'^^m^ 
 
 SHORT HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE REFORMATION 
 
 JOHN F. HURST, D.D. 
 

 BR 305 .H87 1884 
 Hurst, J. F. 1834-1903 
 Short history of the 
 reformation 
 
/ 
 
 ^/.i: 
 
SHORT HISTOl^ , lo i96^ ^ 
 
 THE REFORMATION ] 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN F. HUKSi; D.D. 
 
 WIl'H ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 SEAL OP MARTIN LUTHER 
 
 NEW YORK 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIX SQUARE 
 
 1884 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the j'ear 1884, by 
 
 Harper k Brothers, 
 In tlie Oflicc of tlic Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CUAP. PAQB 
 
 I. The Heralds of Protestantism 1 
 
 II. The Humanism op Italy 17 
 
 III. The Reformatory Councils 23 
 
 IV. The German Reformation : Martin Luther, 
 
 FROM his Birth to the Retirement in the 
 
 Wartburg Castle.— 1483-1520 27 
 
 V. Luther: Further Labors and Personal Char- 
 acter.— 1520-1546 37 
 
 VI. Melanchthon and other German Reformers 45 
 
 VII. The Reformation in German Switzerland . 51 
 
 VIII. The Reformation in French Switzerland . 56 
 IX. The English Reformation. — First Period, 
 
 1509-1553 67 
 
 X. The English Reformation. — Second Period, 
 
 1553-1603 76 
 
 XL The Scotch Reformation 81 
 
 XII. The Reformation in the Netherlands. . . 85 
 
 XIII. The Reformation in France 90 
 
 XIV. The Reformation in Italy 96 
 
 XV. The Reformation in Spain and Portugal . 103 
 
 XVI. The Reformation in Scandinavia 107 
 
 XVII. The Reformation in the Slavic Lands. . . 109 
 
 XVIII. Survey op Results 112 
 
 XIX. The 400th Anniversary op Luther's Birth . 116 
 
 INDEX 119 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Portrait of Luther Frontispiece, 
 
 Map of CeinTRAL Europe To face page 1 
 
 Castle of Wartburg . "35 
 
 Portrait of Calvin . . "63 
 
SHORT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 Chapter I. 
 
 THE HERALDS OF PROTESTANTISM. 
 
 1. The Reformation, like all great historical move- 
 ments, was of slow and unattractive development. 
 Long in coming into notice, it was equally long in 
 finding its champions. The cause was waiting for its 
 men, and when the need was supreme they appeared, 
 with heroic spirit, great organizing genius, and amaz- 
 ing power of endurance. Protestantism was an oak 
 of young and vigorous growth in the first quarter 
 of the 16th century, but its roots lay deep in the soil 
 of the 14th. The Reformation possessed two charac- 
 teristics — one national, with all the individuality that 
 might be expected of race and land ; the other cosmo- 
 politan, having general fibre and color, always the 
 same, whatever the country or people, from Norway 
 to the Alps, and from Transylvania to the Bay of 
 Biscay. The Reformation has proved to be the chief 
 turning-point in modern history. It is that great re- 
 ligious and intellectual revolution which marks the 
 boundary -line between the Middle Ages and the Mod- 
 ern Period. The call for regeneration was deep and 
 loud. Superstition had become interwoven with the 
 pure doctrine of the Gospel. The morals of the cler- 
 
 1 
 
2 SHORT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 gy, from the papacy clown to the humblest monks, 
 had become corrupt. The highest ecclesiastical offices 
 were reached by vicious means. The common people 
 were purposely kept in ignorance. Against these evils, 
 ruinous at once to intellect and soul, the Reformers 
 made their bold protest, and called upon the people to 
 rally to their standard. Their aim was, at first, a puri- 
 fication of the Church within itself, and by its own 
 servants. This proved a total failure. The next step 
 was to withdraw from the fold, and establish an inde- 
 pendent confession and a separate ecclesiastical struct- 
 ure. This succeeded ; and the result is that vast and 
 aggressive sisterhood of Protestant churches which 
 exists to-day in all the advanced countries of the 
 world. 
 
 2. The Pioneers of Reform in religious life and doc- 
 trine were obscure, and some of the very names have 
 not become known to history. But their work was 
 heroically performed. Protestantism, when it emerged 
 from its seclusion, and became a thing of the noonday, 
 had the great benefit of a slowly-laid and solid basis. 
 But not all the predecessors of the successful reformers 
 of the 16th century w^ere unknown men. Some of 
 them, a few in each country which took its place in 
 the community of Protestant nations, have become fa- 
 miliar names, and belong in the same front line with 
 the Reformers themselves. It is not difficult to ac- 
 count for the failure of those first workers for the re- 
 ligious regeneration of Europe. More than one gen- 
 eration is always needed to achieve a moral revolution. 
 A work that shall last for the ages requires a larger 
 and longer sacrifice than a few calm toilers through a 
 few decades. The heralds of the Reformation trod in 
 new paths. They labored steadily on, without a single 
 
THE HEEALDS OF PROTESTANTISM. 3 
 
 encouraging precedent, and ran the constant risk of los- 
 ing their heads. An archbishop's voice could silence 
 behind the bolted doors of the London Tower the loud- 
 est protesting voice in Britain, while the mere roll-call 
 of the Council of Constance could hasten even Huss to 
 the stake. When the real Reformers came upon the 
 scene of action, especially in Germany, the risk of los- 
 ing life was not so great. Charles V. aped towards 
 the Protestants the charity of Julian the Apostate 
 towards all the faiths of the later Roman Empire. 
 Hence, while Charles V. was Emperor of Germany, he 
 openly favored moderate measures towards the Prot- 
 estants ; that is to say, all repressive methods must 
 be adopted except death itself. 
 
 In Holland, however, Charles V. dealt out death with 
 merciless hand. In his commands to his son, Philip II., 
 in whose favor he abdicated, he urged him to spare no 
 pains to uproot the new heresy. But there was a dif- 
 ference between his relation to Germany and to Holland. 
 Of the former he was only emperor by election. Each 
 country had its separate ruler, and the civil