to circum-
stances.

For three whole centuries, the reformation has been
exerting its moral influence in Germany and northern
Europe What have been the practical results of this in-
fluence ? What is the present condition of those Protes-
tant countries where that influence has been least checked,
and most extended and permanent ? We will close this
chapter, by presenting a few startling facts on this sub-
ject from the works of two recent Protestant travellers,
Bremner and Laing. Their authority in the matter will
scarcely be questioned by Protestants. Themselves bit-
terly prejudiced against the Catholic church, and enamored
with the reformation, they merely state what they saw
and ascertained, during a long residence in the countries
which they describe.

Of the people of Protestant Norway, Mr. Bremner says :
" the Norwegians cannot, with justice, be described as
more than * indifferently moral,' for we always found
amongst them a greater desire to take advantage of a

• "Erasmus hat das Ey gelegt, und Luther es ausgebrutet." An old
Lutheran painting represented the reformers bearing the ark. and Eras-
mus dancing before it with all his might.

202

stranger than in an}- other part of Europe."* In regard
to chastity, he tells us that the statistical returns show
that out of every five children which are born, one is ille-
gitimate — the same proportion precisely, in this widely
scattered and rural population, as in " the densely crowded
and corrupted atmosphere of Paris." Mr. Laing con-
firms the statement, and tells us of one country parish in
particular where, " without a town, or manufacturing es-
tablishment, or resort of shipping, or quartering of troops,
or other obvious cause," the proportion of illegitimate to
legitimate children, in the five years from 1826 to 1830,
was one in three.t

Both these Protestant travellers tell us, moreover, that
in Norway the Sunday is the usual day for dances, for
theatrical and other public amusements ; and Mr. Laing
accounts for this singular fact by the universally received
interpretation, in the pure Lutheran church, of the scrip-
tural words, •* and the evening and the morning made the
first day." Those "pure Lutherans" keep the Sabbath
from midday on Saturday to the noon of Sunday ! The
Lutheran clergy, they likewise inform us, pay little at-
tention to the instruction of the people. In proof of this
negligence, they allege the fact that in all Norway there
are only three hundred and thirty-six parishes with resi-
dent clergymen, who seldom visit their scattered people.
They also complain that convicts are there treated more
unmercifully than any where else.

The picture they draw of the present moral condition
of Sweden and Denmark is still less flattering. Mr.

* '< Excursions in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden," &,c. By Robert
Bremner. 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1840.

t The works of Mr, Laing from which we borrow this and the fol-
lowing facts, are : " Journal of a Residence in Norway during the years
1834, 1835, 1836, made with a view to inquire into the moral and polit-
cal economy of the country, and the state of the inhabitants," London,
1S36 ; " A Tour in Sweden in 1838," London, 1839 ; and " Notes of a
Traveller," London, 1842. These works are all ably noticed in the
Dublin Review for May, 1S13.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORMATION ON MORALS. 203

Bremner tells us that in the female house of correction at
Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, he found thirty-eight
prisoners condemned for life, " nearly all of whom had
been convicted of the too frequent crime of child murder !"
Mr. Laing enters at great length into the subject of
Swedish morality. He states, and proves from avouched
statistical returns, that Sweden is the most corrupt and
demoralized country in Europe, and that Stockholm is
the most debased city in the world. Let us see his testi-
mony.

"It is a singular and embarrassing fact that the
Swedish nation, isolated from the mass of European peo-
ple, and almost entirely agricultural or pastoral, having,
in about 3,000,000 of individuals, only 14,925 employed
in manufactories, and these not congregated in one or two
places, but scattered among 2,037 factories, having no
great standing army or navy, no external commerce, no
afflux of strangers, no considerable city but one, and
having schools and universities in a fair proportion, and a
powerful and complete church establishment, undisturbed
in its labors by sect or schism, is, notwithstanding, in a
more demoralized state than any nation in Europe^ more
demoralized even than any equal portion of the dense
manufacturing population of Great Britain. This is a
very curious fact in moral statistics."

He proceeds to establish this " curious fact" by un-
questionable statistical evidence. From this it appears
that, in 1837, 26,275 persons were prosecuted in Sweden
for criminal oflfences, of whom 21,262 were convicted,
being one to every one hundred and fourteen of the en-
tire population accused, and one to every one hundred and
forty convicted of crimes of a heinous character. In
1836 the number so convicted was one out of one hundred
and thirty-four of the whole population. Among the
crimes in the rural population, there were twenty-eight
cases of murder, ten of child murder, four of poisoning,
tliiiteen of bestiality, and nine of violent robbery: and

204 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

the proportion was four-fold greater for the town and city
population. England is bad enough ; one would have
thought that England could scarcely be surpassed in
crime of every description ; but yet in England the pro-
portion of the convicted to the entire population is only
as one to one thousand and five. The amount of crime in
Sweden is thus seven-fold greater than in England ! Is
it because there the reformation was more unchecked in
its operations ?

According to Mr. Laing, the proportion of illegitimate
to legitimate children for all Sweden, is as one to four-
teen ; and for the capital, Stockholm, it is as one to two
and three-tenths ! ! In the same city one out of every
forty-nine of the inhabitants is annually convicted of
some criminal ofience ! ! And, what is more startling
yet, Mr. Laing proves that a house of ill- fame was estab-
lished, and duly fitted out, in Stockholm, by authority of
government ! !

When these statements of Mr. Laing appeared, the
Swedish government attempted to refute them by a paraph-
let published in London. This drew from him a " Re-
ply," in which he triumphantly established all the state-
ments he had previously made, and exhibited, in the
avouched statistics of the year 1838, others still more ap-
palling. " The divorces of this year were 147 ; the sui-
cides 172. Of the 2,714 children born in Stockholm that
year, 1,577 were legitimate, 1,137 illegitimate, making
only a balance of 440 chaste mothers out of 2,714, and
the proportion of illegitimate to legitimate children, not
as one to two and three-tenths, as he had previously
stated, but as one to one and a half! !"

Prussia is another country of Europe in which the re-
formation has had unchecked sway for centuries. Mr.
Laing discourses of its moral condition as follows — the
** index virtue" of which he speaks is female chastity :
*' Will any traveller, will any Prussian say that this in-
dex virtue of the moral condition of a people is not lower

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORMATION ON MORALS. 205

in Prussia than in almost any part of Europe ? It is no
uncommon event in the family of a respectable trades-
man of Berlin to find upon his breakfast table a little
baby, of which, whoever may be the father, he has no
doubt at all about the maternal grand-father. Such acci-
dents are so common in the class in which they are least
common Math us — the middle class, removed from igno-
rance or indigence — that they are regarded but as acci-
dents, as youthful indiscretions, not as disgraces affect-
ing, as with us, the respectability and happiness of all the
kith and kin for a generation."

In a note, he gives the following statistical facts on this
subject: ** In 1837, the number of the females in the
Prussian population between the beginning of their six-
teenth and the end of their forty-fifth year — that is, within
child-bearing age — was 2,983,146; the number of ille-
gitimate children born in the same year was 39,501 ; so
that one in every seventy-five of the whole of the females
of an age to bear children had been the mother of an ille-
gitimate child." He adds: "Prince Puckler Muskau
(a Prussian) states in one of his late publications (Siidost-
licher Bildersaal, 3 Thel. 1841) that the character of the
Prussians for honesty stands lower than that of any other
of the German populations."

When we weigh well all these facts, and remember also
that from a parliamentary report, made two years ago, it
appeared that in Protestant London upwards of 80,000
females had forgotten to be virtuous, we will be enabled
to estimate properly what has been the moral influence of
the reformation.

CHAPTER IX.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE REFORMATION ON PriBLIC WORSHIP.

General influence of the reformation on worship — Audin's picture of it
— Luther rebukes violence — But wavers — Giving life to a skeleton —
Taking a leap — Mutilating the sacraments — New system of Judaism
— Chasing away the mists — Protestant inconsistencies — A dreary
waste — No altars nor sacrifice — A land of mourning — Protestant
plaints — And tribute to Catholic worship — A touching anecdote —
Continual prayer — Vandalism rebuked — Grandeur of Catholic wor-
ship — Churches always open — Protestant worship — The Sabbath
day — Getting up a revival — Protestant music ami pra3'er — The pew
system — The fashionable religion — The two forms of worship com-
pared — St. Peter's church — The fine arts.

In nothing perhaps was the influence of the reformation
more pernicious, than in tlie changes which it caused to be
introduced into public worship. It stripped the ancient
Catholic service of all its beauty and simple grandeur:
it dried up the deep fountains of its melody — hushed its
organs, muffled its bells, and put out its lights. It rudely
tore away the ornaments of its piiesthood, stripped its
altars, and chased away the clouds of its ascending in-
cense. It did more. It destroyed the beautiful paintings
and sculptures, with which art, paying tribute to religion,
had decorated the walls of her churches ; it entirely re-
moved those sacred emblems of piety. Tearing them in
shreds or breaking them in pieces, it gave them to the
flames, and then scattered their ashes to the winds. And,
as if these feats of vandalism were not enough to prove its
burning zeal for religion, it aimed a mortal blow at the
very substance of worship: it abolished the daily sacri-

EFFECTS OF THE REFORM ON WORSHIP. 207

fice, removed the altars, and annihilated the priesthood.
And then, exhausted with its labors, Protestantism lay
down and fell asleep amidst the ruins it had caused !*

M. Audin gives the following graphic description of
the effects of early reformation zeal on public worship.
"Throughout the whole of Saxony, no more canticles
were heard ; no more incense, no more lights on the al-
tars, no more organs combining their melody with the
infant's hymn, or sacerdotal anthem. The church walls
were bare; the light had no longer to steal throu8;h the
painted windows, for they had all been broken, under the
pretext that they favored idolatry. The Protestant temple
resembled every thing but the house of God. The mag-
nificence and poetry of Catholic worship, the loss of which
modern Protestants deplore, every where disappeared."!

Luther at first disapproved of the intemperate zeal of
Karlstadt and other hotheaded disciples, who, during his
absence from Wittemberg, had abolished the mass, and
removed by violence the paintings and statues from the
church. Yet his disapproval did not, it would seem, pro-
ceed so much from a horror of the act itself, as of the vio-
lence which had attended it; and more particularly irom
the circumstance, that this innovation had taken place
without his having been previously consulted. In his
harangue against those new Iconoclasts, he said : "you
ought to know that you are to listen to no one but to me.
With the help of God, Doctor Martin Luther has advanced
first in the new way; the others followed after him : they
ought to exhibit the docility of disciples, as their duty is
to obey. It is to me that God has revealed his word ; it
is out of my mouth that it has proceeded free from all

stain Was I at such a distance that I could not

be consulted ? Am I no longer the source of pure doc-

* «' Le Protestantisme fatigue s'est endormi sur des mines !" Abbe
De Larneiinais.

t Life of Luther, p. 331.

208 d'aubione's history reviewed.

trine? . . . . It is neither commanded nor prohibited to
keep images. I wish that superstition had not introduced
them amongst us ; but however, they ought not to be re-
moved by tumult."*

But Luther, however he might deplore, could not curb the
destructive spirit of his disciples. He could not prevent
them from wielding the weapons himself had placed in their
hands. He could not control the storm which he himself
had put in motion. The work of destruction went on, till
scarce a vestige of the venerable and time honored Catho-
lic worship remained behind. He himself was uncertain
and wavering, as to the portion of Catholic worship he
should retain. The people of Wittemberg murmured,
when the chapter of the church of All Saints in that city
abolished the mass. Luther restored it : not however as
a sacrifice, but as a mere popular symbol. He took from
it the oft'ertory and the canon, and all the forms of sacri-
fice ; while he retained the elevation of the bread and wine
by the priest, the sacerdotal salutation to the assistants,
the mixture of water and wine, and the use of the Latin
language."!

To enliven somewhat this mutilated skeleton of the old
service, he retained many of the Catholic proses and
hymns, uniting with them some compositions of the old
German poets. "He himself composed some to replace
our hymns and proses, which are precious monuments of
the poetry of the early ages of Catholicism. Those sweet
and simple melodies which were by turns joyous and aus-
tere, gay and melancholy, according to the occasion, were
now replaced, in the Protestant churches, by a monotonous
drawl. The reformed church thus lost the poems, inspi-
rations and symbols of the Catholic muse."J

The liturgy was not the only subject on which the re-

* Apud Audin, Ibid. pp. 237, 23S. f Audin,Ibid. p. 333.

X Ibid. For some beautilul and cbarmin<5 reflections on this subject,
see an article "on prayer and prayer-books," in a late number of the
Dublin Review.

EFFECTS OF THE REFORM ON WORSHIP. 209

former hesitated. His whole career in fact is marked with
hesitancy and doubt, as to what he should reject, and what
he should retain, of the old Catholic institutions. He
found himself often in trying and difficult positions. His
disciples sought to drag him down the declivity of reform
faster than the sturdy monk wished to travel. Some-
times he listened to their clamors; sometimes he sternly
rebuked them for their too ardent zeal. Hence his per-
petual inconsistencies. On the subject of auricular con-
fession, he contradicted himself more than once: at times
he recognized its divine origin, and proclaimed its great
utility to society: again he would call it the invention of
Satan, and ** the executioner of consciences."* He be-
trayed similar doubts and inconsistencies as to the num-
ber of the sacraments instituted by Christ. He stood on
the brink of a precipice, and yielded at times to dizziness,
ere he took the fatal leap from the summit level of Catho-
licity, into the yawning abyss, the boiling and hissing noise
of whose troubled waters already grated on his ears !

But his disciples were not so scrupulous. They boldly
rejected five out of the seven sacraments, and even strip-
ped the two they retained — baptism and theLord's Sup-
per — of every life giving principle. They did not any
longer view them as the channels of grace, through which
the waters of life eternal flow into the soul of the Christian.
This they rejected with horror as a popish superstition.
They denied that the sacraments had, from the design
and institution of Christ, any intrinsic efficacy whatever :
they were the mere external symbols of a grace, which
they were not the instruments for imparting. They were
mere signs and figures, lifeless in themselves, and usefu
and available, only through and in proportion to the faith
and other acts, of the recipient. In fact they were brought
down, in every respect, to a level with the ancient Jewish

* See his Treatise— De ratione confitend!, Tom. >i, edit. Altenb
Tom. i, opp. edit. Jena.
18*

210 d'audione*s history reviewed.

types and figures; and like them, they were mere "weak
and needy elements."*

They were even inferior to these, in point of appro-
priateness and significancy, as figures. Was not the Jew-
ish eating of the paschal lamb ** of one year old and with-
out stain," a much more lively and appropriate type of the
death of Christ — *' the Lamb of God who takes away the
sins of the world" — than the symbols of mere bread and
wine ? What aptitude is there, in fact, in bread to be a
figure of flesh, or even in wine which is often colorless, to
be a figure of blood ? Had Christ intended a mere figure,
would be not have selected more appropriate emblems?
Did he mean to bring back the Christian religion, which
he watered with his own blood, to the mere standard of
Judaism — did he mean to lower it even beneath this stan-
dard ? Did he institute a religion, the distinguishing ordi-
nances of which should be nothing more substantial than
the Jewish tropes and figures ? Was it to be still enveloped
in that dense mist which had overhung the ark of the cove-
nant, and the institutions of the Jewish religion ? Or did
he not rise, as '* the Sun of Justice," to chase away
those mists which darkened the twilight of the Jewish types,
and to usher in the clear, cloudless day of living and
breathing realities?

Luther had retained indeed a belief in the real presence,
blended, however, with the palpable absurdity of consub-
stantiation, by which he maintained the simultaneous
presence of the substances of the bread and wine with the
body of Christ. But even the disciples of the reformer
have long since rejected this monstrous system. After
six different modifications of their creed on the subject, to
suit the tastes or to meet the objections of the Sacramen-
tarians, they have at length quietly coalesced with their
former opponents ; and the doctrine of the real presence
has thus grown almost, if not entirely, obsolete among

* Galatiaiis, iv^ 9.

EFFECTS OF THE REFORM ON WORSHIP. 211

Protestants.* Thus throughout the land of Protestant-
ism this beautiful doctrine, which gives a sublime charac-
ter to the Catholic worship, and is a key to all its magni-
ficent ceremonials, has been utterly banished. The Pro-
testant church and worship are no longer ennobled and
vivified by this life-giving presence of the Word made
flesh. Christ is banished from his holy temple : he is no
longer in the midst " of the children of men," where he
ere while delighted to dwell. And Protestantism presents,
in its bleak and dreary waste, a sad proof of his absence !
It is a land "of closed churches and hushed bells, of un-
lighted altars and unstoled priests !"t

No — its condition is yet more deplorable. It has not
even " unlighted altars:" it has no altars at all. Its
altars fell under the same fell stroke which annihilated its
sacrifice : *' Sacrifice and oblation is cut off from the
house of the Lord ; the priests, the Lord's ministers,
have mourned ; the country is destroyed ; the land hath
mourned. "J This land of mourning, from which even
*' the priests, the Lord's ministers," have been banished,
has been reposing for ** many days" "without sacrifice,
and without altar, and without ephod, and without thera-
phim."§

Where is there to be found, in the land of Protestant-
ism, that clean oblation foretold by God's holy prophet:
*' for from the rising of the sun, even to the going down,
my name is great among the gentiles, and in every place
there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean
oblation; for my name is great among the gentiles, saith
the Lord of hosts ?"|| Where that altar which St. Paul

* For a full and well written account of these variations of Lutiier-
anism on the subject of the eucharist, and for an account of the singular
manner of the coalition indicated in the text, see Moore's "Travels of
an Irish Gentleman," &,c. p. 202 and p. 193.

t W. Faber (a Protestant), " Sights and Thoughts in foreign
Churches."

X Joel i, 9, 10. § Ogea iii, 4. || Malachy i, 2.

212 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

assures us the early Christians had: "We have an altar
whereof they have no power to eat who serve the taberna-
cle ?"* Until Protestantism appeared, with its blighting
influence on worship, who ever heard of a religion, Chris-
tian, or even pagan, the very essence of which did not
consist in an external sacrifice ? In this respect Protest-
antism hRS protested against the unanimous voice of man-
kind. And we have already seen from ivhoin Luther first
learned the reasons for this protest, and how eagerly he
seized and acted on them.t

With the sacrifice, the priesthood, and the altar, fell
also the splendid worship with which they were connected.
Protestants, even those of Germany, are now beginning
to appreciate and to deplore this desecration of God's
holy sanctuary, and this desolation of his vineyard ; and
their voice of wailing has been re-echoed by the Puseyites
in England. We will give a few instances of this splen-
did tribute paid, by late Protestant writers in Germany,
to the substance and forms of the splendid old Catholic
worship.

Isidore, Count Von Loeben, exclaims : ''Admirable cer-
emonial, replete with harmony ! It is the diamond which
glitters on the crown of faith ! Whoever has a poetic
spirit must feel a tendency to Catholicism !"J Elsewhere
he says : ** The Catholic church, with its ever open door,
with its undying lamps, with its joyful or mournful strains,
its hosannas or its lamentations, its hymns, its masses, its
festivals and reminiscences, resembles a mother, who ever
holds forth her arms to receive the prodigal child. It is a
fountain of sweet water, around which are assembled mul-
titudes, to imbibe vigor, health, and life."§

Another German Protestant breaks forth into this ex-
clamation : " How beautiful is its music ! How it ad-
dresses both mind and sense ! Those melodious notes

* Heb. xiii, 10. f Supra, chap. 1.

X In his Lotosblitter, 1817. § Ibid. p. 1.

EFFECTS OF THE REFORM ON WORSHIP. 213

and voices, those canticles which breathe so pure a spirit-
uality, those clouds of incense, those chimes which a dis-
dainful philosophy condescends to despise — all these
please God. Architects and sculptors ! you have acted
wisely, and ennobled your art, by raising churches to the
Divinity."*

Another, E. Spindler, thus praises a beautiful custom
peculiar to Catholicity : ** It is not only an ancient, but a
beautiful custom, to encircle the graves of the dead on the
first and second of November. The peasants of the vil-
lages hasten to the cemeteries : they kneel by a wooden
cross, or other such funeral oinaments. They think on
the past, on the shortness of human life. Then the de-
parted are crowned with flowers, to signify the life that
will never end. The lamp burns to remind us of the light
which shall never be obscured !"t

Another relates the following touching anecdote: *' I
saw also a Franciscan kneeling before a fresco painting of
Christ on the walls of the cloister, which was admirable
for its truth and beauty of expression. On hearing me
approach, he rose up. * Father, that is really beautiful.'
* Yes ; but the original is still more so,' said the monk,
smiling. * Then why make use of a material image in
prayer!' 'I see,' said he, ' that you are a Protestant;
but do you not see that the arlist modulates and ennobles
the fantasies of my own imagination ? Have you not
always experienced that this faculty calls up a thousand
different forms .^ Permit me to prefer, when there is
question of images, the work of a great master to the cre-
ation of my own fancy.' I was silent," concludes the
writer.:}:

In one of his works, § Clausen, another Protestant, pays
the following willing tribute to the encouragement of con-
tinual prayer by the Catholic church: "When a poor

* Labn. Syst. Theol. p. 205. f Zeitspiegel, 1791.

X Ch. Fr. D. Schubart— Leben urid Gesinnun^^en— Stuttgart. 1791.

§ P. 790. Apud Audin, p. 331.

214 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

pilgrim, wearied with fatigue, but light of heart, kneels
on the altar steps to thank Him M'ho has watched over him
during a long and perilous journey ; when a distracted
mother comes into the temple to pray for the recovery of
her son, whom the physicians have given over; when in
the evening, just as the last rays of the sun steal through
the stained glass on the figure of a young female engaged
in prayer, when the flickering lights of the tapers die
away on the pale lips of the clergy, as they chaunt the
praises of the Eternal : — tell me, does not Catholicism
teach us that life should be one long prayer, that art and
science ought to combine to glorify God, and that the
church, where so many canticles are simultaneously
hymned forth, where devotion puts on all conceivable
forms, has a right to our love and respect ?"

Finally, another thus openly censures the intemperate
vandalism of the reformers in destroying the most beauti-
ful portions of Catholic worship : ** How blind were our
reformers ! While destroying the greater part of the alle-
gories of the Catholic church, they believed that they
were making war on superstitions ! It was the abuse they
ought to have proscribed.''* The famous Novalis in fact
says that ** Luther was not acquainted with the spirit of
Christianity."! Thus have the children borne testimony
against their fathers in the faith !±

It is related of Frederick II, king of Prussia, that after
having assisted at a solemn high mass celebrated in the
church of Breslau by cardinal Zinzendorf, he remarked :
*' The Calvinists treat God as an inferior, the Lutherans,
as an equal; but the Catholics treat him as God." And
though this is perhaps too strong an expression of the dif-
ference between the Catholic and the Protestant forms of
worship ; yet this dift'erence is very great and striking

* Fessler — Theresia 2, p. 101.

t " Luther verkannte den geist des Christenthums."
X For more testimonies of Protestants on this subject, see Jul. H6-
ninghaus " Das Resultat meiner vvanderungen" — Aschalfenburg, 1S35.

EFFECTS OF THE REFORM ON WORSHIP. 215

even to the most superficial or prejudiced observer. Who
has not been impressed with the grandeur, the solemnity,
and the noble dignity of the Catholic ceremonial ? Who
has not felt a sentiment of reverence and of awe come over
him, when, at the most solemn part of this service, the
peal o( the organ ceases, the voice of music is hushed, and,
while clouds of incense are ascending, the priests, the
ministers and the people fall prostrate in silent prayer be-
fore the altar, on which the Lamb is present '* as it were
slain ?" Who has not felt a thrill of rapturous emotion,
when, after this solemn moment has passed, the music
again breaks forth, mingling joyous with solemn notes, and
pouring forth a stream of melody on the soul ! Who has not
been struck with the pathetic simplicity, the unction, and
noble grandeur of the Gregorian chaunt, especially in the
preface of the Pater Noster ! And who has not marked
the reverent avv^ with which Catholics are wont to assist
at the service, as well as the general respect they pay to
the church of God !

In Catholic countries the church is ever open, inviting
the faithful to enter at all hours, and to pour forth their
joys or their sorrows before the altar. And in Rome par-
ticularly, enter any one of its three hundred and fifty
churches at what hour you may, you will always find some
persons kneeling, engaged in secret prayer. The Catho-
lic worship is not confined to Sundays: it is the business
of every daj, and there is accordingly a special service
for every day in the year. The constant round of festi-
vals presents to the minds of the people, with dramatic
effect, the most interesting portions of sacred history, as
well as the most striking incidents in the lives of the
Blessed Virgin and of the saints : and the necessary result
is, to keep these things constantly fresh in the memory.
Finally, the Catholic is bound by the law of his church to
assist at divine service, and to hear mass every Sunday
and festival of the year, and thus he comes constantly
under all those strong beneficial influences of his religion.

216 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

And if, notwithstanding all these advantages, he is still
recreant to the voice of conscience and of duty, it is surely
from no lack of provision for his spiritual culture on the
part of the church. She shows herself, in every respect,
the tender and solicitous mother.

Do the multiplied forms of worship introduced by the
reformation possess these advantages ; or do they combine
these happy influences ? To begin with that last named
above : is it not a saddening reflection, that in Protestant
countries, no obligation is felt to attend divine service,
even on Sundays ^ Take London for an example of this.
According to Colquhoun's statistical views of that Pro-
testant metropolis, out of nearly fifteen hundred thousand
inhabitants, about one-third, or five hundred thousand iiever
attend church ; and another third attend it only occa-
sionally ! Of the remaining third, who attend regularly,
more than half are Roman Catholics.

True, in our own country the case is somewhat differ-
ent: but it is only because here Protestantism has not yet
produced, at least to the same extent, the evil fruits of
religious indifference and of infidelity, which it has never
failed to yield in countries where it has been long estab-
lished. But even here it is daily pioducing them more
and more; and each succeeding generation will necessa-
rily deteriorate. Look at Boston and N. York, where
infidelity has already boldly raised its standard. It is
only by almost limiting religious service to the Sunday —
miscalled the Sabhath — and by continued efforts through
the press and the pulpit to keep up even an exaggerated
and Jewish feeling of reverence for this da^^ among the
people, that any thing like regular attendance on Sunday
service is obtained.

In fact, according to the gloomy ideas attached by cus-
tom to the *' Sabbath" day, the people, after having la-
bored constantly* through the six days of the week, have
no other place of social meeting but at the meeting house;
and they have no alternative but to repair thither, or to

EFFECTS OF THE REFORM ON WORSIIIF. 217

sit down moodily and inertly at home. And we have no
doubt, that it is to these causes, and to the cutting off of
all sources of popular amusement, as much at least as to
zeal for religious worship, that we are to attribute the fre-
quenting of the Protestant places of public service in the
United States.

But is this service in itself inviting or impressive ? Has
it any thing in it to stir up the deep fountains of feeling,
to call forth the music and poetry of the soul ; to convey
salutary instruction, or to awaken lively interest ? We
would not speak lightly or irreverently on a subject so
grave: but with due deference to the feelings of our dis-
sentient brethren, we must express the conviction, that
their service is sadly deficient in solemnity, and in feel-
ing; and that it possesses not one trait of grandeur or
sublimity. It has not one element of poetry or of pathos.
Generally cold and lifeless, it becomes warm only by a
violent effort, and then it runs into the opposite extreme
of intemperate excitement.

Can its music, with its loud, multiplied and discordant
sounds, compare with the grave and solemn melody of the
Catholic worship ? Can its long extemporaneous prayers,
pronounced by a minister dressed in his every -day attire,
and often interrupted by the sharp amens and discordant
groans of his hearers, compare, for solemnity and effect,
with that which is poured forth by the priest at the altar,
robed in the venerable uniform of eighteen hundred years'
standing, and which is accompanied by those of the people
uttered in the hushed stillness of secret devotion? For
our parts, we greatly prefer calm composure and sanctu-
ary quietude in the church, to noisy prayer and almost
boisterous excitement. The Lord does not usually com-
municate himself in the whirlwind, or in the earthquake,
or in the raging fire ; but in the breathing of the gentle
breeze.*

* See iii Book of Kin^.^, ch. xix, v. 11, 12. In Prof, version, i Book
Kings.

218 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

Again, in Catholic countries there is no pew system.
The rich and the poor, the prince and the beggar, the re-
fined princess and the lowlj peasant girl — kneel side by
side on the same pavement, and at the foot of the same
altar. There is no distinction there in the house of God.
Is it so in Protestant countries ? Has not the pew system,
with all its invidious distinctions of rank, with its luxuri-
ous and splendidly cushioned seats, more suited for lolling
than for prayers, obtained universally wherever Protest-
antism has been established ? And has not the natural
and necessary effect been, to introduce worldly notions
even into the house of God ; and to make church-going a
matter of fashion and respectability ? Do not many people
inquire, before they embrace a religion, which is the most
respectable church ?

True, in countries where Protestants are most nume-
rous. Catholics likewise have often, we humbly think very
unfortunately, borrowed the invidious system from their
neighbors : but candor will allow, that among them it is
not pushed to the same extreme as among Protestants. It
is strongly counteracted in its evil tendencies among them
by the spirit of their church.

The Catholic ceremonial has been designed and
planned on a grand scale: it exhibits to the best ad-
vantage in the largest churches ; it has the most im-
pressive and sublime effect in such temples as St. Mary
Major's and St. Peter's. The Protestant service, on the
contrary, is as contracted in its nature, as it is meager
in its details, and cold and unimpressive in its general
effect. It is wholly out of place in a very extensive
church. In St. Paul's church, in London, it is confined
to one segment of the centre aisle : the other portions of
the church are utterly useless. So it is in the splendid old
cathedrals of England, Ireland, and Scotland, built by our
Catholic forefathers on the grand scale of the Catholic
worship, but now occupied as Protestant meeting-houses.
In the Protectant service every thing is for the ear, and

EFFECTS OF THE REFORM ON WORSHIP. 219

almost nothing for the eye: in the Catholic, all the senses
are addressed, and enchained.

In nothing does the immense distinction between the
Catholic and the Protestant forms of worship appear more
strikingly, than in the marked difterence in the structure,
beauty, and ornaments of the churches in which they are
respectively exhibited. Where, for instance, in the land
of Protestantism, will you find one church to compare in
beauty and sublimity with St. Peter's at Rome ? It is an
architectural monument as old as Protestantism, and much
more stable and permanent ! It has seen hundreds of sects
arise, create excitement for a day, and then die away ;
while itself has continued in unfading beauty — the sub-
lime emblem of unchanging and undying Catholicity !
Not one of its stones has started from its place : not one
of its pillars has been shaken ; not one of its arches has
been broken! It stands up in all the vigor and freshness
of youth — a suitable type of the ever blooming and virgin
spouse of Christ, " without spot, without wrinkle, without
blemish."* Enter its portals, and your soul swells, and
becomes *' as colossal as the edifice itself:" you involun-
tarily exclaim : ** truly, this is the house of God and the
gate of heaven!" The fine arts have here been lavish of
their tribute to religion and to God : and they speak
silently, but eloquently, of the principles of Christ, of
his apostles, and of his saints. Why have these lovely
arts been banished from the Protestant churches ?

To gladden the nations again ?

O when shall the flame of sweet charity burn.

To warm the cold bosoms of men ?

When the angel of vengeance hath sheathed his sword.
And his vials have drenched the land :
When the pride of the sophist hath bent to the Lord,
And trembled beneath his strong hand."

* Ephesians, chap, v.

CHAPTER X.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORMATION ON THE EIBLE^, ON BIBLE
READING, AND BIBLICAL STUDIES.

*' By various texts we both uphold our claim,

Nay, often ground our lilies on the same ;

After long labors lost and time's expense,

Both grant the words, and quarrel for the sense.

Thus all disputes forever must depend,

For no dumb rule can controversies end."— Drj/ffen.

" Mark you this, Bassanio :
The devil can cite scripture for his purpose." — Shakspeare.

Protestant boastings — Theory of M. D'Aubigne — Luther finds a Bible
— How absurd! — The "chained Bible" — Seckendorf versus D'Au-
bigne — The Catholic church and the Bible — The Latin Language —
Vernacular versions before Luther's — In Germany — In Italy — In
France — In Spain — In England — In Flanders — In Sclavonia — In
Sweden — In Iceland — Syriac and Armenian versions — Summary and
Inference — Polyglots — Luther's false assertion — Reading the Bible
— Fourth rule of the index — A religious vertigo remedied — More
harm than good — Present discipline — A common slander — Protestant
versions — Mutual compliments — V^ersion of king James — The Doway
and Vulgate Bibles — Private interpretation — German Rationalism —
Its blasphemies — Rationalism in Geneva.

Our inquiry into tlie influence of the reformation on
religion would be incomplete, without some examination
of the extent of this influence on the Bible, and on the
general diffusion of Biblical learning;. It is one of the
proudest boasts of the reformation, to have rescued the
Bible from the obscurity to which the Roman Catholic
church had consigned it; to have first translated it into
the vernacular tongues; and to have opened its hitherto
concealed treasures of heavenly wisdom to the body of the

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON THE BIBLE. 221

people. These pretensions have been so often and so
confidently repeated, as to have passed current for the
truth, even with many persons of sincerity and informa-
tion. And so firm is the conviction of many, that the
Catholic church studiously concealed the sacred writings
from the multitude, and that the reformers brought them
out " fmm under the bushel" to be a light to the nations ;
that it is exceedingly difficult to remove it, even by the
sternest facts and the most overwhelming evidence.

The theory of M. D'Aubigne on this subject is indeed
strange, but it has not the merit of novelty. IMany a cre-
dulous and drivelling theologaster had often before woven
the same tissue of absurd speculation. According to our
historian of the reformation, Luther owed his first conver-
sion to Christianity to an accidental discovery of the Bible
in the Library of the University at Erfurth. '* One day''
(he had been two years at Erfurth, and was twenty years
of age) " he was opening the books in the library one after
another, in order to read the names of the authors. One
which he opened in its turn drew his attention : he, had not
seen any thing like it till that hour : he reads the title, it
is a Bible, a rare book, zmJcnown at that time! His in-
terest is strongly excited: he is filled with astonishment
at finding more in this volume than those fragments of the
gospels and epistles, which the church has selected to be
read to the people in their places of worship every Sunday
in the year. Till then he had thought that they were the
whole v/ord of God. And here are so many pages, so
many chapters, so many books, of which he had no idea !
His heart beats as he holds in his hand all the scripture
divinely inspired. With eagerness and indescribable feel-
ings he turns over those leaves of the word of God. The
first page that arrests his attention, relates the history of
Hannah and the young Samuel."*

He then relates, how the young Luther piously re-

* Vol. i, p. 131.
19*

2^2 " d'aubigne's history reviewed.

solved to imitate the devotedness of the young Samuel;
and continues: *' the Bible that had filled him with such
transport was in Latin. He soon returned to the library
to find his treasure again. He read and re-read, and then
in his surprise and joy went back to read again. The
first gleams of a new truth then arose in his mind. Thus
has God caused him to find his holy word ! He has now
discovered the book of which he is one day to give to his
countrymen that admirable translation, in which the Ger-
mans for three centuries have read the oracles of God. For
the first time, perhaps, this precious volume has been re-
moved from the place that it occupied in the library of
Erfurth. This book, deposited on the unknown shelves
of a dark room, is soon to become the book of life for a
whole nation. The reformation lay hid in that Bible."*
This was not however the only Bible he had the good
fortune to find : for after he had entered the convent of
Augustinians at Erfurth, ** he found another Bible fastened
by a cha]n."t

M. D'Aubigne professes to borrow all this fine history
from Mathesius, a disciple and an ardent and credulous
admirer of liUther, and from M. Adam, another biogra-
pher of the reformer. It is a story absurd enough in all
conscience, and too clumsily contrived even for a well
digested romance. What ? Are we to believe that Luther,
at the age of twenty, did not know that there was a Bible,
until he chanced to discover one in the library at Erfurth ?
And that until then he piously believed, that the whole
scriptures were comprised in that choice selection of gos-
pels and epistles, read on Sunday and festivals in the
church service ? He, too, a young man of great talent and
promise, who had successively attended the schools of
Mansfeld, Eisenach and Magdeburg, and had already
been two years at the university of Erfurth ! Credat Ju-
dseus Jlpella ! The thing is utterly incredible, and stamped,

* Ibid. p. 132. t I'-^id- r- 1^1-

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON THE BIBLE. 223

with absurdity on its very face. Luther must have been
singularly stupid indeed, had he remained thus ignorant.
And then the idea intended to be conveyed by the chained
Bible ! Would the good monks have enchained it, unless
it had been in such demand with the people as to endan-
ger its safety .^ In that early stage of the art of printing,
all books were much more scarce and more highly prized
than at present; and perhaps then, as now, borrowed
books were seldoin returned to the owner.

M. D'Aubigne in the course of his history repeatedly
quotes Seckendorf, the biographer and great admirer of
Luther. Did he never chance to read in the first book of
this writer's "'Commentaries on Lutheranism," a passage
in which he states, that three distinct editions of the Bible,
translated into German^ were published at Wiftemberg, in
1470, 1483, and 1490 : one of them seven years before
the birth of Luther, another in the very year of his birth,
and a third seven years thereafter?* And all these in the
immediate vicinity of Luther's birth place; not to men-
tion another edition, which the same author assures us,t
was published not far distant, — at Augsburg, in 1518,
just one year after Luther had turned reformer, and
twelve years before he published his own German version
of the Bible ! How could M. D'Aubigne avoid seeing this
passage in his own favorite historian for reference : and if
he saw it, what are we to think of his honesty in wholly
concealing it, and even in stating what is plainly contra-
dicted by it — that " the Bible was then an unknown
book ;" and that Luther never saw it till his 20th year ?

The Bible then an unknown book! Who preserved this
book during the previous fifteen hundred years ? From
whom did the reformers receive it .^ Who kept it safe
through all dangers; in the midst of conflagrations, wars,
and the torrents of barbarian incursion ? Who copied it

* Commentarii in Luther. Lib. I, sec. 51. § cxxv. p. 204.
t Ibid.

224 d'aubigne's history revievved.

over and again, before the art of printing ? The Roman
Catholic church did all this: and yet she is to be accused
of having concealed this book of life from the people ! But
for her patient labor, vigilant watchfulness, and maternal
solicitude, the Bible miglit have perished with thousands
of other books : and yet she, forsooth, was an. enemy of
this book, and wished to keep it under a bushel ! She
read choice selections from it to her people every Sunday
and festival, even according to the avowfd of her bitterest
enemy, M. D'Aubigne; and yet she wished to conceal
this treasure from the people ! A curious way of conceal-
ing it, truly !

But perhaps she preserved it in the Latin tongue only,
and was opposed to its general circulation in the living
languages of Europe. She did no such thing, as we shall
presently see ; though even if she had done this, she would
not have concealed the Bible from the people. The Latin
language continued to be that which was most generally
understood, and even spoken in Europe, until the reign
of Charlemagne, in the beginning of the ninth century:
and even for several centuries afterwards, it continued to
be very generally known, while the modern languages
were strujro-linfj; into form. At the beo-inning of the six-
teenth century, and for a long time afterwards, it was the
only language of literature, of theology, of medicine, anti'
of legislation. Most of the modern languages of Europe
were formed from it, and were so similar to it both in
words and in general structure, that the common people
of Italy, Spain, Portugal, and even France, could under-
stand that mother tongue without great ditFiculty. In
Hungary, it had been the common language of the people
since the da^'s of king Stephen, in the tenth century. It
was taught and studied in every school and college of
Christendom, and it was the medium through which most
other branches were taught. It was, then, at the time of
the reformation, a language which was very commonly un-
derstood in Europe. Therefore, even if the Catholic

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON THE BIBLE. 225

church had given the Bible to the people only in the Latin
vuIgate, she would not have concealed it; lior would it
have remained "an unknovvn book.*' It is a notorious
fact, that one of the first books published after the inven-
tion of the art of printing, was the Latin Bible.*

But it is well ascertained, that long before the reformat
tion of Luther, the people of almost every country in Europe
had the Bible in their own vernacular tong-ues. In most
nations, there was not only one, but there were many dif-
ferent versions.

We begin with Germany, the theatre of the reformation.
We have already seen the testimony of Seckendorf on the
subject. The Germans had no less than Jive different
versions of the scriptures into their own language; of
which three were previous to that of Luther in 1530 ; and
two were contemporary with, or immediately subsequent
to it. The oldest was that made by Ulphilas, bishop of
the Meeso- Goths (now Wallachians), as early as the mid-
dle of the fourth century .t This version seems to have
been used for several centuries by many of the older Go-
thic and German Christians. The second version was
that into Teutonic ascribed to Charlemagne (beginning
of ninth century), probably because it was made by some
learned inan under his direction. Besides, there was a
very old rhythmical paraphrase of the four gospels, much
used in Germany from the time of the first emperor Louis.

The third German version was a translation from the
Latin vulgatebysome person unknown, an edition of which
was printed as early as the year 1466: two copies of this
edition are still preserved in the senatorial library at licip-
sic. Before the appearance of the German Bible of Lu-
ther, the version last named had been republished in Ger-
many at least sixteen times : once at Strasburg, five times

* Hallam proves that it was tlie first book printed, probably in the
year 1455. — " History of Literature," sup. cit. vol. 1, p. 96.
t See Home's Introduction, vol. ii, p. 240-5.

226 d*aubigne's history reviewed.

at Nureraburg, and ten times at Augsburg. These various
editions often claimed to be new versions, in consequence
of the improvements they professed to have introduced '
into the original version of 146G. This was particularly
the case with the edition published at Augsburg in 1477",
and also with that at Nuremburg in 1483, which latter
was embellished with numerous wood-cuts.

Thus, before the publication of Luther's translation,
there had been in Germany no less than three distinct
versions, the last of which had passed through at least
seventeen different editions. Add to these the three
editions of Wittemberg, and the one at Augsburg, men-
tioned by Seckendorf above, and not included in this esti-
mate, and we ascertain that the Bible had already been
reprinted in the German language no le?s than twenty-one
times, before liUther's appeared.*

In 1534, John Dietemberg published his new German
translation from the Latin vulgate at Mayence, under the
auspices of the arch-bishop and elector, Albert. It passed
through upwards of twenty editions in the course of a hun-
dred years, four of which appeared at Mayence, and seven-
teen at Cologne. The style of it was somewhat unpolished,
but it was esteemed a faithful translation. In 1 537, another
Catholic version appeared under the supervision of Doc-
tors Emser and Eck, the two learned champions of Catho-

* These facts, and those that will follow on the same subject, are all
established by the learned De Long, in his Bibliotheca Sacra (torn. 1, p.
854 seqq. edit. Paris 1723). They are also proved by a Calvin ist writer,
David Clement, librarian to the king of Prussia, in his Bihlioiheque
Curieuse, &c. (9 vols. 4to. Gottingen 1750). See also Geddes' "Pros-
pectus for a New Translation," 4to. p. 103 seqq., and Audin's " Life of
Luther," p. 216 seqq. for many of these facts. Also a learned article
on the subject in the 2d No. of the Dublin Review, where most of the
facts we have alleged, or will allege, are clearly proved. The writer of
this paper has however omitted Seckendorf 's statement : and he like-
wise supposes that Luther's version appeared only in 1534; whereas
from Seckendorf 's detailed account of it, it would seem to have beeu
completed in 1530.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON THE BIBLE. 227

licity against Luther. This version likewise passed
through many editions.

While on the subject of German Bibles, we maj here
remark, though it does not come exactly within our present
plan, that Gaspar Ulenberg published a new version in
1630; and that during the last forty years, several other
new versions have appeared in Catholic Germany, of
which those of Schwartzel and Brentans are the most
popular.

The facts already stated prove how utterly unfounded
and recklessly false is the statement of M. D'Aubigne,
that before the reformation " the Bible was an unknown
book." They demonstrate triumphantly, that the Catho-
lics of Germany were much more zealous in the circula-
tion of the scriptures, than the self-styled reformers, with
all their boasting and that of their friends.

But we will pursue this line of argument still farther,
and prove, on the unquestionable authorities referred to
above, that other Catholic countries were not behind Ger-
many in the will to translate the scriptures into the ver-
nacular tongues, and to circulate them among the people.
In fact, there is not a country in Europe in which the
Bible had not been repeatedly translated and published
long before the reformation.

In Italy, there were two versions anterior to that of
Luther : that by the Dominican, Jacobus a Voragine, arch-
bishop of Genoa, which version, according to the testimony
of Sixtus Senensis,* was completed as early as 1290; and
that by Nicholas Malermi, a Camalilolese monk, which
was first printed at Rome and Venice in the same year,
1471; and which had passed through thirteen different edi-
tions before the year 1525. This was also reprinted eight
times more before the year 1567, with the express permis-
sion of the Santo Uffizio. Almost simultaneously with
that of Luther, there appeared two other Italian transla-

* Bibliolheca sacra, Tom. 1, p. 397.

228 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

tlons of the Bible: that by Antonio Bruccioli* in 1532,
which in twenty years passed through ^e?i editions ; and
that by Santes Marmochino, which was printed at Venice
in 1538, 1546, and 1547.

The oldest French version of the Bible was that byDes
Moulins, whose ** Bible Historyal" — almost a complete
translation of the Bible — appeared, according to Usher,
about the year 1478. A new edition of it, corrected by
Rely, bishop of Angers, was published in 1487, and was
successively reprinted sixteen different times before the
year 1546: four of these editions appeared at Lyons, and
twelve at Paris. In 1512, Le Fevre published a new French
translation, which passed through many editions. A re-
vision of the version was made by the divines of Lou vain,
in 1550, and was reprinted in France and Flanders,
thirty-nine times before the year 1700. More re-
cently, a great variety of new Catholic versions have
appeared in France; of which those by De Sacy, Cor-
bin, Amelotte, Maralles, Godeau, and liure, are tiie most,
celebrated.

According to Mariana, the great Spanish historian, the
Bible was translated into Castilian by order of Alphonso
the Wise. The whole Bible was translated into the Va-
lencian dialect of the Spanish, in the year 1405, by Boni-
face Ferrier, brother of St. Vincent Ferrier. It was
printed in 1478, and reprinted in 1515, ivith the formal
consent of the Spanish Inquisition. In 1512 the Epistles
and Gospels were translated into Spanisli by Ambrosio de
Montesma. This work was republished at Antwerp in
1544, at Barcelona in 1601 and 1608, and at Madrid in
1603 and 1615.

In England, besides the version by* the venerable Bede
in the eighth century, and that partial one of the Psalms

* It is but fair to say, that tliis version was deemed inaccurate, and
was subsequently suppressed by the competent authorities, with the
consent of tho author. Marmochino corrected its faults.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON THE BIBLE. 229

ascribed to Alfred the Great* in the ninth, there was a
full translation of the whole Bible into the English of that
period, finished about the year 1290, long before the ver-
sion of WicklifFe in the fifteenth century.

In the year 706, Adhelm, first bishop of Salisbury, ac-
cording to the testimony of the Protestant biblicist Horn,
translated the Psalter into Saxon. At his persuasion also,
Egbert, bishop of Lindisfarne, translated the four Gos-
pels. In the fourteenth century, a new English version of
the whole Bible was made by John de Trevisa. In the
year 995, Elfric, archbishop of Canterbury, translated
into English the Pentateuch, Joshua, Job, the Judges,
Ruth, part of the books of Kings, Esther, and the Macca-
bees.t

The Bible was translated into Flemish, as UsherJ ad-
mits, by Jacobus Merland, before the year 1210. Tliis
version was printed at Cologne in 1475, and passed
through seven new editions before the appearance of Lu-
ther's Bible in 1530. The Antwerp edition was repub-
lished eight times in the short space of seventeen years.
AVithin thirty years there were also published, at Antwerp
alone, no less than ten editions of the New Testament
tianslated by Cornelius Kendrick in 1524. In the course
of the seventeenth century there appeared in Flanders
new Catliolic versions by De Wit, Laemput, Schum, and
others. All these were repeatedl}' republished.

A Sclavonian version of the Bible was published at
Cracow in the beginning of the sixteenth century. In
the fourteenth century the Bible was translated into Swe-
dish, by the direction of St. Bridget. According to the
testimony of Jonas Arnagrimus, a disciple of the distin-
guished Tycho Brahe, a translation of the Bible was made

* The venerable Bede died in 735, immediately after having finished
his translation of St. John's Gospel, which completed his version of the
Scriptures.

t Cf. Bishop Kenrick's " Theologia Dogmatica," vol. i, p. 426.

X A learned Protestant historian, especially in regard to dates.
20

230 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

in Iceland as earlj as 1279. A Bohemian Bible appeared
at Prague in 1488, and passed through three other differ-
ent editions, at Cutna in 1498, and at Venice in 1506
and 1511.

Finally, to complete this hastj summary of facts, we
may here state, as an evidence of the solicitude of Rome
for the. dissemination of the Bible, that many editions of
Syriac and Arabic Bibles have been printed at Rome and
Venice for the use of the oriental churches in communion
with the Roman Catholic church. A translation of the
Bible into Ethiopic was published at Rome as early as
1548. The famous convent of Armenian monks, called
Mechiteristi, at Venice, so often visited by travellers, has
published exquisitely beautiful versions of the Bible trans-
lated into Armenian.

From this mass of facts— and we have not given all
that might be alleged on the subject — it clearly appears
that the Catholic church had exhibited a most commenda-
ble zeal for the dissemination of the Scriptures among the
people, long before the reformation had been heard of.
This evidence of stubborn facts demonstrates how very
silly are the assertions of those Protestant writers who,
with M. D'Aubigne, would fain persuade the world that
we are indebted to the reformation for the knowledge and
general circulation of the Scriptures. And yet prejudice
or drivelling ignorance will probably still continue to
re-echo this unfounded assertion.

Before the appearance of Luther's version, in 1530,
there had existed in the diff'erent countries of Europe at
least tioentij two different Catholic versions, which, during
the seventy years intervening between 1460 and 1530,
had passed through at least seventy editions, or one for
each year ! ! And, simultaneously with Luther's Bible,
there appeared a great number of other Catholic versions,
all of which, as well as those previously in existence,
were frequently reprinted. And yet, in the face of all
these facts, we are still to be told that the Catholic church
concealed the Bible ! !

INTLTJEXCE OF THE REFORM ON THE BIBLE. 231

While on this subject, we may here remark that, of the
four famous Polyglot Bibles, the three most ancient were
published by Catholics. That by Cardinal Ximenes was
published at Alcala in Spain, in six volumes, folio, in the
year 1515, two years before the commencement of the
reformation. That of Antwerp was published in 1572,
and that of" Paris in 1645; while the latest of all, and
the only Protestant one, was published by Walton, in
London, only in the year 1658.

We say nothing of another Polyglot edition of the
Psalms, by Giustiniani, an Italian, who seems to have
been the first to conceive this splendid idea of illustrating
the sacred Scriptures by exhibiting, in parallel columns,
the original Hebrew and Greek, with the most ancient
and esteemed versions. His labor was, however, never
destined to seethe light; his manuscripts were lost in a
shipwreck near Leghorn ; and it was reserved to the mag-
nificent Ximenes to be the first to carry out this great con-
ception. He devoted many of the last years of his brill-
iant life to this great work. Valuable manuscripts in
Greek and Hebrew were procured in remote places, and
at immense expense : Ximenes himself collated them with
the assistance of a body of learned men ; and he finally-
put the finishing hand to his herculean labor. To him
are we indebted for this first great impulse given to bibli-
cal criticism and literature.

It is also worthy of remark that a learned Italian, Ber-
nardo de Rossi, towards the close of the last century, by
his single, unaided efforts, collected together more valua-
ble ancient Greek, and especially Hebrew, manuscripts
of the Bible, than Walton had been able to do, with his
immense resources and the co-operation of the British
and of other governments.*

It is also proper to state that, besides the version of the
Bible into the vernacular tongues of Europe referred to

* See Geddea' " Prospectus for a new translation," &c. 4to. Also
the works of Bernardo de Kossi, wlio died quite recently.

232 D AUBIGNb-S HISTORY REVIEWED.

above, there were, about the time of the reformation, va-
rious Latin versions made bj Catholics immediatelj from
the original Hebrew and Greek texts. These were en-
tirely distinct from the Latin Vulgate of St. Jerome.
The most famous were : — that by Santes Pagninus, pub-
lished at Florence and Lyons in 1528, which was a trans-
lation from the Hebrew ; and that of the Old Testament
by Cardinal Cajetan, which was a literal translation from
the Septuagint.* It is also well known that Leo X, to
promote biblical learning, established a professorship of
Hebrew in Rome, at the very dawn of the reformation.

Thus every department of biblical study was exten-
sively cultivated by the Catholic church, both before and
after the commencement of the reformation. Catholic
divines labored at least as much, and as successfully, in
these studies, as did the reformers, and at a much more
early period. Europe was filled with Bibles in almost
every language, and especially in Latin and the vernacu-
lar tongues.

With all these facts before us, we will be able to form
a correct judgment on the truth of the statement made by
Martin Luther himself in his Table Talk. '* Thirty years
ago the Bible was an unknown book : the Prophets were
not understood ; it was thought that they could not be
translated. I was twenty years old before I saw the
Scriptures : I thought that there was no other Gospel, no
other Epistles than those contained in the Postilla."t
He must either have been wondrously ignorant of what
was every where passing around him in the world; or he
must have wilfully misstated the facts of the case. Either
his character for knowledge or for veracity must suffer.

But we are still told that Catholics did not read the
Bible — that they were even prohibited to do so — before
the reformation. Who then purchased and read those

* Geddes, ibid.

t I'isch Reden, or Table Talk, p. 852, edit. Eislebeu. Apud Audin,
p. 390, 391.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON THE BIBLE. 233

seventy editions of the Bible in the vernacular tongues,
which were published before Luther had circulated one
copy of his German Bible ? Were they read only by the
priests ? But these all knew Latin, and had their Latin
Bibles. Think you that booksellers would have published
so many editions of a book which was not readily sold,
and extensively read ? Would a new edition have been
necessary each successive year, during the seventy which
preceded the appearance of Luther's Bible, unless each
edition, as it appeared, had been eagerly sought and
bought up ? Would any of our modern book publishers
reprint seventy successive yearly editions of a work which
was not generally read ?

But there was a prohibition by the church to read the
Bible. When, where, and by whom was that prohibition
made ? The annals of history are wholly silent as to any
restriction of the kind having been made, before the fla-
grant abuses of the Bible by the reformers and their dis-
ciples seemed to require some such regulation. The
church had indeed carefully guarded against the circula-
tion of inaccurate editions; and the suppression of the
Italian version by Bruccioli is an evidence of this wise
solicitude. But we no where find evidence of any re-
strictive law as to the readingof the Bible in the vernacu-
lar versions, until after the council of Trent had closed
its sessions in 1563.

A committee of learned divines, named by the council,
drew up a list or index of prohibited books, prefaced by
ten general regulations on the reading of them. The
fourth rule of the Index permits the reading ** of the
Bible translated into the vulgar tongues by Catholic au-
thors, to those only to whom the bishop or the inquisitor,
with the advice of the parish priests or confessors, shall
judge that such reading will prove more profitable unto
an increase of faith and piety, than injurious :" and it
assigns, as a reason for this restriction, "that experience
had made it manifest that the permission to read the Bi-

234 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

ble indiscriminately in the vulgar tongues had, /rowi the
rashness of men, done more harm than good."*

Such a disciplinary regulation was then deemed neces-
sary when the landmarks of the ancient faith had been
recklessly removed, and the Bible was wantonly per-
verted to support a hundred contradictory systems. In
that period of religious vertigo, men, " having an appear-
ance indeed of piety, but denying the power thereof,"
were " always learning, and never attaining to the know-
ledge of the truth ;"t ** according to their own devices, they
heaped up to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
and they turned away their hearing from the truth, and
were turned to fables :":j: they ** were like children,
tossed to and fro, and carried about by every wind of
doctrine, in the wickedness of men, in craftiness, by
which they lie in wait to deceive :"§ and not understand-
ing that in the Scriptures " are some things hard to be
understood,'' they " wrested them to their own perdi-
tion."|l In this emergency, when the very substance of
the faith was endangered, did it not behoove the church,
** which is the church of the living God, the pillar and
ground of the truth, "^ to raise her warning voice, and to
proclaim from the chair of Peter, with St. Peter himself,
that all should *' understand this first, that no prophecy
of the Scripture is made by private interpretation ;"** and
to re-echo through the religious world, thus shaken to \is
base, the solemn command of Christ " to hear the church,"
under the penalty of being reckoned ** with heathens and
publicans .^"tt

This is precisely what the church did ; and she thought
that she was compelled to this course by the sad '* expe-

* " Cum experiraento manifestura sit, si sacra biblia vulgari lingua
passim sine discrimiue permittantur, plus inde, ob hominum temerita-
tem, detrimenti quam utilitutis oriri." Kegula IV.

t 2 Tim. iii, 5—7. \ Ibid, iv, 3, 4. § Ephes. iv, 14.

II 2 Peter iii, G. IT 1 Tim. iii, 15. ** 2 Peter i, 20.

ft Matth.xviii, 17.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON THE BIBLE. 235

rience" of the evil vvoikings of the newly broached prin-
ciple of private interpretation. " It was not her fault,
but the fault of the times:" the *' rashness of men"
perverting the Scriptures of God to their own perdition,
was the cause of her enactment restrictins; the readinjr of
the Scriptures in the vulgar tongues. The principle of
private interpretation, applied to the Scriptures, had evi-
dently " done more harm than good;" for, whereas the
Bible manifestly contains and teaches but one religion, this
principle had extracted from it at least a hundred contra-
dictory ones ; and therefore it had obviously done at least
ninety-nine times "as much harm as good." So that the
reformation is alone to be blamed for this restrictive
policy on the part of the Catholic church ; and Protest-
ants should be the last persons in the world to reproach
to her as a fault, what the "rashness" alone of their
fathers in the faith occasioned.

But the enactment in question, besides not emanating
from the council itself, it having been made after the
council had closed its sessions, contained a mere disci-
plinary regulation, which was not every where received,*
and which has long since ceased to be of binding force in
any part of the Catholic church. The present discipline
requires only *' that the version be approved, and illus-
trated by commentaries from the fathers and other Cath-
olic writers."! Pope Pius VI, in a letter:}: to Anthony
Martini, the translator of the Italian version, now gene-
rally used in Italy, praises him for his undertaking, and
adds : ** for these (the Scriptures) are the most abundant
sources, which ought to he left open to every one, to draw
from them purity of morals and of doctrine. "§

* '- Sed ea disciplina nou ubique obtinuit." Bp. Kenrick, Theol.
Dogmatica, vol. i, p. 429. In this learned and excellent work will be
found many valuable Ijicts, of which we have already availed ourselves,
and on which we shall occasionally draw in the sequel. f J^^id.

t Written April 1, 1778.

§ Inserted in frontispiece of the Doway JBibk.

236 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

It is then plainly a slander to assert that the Catholic
church forbids the reading of the Scriptures. In the
United States, Catholics have published at least as many
editions of the Bible as any Protestant sect. These have
appeared in every form, from Haydock's splendid folio
Bible, in two volumes — an edition unequalled by any
Protestant Bible in the country — down to the octavo and
duodecimo editions. Several of these have been stereo-
typed: and they may be had in every Catholic book store
in the country, and may be found in most Catholic fami-
lies. In France, the great Bossuet distributed himself no
less than fifty thousand copies of the New Testament
translated into French by Amelotte."*

In speaking of the influence of the reformation on bib-
lical learning, we must say a few words— our limits wiU
allow but few — on the different Protestant versions.
These are as numerous, and almost as various, as the
sects from which they have emanated. The oldest is that
of Luther, in which, as soon as it appeared, the learned
Emser detected no less than a thousand glaring faults !
Luther became angry, and raged at this exposure of his
work by his learned antagonist, on whom he exhausted
his vocabulary of abusive epithets. He said, among other
pretty things, that " these popish asses were not able to
appreciate his labors."! Yet Seckendorf informs us that,
in his cooler moments, he availed himself of Emser's cor-
rections, and made many changes in his version.^

Still, however, Martin Bucer, a brother reformer, says
that •' his falls in translating and explaining the Scrip-
tures were manifest and not a few."§ Zuingle, another
leading reformer, after having examined it, openly pro-
nounced it a corruption of the word of God.[| It has now

* Robelot, Influence, &c. p. 3S9.

t Seckendorf, Coram. 1. i, sect. 52, § cxxvii, p. 210. | lb. ^ cxxii.
§ " Luiheri lapsus in verlcndis ct explanandu Scripturis manifestos esse
etnonpaucos." Eucer Dial, contra Melancthon.
II See Amicable Discussion, i, 129, note.

INFLITENCE OF THE REFORM ON THE BIBLE. Q.3T

grown obsolete even iu Gernianj. It is viewed as faulty
and insufficient in many respects. In 18S6, many Lu-
theran consistories called for its entire revision.*

We might also show that the translations made by the
other leading reformers were not more unexceptionable.
Luther returned with interest the compliment which
Zuingle had paid to his Bible. *' QEcolampndius and the
theologians of Basle made another version; but, accord-
ing to the famous Beza, it was impious in many parts :
the divines of Basle said the same of Beza's version. In
fact, adds Dumoulin, another learned minister, *' he
changes in it the text of Scripture ;" and speaking of
Calvin's translation, he says that ** Calvin does violence
to the letter of the Gospel, which he has changed, making
also additions of his own. The ministers of Geneva be-
lieved themselves obliged to make an exact version ; but
James I, king of England, in his conference at Hampton
court, declared that, of all the versions, it was the most
wicked and unfaithful."!

It is very difficult for men who have their own peculiar
religious notions to subserve, to translate fairly the sacred
text. An example of this is found in the manifestly sec-
tarian rendering of the words baptism and baptize, by im-
tnersion and immerse^ in the New Testament translated by
George Cambell, James Mc'Knight and Philip Doddridge,
and now extensively used by the new sect — which is

* See Audin, p. 215, for many authorities on this subject. Of Lu-
ther's version Mr. Hallam says : " The translation of the Old and New
Testament by Luther is more renowned for the purity of its German
idiom, than for its adherence to the original text. Simon has charged
him with ignorance of Hebrew ; and when we consider how late he
came to the knowledge of that or the Greek language, and the multi-
plicity of his employments, it may be believed that his knowledge of
them was far from extensive." Hist. Literat. i, 20L And in a note
(ibid.) he says : " It has been as ill spoken of among Calvinists as by
the Catholics themselves. St. Aldegonde says it is farther from the
Hebrew than any he knows." See Gerdes Hist. Ref. Evang. iii, 60.

t Bishop Trevern. Amic. Discussion, i, 127, note. All these facts
and many more can be easily substantiated.

238 d'aubigne's history reviewep.

greatly spreading through the western eountrj — called
reformers or CambelUtes. We &aj nothing here of the
gross perversion of the last verse of St. Matthew's Gospel;,
in this version.

The version of king James, on its first appeararKre irs
England, was openly decried by the Protestant ministers,
as abounding in gross perversions of the original text.*
The necessity of this new translation, was predicated on
the notorious corruptions of the sacred text by all the
Protestant versions in England during the previous seventy
years. The chief of these were; Tyndale's, Mathews/
Cranmer's, and the bishops' Bible.t Here then is an open
avowal, that during all this time, when Protestantism wa&
in its palmiest days in England, it had not offered to the
people the pure word of God I

And, as we have just seen, king James' version did not
ranch mend the matter. It was however repeatedly cor-
rected : but even in its amended forms, as now used by
most English and American Protestants^, it still abounds
with grievous faults- Mr. Ward, in his Errata, has
pointed out a great number : though candor compels us to
avow, that this writer is not always judicious in his criti-
cism, and that he frecjuently insists too much on mere tri-
fles. Bishop Kenrick, in his Theology, proves by a re-
ference to the original text, as edited even by Protestants,
that the modern En-rlish version slill retains at least five

* After speaking rather di*paragino;Iy of the English style of king
James' version, Mr. Hallara very cautiously abstains from veritiiring an
opinion on its fidelity, " On the more important question, whether this
translation is entirely, or with very trifling exceptions, conformable to
the original text, it seems unfit to enter. It is one which is seldom
discussed with all the temper and freedom from oblique views which
the subject demands, and upon which, for this reason, it is not safe for
those who have not had leisure or means to examine for themselves, to
take upon trust the testimony of the learned." Hist. Literat. sup. cit.
ii, 59. This silence is ominous in a learned English Protestant.

I For an account of these see Hallam. — Hist. Lit. I, 201.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON THE BIBLE. 239

or six grievous perversions of the text, in matters too,
aifecting doctrine.*

The English Dovvay version, which is in general use
among English and American Catholics, is a translation
from the Latin vulgate, which was rendered from the origi-
nal Hebrew and Greek by St. Jerome, towards the close
of the fourth century. Dating from a time preceding by
many hundred years (he religious prejudices which influ-
enced Christians for the last three hundred years, the vul-
gate is deservedly esteemed for its accuracy and impar-
tiality, even by intelligent Protestant writers. St. Jerome
had access to many valuable manuscripts which have since
perished. Since his time the Hebrew has undergone a
revolution by the introduction of the Massorctic points,
to supply the place of vowels, which were wanting in the
old Hebrew lanii-uaw.

The distinguished Protestant biblical critic, George
Cambell states these advantages of vSt. Jerome's position,
and fully admits their force. t He also says of his ver-
sion : *' The vulgate ma^'be pronounced on the whole a good
and faithful version."^ Another famous modern Protest-
ant writer on biblical studies, says of it: '* It is allowed
to be in general a faithful translation, and sometimes ex-
hibits the sense of Scripture with greater accuracy than
the more modern versions The Latin vulgate pre-
serves many true readings, where the modern Hebrew
copies are corrupted. "§ A v/riter, whose biblical ** Insti-

* Theologia DogmaUca, vol. 1, p. 427, seqq. Among these facts, the
most glciring are these: Matth. xix, 11th, "All men cannot receive this
•saying," for "receive not" — Greek, ;)(^cef.ojat : I Coi-inth. vii, 9. "If they
cannot contain," for do not contain— Gr. lyupciTivcvTcti ; I Cor. 'ix, 5.
" Have we not power to load about a sister, a wife," for a woman, a sis-
ter. Gr. uJ'i\<piiv yvvauu.; 1 Cor. xi, 27. — "Eat this bread a7id drink"
8cc., for or drink— Gr. i,, k,c. &,c.

t Dissert, torn. x. p. 354, Amer. edit, apud Bp. Kenrick. — Theol.
Dog. i, p. 424.

X Ibid. p. 358. apud eundem.

§ Home's Introduction, vol. ii, part i, ch. v. § 1, p. 2S1, 202. Apud
Bp. Kenrick ibid. p. 423.

240 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

tutes" are often used as a text book in this country, says :
"it is in general skilful and faithful, and often gives the
sense of Scripture better than modern versions."*

Thus Protestants did not at least, even according to
their own showing, make much of a reformation in the
Bible, when they departed from that ** faithful" transla-
tion, — the old Latin vulgate ; and gave us in its place their
many crude and grossly faulty versions of the Bible. But
did they succeed better in expounding, than they had in
translating the Bible ? They have at least been prolific
in this genre: they have given us almost as many inter-
pretations as they have heads. We could scarcely have
asked for more variety.

Nor is the work of improving on the previously ascer-
tained meanings of the Bible yet completed : almost every
day we hear of learned and intelligent preachers among
Protestants, striking new systems out of this good book —
they certainly are out of it. One,t by a new method cal-
culates to a nicety the very year and day when all pro-
phecy is to be fulfilled, and the world is to come to an
end: another^ pretending that all Protestant sects have
hitherto been in the dark as to the real meaning of the
Bible, proposes that all creeds and commentaries be cast
to the winds, and that every one hereafter explain it sim-
ply as it reads: that is, as he thinks it reads. This last
system, though it is based on the real Protestant principle
of private interpretation, to the exclusion of all church
authority, is one eminenly calculated to multiply sects,
and to render confusion worse confounded.

Let us see in conclusion, what has been the practical
operation of this principle of private interpretation, and
what the general influence of the reformation on biblical
studies in Germany, the first theatre of Protestantism.
Has it been salutary or injurious ? It requires but little

* Gerard Institutes of biblical criticism. § iv, p. 269, 270. Apud
eiindem ibid.

t JMiller. I Alexander Cambell.

IiNFLUENCB OF THE REFORM ON THE BIBLE. 241

acquaintance with the present condition of German Pro-
testantism, to be able to pronounce on its character and
tendency. Rationalism is there in the ascendant. This
system, which is little better than downright Ueism, has
frittered away the very substance of Christianity. The
inspiration of the Bible itself, the integrity of its canon,
the truth of its numerous and clearly attested miracles,
the divinity and even the resurrection of Christ, and the
existence of grace, and of every thing supernatural in re-
ligion — have all fallen before the Juggernaut car of modern
German Protestant exegesis — or system of interpretation !
The Rationalists of Germany have left nothing of Christi-
anity — not even its skeleton ! They boldly and unblush-
ingly proclaim their infidel principles, through the press,
from the professor's chair, and the pulpit. And the most
learned and distinguished among the present German Pro-
testant clergy, have openly embraced this system. Who-
ever doubts the entire accuracy of this picture of modern
German Protestantism, needs only open the works of
Semmler, Damon, Paul, Strauss, Eichorn, Michaelis,
15retschneider, Woltman, and others.

The following extract from the sermons of the Rev. Mr.
Rose, a divine of the church of England, and ** Christian
advocate of the university of Cambridge," gives a graphic
sketch of these German Rationalists. "They are bound
by no law, but their own fancies ; some are more and some
are less extravagant: but I do them no injustice after this
declaration in saying, that the general inclination and
tendency of their opinions (more or less forcibly acted on)
is this: — that in the New Testament, we shall find only
the opinions of Christ and the apostles adapted to the age
in which they lived, and not eternal truths; that Christ
himself had neither the design nor the power of teaching
any system which v/as to endure; that, when he taught
any enduring truth, as he occasionally did, it was with-
out being aware of its nature ; that the apostles understood
still less of real religion ; that the whole doctrine both of
21

242 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

Christ and the apostles, as it was directed to the Jews
alone, so it was gathered from no other source than the
Jewish philosophy; that Christ himself erred, and his
apostles spread his errors, and that consequently no one
of his doctrines is to be received on their authority ; but
that, without regard to the authority of the books of Scrip-
ture, and their asserted divine origin, each doctrine is to
be examined according to the principles of right reason,
before it is allowed to be divine."

We should be endless were we to attempt to give all
the extravagances into which these German Protestant
divines have indulged : yet we must give a fev/ of the most
glaring. Doctor Paul, in his Scripture Commentaries,
enters into a labored argument to prove that Christ was
not really dead, but that he had merely suffered a fainting
fit, from which he was recovered by the admission of fresh
air into his sepulchre. He moves heaven and earth to
prove that no instance is on record of a man dying on a
cross in three hours ! ! He indulges in similar absurdities
about the resurrection of Lazarus.

When Christ is said to have walked on the sea, it is no
miracle at all, says Doctor Paul : for the Greek word may
mean only that he walked hy the sea, or simply that he
swam: and St. Peter's having been on the point of drown-
ing, resulted merely from the circumstance that he was
not so expert a swimmer as Christ! ! Most of the cures
spoken of in the Gospel, the Rationalists explain by the
superior skill in medicine, which they have ascertained,
our Saviour learned during his infancy, while an exile in
Egypt; or they account for them, by Dr. Mesmer's newly
invented system of animal magnetism !

According to them, St. John did not really write the
Gospel ascribed to him; and as for the other three Gos-
pels, they are a mere clumsy compilation from a previous
common record, the existence of which they have detected,
and which they assert was written in the Aramaic lan-
guage! ! This discovery, made first by the learned Mi-

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON THE BIBLE. 243

chaellis, was improved on by Berthold and others, who
maintained, that not only the Gospels, but the Epistles of
St. Paul and the other Epistles also, are mere faulty trans-
lations from the original Aramaic!! Thus, "instead of
the good old-fashioned notion, that the New Testament is
a collection of works composed by the persons whose
names they bear, and who wrote under the immediate in-
spiration of the Holy Ghost, we must now believe that the
original narrator of the Gospel History was an unknown
person ; and that the Gospels and Epistles are merely
translations made by some persons whose names are lost,
and who betray themselves by several blunders in the
work which they undertook."* At least all these expla-
nations are riatural enough : and those who maintain them
accordingly style themselves naturalistSy as well as Ra-
tionalists.

Such then are the effects — present and palpable — of the
reformation on the biblical literature of Germany! The
reformation began by vaunting its zeal for the Bible: and
it has ended, in the very place of its birth, by rejecting the
Bible, and by blaspheming Christ and his religion !

Its results have not been more favorable to Christianity
in Geneva, another centre of the reformation, and another
radiating point of the new Gospel. Hear what the Pro-
testant writer Grenus says on this subject. "The minis-
ters of Geneva have already passed the unchangeable bar-
rier. They have held out the hand of fellowship to deists
and to the enemies of the faith. They even blush to make
mention, in their catechisms, of original sin, without which
the incarnation of the Eternal Word is no longer neces-
sary." *' When asked," says Rousseau, "if Jesus Christ
is God, they do not dare to answer. When asked, what

mysteries they admit, tliey still do not dare to answer

A philosopher casts on them a rapid glance, and penetrates

* British Critic, July, 1828, See also Dr. Pusey's "Historical In-
quiry;" and also Moore's "Travels of an Irish Gentleman," &c. p.
186, seqq., where this whole subject is ably and fully elucidated.

244 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

them at once — he sees they are Arians, Socinians."* He
wrote from personal observation, made during a residence
in Geneva. Recent travellers have confirmed his state-
ment.

The following epigram expresses pretty accurately the
tonfession of faith adopted by modern German Protestants,

•'We now reject eacli m)'stie creeil,
To common sense a scandal;
We're more enlt<ijhtened — yes indeed,
Tlie devil holds the candle!"

If Luther may be credited, (he old gentleman — Luther
called him a genlleman — -"held the candle" at the birth;
and we see no reason why he should not hold it at the
funeral of German Protestantism !

* "Lottres de la MontasTRe/*

JPart IV.

INFLUENCE

OF THE

REFORMATION ON SOCIETY.
CHAPTER XI.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORMATION ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.

Stating the question — Two aspects — Professions — M. D'Aubign^'s
theory — " Combating" ad libiium — Diversities and sects — Inconsist-
ency — Early Protestant intolerance — The mother and her recreant
daughter — Facts on persecution of each other by early Protestants —
Of Karlstadt — Luther- the cause of it— Persecution of Anabaptists —
Synod at Hamburg — Luther's letter — Zuingle — The drowned Jew —
Calvinistic intolerance — Persecution of Catholics — Diet of Spires
— Name of Protestant — A stubborn truth — Strange casuistry — Con-
vention at Smalkalde — Inquisition and St. Bartholomew's day — The
Michelade, a set-ofF — Union of church and state — A bear's embrace —
Hallam's testimony — Parallel between Catholic and Protestant coun-
tries.

We have seen what was the influence of the boasted
reformation on religion : we are now to examine how it
affected the interests of this world. Among these, liberty
is the one which is perhaps dearest to the human heart.
The very name excites a thrill, and stirs the deepest feel-
ings of the soul. Did the reformation promote liberty ?
Did it break the fetters of political bondage, and did it
favor freedom of conscience ? Were those who came
within the range of its influence rendered more free,
either religious! j or politically, than they had been before?
21*

246 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

The question presents two aspects ; and we begin with
that which is religious, both because this involves higher
interests, and because it forms the natural point of transi-
tion from the merely religious and spiritual to the merely
pecular and temporal influence of the reformation. Re-
ligious liberty guarantees to every man the right to wor-
ship God according to the dictates of his conscience,
without thereby incurring any civil penalties or disabili-
ties whatever. Did tlie reformation secure this ? We
shall see. A summary collection of the facts of history
bearing on the subject will settle the question.

The reformation indeed boasted much on this subject.
It professed to free n^ankind from the degrading yoke
of the papacy, and to restore to them their Christian lib-
erty. Men v/ere told that they who professed the old re-
ligion were groaning under a worse tlian Babylonian cap-
tivity, and that those wiio would rally under the banner
of reform would be brought back into the land of Israel,
there to worship in freedom and in peace near the Sion of
God. The pope was Antichrist : the church was ruth-
lessly trampled under foot by his ministers ; the liberties
of the world were crushed. And mankind were invited
to arise in their strength, to break their chains, and to be
free ! The restraining influence of church authority was
ta be spurned as wliolly incompatible with freedom, and
each one was to be guided solely by his own private judg-
ment in matters of religion.

The Germans were told of the grievances they had to
endure in ages past from the court of Rome. Angry pas-
sions, once excited by long forgotten controversies be-
tween the Germanic empire and the Roman pontiffs, were
called up again from the abyss in which they had slum-
bered for centuries; and the Germans were implored, in
the talismanic name of liberty, to break off all connection
with Rome for ever. In case they would do this, the
reformation promised that they should realize the bright-
est visions of freedom.

INFLUENCB OF THE REFORM ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 247

Such was tlie specious theory of the reformation ; such
the boasting speculation of Protestant writers generally.
M. Guizot, in his Lectures on Civilization in Modern
Europe, asserts that through the reformation was brought
about ** the emancipation of the human mind." Accord-
ing to M. D'Aubigne, the Catholic church had utterly
destroyed all human liberty. *' But as a besieging army
day by day contracts its lines, compelling the garrison to
confine their movements within the narrow enclosure of
the fortress, and at last obliging it to surrender at discre-
tion, just so the liierarchy, from age to age, and almost
from year to year, has gone on restricting the liberty
allowed for a time to the human mind, until at last, by
successive encroachments, there remained no liberty at
all. That which was to be believed, loved, or done, was
regulated and decreed in the courts of the Roman chan-
cery. The faithful were relieved from the trouble of ex-
amining, reflecting, and combating ; all they had to do
was to repeat the formularies that had been taught them."*

This is all, to say the least, an absurd exaggeration, a
grotesque romance, not even borrowed from real life.
What! were men tiien, for fifteen hundred years, mere
automatons ? Did the obedience to the decisions of the
church stifle all rational liberty ? Had not Christ en-
joined this obedience on all under penalty of being ranked
with heathens and publicans ?t Did Christ and the apos-
tles leave it free to men to decide, by their private judg-
ment, whether they would receive or reject the doctrines
they taught ? And in enjoining obedience on all, with
the menace of eternal damnation to him that would not
believe,:}: did they crush all liberty? Might not our his-
torian also taunt their practice with being inimical to free-
dom, on the ground that it " relieved the faithful from the
trouble of examininjr, reflectino;, and combating.^"

In what consists the ditference between the authorita-

* D'Anbpgne, iii, 237. f Matth. xviii. X Markxvi.

248 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

tive teaching of the first body of Christ's ministers, the
apostles and that of the body of pastors who, by divine
commission, succeeded them in the office of preaching,
teaching, and baptizing, and who, in the discharge of
these sacred duties, were promised the divine assistance
*'aU days, even to the consummation of the world?"*
And if the latter was opposed to rational liberty, why
was not the former ? Besides, we learn, for the first
time, that the Rom.an chancery decided on articles of
faith : we had always thought that this was the exclusive
province of general councils, and, when these were not
in session, of Roman pontiffs with the acquiescence of the
body of bishops dispersed over the world. We had also
thought that even these did not always decide on contro-
verted points, but only in cases in which the teaching of
revelation was clear and explicit ; and that, in other mat-
ters, they wisely allowed a reasonable latitude of opinion.
But M. D'Aubigne would have us believe that Roman
Catholics are bound hand and foot, body and soul, and
that they are not allowed even to reflect !

They were certainly not allowed to "combat:" this
was the special privilege of the reformed party. The old
church wisely ordained that all the " combating" should
take place, if at all, without her pale : she would permit
no wrangling nor sects within her bosom. It is indeed
curious to observe how M. D'Aubigne boasts of this privi-
lege of wrangling among discordant sects as the very
quintessence of Christian liberty ! This precious liberty
could not be enjoyed so long as a recognition of the prin-
ciple of church authority held the religious world in uni-
ty; the reformers therefore determined to burst this bond-
age of union, and to assert their freedom to " combat" ad
libitum !

*'The reformation," he says, *'in restoring liberty to
the church, must therefore restore to it its orig-inal diver-

* Matth. xxviii.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 249

sity (I), and people it with families united by the great
features of resemblance derived from their common head,
but varying in secondary features, and reminding us of
the varieties inherent in human nature. Perhaps it might
have been desirable that this diversity should have been
allowed to subsist in the universal church without leadins:
to sectarian divisions; and yet we must remember that
sects are only the expression of this diversity."* Humil-
iating avowal ! Sects are therefore as essential features
in Protestantism, as are the "diversities'' of whicii they
are but the expression ! And all this is essential to that
Chiistian liberty for which the Avorld is indebted to the
*' glorious reformation !" St. Paul, a competent authori-
ty, reckons sects and dissensions with murders and drunk-
enness ; and says of all of them that " they who do such
things shall not obtain the kingdom of God."t Thus,
according to our historian, an essential feature of Chris-
tian liberty, is an essential bar to entrance into the king-
dom of heaven ! The reformation is welcome to all the
merit of having originated such a system of liberty ! As
well might its panegyrist have claimed for it, as essential
to the liberty which it brought into the world, a license
for murders and drunkenness.

A little fiirther on, he thus glories in the shame of Pro-
testantism. *' True it is, that human passion found an
entrance into these discussions [among Protestant sects),
but while deploring such minglingsof evil, Protestantism,
far from seeking to disguise the diversity, publishes and
proclaims it. Its path to unity is indeed long and difficult,
but the unity it proposes is real.^^t Real in what ? Is
there one common ground of unity which Protestantism
has not recklessly trodden down and rendered desolate ?
Truly its path to unity *' has been long and difficult." Dur-
ing three luindred years, this tortuous path has been seen
winding in more than a hundred different directions, and
it has not yet led the weary wanderer to unity !

* Ibid.p. 2:]S. t Gallatians V, 20, 21. | Ibid. p. 238.

250 d'aubione's history reviewed.

It has done precisely the contrary. It is a strange path
to unity, truly, wliich has always led to disunion. "Di-
versities and sects" have multiplied, and grown with the
growth of Protestantism : they are avowedly its " essen-
tial features." There is scarcely one saving truth of reve-
lation which Protestantism, in its ever downward career,
has not frittered av/ay. And yet we are to be told, that
*' the unity which it proposed was real." If such was the
case, it certainly never carried into effect what it had
proposed.

The only principle of unity possible among Protestants,
is an agreement to disagree. But we are prepared to
prove, that they were not disposed to meet even on this
slippery ground of union. One would have thought, that
when the reformation emancipated its disciples from the
duty of obedience to Rome, and proclaimed the principle of
private judgment as the broad basis — the magna charta —
of the new system of Christian liberty, that it would at
least have guaranteed to them freedom of thought and
judgment in matters of religion. Surely after having in-
dignantly rejected the principle of church authority, as
incompatible with liberty, Protestantism would not attempt
to enthrone again this self same principle, and to impose
it as an obligation on its own followers.

Yet this course, absurd and inconsistent as it was on
the very face of it, was the very one adopted, without an
exception, by the numerous sects to which the reformation
gave birth ! If there be any truth in history, the reformers
themselves were the most intolerant of men, not only
towards the Catholic church, but towards each other.
They could not brook dissent from the crude notions on
religion which they had broached. Men might protest
against the decisions of the Catholic church; but wo to
them, if, following their own private judgment, they dared
protest against the self-constituted authority of the new-
fangled Protestant sects. We have already given many
proofs of this : but we here beg leave to submit the follow-

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 251

ing additional facts. And we will allege little but Pro-
testant authority, and the testimony of the reformers
themselves.

Mr. Roscoe, whose pen has so glowingly depicted the
bright literary age of Leo X, justly censures *' the severity
with which Luther treated those, who unfortunately hap-
pened to believe too much on the one hand, or too little
on the other, and could not walk steadily on the hair-
breadth line which he had presented." He also makes
this appropriate remark on the same feature of inconsis-
tency : "whilst Luther was engaged in his opposition to
the church of Rome, he asserted the right of private judg-
ment with the confidence and courage of a martyr. But no
sooner had he freed his followers from the chains of papal
domination, than he forged others in many respects equally
intolerable ; and it was the employment of his latter years,
to counteract the beneficial effects produced by his former
labors."*

The tyrannical and intolerant character of Luther, the
father of the reformation, is in fact admitted by all can-
did Protestants. We have already seen the testimony
which his most favored disciple, Melancthon, bears to his
brutal conduct even towards himself, whenever he timidly
ventured to differ from him in opinion. The vile state of
bondage in which the fierce reformer held his meek disci-
ple is thus graphically painted in a confidential letter of
Melancthon to his friend Camerarius: ** I am in a state of
servitude, as if I were in the cave of the Cyclops: and
often do I think of making my escape."! Even Dr.
Sturges, a most inveterate enemy of Rome, grants that
"Luther was, in his manners and writings, coarse, pre-
suming, and impetuous.":!:

The other reformers were little better than Luther in
regard to charity and toleration. The Protestant bishop

* "Life and Pontificate of Leo X," 4 vols. 8vo.
I Epist. ad Camerarium.
X Reflections on Popci y.

253 d'aubicne's history reviewed.

Warburton, ^Ives the following character of all of them.
"The other reformers, such as Luther, Calvin, and their
followers, understood so little in what true Christianity
consisted, that thej carried with them into the reformed
churches, that very spirit of persecution (!) which had
driven them from the church of Rome."* As we shall
soon see, the recreant daughters of Rome far outstripped
their mother in intolerance. We have already proved, that
it was not persecution, but other causes altogether, which
drove them from Rome, and consummated their schism.
Rome had indeed been inflexible on the subject of doc-
trines, upon which she could allow no compromise ; but
she proceeded towards the reformers with so much mild-
ness and moderation, as to have secured the admiration of
even M. D'Aubigne, whose testimony on the subject we
have already given. So far was she from persecuting them,
that many Catholic writers have blamed as excessive and
injudicious, the mildness of her pontiffs, and especially of
Leo X, and Adrian VL

From an early period of its history, the reformation was
disgraced with the crime of persecution for conscience'
sake. The oldest branch of it, the Lutheran, not only
fiercely denounced, and even sometimes excluded from
salvation, the reformed or Calvinistic branch; but it also
endeavored to check by violence the fierce discord which
rao-ed within its own bosom. A learned Lutheran profes-
sor, Dr. Fecht, gives it as the opinion of his sect, '* that
all but Lutherans, and certainly all the reformed Calvin-
ists were excluded from salvation.'-f The Lutheran
Strigel was imprisoned for three years by his brother reli-
gionists, for maintaining that man was not merely passive
in the work of his conversion. Hardenburg was banished
from Saxony for having been guilty of some leaning to-
wards the Calvinistic doctrines on the eucharist. Shortly

* Notes on Pope's Essay on Criticism.

t See Dr. Pusey's " Historical Inquiry," sup. cit.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 253

after Luther's death, the Lutherans were divided into
two great sects, the ultra Lutherans and the Melanctho-
nians, who mutually denounced each other, and even re-
fused to unite in the rites of communion and burial. So
far was the intolerance sjrowing out of this controversy
carried, that Peucer, Melancthon's son-in-law, was impri-
soned for ten years, for having espoused the party of his
fiither-in-law : and Cracau, another Lutheran, was plied
with the torture for a similar offence ! Besides these two
great Lutheran sects, there were also the Flaccianists and
the Strigelians — the Osiandrians and the Stancarians —
and many others, who persecuted each other with relent-
less fury. Lutheranism was thus, from its very birth, a
prey to the fiercest dissensions. Verily, they claimed
and exercised the liberty of " combating," so essential,
according to M. D'Aubigne, to the Protestant theory of
religious liberty.*

The first who dared question the infallibility of Luther
was the first to feel the heavy weight of his intolerant
vengeance. Andrew Bodenstein, more generally known
by the name of Karlstadt, could not agree with him as to
the lawfulness of images, on the real presence, on infant
baptism, and on some other topics. He had reached dif-
ferent conclusions, by following his own private judgment
in expounding the Scriptures. During Luther's absence
from Wittemberg, he had sought to make proselytes to his
new opinions in the very citadel of the reformation. Lu-
ther caused him to be driven from Wittemberg, and hunted
him down with implacable resentment, driving him from
city to city of Germany; till at last the unfortunate vic-
tim of his intolerance expired a miserable outcast at Basle
in Switzerland.

When Karlstadt first left Wittemberg, he fled to Orla-
munde, a city of Saxony, in which he succeeded by in-

* For more on this subject, see the authorities quoted by Moore. —
"Travels of an Irish Gentleman," p. 172, seqq., and 192, seqq.

254 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

trigue in obtaining the place of pastor. Luther followed
him thither; and finding, as we have already seen, that he
could not succeed in having him ejected from the city by
popular clamor, he prevailed on his powerful patron, the
Elector of Saxony, to banish him from Saxony. Karlstadt
received the sentence of his condemnation with a heavy
heart : ** he looked on Luther as the author of his disgrace,
and filled Germany with his complaints and lamentations.
He wrote a farewell letter to his friends at Orlamunde.
The bells were tolled, and the letter read in the presence
of the sorrowing church. It was signed : ' Andrew Bo-
denstein, expelled by Luther, unconvicted, and without
even a hearing.'"*

It is in vain for M. D'Aubigne, whose words we have
just cited, to pretend that this persecution of Karlstadt
was not brought about by Luther.t The testimony of
Karlstadt, and of all Germany, to the sympathy of which
he appealed, as well as the voice of all history, is against
this hypothesis. So certain was it, that he owed his suf-
ferings to the influence of Luther with the Elector of
Saxony, that, when wearied of his wanderings from city
to city, he sought repose for his gray hairs in his native
Saxony, he had only to invoke the sympathy of Luther.
The sternness of the Saxon monk relented : he permitted
Karlstadt to return to the neighborhood of Wittemberg;
but only on condition that he should retract his errors,
and cease to preach. | Karlstadt joyfully accepted the
humiliating conditions: he resided for some time *' in a
kind of domestic exile at Remberg and Bergwitz — two
small villages, whence he could just see the steeples of Wit-
temberg. "§ But he soon forgot his promise : he abandoned
the agricultural pursuits in which he had been engaged,

* D'Aubigne iii, 170. He cites Luther's Epist. ii, 558, edit, de Wette.
t Ibid.

X Gustavus Pfizer — ^'Martin Lutlier's Leiben," UJenberg — and Ad.
Menzel — "Neuere Geschichtc der Deutchen'' 1, 2G9.
§ Audin, p. 419.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. Q55

and, Bible in hand, sought again to disseminate his doc-
trines. Luther's spirit of intolerance was again aroused;
and again was Karlstadt banished, never more to return
to Wittemberg !

There were two other Lutheran theologians who shared
his fate: Krautwald and Schwenkfeld, who were likewise
forced to quit Saxonj for having rebelled against the au-
thority of the Saxon monk. In a letter to these compan-
ions in misfortune, Karlstadt draws a lively picture of the
distress to wliich he had been reduced by the intolerance
of Luther: " I shall soon be forced," says he, "to sell
all, in order to support myself — my clothes, my delf, all
my furniture. No one takes pity on me; and I fear that
both I and my child shall perish with hunger."* He also
addressed a long letter of complaint against Luther, to
Briick, the Chancellor of Saxony :t but it was all unavail-
ing: Luther was omnipotent at court, and Karlstadt
perished in exile. Why does M. D'Aubigne conceal all
these important facts ? We are not astonished at it : his
whole history is of the same unfair and partial character
throughout. In fact, our chief object in writing this re-
view is to supply his manifold omissions.

The cruel persecutions of the Anabaptists is another
dark page in the history of the reformation. To be sure,
these sectarists taught many things subversive of all social
order: such as polygamy and disobedience to all consti-
tuted authority. But their chief crimes, in the eyes of
Luther and the reformers, were their rejection of Luther's
authority, their pretensions to supernatural lights, and
their protest against infant baptism, and baptism by any
other mode than immersion. A little before the meeting
of the Diet at Augsburg in 15S4, Rothmann, one of their
principal prophets, had openly announced his principles
in the streets of the city. The people were captivated by
his bold eloquence, aud seduced by the novelty of his doc-

♦ Apud Audin, p. 420. t l^id.

256

trines. In vain did the preachers of reform attempt to
argue with this enthusiast, who claimed immediate inspi-
ration from heaven. The people cried out, in triumph ;
*' answer Rothmann: Catholics, Lutherans, Zuinglians —
Tou are all in the way of perdition. The only path to
heaven is that pointed out by our master: whoever walks
not in it, will be involved in eternal darkness."*

But the Lutherans did not think proper to answer his
arguments. Both he and the Zuinglians had prepared a
confession of faith to be presented to the Diet. Luther
and Melancthon succeeded by their influence in prevent-
ino; them from beino- even heard at the Diet. The former
wrote to the latter from Coburg in a tone of triumph : "that
all was decided ; that the doctrine of Zuingle and of
Rothmann was diabolical ; and that these sowers of discord,
these ravenous wolves, who devastated the fold of Christ,
should be banished."! At that same Diet, the Lutherans
Fought for themselves, not only liberty of conscience, but
churches to worship in, and all the privileges of citizen-
ship; and still they would not allow their adversaries even
to be heard ! And yet, as M. Audin well remarks, " Roth-
mann at Augsburg, was precisely wliat Luther had been
at Worms''^

The Lutherans carried out their intolerant principles
in regard to the Anabaptists. On the 7th of August, 1536,
a synod was convened at Hamburg, to which deputies
were sent by all the cities who had separated from Rome.
The chief object of the meeting was to devise means for
exterminating the Anabaptists. Not one voice was raised
in their favor. Even Melancthon, whom M. Audin styles
** the Fenelon of the reformation," voted for inflicting the
punishment of death on every Anabaptist v. ho would re-
main obstinate in his errors, or would dare return from

* See Catrou — Histoire de PAnabaptisme, and Audin, p. 4C9.
t Apiid Audin, Ibid. See the authorities he quotes. Ibid,
t P. 4C0.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 257

the place of banishment to which the magistrates might
transport him. Fenelon would not have been thus intol-
erant. "The ministers of Ulm demanded that heresy
should be extinguished by fire and sword. Those of Augs-
burg said : ' if we have not yet sent any Anabaptist to the
gibbet, we have at least branded their cheeks with red
iron.' Those of Tubingen cried out * mercy for the poor
Anabaptists, who are seduced by their leaders; but death
to the ministers of this sect. The chancellor showed
himself much more tolerant: he wished that the Anabap-
tists should be imprisoned, where by dint of hard usage,
they might be converted."*

From the Synod emanated a decree, from which we will
present the following extract, as a specimen of Lutheran
intolerance officially proclaimed. *' Whoever rejects in-
fant baptism — whoever transgresses the orders of the
magistrates — whoever preaches against taxes — whoever
teaches the community of goods — whoever usurps the
priesthood — whoever holds unlawful assemblies — whoever
sins against faith — shall he punished ivith death. ... As
for the simple people who have not preached, or adminis-
tered baptism, but who were seduced to permit themselves
to frequent the assemblies of the heretics, if they do not
wish to renounce Anabaptism, they shall be scourged,
punished with perpetual exile, and even with death, if they
return three times to the place whence they have been ex-
pelled."!

Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, professed to have some
scruples of conscience (!) on the severity of this decree: he
consulted Luther on the subject. The monk answered
him in a letter dated from VVittemberg, the Monday after
Pentecost of the same year. He openly defends persecu-
tion on Scriptural grounds : " whoever denies the doctrines

* Catrou ut supra 11 v. 1, p, 224, seqq., and Audin, p. 464.
t Ibid. See also Gastius, p. 363, seqq. Menzel ut supra, and Me-
shovius, 1. V, cap. xv, xviii, seqq., &,c.
22*

258 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

of our faith — aje, even one article vvliich rests on the
Scripture, or the authority of the universal teaching of the
church (!), must be punished severely. He must be treated
not only as a heretic, but also as a blasphemer of the holy
name of God. It is not necessary to lose time in disputes
with such people: they are to be condemned as impious
blasphemers." Towards the close of his letter, speaking
of a false teacher, he says : "drive him away, as an apostle
of hell : and if he does not flee, deliver him up as a sedi-
tious man to the executioner."* The Landgrave's scruples
were quieted, and Luther's advice was acted on.

Such then were the tender mercies of the reformation !
Such the notions of the reformers on religiousiiberty ! How
diflferent from those specious principles of universal liberty
by which they had allured multitudes to their standard !

The other reformers were not a whit better than Luther
in regard to toleration. M. D'Aubigne himself says, that
at Zurich fourteen men and seven women " were impri-
soned on an allowance of bread and water in the heretics'
tower. "t True, he says, that this was done "in spite of
Zuingle's entreaties ;"± but he gives no authority what-
ever for this statement. We know that Zuingle was
almost omnipotent at Zurich, which was to Switzerland,
what Wittemberg was to Germany. Had he reciUij wished
it, he might surely have prevented this cruelty. He had
indeed complained of Luther's intolerance, when he was
the victim of it. In a German work published at Zurich
in 1526, he had used this language in regard to the course
pursued by Luther and his party : "see then, how these
men, who owe all to the Word, would wish now to close
the mouths of their opponents, who are at the same time
their fellow Christians. They cry out that we are here-
tics, and that we should not be listened to. They pro-
scribe our books, and denounce us to the magistrates."§

* Lulh. Comment, in Psal. 71. 0pp. Jenas torn, v, p. 147. Apud
Audin, p. 465.

t ni, 307. X Ibid. ^ Apud Audin, p. 411.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON RELICTOUS LIBERTY. 259

But when his star culminated, he was as fierce a bigot,
and as intolerant a tyrant as those brother reformers whom
he thus denounced. Did lie not die on tlie field of battle,
fighting for his peculiar ideas of reform ? And did not
the Protestants of Geneva throw the poor Anabaptists
into the Rhine, enclosed in sacks, and jeer them at the
same time by the inhuman taunt, " that they were merely
baptizing tliem by their own favorite method of im-
mersion."*

This reminds us of a curious passage in the history of
early Lutheranism, which we will here give on the autho-
rity of Florimond Remond, almost a cotemporary histo-
rian.! Franz Yon Sickengen, the chief actor in the
scene we are about to present, was a disciple of Luther
who had dedicated to him his treatise on confession,
written at tiie Wartburg, in 1521. "One day Franz
was going from Frankfort to Mayence sur le Meine. A
Jew entered the boat with whom Franz began to dispute.
As he was not able to convince him by argument, he took
him by the middle of the body, and threw him into tlie
river; for Franz was a man of extraordinary strength.
Holding his victim suspended over the water by the hair,
tlie following dialogue took place: 'Acknowledge Jesus
Christ, or I will drown you.' 'I acknowledge him to
be my Saviour: O dear master, do not harm me!' * Say
that you wish to be baptized.' * Yes, in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.' Then
Franz took some water, which he poured on the head of
the Jew, while at the same time he pronounced the sacra-
mental words : ' I baptize thee in the name of the Father,
and of the S«>n, and of the Holy Ghost.' The poor Isra-
elite nov/ made a great effort to rise : he clung to the boat,

* For this, and for many similar facts, see the authorities quoted by
the Rev. John Hughes— now the distinguished bishop of New-York—
in his oral discussion with Rev. Mr. Breckenridge, who did not answer
them. We intend to give chiefly those facts which did not fall within
the scope of that discussion.

t " Huttenus delarvatus," p. 405. Apud Audin, p. 200.

260 d'aubigxe's history reviewed.

believins: that the time of his deliverance had arrived. The
knight however struck him on the head with his guantlet,
saying, ' go to heaven, there is one soul more for paradise.
Were I to draw the wretch out of the water, he would
deny Christ, and go to the devil.' Luther on this occa-
sion praised the zeal of Franz !

The Calvinists were at least equally intolerant with the
Lutherans. When the former gained the ascendency in a
portion of Germany in which the latter had before been
predominant, they roused up the people against the sons
of the devil — which is the name they gave the Lutherans.
They drove them from their posts, of which they took
possession. * What a melancholy thing ! More than a
thousand Lutheran ministers were proscribed, ivith their
wives and children, and reduced to beg the bread of cha-
rity,' says Olearius.* Calvinism could not tolerate Lu-
theranism. It had appealed to prince Casimir, and ex-
pressed its petition in two Latin verses, in which the
prince was left to choose, in extinguishing the rival creed,
between the sword, the wheel, water, the rope, or fire !

O Casimire potens, servos expelle Lutheri :
Ense, rota, ponto, funibus, igne neca."t

So inflexible were the early reformers and their disci-
ples on the subject of persecution, that even the emperor
of Germany and the authority of the whole Germanic
body could not restrain their bitter intolerance against all
who had ventured to differ from their ideas of reform.
Protestants were resolved to persecute each other, though
a Catholic power — the highest in the empire — interposed
and commanded peace. The diet of Nuremberg, in 1532,
had proclaimed a religious amnesty throughout Germany.
It wished to pour oil on the boiling waves of controversy,

* D. J. Olearius— "In den mehr als 200 Irrthiimer der Calvinisten,"
t Salzer — " In seinem Lutherischera Gegen-Bericht" — Art. iv, p.
385. Schlosser — " In dcr wahrheit," 8cc. ch. vi, p. 73. Hist., Aug. Con-
fess, fol. 20G, 207, 274, 275. Apud Audin, p. 330.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 261

in order to still them: but the waves would not be qui-
eted. The heads of the reformed party met at Cadan in
the following year, and resolved to exclude from the
peace published by the diet the Sacramentarians, the Ana-
baptists, and other heterodox (7ioi Lutheran) sects, whom
they declared they would not tolerate nor suffer to remain
in the country.*

If Protestants thus ruthlessly persecuted each other,
we might naturally suppose that they were not more in-
dulgent towards the Catholics. We have already proved
that the reformation was mainly indebted for its suc-
cess to systematic persecution of the Catholic church.
Wherever it made its appearance its progress was marked
by deeds of violence. Like a tornado, it swept every
thing before it ; and you might as easily trace its course
by the ruins it left behind. Churches broken open and
desecrated ; altars stripped of their ornaments or pulled
down ; paintings and statues destroyed ; the monasteries
entered by mobs and pillaged of their effects; Catholic
priests and monks openly insulted and maltreated; the
property of the churches and monasteries seized on by
violence, after having been often pillaged and plundered :
these were some of the ruins which the reformation
caused — these the sad trophies which it erected to cele-
brate its triumphs over the Catholic religion !

In most places the Catholic worsliip was abolished,
either by open violence, or by the high-handed tyranny of
the secular princes who had embraced the reform. In
vain did Luther in his cooler moments protest against
these deeds of violence ; he himself, as we have seen, had
evoked the storm, and he could not calm it; probably he
did not ever seriously wish this, for generally his language
to Ids followers had breathed nothing but violence. This
we have already shown.

It is a/emarkable fact, as certain as it is striking, that

•* See Robelot— Influence de la Reformation de Luther, p. 71.

262 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

the reformers derived their very name of Protestants from
this same unquenchable spirit of intolerance! The diet
of Spires in 1529 had made an effort to put a stop to the
deeds of violence bj which the reformation had desolated
Germany. It had published a decree, which, among other
things of less importance, enjoined that the decree of the
diet of Worms in 1521 should be observed in those places
where it had been already received ; that where it had not
been received, and the ancient religion had been changed
in despite of it, things sliould continue in statu quo till
the meeting of a general council, which was to decide on
the matters in controversy ; that the celebration of the
holy sacrifice of the mass should be every where free ;
and that the princes of the empire should mutually ob-
serve peace, and should not molest each other on the
score of religion.*

In other words, the diet decreed that both Catholics
and the reformed party should enjoy freedom of worship,
and that neither should molest the other. Had the re-
formers been really the advocates of religious liberty,
the}' could have asked no more. But they desired some-
thing else : their notions of Christian liberty were more
enlarged. They desired freedom to pull down the Cath-
olic altars, and to abolish the Catholic worship wherever
they had the power to do so. Hence, they met imme-
diately after the diet, and protested against its most equi-
table decree as "contrary to the truth of the gospel. "t
And hence their name of Protestants: a name which
stamped on their foreheads a brand of intolerance, of
which they were not ashamed !

A volume might be filled with undoubted facts proving
the intolerant spirit of the early Protestants of the va-
rious nations of Europe against the Catholics. Wherever
they had the power, they persecuted by civil disabilities

* See Sleidan — ad annum 1529, lib. vi. Also Natalis Alexander,
Hist. Ecclesiastica, torn, i.x:, fol. 97, edit. V^enitiis, 177S; and Lingard,
History of England— Henry VIII ; and Audin, p. 2S9. \ Ibid.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 263

and corporal punishments; and where they had not the
power, they excited disturbance and persecuted by slan-
der. We know of no exception to this remark. Un-
palatable as it may appear, it is triumphantly establish-
ed by facts ; and we are not free to change the records
of history to pander to an over delicate and vitiated taste.
Out of a mass of evidence bearing on the subject, we will
select some of the more prominent facts.

We have already alluded to the overture for peace
made by the Catholics in the diet of Nuremberg, held in
1532. How was it received by the Lutherans? They
rejected it with indignation, not only in the assembly at
Cadan, but also through their organ, Urbanus Regius.
Hear his language : *' We must either have peace with
the papists — that is, we must suffer the destruction of our
faith, our rights, our life, and die as sinners — or we must
have peace with Christ, that is to say, be hated by our
enemies, and live by faith. Which shall we choose ?
The rage of the devil, the hostility of the world, a strug-
gle with antichrist, or the protection of heaven, and life
through Christ?''*

Luther openly defended the violence by which the
Catholic worship had been suppressed, and the monaste-
ries seized upon and secularized. He was consulted on
the subject, and this was his reply : *' It is said that no
violence should be used for conscience' sake; and yet
have not our princes driven away the monks from their
asylum ? Yes : we must not oblige any one to- believe
our doctrine ; we have never done violence to the con-
sciences of others (!) ; but it would be a crime not to pre-
vent our doctrine from being profaned. To remove scan-
dal is not to force the conscience. I cannot force a rosue
to be honest, but I can prevent him from stealing. A
prince cannot constrain a highway robber to confess the
Lord, butyel he has a gallows for malefiictors." Strange
casuistry ! Curious theory of religious liberty !
* Seckeiidorf — " Comment, de Luth." lib. iii, p. 22.

264 d''aubigne*3 history reviewed.

He continues: *' Thus, when our princes were not cer-
tain that the monastic life and private masses were an
offence to God, thej would have^^sinned had thev closed
the convents; but after they have been enlightened, and
have seen that the cloister and the mass are an insult to
the Deity, they would have been culpable had they not
employed the power they had received to proscribe them.^^*

In the f;imous convention at Sinalkald, in 1536, the
Protestant party decided on a recourse to arms to defend
themselves, that is, to be enabled to carry out their plan
of establishing the reformation by violence on the ruins
of Catholic institutions. They proclaimed that ** it was
an error to believe that they ought to tolerate among them
those who opposed the reform. "t In an imperial citation
addressed to the citizens of Donauvvert in 1605, they are
reproached with having driven from their city, as atro-
cious malefactors,! those of their fellow citizens who had
espoused Catholics, or embraced the Catholic religion. §
Again, at a session of the famous congress of Westphalia,
in March, 1647, Trautmansdorf openly accused the Pro-
testant party of having driven Catholic laymen from their
dominions, after having confiscated their property ."[|

This spirit of persecution has been perpetuated, with
some modifications, even to the present day. Erasmus
had remarked of Luther that his savage nature had not
been softened even by the blandishments of matrimony;
and we may remark that the fierce intolerance of the early
reformation has not been much mitigated by the growing
refinement of the age !

Even as late as the battle of Jena, in 1806, Catholics
could not own property in Saxony, nor hold public of-
fices, nor enjoy any of the rights of citizenship.^ This
was also the case in Prussia; and even in our own day,
have we not seen a venerable octogenarian, the archbishop

*Luth. 0pp. edit. Wittemb.ix, 455. f See Robelot ut sup. p. 71.

X Jtrocissime delinquentes. § Ibid. || Ibid. 72. IT lb. 70.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON RELIGIOUS LIBKRTY. 265

of Cologne, violently dra^gecl from his palace by a band
of soldiers, in the dead hour of night, and confined for
years in a stale prison, by order of the king of Prussia,
and all this fur no other offence than that his conscience
did not allow him to subscribe to the religious creed of
his royal master?

In the imperial city of Frankfort sur le Meine, Catho-
lics were not eligible to any municipal offices. Even as
late as the 20th of October, 1814, no others than Luther-
ans of the confession of Augsburg were eligible to any
civil office in the free city of Hamburg.* In Sweden it
is strictly forbidden for any Protestant to embrace the
Catholic reliiiion, though Catholics are encouraged to be-
come Protestants. No Catholic can there hold any office
of trust or emolument. The same intolerant laws are in
force in Denmark and Norv/ay.

In these last named kingdoms, religious persecution, in
one form or other, has continued even to the present day.
In many of the other Protestant kingdoms of Germany,
the penal laws against Catholics were softened down
after the famous congress of Vienna, in 1815, had settled
the general peace of Europe. Yet the refinement of
modern civilization has not been able wholly to exorcise
the demon of intolerance. It still exists, to a greater or
less extent, in every Protestant country of Europe.

But the other day, when the Roman pontiff* nominated
a bishop to attend to the spiritual wants of a large body
of Catholics living in the kingdom of Denmark, the go-
vernment organ at Copenhagen republished an old law of
the kingdom, which made it a capital offence for a Catho-
lic clergyman or bishop to cross the border ! When the
celebrated M. De Haller embraced the Catholic religion,
in 1821, the grand council of Berne, in Switzerland, had
his name stricken from the list of its members, and re-
vived the old law of the canton by which no Catholic is
eligible to ofiice.t

* See apricl Robelot, ibid. f Ibid.

266 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

In one word, not to multiply facts, Protestants have
been guilty of persecution in every country of Europe
where they have had the power, not only against the Cath-
olic church, but against each other : and their intolerance,
though greatly mitigated, is yet even at this day far from
being extinct.

Catholics also, we must admit, have frequently perse-
cuted ; and, far from justifying them for so doing, we sin-
cerely condemn them for their conduct, [t was justified
by no law of their church ; it was wholly at variance with
the mild teachings of the Christian religion. Yet every
impartial person must allow that the circumstances under
which Catholics persecuted were not so aggravated, nor so
wholly without excuse, as those under which they were
persecuted by Protestants. They were on the defensive,
while these were in almost every instance the first ag-
gressors. They did but repel violence by violence, when
their property, their altars, and all they held sacred, were
rudely invaded by the new religionists, under pretext of
reform. Their acts of severity were often deemed neces-
sary measures of precaution against the deeds of lawless
violence which every where marked the progress of re-
form. They did but seek the privilege of retaining qui-
etly the religion of their fathers, which the reformers
would fain have wrested from them by violence. They
were the older, and they were in possession.* Could it
be expected that they would yield without a struggle
all that they held most dear and most sacred ? These
were extenuatina; circumstances, which, though they did
not justify their intolerance, yet greatly mitigated its
malice, while the reformers could allege no such pretext.
Much has been written about the Spanish inquisition,
and the massacre of St. Bartholomew's day. We justify

* In the Synod of Dort in 1618, the Gomarists used" this very argu-
ment to justify their persecution of their brother Protestants, the Armi-
nians. — Sess. xvii.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 267

neither. To the former we have devoted a separate
essay ;* for the latter we have an ample set-ofFin the ter-
rible massacres of the Catholics, perpetrated in various
parts of France, and especially in that at Nismes, on the
feast of St. Michael, in 1566. This dreadful micheladey
as it is called by the French historians, was as tragical at
least as the massacre at Paris on St. Bartholomew's day
in 1571, five years later.

It is a remarkable fact, and one that does infinite credit
to the clergy and Catholics of Nismes, that when the or-
der for massacreing the Protestants of that city arrived
from Paris, a few^ays after the tragedy of St. Bartholo-
mew's day, the Catholics of the city, with M. Villars,
the vicar general of the diocess, at their head, repaired in
a body to the governor, and petitioned for a suspension of
the execution until the French monarch could be properly
enlightened on the subject. The interposition was success-
ful. Charles IX, in his cooler moments, revoked the ini-
quitous decree, and conceived sentiments more just and
Christian. Thus the Protestants of Nismes, who had but
five years before cruelly butchered their Catholic fellow
citizens, were saved from destruction ! And thus were
the Catholics avenged !t Similar interpositions, with
similar success, were made by the Catholic clergy and
people in other cities of France.:}:

Perhaps the most remarkable feature in the Protestant
governments of Europe is the union in them of church
and state. This unhallowed union began at the period of
the reformation ; and it subsists even to this day. In
Prussia, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, and England, the
king is at the same time the head of the state and of the

* See the Essay on the Spanish Inquisition, published in the U. States
Catholic Magazine, August No., 1843.

t See Robelot sup. c'li. p. 75, note,

% See Lingard's excellent Essay on the Massacre of St. Bartholo-
mew, and his triumphant reply to the strictures of the Edinburg Re-
view, in liis History of England — Elizabeth.

268 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

church established by law. It is his province to regulate
every thing connected with the preaching of the word,
the administration of the sacraments, and the appointment
of bishops and pastors. Even in those cantons of Swit-
zerland in which the reformation obtained a footino-, the
legislative councils claim to this day a right to interfere
in spiritual matters; and the Catholics of Argovia and
other cantons have very recently felt the smart of their
intolerant interference.

Every body knows the high-handed measures by which
the late king of Prussia, but a few years ago, souglit to
unite into one '* national church of Prussia" the two con-
flicting parties of religionists in his kingdom, the Luther-
ans and the Calvinists. This political manoeuvre, to
effect by force a compromise between two warring sects,
displeased them both, as might have been expected; and
many of the ejected ministers of both parties, but espe-
cially of the Lutheran, sought shelter from the storm on
our shores. The success of the attempt made by the court
of Berlin on the religious liberties of Prussia, proves con-
clusively, that there at least the church is but the creature
of the state — meanly subservient to all its high behests.

Every one also knows, that the persecution of the Ca-
tholics of Belgium by the Protestant government of Hol-
land led to the recent declaration of independence by the
former government: and that a^ter the declaration had
been made good, the Belgians elected a Protestant, prince
Leopold, for their sovereign. Can the annals of Protest-
antism aftbrd an example of liberality like this ? At least,
we have never heard of a Protestant community volunta-
rily choosing a Catholic sovereign.

If the reformation was favorable to religious liberty,
why, we ask, did it bring about a union of church and
state in every country where it was established ? Why
did it every where persecute ? It is curious to trace the
origin of this mean subserviency of the Protestant sects to

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 269

the princes, who caused them to be introduced into their
states.

The reformers preached up freedom from the alleged
tyranny of Rome : the people were seduced by this flatter-
ing appeal to their natural aversion to restraint; and the
reformation was effected in the manner which we have
endeavored to unfold. Once freed from the authority of
Rome, the reformers threw themselves and their partisans,
for protection, into the arms of the secular princes who
had espoused their cause ; and these gave them a bear's
embrace. They had escaped from an imaginary, and they
now fell into a real bondage. They had gone out of the
dark land of Egypt, and had returned from the captivity
of Babylon : but in the land of promise into which they
led their exulting hosts of disenthralled disciples, they
found other Pharaohs and other Nabuchadonosors, who
lorded it over them with a rod of iron. " And the last
state of these men was made worse than the first."*

Luther soon perceived, that the only means of stemming
the torrent of innovation, which he had let loose on the
world, was to give unlimited power to princes in spiritual
matters. Melancthon earnestly labored to retain the order
of bishop ; but his unrelenting master could not brook this
odious remnant of the papacy. The result was, as Me-
lancthon had foreseen, that for them he substituted other
bishops armed with the power of the sword. These were
not so scrupulous as had been their Catholic predecessors
in the episcopal office. After having seized and embezzled
the property of the church, they reigned supreme in church
and state. They interfered in the minutest aifairs of church
government. It was by the importunities of the pious and
scrupulous liandgrave of Hesse, that Luther was induced,
against his inclination, to suppress the elevation of the
Host in the mass.t Thus, as M. Audin well remarks,
" the reformation which was ushered into Germany by its

* St. Mattli. xii, 45. \ Jak. Marx, sup. cit. p. 177,

2r0 d'aubigneVs history reviewes.

apostles as a means of forcing the people from the sacer-
dotal yoke, created a Pagan monstrositj — hierophant and
magistrate — who with one arm regulated the state, and
with the other, the church."*

This usurpation of Protestant princes was legalized,
and became a settled matter of state policy, at the con-
gress of Westphalia in 1648. This congress recognized
in the Protestant princes of Germany the jus riformandi^
or the right to reform the churches existing within their
dominions, according to their own judgment and good
pleasure.! Thus, after a protracted struggle of more than
a hundred years, during which oceans of blood had been
poured out in the sacred name of liberty. Protestantism
sunk exhausted — a degraded slave — in the murderous em-
brace of earthly princes ! It was bound hand and foot,
and could not move, but by the permission of its remorsie-
less master!

The reformers were themselves the sole cause of this
unhappy result. They had Battered princes, and had
courted the union, to which may be fairly traced the ser-
vile degradation of the sects they founded. They had
invoked the power of the sword, not only against Catholic?,
but also against their brother religionists, who dared op-
pose their schemes of refoimation. They had proclaimed,
that the right of suppressing heresy "belonged only to
princes, who alone could mow down the cockle with the
sword. "J At the general assembly of the Protestant
party at Hamburg in 1536, the deputies of Lunenburg
had said : " the magistrate has the power of life and death
over the heretics. "§

Luther himself, in his defence of the enactments of this
assembly, addressed to the Landgrave of Hesse, || had laid
down this principle: "If then there takes place between

* P. 34T. t Jak. Marx— Ibid.

X Ott. ad annum, 1536. Gaatius, sup. cit. p. 365. Audin, p. 463.

§ Ott. Ibid. p. m. tl Keferrsd to above, p. 25S.

INFLrPNCE OF THE REFORM OX RELIGIOUS LI BERT V. 371

Catholics and sectaries, one of those discussions in which
each combatant advances with a text, it is the dutj of the
nmagistrate to take cognizance of the dispute, and to im-
pose silence on those M'hose doctrine does not accord with
the holy books." Could he blame princes for using the
power which he himself vested in them ?

The history of the union of church and state in Saxonj,
will throw some light on its subsequent establishment in
other Protestant countries. It was to meet the wishes
and to carry out the suggestions of Luther, that John,
elector of Saxony — naturally a weak and effeminate prince
— first interfered in the affairs of the church. After he
had entered, however, on his new spiritual functions, his
ardent zeal carried him farther than the monk had barsained
for. *' He determined to free himself from the domination
of the clergy (Protestant) ; and for that purpose found that
the most efficacious means was to apply at once the reform-
ing theories of Luther to the organization of parishes. A
commission of ecclesiastics and laymen was accordingly
named by the elector, who were charged to visit and ad-
minister the ditVerent districts. It was a real revolution.
The church lost even its name : it was turned into a Pa^an
temple."*

Let us also see what is the opinion of Mr. Hallam on the
influence of the reformation on religious liberty. He surely
is not prejudiced against the reformers, as we have had
occasion to see ; and his opinion must therefore be of great
weight in the matter. We have already given some ex-
tracts from his latest work, bearing at least indirectly on
the present subject. We add the following passages.

" It is often said that the essential principle of Protest-
antism, and that for which the struggle was made, was
something different from all we have mentioned; a per-
petual freedom from all authority in religious belief, or
what goes by the name of the right of private judgment.

* Aadiii, p. 353.

272 p'aubigne's history reviewf.d.

But, to look more nearly at what occurred, this perma-
nent independence was not much asserted, and still less
acted upon. The reformation was a change of masters; a
voluntary one no doubt, in those who had any choice ; and,
in this sense, an exercise, for the time, of iheir personal
judgment. But no one having gone over to the confession
of Augsburg or that of Zurich, was deemed at liberty to
modify these creeds at his pleasure. He might of course
become an Anabaptist or an Arian ; but he was not the
less a heretic in doing so than if he had continued in the
church of Rome. By what light a Protestant was to steer,
might he a problem, luhich at that time, as eve?- since, it would
perplex a theologian to decide : but in practice, the law of
the land which established one exclusive mode of faith,
was the only safe, as, in ordinary circumstances, it was,
upon the whole, the most eligible guide."*

In another place, speaking of the causes wliich brought
about the decline of Protestantism and the reaction of Ca-
tholicity, he says: "we ought to reckon also among the
principal causes of this change, those perpetual disputes,
those irreconcilable animosities, that bigotry, above all,
and persecuting spirit, which were exhibited in the Lu-
theran and Calvinistic churches. Each began with a com-
mon principle — the necessity of an orthodox faith. But
this orthodoxy evidently meant nothing more than their
own belief as opposed to that of their adversaries ; a belief
acknowledged to be fallible, yet maintained as certain;
rejecting authority in one breath, and appealing to it in the
next, and claiming to rest on sure proofs of reason and
Scripture, which their opponents were ready with just
as much confidence, to invalidate. "t

In conclusion, we may observe, that in regard to tolera-
tion, the Catholic countries of Europe at the present time
compare advantageously with those which have been eu"
lightened by the reformation for the last three hundred

? (« History of Literature," &c. vol, 1, p. 200. f Ibid, i, 278.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 273

years. There is not one Catholic government of Europe
which now persecutes for conscience' sake: and on the
other hand, there is scarcely one Protestant government,
which does not persecute, in one form or other, even at
this day! We have already seen what is the present
policy of the latter, in regard to toleration. Our asser-
tion in^ regard to the former, can be easily substan-
tiated.

Belgium is Catholic, and Belgium has a Protestant
king, allows equal political rights to Protestants with
Catholics, and is at the same time, perhaps, the freest
monarchy in Europe. The inquisition has been long
since abolished in Spain and Portugal, and these no
longer persecute dissenters. France is Catholic, and
France not only does not persecute, but she protects
the Protestant religion, and pays its ministers, even
more than she allows to the Catholic clergy — which is
but equitable, as those have their wives and families to
support! The present leading minister of state in France
is a Calvinist, M. Guizot!

Bavaria is Catholic; and Bavaria allows equal civil
rights to Protestants as to Catholics. Hungary is Catho-
lic ; and Hungary does the same. Austria is Catholic;
and Austria adopts the same equitable policy. Bohemia
is Catholic ; and Bohemia imitates the example of the
other Catholic states. Italy is Catholic; and Protestants
have places of worship and public cemeteries at the very
gates of the eternal city itself! So far is this tolera-
tion carried, that but a few years since, a parson of
the church of England, delivered a course of lectures
against popery at Rome itself; and Dr. Wiseman an-
swered them.

Poland — poor bleeding and crushed Poland, i^?a5 Catho-
lic to its very heart's core ; and Poland was never sullied
with perj^ecution ! Ireland was ever Catholic; and Ireland
never persecuted, though she had it in her power to do so
at three different times ' Finally, it v/as the Catholic lord

274 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

Baltimore, and the Catholic colonists of Marjland, who
in 1648 first proclaimed on these shores the great princi-
ple of universal toleration, while the Puritans were perse-
cuting in New England, and the Episcopalians in Vir-
ginia!*

* See Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. 1, Maryland.
About the same time, or perhaps a few years previous, Roger Williams,
driven into the wilderness by the Puritans of Massachusetts, established
the colony of Rhode Island, the charter of which granted free toleration,
from which, however, the Catholics were in all probability excluded ?

CHAPTER XII

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORMATION ON CIVIL LIBERTY.

"The most striking effect of the first preaching of the reformation was that it
appealed to the ignorant; and though political liberty* * cannot be reckoned the
aim of those who introduced it, yet there predominated tliat revolutionary spirit
which loves to witness destruction for its own sake, and that intoxicated self-
confidence which renders folly mischievous." — Hallam.*

Puifing — Theory of government — Political liberty — Four things guar-
antied — Pursuit of happiness — The popes and liberty — Rights of
property — Use made of confiscated church property — The Attila of
the reformation — Par nobile fratrum — Spoliation of Catholics — Con-
tempt of testamentary dispositions — The^ws manuale abolished — And
restored — Disregard of life — And crushing of popular liberty — The
war of the peasants — Two charges made good — Grievances of the
peasants — Drowned in blood — Luther's agency — Halting between
two extremes — Result — Absolute despotism — Swiss cantons — M.
D'Aubigne puzzled — Liberty, a mountain nymph — The old mother
of republics — Security to character — Recapitulation.

The friends of the reformation have been in the habit
of boasting, that to it we are indebted for all the free insti-
tutions we now enjo}^ Before it, there was nothing in the
world but slavery on the one hand, and reckless despotism
on the other : after it, came liberty and free governments.
In school-boj orations and Fourth-of-Julj speeches; in
sermons from the pulpit and in effusions from the press;
this assertion has been reiterated over and again with so
much confidence, that many persons of sincerity and in-
tellia:ence have viev/ed it as founded in fact. To such we
would beg leave to present the following brief summary of
facts bearing on the subject. Let them read both sides;
and then will they be able to form an enlightened judgment.

* " History of Literature," vol. i, p. 192.

275 D*AUBIGNF/S HISTORY REVIEWED.

M. D'Aubigne asserts roundly : ** the reformation saved
religion, and with it society."* We liave already seen
what it did for religion : we will now examine what it did
for society. Did it really save society ; or was society
saved in spite of it? To narrow down the ground of the
inquiry; did it really contribute by its influence to check
political despotism, and to protect the rights of the peo-
ple ? Or, in other words, did it develop the democratic
principle, and originate free institutions ? Were we to de-
cide according to the measure of its boasting, it certainly
did this and much more. It had liberty forever on its
lips : it loudly proclaimed that one great object of its mis-
sion was to free mankind from a degrading servitude, both
religious and political. But was its practice in accordance
with its loudly boasting theory ? We shall see.

Political liberty guarantees security to life, to property,
to character, and to the pursuit of happiness: and it docs
this with the least possible restraint on personal freedom.
The greater the security to those objects, and the less the
restraint on individual liberty, the more free and perfect
is the system of government. A well regulated democ-
i-acy — where the people can bear it — best corresponds with
this theory, and is therefore, with the condition just named,
the best of all possible forms of government. And the
nearer others approximate to this standard, the more do
they verge to perfection. Such are the principles of our
political creed : and by them we will judge of the influence
of the reformation on free government. Did this religious
revolution provide greater security to life, property, honor
and the pursuit of happiness, with less restraint to indivi-
dual liberty than had previously existed ? If it did, then
was its influence favorable to liberty; if not, then, how-
ever its advocates may boast, its influence w^as decidedly
hostile to true democracy. We will abide this test,
which, we are sure, our adversaries will not be disposed
to reject.

* Vol. i, p. 6T.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON CIVIL LIBERTY. ^^77

1. We will begin vvilli tlie object of government last
named — security to men in tlie ])uisuit of happint'ss. No
government is free, which does not guaranty tliis. The
liighest, the most noble, and the only sure way of pursuing
happiness, is by the path of religion. Witliout this, there
is, and can be, no real or permanent happiness, either in
this world, or in the next. This, we think, will be admit-
ted by all who are imbued with the principles of Christi-
anity. Now, there is manifestly no freedom in this ex-
alted pursuit, without the guarantee of religious liberty.
Hence, a system — which sapped the very foundations of
religious liberty, could not guaranty one of the greatest
objects of all free governments — security in the pursuit of
happiness. We have already proved, that the reformation
did not secure religious freedom : and therefore, the infer-
ence is irresistible, that it did not tend to promote free
government.

We will pursue this line of argument a little farther.
The reformation cast off the religious yoke of the Pontiffs
and of the Catholic church ; and wore, instead thereof,
rivetted on its neck, that of the princes who espoused its
cause. Was the exchange favorable to liberty } Did the
union of church and state which necessarily ensued, se-
cure to Protestants in Germany a greater amount of free-
dom than they had heretofore enjoyed ? The pope was
far off, and he generally interposed his authority only in
spiritual matters, or in great emergencies of the state : the
princes, who succeeded to his authority, were present, and
interfered in every thing, both in church and state — they
were in fact supreme in both. When they chose to play
the tyrant, who was to oppose their will .^

The reformed party were powerless : they had given up
themselves, bound hand and foot, into the power of their
princes. The voice of the Roman pontiffs, which had ere-
while thundered from the Vatican, and stricken terror into
the heart of tyranny, was now also powerless : the reformers
themselves had drowned that voice in the maddening cla-
24

276 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

raor of their opposition. What resource had they left to
meet and repel tyranny? They had themselves, of their
own accord, rendered powerless the only arm which could
protect them, or redress their grievances.

The time has gone by, for men of sense and intelligence
to clamor against the tyranny of the Roman pontiffs. Pro-
testants themselves are beginning to view these much
abused men in a more favorable light than they did here-
tofore. They no longer paint them as the unmitigated
tyrants who lorded it over the world for their own selfish
purposes and unhallowed ambition ; but as the saviours of
Europe, and the protectors of its political rights trodden
in the dust by tyrants. Such Protestant writers as Gui-
zot, Voigt, Hurter, Ranke, Newman, Pusey and Bancroft,
have done justice to the popes : at least they have meted
out to them a portion of justice.

The last named, says, speaking of Pope Alexand r Ilf,
who lived A. D. 1167: " True to the spirit of his office,
which during the supremacy of brute force in the middle
age, made of the chief minister of religion the tribune of
the people and the guardian of the oppressed, had written,
* that nature having made no slaves, all men have an equal
right to liberty.' "* We might quote many similar ac-
knowledgments made by Protestant writers : but the fact
we have asserted will scarcely be questioned, and we refer
to the works of the writers mentioned above — passim.

Nothing is, in fact, more certain than that the popes of
the middle ages labored assiduously to maintain the righta
of the people against the tyranny of their princes. When-
ever they struck a blow, it was generally aimed at tyranny,
and calculated to raise up the lower orders in the scale of
society. The oppressed of every natiim found a willing
and a powerful advocate in Rome. When the Roman
pontiffs threw around the people the broad shield of their
protection, it was more effectual towards their defence

* Historv of he United States, vol. 1, p. 163.

INFLUEiVCa OF THE REFORM ON CIVIL LIBERTY. 279

against the tyranny which had ground them in the dust,
than had been the eagles which had perched on the Roman
standard of old. For Germany particularly, the deposing
power, claimed by the popes of the middle ages, was a
broad aegis thrown around the liberties of its people.
When was that power ever exercised, but in behalf of the
poor, the crushed, and the bleeding?

What would have become of the liberties of Europe in
that period of anarchy and tyranny, but for its exercise ?
No other authority was available : because no other voice
would have been heard or respected, amidst the general
din of war and the confusion of the times. And by de-
stroying that authority, the reformers broke down the most
effectual barrier against tyranny, and destroyed the great-
est security to popular rights.

2. But perhaps the reformation provided greater secu-
rity for the rights of property, than had been made in the
good old Catholic times ? — We have seen how the Protest-
ant princes seized upon and alienated the vast property
of the Catholic church. They diverted it from its legiti-
mate channels, and generally embezzled it for their ovvn
private uses. Neither the public treasury nor the people
profited much by this sacrilegious invasion of church
property.

True, the Protestant princes, who became the heads of
the reformed churches, promised, in some places, to em-
ploy at least a portion of this immense property thus seized
on by violence, for the establishment of public schools and
hospitals. But this promise was never carried into effect,
at least to any great extent. Thus, in Sweden, a great
portion of the church property was given to the nobles,
as a reward for their co-operation with the monarch, Gus-
tavus Yasa, in carrying out his favorite project of reform :
another large portion was annexed to the crown ; and the
miserable remnant was doled out with a niggardly hand
for the support of the Episcopal body — which was there
retained — of the inferior clergy, and of the charitable and

280 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

literary institutions.* In Denmark, the monarch and the
nobility shared the spoils.!

In Germany, the avarice of the nobility swallowed up
almost every thing, which had escaped the grasp of the
perjured monks, or the pillage of the infuriated mobs. We
have already seen, how Luther himself lashed them with
his withering eloquence for their avarice, which had left
almost nothing of the ample patrimony of the church, for
the support of the reformed preachers and their wives.
We shall see in the sequel, how he rebnked their parsi-
mony, in not erecting and supporting public schools.

The ejected Catholic monks and clergy were reduced
to beggary, and had no alternative left, but to starve, or
to obtain a livelihood at the price of apostacy. Alas ! too
many of them adopted the latter course ! John Hurd, a
counsellor of the Elector of Saxony, whose authority is
cited by Luther in his appeal against the avarice of the
princes, asserts that the Protestant r.obility had squan-
dered in licentiousness, not only the goods of the monas-
teries on which they had seized, but also their own patri-
mony4

Many of these marauding princes were not content with
the pillage of the church property within their own terri-
tory, but sallied forth with an armed band to devastate
that of their neighbors. We have already adverted to the
memorable exploits of many German princes in this way,
and have seen how g;allantly their armed bands put to
flight whole troops of cowled monks and helpless women,
in order to seize on their property ! We have seen the
excursion of the apostate Albert of Brandenburg, at the
head often thousand armed men, into the territory' of the
prince Bishop of Treves.

This man, viewed by M. D'Aubigne as a saint, but more
properly called ** the Attila of the reformation, "§ estab-

* See Robelot, sup. cit. p. 177. f Ibid.

X Ibi.l. p. 17«. § Ibid, p 20G.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON CIVIL LIBERTY. 281

lished a temporal principality, and laid the foundation of
the present kingdom of Prussia, by his successful invasion
of the property of others. He not only appropriated to
his own private use the vast property belonging to the
Teutonic Order, of which he was the general ; but he also,
by the same lawless means, annexed to his territory all
eastern Prussia. He was as treacherous and unprincipled,
as he was avaricious and lawless. To promote the pur-
poses of his ambition, he passed from the camp of Henry
II, to that of the Catholic Charles V; and though the
treaty of Passan had guaranteed to the Lutherans of the
Confession of Augsburg the free exercise of their religion,
he, at the head of his troops, ravaged the territories of the
Protestant princes — thus recklessly sacrificing friends
and enemies ! The reformation is welcome to all the cre-
dit its cause may derive from such saints as he and the
Landgrave of Hesse — par nobile fratrum !

Bayle says to the reformed party, with caustic truth:
*' You forget every thing, when it is question of your in-
teiests."* The League of Smalkald, noticed above, had
for one of its principal objects to protest against the deci-
sions of the imperial courts, which had not granted entire
liberty to the Protestant princes to pillage at will the pro-
perty of the Catholics. It is a remarkable fact, that most
of the criminal prosecutions commenced in this court were
directed against the lawless violence of the Protestant no-
bility, and especially of the noted Landgrave of Hessef.
Catholics could not be secure in their property, and even
the protection of the emperor was unavailing for this pur-
pose, in those times of lawless depredation.

And be it remembered, that Catholics still formed the
great body of the Germanic empire. Thus the reforma-
tion succeeded in depriving to a great extent of their most
sacred rights, the majority of the people. Was this course
favorably to liberty, which is a mere name, without secu-

* (Euvres, torn, ii, p. 621. La Haye, 1727.
t See Robelot, ut supra, p. 205, note.
24*

282 D aubigne's history reviewed.

ritj to property ? The truth seems to be, that the reformed
party were so much attached to libert}^, that they wished
to monopolize it, and have it all for themselves !

But perhaps the most mischievous influence of the re-
formation on the rights of property, was its reckless disre-
gard of testamentary dispositions. The property which
the Protestant princes seized on and alienated, had been,
most of it, accumulated by charitable bequests, made for
special church and charitable purposes, by men on their
death-beds. What right had the reformed party to inter-
fere with these testamentary dispositions } What right had
they to divert the property thus created, from the channels
in which the abiding Catholic feeling of respect for the
dead had caused it to flow fur centuries ? What right had
they above all to squander, and to appropriate to their own
unhallowed purposes, wealth that had been hitherto ap-
plied, by the express will of those who had bequeathed it,
to religious and charitable objects ?

And what security was there any longer left for the
rights of propertjs when even the sanctity of last wills
and testaments was thus recklessl}'- disregarded ? Had
those charitable men of the good old Catholic times arisen
from their tombs, how they would have rebuked this sac-
rilegious alienation of the property they had left ! True,
some stop was put to this unhallowed sequestration of
church property by the treaty of 1555, in which such
property was declared sacred, and last wills inviolable;*
and Robertson, the historian of Charles V, tells us, that
the Protestant princes themselves at this treaty, after
having at first opposed the article which checked their
lawless violence, withdrew at length their objections, and
acquiesced in its equity;* but the mischief had already
been done, and they had already fattened on the spoils of
the church.

But for the tumults caused by the reformation, the rights

* History of Cliarles V, 1. xi Cited by Robelot, p. 181.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON CIVIL LIBERTY. 283

of property would, in all probability, have been perma-
nently settled throughout Germany, at the close of the
fifteenth century. The frequent depredations committed
by the feudal chieftains of the middle ages on the property
of each other and of their vassals, were effectually checked
by the emperor Maximilian in an imperial law passed in
1495. This law of the empire abolished altogether what
was called the jus mamiale — or the right claimed by many
lawless feudal sovereigns to take by force whatever they
could lay their hands on; and it established an imperial
court of adjudication, in which all points of contested ju-
risdiction were to be definitively settled, and all grievances
from violations of the law to be redressed. Germany en-
joyed a profound peace for many years after the enactment
of this wise law: men breathed more freely; might and
right were no loger synonymous terms; the rights of pro-
perty were re-established.*

But this peace was, alas ! of but short duration. It was
a calm which preceded an awful storm. The violent
preaching of Luther against emperors, princes and bishops,
aroused again into full activity the dormant passions of the
lower orders. Hence the dreadful war of the peasants,
with all its appalling horrors, its effusion of blood, and the
desolation with which it aflflicted Germany. Seven years
only had elapsed since the commencement of the reforma-
tion ; and the confusion of the middle ages returned : the
rights of property, of life, and of liberty were again ruth-
lessly trampled under foot with impunity. The years
1 524 and 1 525 were awful years for Germany. The princes
of the empire availed themselves of the general disorder,
to commit all manner of excesses. No man's property, or
liberty, or life was any longer safe. The tree planted by
Luther at Wittemberg was bearing its bitter first fruits !

3. The history of this war of the peasants sheds so much
additional light upon the influence of the reformation on

* For a luminous view of this, see Robelot, u1 fivp. p. 200, 201.

284 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

the rights of the lower orders and the liberty of the people,
that we will be pardoned for dwelling on it at some length.
Our limits will however allow o?ily a brief summary of the
more prominent facts, and a rapid sketch of the leading
features of that eventful struo-o-le It will be seen that
the reformation provided no security either for personal
liberty or for life itself.

We deliberately charge on the reformation two things:
lit, that it stimulated the peasants to revolt; and 2dly,
that it used its powerful influence to crush that revolt by
force, and to drown the voice of the poor peasants, crying
out for redress of grievances, in their blood ! The result
of the rebellion, thus stifled in blood, was a weakening of
the democratic principle, and a streno;theningof the arm of
power. At the close of the dreadful struggle, liberty lay
crushed and bleeding, and despotism, armed with all its
iion terrors, was triumphant. We hope to make good
these assertions byfmdeniable facts and unexceptionable
evidence.

The Protestant historian of Germany, Adolphus Menzel,
candidly admits that Luther's doctrines were calculated
to sow the seeds of sedition among the lower orders.* The
violent appeal he had made against the emperor and the
princes of the empire, at the close of the Diet of Nurem-
berg in 152i2 — two years before t\^e revolt of the peasants
— was in fact nothing ^else but an open call to rebellion.f
His words fell like burning coals on the inflammatory ma-
terials which then abounded in Germany. The standard
of revolt was every where raised : and on it was inscribed
the talismanic word, liberty. Far from wishing to extin-
guish it, Luther fanned the flame with his breath. When
the insurrectionary movements were reaching his own
Saxony, he addressed a pamphlet to the German nobility,
in which he sided with the peasants, and openly charged
the princes with being the cause of the revolt.

* "Neuere Geschichte der Deutschen" — Tom. 1. p. 169.
t See extracts from tliis writing in Audin, p. 285, seqq.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON CIVIL LIBERTY. 285

He cried out : *' On you rests the responsibility of these
tumults and seditions; on you, princes and lords, on you
especially, blind bishops and senseless priests and monks !
You, who persist in making yourselves fools, and opposing
the Gospel, although you know that it will triumph, and
that you shall not prevail. How do you govern ? You
only know how to oppress, to destroy, and to plunder, for
the purpose of maintaining your pomp and pride. The
people and the poor have got enough of you. The sword
is raised over your heads, and yet you believe yourselves
so firmly seated, that you cannot be overthrown.*** My
good sirs, it is not merely the peasants who rise up against
you ; it is God himself who comes to chastise your ty-
ranny. A drunken man must have a bed of straw; a
peasant will require something softer. Go not to war with
them ; you do not know how the affair will terminate."*

This v/as an appeal worthy of an apostle of liberty — it
was seized up with avidity by Mianzer and the other leaders
of the revolt: all Germany was in arms. How soon did
Luther change his note, and preach up the extermination
of these same peasants by fire and sword ! Before we show
this however, we must first see what were the principal
grievances of which the peasants complained, and what
were their demands.

There is no doubt, that there was much fanaticism, and
much extravagance in their whole insurrectionary move-
ment: but there is as little doubt, that most of their
claims were founded in strict justice. Chrystopher Schapp-
ler, a Swiss priest, drew up their manifesto, in which they
demanded, among other things of less moment : " that they
should pay tithes only in corn — that they should no longer
be treated as slaves, since the blood of Jesus had redeemed
them — that they should be allowed to fish and to fowl,
since God had given them, in the person of Adam, domin-
ion over the fishes of the sea and the fowls of the air — that

* See Audin, p. 309, 310.

286

they might cut in the orest, wood for fuel and for build-
ing — that the labor should be diminished — that they should
be permitted to possess landed property — that the taxes
should not exceed the value of the property — that the tri-
bute to the nobles, after the death of a father of a family,
might be abolished, so that his widow and orphans might
not be reduced to beggary — and finally, that if these griev-
ances were not well founded, they might be disproved
from the Word of God."*

How was this declaration of grievances met by the re-
formed party ? If they were really the friends of liberty,
they would at once have recognized the justice of most of
these demands, and would have urged the princes to grant
them. At least consistency, if not justice, required that
Luther should have adopted this course. And yet he —
the same Luther, whom we have just heard rebuking the
tyranny of the princes, and justifying, nay, stimulating the
peasants in their revolt — the very same man now changed
his tactics, and loudly clamored for the blood of the pea-
sants ! He met their challenge, in which they had trium-
phantly appealed to the Scriptures for their justification,
and wrote a labored treatise to prove, from the Word of
God, that they were in the wrong !

In this reply to their statement of grievances, he said :
** I know that Satan, under pretext of the Gospel, conceals
among you many men of a cruel heart, who incessantly
calumniate me; (was this the reason why he abandoned
their cause?). But I despise them : I do not dread their
rage. You tell me that you will triumph; that you are
invincible. But cannot God, who destroyed Sodom,
overcome you ? You have taken up the sword ; you shall
perish by the sword. In res'sting your magistrates, you
resist Jesus Christ."

He then goes on to answer from the Scriptures their

* Catron — Histoire du Fanatistne, torn. 1. Menzel, torn. 1, apnd
Audin, p. 311, 312. See also Robertson's Charles V, in one vol. 8vo.
American edit. p. 205, 206.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON CIVIL LIBERTY. 1^7

demands, one bj one. Bible in hand, he defends tithes
and even the enslaving; of the poor peasants, who had de-
manded to be free ! " Vou wish to emancipate yourselves
from slavery: but slavery is as old as the world. Abra-
ham had slaves, and St. Paul establishes rules for those
whom the laws of nations reduced to that state." As if
conscious of his own treachery and utter inconsistency,
he winds up his reply with these words: "on reading my
letter, you will shout and exclaim, that Luther has become
the courtier of princes : but before you reject, at least ex-
amine my advice. Above all, listen not to the voice of
those new prophets who delude you. I know them."*

What a change ! As Luther had anticipated, the pea-
sants accused him, with justice, of perficTy to them, and of
mean sycophancy to princes. To prove tlie former, MiJn-
zer read to the assembled multitudes an extract from
Luther's violent appeal against " the ecclesiastical order
falsely so called,''! in which he had said : " Wait my lord
bishops, yea, rather imps of the devil; Doctor Martin
Luther, will read for you a bull, which will make your
ears tingle. This is the Lutheran bull — whoever will aid
with his arms, his fortune, or his life, to devastate the
bishops and the episcopal hierarchy, is a good son of God,
a true Christian, and observes the commandments of the
Lord."

In his answer to Prierias, which it appears Miinzer had
not seen, he had employed this terrible language : " If we
hang robbers on the gallows, decapitate murderers, and
burn heretics, why should we not wash our hands in the
blood of those sons of perdition, those cardinals, those
popes, those serpents of Rome, and of Sodom, who defile
the church of God ?":|:

Luther's interposition came too late: and it lost all its

* A pud Audin, p. 312,313.

t "Contra falso nominatum ordinera ecclesiasticura." Luth. 0pp.
ed. Wittemb. ii, fol. 120, seqq.

X Osiander (a Protestant) Cent. 161, Sec. p. 109. Audin, p. 213.

288

force by its manifest treachery and inconsistency with his
previous declarations. The struggle went on ; the hostile
armies met on the memorable field of Frankhausen : the
confederated princes were triumphant, and the peasants
were butchered like sheep. Their prophet Miinzer fell
mortally wounded : he embraced again the Catholic faith,
and to his last breath accused Luther of having been the
cause of all his misfortunes!*

**Such," says M. Audin, " was the end of the war of
the peasants. In the short time in which they were per-
mitted to afflict gociety, it is estimated that more than a
hundred thousand men fell on the field of battle, seven
cities were dismantled, fifty monasteries razed to the
ground, and three churches burned — not to mention the
immense treasures of painting and sculpture, of stained
glass and of beautifully written manuscripts — which were
annihilated. Had they triumphed, Germany would have
relapsed into barbarism ; literature, arts, poetry, morality,
faith, and authority, would have been buried under the
same ruin. The rebellion which Luther had caused, was
the daughter of disobedience: her father, however, knew
how to chastise her. If there was innocent blood shed,
let it be on his head. * For,' says the reformer 'it is I
who have shed it, by order of God; and whoever has
perished in this combat, has lost both soul and body, and
is eternally damned.' "t

The voice of history proclaims, that Luther was the
cause of the insurrection of the peasants, and of their sub-
sequent slaughter. Protestant cotemporary historians
have accused him of all this. Osiander says : ** poor pea-
sants, whom Luther flattered and caressed, while they
were content with attacking the bishops and the clergy !
But when the revolt assumed another aspect, and the in-

* For a graphic description of this whole struggle, see Audin,
315, seqq.

t Tisch Reden, edit. Eisleb. p. 276. Lath. 0pp. edit. Jenae. Tom.
iii, fol. 130. Audin, p. 318.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON CIVIL LIBERTY. 289

surgents mocked at his bull, and threatened him and his
princes — (hen appeared another bull, in which he preached
up the slaughter of tlie peasants as if thej were so many
sheep. And when thej were killed, how, think you, did
he celebrate their funeral ? By marrying a nun !" This
reminils us of Erasmus' beautiful remark given above, that
while Luther was revelling at his nuptials, " a hundred
thousand peasants were descending to the tomb!"

Hospinian, another Protestant writer, says, addressing
Luther: *' It is you who excited the peasants to revolt."*
Memno Simon, another Protestant, asserts the same thing.t
Cochlaeus, a Catholic historian of the time, estimates the
number of the slaughtered peasants at 150,000 ; and says :
**0n the day of judgment, Mi^inzer and his peasants will
cry out before God and his angels, 'vengeance on Lu-
ther!' "J

And have we not heard Luther himself boldly avowing
his agency in the whole transaction, and even boasting of
it, with a kind of fiendish exultation ? Had he not recom-
mended the princes to have no pity on the peasants, and
threatened them v/ith the indignation of God, if they
poured oil on their bleeding wounds .^§ Had he not saiid :
*' give the peasants oats; and if they grow strong-headed,
give them the stick and the cannon ball ?"||

Such then were the tender mercies of the reformation !
Such its regard for the lower orders ! Such its political
code! The poor peasants first stimulated to take up arms
to secure their freedom, and then butchered by tens of
thousands ! In their tomb was buried whatever of liberty
remained in Germany. The princes became omnipotent :
the revolt once crushed, no one dared any longer to raise
his voice in defence of freedom !

* " Historia Sacramentar." pars 2, fol. 200.
t Lib. de cruce.

X Cochlaeus — Defensio Ducis Georgii, p, 63, edit. Ingolstadt, an.
1545, in 4to.
§ Epist. Nich. Amsdorf, 30 Mali, 1525.
II Epist. to Ruhel, edit-, de Wette. torn, ii, p. 669.
25

290 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

The reformation had halted for a brief space between
two dreadful extremes: that of absolute and uncontrolled
despotism on the one hand, and that of dreadful anarchy
on the other. It at first favored the latter, but soon it
threw the whole weight of its powerful influence into the
scales of the former. The result has been, what might
have been expected, absolute despotism and union of
church and state in every country of Germany, where the
reformation obtained a footing ! Had the reformers been
really the friends of humanity and of liberty; had they
urged the princes to redress the just grievances of the
peasants; the issue of that struggle would have been very
different. The lower orders would have been raised in
the scale of society, and free institutions, which have not
blessed Germany since the reformation, would have been
raised on a solid and permanent basis.

One of the most famous Protestant historians of the day,
M. Guizot, the present minister of France, tells us, in his
"Lectures on Civilization in Modern Europe;" **that
the emancipation of the human mind, [by the reformation!)
and absolute monarchy triumphed simultaneously through-
out Europe."* All who have but glanced at the political
history of Europe in the sixteenth century, must at once
see the truth of this remark. In the Protestant kingdoms
of Europe, the rule suffers no exception: in all of them,
absolute monarchy, in its most consolidated and despotic
form, dates precisely from the period of the reformation.

Witness Prussia, Denmark, Sweden, and, we may add,
England : for it is certain, that for one hundred and fifty
years following the reformation in England, the liberties
of the people were crushed ; the privileges secured by the
Catholic magna charta were wantonly trampled under
foot; and royal prerogative swallowed up every other ele-
ment of government. It was only at the period of the re-
volution in 1688, that the principles oi magna cAartawere

* P. 300 of Lectures, Sic. American edit. 1 vol. 12mo.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON CIVIL LIBERTY. 291

again feebly asserted, and partially restored to their pro-
per influence in the government.*

In Catholic countries, the necessity of strong measures
of precaution against the seditions and tumults occasioned
by the reformation in every place where it had made its
appearance, tended powerfully to strengthen the arm of
the executive : and in the general ferment of the times,
the people willingly resigned most of the civil privileges
they had enjoyed during the middle ages, in order, by in-
creasing the power of their rulers, the more effectually to
stem the torrent of innovation, and to avert the threatened
evils of anarchy. Thus the political tendency of the re-
formation, both directly and indirectly, favored the intro-
duction of absolute systems of government throughout
Europe.

And thus do we owe to that "glorious reformation," the
despotic governments, the vast standing armies, and we
may add, the immense public debts and the burdensome
taxation, of most of the European governments ! M. Gui-
zot's assertion is well founded, both in the principles of
political philosophy, and in the facts of history. We may
however remark, that it was a strange "emancipation of
the human mind" truly, which thus avowedly led to the
" triumph of absolute monarchy throughout Europe !"

It would seem that Switzerland at least was an excep-
tion to M. Guizot's sweeping assertion ; as absolute mon-
archy never was established in its cantons, even after the
reformation ! But the reader of Swiss history will not fail
to observe that wherever Protestantism was established in
that country, there the democratic principle was weak-
ened, the legislative councils unduly interfered in spiritual
matters, and despotism thus often triumphed in the much
abused name of liberty. Those cantons of Switzerland
are the freest which have remained faithful to the Catho-

* See an able essay on this subject in Nos. xv, xviii, xix, of the
Dublin Review, "on arbitrary power, Popery, Protestantism;" repub-
lished in a neat 12mo. volume by M. Fithian, Philadelphia, 1842, p. 251.

293 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

lie religion. In them, you read of no persecution of Pro-
testants for conscience' sake, of no attempts to unite church
and state, and of little departure in any respect, from the
original Catholic charter of Swiss liberties.

It is a remarkable fact, that the three cantons which first
asserted Swiss liberty — those of Schweitz, Uri and Unter-
wald — have all continued faithful to the Catholic church ;
as well as to the good old principles of democracy bequeathed
to them by the Catholic founders of their republic, Wil-
liam Tell, Furst and Melchtal. It was under these re-
nowned leaders, that the troops of the three cantons just
named fought, 1S09, the memorable battle of Morgarten,
which drove the Austrians from Switzerland, and caused
the banner of Swiss independence to float triumphant over
a people, as free as the air which stirred its expansive folds !

M. D'Aubigne admits, and is sadly puzzled to account
for, this stern adherence of the oldest and freest Swiss
cantons to the Catholic faith. He explains it, by appeal-
ing to the inscrutable ways of the providence of God!
**But if the Helvetic towns," he says "open and accessi-
ble to ameliorations, were likely to be drawn early within
the current of the reformation, the case was very different
with the mountain districts. It might have been thought
that these communities, more simple and energetic than
their confederates in the towns, would have embraced
with ardor a doctrine, of which the characteristics were
simplicity and force ; but He who said — ' at that time two
men shall be in the field, the one shall be taken and the
other left' — saw fit to leave these mountaineers, while he
took the men of the plain. Perhaps an attentive observer
might havfi discerned some symptoms of the difference,
which was about to manifest itself between the people of
the town and the hills. Ihielligence had not penetrated
to those heights. Those cantons which had founded Swiss
liberty, proud of the part they had played in the grand
struggle for independence, were not disposed to be tamely
instructed by their younger brethren of the plain. Why,

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON CIVIL LIBERTY. 293

they might ask, should they change the faith in which they
had expelled the Austrians, and which had consecrated
by altars all the scenes of their triumphs ? Their priests
were the only enlightened guides to whom they could ap-
ply ; their worship and their festivals were occupation and
diversion for their tranquil lives, and enlivened the silence
of their peaceful retreats. They continued closed against
religious innovations."*

Sure enough : why should they change the religion
which had sealed their dear liberties with its divine sanc-
tion, and the principles and the worship of which were
so closely interwoven with their most cherished reminis-
cences } *' Intelligence had not penetrated to those
heights," forsooth ! They were not sufficiently enlightened
to perceive, — what no one has yet perceived — that the
seditions and tumults which every where marked the pro-
gress of the reformation, were favorable to liberty! They
may bless the day, in which tliey took the resolution to
adhere to the faith of their patriotic forefathers : and, from
their mountain heights, amidst " their peaceful retreats,"
they may look down with proud complacency on their
"brethren of the plain" torn by civil factions and reli-
gious dissensions — persecuting and proscribing each other
— all in consequence of their having had the "intelli-
gence" to embrace the "glorious reformation!"

John Quincy Adams, the " old man eloquent," has
offered a more plausible solution of the difficulty which so
sadly puzzled the mind of M. D'Aubigne. In a recent
speech at Buffalo, he said that "liberty was a mountain
nymph," who loved always to breathe the purest air, and
to dwell in the most lofty situations, nearest to heaven !
The old Swiss cantons had an instinctive feeling of the
truth of this beautiful and poetic thought. They loved
liberty, and therefore they remained Catholic !t

• Vol. 1, p. 82, 83.

f In the next chapter, we will show the political thraldom of Geneva
under Calrin.
25*

294 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

Did our space permit, we might here show what were
the political opinions of the various Catholic States of
Europe, adopted under the influence of the Catholic
church, for centuries before the reformation was heard of.
We might prove, that the Catholic church was the mother
of republics; and that, long before the reformation, every
important principle of free government — popular repre-
sentation, trial by jury, exemption from taxation without
the consent of the governed, habeas corpus, and the great
fundamental principle, that all power emanates from the
people — were generally recognized and firmly established.
"We might show, how almost every one of these sacred
principles was successfully trampled on and abolished by
that very reformation, which is forever boasting its advo-
cacy of free principles! But this field is so ample, and
withal so interesting, that we have deemed it advisable to
devote a special essay to the elucidation of the varied ob-
jects of interest it opens to the view.* By comparing the
political state of Europe in the good old Catholic times,
with what it subsequently became, after the reformation
■had done its work, the reader will be best enabled to as-
certain and appreciate the influence of this latter revolu-
tion on civil liberty.

4. Enough has, however, been already established to en-
able the impartial reader to form an enlightened judgment
on the political influence of the reformation. We have seen,
that with liberty forever on its lips, it really trampled un-
der foot almost every element of popular government:
that it weakened, and in many cases for a long time, en-
tirely destroyed all security to life, to property, and to
the pursuit of happiness: and that withal, it imposed the
intolerable yoke of absolute despotism, with union of
church and state, on the necks of its disciples ! And all
this, after men had been seduced to its banner, by the
enticing name of liberty which they read inscribed thereon !

* See the essay " On the Influence of Catholicity on Civil Liberty."

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON CIVIL LIBERTY. 295

We have not yet alluded to the influence of the reforma-
tion on one other essential element of free government —
security to character. Did the reformation provide more
ample security to this — the dearest perhaps of all human
rights, than had been ensured during the Catholic times ?

The reformation, as we have already shown, created
dissensions and sowed distrust among those who had been
hitherto united as brothers. It split up the religious world,
till then ''one sheepfold under one shepherd," into a hun-
dred warring sects. These carried on bitter controversies
with each other, and all united in fiercely denouncing those
who continued faithful to the religion of their forefathers.
Acrimonious denunciation, and personal recrimination,
with the most scurrilous abuse, were the order of the day
under the new state of things. The arms of ridicule,
caricature, misrepresentation and open calumny were
constantly used, in the hallowed name of the religion of
peace and love ! No man's character was then secure,
especially if he had the independence to adhere to the
ancient faith, and to call in question the infallibility of the
new dogmatizers. Does not every one recognize at once
the truth of this picture ? And is it not true, to a great
extent, even at the present day ? What security then,
we ask, did the reformation provide for character ^

Thus, the reformation trampled in the dust, every im-
portant object of free government — security to life, to
character, to property, to the pursuit of happiness, to per-
sonal liberty ! And yet we are still to be told, that to it
we are indebted for all the liberty we possess ! Truly ! if
liberty was still preserved in some places, and if "society
was saved" from barbarism, it was rather in sj}ite, than in
consequence, of the reformation !

In farther confirmation of what has been already ad-
vanced in this and the preceding chapters, we will here
briefly give the testimony of the two recent Protestant
travellers referred to above — Bremiier and Laing — in re-
gard to the present condition of civil and religious liberty

296 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

in northern Europe, which has been for three centuries
under Protestant influence.

Mr. Bremner assures us that the king of Denmark is
** the most uncontrolled sovereign in Europe. We have
looked for," he adds, ** but can find no single check to the
power of the king of Denmark. Laws, property, taxes,
all are at the mercy of his tyranny or caprice." The
Danes boast much of theliberationof the peasants in 1660:
but Mr. Bremner says, "that this was not a liberation of
any class in the kingdom, but the more complete subjuga-
tion of all classes to the crown ; and that the peasants re-
mained and still remain in many parts of Denmark little
better than serfs."*

Mr. Laing confirms this statement. This is his remarka-
ble language; "it is one of the most remarkable circum-
stances in modern history, that about the middle of the
seventeenth century, when all other countries were ad-
vancing towards constitutional arrangements of some kind
or other, for the security of civil and religious liberty,
Denmark by a formal act of her states or Diet, abrogated
even that shadow of a constitution, and invested her sove-
reigns with full despotic power to make and execute law,
without any check or control on their absolute authority.
Lord Molesworth, who wTote an account of Denmark in
1692, thirty-two years after this singular transaction,
makes the curious observation — • that in the Roman Catho-
lic religion there is a resisting principle to absolute civil
power, from the division of authority with the heads of the
church at Rome ; but in the North, the Lutheran church
is entirely subservient to the civil power, and the whole
of the Northern people of Protestant countries, have lost
their liberties ever since they changed their religion for a
better.'' .... * The blind obedience which is destructive
of natural liberty, is, he conceives, more firmly established

* In the work cited above, chap. viii. — See Dublin Review for
May, 1843.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON CIVIL LIBERTY. 297"

in the Northern kingdoms bj the entire and sole depen-
dence of the clergy upon the prince, without the inter-
ference of any spiritual superior, as that of the Pope
among Romanists (!), than in the countries which remained
Catholic.'"*

This observation of Lord Molesworth is clearly grounded
in history; and Mr. Laing confirms its truth in his work
on Sweden. He says: "the Swede has no freedom of
mind, no power of dissent in religious opinion from the
established church; because although toleration nominally
exists, a man not baptized, confirmed and instructed by
the clergyman of the establishment, could not communi-
cate in the established church, and could not marry, or
hold office, or exercise any act of majority as a citizen —
would, in fact, be an outlaw !"

He then goes on to prove that there is in Sweden a most
rigid form of inquisition, which annually, even at this day,
severely punishes from forty to fifty persons for alleged
offences against religion. " The crime of * mockery of the
public service of God, or contemptuous behaviour during
the same,' " he says, *' is the first in the rubrick of the se-
cond class of crimes : that is, it comes after murder, blas-
phemy, sodomy, but before perjury, forgery, or theft. It
is, evidently, a very undefined crime, but is visited with
punishment in chains for various terms of years, as a crime
against the church establishment. Between 1830 and 1 836,
not fewer than two hundred and forty -two persons have
been condemned to chains for this crime in Sweden. Who
will say, that the Inquisition was abolished by Luther's
reformation ? It has only been incorporated v/ith the state
in Lutheran countries, and exercised by the church through
the ecclesiastical department of government in the civil
courts, instead of in the church courts. The thing itself
remains in vigor ; Lord Molesworth was right when he
said, that the whole of the Northern people of Lutheran

* Work cited above, chap. viii.

298 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

countries had lost their liberties ever since they changed
their religion for a better." (worse?)

In Sweden, and in fact in all Northern Europe, the
lower orders are little better than slaves. The servant
may be cudgelled by his master, and no matter how bar-
barously he be treated, provided he be neither killed nor
maimed, he has no legal recourse. Mr. Laing tells us as
much. ** The servant has no right of action on the master
for personal maltreatment, and during his time of service
has no more rights than a slave." " These people," he
adds, " are trained to obedience, and in that class, to con-
sider nothing their own but what is left to them by the
clergy and the government, to whom, in the first place,
their labors, time, and property must belong. A country
in this state, wants the very foundation on which civil
liberty must stand — a sense of independence and property
among the people."

He sums up his remarks on the political and religious
condition of Sweden as follows : — " Such a state of laws
and institutions in a country, reduces the people as moral
beings to the state of a soldiery, who, if they fulfil their
regimental duties and military regulations, consider them-
selves absolved from all other restraints on conduct. This
is the condition of the Swedish people. The mass of the
nation is in a state of pupilage, living like soldiers in a
regiment, under classes or oligarchies of privileged bodies
— the public functionaries, clergy, nobility, owners of
estate exempt from taxation, and incorporated traders ex-
empt from competition. Under this pressure in Sweden
upon industry, property, liberty, free opinion and free will,
education is but a source of amusement, or of speculation
in science, without influence on private morals, or public
aftairs; and religion, a superstitious observance of church
days, forms and ordinances, with a blind veneration for
the clergy," &c.

The politico-religious condition of Prussia is not a whit
more flattering. The serf system continued to prevail in

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON CIVIL LIBERTY. 299

this kingdom up to the beginning of the present century;
and Mr. Laing assures us, that "the condition of these
born -serfs" — the great body of the people — ** was very-
similar to that of the negro slaves on the West India es-
tate during the apprenticeship term, before their final
emancipation."

He proves that the so much vaunted system of common
school education in Prussia, is little more than a powerful
state engine to enslave the people. "This educational
system is in fact, from the cradle to the grave, nothing
but a deception, a delusion put upon the noblest principle
of human nature — the desire for intellectual development
—a deception practised for the paltry political end of
rearing the individual to be part and parcel of an artifi-
cial system of despotic government, of training him to be
either its instrument or its slave, according to his social
station."

He demonstrates the utter political degradation of Prus-
sia, by enlarging upon the apathy with which the royal
fusion of the two Protestant sects into one by the late king
of Prussia, was viewed by the mass of the population. He
proves at length that the Prussian is, in every respect, the
veriest slave — bound hand and foot by government.

Such then has been, from unexceptionable Protestant
testimony, the practical influence of the reformation on
civil and religious liberty in those countries where that
influence has been least checked, and longest exercised ! !

CHAPTER XIII.

THE REFORMATION AT GENEVA, AND ITS INFLUENCE ON CIVIL AND
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.

Character of Calvinism — Reviewing in advance — Protestant iiistorians
— The " Registers" — M. Audin — Calvin's character — Luther and
Calvin compared — Early liberties of Geneva — The " Libertines" —
Blue laws — Spy-system — Persecution — Death of Gruet — Burning of
Servetus — Hallam's testimony — Morals of Calvin — His zeal — His
complicated diseases — His last will — His awful death and mysterious
burial — A douceur — The inference.

The second greater branch of the reformation was that
established at Geneva bj John Calvin. Of all the reform-
ers, he was perhaps the most acute, learned, and talented.
And he has succeeded, better than any of them, in impres-
sing his own stern and morose character on the sect he
founded. Geneva was the centre of his operations, as
Wittemberg was of those of Luther, and Zurich, of those
of Zuingle. Starting from Geneva, Calvinism soon spread
through Switzerland, and extended to France, Holland,
Scotland and England; and even on the soil of Germany
itself, it was soon able to dispute the supremacy with the
sect there established by Luther.

We have deferred till now our account of the origin and
progress of Calvinism, because we intend to view it chiefly
in its bearing on the subjects treated of in the two previous
chapters — civil and religious liberty. Besides, in point
of time, it is posterior to the branches of the reformation
established by Luther and Zuingle. M. D'Aubigne's

GENEVAN REFORM ITS INFLUENCE ON LIBERTY. 501

History of *' the great reformation," does not embrace
that of Calvinism : he merely gives us a few incidents in
the childhood and early youth* of the Genevan reformer ;t
together with a brief account of the early labors of the-
minister Farel, Calvin's predecessor at Geneva. As, how-
ever, the next volume "^of this work, if it ever appear, will
probably enter on this subject in full, we may be allowed
to anticipate somewhat, and by an honest hibernianism, to
review it in advance.

Much additional light has been lately shed on the his-
tory of early Calvinism. Protestant as well as Catholic
historians have labored with great success in this field.
Among the former, we mention as the most distinguished,
Galiffe, Gaberel, and Fazy. These three learned Protest-
ants have all contributed greatly to elucidate the history
of Geneva in the sixteenth century. The last named, M.
Fazy, published in 1838 at Geneva, his " Essay on the
History of the Genevan Republic, "J in which he enlarges
on the influence of Calvinism on the destinies of the
republic. The work of Gaberel, entitled " Calvin at
Geneva,"§ enters more directly into the subject, and fur-
nishes additional details.

But, for ability, and research into the history of early
Calvinism, they are both perhaps surpassed by M. Galiffe.
His three volumes of " Genealogical Notices of Genevan
Families, "11 unfold much of the secret history of Geneva
under the theocracy of Calvin. He has ferreted out and
published to the world the famous ** Registers" of the Gen-
evan consistory and council during the sixteenth century.
These had been long lost to the world. The friends of

* He takes special care, however, not to allude to a certain passage
in Calvin's youth, of which hereafter.

t Book xii, at the end of the third volume.

\ " Essai d'un precis de I'Histoire de la Rep. Genevaise," 2 vols. 8vo.
§ " Calvin a Geneve," 8vo. 1836.

II " Notices Genealogiques sur ies Families Genevaises," 3 vols.
1831, 1836.
26

302 d'axjbigne's history reviewed.

Calvin had carefully concealed them, out of respect to
their father in the faith.

When quite recently, M. Vemet requested the Gene-
van secretary of state, M . Chapeau rouge, to communicate
to him the order of proceedings touching Servetus, the
council of state, to whom the matter was referred, refused
to grant the request. However, M. Calandrini, the Syn-
dic of Geneva, answered, that *' the conduct of Calvin and
the council in that affair were such, that they wished to
bury it in deep oblivion."* But thanks to the indefatiga-
ble researches of Galiffe, and to the growing indifference
of the ministers of Geneva for the memory of Calvin, those
long hidden records of the political and religious history
of Geneva during Calvin's life-time, have been at length
revealed to the world. A Protestant has thus removed
the dark veil which has hung over the cradle of Calvinism
for centuries !

M. Audin, in his late *' Life of Calvin, "t has availed
himself of the labors of all his predecessors in this inter-
esting branch of religious history. He qualified himself
for his task by much patient labor and research. He as-
sures us that there was not a library of any note in France
or Germany which he did not visit.:}: In his travels,
he discovered many letters of Calvin hitherto unpublished.
Among these is his famous letter to Farel, which he found
in the hand-writing of Calvin himself, in the royal library
at Paris.§ The publication of this letter — which is of un-
doubted genuinenessll — has shed much additional light on
the agency of Calvin in compassing the death of Servetus.

In what we will say on the history of the reformation at
Geneva, we shall follow all these authors. INIore particu-

* The letter of the Syndic is published in full by Galiffe in his "No-
tices" sup. cit.

t "Histoire de la Vie, des Ouvrages et des Doctrines de Calvin" —
ParM. Audin, auteurde "I'Histoirede Luther," — 2 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1843.

X Introduction, p. 19. § Published in full, vol. ii, p. 313, seqq.

II See Hallam—" Hist, of Literature," vol. 1, p, 280.— Note.

GENEVAN REFORM ITS INFLUENCE ON LIBERTY. 303

larly will we avail ourselves of the facts disclosed by M.
Audin. Our plan does not of course require, nor will the
limits of one chapter permit, any very lengthy details on
the history of early Calvinism. The character of this
branch of the "great reformation," is, in fact, nearly the
same as that of those of Wittemberg and Zurich, of which
we have already treated at some length. Similar means
were also adopted to bring it about. Its effects on society,
as we shall endeavor to show, were also nearly the same.*

John Calvin was born at Noyon, in France, on the 10th
of July, 1509, and he died at Geneva, on the 19th of May,
1564, in the fifty-fifth year of his age. The first feature
that strikes us in his character is his untiring industry
and restless activity. Whether we view him as a student
frequenting the schools at Paris — as a minister at Geneva,
concerting with the ministers Farel and Froment his plans
for carrying out the reformation — as an exile at Stras-
burg, intermeddling with the affairs of German diets and
German reformers — or, after his return to Geneva from
the exile into which his restlessness had driven him —
throughout his whole life, in fact, he is the same busy, in-
triguing, restless character. He was never asleep at his
post ; he was always on the alert ; he toiled day and night
in carrying out his plans.

He was as cool and calculating as he was active. He
seldom failed to put down an enemy — and every oppo-
nent was his enemy — because he could seldom be taken at
a disadvantage. His vigilance detected their plans, and
his prompt activity thwarted them. Though very irrita-
ble, and inexorable in his anger, yet his passion did not
cloud his understanding, nor hinder the carrying out of

* Those who may wish to see a full history of Calvinism in its various
workings in different countries of Europe, are referred to the " Oral
Discussion" between Rev. Messrs. Hughes and Breckenridge — 2d QxLcst.
The former has anatomized Calvinism with all the sang froid and skill
of a Dupuytren or a Dudley : while the latter quietly looked on, in dis-
respectful silence !^

304 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

his deliberate purpose. In temperament he was cold and
repulsive — even sour and morose. He mingled little with
others, and was as reserved in his conversations as he was
fond of retirement and study.

If he had any heart, he never gave evidence of the fact
by the manifestation of feeling. At the death of his first
and only child, he shed not one tear. In a letter to the
minister Viret, he coldly informed him of the fact, and
invited him to pay him a visit at Strasburg, telling him, as
an inducement to come, *that they could enjoy them-
selves, and talk together for half a day.'* He never man-
ifested the least sympathy for those in distress, though in
many cases he was himself the cause of their sufferings.
Thus, when Servetus, on hearing that he was condemned
to the stake, gave way to his feelings in a burst of agony
and tears, Calvin mocked at his distress by writing to one
of his friends that * he bellowed after the manner of a
Spaniard — mercy, inercy.^i

Thus also, when Castalio, one of the most excellent
men and accomplished scholars of his age, was on the
very verge of starvation at Berne, whither he had re-
paired to escape Calvin's persecution at Geneva, the re-
former had the cold-heartedness to remind him that he
had fed at his table in Strasburg; and, to do away with
the effect of Castalio's arguments, which he found it dif-
ficult to answer, he accused him of theft ! To the first
charge Castalio answered, *I lodged with you, it is true,
about a week .... but I paid you for what I had eaten.
How cordially you and Beza hate me. 'J The charge of
theft he indignantly repelled as follows : *And who told
you that ? Your spies have deceived you. Reduced to
the most frightful misery .... I took a hook, and went
to gather the wood which floated upon the Rhine, which

* See Audin, Vie de Calvin, vol. i, p. 351, note, for Calvin's words.
t " Ut tantum Hispanico more reboaret : 3Iisencordia, misericor-
dia /" Ibid. vol. ii, p. 304.

X Castalio— Defensio, pp. 26, 40. Apud Audin, ibid. vol. ii, p. 239.

GENEYAN REFORM ITS INFLUENCE ON LIBERTY. 305

belonged to no one, and which I fished up, and burnt
afterwards at my house to warm myself. Do you call
this theft?'* Castalio, thus hunted down by his inexora-
ble enemy, literally died of hunger while struggling to
maintain, by his learning, a wife and eight children. But
he had had the misfortune to differ with Calvin on pre-
destination while at Geneva, and the boldness to reprove
him and his colleagues with an intolerant spirit. * Paul,'
he had told them, * chastised himself, you torment others. 't

Calvin's personal appearance was an index to his
character. He was of middle height, of a lean and sup-
ple figure, with a contracted chest, with the veins of his
neck full and prominent, his mouth well made and large,
his lips bluish, his forehead expanded, bony, and fur-
rowed with wrinkles, his eye restless, and, when he was
excited, darting fire. His ceaseless labors caused him to
become prematurely gra}', and gave him a pale and ca-
daverous aspect. He was a man from whose appearance
YOU would expect little that was not the result of hard
labor.

What a contrast between him and Luther! Luther,
a creature of impulse, a portly ex-friar, fond of good
cheer, and never more at home than when conversing:
with boon companions at the Black Eagle tavern : Cal-
vin, meagre, silent, and morose, shut up within himself,
chilling all with his reserve — all head and no heart. In
the pulpit the difference was most marked. Luther spoke
extemporaneously, and, without method or choice of
words, bore all before him by a torrent of passionate in-
vective and boisterous declamation. Calvin was cold and
unimpassioned, his diction was pure and polished, his
thoughts clear and precise, and his whole manner calcu-
lated to make a more deep and lasting impression on his
hearers. Calvin's was the eloquence of the head, Lu-
ther's of the heart.

* Defens. p. 12, ibid. p. 248. f Ibid- P- 234.

306 d'aubigne'b history reviewed.

But they agreed in one thing — thej both crushed tne
liberties of the people in the countries which were the re-
spective theatres of their labors. Their profession of
breaking the bonds of religious slavery, and of securing
political freedom to the people, was all talk. It is too
late in the day to hold them up as the champions of popu-
lar rights. The effect of the reformation, both at Wit-
temberg and at Geneva, was to weaken the democratic
principle; in both places the rights of the lower orders
were trampled under foot. In Germany Luther conjured
up a storm which he could not control. We have al-
ready shown how he first stirred up the people to revolt,
and then clamored for their blood, and how he succeeded
in destroying their liberties.

Calvin also crushed the liberties of the people, but in
a more insidious manner : he robbed them of their free-
dom in the name of liberty. A foreigner, he insinuated
himself into Geneva, and, serpent-like, coiled himself
around the very heart of the republic which had adopted
him ; nor did he relax his hold so long as he lived. He
thus stung the bosom which had warmed him. That this
language is not too strong, the following plain statement
of facts will show.

The cantons of Switzerland formed one of the many
republics of the middle ages. They owed all their liber-
ties, and their very existence as a distinct government, to
Catholics in Catholic times. William Tell, Melchtal,
and Furst were the fathers of Swiss liberty. In 1307
was fought by these heroes the famous battle of Morgar-
ten, which drove the Austrians from Switzerland, and
secured Swiss independence. The bishops of Geneva
had been its greatest benefactors. They had more than
once protected the rights of the city against the aggres-
sions of the dukes of Savoy themselves. One of them —
Adhemar Fabri — as early as 1387, had written out the
laws and privileges of the city; and the book was vene-
rated as containing the magna charta of Genevan liber-

GENEVAN REFORM ITS INFLUKNCB ON LIBERTY. S07

ties. Those laws provided that the citizens had the sole
right of inflicting capital punishment ; that none should
be tortured without the consent of the people; that, from
the rising to the setting of the sun, the citizens were the
sole guardians of the city; and that no agent of the duke
or bishop could exercise any power during that time, and
that the citizens alone had the right to elect their burgo-
masters.*

Calvin trampled every one of these privileges in the
dust. At the instigation of the ministers Farel and Fro-
ment, Geneva had already cast off the mild yoke of her
episcopal court. Instead of it, she was doomed to wear,
riveted on her neck, the iron yoke of Calvin's consistory.
This spiritual court of Calvin's devising gradually mo-
nopolized all power in Geneva. The hitherto free coun-
cil of the burgomasters became a mere tool in its hands.
With its appliances of preachers, elders, and spies, it
penetrated every where, and struck terror into every
bosom. The pulpit was then a powerful instrument in
the hands of the police. Every one trembled at the de-
nunciation of the ministers, for it was sure to be followed
by ulterior consequences.

Whoever will read M. Audin's book, and the Protest-
ant historians referred to above, must be convinced of the
truth of these remarks. Our limits will not allow co-
pious details : we must confine ourselves to some of the
more prominent facts which support the statement just
made.

In the beginning of the sixteenth century, Geneva was
the great commercial heart of Europe. Occupying a cen-
tral position between Italy, Germany, and France, it was
a common mart for the goods of each. The enterprising
flocked there from all parts of Europe. It was also a city

* Hottinger, Hist, des Eglises de la Suisse ; Audin, vol. ii, p. 15.
Those laws are written in the quaint old Latin of that period, and pre-
sent a strange mixture of the old Savoyard Patois with the classical
Latin.

508 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

of refuge for all the uneasy and restless spirits who, for
religious or political intrigues, had been forced to leave
their own country. The population of Geneva was, in
consequence, of a most motley character. Calvin was
among the many French refugees who took shelter there.
Before his arrival, the reformation had been already
effected by the agency of Farel and Fremont. Its course
had been marked, as elsewhere, by pillage of the churches,
by seizure of church property, by destruction of works of
art, by robbery and sacrilege, and by massacres. You
might have traced it, by its effects, as you could have
traced the march of an army of Huns in the fifth century.
La Soeur Jeanne de Jussie, a nun of St. Clare, an eye-
witness of these horrors, and a sufferer by them, has left
a most graphic description of them, and M. Audin has
given us an abstract of her interesting work.*

Such was the state of things when Calvin came to Ge-
neva. Among its citizens, the meclianics and common
laborers formed a numerous class. These constituted a
distinct political party, who viewed with an evil eye the
ascendancy acquired by Calvin and the other foreign
refugees. Calvin could not brook them, and styled them
sneeringly the party of the ' Libertines.' And the his-
tory of his protracted and bitter contest with them forms
the matter of many long chapters in M. Audin's book.t
The high-priest at Geneva could not bear them, because,
in their evening-parties,! they took the unwarrantable
liberty of laughing at him — at his cadaverous figure, his
withered hands, and his nasal twang in the pulpit; and
they had even gone so far as to call him ' le renard
Franqois,^ or * the French fox.^

Besides, they had the unpardonable effrontery to drink
healths, to dance, and otherwise amuse themselves when
the labors of the day were over. Calvin's sour and mo-

* Vol. i, p. 195 to 215.
t Chapters i, vi, vUi, and xv of vol. ii. X Audin, vol. i\, p. 13, seq.

GENEVAN REFORM — ITS INFLUENCE ON LIBERTY. S09

rose temperament could ill brook this cheerfulness, and
especially those sallies at his expense. Besides, he was
troubled with the asthma, and was subject to vertigo and
headach. And what right had tliose vulgar clowns to
shock his nerves, or to disturb his sleep ? What right
had thej to their old and long-cherished national amuse-
ments, if it was in the least displeasing to the humor of
this splenetic stranger ? What right had they to sing, or
to laugh at his peculiarities ? If it was not downright
blasphemy, as the minister more than once intimated from
the pulpit, it was at least very impolite in them not to
wear longer faces, at least while he was in the city.

Calvin determined to put down the " Libertines ;" and,
to effect his purpose, he procured the enactment of a body
of laws, of which we will give a few specimens. They
show us what was the spirit, and what the modus operandi
of Calvinism at its birth. " They punished with impris-
onment the lady who arranged her hair with too much
coquetry (the ministers ivere to judge), and even her
chambermaid who assisted at her toilet ; the merchant
who played at cards, the peasant who spoke too harshly
to his beast, and the citizen who had not extinguished his
lamp at the hour appointed by law."* ** Men were for-
bidden to dance with women, or to wear figured hose, or
flowered breeches."! " Three tanners were put in prison
for three days, on bread and water, for having eaten at
breakfast three dozen pieces of pastry, which was great
dissoluteness."^ *' They forbade any one to have a cross,
or any other badge of popery." "A merchant who sold
wafers marked with a cross was fined sixty sols, and his
wafers were cast into the fire as scandalous."§

Wo to him who did not uncover at the approach of
Calvin ; he was fined. Wo to him that gave him a flat
contradiction ; he was brought before the consistory, and

* Audin, vol. ii, p. 12.

t libid. p. 1.38, from Register of Geneva, 1522, July 14.

X Ibid. Register, 13th February, 1558. § Ibid. p. ir»»

510 D- AUBIGNE S HISTORY REVIEWED.

Tnenaced with excommunication.* Wo to the girl that
presented herself to be married with a bunch of flowers in
her bonnet, if her chastity was suspected b_y the consist-
ory. Wo to him who danced on the day of his marriage :
he was imprisoned for three days. Wo to the young
married lady if she wore shoes according to the present
fashion of Berne : she was publicly reprimanded."!

The Calvinistic legislation regulated even the num-
ber of plates which should appear on the table of the rich,
and the quality of butter to be sold, &c."j: *' All were
ordered to eat meat on Fridays and Saturdays, under pen-
alty of imprisonment ; and the night-watch was ordered
to proclaim that no one should make slashed doublets or
hose, or wear them hereafter under penalty of sixty sols."§
** Chapuis was put in prison for having persisted in call-
ing his child Claude, although the minister wished to call
him Abraham. He had said that, rather than do this, he
would keep his child fifteen years without baptism. || He
was kept in prison four days." " One day a relation pre-
sented himself at the altar with a young girl of Nantes
to be married. The minister, Abel Poupin, asked him:
Will you be faithful to your wife ? The bridegroom, in-
stead of answering yes, only inclined his head. Hence
great tumult among the assistants. He was sent to
prison, obliged to ask pardon of the young lady's uncle,
and condemned to bread and water. "^

We might multiply facts of the kind, to exhibit the na-
ture of early Calvinistic legislation. It was blue enough
in all conscience; and the pious legislators who enacted
the blue laws of Connecticut could at least boast prece-
dent, if not common sense, for their enactments. The
above, however, are but scraps of Genevese legislation
under Calvin's theocracy. To understand the spirit of

* Ibid. Register, 31st Dec. 1543.

t Reglement de Police, 29th July, 1549, ibid. J Ibid.

§ Register, 16th April, 1.543 ; Audin, vol. ii, p. 185.

II Register, 1546 ; ibid. IT Ibid. p. 1S6.

GENEVAN REFORM ITS INFLUENCE ON LIBERTY. Sll

his laws, in all its length and breadth, you must read the
criminal prosecutions of Berthellier, Gruet, Gentilis, Bol-
sec, Ami Perrin, Francis Favre, and Servetus, copious
portions of which are spread before us by M. Audin from
the original documents. We may have occasion to refer
to some of these a little later.

To ferret out and punish the infractors of these laws,
Calvin established a regular system of espionage. ** He
kept in his pay secret informers, in order to learn the se-
crets of families."* "Besides these, there was another
band of spies, the elders, recognized by law, who could
penetrate once a week into the most mysterious sanctu-
ary of domestic life, in order to report to the consistory
what they might see and hear."t *' In one single year
the consistory instituted more than two hundred prosecu-
tions for blasphemy, calumny, obscene language, lechery,
insults to Calvin, offences against the ministers, and at-
tempts against the French exiles. "J The liberties of the
city were crushed, and every one trembled for his life !
The spies whom Calvin employed were chiefly from
among the most degraded of the French refugees ; and
this odious practice was carried to such length that the
citizens trembled at the approach of one of these sinister
individuals.

A curious instance of the 7nodus operandi of these mis-
creants is found from the Register§ of Geneva. " Master
Raymond, a spy, was passing by the bridge, when he
heard a voice saying ' go to the devil P " *' Who is that,"
asked Raymond of Dominie Clement, who was present.
Dominie answered, *' tis a girl who is wishing the ' Renard,'
or * Fox,' at the devil." Raymond thought the man meant
to insult him : *' You are a fox yourself," says he to Do-
minie, who answered, *• I am as good a man as you are,
and have not at least been banished from my country."

* Audin, vol. ii, 149. t Ibid. p. 150.

I Ibid. § Register, 3 Sep. 1547.

512 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

Dominie was denounced to the consistory, which sharply
reproved him. On his wishing to justify himself, Calvin
silenced him, saying, ** hush, you have blasphemed against
God in saying ' I have not been banished.' "*

M. Audin furnishes us with a number of such facts. —
Every enemy of Calvin was closely watched, and could
scarcely escape being denounced. Wo to him that smiled
while Calvin was preaching, even though he treated his
hearers as " letchers, blasphemers and dogs." *' Three
persons who had smiled at a sermon of Calvin, on seeing
a man fall from his chair asleep, were denounced, con-
demned to three daysof imprisonment on bread and water,
and to beg pardon. "t These spies laid snares for the sim-
ple. They asked a Norman who was going to Montpellier,
whether he intended to change his religion." The Nor-
man replied, — " I dont think the church is so narrowly
bounded, as to hang from the girdle of M. Calvin," He
was denounced and banished ! J

Talk of the Spanish Inquisition after this ! And yet
these are not the darkest shades of the picture. Far from
it. They are mere bagatelles, compared to the horrible
facts developed in the criminal prosecutions alluded to
above. Whoever opposed Calvin, in religion or politics,
was hunted down and his blood sought at his instigation.
He never forgave a personal injury. In regard to his ene-
mies, he was as watchful as a tiger preparing to pounce on
its prey — and as treacherous! This is strong language;
but it is more than justified by the official records of Ge-
neva. We will present a few of the most striking facts,
regretting that the limits of one chapter will not allow of
more details.

How sanguinary is the spirit breathed in this extract of
his letter to the Marquis de Pouet: "Do not hesitate to
rid the country of those fanatical fellows, (faquins) who
in their conversation seek to excite the people against us,

* See Audin, vol. 2, p. 167. \ Audin 2, 171. % Ibid. 2, 179.

GENEVAN REFORM ITS INFLUENCE ON LIBERTY. 513

who blacken our conduct, and would fain make our belief
pass as a revery : such monsters ought to be strangled, as I
did, 171 the execution 0/ Michael Servetus, the Spaniard.^^*
His vindictive conduct towards Pierre Ameaux, a member
of the Genevan Council of twenty-five, is a fit commen-
tary on this sentiment. At a sujDper, this man, inflamed
with wine, had said some hard things of Calvin. At his
table another man, Henry de la Mar, had also said, amidst
the general applause of the guests : " that Calvin was a
spiteful and vindictive man, who never pardoned any one,
against vjhom he had a grudge.'^'' — The next morning,
Ameaux was cited before the Council, where he excused
himself on the ground that he was excited with wine.
The Council fined him thirty thalers — a large sum at that
time. " On hearing of this sentence, Calvin arose, donned
his doctor's dress, and escorted by the ministers and el-
ders, penetrated into the hall of the Council, demanded
justice in the name of that God whom Pierre Ameaux had
outraged, in the name of the morals he had sullied, and of
the laws he had violated ; and declared that he would quit
Geneva, if the man were not compelled to make the amende
honoralle — a public apology, bareheaded, at the city Ho-
tel," and in two other public places ! The Council yielded ;
and " the next day. Ameaux, half naked, with a torch in
his hand, accused himself in a loud voice of having know-
ingly and wickedly offended God, and begged pardon of
his fellovv-citizens."t What is to be thought of a man,
who could thus crush a penitent and stricken enemy ! Had
he the spirit of that God who '* would not break the
bruised reed ?"

Henry !a Mar, the other culprit, did not escape. He
was dogged by Texier, one of Calvin's spies, who extracted
from his lips under an oath of secrecy, some words disre-
spectful to his master. Texier came running to Calvin

* Ibid. p. 172.
t See the whole account, from original documents, in Audin, vol. ii,
p. ISl, seq., where also a number of similar facts are recounted.
27

314 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

with the news, saying that he did not think himself bound
by his oath, when the public good required the disclosure.
"Calvin accused La Mar, caused him to lose his situa-
tion, and had him condemned to prison for three days.
The judges assigned as their reason, *' that he had blamed
M. Calvin !"*

Of a similar character was the prosecution, at the in-
stance of Calvin, of Francis Favre, a veteran soldier of
the republic and a counsellor of the city. He had been
at a wedding where they had danced all the evening, and
where he was accused by one of Calvin's spies of having
used seditious language. Among the ten specifications
against him, were several things he had said against Cal-
vin ; and the last and most grievous was, that he had, on
being conducted to prison, cried out — "Lilerty! Liberty 11
I would give a thousand dollars to have a General Coun-
cil 1" (of the Burgomasters.) He v/as sentenced to beg
pardon publicly. The veteran refused; he was sent to
prison for three weeks, and was then liberated only at the
instance of a deputation from Berne !t

Calvin also sought the life of Ami Perrin, the captain
general of Geneva. Perrin's wife had been guilty of
dancing on the territory of Berne. Calvin sought to en-
trap Perrin by means of M egret, one of his hired spies.
This miscreant denounced Perrin before the council ; and
he was in consequence thrown into prison — Calvin thirsted
for his blood. But the people loved Perrin. Tlie council
of the two hundred assembled to try him for his life. A
reaction took place — Perrin was about to be liberated, and
Megret was openly denounced ! At this juncture, Calvin
entered the council hall — the people received him with
cries of " death to Calvin !" Calvin waved his hand, ad-
dressed them, calmed their fury; but barely succeeded by
his eloquence in saving his own life !J

* Ibid. p. 184. t Ibid. p. 189, seq.

X Ibid. p. 196, seq. By his influence, Calvin however succeeded in
having Perrin afterwards tried, when, tliough his life was spared, he
was deprived of t]ae place of captain-general ; ibid. p. 197, seq.

GENEVAN REFORM ITS INFLUENCE ON LIBERTY. Sl5

In reading these details, we are forcibly reminded of
Marat and Robespierre, haranguing the Jacobin clubs du-
ring '* the reign of terror." In fact, Calvin's reign in
Geneva, was truly a reign of terror; and if during it, as
much blood did not flow as during the French Revolution,
it was not surely kis fault! He combined the cruelty of
Danton and Robespierre, with the eloquence of Marat and
Mirabeau, though he was much cooler, and therefore more
successful than any of them.

Who will not detest the cold-blooded cruelty with which
he hunted down and compassed the death of poor Gruet, the
poet?* He was accused of having affixed a placard on
Calvin's pulpit at St. Peter's church, in which the refor-
mer was severely handled. He was apprehended and his
papers were seized. Among these, consisting of nothing
but loose sheets, v/ere found some scraps of poetry and
other fugitive pieces, which were tortured into heresy
and treason. He was plied with the torture by Calvin's
creature, Colladon, every day for a whole month. They
wished him to implicate Favre or Perriu ; but though he
cried out in agony of torture : *' finish me, I beseech you
— I am dying;" he remained fiiin, and would not accuse
them. The council pronounced sentence of death on him.
Among the charges against him, the principal were : ** that
he had endeavored to ruin the authority of the consistory
— that he had menaced the ministers, and spoken ill of
Calvin — aud that he had conspired with tlie king of France
against the safety of Calvin and of the state. "t Gruet
died on the scaffold, but Calvin was not yet satisfied. He
wished that his writings should be condemned, and he
himself drew up a long form of condemnation of them,
which was approved by the council. ± Calvin alone is
responsible for the blood of Gruet; it yet cries aloud to
heaven against him !

* He was not poet enough to excite much envy, f Aud. p. 200, seq,
i This document, found at Berne in the handwriting of Calvin, is
given in full by M. Audin, ibid. p. 244, seq.

316 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

We might exhibit similar atrocities in his persecution of
Bolsec,* of Gentilis, of Berthillier,t and of others. But
we are heart-sick of these horrors, and must hasten on to
a conclusion. Yet we cannot wholly pass over the case
of Servetus, to which M. Audin devotes two whole chap-
ters ::|: and upon which he sheds much additional light. We
will state only a few prominent facts in this sad affair.
1st. Servetus was burnt on the 27th of October, 1553 ;
and as early as 1546, seven years before, Calvin had
thirsted fur his blood, as appears from these words, taken
from his famous letter to Farel, written in that year : *' If
he (Servetus) come here {io Geneva), and my authority be
considered, I will not permit him to escape with his
life."§ 2d. Pursuing this blood-thirsty purpose, he had
denounced Servetus to the police of Lyons, where he then
was. And when he (Servetus) had fled to Vienne, he
very narrowly escaped — probably with the connivance of
the Catholic clergy of Vienne — ^from the prison to which
he had been consigned, at the instigation of officers sent
in ^quest of him in consequence of his denunciation at
Lyons. II 3d. When Servetus, fleeing from his enemies,
passed through Geneva, Calvin denounced him and had
him arrested, against all the laws of God and man.^ For
Servetus was a stranger, only passing through Geneva ;■••*
and he was not responsible to the Genevan tribunals for
a crime which he had not committed within the Genevan
territory ; and this, even supposing heresy to be a crime
punishable by the civil laws, which it is not.

4th. Though Servetus was a poor stranger, and begged
for counsel to defend him, that right, not denied to the
meanest culprit, was refused him at the instance of Cal-

* See Audin, vol. ii, p. 245, seq. t Ibid. p. 347, seq.

X Chapters xii and xiii of vol. ii, p. 258 to 324.
^ See the letter in full, vol. ii, 314, seq. || Aud. vol. ii, 285, seq.

IT Ibid. p. 287, seq.
** Bancroft assigns this same reason : " Servetus did but desiie leave
to continue Ins journey." Hist. U. States, vol. i, p. 455.

GENEVAN REFORr.I ITS INFLUENCE ON LIBERTY. 517

vin.* 5th. After Servetus had lain in prison five weeks,
a victim of disease and devoured by vermin, he wrote to
the council, stating his situation, and begging for a change
of linen. The council wished to grant his request, but
Calvin opposed it, and succeeded ! Three other letters
written during the following week from prison, in which
Servetus begged for counsel, and asked that the charges
against him should be specified and made known to him,
were answered by silence.t 6th. When, on the morn-
ing of his execution, Servetus sent for Calvin, and begged
his pardon, if he had offended him, Calvin answered him
with cold-hearted crueltj.J We have seen above how he
insulted his tears. 7th. The heartless cruelty of the
minister Farel, who accompanied Servetus to execution,
is enough to make one's blood run cold at the bare read-
ing of it.§ 8th. The year after the execution of Servetus,
in 1554, Calvin published his famous work '• de Hereticis
Puniendis,^'' in which he justified the whole proceeding by
the authority of Scripture ! W^as this man sent to reform
the church of God ? He was worse than the caliph of
Geneva, as M. Audin calls him — he was a very Nero ! -
Gibbon has well said of this transaction: **I am more
deeply scandalized at the single execution of Servetus
than at the hecatombs {not true) which have blazed at
auto dafes of Spain and Portugal."

Mr. Hallam gives the following account of the burning
of Servetus. "Servetus having, in 1553, publislied at
Vienne, in Dauphine, a new treatise, called Christianismi
Restitutio, and escaping from thence, as he vainly hoped,
to the Protestant city of Geneva, became a victim to the
bigotry of the magistrates, insiigaied by Calvin, ivho had
acquired an immense ascendency over that repid)Uc.''\] And
in a note^ he brings abundant proof of this, alleging,
among other things, tlie famous letter of Calvin to Farel,

* Audin, vol. ii, p. 297. f Ibid. p. 2.9.0, seq.

X See the whole conversation, ibid. p. 305. § Ibid. p. .304, seq.

II " Histoiy of Liierature," vol. i, p. 280. ^ Ibid.

27*

S18 d'aubigne'S history reviewed.

"published," he says, "by Witenbogart [a Protestant) In
an ecclesiastical history, written in Dutch." In the same
note he says : " Servetus, in fact, was burned not so much
for his heresies, as for some personal offence he had seve-
ral years before given to Calvin. . . . Servetus had, in
some printed letters, charged Calvin with many errors,
which seems to have exasperated the great (!) reformer'^s
temper, so as to make him resolve on what he afterwards
executed."

" The death of Servetus," he continues, " has perhaps
as many circumstances of aggravation as any execution
for heresy that ever took place. One of these, and among
the most striking, is that he was not the subject of Ge-
neva, nor domiciled in the city, nor had the Chrislianismi
Restitutio been published there, but at Yienne. Accord-
ing to our laws, and those, I believe, of most civilized
nations, he was not amenable to the tribunals of the re-
public."*

He concludes the entire account with this sweeping
accusation against all the early reformers in regard to in-
tolerance: "Thus, in the second period of the reforma-
tion, those ominous symptoms which had appeared in its
earliest stage, disunion, virulence, bigotry, intolerance,
far from yielding to any benignant influence, grew more
inveterate and incurable. "t

We think that the above facts make good our assertion,
that Calvin crushed the liberties of Geneva — political and
religious. The following fact may serve to show us how
sincere was his zeal for the salvation of souls. The
plague broke out at Geneva in 1543. The ministers from
the pulpit recommended prayer once a week to avert the
scourge, and they appointed the Sunday week next fol-
lowing as the day for administering the sacrament of the
Lord's supper with the same intent !J The plague con-
tinued, and the ministers hid themselves, though hun-

* Ibid. t Ibid. p. 281. % Register, &c., Audin, ii, 16.

GENEVAN REFORM — ITS INFLUENCE ON LIBERTY. SI 9

dreds were calling on them for spiritual succor in tlieir
dying moments ! The hospital was crowded with the
dying. The council of state called on the ministers to
send one of their Jiumber to assist the dyin^ at the hos-
pital, from v/hich duty, however, they wished **to exempt
M. Calvin, because the church had need of him !" The
ministers met with Calvin, and agreed to decide by lot
who was to go. One only, M. Geneston, offered to go, if
the lot fell on him ! The others ** confessed that God
had not yet given them grace to have the strength and
courage to go to the hospital!" And "it was resolved
to pray to God to give them more courage for the future."*
The result was that no one went to the hospital, except
Chatillon, a young French poet, and another Frenchman,
who fell a victim to the disease. Were these men true
shepherds, or were they mercenaries ? The answer may
be found in St. John's Gospel, chapter 10.

Calvin's morals have been discussed on both sides.
Beza and his other friends have held him up as a model
of perfection; others, with Bolsec, have represented him
as a monster of iniquity. The story of his having been
guilty of a crime of nameless turpitude at Noyon, though
denied by his friends, yet rests upon very respectable au-
thority. Bolsec, a cotemporary writer, relates it as cer-
tain. Before his work appeared, it had been mentioned
by Surius in 1558, by Turbes, who lived in the reign of
Francis I, by Simon Fontana in 1557, by Stapleton in
1558, by LaVacquerie in 1560-1, by De Mouchi in 1562,
by Du Preau in 1567, and by Whitaker before 1570.t
M. Galiffe, a Protestant, who had examined most tho-
roughly the archives of Geneva, uses this plain language :
*' The history of many of the reformer's colleagues is
very scandalous, the details of which cannot enter into a
work designed for both sexes.":]: The same writer tells

* Ibid. Register of Council. f V^ol. ii, p. 256. Note.

X Galiffe, Notices, torn, iii, p. 381. Note.

320 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

us " that most of the facts related by the physician of
Lyons (Bolsec) are^ perfectly true."*

In the introduction to the third volume of his "iVoifiVes,"
M. Galiffe bears this testimony to the state of morals at
Geneva in Calvin's time : *' I will show to those who
imagine that the reformer had done nothing that is not
good, our Registers covered with entries of illegitimate
children — (they Vv^ere exposed at all the corners of the
city and country) — -with prosecutions hideous for their
obscenity — with wills in which fathers and mothers accuse
their own children not only of errors, but of crimes — with
transactions before notaries public between young girls
and their paramours, who gave them, in the presence of
their relatives, means of supporting "their illegitimate off-
spring — with multitudes of forced marriages, where the
delinquents were conducted from prison to the church —
with mothers who abandoned their infants at the hospital,
while they were living in abundance with a second hus-
band — with whole bundles of processes between brothers
—with multitudes (literally heaps, tas) of secret denun-
ciations : and all this in the generation nourished by the
mystic manna of Calvin !"t

Truly, if the " Registers" prove all this, we may con-
clude that Calvin stamped his own image upon his gene-
ration — and especially his heartlessness.

The accounts of the circumstances attending the last
sickness and death of Calvin are various. His disciple
Beza, who wrote his life, represents his death as worthy
of an apostle and of a saint. Yet he himself, as we shall
see, furnishes us with some particulars which would make
us doubt the truth of this picture. The diseases which
led to his dissolution were many and complicated. In a
letter to the physicians of Montpelier, written a short
time before his death, Calvin gives a full account of the
maladies with which he was tormented. Among these,

* Ibid. p. 457, noU. Audin,ii, 2C7. f P^?*? 15,apud Aud. ii, 174.

GENEVAN REFORM ITS INFLUENCE ON LIBERTY. 321

he mentions "the dropsy, the stone, the gravel, cholics,
hemorrhoids, internal hemorrhages, quartan fever, cramps,
spasmodic contractions of the muscles from the foot to
the knee, and, during the whole summer, a frightful neu-
ralgia or nervous affection. "*

His malady increasing, he dictated his last will and
testament on the 26th of April, 1564. The greater part
of this curious instrument is devoted to a defence of his
conduct and motives throughout life !t He '' protests that
he has endeavored, according to the measure of grace
given to him, to teach with purity the word of God, as
well in his sermons as in his writings, and to expound
faithfully the Holy Scriptures. And that, in all the dis-
putes which he had had with the enemies of truth, he had
employed neither chicanery nor sophistry, but had pro-
ceeded roundly [rondement) to maintain the quarrel of
God." In disposing of his effects, towards the close of
his will, he thus speaks of his nephew: *' As to my
nephew David . . because he has been light and volatile,
I leave him only twenty-five crowns {ecus) as a chastise-
ment."

On the morning of the 2rth of May, at 8 o'clock, he
breathed his last, after having passed a night of horrible
agony. The circumstances of his death and burial were
hidden and mysterious. His body was immediately cov-
ered, and his funeral was hastened : it took place at 2
o'clock in the evening of the same day. Beza,J his fa-
vorite disciple, thus writes on the subject: " There were
many strangers come from a distance, who wished greatly
to see him, although he was dead, and made instance to
that effect. . . But, to obviate all calumnies, he was put
into the coffin at 8 o'clock in the morning, and at 2 o'clock
in the evening w^as carried in the ordinary manner, as he
himself had directed, to the common cemetery, called

* See his letter in full, Audin, vol. ii, p. 452, seq.
t It is given in full by Audin, ibid. p. 456, seq. X Vie do Calvin.

322 d'aubigne's history reviewep.

* Plein Palais,' without any pomp or parade, where he
lies at the present day, awaiting the resurrection." The
*' calumnies" to which Beza refers were probably the
public rumors spread through the city regarding the man-
ner of the reformer's death. *'It was said that every
one had been prohibited from entering into his chamber,
because the body of the deceased bore traces of a desperate
struggle with death, and of a premature decomposition,
in which the eye would have seen either visible signs of
the divine vengeance, or marks of a shameful disease ;
and that in consequence a black veil was hastily thrown
over the face of the corpse, and that he was interred be-
fore the rumor of his death had spread through the city.
So fearful were his friends of indiscreet looks !"*

The mystery was however penetrated by Haren, a
young student who had visited Geneva to take lessons
from Calvin. He penetrated into the chamber of the
dying man, and has furnished the following evidence of
what he saw on the occasion. And we beg our readers to
bear in mind that he was no enemy, but a partisan of Cal-
vin, and that his testimony was wholly voluntary. " Cal-
vin, ending his life in despair, died of a most shameful and
disgusting disease, which God has threatened to rebellious
and accursed reprobates, having been first tortured in the
most excruciating manner, and consumed, to which fact I
can testify most certainly, for I, being present, saw with
these eyes his most sad and tragical death." [Exiium et
exitium.)\

In thus presenting to our readers an imperfect sum-
mary of facts, many of them extracted from the public
and official acts of the Genevan council and consistory in
the sixteenth century, we would not be understood as
wishing to reflect upon the character or conduct of the

f Ibid. p. 464, seq.
t Johannes Harennius, apud Pctrum Cutzemnn. We have endeavored
to give above a literal translation of his testimony, of which the original
is in Latin.

GENEVAN REFORM ITS INFLUENCE ON LIBERTY. 323

present professors of Calvinistic doctrines, many of whom
are men estimable for their civic virtues. It is not our
fault that the truth of history will not warrant a better
character of Calvin. He was the most subtle, the most
untiring, and perhaps the most able enemy of the Catho-
lic church. He played a public and conspicuous part in
the great reUgioso-jJoIiiico drama of the sixteenth centu-
ry; he was the founder of a sect more distinguished than
any other, perhaps, for its inveterate opposition to Catho-
licity. Under these circumstances, his life, acts, and
whole character, are surely public property; and truth
and justice required that they should be given to the pub-
lic. This is precisely whatM. Audin, and the Protestant
historians of Geneva, Galiffe and Gaberel, have lately
done; and, treading in their footsteps, we have only
given a brief abstiact of the result of their labors. If
even one of those who have been seduced from the "faith,
once delivered to the saints," by the example or teaching
of Calvin, should be induced seriously to reconsider the
subject, we shall be fully recompensed for our labor.

Among the many proofs that the Catholic church is the
church of Christ, not the least striking is the fact vouched
for by authentic history, that all those who have left her
bosom, and established religious sects, were men of very
doubtful or of notoriously wicked and immoral charac-
ters. It is contrary to the order of God's providence to
have selected men of this stamp, as the reformers of his
church. This would derogate from his sanctity, and
would reflect upon a religion which could be established,
or reformed, by such instruments. This principle being
once admitted, the inference from it is obvious. When-
ever a change in religion — call it reformation, or what
you v/ill — has been eftected by men not remarkable for
their sanctity, the fact is of itself strong presumptive evi-
dence that the change is not from God. If the men who
effected it were notoriously flagitious, as most of the soi
disant reformers of the sixteenth century were, then the
presumption grows into a moral certainty.

CHAPTER XIV.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORMATION ON LITERATURE.

" The march of intellect ! what know we now
Of moral, or of thought and sentiment,
Which was not linown three hundred years ago?
It is an empty boast, a vain conceit
Of folly, ignorance, and base intent."

Light and darkness — Boast of M. D'Aubigne — Two sets of barbarians
— Catholic and Protestant art — The " painter of the reformation" —
Two witnesses against D'Aubigne — Schlegel — Hallam — " Bellowing
in bad Latin" — Testimony of Erasmus — Destruction of monaste-
ries — Literary drought — Luther's plaint — Awful desolation — An
"iron padlock"— Early Protestant schools — M. D'Aubigne's omis-
sions — Burning zeal — Light and flame — Zeal for ignorance — Burning
of libraries — Rothman and Omar — Disputatious theology — Its prac-
tical results — Morbid taste — The Stagirite — Mutual distrust — Case
of Galileo — Liberty of the press — Old and new style — Religious
wars — Anecdote of Reuchlin — Italy pre-eminent — Plaint of Leib-
nitz — Revival of letters — A shallow sophism — A parallel — Great
inventions— Literary ages — Protestant testimony — Common schools.

It is one of the proudest boasts of the reformation that
it gave a powerful impulse to literature and the arts.
Before it, the world was sunk in utter darkness, religious
and literary; after it, all was light and refinement. Be-
fore it, society remained stationary ; after it, all was pro-
gression and improvement. But for the reformation, we
would still have been immersed in worse than Egyptian
darkness ; we would have had neither science nor litera-
ture !

Such is the proudly boasting theory sustained by many
superficial admirers of the reformation. We are not at
all surprised to hear M. D'Aubigne singing the same old
song which had been chaunted already usque ad nauseajn,
by those of his predecessors among Protestant historians.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON LITERATURE. S25

who had sought to cater for vulgar prejudice. He gravely
asserts " that the reformation not only communicated a
mighty impulse to literature, but served to elevate the
arts, although Protestantism has often been reproached as
their enemy,"* He laments that *' many Protestants
have willingly taken up and borne this reproach."! Af-
ter devoting three pages to a tissue of highflown asser-
tions and of special pleading to prove the ** reproach
unmerited," he winds up in this triumphant strain : " Thus
every thing progressed— arts, literature, purity of worship,
and the minds of prince and people. "J If the reforma-
tion caused " the arts and literature" to progress no ffister
nor better than it did "the purity of worship, and the
minds of prince and people," we greatly fear, from the
many stubborn facts already adduced to elucidate the
character of this latter progression, that the former was
not rapid, nor even real.

The reformation favorable to the fine arts ! As well
might you assert that a conflagration is beneficial to a city
which it consumes, or that the incursions of the northern
barbarians, in the fifth and sixth centuries, were favora-
ble to architecture, painting, sculpture, and the other fine
arts. Wherever the reformation appeared, it pillaged,
defaced, and often burnt churches and monasteries; it
broke up and destroyed statues and paintings ; and it
often burnt whole libraries. Its ruthless vandalism spared
none of the glories of the old Catholic art. Whatever
was connected with the Catholic worship, or could serve
as a memorial of old Catholic piety, was wantonly de-
stroyed.

The armies of Goths and Vandals who overran Italy
and sacked Rome fourteen centuries ago, did not manifest
a more ruthless and destructive spirit than did the Lu-
theran army of the constable Bourbon, in their wanton
pillage of Rome after the battle of Pavia in 1525. *' Rome

♦ Vol. iii, p. 190. t Ibid. | Ibid. p. 192.

526 d'attbigne's history reviewed.

had been taken and pillaged by the constable Bourbon :
his army, which was composed in good part of Lutherans,
had filled the holy city with abominations. The soldiers
of this prince had changed the basilica of St. Peter into a
stable, and given papal bulls as litter to their horses. . , .
They burned even the grass, and sold the ears of their
prisoners for their weight in gold. The eternal city
would have been destroyed, had not God cast on it an
eye of pity. He made use of the pestilence, which this
horde of barbarians had spread on its journey, to banish
them from Italy."*

Even the splendid creations of the genius of a Raphael,
and of an Angelo, were not sacred in the eyes of this new
northern horde. True, all this destruction took place in
time of war; but its horrors had been increased tenfold
by the religious fanaticism to which the reformation had
given rise. We shall have occasion to prove, in the se-
quel, that similar enormities were perpetrated in time of
peace, and under the sole pretext of religious zeal.

Thus the reformation destroyed many of the noblest
works of art : what did it build up in their place? Did
it produce architects like Fontana, Julio Romano, Bra-
mante, Michael Angelo, and Bernini ? Did it rear edi-
fices to compare with those splendid Gothic piles scat-
tered over Europe by the genius of Catholic architecture
in the middle ages ? or any thing that could vie with St.
Peter's church at Rome ? Did it substitute higher or no-
bler melody for the sublime Catholic music which it had
proscribed ? Did it give birth to painters and sculptors
who could vie v/ith Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, the two
Caracci, Domenichino, Paul Veronese, Raphael, or An-
gelo ?

M. D'Aubigne boasts of the pictorial skill of Lucas
Kranach, Holbein, and Albert Durer.f We do not ques-

* Aiulin, Life of Luther, p. 289, who quotes Guicciardini — Sacco di
Romay Cochlaeus, De Marillac, and Maimboiirg, 1. i. t III, 192.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON LITERATURE. SSf

tion the genius of the last two : but they learned their art
and caught its inspiration in Catholic times. Their pen-
cils were only occasionally employed on Protestant sub-
jects. They were great artists before the reformation
began, and they continued to be pre-eminent in their pro-
fession in spite, rather than in consequence, of its influ-
ence. As for Lucas Kranach, whom our author triumph-
antly styles ** the painter of the reformation," he excelled
chiefly in caricatures, in painting pope-asses and monk-
calves, popes surrounded by a troop of demons, and priests
and monks in all possible ridiculous garbs and attitudes.
He was truly *' the painter of the reformation," one just
adapted to his subject; and the reformation is heartily
welcome to all the credit it may have derived from his
eminence.

To show what was the influence of the reformation on
literature in general, we will adduce the testimony of two
distinguished writers of the present century, against
whose authority the flippant assertions of M. D'Aubigne
will not weigh a feather with any enlightened or impartial
man. Frederick Von Schlegel and Henry Hallam have
both investigated this subject thoroughly, and have given
to the world the result of their inquiry. The former
may be styled the giant of modern literature: he has
given a powerful impulse to learning and to Christian
philosophy in Germany, and throughout the world. A
German himself, and proud of his national literature, he
has examined the subject of which we are treating in all
its bearings. Though his great mind had escaped from
the vagaries and endless variations of Protestantism in
which he was raised, and sought repose in the bosom of
Catholic unity, yet it was as free from undue prejudice
as it was indefatigable in the inquiry after truth. We
have seen already how greatly he admired the genius of
Luther, in whose mind, however, he detected a tincture of
insanity. In his writings, he speaks of the reformation
always with calmness and dignified impartiality ; some-

328 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

times even with praise of the good it may at least inci-
dentally have occasioned.

Hallam is a Protestant, who, though generally impar-
tial and accurate in his statements, is still sometimes be-
trayed into error by his ill concealed hostility to the
Catholic church. He has just published a History of Lit-
erature during the sixteenth century, and the two imme-
diately preceding and following. The plan of this work
necessarily called for a thorough investigation of the sub-
ject of our present chapter ; and he has given his opinion
of the literary influence of the reformation with clearness
and force. We make these remarks to show that both
the witnesses whom w^e are about to bring up against M.
H'Aubigne's theory, are weighty and unexceptionable.

Schlegel very properly designates the epoch of the
reformation as the barbaro-polemic. *' A third epoch now
arose, which, from the general spirit of the age, and the
tone of the writino;s which exerted a commandino- influ-
ence over the times, cannot be otherwise designated than
as the era of harhaj'o -polemic eloquence. This rude po-
lemic spirit — which had its origin in the reformation, and
in that concussion of faith, and, consequently, of all
thought and of all science, which Protestantism occa-
sioned — continued, down to the end of the seventeenth
century, to prevail in the controversial writings and philo-
sophic speculations both of Germany and England. This
spirit was not incompatible with a sort of deep mystical
sensibility, and a certain original boldness of thought and
expression, such, for instance, as Luther's writings dis-
play ; yet we cannot at all regard in a favorable light the
general spirit of that intellectual epoch, or consider it as
one by any means adapted to the intellectual exigencies
of that age."*

He concludes his lecture on this epoch in the following
words of just indignation: ''When we hear the middle

* " Philosophy of History," vol. ii, p. 210, 211, edit, xit supra.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON LITERATURE. Si29

age called barbarous, we should remember that that epi-
thet applies with far greater force to the truly barbarous
era of the reformation, and of the religious M'ars which
that event produced, and which continued down to the
period when a sort of moral and political pacification was
re-established, apparently at least, in society and the
human mind.''*

Hallam gives his opinion in still more explicit language.
He says : "Nor, again, is there any foundation for ima-
gining that Luther was concerned for the interests of lit-
erature. None had he himself, save theological ; nor are
there, as I apprehend, .many allusions to profane studies,
or any proof of his regard to them, in all his works. On
the contrary, it is probable that both the principles of this
great (!) founder of the reformation, and the natural tend-
ency of so intense an application to theological contro-
versy, checked for a time the progress of philological and
philosophical literature on this side the Alps."t

A little further on, he thus speaks on the general lite-
rary influence of the reformation : '* The first effects of
the great religious schism in Germany were not favorable
to classical literature. An all-absorbing subject left nei-
ther relish nor leisure for human studies. Those who had
made the greatest advances in learning were themselves
generally involved in theological controversy, and, in
some countries, had to encounter either personal suffering
on account of their opinions, or, at least, the jealousy of
a church (Protestant ?) that hated the advance of know-
ledge. The knowledge of Greek and Hebrew was always
liable to the suspicion of heterodoxy. In Italy, where
classical literature was the chief object, this dread of
learnino; could not subsist. But few learned much of
Greek in these parts of Europe without some reference to

* Ibid. p. 216.
t "Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the fifteenth, six-
teenth, and seventeenth centuries," in 2 vols. 8vo, vol. i, p. lf!5, edit.
Harper & Brother?, N. York, 1841.
28*

330 d'aubigne's history rkviewfd.

theology, especially to the grarnmatical interpretation of
the Scriptures. In those parts which embraced the re-
formation, a still more threatening danger arose from the
intemperate fanaticism of its adherents. Men who inter-
preted the Scripture by the Spirit could not think human
learning of much value in religion ; and they were as lit-
tle likely to perceive any other advantage it could pos-
sess. There seemed, indeed, a considerable peril that,
through the authority of Carlostadt, or even of Luther,
the lessons of Crocus and Mossellanus would be totally
forgotten. And this would very probably have been the
case if one man, Melancthon, had not perceived the ne-
cessity of preserving human learning as a bulwark to the-
ology itself, against the wild waves of enthusiasm.''*

In another place he asserts that "the most striking
effect of the first preaching of the reformation was that it
appealed to the ignorant."t He gives the following char-
acter of Luther's writings : "But from the Latin works
of Luther few readers, I believe, will rise without disap-
pointment. Their intemperance, their coarseness, their
inelegance, their scurrility, their wild -paradoxes, that
menace the foundations of religious morality, are not
compensated, so far at least as my slight acquaintance
with them extends, by much strength or acuteness, and
still less by any impressive eloquence. Some of his
treatises, and we may instance his reply to Henry VIII,
or the book against * the falsely named order of bishops,'
can be described as little else than bellowing in bad Latin.
Neither of these books displays, so far as I can judge,
any striking ability."

" It is not to be imagined," he continues, "that a man
of his vivid parts fails to perceive an advantage in that
close grappling, sentence by sentence, with an adversary,
which fills most of his controversial writings : and in
scornful irony he had no superior. His epistle to Eras-

* Ibid. p. 181, § 19. t Ibid. p. 192, § 12.

INFLUENCE OF TUB REFORM ON LITERATURE. 331

mus, prefixed to his treatise Be servo arbitrio, is bitterly
insolent in terms as civil as he could use. But the clear
and comprehensive line of argument which enlightens the
reader's understanding and resolves his difficulties, is
always wanting. An unbounded dogmatism, resting on
the infallibility, practically speaking, of his own judg-
ment, pervades his writings ; no indulgence is shown, no
pause allowed to the hesitating ; whatever stands in the
way of his decisions — the fathers of the church, the
schoolmen and philosophers, the canons and councils —
is swept away in a current of impetuous declamation :
and, as every thing contained in Scripture, according to
Luther, is easy to be understood, and can only be under-
stood in his sense, every deviation from his doctrine in-
curs the anathema of perdition. Jerome, he says, far
from being rightly canonized, must, but for some special
grace, have been damned for his interpretation of St.
Paul's Epistle to the Romans. That the Zuinglians, as
well as the whole church of Rome, and the Anabaptists,
were shut out by their tenets from salvation, is more than
insinuated in numerous passages of Luther's writings.
Yet he had passed himself through several changes of
opinion. In 1518, he rejected auricular confession; in
1520, it was both useful and necessary; not long after-
wards, it was again laid aside. I have found it impossi-
ble to understand or to reconcile his tenets concerning
faith and works, &c."*

We might rest the whole case on the authority of the
two learned witnesses just named : but we will proceed
to show that their opinion is correct, because founded on
the facts of history, and on the testimony of writers co-
temporary with the reformation itself. Erasmus was the
most distinguished literary character of Germany in the
sixteenth century. He was an eye-witness of the earlier
scenes in the great drama of the reformation. He will

* Ibid. p. 197, 198, § 26.

S32 d'aubigne's history revie^ved.

scarcely be suspected, when it Is known that he was the
ifitimate friend and correspondent of Melancthon and of
other leading reformers, to whose party he was charged
with leaning. He was certainly a competent judge of the
literary influence of the reformation, and he was not dis-
posed to undervalue that influence, even after his rupture
with Luther.

The reformation had been enlightening the world for
about ten years, when Erasmus wrote : " Wherever Lu-
theranism reigns, there literature utterly perishes."* In
the same year, 1528, he employed the following language
in one of his letters : ** 1 dislike these gospellers on many
accounts, but chiefly because, through their agency, lite-
rature every where languishes, disappears, lies drooping,
and perishes : and yet, without learning, what is a man's
life ? They love good cheer and a wife; for other things
they care not a straw."t In a letter to Melancthon, he
states that **at Strasburg the Protestant party had pub-
licly taught, in 1524, that it was not right to cultivate
any science, and that no language should be studied ex-
cept the Hebrew. '-J

These grave charges of Erasmus were never answered,
because they were, it would seem, too clearly founded in
truth to admit of a reply. Had not Luther himself, the
founder of the reformation, in his appeal to the German
nobility, as early as 1520, openly taught that the works
of Plato, Cicero, Aristotle, and of all the ancients, should
be burnt, and that the time which was not devoted to the
study of the Scriptures should be employed in manual
labor ?§ And we shall soon see that many of Luther's

* " Ubicumque reejnat Lutheranismus, ibi literarum est interitus.'
Epist. rnvi, anno 1528. Apud Hallam ut sup. vol. i, p. 165.

f « Evangelicos istos, cum raultis aliis, turn hoc nomine praecipue
odi, quod per eos uhique languent, fugiunt, jacent, intereunt bona lit-
erae, sine quibus quid est hominum vita ? Amant viaticum et uxorem ;
csetera pili non faciunt." Epis. dccccxlvi, eod. anno. Apud Hallam,
i, 165. t Epist. 714 ad Melancthoncm.

§ Epist. " ad nobiles Germanicsc,"" anno 1520. See Kobelot, p. 358.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON LITERATURE. 333

disciples took him at his word, and that tlie early history
of the reformation more than justifies the accusations of
Erasmus.

One of the first effects of the reformation in Germany
was the secularization and destruction of the monasteries,
and the expulsion of the bishops from their sees. This
measure of violence was most disastrous to literature.
In Catholic times there were flourishing schools estab-
lished in all the principal monasteries, as well as near all
the Cathedral and many of the parochial churches. Lite-
rature had been ever cultivated under the shadow of the
Catholic church. Popes and councils, almost without
number, had, during the middle ages, enforced the obli-
gation of establishing such schools throughout Christen-
dom.* In those Catholic institutions, reared in Catholic
times, and by the express injunction of the Catholic
church, all the distinguished men of Germany in the six-
teenth century had been educated: Reuchlin, Erasmus,
Luther, Melancthon, (Ecolampadius, Bucer, Eck, Emser,
Zuingle, and others. The reformation was thus indebted
to them for all its leading champions.

When the monasteries were destroyed, and the cathe-
dral churches desecrated and dismantled, all those flour-
ishing schools were abolished : and the funds for their
support, accumulated by the liberality of previous ages,
were devoured by the avarice of the reformation party.
Hundreds of flourishing colleges and academies of learn-
ing were thus destroyed at one fell swoop. No wonder
"literature drooped and perished wherever Lutheranism
reigned !" The fountains of Catholic learning, ever open
and flowing by the side of the Catholic church and mon-
astery, having been thus suddenly dried up, all Germany
was made desolate with a literary drought and sterility.
Did the reformation, during the first fifty years of its his-

* See many proofs of this assertion accumulated in an article in the
Catholic Cabinet of St. Louis, number for December, 1843.

SS4 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

torj, give birth to even one great literary character, if we
except those who had been reared under Catholic aus-
pices ? If it did, we have yet to learn his name and
local habitation.*

Luther himself was appalled at the extent of the deso-
lation which his ov/n recklessness had caused. In his own
characteristic style, he poured forth a plaintive jeremiad,
mingled with bitter invective and reproach against the
leaders of the Protestant party. He lashed without mercy
the avarice of the princes, who, after having devoured the
substance of the church and the funds of the Catholic
schools, closed their purses, and refused to contribute to
the erection of establishments to replace those they had
thus wantonly annihilated. "Others," he says, "close
their hands, and refuse to provide for their pastor and
preacher, and even to support them. If Germany will
act thus, I am ashamed to be one of her children, and to
speak her language : and if I were permitted to impose
silence on my conscience (!), I would call in the pope,
and assist him and his minions to forge new chains for us,
to subject us to new tortures, and to injure us more than
before.''

•' Formerly," he continues, " when we were the slaves
of Satan, when we profaned the blood of Christ, all
purses were open. Money could be procured for endow-
ing churches, for raising seminaries, for maintaining su-
perstitions. Then nothing was spared to put children in
the cloister, to send them to school ; but nov/, when we
must raise pious academies, and endow the church of Je-
sus Christ — endow, did I say, no, but assist in preserving
her, for it is the Lord who has founded this church, and
who watches over her — now that we know the divine
word, and that we have learned to honor the word of our
Martyr-God, the purses are closed with iron padlocks !

* The first that we know of are Scaliger, Casaiibon, and Grotius,
who flouished a hundred years after the beginning of the reformation,
the two last of whom were almost Catholics.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON LITEllAIURE. 335

No one wishes to give any thing ! The children arc ne-
glected, and no one teaches them to serve God, to vene-
rate the blood of Jesus, while Ihey are joyfully immolated
to mammon.* The blood of Jesus is trampled under foot !
And these are Christians! No schools! no cloisters!
* The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen,' (Isaiah.)
Now-a-days, when these carnal men are secure from the
apprehensions of seeing their sons abandon them, and their
daughters enter the convent, deprived of their patrimo-
nies, there is no one who cultivates the understanding of
children ! ' What would they learn,' say they, * when
they are to be neither priests nor monks ?' "

He made a strong appeal to the Protestant princes of
Germany to induce them to found schools and academies.
He told them that it was " their duty to oblige the cities
and villages to raise schools, found masterships, and sup-
port pastors, as they are bound to make bridges and roads,
and to raise public edifices. I would wish, if possible,"
he adds, "to leave these men without preacher and pas-
tor, and let them live like swine. There is no longer any
fear or love of God among them. After throwing off the
yoke of the pope, every one wishes to live as he pleases.
But it is the dut}^ of all, especially of the prince, to bring
up youth in the fear and love of the Lord, and to provide
them with teachers and pastors. If the old people care
not for these things, let them go to the d — 1. But it would
be a shame for the government to let the youth wallow in
the mire of ignorance and vice."t

This attempt to compel the people to support, by heavy
taxation, institutions which had been reared and main-
tained by Catholic charity hitherto, seems to have been
little acceptable either to princes or people. Luther's
voice, which had been omnipotent when it preached up

* See Ad. Menzel, (a Protestant,) ut supra, torn, i, p. 231.
t Luther, Werke, edit. Altenberg, torn, iii, 519. Reinhardt— 5a;7i/n^
liche- Reformations predigten, torn. iii. p, 445.

336 d'aubigne's history reviewkd.

destruction and spoliation, now fell powerless, when it
was at length raised to enforce the necessity of liberal
contribution for the rearing of institutions to replace
those which had been wantonly destroyed. When his
eloquence filled men's pockets, it was eflfectual for per-
suasion : when it was employed to empty them, it was a
different matter altogether : the purses of his hearers
were closed with "the iron padlock" which he himself
had constructed !

Few and feeble were the efforts made by early Protest-
antism to rear schools and colleges. Erasmus bears evi-
dence to their utter failure even when they were made.
" These gospellers also hate me," he says, *' because I
said that their gospel cooled down the love of literature.
In reply, they point to NiJremberg, where the professors
of polite literature are liberally rewarded. Be it so :
but if you ask the inhabitants, they will tell you that
these professors have few scholars, and that the masters
are as indisposed to teach, as the students to learn ; so
that the scholars, no less than the professors, will have to
be paid for their attendance. I know not what will result
from all these city and village schools; hitherto I have not
met with any one who profited by them."*

It is curious to observe how M. D'Aubigne passes over
altogether, or how very delicately he alludes to these stub-
born facts in reference to the literary tendency of the
reformation. They did not suit his taste, and did not come
within the scope of his history ! He speaks with great
praise of the effort made by Luther to have schools es-
tablished throughout Germany by law ; but he carefully
refrains from telling his readers of the literary desolation
which Luther so strongly deplored, though himself had
brought it about ! He omits entirely, or strives to palliate
the destructive spirit of early Protestantism, which, with

* " In Pseudo-Evangelicos." Epist. xlvii, lib. xxxi, edit. London,
Flesher.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON LITERATURE. SS7

more than Vandalic furj, swept away from the face of the
earth schools and academies, and burnt monasteries and
libraries, both public and private. A volume might be
filled with instances of this violence: we will select a
few by way of supplying somewhat the manifold omissions
of our romantic historian.

When on his way to the diet of Worms, in 1521, Lu-
ther passed through the town of Erfurth, in the Augus-
tinian convent of which place he had passed many years
of his early life. The people received him with open
arms. He made a most inflammatory harangue in the
parish church, where he was wont to preach of old ; and
so great was the effect of his eloquence, that *' a few
weeks after his departure, the populace made a furious
attack on the residence of the canons, and destroyed
every thing they met with— Z>ooA;5, images, paintings, fur-
niture, beds, the feathers of which fell, like a thick snow,
on the streets, and obscured for a moment the brightness
of the day."*

This was but one out of a hundred examples of similar
outrage, enacted not only under the eyes of Luther, but
often with his connivance and consent. The work of
destruction went on, until there was scarcely left in all
Protestant Germany one of the many splendid monu-
ments reared by the old Catholic literature and art.
*' Those illuminated manuscripts — those ancient cruci-
fixes, carved in wood and ivory — those episcopal rings,
the gifts of popes and emperors — those rich vestments,
painted glass, gold and silver ciboria — in a word, all the
relics of the middle ages, which are exhibited in the rich
museums of Germany, were in great part the property of
the convents. To get possession of them, the monks
were secularized. After three centuries, nothing better
calculated to give us an idea of German art at that period
has been thought of, than to exhibit the remains of those

* JLutheri 0pp. torn, i, fol. 704, edit. Altenb. Apud Audin, p. 158.
29

SS8 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

whom the reformers robbed when living, and calumniated
when dead !"* And yet these are but a miserable rem-
nant of those vast literary and artistic treasures which
the reformation utterly destroyed !

In Switzerland,! as elsewhere, violence was the order
of the day. The reformation triumphed amidst the
ruins with which it had strewn the earth ! ** Zuingle as-
cended the pulpit, and declaimed against images, which,
he said, were condemned by the law of Moses and the
gospel, as this latter did not revoke the command of the
Hebrew legislator. Not only were paintings and statues
mutilated and destroyed wherever the reformation gained
partisans, but the flames were fed by the manuscripts in
which generations of monks had, in the solitude of their
cloisters, endeavored to represent, in colors that time
could not eiface, the principal scenes of human redemp-
tion. Even in private houses the hammer's stroke fell on
those painted windows which modern art endeavors un-
successfully to revive ":j: •

M. D'Aubigne furnishes us with a curious instance of
this destructive fanaticism at Zurich. The hero of the
story is Thomas Plater, whom he eulogizes to the skies,
though he feebly disapproves of his conduct in the inci-
dent in which he was the actor. *' The light of the gos-
pel quickly found its way to his heart (!). One morning,
when it was very cold, and fuel was wanted to heat the
school -room stove, which it was his office to tend, he said
to himself: * Why need I be at a loss for wood when
there are so many idols in the church ?' The church was
then empty, though Zuingle was expected to preach (!),
and -the bells were already ringing to summon the con-
gregation. Plater entered with a noiseless step, grappled
an image of St. John, which stood over one of the altars,
carried it off, and thrust it into the stove, saying, as he

* Audin, p. 36-5.
t See the chapter on the reformation in Switzerland.
X Idem, ibid. p. 204. See also Erasmus, lib. xix, epist. iv.

INFLUENCE OF TUB REFORM ON LITERATURE. 339

did SO, * Down with thee, for in thou must go.* Cer-
tainly neither Mjconius nor Zuingle would have ap-
plauded such an act."*" What! when "the light of the
gospel had found its way to his heart!" Who could
blame him for following that light, and even for kindling
it into a flame ?

Our author also informs us of the fanatical hatred of
learning by Karlstadt and the prophets who headed the
revolt of the peasants. ** But soon after this, Karlstadt
went to still greater lengths; he began to pour contempt
upon human learning ; and the students heard their aged
tutor advising them, from his rostrum, to return to their
homes, and resume the spade, or follow the plough, and
cultivate the earth, because man was to eat bread in the
sv/eat of his brow ! George Mohr, master of the boys'
school at Wittemberg, carried away by a similar madness,
called from his window to the burghers outside to come
and remove their children. Where indeed was the use of
their continuing their studies, since Storck and Sti^ibner
had never been at the university, and yet were prophets ?
A mechanic was just as well, nay, perhaps better quali-
fied than all the divines in the world, to preach the gos-
pel !"t

Who can calculate the mischief these doctrines did to
literature ? Who can estimate the literary treasures
which were annihilated in the bloody war of the peasants,
led on by men who openly avowed their hostility to all
human learning ? In their ravages of Germany, before
their revolt was finally stifled in their own blood, they
had enacted scenes which would have put to the blush
the Gothic armies of old !

Another class of fanatics, the Anabaptists, to whose
fanaticism the principles of the reformation had mani-
festly led, were no less inimical to learning. Having
seized on the city of Munster, from which they had ex-

* Vol. iii, p. 253. f Ibid. p. 61.

S40 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

pelled the prince bishop, thej issued an order to devas-
tate the churches, which was accordingly done. They
then went farther. In the mad intoxication of triumph,
**a manifesto, published by Rothmann, decided that as
there was only one book necessary to salvation, the bible,
all others should be burned, as useless or dan":erous. Two
hours afterwards, the library of Rudolph Langius, consist-
ing almost entirely of Greek and Latin manuscripts, perish-
ed in the flames."-^ The Caliph Omar, for a similar reason,
had ordered the great library of Alexandria to be burned,
A. D. 632! A fine example truly, faithfully followed!

But it was not merely by acts of violence that the re-
formation injured the cause of literature; it brought into
action many other influences highly prejudicial to the pro-
gress of learning. We shall briefly advert to some of the
principal of these, and will begin with that already re-
ferred to by Mr. Hallam.

The reformation fevered the minds of men with reli-
gious controversy. It drew off" the votaries of literature
from the academic groves and the Pierian springs, into
the arid and thorny paths of disputatious theology.
Though many of the theological disputants, who appeared
on the arena at the period of the reformation, obtained
great credit for themselves and their cause by their writ-
ings, yet it is certain, that the literary world, at least,
would have been more benefited, had they devoted their
mental energies to the prosecution of scientific studies.
There is no doubt, that from this cause, the ranks of the
literati, both among Catholics and Protestants, were
greatly thinned; and that in consequence the ardor for
literary pursuits greatly cooled. Had the world continued
in unity, and had no acrimonious controversies arisen,
such men as Luther, Bucer, Melancthon, Eck, Emser,
and Bellarmine, might have contributed very greatly to
the progress of letters.

* See Hiatoire des JnabapHsies, par Catron, Liv. ii ; and A.udin p. 460.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON LITERATURE. S41

To show how this cause practically operated to the
detriment of literature, we will furnish a few facts, se-
lected almost at random from many of the same kind.
We have seen how the fanaticism of the Anabaptists
destroyed letters and burnt an extensive library in the
city of Munster. Tt is curious to trace the beginning of
this fanaticism, and to mark its influence on literature in
that city. Before the appearance of Luther, Munster en-
joyed peace and tranquillit}^ and cultivated learning with
great success. Shortly after the commencement of the
reformation, the scene changed altogether.

*' It suddenly became," says M. Audin, "a city of
trouble and disorder — was restless and uneasy under its
obscurity, and aspired to be the rival of Wittemberg. It
was a rich and commercial city, and had cultivated litera-
ture with success. Its University had merited the atten-
tion of the literary v/orld. It loved antiquity, especially
Greece, whose poets it published and elucidated. This
was the passion until the disciples of Luther entered its
gates, when this demi-classic city — half Greek and half
Latin, by its morals and instincts — involved itself in the-
ological disputes, and abandoned the study of Cicero and
Homer, to become interpreter of the sacreil volume. It
is needless to say, that it found in these inspired writings
many things that our fathers never dreamed of. Then all
the classic divinities abandoned Munster, as the swallows
fly away in winter, only that they -did not intend to return.
In their place, an acrimonious and punctilious theology
destroyed the peace of scholars, masters, and people.
The revolutionary progress of sectarians is always the
same."*

Whoever will read attentively the histor}'' of the refor-
mation, will be struck with the truth of this last remark
of ]M. Audin. In almost every city of Germany where
the reformation made its appearance, it produced, to a

* Audin " Life of Lutlier,*' p. 453.
29*

342

greater or less extent, the same disastrous revolution in
literary taste, which it effected in Munster.

Even Charles Villers, one of the most unscrupulous
advocates of the reformation, admits that "the attention
of the literary world was turned away, for more than a
century (after the reformation) unto miserable disputes
about dogmas and confessions of faith.''* Controversy
was not only carried on between the champions of Catho-
licity, and of Protestantism, but it raged violently in the
bosom of the reformation party. Men, who might have
been of immense service to the republic of letters, wasted
their energies in sectarian contentions. For more than
six years a violent dispute was carried on between the
Lutherans and Calvinists on the subject of the Eucharist,
and at the close of it, they were more widely separated
than ever. Leibnitz tells us, that a single controversy
between two Protestant divines of Leipsic, on the peremp-
tory period of repentance, gave rise to more than fifty
treatises in Latin and German.t

The eagerness for religious controversy among the
earlier Protestants of Germany, forcibly reminds us of
the picture which St. Gregory of Nyssa draws of a similar
rage of disputation on the subject of the Trinity, among
the sectarians of Constantinople under the Emperor Theo-
dosius the Great. "If you wish to change a piece of
money,'- says he, ** you are first entertained with a long
discourse on the difference of the Son who is born, and of
the Son who is not born. If you ask the price of bread,
you are answered, * that the Father is greater, and that the
Son is less :' and if you ask, when will the bath be w^arm ?
you are seriously assured, * that the Son was created.' "±

It is a singular fact, that notwithstanding the invectives
of Luther against the philosophy of Aristotle, it was still
retained in most of the Protestant Universities of Ger-

* "Essai sur I'Influence," &c. ut mp. p. 276.
t " Commercii Epist. Leibnitziani, Selecta Speciraina — Hanoveroe.
1805, Epist. xcv. X Apud Kobrlot, p. 390, .s?/jt). cii.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON LITERATURE. S43

many, and even made the standard of disputation. Me-
lanctlion published commentaries on the writings of the
Stagirite, and the authority of the latter was greatly
respected by the German Protestant Universities, as late
as the close of the eighteenth century. Ramus was re-
fused a professorship at Geneva, because he would not
adopt the philosophy of Aristotle, which was still taught
in this cradle of Calvinism.* While Protestant Germany
was thus sternly upholding the system of philosophy,
M'hich Luther had decried and endeavored to banish from
Christendom, the new school of the Platonic philosopliy
was established in Italy, under the auspices of the Me-
dici. All the invectives of the reformers against the
subtle disputations of the schoolmen, who had adopted
the Aristotelian philosophy, thus fell back on the heads of
their own party.

The mutual distrust and suspicion, which the reforma-
tion sowed in the minds of men, constituted another seri-
ous obstacle to the progress of letters. Competition and
emulation often elicit talent and promote improvement;
but when this feeling degenerates into a suspicious jea-
lousy, and mutual hatred, it greatly retards advancement
in learning. Whatever new systems of literature or of
philosophy were broached by one religious party, were
often rejected, through a mere spirit of opposition, by the
other. When mankind were united in religious faith,
they worked in unison for the promotion of learning :
when they were split up into religious parties, they mutu-
ally thwarted and hindered each other. The endless varia-
tions and vagaries of protestantism, on the one hand, led
to a skepticism, which sneered at every system which
savored of antiquity, no matter how well grounded; and
the cautious dread of innovation by the Catholic churcli,
on the other hand, caused her sometimes to view with
suspicion, at least for a time, new systems of philosophy

* Beza, Epist. xxxvi, p. 202. Apucl Robelot, p. 362.

344

which were sustained by respectable, if not conclusive
arguments. An example of the former feeling — of skep-
ticism — is given by the French philosopher Maupertuis,
who tells us that it required a half century to satisfy the
learned as to the truth of the principle of attraction,
which was at first viewed as reviving a feature of the
occult sciences, so extensively cultivated in previous cen-
turies.*

A remarkable instance of the dread of innovation on
the part of the Catholic church, is presented by the well
known case of Galileo. The wanton abuse of the scrip-
tures, for the support of a thousand conflicting opinions,
by the disciples of the reformation, had rendered every
species of innovation, which was attempted to be proved
by their authority, an object of apprehension on the part
of Rome. It may be confitlently asserted, that, but for
the reformation, and for the attempt by Galileo to prove
his system, not merely as a specious theory, but as incon-
testably true, by the authority of the written word, he
would never have been molested.

Some time before Galileo, Cardinal Nicholas de Cusa
had openly defended the system of Philolaus and Pytha-
goras, on the motion of the earth ; and no one then
thought of opposing his theory on religious grounds.
Nearly a century before Galileo, Nicholas Copernicus, a
Catholic priest, had advocated the same theory : and he
was not only not opposed, but Pope Paul Illt approved
of the dedication to himself of his great v/ork "on the
revolutions of the heavenly bodies. "J How are we then
to explain that a system, v/hich was thus openly maintained

* Apiid Robelot, p. 355.

|- A copy of the original work of Copernicus is preserved in the Bri-
tish Museum. It was printed at Ki'iremberg, by John Petreius, at the
expense of Card'i Nicholas Schomber;^, the Cardinal of Capua. In the
bef^lnnin^ of the volume is printed a laudatory letter of the Cardinal to
Copernicus, dated Rome, 1st of November, I-jSO,

X " De Orbium Ccelestium Revolutionibus." rollo— 1543, p. 196.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON LITERATURE. S45

for nearly a century, by cardinals and priests, at Rome
itself, where Copernicus had been professor of Astrono-
my — and all this, without any opposition — was afterwards
viewed with suspicion, when too warmly advocated by
Galileo ?

Th« reason is manifest : the wanton abuse of the scrip-
tures by the partisans of the reformation had made Rome
suspicious of every thing which savored of novelty. Am-
bitious rivals, whom the literary fame of Galileo had
eclipsed, had also represented his system in an odious and
false light to the Roman Court: they had painted it as
opposed to the scriptures, to the testimony of which Gali-
leo on the other hand as confidently appealed. The
wholeissue was thus made on scriptural grounds. Rome
took the alarm, and, without precisely condemning the
system of Galileo as false, enjoined silence on the dispu-
tants. Galileo remained in Rome from February to July,
1633, a space of more than five months, during which
time he resided at the spacious palace of his special friend,
the Tuscan Ambassador, who was his surety during the
trial. For only four days at most, even according to the
testimony of Mr. Drinkwater, his Protestant historian, he
was in nominal confinement ; being " honorably lodged
in the apartments of the fiscal of the Inquisition."*

The reckless abuse of the scripture, by the reformation,
and the distrust thereby occasioned, are thus alone respon-
sible for this temporary check to scientific improvement
in the person of Galileo. But, on the other hand, as an
offset to the case of the Italian philosopher, did not the
Protestant astronomer, Tycho Brahe, invent, on scriptural
grounds, a system, at variance with the Copernican, and
now universally rejected, though then popular among
Protestants ? And was not his great disciple Kepler, as
well as himself, persecuted by Protestants, for his valua-
ble discoveries in Astronomy ?

* Drinkwater— Life of Galileo, p. 53, and p. 64.

346 d'aueignb's hktory reviewed.

The authority of an unexceptionable witness, Mr. Hal-
1am, greatly confirms the view just taken of the case of
Galileo. He says : *' For eighty years, it has been said,
this theory of the earth's motion had been maintained,
without censure; and it could only be the greater bold-
ness of Galileo in its assertion wliich drew down upon him
the notice of the church.''* In a note,t he disproves the
assertion of Drink water — " that Galileo did not endeavor
to prove his system compatible with Scripture ;" and adds :
"it seems, in fact, to have been this over desire to prove
his theory orthodox, which incensed the church against it.
See an extraordinary article on this subject in the eighth
number of the Dublin Review. "J Guicciardini, an ardent
disciple of Galileo, in a letter dated March 4th, 1616,
says, '* that he had demanded of the Pope and the Holy
Office to declare the system of Copernicus founded on the
Bible." At Rome, Galileo was treated most kindly by
the Pope and the Cardinals, as he himself testifies in a
letter to his disciple Receneri, written in 1633. Il

The restrictions on the liberty of the press were
also often injurious to the progress of learning. Protes-
tant governments in Europe have been, and are even at
this day, deserving of at least as much censure on this
subject as those of Catholic countries. The supposed
necessity for a censorship of the press, frequently origin-
ated in the wanton abuse of it by those who had adopted
the principles of the reformation. But for the mutual
distrust which this revolution caused to arise in the minds
of men, the press would have been free, or at least much
less restricted than it really was. We read of little or
no restriction on the liberty of the press, until some time
after the reformation ; though the art of printing had been

* « History of Literature," ii, 2i8. f Ibid. p. 249.

X See also the article Sciences Humainex in Bergier's Dictionary
which sheds much light on this whole transaction.

11 Published in the <« Mercure de France," July 17, 1784.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON LITERATURE. Q47

in successful operation for more than half a century.
Thus the reformation is fairly chargeable, at least in a
great measure, with having originated that very censor-
ship of the press, which is so often the burden of the in-
vectives of its partisan^ against the Catholic church.

But perhaps the most singular instance of the obstacles
thrown in the way of literary improvement by the refor-
mation, is that furnished by the obstinate resistance of the
Protestant governments of Europe, to the change in the
Calendar adopted by Pope Gregory XIII, in the year
1582. The correction of the Calendar was founded on
the clearest and most incontestable principles of Astrono-
my ; and yet, solely because the improvement emanated
from Rome, England refused to adopt it for 170 years,
until 1752 ; Sweden adopted the new style, a year later,
in 1753, and the German states, the cradle of the refor-
mation, only in 1776 ! As a distinguished writer has
caustically remarked, the Protestant potentates preferred
" warring with the stars, to agreeing with the Pope !"

The long and bloody religious wars, which the reforma-
tion caused, or at least occasioned in Germany, were
another very serious hindrance to the progress of learn-
ing. These wars continued at intervals for nearly 150
years, until the great treaty of Westphalia in 1648; and
they filled all Germany with wide-spread desolation.
The war of extermination against the peasants — the
bloody war against the Anabaptists — the wars of Charles
V, and the Protestant princes of Germany — and finally,
the awful thirty years' war — from 1618 to 1648 — ^between
the Catholic party headed by the house of Austria, and
the Protestant party led on chiefly by the Kings of Swe-
den — made all Germany a scene of turmoil, confusion and
bloodshed. How many of the monuments of ancient
literature and art were swept away during all this bloody
strife! How many cities were desolated, libraries burnt,
and men of eminence slain ! In the midst of a bloody
civil war, with danger constantly at their very door, men

348 d'aubignk's history reviewed.

had neither leisure nor inclination to apply to literary
pursuits. Apollo courts peace: he seldom wears laurels
stained with blood.

We may safely affirm, that, for the reasons hitherto
alleged, and more particularly the last, the reformation
retarded the literary progress of Germany for at least a
century. Any one will be convinced of this, who will
compare the literary history of Germany in the beginning
of the sixteenth, with what it was in the seventeenth, and
the beginning of the eighteenth century. At the dawn
of the reformation, German literature v/as in a most pro-
mising condition. Greek, Latin and Hebrew learning
had revived, and were beginning to be cultivated with
success. Reuchlin, Budaeus and Erasmus had filled Ger-
many with literary glory.

An anecdote of Reuchlin, related by M. D'Aubigne,
may serve to give us some idea of the extent to which
Greek literature was then carried in Germany. In 1498
— twenty years before the reformation — he was sent to
Rome as ambassador from the electoral court of Saxony.
"An illustrious Greek, Argyropylos, was explaining in
that metropolis, to a numerous auditory, the wondeiful
progress his nation had formerly made in literature. The
learned ambassador went with his suite to the room where
the master was teaching, and on his entrance saluted him,
and lamented the misery of Greece, then languishing
under Turkish despotism. The astonished Greek asked
the German : * whence come you, and do you understand
Greek?' Reuchlin replied : * I am a German, and am not
quite ignorant of your language.' At the request of Ar-
gyropylos, he read and explained a passage of Thucjdides,
which the professor happened to have before him; upon
which Argyropylos cried out in grief and astonishment:
' alas ! alas ! Greece cast out and fugitive, is gone to hide
herself beyond the Alps!'"* Had Argyrop^'los visited

*Vol. i, p. 96.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON LITERATURE. 549

Germany a century later, he would probably have found
that ** fugitive Greece which had hid herself beyond the
Alps," had been ruthlessly driven from her shelter in
Germany, by the myrmidons of the reformation !

At the commencement of the reformation, many Ger-
man princes were liberal patrons of learning. Amon"-
these, the most conspicuous, were the Emperor Maximi-
lian ; Frederick, Elector of Saxony, who founded the
University of Wittemberg in J 502; Joachim, Elector of
Brandenburg, who established the University of Frank-
fort on the Oder, in 1506 ; Albert, Archbishop of Mentz ;
and George, Duke of Saxony.* But the troubles occa-
sioned by the doctrines of the reformers, caused the Ger-
man princes to turn their attention more to camps and
battlefields, than to the seats of learning and the patron-
age of learned men.

Italy had led the way in literary improvement. Hal-
lam says : *' the difference in point of learning between
Italy and England was at least that of a century : that is,
the former was more advanced in knowledge of ancient
literature in 1400 than the latter was in 1500. "t In
another place, speaking of the relative encouragement of
literature by Italy and Germany, he has this remarkable
passage: "Italy was then (in the beginning of the six-
teenth century), and perhaps, has been ever smce, the soil
where literature, if it has not always most flourished, has
stood highest in general estimation. "J This avowal is
the more precious as coming from a Protestant, and an
Englishman.

Speaking of the history of literature from the year 1520
to 1550, he pays this just tribute to the literary ascendency
of Italy: *' Italy, the genial soil where the literature of
antiquity had been first cultivated, still retained her su-
periority in the fine perception of its beauties, and in the

* See Hallam — History of Literature, Sec. siip. cit. i, 159.
t Ibid. p. 145, § 8. X Ibid. p. 159, § 48.

350 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

power of retracing them bj spirited imitation. It was
the land of taste and sensibility; never surely more so,
than in the age of Raphael as well as Ariosto.''*

Literary societies for the promotion of learning were
formed much later in Germany than in Italy and France.
It was only in 1617, that the *' fruitful society," the first
that ever existed in Germany, was established at Weimar.t
The example of Italy would have been in all probability
much sooner followed, had not the reformation engaged
the public attention in other pursuits. The spirit of
Reuchlin and of Erasmus had disappeared: their refined
taste was superseded by that which Schlegel so happily
designates the barlaro-poleinic ; and the result was the
retarding of literary improvement in the manner we have
stated.

From the dawn of the reformation to the reign of Fre-
derick the Great — a period of more than two hundred
vears — Get many was behind the other principal countries
of Europe in learning: it required full two hundred years
for her to recover from the rude shock her literature had
received from the hands of the reformers! In 1715, the
great Leibnitz feelingly deplored this literary desolation
of his country. J He says in another place, that the relish
for philosophical pursuits was so rare in Germany, "that
he could not find any person in his country, who had a
taste for philosophy and mathematics, and with whom he
could converse."§ Even as late as 1808, M. Jacobi,
another Protestant writer, draws a frightful picture of the
moral and literary condition of the German Protestant
Universities during his time.H

It is very common to find it boldly asserted from the
pulpit and through the press, that the revival of letters in

* Ibid. p. 173, § 1. t Idem. vol. ii, p. 172.

X See his letter to M. Bignon, 22d June, 1715 — Commercii Epist.
Leibnitz. Selecta Specimina — sup. cit. Epist. xciv.

§ Letter to M. de Beauval — ibid. Ep. xxv.
[1 See his testimony in Robelot, p. 421, 422.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON LITERATURE. 351

Europe was brought about bj the reformation! Nothing
could be more unfounded in fact, and more utterly absurd,
than this assertion. To Italy, under the fostering protec-
tion of her Medici, her Gonzagas, her Estes, and her
Popes, and more especially Nicholas V and Leo X, do
we in a great measure owe the revival of learning in Eu-
rope. All persons of any information admit this. Ros-
coe, an English Protestant, has written an extensive work
to do honor to the pontificate of Leo X, which he proves
to have been the golden age of learning.* Hallam also
pays a splendid tribute to this second Augustan age of
literature.! A light then shot up in Italy — in Rome its
brightness was most dazzling — which illumined the whole
world ! Nor was it the first time that Rome had led the
way in improvement and civilization !

The impulse having been thus powerfully given, all Eu-
rope was rapidly advancing in learning. The progress
was steady and healthy. On a sudden, the storm of the
reformation broke in upon the tranquillity of Europe,
which was peacefully and calml}^ engaged in literary pur-
suits. The result was almost the same as that of a vio-
lent and long continued storm on a beautiful garden, fra-
grant with flowers and rich in fruits. The fruits of pre-
vious toil were rudely shaken down ere they had become
mature ; the flowers were blighted ; and the garden was
changed into a desert I If literature was still preserved,
it was in spite of the reformation !

The usual argument of those who maintain that the
reformation was the cause of the literary resurrection of
Europe, is founded on a comparison of the condition of
Europe before, with what it became, after the reformation.
Literature was in a more flourishing condition after, than
lefore the sixteenth century : therefore, the reformation
caused the change for the better. Never was there a more

* Roscoe— Life and Pontificate of Leo X, mp. cit.
t Vol. i, p. 148, seqq. See also Aiidin, Life of Luther, p. 124, seqq.

352 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

shallow sopliism. It belongs to the category: post hoc,
ergo propter hoc* To estimate the literary influence of
the reformation aright, we should compare the literary
state of Europe before the reformation, with what it would
have been afterwards, if the reformation had not inter-
vened : or more properly ; we should compare the progress
which Europe really made after the reformation, especially
in Protestant countries, with what it would have made,
but for the reformation. Abiding by this test, we fear-
lessly assert, on the authority of the facts and evidence
above adduced, that the literary influence of the reforma-
tion was most disastrous.

We do not pretend to deny that Protestantism has pro-
duced many illustrious literary characters. Catholicism
has produced at least as great men, and many more of
them. Galileo and La Place may compare advantageously
with Huygens and Newton : and Copernicus far outshines
Tycho Brahe. The latter, though a Protestant, was en-
couraged chiefly by Catholic potentates of Germany.
Among philosophers, if Bacon and Descartes were weighed
in the balance, the latter would probably preponderate.
It would lead us too far, to continue this comparison
through all its details. But we may ask, whether the an-
nals of Protestant literature can produce brighter names
than Cardinal Ximenes, Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Her-
rera and Calderon in Spain ; Bossuet, Fenelon, Racine,
Moliere and Legendre, in France ; Raphael, Michael
Angelo, Vida, Tasso, Muratori, Tiraboschi, Boscovitch,
and a countless host of others in Italy; Frederick von
Schlegel, Moeller, and Gorres in Germany ; and Pope,
Dryden, and Lingard and Moore, in England and Ireland ?
These are but a few, selected almost at random, from the
long list of Catholic literati.

In regard to inventions of great and permanent utility

* ** Afler this ; therefore on accovnt of this." Never was a therefore
more misapplied.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON LITERATURE. 553

to mankind, a far greater number was made by Catholics
than by Protestants. The mariner's compass, gun pow-
der, the art of printing, clocks and watches, as well as
steamboat navigation,* were all invented bv Catholics.
To them also belongs the glory of having discovered Ame-
rica, and of having first doubled the Cape of Good Hope,
and discovered the Indies. The microscope, the teles-
cope, the thermometer, the barometer, were all invented
by Catholics. The chief great discoveries in astronomy —
that of Jupiter's satellites, of spots in the sun, and of the
four new planets or asteroids — were all made by Catholics.
Modern poetry was first cultivated successfully in Italy by
Dante and Petrarch; and Blair admits, that in historical
writing the Italians excel all other people.

The paper on which we write, the use of window glass
and the art of staining it, the weaving of cloth, the art of
enamelling on ivory and metals, the discovery of stone
coal, the sciences of galvanism and mineralogy ; and many
other improvements were introduced by Catholics : most
of them in the **dark" ages ! Ai^d it may he confidently
asserted, on the faith of genuine history, that during the
three hundred years preceding the reformation, more great
and important inventions were made, than during the three
hundred centuries succeeding that revolution ! And yet,
we are to be told, that sve owe all our literature and im-
provement to the reformation !

We may here also remark, that the two great epochs of
modern literature — that of Leo X and of Louis XIV —
both occurred in Catholic countries and under Catholic
auspices. The age of Frederick the Great, in Germany,
was nearly allied in character with that which immediately
followed it under the influence of the infidels of France:

* Blasco de Garay, a Spaniard, made the first successful experiment
in steam navigation, in the harbor of Barcelona, in the year 1543.
Eighty-five years later, Brancas followed up the discovery in Italy.
See " A Year in Spain" by an American Protestant, vol. i, p. 47, seq.
Note.- Edit New York, 1830.
30*

554

while the literary glories of Queen Ann's reign in England,
were equalled, if they were not surpassed, bj those of the
Age of Ferdinand and Isabella, in Spain.

We will conclude this chapter, already long enough,
with a few extracts from modern Protestant writers, bear-
ing on our present subject. The first will be from Black-
wood's Magazine, a print remarkable for its great ability,
and for its bitter hostility to the Catholic church. Mark
how the writer speaks of the influence of the reformation
on literature.

*• The pontificate of Leo X, commenced in 1513. His
patronage of literature is too well known to be long dwelt
on ; yet, during his life, literature was fated to receive
the severest check ivhich it had yet received. This was oc-
casioned hy the reformation, whose dawn, while it shed
light (! !) upon the regions of theology, looked frowningly
on those of profane learning. In fact, the all-important
controversy then at issue, so thoroughly engrossed the
minds of men, as to divert them, for a while, from other
studies. The quick eye of Erasmus perceived this, and
casting down the weapons of theological strife, which he
l»ad grasped in the enthusiasm of the first onset, he left
the field, exclaiming in atone of heartfelt anguish — * Ubi-
cumque regnat Luther anismns, ibi literarum est inier-
itus'' — ' wherever Lutheranism prevails, there learning
perishes.' "* The writer then gives other quotations
from Erasmus and Hal lam, which we have cited above.
This testimony of an enemy is unexceptionable and con-
clusive.

Our second Protestant witness is William Cobbett, whom
we cite, not so much for the weight of his personal authority,
as for the important facts he alleges, and which have
never been disproved, probably because they could not be
called in question. He makes an elaborate comparison,
in regard to literature, between Protestant England, and

* P. 465.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON LITERATURE. 555

Catholic France and Italy. His parallel embraces one
hundred and eighty-seven years, from 1600 to-178r. His
authority for the statement he makes, is a Protestant work,
universally read in England — the "Universal Historical,
Critical, and Bibliographic Dictionary." Though our
business is chiefly with Germany, yet the facts which we
will now disclose in regard to England, will tend not a
little to throw light on the general literary tendency of
the reformation. England has boasted more perhaps than
any other Protestant country, of her superior enlighten-
ment and refinement: and if it appear on indubitable
Protestant authority, that even she must yield the literary
palm to Catholic France and Italy, we may readily infer,
what is, relatively to these last named states, the literary
excellence of Germany and of other Protestant countries.
The authority from which Cobbett derives the following
table allowed a place on its pages only to great and dis-
tino-uished names. The fio;ures in the table denote the
number of writers in each country who have excelled in
the respective branches opposite which their names are
placed.

England. France. Italy.

Writers on Law 6 51 9

Mathematicians 17 52 15

Physicians and Surgeons.. . 13 72 21

Writers on Natural History 6 S3 11

Historians 21 139 22

Dramatic Writers 19 66 6

Grammarians 7 42 2

Poets 38 157 34

Painters 5 64 44

Total 132 676 164

The reader may make his own comments on this state-
ment, from which it appears that " ignorant" Italy during
the period in question produced thirty-two more writers
of eminence in the nine chief departments of literature,
than proudly boasting England ; and that France pro-
duced considerably more than five times the number !
Figures cannot mislead, and facts are stubborn things !

356 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

It is a very common charge against the Catholic church
that she keeps her people in ignorance ; and to prove tliis
accusation, an appeal is made to the condition of Catholic
countries, in which, it is said, the common people are not
educated. Let us see what a living author, and an unex-
ceptionable witness, because a Protestant and a Scotch-
man, says upon this very subject. He relates, too, what
he himself saw and had full opportunities of examining.
We allude to Laing, whose " Notes of a Traveller" have
just appeared.

He says : *' In Catholic Germany, in France, and even
in Italy, the education of the common people in reading,
writing, arithmetic, music, manners, and morals, is at
least as generally diffused and as faithfully promoted by
the clerical body as in Scotland. It is by their own ad-
vance, and not by keeping back the advance of the peo-
ple, that the popish priesthood of the present day seek to
keep ahead of the intellectual progress of the community
in Catholic lands: and they might perhaps retort on our
Presbyterian clergy, and ask if they too are in their coun-
tries at the head of the intellectual movement of the age ?
Education is in reality not only not repressed, but is en-
couraged by the popish (!) church, and is^ mighty instru-
ment in its hands, and ably used. In every street in
Rome, for instance, there are, at short distances, public
primary schools for the education of the children of the
lower and middle classes in the neighborhood. Rome,
with a population of 158,678 souls, Ijas three hundred
and seventy-two* primary schools, with four hundred and
eighty-two teachers, and fourteen thousand children at-
tending them. Has Edinburg so many schools for the

* This number is perhaps somewhat below the mark. According to
the Cracas, or Roman Almanac for 1834, Rome then had three hundred
and eighty-one free schools ; and we presume the number has not since
decreased, as we know the population has been steadily increasing.
Many of these schools are supported by private charity, while those of
Protestant countries are maintained only by burdensome taxation.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON LITERATURE. 357

instruction of those classes ? I doubt it. Berlin, with
a population about double that of Rome, has only two
hundred and sixty-four schools. Rome has also her uni-
versity, with an average attendance of six hundred and
sixty students : and the papal states, with a population of
two and a half millions, contain seven universities. Prus-
sia, with a population of fourteen millions, has but seven."
The value of this splendid testimony is greatlv en-
hanced when we reflect that Scotland and Prussia are the
boasted lands of common schools. Protestants, it would
seem, can hoast more on what they have done for litera-
ture ; but Catholics can do more without making any
great parade.*

* For more on this subject, and especially on what Catholics have
done for literature, see an article on " Literature and the Arts in the
Middle Ages," in the Catholic Cabinet for November, 1843. Also an
article in the December number of the same " on Schools and Univer-
sities in the Middle Ages ;" and another in the January number (1844)
of the U. S. Catholic Magazine, in answer to the question, " What
have the Catholic clergy and monks done for literature ?" We had at
first resolved to republish, in an appendix to the present work, all these
essays, as well as some others to which we have made reference ; but
'the fear of swelling this volume to too great a size has prevented the
execution of our original intention

CHAPTER XV.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORMATION ON CIVILIZATION.

Definition- -Religion, the basis — Reclaiming from barbarism — British
East India possessions — Catholic and Protestant conquests — Protest-
ant missions — Sandwich Islands — The mother of civilization — The
ark amid the deluge — Rome converts the nations — Early German
civilization — Mohammedanism — The crusades — The popes — Luther
and the Turks — Luther retracts — Religious wars in Germany — Thirty
years' war — General peace— Disturbed by the reformation — Compar-
ison between Protestant and Catholic countries.

To civilize, according to lexicographers; is " to reclaim
from a state of savageness and brutality." According to
its more common acceptation, however, the word civiliza-
tion implies more than a mere reclaiming from barbarism.
It embraces, as its more prominent constituent elements,
enlightenment of the public mind, good government con-''
ducted on liberal principles, a certain refinement in pub-
lic taste and manners, and a gentleness and polish in so-
cial intercourse. The more fully these elements are
developed together, the higher the state of civilization.

There can be no doubt that religion lies at the basis of
all true civilization. A mere glance at the past history
and present condition of the world must satisfy any im-
partial man of this truth. Those countries only have
been blessed with a high degree of civilization which have
been visited b\ the Christian religion. Those which have
not had this visitation, or which have rejected it, are in a
state of barbarism, or at least of semi-barbarism. If Eu-
rope is more highly civilized than any other quarter of
the globe, it is precisely because she has been more fully
under the humanizing influence of Christianity. If Af-

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON CIVILIZATION. 359

rica is the lowest in the scale, it is because her people
have been least acted on by this influence.

Asia occupies an intermediate ground between barba-
rism on the one hand, and a state of semi- civilization on
the other. That portion of her population which has
never received the Christian religion, still continues in' a
state of unmitigated barbarism. That portion which
once received, but has since in a great measure lost sight
of or rejected the doctrines of Christianity, may in general
be pronounced to be in a state but half-civilized. No
more striking proof of the soundness of these remarks
can perhaps be given, than the incontestable fact that all
western Asia, embracing Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, By-
thinia, Mesopotamia, and Armenia, and which was, during
the early a^es of Christianity, in a higli state of civiliza-
tion, has since sunk into a state of semi-barbarism, when
Christianity had been either extinguished or paralyzed in
its influence by Mohammedanism. Constantinople, An-
tioch, and Ephesus, once the centres of civilization, and
the radiating points of learning, are now the seats of bar-
barism — all their laurels withered, and all their glory
fled, perhaps for ever ! Egypt and northern Africa were
also, during the first ages of the church, far advanced in
civilized life. But what is their ^jondition now, and
what has it been for many centuries, since the overthrow
of Christian institutions by those of Islamism ? The
dark night of barbarism still broods heavily over them,
though a cheering twilight of dawn is beginning to brighten
in Algeria. And, in Europe, those countries precisely
have advanced the least in civilization which — as Russia
and other more northern nations — have been less fully
and powerfully acted on by the principles of the Christian
religion.

From the facts already established in the previous chap-
ters, we may easily gather what was the influence of the
reformation on these two leading elements of civilization —
free government and literary enlightenment. We think

S60 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

that every impartial man who will take the trouble to
weigh well the evidence already accumulated on those
subjects, will come to the conclusion that, as far at least
as these are concerned, the influence of the reformation
was most injurious. We would not, however, be under-
stood as denying that Protestantism subsequently exer-
cised, at least occasionally and to some extent, a benefi-
cial influence on the progress of society. We freely
admit that Protestants have done something for this ad-
vancement of humanity : but we maintain that Catholics
have done much more, and that, without the reformation,
the world would have advanced much more rapidly in
civilization than it has done with its co-operation.

To begin wiih the first idea implied by the term — a
reclaiming from barbarism, what nation or neople, we
would ask, has Protestantism ever reclaimed irom a bar-
barous to a civilized condition ? What nation, or even
considerable portion of a nation, has it ever converted
from heathenism to Christianity ? It has caused many
to abandon the old system of religion, and to embrace its
own crude and new-fangled notions : but we have yet to
learn that it has brought one heathen people into the
Christian fold. Many barbarous nations and tribes have
been crushed or exterminated by the onward march of its
own peculiar system of civilization;- but not one, so far
as our information extends, has been converted to Chris-
tianity, or even ameliorated in social condition, through
its agency.

And yet Protestantism has had ample power in its
hands for this purpose, as well as ample verge for its ope-
rations. With her almost unbounded power by sea and
by land, England, to say nothing of other Protestant
governments, might have, it would seem, converted whole
nations to Christianity, and thereby reclaimed them from
barbarism. With her vast power and influence in the
East Indies, she might have at least made an effort to
bring the immense nations, with their tens of millions of

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON CIVILIZATION. oGl

inhabitants, which there acknowledge her sway, into the
ample fold of Christian civilization. But what has she
done ? Has she ameliorated the civil condition of the
seventy millions whom she holds in political thraldom in
the east ? Has she even made an effort, in her political
capacity, to bring about this result ? Has the inhuman
car of Juggernaut ceased to crush its numerous victims?
or have the obscene and wicked rites of paganism van-
ished before her influence ?

She has indeed crushed or exterminated whole tribes
by her arms, or ground them in the dust by her tyranny,
and empoverished them by her exactions ! She has done
much to render Christian civilization odious in their eyes :
she has done little or nothing to render it amiable or at-
tractive. A lust of power and of money has been the
great guiding, all-absorbing principle of her policy: and
its effects are visible in the yet deeper and deeper degra-
dation of the millions who unwillingly bow beneath her
yoke. It is deemed unnecessary to multiply proofs to
establish what must be apparent to every one who has
even glanced at the history of the conquests and policy
of England in her East India possessions. Her own
writers and the official acts of parliament have pro-
claimed these iniquities to the world : and no one will be
so skeptical as to question their truth, or to deny their
enormity.

Happily, such has not been the case with Catholic con-
quests among barbarous nations. The first thing always
thought of by Catholic sovereigns who established their
power in heathen lands, was to introduce Christianity
among the tribes whom they had subdued, and to bring
about, through its agency, their gradual civilization. The
Catholic missionary always accompanied the leader of
Catholic maritime discovery and conquest, to soften down
the horrors of war, to pour oil into the wounds of the
vanquished people, and to direct their attention to sub-
lime visions of civilization, of religion, of heaven. The

362 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

cross was always reared by the side of the banner of con-
quest. And the result has been that wherever Catholic
conquest has extended, there religion has been also estab-
lished, and, through it, civilization has been introduced.

Whoever will read attentively the annals of Spanish
and Portuguese voyages of discovery and conquest in
America and the Indies, will be convinced of the entire
truth of this remark. Our countryman, Washington
Irving,* has done ample justice to this subject; and we
confidently appeal to the evidence his magic pen has
spread before the world, for a triumphant proof of our
assertion. Our attention is often directed, with a sneer
of triumph, to the inferior political condition of Spanish
America: but those who employ this silly argument, and
boast of their own superior civilization and refinement,
do not reflect, or would not have us reflect, that, whereas
the Spaniards and Portuguese settled down and intermar-
ried with the aborigines, and used every effort to civilize
them, in which they have partially succeeded; we in
North America, with all our boasted superiority, have
circumvented, goaded into war, driven from place to
place, and finally almost exterminated the poor Indians,
the original proprietors of our soil.t Protestantism is
heartily welcome to all the laurels of civilization it has
won in this field.

It is rather a remarkable coincidence that, in the very
first year of the reformation, 1517, the first expedition of
the Spaniards for the conquest of Mexico — that under
Cordova — was undertaken. Two years later, in 1519,
Hernando Cortes undertook the expedition which achieved
the conquest of Mexico. On his standard was the motto :

* In his "Life of Columbus," 2 vols. 8vo. New York, J831. See
the evidence he alleges on our present subject, accumulated in a Re-
view of Webster's Bunker Hill Speech, published in the Catholic Cab-
inet of St. Louis, October, 1843.

t See Bancroft's testimonies and other evidences on the subject, col-
lected ibid.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON CIVILIZATION. 363

*'Amiciy cnicem sequamufy et in hoc signo vincemus^^-^
*' Friends, let us follow the cross, and under this banner
shall we conquer." According to the account of the
Spanish missionaries who accompanied this expedition of
Cortes, six millions of Mexicans were received into the
Catholic church by baptism during the years intervening
between 1524 and 1540, the very period in which the
reformation was progressing most rapidly in Europe. It
is highly probable that, by this remarkable stroke of Di-
vine Providence, the Catholic church thus gained at least
as many new disciples in Spanish America alone, as she
lost old ones in Europe through the reformation !*

We must admit that Protestants have made great efforts
to convert heathen nations. Millions of money have been
liberally bestowed for this benevolent purpose. Large
bodies of missionaries, with their wives and families, have
been annually sent out by Bible and other Protestant
societies, to evangelize and civilize heathen lands. Not
only their expenses have been liberally paid, but they
have had handsome salaries, and often princely establish-
ments. But what have they done, with all the money
that has been thus expended, and all the parade that has
been made, on the subject ?

Quid

Hie faciei tanio dignum promissor hiaiu?

Have they converted 07ie nation to Christianity ? If
they have, history is silent as to its locality.! Much was
once said about the conversion of the Sandwich islands by
American Protestant missionaries : but this has all turned
out, like other similar schemes of conversion, a miserable
failure. The first effect of Protestant civilization in those

* See article Despatches of Hernando Cortes, in the North American
Review for October, 1843.

t See most abundant evidence, chiefly from Protestants themselves,
in Dr. Wiseman's " Lectures on the Catholic Religion," 2 vols. 12mo.
vol. i, lect. vi.

364

islands was a reduction of the native population bj more
than one half: the next was the enriching of the mission-
aries themselves, a very usual occurrence, by the way,
and one which exhibits the chief advantage of those mission-
ary enterprises : the third was a most disgraceful perse-
cution of brother Christian missionaries, so much so that
a Catholic potentate felt him.self called on to interfere ;
and the last effect seems to have been an almost total
abandonment of the whole undertaking.* . A distinguished
modern writer! has well remarked that the Protestant
sects have been ever doomed to sterility since their di-
vorce from the only true spouse of Christ — the Catholic
church.

On the other hand, what has the Catholic church done
for civilization ? AVhat nations has she converted to
Christianity ? We may answer the question by asking
another. What nation or people is there, of all those on
the face of the earth who have entered the Christian fold,
which she has not been mainly instrumental in converting
and civilizing } Is there even one? What says faithful
history on the subject ?

During the first four centuries of Christianity, the prin-
cipal nations of Europe, as well as many of those of Asia
and Africa, had been converted by missionaries sent
either directly by Rome, or at least in communion and
acting in concert with the Roman see. The cross of
Christ had been borne in triumph to the most remote ex-
tremities of the Roman empire, which embraced all Eu-
rope and a great portion of Asia and Africa. It had been
planted even in the midst of people who were beyond the
boundaries of the vast territory ruled by Rome. As early
as the close of the second century, St. Irenseus, bishop of
Lyons, could say in triumph that many barbarous nations
in Germany and elsewhere, over whose heads the Roman

* Ibid. See also the late Catholic papers pass»?i.
t Count De Maistre — Du Pape, vol. ii.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON CIVILIZATION. 565

eagle had never floated, had already received the gospel,
although thej were unlettered and unacquainted with the
uses of paper and ink, TertuUian, a writer who flour-
ished in the beginning of the third century, could also
say, in a defence of Christianity addressed to the Roman
emperor and senate, that Christians had already filled the
villages, the towns, the cities, the castles, and the armies
of the Roman empire, and that they had left only the
temples of paganism to their idolatrous persecutors !

In the fifth and sixth centuries, a deluge of barbarism
overwhelmed the Roman empire of the west, which was
already fast verging to its final downfall. The ancient
Roman civilization was buried under its turbid waters.
The ark of the church alone rode in safety the angry
flood : and when its waters had subsided, the tenants of
this ark, as had been done by those of its prototype of
old, repeopled the earth. In it were preserved, together
with Christianity, the seeds of a new civilization, more
refined and elevated by far than that which had been
swept from the face of the earth. These were scattered
broadcast over the soil of the world: the church watered
them with the tears of her maternal solicitude, and, when
they had sprung up, she nurtured the plants and brought
them to maturity. Thus to her alone is due the credit of
having rescued the world from barbarism, and of having
again carefully collected and skilfully put together the
scattered elements of the new civilization. All modern
improvement dates back to this era, as certainly and as
necessarily as does the present existence and extension
of the human race to the epoch of the deluge. We owe
as much to the church as to Noah's ark.

The hordes of the north, who had trodden in the dust
the Roman empire as well as Christianity, which was
grafted thereon, entered themselves, one by one, into the
ample fold of the church. The fierce conquerors willingly
bowed their necks to receive the yoke of the conquered !
Christianity thus triumphed, like her divine Founder, by

366 d'aitbigne's history reviewed.

being seemingly conquered for a time. It is not a little
remarkable, too, that all the nations of the north were
converted bv missionaries sent by Rome.

Ireland was the first to enter into the Christian fold :
and she became subsequently a principal instrument in
the hands of Providence for converting the other northern
nations. She had never bent beneath the oppressive
weight of the Roman power, nor had she been instrumen-
tal in effecting the downfall of the Roman empire. Yet
was she the first nation of the north that assumed the
sweet yoke of Christ. In the beginning of the fifth cen-
tury, A. D. 430, Pope Celestine I sent St. Patrick into
Ireland, and St. Palladius into Scotland. Towards the
close of the same century, in 496, St. Remigius baptized
at Rheims, King Clovis and three thousand officers of his
army, thus laying the foundation of Christianity in France.

Near the close of the sixth century, A.D. 591, Pope
St. Gregory the Great sent St. Augustine and his forty
companions into England. These converted the kingdom
of Kent, and soon all England followed the example. lu
the seventh century, St. Kilian, sent by Pope Conon,
preached the gospel in Franconia ; St. Swidbert and
others evangelized Friesland, Brabant, Holland, and
lower Germany; and St. Rupert became the apostle of
Bohemia. In the eighth century, St. Boniface, sent by
Pope Gregory II, 719, converted the Hessians, Thurin-
gians, and Bavarians, and suffered martyrdom at length
in Friesland, in 755^ with fifty-two of his companions.
Saints Corbinian, Willibrord, and Vigilius were his co-
operators in the apostleship.

In the ninth century, St. Adalbert converted Prussia:
and St. Ludger became the apostle of Saxony and West-
phalia, and died bishop of Miinster. In the same age, St.
Anscarius, archbishop of Hamburg and Bremen, preached
the gospel to the Danes, and planted Christianity in
Sweden, about the year 830. About the same period, the
two brothers, Saints Methodius and Cyril, with the sane-

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON CIVILIZATION. 2G7

tion of Pope John VIII, converted the Sclavonians, the
Russians, and the Moravians, and also Michael, king; of
the Bulgarians. In the tenth century, the faith was ex-
tended into Muscovy, Denmark, Gothland, Sweden, and
Poland. The Normans, with their king, Roland, were
converted in 912; and the Hungarians, with their king,
St. Stephen, embraced Christianity about the year 1002.*

Thus all the nations of Europe were successively con-
verted to Christianity by the agency of the Roman Cath-
olic church, and by missionaries sent by Rome. Their
civilization was a necessary sequel to their conversion.
They were indebted for both to Rome, This was espe-
cially true in relation to the German nations. We have
seen above the avowal of M. D'Aubigne himself on this
subject. As M. Audin well remarks, •' it was religion
that had softened the savage manners of its inhabitants,
cleared its forests, peopled its solitudes, and aided in
throwing off the yoke of the Romans. Whatever poetry,
music, or intellectual culture it possessed when Luther
appeared, it owed to its ancient bishops. The feudal
tree had first flourished on its soil. It had its electors,
dukes, barons, who were often bishops or archbishops. Of
all the European states, it was the one in which the influ-
ence of the papacy had been most vividly^felt."!

He might have added that whatever of liberty it pos-
sessed, it had also derived from Rome. She had abol-
ished the serf system, had opened sanctuaries for the
oppressed, had proscribed the trial by ordeal, and had
substituted for it a more rational system of judicature.
She had purified and elevated the old German jurispru-
dence by the provisions of her canon law ; and, by de-
claring the oppressed and crushed subject free from the
obligation of his oath of allegiance to the oppressor, she
had broken his bonds, and taught him his political rights*

* See Church Historians, /jassnn.
J Life of Luther, sxip. cit. p. 343, 344.

368 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

In a word, Rome was, for Germany more especially, the
centre of civilization, and tlie point from which enlight-
enment radiated throughout her territory.

The deluge of barbarian invasion having subsided, and
the barbarians tliemselves having been converted to Chris-
tianity, a new and most appalling danger threatened Eu-
ropean civilization, nay, the independence and the very
existence of Europe. The Mohammedan imposture, com-
mencing at Mecca in the year 622, had rapidly overspread
a great part of Asia and Africa, and had penetrated into
Europe, through Spain, as early as the year 711. In the
east it menaced Constantinople, the capital of the Greek
empire ; in the south and west it threatened more nearly
European independence. Masters of northern Africa,
of Spain, and of the Mediterranean, the followers of Mo-
hammed were ready to penetrate into Europe on all sides,
with the scimitar in one hand, and the Koran in the other.
The consequences of their successful incursion would
have been, what they had been every where else, the ruin
of literature and liberty, the destruction of Christianity
and civilization, and wide-spread ruin and desolation.
Wherever they had penetrated, they had blighted every
flower, and plucked every fruit of the existing civiliza-
tion. The once flourishing provinces of Asia and Africa,
which had been forced to wear their iron yoke, riveted
on their necks, had relapsed into a state of barbarism,
from which, alas ! they are not yet recovered.

In this emergency, what saved European civilization
and independence ? What agency kept off the impend-
ing storm ? The church and the Roman pontiifs. The
latter, by their influence, succeeded in arousing Europe
from its letliargy, and in awakening her to a lively sense
of the threatened danger. They persuaded Christians to
bury their private feuds, to be united as one man, and to
rally in their united strength for the defence of the cross
against the invading hosts marshalled under the crescent.
Long and fiercely raged the struggle — Christianity, civil-

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON CIVILIZATION. SG9

ization, enlightenment and liberty, and the cross, on tlie
one hand, and Mohammedanism, barbarism, ignorance,
despotism, and the crescent, on the other.

The first check given to Mohammedan conquest was in
the famous victory gained over the followers of the cres-
cent by Charles Martel, at the head of the French chiv-
alry, near Tours, in l^'l. The closing events of the pro-
tracted struggle were equally glorious for the Christian
cause. The battle of Lepanto, in 1571, crippled the
energies of the Turks, by destroying their whole fleet,
and the relief of Vienna, besieged by the Turkish army
in 1683, by the brave Sobieski, at the head of his thirty
thousand Poles, drove the Mohammedans from Europe,
and cut off all hopes of any farther European conquests
by their armies.

The popes were the very soul of all Christian enter-
prises for repelling Turkish invasion. It was they who
first conceived that master-stroke of policy which, through
the crusades, carried the war into the enemies' country,
and for centuries gave them enough to do at home, with-
out thinking of foreign conquests. It was they who
united Europe, for the first time, in one great cause. It
was Pope St. Pius V who deserved the chief credit of the
signal victory at Lepanto.

. It was they who ennobled chivalry, and consecrated
valor, for the defence of Christian Europe. It was they
who nerved for battle the arms of the brave knights of
Rhodes and Malta, and inspired the heroism of the Hun-
niades, of the Scanderbergs, of the Cids, of the Bouil-
lons, and the Tancreds, and of others, who won imperish-
able laurels in that struggle. But for their exertions, and
the blessings of that God who had promised that " the
gates of hell should not prevail against his church built
on a rock," Europe would in every human probability
have become, what Asia and Africa have Jong been, a
mere degraded province of a colossal Mohammedan em-

S70 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

pire, which would have bestrode the earth, crushing be-
neath its weight every principle of civilization !

Did the reformation win any laurels in this contest ?
Did it strike one blow for the independence of Europe
against the Turks, who, when it first appeared, were at
the very zenith of their power, and were assuming the
most threatening attitude against Europe ? We will give
a few facts which will show the spirit of early Protestant-
ism on the subject.

Among the articles which Luther obstinately refused
to retract at the diet of Worms, in 1521, was this strange
and impious paradox : *' that to war against the Turks is
to oppose God !"* In his fierce invective against the
conciliatory decree which emanated from the diet of Nu-
remberg in 1524, he thus castigates the princes who had
composed diat diet : ** Christians, I beg of you, raise your
hands, and pray for these blind princes, with whom hea-
ven punishes us in its wrath. Give not alms against the
Turk, who is a thousand times wiser and more pious than
our princes. What success can such fools, who rebel
against Christ and despise his word, hope in the war
against the Turks .^"t

This warning was directed against the decree of the
Diet, which, alarmed by the menacing attitude of the
sublime Porte, *' had demanded and voted subsidies for the
war against the Turks. The Catholics contributed, the
Protestants refused ; but the contributions of the Catho-
lics were not sufficient to arrest the progress of Soliman.
At the head of two hundred thousand men, he advanced
into Hungary, and on the 26th of September, 1529, he
was about to plant his ladders against the walls of Vienna.

* " Praeiiari adversus Turcas est repugnare Deo." Assertio arlicu-
lorum per Leonem damnatorum. 0pp. Lutheri, torn, ii, p. 3. Audin,
p. 174.

t Luther Werke, ch. xv, p. 2, 712. Adolph Menzel, torn, i, p. 155
seq. Apud Audin, p. 2S6. See also Cochlasus in Acta Lutheri, folio
116.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON CIVILIZATION. 371

This cowardly abandonment of their brethren is an inef-
faceable stain on the Protestant party. At the approacli
of the enemy, who threatened the cross of Christ, all dis-
union should have ceased. The countfy was in danger;
the Christian name was on the point of being blotted out
from Germany; and Islamism would have triumphed, had
there not been brave hearts behind the walls which the
treachery of their brethren had laid bare. Honor then to
those valiant chiefs, Philip Count Palatine, Nicholas von
Salm, William von Regendorf, and that population of
aged men, of women, and of children, who, although suf-
fering from famine, sickness and pestilence — for all seemed
united to overwhelm them — did not despair, but drove
back to Constantinople the army of Soliman. After God,
they owed their success to their valor; for the Emperor,
the empire, and the princes had abandoned them. Luther
had cried aloud * peace to the Turks ;' and his voice was
more powerful than the cry of their weeping country, and
of the cross of Christ. The reader must judge between
the reformed and the Catholics, and say, in what veins
Christian blood flowed."*

Subsequently indeed, when the danger was passed, and
Luther had little to apprehend from the Emperor or the
Catholic party, he retracted his wild paradoxes, and ceased
to be the apologist of the Turks. But who thanked him
for this tardy and compulsory advocacy of European inde-
pendence against Turkish invasion ^ All that it demon-
strated was his own utter inconsistency in the whole
affair, in which he did but act out his general character, —
as a mere creature of impulse and of passion.

Erasmus thus twits the Protestant party on their con-
duct in the matter : " But you seem to forget that you re-
fused to give Charles V, and Ferdinand, the subsidies ne-
cessary for the war against the Turks, according to the
doctrine of Luther, who now however condescends to re-

* Audin, p. 289, 290.

372 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

tract ! Have not the gospellers advanced tlie startling
proposition, ' that it is better to fight for the unbaptized^
than for the baptized, Turk,' that is, for the Emperor ? Is
it not truly ridiculous?"* It was something more than
" ridiculous" — which was the strongest epithet the Bata-
vian philosopher could employ — it was utterly treacher-
ous and lamentable; and if European civilization was
still saved, and European independence preserved, we
certainly owe no thanks to the reformation ! If we are
still free ; if we are not ground down by Turkish tyranny ;
if we bow to the cro^ instead of the crescent ; we owe
no gratitude for these results to the Protestant party !
Their sympathies were manifestly Mohammedan ; they
would have rejoiced at the ascendency of Islamism, pro-
vided the Pope and his adherents could have been crushed
and annihilated ! They shared in none of the laurels won
for European independence and civilization, at Lepanto,
under the walls of Vienna, in Hungary, in Poland, in Al-
bania, or at Rhodes and Malta ^ Their chivalry could not
be awakened, nor their sympathies stirred up by any such
brilliant achievements 1 And yet M. D'Aubigne gravely
assures us, that "the reformation saved religion, and
through it society ?"t Deliver us from such a *' salvation !"
We have already said something on the character of the
bloody civil wars with which the reformation desolated
Germany. We compared the multitude of devastating
armies, which it let loose on Europe, to those which had
desolated her fair provinces in the fifth and sixth centu-
ries. This parallel is not exaggerated : it is founded on
the sad records of history. In reading of the dreadfuJ
tragedies enacted in the war of the peasants and of the
Anabaptists, in the Thirty Years' War, we are forcibly
reminded of the devastations which the early northmen
left in their course. Especially does the parallel hold

* "In Pseudo-Evangelicos" Epist. 47, Lib. xxxi.— Edit, of London,
Flesher. t Vol. i, p. 67, sup. ciiai.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON CIVILIZATION. 373

good, in respect to the ravaging of Italy and Rome by the
Lutheran troops under the Constable Bourbon, referred
to above. Miinzer, Storck and Stiibner strongly remind
us of Attila, Totila, and Genseric. All were, if not *' the
scourges of God," at least, in another sense, the scourges
oj man and of society. They were all tierce wild animals
let loose for a time to devastate the blooming garden of
European civilization.

The following address ofMiinzerto his associates in
rebellion, we give as one out of the many similar speci-
mens of the infuriate vandalism of the sixteenth century.
•' Ave you then asleep, my brethren ! Come to the fight,
the fight of heroes. All Frankonia has risen up : the
Master will now show himself: the wicked shall fall. At
Fulda, in Easter week, foiir pestiferous churches were
destroyed. The peasants of Klegan have taken up arms.
Although you were but three confessors of Jesus, you
would not have to fear a hundred thousand enemies.
Draw, draw, draw — now is the time: the impious shall be
chased like dogs. No mercy for those atheists : they will
beset you ; they will blubber like children — but spare
them not. It is the command of God by Moses (v. 7). —
Draw, draw, draw— the fire burns ; let not the blood grow
cold on your sword-blades. Pink, pank, on the anvil of
Nimrod: let the towers fall under your stroke. Draw,
draw, draw — now is the day: God leads you on ; follow
Him."*

Schiller, a Protestant, has most graphically painted the
horrors of the Thirty Years' War, and the desolation
which it occasioned in Germany. The master mind of
Schlegel thus traces its effects on civilization : *' Never
was there a religious war so widely extended and so com-
plicated in its operations, so protracted in its duration,
and entailing misery on so many generations. That pe-
riod of thirty years' havoc, in which the earZy civilization,

* Luther Werke— Edit. Altenburg, iii vol. p. 134. Menzel, p. 200-2.
32

374

and the noblest energies of Germany were destroyed, forms
in history the great wall of separation between the ancient
Germany, which in the middle age was the most powerful,
flourishing, and wealthy country in Europe ; and the new
Germany of recent and happier times, which is now gradu-
ally recovering from her longexhaustion and general deso-
lation ; and is rising again into light and life from the
sepulchral darkness — the night of death, to which her
ancient disputes had consigned her."* Tt required full
two centuries for Germany to recover from the blow to
her civilization, dealt her by the ruthless reformation!
Even JM. Villers, the champion laureate of the reforma-
tion, is compelled to admit, that " the Thirty Years' War
left Germany in a sort of stupor — in a barbarism almost
total."t

From the fiicts hitherto alleged, the reader will be en-
abled to judge what was the relative influence on civiliza-
tion of early Catholicism and of the reformation. He
will also be able to gather the more immediate influence
of the latter revolution on civilization in Germany — its
cradle and first theatre of action. To estimate this influ-
ence, however, more nearly and more correctly, we must
see what was the condition of Germany in regard to civi-
lization before, and what it became immediately after, the
reformation.

Before it, a general peace reigned : the elements of
civilized life were all in a state of healthy growth and of
rapid development : every thing bade fair for a very high
state of refinement and civilization. For the development
of these, peace is as necessary, as it is for the cultivation
of letters. M. D'Aubigne himself speaks of the great
advantages to civilization of the general peace secured to
Germany in 1496, by the wise policy of the Emperor Maxi-
milian. *' For a long time," he says, *' the numerous

* "Philosophy of History," vol. ii, p. 232, American Edit,
t " Essai sur i'esprit et I'influence de la reform, de Luther," p. 274.
Apud Robelot, p. 392.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM ON CIVILIZATION. S75

members of the Germanic body had labored to disturb
each other. Nothing had been seen but confusions, quar-
rels, wars incessantly breaking out between neighbors,
cities and chiefs. Maximilian had laid a solid basis of
public order, by instituting the Imperial Chamber ap-
pointed to settle all differences between the States. The
Germans, after so many confusions and anxieties, saw a
new era of safety and repose. The condition of affairs
powerfully contributed to harmonize the public mind. It
was now possible in the cities and peaceful valleys of
Germany to seek and adopt ameliorations, which discord
might have banished.'*'*'

He continues, with not a little simpUciitj : "we may
add, that it is in the bosom of peace, that the Gospel loves
most to gain its blessed victories."! He means this of
course for the *' gospel" of Luther — but did not this same
"gospel," break in, with its accents of discord, and its
fierce spirit of feud and bloodshed, upon the general peace,
secured to Germany by a Catholic potentate, in Catholic
times ? Did it not by its truculent war-cry, mar the lovely
beauty of their peaceful scene .^ Did it not ruthlessly rend
with dissension that " public mind" which before so beau-
tifully '* harmonized ?" Did it not evoke from the abyss
that fell spirit of "discord," which "banished from the
cities and peaceful valleys of Germany," all relish for
" seeking and adopting ameliorations" in the social condi-
tion ? Did it not, for more than a century, tear and deso-
late society with civil feuds and bloody wars } And is
it not supremely ridiculous, as Erasmus says, to hear men
of sense thus uttering absurdities which they themselves
supply evidence for refuting? From the principles laid
down by M. D'Aubigne, it is intuitively evident, that the
reformation of Luther was highly injurious in its influence
on the progress of civilization.
. What have been the great results of Protestant and of

* Vol. i, p. 76, 77. t Ibid.

376 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

Catholic influence on modern civilization ? What is the
present relative social condition of Catholic and of Pro-
testant countries in Europe ? In some respects, we are
free to avow, the latter are far in advance of the former.
They have adopted with more eagerness, and carried out
with more success, what may be called the utilitarian sys-
tem, which in fact owes its origin to the reformation.
They excel in commerce and speculation, in which they
have greatly outwitted their more simple — perhaps because
more honest neighbors. They far excel in stock-jobbing,
and in all the mysteries of the *' Exchange." They sur-
pass in banking, and have issued many more notes *' pro-
mising to pay," than their neighbors : though these latter,
especially in Spain, seldom fail to pay without any ** pro-
mises" to that effect ; nor have they ever been known to
redeem' their pledges by bankruptcy or repudiation — an
easy modern method to pay old debts !

Protestant countries have also published more books on
political economy and '* the wealth of nations :" they
have also excelled in manufactures and in machinery.
But the modern utilitarian plan of conducting the latter,
in England more particularly, has contributed not a little
to empoverish and debase the lower orders of the people —
which, however, according to the doctrine of that most
fashionable theory, is not at all opposed to the ** wealth
of nations ;" for this is entirely compatible with the gen-
eral poverty of the masses !

But in enlightenment of mind, and in gentleness of
manners — in the general features and in the suavity of
social intercourse — do Protestant countries in Europe —
for we wish not here to speak of our own country, which
is not strictly Protestant — really surpass Catholic nations?
We think not. We believe the balance would rather in-
cline in favor of the latter. AVe have shown, that in
point of general learning and enlightenment. Catholic
countries compare most advantageously with those that
are Protestant. This we think we have established on

CONCLUSION.

unexceptionable Protestant authority. In point of refine-
ment and polish of manners, Catholic France is avowedlj'
in advance of all other nations. The Spanish gentleman
is perhaps the noblest and best type of elevated human
nature. The warm-hearted, courteous, and refined po-
liteness of Italy and Ireland, compares most favorably
with the coldness and the blunt selfishness of Germany
and England.

In a word, the South of Europe, which has continued
under Catholic influence, will suffer nothing by being
brought into comparison, in regard to all the features of re-
fined intercourse, with the cold, calculating North, which
has, to a great extent, embraced the doctrines of the re-
formation. Though not illumined with the new "north-
ern light" which has fitfully shone on the minds of the
Protestants, for three centuries, they are still, to say the
least, as enlightened, as polished, as refined, and as highly
civilized, as their more fortunate neighbors. The steady
old light of Catholicism, which shed its blessed rays on
their forefathers, has been luminous enough to guide their
path !

CONCLUSION.

We have now completed our task ; how well, the
public will best judge. We have examined the principal
false statements of M. D'Aubigne ; and, in doing so, we
have also glanced occasionally at his frequent inconsisten-
cies and absurdities. To have followed him in detail
throughout his tedious history — to have convicted him of
unfair or false statements on almost every page — to have
unmasked his hypocrisy and laid bare his contradictions-
would have imposed on us an almost endless labor. Yet
this would have been less difficult perhaps than the task
we have performed. For it is much easier to grapple with
32*

378 d'aubigne's history reviewed.

an adversary, page by page, and sentence by sentence ;
than to cull out from his pages, and to refute, such general
misstatements as are of most importance, and as cover the
whole ground of the controversy. The former method is
a kind of light skirmishing ; the latter is a more serious
and weighty species of warfare.

We hope that, when another cheap edition of M. D'Au-
bigne's *' history of the great reformation" will appear,
in three volumes duodecimo, this Review %i it — which
will make a volume to match — will be also republished,
as the fourth of the series. This is the highest object of
our ambition. The readers would then, at least, have an
opportunity of seeing both sides of a very important
question, involving their interests for time and eternity !

Though we have been compelled to allege strong facts
and to use plain language, yet we hope we have carefully
abstained from employing any epithets unnecessarily harsh
or offensive. God is our witness, that we have not meant
wantonly to wound the feelings of any one. Deeply as
we feel, and sincerely as we deplore, the evils of which
the reformation has been the cause — the unsettling of
faith, the numberless sects, the bitter and acrimonious
disputes, and the consequent rending of society into
warring elements — yet do we feel convinced, that all
these crying evils, which originated in a spirit of hatred
and revolt, can be healed only by the contrary principle
of love and charity.

Fain would we pour oil on the bleeding wounds of a di-
vided and lacerated Christianity. Fain would we contri-
bute our humble mite to bind up those wounds, and to
bring back that charming religious harmony which once
blessed the world. The bitter experience of three centu-
ries has proved, that a re-union among Christians cannot
be brought about, but by a return to the bosom of the
Catholic church, of those who, in an evil hour for them-
selves and for the world, strayed from its pale. It is only
in the "old paths," hallowed by the footsteps of martyrs,

CONCLUSION. 279

of saints and of virgins, that perfect peace and security
can be found. To all the lovers of unity, we would then
say in the words of God's plaintive prophet: "Thus saith
the Lord : stand ye on the ways, and see, and ask for the
old paths, which is the good way, and walk ye in it; and
you shall find refreshment to your souls."*

" Refreshment" and peace can be found no where else.
All other expedients for re-establishing religious union on
a solid basis, have been tried in vain. It is only in com-
munion with the Chair of Peter — the rock on which Christ
built His church — that Christians can be secured in unity
and peace.

" That no lambkin might wander in error benighted.

But homeward the true path may hold,
The Redeemer ordained that in one faith united.

One Shepherd shall govern the fold."

* Jeremiah vi, 16.

UNITED STATES CATHOLIC BOOKSTORE.

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES CATHOLIC IVIAGAZINE,
146 Market street, Baltimore.

JOIIM MURPHY,

Printer, Publisherj and Catholic Bookseller,

Would most respectfully inform the Kiglit Rev. Ri^hops, the Rev. Clergy, and Laity
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a BOOK STOKE ajid iiOUK 151NDKKV, which are conducted in eoni-eciion with

ONE OF THE MOST COMPtETK AND E.XTEN-IVK IM'.INIING b S TABUbllM tNTS IN THE

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bination enable him to offer inducements, pecuniary and otherwise, not attainable
under other circumstances. His facilities, in point of room and uiatenals, are such
as will enable him to execute all orders in his line in the neatest manner, al short
notice, and on the most accommodating terms. He tenOers his services to the pub-
lic under the assurance that no effort will be wantinsj on his part lo furnish such
orders as he may receive, either for Printing or Books, in a sati.-faclory manner.
Good Articles, Low Prices, and Puncti'ality may be relied on.

A GENERAL ASSORTMENT OF

School & Miscellaneous Books, Stationery, &c.

KEPT CONSTANTLY ON HAND.

LIST OF CATHOLIC BOOKS PUBLISHED AND FOR SALE AS ABOVE.

These works are all done up in good style, and will be furnished to Booksellers,
Clergymen, Religious Institutions, and Country Merchants, in quantities, at Iha
usual discount.

A REVIEW OF D'AUBIGNE'S HISTORY OF THE REFORM-
ATION IN GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND, or the Reforma-
tion in Germany examined in its Instruments, Causes, and Manner,
and its Influence on Religion, on Government, on Literature, and on
general Civilization. By M. J. Spalding, D.D. 1 vol. 12mo. cloth
stamped 75

ST. BONAVENTURE'S LIFE OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR
JESUS CHRIST, translated from the Latin. To which are added
the Devotion to the three hours' agony of our Lord on the Cross;
and the Life of the glorious St. Joseph. 1 vol. 18mo. 360 pp. full
bound in sheep 50

cloth 50

fine paper, roan - 75

TRAVELS OF AN IRISH GENTLEMAN IN SEARCH OF A
RELIGION, 1 vol. 12mo. full bound, cloth, with a neat and appro-
priate stamp 75

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE MOST REV. JOHN CAR-
ROLL, first Archbishop of Baltimore, 1 vol. 12mo. with a portrait,
full bound, cloth 1 00

A CONFERENCE ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH,
held March 1st, 1679, between James Benignus Bossuet, Bishop
of Condom (afterwards of Meaux), and John Claude, Calvinist
Minister at Charenton ; together with Reflections on a Treatise by
M. Claude, by the Bishop of Condom. First American, from the
last London edition. 1 vol. 8vo. bound in boards 60

3 LIST OF CHEAP CATHOLIC BOOKS

HISTORY OF THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF MARTIN LU-
THER, by J. M. V. AuDiN. Translated from the French. 1 vol.

8vo. full bound, sheep 2 25

LETTERS OF THE LATE BISHOP ENGLAND TO THE HON.
JOHN FORSYTH, on the subject of Domestic Slavery, to which
are prefixed, in Latin and English, copies of the Pope's Apostolical
Letter concerning the African Slave Trade. With some Introduc-
tory Remarks, &c-, by William Geo. Read, Esq. 1 vol. 8vo. fancy

paper 37

full bound, cloth 50

INSTRUCTIONS ON THE DOCTRINES, DUTIES, AND RE-
SOURCES OF THE CATHOLIC RELIGION. By Rev. Jas.

Appleton-. 12mo 75

THE BOOK OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. By

Charles Butler, Esq. 12mo. boards 50

THE FOLLOWING OF CHRIST, in four books, to which are added
Practical Reflections and a Prayer at the end of each chapter, trans-
lated from the French by the Rev. James Jones. 32mo. 520 pp.

cloth 25

on fine paper, full bound, sheep, 38

roan 50

roan, gilt 1 00

Turkey morocco, super extra gilt 2 00

RELIGIOUS CABINET lor 1842, full bound, sheep 4 00

cloth 3 75

boards 3 50

U. STATES CATHOLIC MAGAZINE, 1843, sheep 4 00

cloth 3 75

boards 3 50

CONCILIA PROVINCIALIA; Baltimori habita ab anno 1829, usque

ad annum 1841. 1 vol. 8vo. boards 1 00

The same with Concilium Provinciale Baltimorense Quintum, habitum

anno 1843, added 1 25

The same, roan, gilt 2 00

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CONCILIUM PROVINCIALE BALTIMORENSE QUINTUM,

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COMPENDIUM RITUALIS ROMANI, ad usum Dicecesum Provin-
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probante SS. D. N. Gregorio PP. XVI, editum 12mo. sheep, rolled

edges, raised bands 1 50

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Turkey morocco, super extra gilt 2 50

EXCERPTA EX RITUALI ROMANO pro administratione Sacra-
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bante SS. D. N. Gregorio PP. XVI. 1 vol. 32mo. roan 50

roan, gilt edges 75

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(The English Prayers have been added to each.)
The above works {printed by order of the Provincial Council) are sold
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sales taken into consideration. They are well printed on fine paper,
and may each be had in a variety of bindings.
THE ROSARY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN, 32mo 6

PUBLISHED AND FOR SALE BY JOHN MURPHY. S

SERMONS ON THE FOUR MARKS OF THE CHURCH, with
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SERMONS ON VARIOUS RELIGIOUS AND MORAL SUB-
JECTS. By the Rev. John Fletcher, D.D. 1 vol. 8vo 150

PASTORAL LETTER ot the Most Rev. the Archbishop of Balti-
more, and the Rt. Rev. the Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church
in the United States of America, assembled in Provincial Council in
Baltimore, May, 1843, to the Cici-gy and Laity of th(ur charge. . 12

ORATION delivered at the First Commemoration of the Landing of
the Pilgrims of Maryland, celebrated May lOth, 1842, under the aus-
pices of the Philodemic Society of Georgetown College. By Wm.
Gfo. Read, L. L. D., a member of the society 25

LECTURE ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY, and some of
the Popular Errors which are ibunded on it. Delivered before the
Calvert Institute, January 24th, 1S44. By S. Teackle VVallis,
Esq 12

FAITH, HOPE, AND CHARITY : the substance of a Sermon
preached at the dedication of the Catholic chapel at Bradford, Eng-
land, by P. A. Baines, Bishop of Siga, &.c. 16 pp. Svo 3

^I^AITBR BOOHS.

A MANUAL OF CATHOLIC MELODIES, or a Compilation of
Hymns, Anthems, Psahns, &,c., with appropriate Airs, and Devo-
tional Exercises, tor the ordinary occasions of Catholic Piety and
Worship, To which is added a Short Introduction to the Art of Sing-
ing. By Rev. James Hcerner, with the approbation of the Right
Rev. Bishop of Richmond. 464 pp. cap Svo. full bound, sheep, I

fine steel plate 1 00

rolled edges, raised bands, 2 plates 1 25

full roan, 2 plates 1 50

arabesque, gilt, with a beautiful and appropriate stamp, three

plates 2 00

Turkey, sup. extra gilt, 3 plates 2 50

This work has been strongly recommended by many of the Rt. Rev.
Bishops and Rev. Clergy, the Leaders of Choirs, Proltssors of Music,
and the Catholic Press generally, as being peculiarly well adapted to
the wants of the Catholics of this country. And, as to cheapness, we
have no hesitation in saying that it is by far ike cheapest work yet of-
fered to the Catholics of the United States.

DAILY EXERCISES : a very neat little miniature Prayer Book, con-
sisting of the Holy Mass and Vespers, with Morning and Evening

Prayers. To which is added a selection of Hymns. 48mo 25

roan 38

" gilt edges 50

" " " tucks 75

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A MANUAL OF CATHOLIC DEVOTIONS, throughout the eccle-
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Roan, plates .' 75

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day in the week, &c. 416 j)p. super royal 32mo. sheep 62

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4 LIST OF CHEAP CATHOLIC BOOKS

THE CHRISTIAN SACRIFICE ILLUSTRATED: Being a com-
plete Manual of Instructions and Devotions for hearing Mass, with
the Evening office of the Church, in Latin and English, and a selec-
tion of pious Hymns. Also, the Gospels for the Sundays and Festi-
vals of Obligation throughout the year. o2mo. full sheep, rolled

edges 38

Fine paper, roan 50

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This highly useful little book contains, in addition to a highly finished
frontispiece and illuminated title page, thirty-six fine engravings, illus-
trating the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, with devotions suited to each of
the various classes who devoutly assist thereat: with ample instructions
on the nature and dignity of the sacrifice for the young and uninformed.
It also contains the ordinary of the Mass, in Latin and English, the
Gospels, the Vespers, and a collection of appropriate hymns. It is one
of the most useful and appropriate books for the young and uninstructed.
THE CHRISTIAN'S GUIDE TO HEAVEN, or a Manual of Spi-
ritual Exercises for the use of Catholics 25

Roan, plates 38

" fine paper , 50

" gilt edges 75

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THE URSULINE MANUAL, or a Collection of Prayers, Spiritual
Exercises, &:c., interspersed with the various instructions necessary
for forming youth to the practice of solid Piety. 18mo. sheep, em-
bellished with beautiful steel engravings 75

rolled edges, raised bands 1 00

roan, gilt edges, 7 plates 1 50

Turkey morocco, gilt, 8 plates 2 00

" " super extra gilt, 8 plates 2 50

FLOWERS OF PIETY, selected from approved sources and adapted
for general use. Embellished with beautiful steel engravings, 48mo.

sheep 37

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WARD'S TREE OF LIFE, or the Church of Christ. This
beautiful Ecclesiastical Chart, presenting at one view a complete his-
tory of the Church from its first establishment down to the present
period. The succession of the Popes — the Ages in which the most
distinguished Writers flourished — Saints, and eminent Catholics, orna-
mented the Church — in which the several Councils were held, and
Conversion of Nations took place — in which the various Schisms and
Heresies broke out — together with the names of those who were cutoff,
or fell from the Church. The whole embracing a complete epitome of
Church History, elegantly executed in fine line engraving, on a large
sheet, twenty-five by forty inches, handsomely colored, varnished and
mounted, making at once an appropriate ornament for the Church,
Parlor or Library, is sold at the low price of ^4 per copy.

A liberal discount made to dealers.
PORTRAIT OF THE RIGHT REV. DR. ENGLAND, a beauti-
ful Mezzotint Engraving, by Sartain 25

PUBLISHED AND FOR SALE BY JOHN MURPHY. 5

PORTRAIT OF ARCHBISHOP CARROLL, a very fine Mezzotint,
by Sartain 25

PORTRAIT OF MOTHER SETON, Foundress, and first Mother of
the community of the Sisters of Chanty, in St. Joseph's Valley, near
Emmittsburg, Maryland. (Mezzotint and Line Engraving com-
bined,) by Tucker 25

PORTRAIT OF ARCHBISHOP NEALE 25

THE LORD'S PRATER, beautifully illustrated *..... 25

THZS CABXBTXST IiXSRARlTg

This highly interesting series of Moral Tales, (translated from the
French,) intended for the amusement and edification of the young,
is printed in the^neatest, and most attractive form ; each tale is embel-
lished with a plate, illuminated title pa^e, ornamented chapter heads,
&c. The numerous testimonials in their favor, from the Rev. clergy
and the Catholic press throughout the country, are the best evidence of
their utility. A No. of the Library appears every two or three months.

They are bound in a uniform and beautiful style, in embossed cloth,
gilt edges 38

Plain cloth 25

List of Works published in the Cabinet Library.

These will be followed in regular succession, by other works of
similar character.
No. 1. MARIA, OR Confidence in God, ultimately rewarded.
No. 2. THE WOODEN CROSS, by C. Schmid.
No. 3. THE LILY OF THE VALLEY.
No. 4. THE SOUVENIR AND OTHER TALES.
No. 5. THE GARLAND OF HOPS.
No. 6. PRASCOVIA, or Filial Piety.
No. 7. LORENZO, or the Empire of Religion (in press.)

NEW AND CHEAP WORKS IN PRESS.

To appear early in June.

, A NEW PRAYER AND HYMN BOOK, /or the use of Catholic
Sunday Schools throughout the United Slates. This little work, com-
piled by a competent clergyman, will contain Morning and Evening
Prayers, Short Prayers at Mass, with 36 fine Engravings, illustrating
the holy sacrifice ; Instructions and Devotions for Confession, Com-
munion, and Confirmation ; also, the Vespers, and a suitable collection
of Pious Hymns. Price 18| cts. or $12 50 per hundred.

A MANUAL OF CATHOLIC MELODIES, HYMNS, PSALMS,
&c., abridged for the use of Schools, &c. This work will contain a
choice selection fmm the» Devotions and Melodies of the original work,
particularly adapted to the use ot young persons, on the various occa-
sions when they may be called to the performance of their spiritual
duties, or to the entertaining exercises of sacred chant.

Ocf^These works will be issued, with all possible despatch, and will
be sold at very low prices.

Clergymen, Teachers, Sunday School Societies, Pious Confraterni-
ties, and others, desirous of encouraging the publication of these useful
works, will have the kindness to forward their orders at their earliest
convenience.
53

6 LIST OF CHEAP CATHOLIC BOOKS

New Works, preparing for immediate Publication.

A MANUAL OF CATHOLIC MELODIES, HYMNS, PSALMS,
&,c., containing Devotional Exercises lor ordinary occasions, so ar-
ranged as to answer the purposes of Catholic piety and worship.

A NEW CATHOLIC PRAYER BOOK.— This work will be com-
prised in a neat32mo. volume of upwards of 500 pages, and will contain
all the Prayers, and De\'otions, used by Catholics generally. — Neither
pains nor expense will be spared to make this the most comprehensive,
as well as the cheapest Prayer Book that has yet been oliered to the
Catholics of this country.

mSCELLABJEOUS WORKS.

BURNAP'S LECTURES TO YOUNG MEN, on the Cultivation of
the mind, the Formation of Character, and the Conduct of Life. Se-
cond edition, revised and enlarged. 1 vol. 12mo. muslin stamped 75

BURNAP'S LECTURES on the Sphere and Duties of Woman and
other subjects. 1 vol. 12mo. muslin stamped 1 00

BIBLE QUADRUPEDS: The Natural History of the animals men-
tioned in Scripture, illustrated with 16 splendid Engravings. 16mo.
fancy paper d'S

cloth 75

" gilt 1 00

A SERIES OF SELECT AND ORIGINAL MODERN DESIGNS
FOR DWELLING HOUSES, for the use of Carpenters and Build-
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A NEW AND CONCISE METHOD OF HAND-RAILING, upon
correct principles : simplified to the capacity of every practical
Carpenter ; also, a full development of the Cylindric Sections, as
applied to Niches, Groins, Domes, and the most intricate parts of
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CABINET MAKERS' ASSISTANT : Embracing tl>€ most modern
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By J. Hall, Architect and Draftsman. 1 vol. 8vo 3 00

THE AMERICAN MUSEUM, of Science and Literature and the

Arts ; A Monthly Magazine, 504 pages octavo, of choice original

and selected articles, from some of the best authors, vol. 1, 1838.3 00

" " " " " « vol. 2, 1839.3 00

THE MARYLAND MEDICAL AND SURGICAL JOURNAL,
and Official Organ of the Medical Department of the Army and
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vol. 2, 1840-41 3 00

THE GENTLEMAN'S POCKET FARRIER 12

^^^^^^^ Lii<s;>c2>i:KS.^,

The Diverting History of JOHN GILPIN, with six fine Illustrations
by Cruikshanks 6

A Large Assortment of COPPERPLATE TOY BOOKS, compris-
ing about thirty diiferent kinds, which will be sold at about one-half
the usual prices.

PUBLISHED AND FOR SALE BY JOHN MURPHY. 7

SPANISH SCHOOL BOOKS.

SILABARIO CASTELLANO, para el U?o de Los NINOS, bajo un
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Urbanidad, Moral, v Relii^ion. — Fancy paper 25

SILABARIO CASTELLANO, para cl Uso de las NINAS, bajo un
Nuevo Plan, Util y A£z;rHdable ; reuniendo la Ensenanzade las Letras,
Urbanidad, Moral, y Religion.— Fancy paper , 25

NEW LAW BOOK, IN PRESS.

EXECUTORS, ADMINISTRATORS, AND GUARDIANS; or,
a Digest of all the Cases in the Maryland Reports, on Appeal
from the Orphan's Courts, and of the Cases on Appeal from the
County Courts, on the Official Bonds of Executors, Admin-
istrators, and Guardians: with an Appendix, containing a
Synopsis of the Acts of Assembly, &c. By James Raymond, of
the Maryland Bar. This work will be comprised in about 300 pages,
octavo ; it will be well printed on fine paper, bound in the usual

style. Price 3 00

*^* Should this experiment meet with sufHcient encouragement, it

will probably be continued, until the profession are furnished with an

entire Digest of the Maryland Reports.

UNITED STATES CATHOLIC IflAGAZINE

AND MONTHLY REVIEW.

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Right Rev. Bishop of Richmond ; and published with the appro-
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The Subscription is Three Dollars per year, payable inva-
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GENERAL AGENTS.— Liverpool— Booker 8c Co., 37 Ranclagh
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In addition to the foregoing, all the CATHOLIC BOOKS published
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nished at publishers' prices.

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ORDERS from the Country, promptly attended to.

8 LIST OF CHEAP CATHOLIC BOOKS

A GOLDEN TREATISE ON MENTAL PRAYER, ISmo. cl. 50

ALETHEIA, or Letters on the Truth of Catholic Doctrines. By Rev.
C. C. Pise. 12mo. muslin 1 00

ALTON PARK, or Conversations on Religious and Moral Subjects.
12mo, muslin 75

ANGELICAL VIRTUE, or a Treatise on Holy Purity. 32rao. 25

ANGLICAN ORDINATIONS EXAMINED. By Rev. P. R. Ken-
rick. 12mo. muslin 75

ANCIENT AND MODERN MUSIC, selected for the use of the
Catholic Church, consisting of Litanies, Masses, &c. &c. By J.
Walter 4 50

ABSTRACT OF THE HISTORY OF THE OLD AND NEW
TESTAMENTS. By the Ridit Rev. Dr. Challoner. 18mo. 50

ABRIDGMENT OF THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE, with Proofs
of Scripture on points controverted, by w^ay of question and answer.
By Rev. H.Tuberville, of the English College of Doway. ISmo. 25

AMICABLE DISCUSSION on the Church of England, and on the
Reformation in general. 2 vols. 12mo. muslin 1 75

ANSWER to the Rev. G. S. Faber's Ditficulties of Romanism. 12mo.
muslin 75

ABRIDGMENT OF THE INTERIOR SPIRIT of the Religious of
the Visitation of the B. V. M 25

AMENDMENT, or Charles Grant and his Sister. ISmo. cloth. . 37

APOLOGY for the Order of St. Dominic. By the Abbe H. Lacor-
daire. ISmo. half bound 37

ARBITRARY POWER — Popery, Protestantism; as contained in
Nos. 15, IS, 19 of the Dublin Review. 12mo. muslin 75

AUTHENTIC REPORT of the Controversial Discussion between
Rev. R. T. Pope and Rev. T. Maguire, 12mo. bd 75

ANTONIO ; Or, the Orphan of Florence. Translated from the
French 25

BOSSUET'S VARIATIONS of the Protestant Churches. 2 vols.
12mo. sheep 2 50

BEAUTIES OF MORE : Sequel to his Life and Times. ISmo.
muslin 75

BERTHA ; Or, the Screen ; The Watchman ; and Young Henry,
the Stolen Child 25

BUTLER'S CATECHISM 6

CARE W'S ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY of Ireland, Svo.bd. 2 00

COBBETT'S REFORMATION, 2 vols, in one, bound in sheep, com-
plete edition 75

12mo. sheep 50

12mo. paper 30

CATHOLIC MANUAL, containing a selection of prayers and devo-
tional exercises, with four handsome engravings. ISmo. bound.. 87

CATHOLIC PRIMER, for the use of children 6

CATECHISM OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT. 8vo. bound. .1 50

CHRISTIANITY, or the Evidences and Characters of the Christian
Religion. By Bishop Poynter. V. A. L. 12mo. muslin 75

CHRISTIAN iPERFECTION, from Rodriguez and others. By Rev.
E. Dainphoux, D. D. Rector of the Cathedral. 2d edition, revised
and enlarged. 12mo. muslin 1 00

CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL REVIEW OF FOX'S BOOK
OF MARTYRS. By W. E. Andrews. Embellished with 50 en-
gravings. 2 vols. 8vo. bound 4 00

FOR SAT.F. BY JOHN MURPHV. 9

CAROLINE HENSON, or the Pious Orphan Girl. ISmo.halfbd. 13

CATHOLIC CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTED. l8mo. sheep 50

CONFUTATON of the Church of Englandism, and Correct Exposi-
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CHRISTIAN'S GUIDE TO HEAVEN. -32010. sheep 25

" " " " roan, fine plates. 50

" gilt 75

CONFIDENCE IN THE MERCY OF GOD. 12mo. sheep.. . 75

COCHIN ON THE MASS. T2mo. sheep 1 00

CEREMONIES OF LOW MASS, according to the Rubrics of the

Missal, Decrees of the Popes, &,c. &c. 8 vo. stitched 25

CHAPEL COMPANION ; containing Pious Devotions at Mass, &c.

&,c. 32mo. sheep 25

CHRISTIAN at the Foot of the Cross 12

CATHOLIC SCHOOL BOOK, containing easy and familiar lessons

for instruction of youth of both sexes. ISmo. half bound 15

CATHOLIC DOCTRINE of Justification explained. By Rt. Rev.

Dr. Kenrick. 12mo. muslin 75

CONTROVERSY between Rev. Messrs. Hughes and Breckinridge on
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New edition, 8vo. bound 1 25

CONSIDERATIONS upon Christian Truths and Christian Duties, di-
gested into meditations for every day in the year. By Right Rev.

Dr. Chailoner. 2 vols. 12mo. bound 1 50

DEVOUT CHRISTIAN Instructed in the Faith of Christ from the

written Word. By the Rt. Rev. Geo. Hay. 2 vols. 12mo. sh.. .1 50

DEBATE on the Roman Catholic Religion, between A. Campbell and

Rt. Rev. John Purcell, Bishop of Cincinnati. 8vo. muslin 1 50

DEVOTIONS OF CALVARY, or Meditations on the Passion of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. From the French of Father J. Cras-

set. S. J. 18mo. hound 44

DOWAY BIBLE, Haydock's folio 30 00

" " 8vo. Cummiskey's edition 2 25

" " Med. 4to. Lucas' edition 5 00

«< " 12mo. suitable for missionaries 150

«< " 4to. Saddlier's ed. in 16 numbers, splendid En-
gravings, complete 4 00

«« «« " " " with Ward's Errata of the

Protestant Bible added 4 50

It may be had in every variety of splendid binding.

« "' 8vo. Dungan's ed., plates 2 50

It may be had in every variety of fine binding from $S 50 to $7 50
DEFENCE OF CATHOLIC PRINCIPLES. By Rev. D. A. Gal-

litzin. ISmo. muslin 50

DICTIONARY OF ALL RELIGIONS, or the Wanderings of the

Human Intellect. By the Rev. John Bell. 8vo. bound 125

ELEVATION of the Soul to God by Means of Spiritual Considera-
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EPISTLES AND GOSPELS for the Sundays and principal Festivals
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Christian Doctrine, for the use of the Diocess of Boston. 18mo.

bound 50

ERRATA OF THE PROTESTANT BIBLE, or the Truth of the

English Translation Examined. 8vo. bound 1 25

EXTRACTS FROM EARLY LESSONS. Cloth 37

33*

10 LIST OF CHEAP CATHOLIC HOOKS

EXPLANATION of the Sacraments, and some other practices of the
Catholic Church. By Kev. E. Glover. ISmo. bound 60

EXPLANATION of the Prayers and Ceremonies of the Holy Sacri-
fice of Mass, in a series of familiar discourses. ISmo. bound. . . 50

EXPLANATION OF THE CONSTRUCTION, furniture and orna-
ments of a church, of the vestments of the clergy, and of the nature
and ceremonies of the Mass. By the Right Rev. John England, D.
D. Bishop of Charleston, S.C. 12mo 75

EUSTACHIUS : An Episode of the First Ages of Christianity. By
C. Schmid. Translated from the French 25

EXPOSITION of the Doctrine of the Catholic Church in matters of
controversy. By the Right Rev. James B. Bossuet, D. D. A new
edition, with copious notes. By the Rev. John Fletcher, D. D. 18mo.
bound 50

Another edition w^ithout notes. 32mo 25

ENGLAND'S REFORMATION, in four Dialogues. 18mo. sh.. 75

FORM OF CONSECRATION of a Bishop of the Roman Catholic
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FATHER OSWALD, a genuine Catholic story. 12mo. bd 75

FAMILIAR INSTRUCTIONS in the Faith and Morality of the Ca-
tholic Church, adapted to the use of both children and adults. 18mo.
bound 37

FOUR MAXIMS of Christian Philosophy, drawn from four consid-
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FIFTY REASONS why the Roman Catholic Apostolic Religion
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ISmo. bound 25

FAITH OF CATHOLICS, on certain points of controversy, confirmed
by Scripture, and attested by the Fathers of the first five centuries of
the church. Compiled by Rev. Joseph Barrington and Rev. John
Kirk. 12mo. muslin 100

FATHER ROWLAND, a North American tale. ISmo. muslin.. 50

FERDINANDA; Or, the Countess of Hennance ; The Glass of
Water. Translated from the French 25

FLOWERS OF HEAVEN; or the Examples of Saints, proposed to
the imitation of Christians. Translated from the French of the Abbe
Orsini. 12mo. muslin 1 00

GENERAL HISTORY OF EUROPE, from the beginning of the
sixteenth century to the peace of Paris in 1815, with addenda, bring-
ing the history down to 1840. Revised. 12mo 1 00

GENERAL HISTORY of the Christian Church, chiefly deduced
from the Apocalypse of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist. By
Sig. Pastorini. 12mo. bound 1 00

GERALDINE, a Tale of Conscience. By E. C. Agnew, a convert.
3 vols. 12mo. muslin 2 25

GLORIES OF MARY, Mother of God ; containing a beautiful Para-
phrase on the " Salve Regina," translated from the Italian of Li-
guori ; with an Appendix — Origin of the Scapular. 32mo. mus. 50

GROUNDS OF THE CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. ISmo. bd... 25

GARDEN OF THE SOUL. ISmo. sheep 75

" " " " roan, gilt 150

" " " « Turkey, sup. ext 2 .50

GENEVIEVE, a Tale of Antiquity, showing the wonderful ways of
Providence in the protection of Innocence. From the German of
Schmid 25

FOR SALE BY JOHN AlUKI'HY. U

HISTORY OF THE CHURCH from its establihhmont to t!ie Re-
formation. By the Rev. C. C Pise. 5 vols. 8vo. sliecp 7 50

HISTORY OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. From
the French, By J. Reeve. 1 vol. 8vo. bound 1 00

HORNIHOLD'S 20 DISCOURSES ON THE SACRxVMENTS.
l2mo. bound 1 00

HORNIHOLD'S 32 DISCOURSES ON THE COMMANDMENTS.
12mo. bound 1 00

HOHENLOE'S PRAYER BOOK, translated from the German. iSmo.
sheep 75

HENRY AND MARY; or, Confidence in God. our only support in
the hour of tribulation. Translated from the French 25

HAPPY FAMILY, a Tale of Youth. ISmo 37

HOLY HOUSE OF LORE T TO, or an Explanation of the Histori-
cal Evidence of its Miraculous Translation. By the Right Rev. P.
R. Kenricic, 12ino. muslin 75

IMPUTATION— an Inquiry into the Merits of the Reformed Doc-
trine of " Imputation," as contrasted v/ith those of " Catholic Im-
putation." By Vanburo;h Livingston, Esq. 12mo, muslin 75

INSTRUCTION OF YOUTH in Christian Piety. By Charles Go-
binett, Esq. 12mo. sheep 1 25

INDIAN COTTAGE, an Unitarian Story. By the author of Father
Rowland. ISrno. muslin 50

JUVENILE SPORTS. ISmo. cloth, colored plates 50

KEY OF HEAVEN, or a Manual of Prayer; to which are now added
many Prayers not in any former edition. 32mo. bd 50

Another edition 38

Each of these editions may be had in every variety of plain and fancy-
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LETTERS ON RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS, between a Dissenting
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LETTERS AND SKETCHES; with a Narrative of a Year's Resi-
dence among the Indian tribes of the Rocky Mountains. By P. J.
De Smet, S. J. 12ino. bound 1 00

LETTERS ON THE SPANISH INQUISITION. By M. Le
Compte Joseph Le Maistre. From the French. By T. J. O'Fla-
herty, S. E. C, New edition. 12mo. Biuslin 50

LESSONS FOR LENT, or Instructions for every day in the year, on
the two Sacraments of Penance and the Blessed Eucharist. 18mo.
bound 37

LECTURES on the principal Doctrines and Practices of the Catholic
Church. By Nicholas Wiseman, D.D. 2 vols. 12mo. sheep... .1 50

LIFE OF ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. ISmo. muslin 37

LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS XAVIER. l2mo. bound 1 25

LIFE OF ST. JOSEPH, with Meditations, a Novena, and other de-
votions in honor of that most illustrious patriarch. 32mo. mus. 25

LIFE OF ST. IGNATIUS, Founder of the Society of Jesus. Trans-
lated from the French. To which is prefixed a Sketch of the Insti-
tute of the Jesuits. 1 vol. r2tno 1 12

LIFE OF CARDINAL CHE VERUS, Archbishop of Bordeaux, and
formerly Bishop of Boston, Mass. 12ino. cloth 1 00

LIFE OF THE RT. REV. DR. DOYLE, compiled from authentic
^documents, by the author of " the Priesthood Vindicated." ISmo.
"bound SO

LINGARD'S Catechetical Instructions 50

12 LIST OF CHEAP CATHOLIC BOOK?

LIFE AND TIMES of Sir Thomas More, with Portrait and Auto-
graph. ISino. muslin 75

LIVES OF THE FATHERS, MARTYRS, andother principal Saints.

By the Rev. A. Butler. 12 vols. 8vo. bound 13 00

The same Edition. 6 vols. 8vo. bound 12 00

LIVES OF EMINENT SAINTS of the Oriental Desert. 12mo.

bound 75

LIVES OF NEW SAINTS, Canonized May 26th, 1S39. ISmo.

bound 50

LETTER TO A PROTESTANT FRIEND, on the Holy Scriptures.
Bv the Rev. Demetrius A. Gallitzin, — being a continuation of the

"Defence of Catholic Principles," 18mo. muslin 37

LIFE OF ST. PA 1 RICK. r2mo. bound 75

LOUISA ; or the Virtuous Villager. A Roman Catholic Tale. Trans-
lated from the French. ISmo. bound 50

LOUIS, THE LITTLE EMIGRANT, translated from the French
bv the Rev. J. V. Wiseman : and The Portmanteau, translated

from the French 25

LITTLE TESTAMENT OF JESUS, 32mo 6

LINGARD'S ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON Church.

8vo. bound ISO

LOVE OF JESUS, in the adorable Sacrament of the Altar. ISmo.

boTind 50

MANUAL OF CATHOLIC PIETY; containing a selection of Fer-
vent Prayers, Pious Reflections, &:c. &.c. By the Rev. Wm. Gahan.

32mo. bound 50

MAGUIRE AND GREGG'S DISCUSSION. Svo. bound 1 50

MILNER'S END OF CONTROVERSY. l2mo. paper 30

.< " " 12mo. sheep 50

METHOD of Conversing vi-ith God. 32mo 25

ME.MOIRS OF MISSIONARY PRil^STS, and other Cathohcs, of
both sexes, that have suffered death in England on religious accounts,
from the year 1577 to 16S4. By Bishop Challoner, V. A. L. Care-
luUy collected from the accounts of eye witnesses, cotemporary au-
thors, and manuscripts kept in English colleges and convents abroad.

1 vol. Svo. bound 1 50

MILNER'S SUMMARY'" of the History and Doctrine of the Holy

Scriptures, ISmo. bound 50

MIRx\CULOUS VIRGINS — Letter Irom the Earl of Shrewsbury to
A. 1^. Phillips, Esq., descriptive of the Estatica of Caldara, and the

Addolorata of Capriana. Stitched 31

fvlONTH OF MARY : or the Month of May, consecrated to the glory
of the Mother of God, containing a series of meditations, &.c. in
honor of the B. V. M. arranged for each day of the month. 32mo.

muslin 37

MORAL ENTERTAINMENTS, on the practical truths of the
Christian Religion. By the Rev. Robert Manning. 2 vols. 12mo.

in one 1 50

MRS. HERBERT AND THE VILLAGERS, or Family Conversa-
tions on the principal duties of Christianity. 2 vols. ISmo. raus. 1 50
MORNING AND EVENING SERVICE of the Catholic Church,
comprisino- a choice selection of Gregorian and other Masses, &c.

By R. Garbett, 4to. half bound 2 60

MORES CATHOLICI: or. Ages of Faith: by Kenelm H. Digby,
Esq. Vol. land 2. Svo 4 00

FOR SALE BY JOHN MURPHY. 13

MOST IMPORTANT TENETS of the Roman Catholic Cluirch.
By R. Baxter, S. J. 32mo. bound 25

MOVEABLE FEASTS, FASTS, and other Annual Observances of
the Catholic Chnrch. By the Rev. A. Butler, author of Lives of
Saints. 12ino. bound 1 60

NEW MONTH OF MARY. By the Rev. P. R. Kenrick. ISrao.
muslin 60

ORIGIN OF THE SCAPULAR OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN
MARY; Spirit and advantages of that devotion and duties to be per-
formed. Stitched 6

OFFICE OF THE HOLY WEEK, according to the Roman Missal
and Breviary, in Latin and English. 18mo. bound .1 00

PIOUS BIOGRAPHY for Young Ladies; or the Young Ladies' Mir-
ror. 18mo. muslin 50

POOR MAN'S CATECHISM. 12mo. full bound, sheep 75

Another edition. 18mo 25

PARABLES OF PERE BONAVENTURE GIRARDEAU, S. J.,
author of L'Evangile Medite. 18mo. muslin 37

PALESTINE, or the Holy Land, compiled from the Travels in 1806
and 1807 of F. A. D. Chateaubriand. 2 vols. ISmo. muslin 75

PIOUS GUIDE to Prayer and Devotion 75

PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST, taken from the
words of St. Paul. By St. A. M. Liguori. 24mo. muslin 50

PRACTICAL DISCOURSES on the Perfections and wonderful
Works of God, and the Divinity and wonderful Works of Jesus
Christ. By the Rev. Joseph Reeve. Svo. bound 1 50

PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS for every day throughout the year.
By the Rev. Robert Lane, enlarged and edited by the Rev. Edward
Peach, 12mo. muslin 1 00

PRIZE BOOK, or a series of instructions on some of the most im-
portant duties of youth. By the author of " Alton Park." 12mo.
muslin 75

PIOUS SODALITY OF THE MOST SACRED HEART OF JE-
SUS ; — universally propagated throughout the Christian world ; with
the approbation of the Right Rev. Dr. Kenrick. . 12

POCKET COMPANION. 32mo. bound 25

PRACTIC&OF CHRISTIAN AND RELIGIOUS PERFECTION.
By V. F. Alphonsus Rodriguez, S. J. 2 vols. Svo. bound 4 00

PRIMACY OF THE APOSTOLIC SEE and the authority of Gen-
eral Councils vindicated. By the Right Rev. Frs. P. Kenrick, D. D.
12mo. muslin 1 00

REAL PRINCIPLES OF CATHOLICS; or, a Catechism of general
Instruction for grown people. By Hornihold. 12mo. bound ... 1 00

REAL PRESENCE OF THE BODY AND BLOOD OF OUR
LORD JESUS CHRIST in the Blessed Eucharist. Proved from
Scripture, in 8 lectures. By Rev. N. Wiseman. 12mo. bound. 1 00

REASONS for becoming a ROMAN CATHOLIC. By Frederick
Lucas, Esq. stitched 25

ROMAN MISSAL, translated into the English, for the use of the
Laity. To which is prefixed a Historical Explanation of the V^est-
ments. Ceremonies, Sec, appertaining to the Holy Sacrifice of the
Mass. By the Rt. Rev. Dr. Englandj^late Bishop of Charleston. To
which is added the Vespers. Containing 846 pages, ISmo. sh. 1 25

fine paper, roan gilt edges, extra 2 25

morocco, super extra, gilt edges 3 00

|4 LIST OF CHEAP CATHOLIC BOOKS

RIVERS' MANUAL ; or, Pastoral Instructions upon the Creed, Gom-
mandments, Sacraments, Lord's Prayer, &c.&c. 12mo. bound, 1 25

RULES OF A CHRISTIAN LIFE. By the Rev. C. Premord.
2 vols. 12nao. muslin. 1 5u

RULE OF FAITH, chiefly an epitome of the Right Kev.Dr. Milner's
End pf Controversy. ISmo 20

SYIVIBOLISM, or Exposition of the Doctrinal Differences between
Catholics aiKl Protestants, as evidenced by their Symbolical Writins:?.
Bv John Adam Mohler, D.D. 8vo. cloth 2 '25

SHORTEST WAY to end Disputes about Religion. 12mo. bd.. 75

SHORT EXAMIiVATlOiV OF CONSCIENCE 12

SIX HISTORICAL LECTURES, on the origin and progress in Eng-
land, of the change of religion called the Reformation, delivered in
the Catholic Church of the Holy Trinity, Newark, England. By
Rev. J. Waterworth, M. A. 1 vol. 8vo 1 50

SINNER'S GUIDE, in two books. By the Rev. F. Lewis, of Gre-
nada. Svo. bound ] 50

SINCERE CHRISTIAN instructed in the Faith of Christ, from the
written Word. By Bishop Hay. Svo. bound 1 50

SURE WAY to find out the True Religion, in a conversation between
a Father and Son. By the Rev. T. Baddelv. ISmo. muslin. . . 25

SHORT STORIES FOR CHILDREN. 18mo. cloth 38

SIMPLE STORIES FOR LITTLE READERS. ISmo. cloth 37

SUFFERINGS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. Revised by W.
Jos. Walter. 2 vols. 12mo. bound 1 75

SERMONS of the Rt. Rev. Dr. Gallagher. Translated from the ori-
ginal Irish. 12mo. muslin 75

SHORT TREATISE ON PRAYER, adapted to all classes of Chris-
tians. By the Blessed A. M. Liguori. 32mo. muslin 37

SPIRITUAL RETREAT for eight successive days. Translated from
the French of Bourdaloue. By the Rev. William Gahan, O. S. A.
ISmo. bound 75

SPIRIT OF RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY. By the Rev. John
Fletcher, D.D. ISmo. bound 75

ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM. l8mo. muslin 50

SPIRIT OF BLESSED ALPHONSUS DE LIGUORI, being a se-
lection from his shorter Spiritual Treatises. Translated from the
Italian by the Rev. James Jones. Preceded by a Memoir of the
holy author. 24mo. muslin 50

ST. JOSEPH'S MANUAL, or Catholic Guide during the Morning
and Evening Service of the Church. By ihe Rev. E. Damphoux,

D.D. 1 vol. sup. royal S2mo " 62

It mav be had in a varietv of fine bindings.

SPIRITUAL CONSOLATION, or 'a Treatise on Interior Peace.
By the authoress of the Ursuline Manual. 18mo. bd 75

THE PROTESTING CHRISTIAN, standing before the judgment
seat of Christ. Stitched •... 12

THE TWO SCHOOLS, a Moral Tale. By Mrs. Hughs. A new
edition, 12mo. muslin 75

TRACTS on several subjects connected with the civil and religious
principles of Catholics. By. J. Lingard, D. D. 1 vol. 12mo. mus-
lin 1 00

THINK WELL ON'T. 32mo. sheep 25

THE PROTESTANT'S TRIAL in Controversial Points of Faith by
Jhe Written Word. ISmo. cloth 30

FOR SALE BY JOHN MURrHV, 15

THE NIGHTINGALE, or Virtuous ConHuct Rewarded ; and the
Christian Family, or Tiiuinph of Constancy in the Faith. Trans-
lated from the French 25

THE LADY IN BLACK; Thk Strawberries; Rosamond.
Translated from the French 25

THE BASKET OF FLOWERS, Translated from the French, by Uie
Rev. J. V. Wiseman 25

THE LITTLE THATCHED COTTAGE. Translated from the
French , . . , 25

THE FIRST BOOK OF READING LESSONS, compiled by the
Brothers of the Christian Schools '. (^

THE SECOND BOOK OF READING LESSONS, compiled by the
same, and revised 12

THE THIRD BOOK OF READING LESSONS, compiled by the
same, revised, with a supplement. 12mo. sheep and half binding y<>

TREATISE on the Diderence between Temporal and Eternal. 8vo-
bound 1 50

TREATISE ON BAPTISM ; to which is added, a Treatise on Con-
firmation. By Rt. Rev. F. P. Kenrick, Bishop of Philadelphia. 12mo.
muslin 75

THE LITTLE GARDEN of Roses and Valley of Lilies. By Thomas
a Kempis. 32mo. cloth :jS

THE DEVOUT CHRISTIAN'S VADE MECUM, being a Sum-
mary of Select and Necessary Devotions. 32mo 25

It may be had in various fancy bindings.

THE TOUCHSTONE of the New Religion. 32mo. cloth :>5

THE TRUE CHURCH Indicated to the Inquirer, a brief Tract for
circulation. By the Rev. J. McGill. 32mo. cloth 31

VISIT TO ROME ; by the Rev. Father Baron Geramb, Abbot and
Procurator of La Trappe. 1 vol. 12mo. Muslin 75

VILLAGE EVENINGS, or Conversations on the principal points of
Morality. From the French. ISmo-. muslin 50

VISITS to the Blessed Sacrament and to the Blessed Virgin, for eveiy
day in the month. By the Blessed A. M. Liguorr. 32mo. bd.. 5t>

WAY OF SALVATION— Meditations tor every day in the year.
Tranf^lated from the Italian of the Blessed Alphonsus Liguori. 1 vol.
12mo. muslin 1 00

WAY OF THE CROSS. 18mo. muslin 25

YOUTH'S COMPANION to the Sanctuary. 18mo. bound .^0

YOUNG COMMUNICANTS. By the authoress of Geraldine. ISmo,
half bound - 25

YOUTH'S DIRECTOR, or Familiar Listructions for Young People,
which will be found usetid also to persons of every age, sex, and con-
dition in life. 24mo. muslin 50

0C|» ALL NEW CATHOLIC BOOKS are received as soon a*
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^^ J. M. would respectfully inform the public that, in addition to
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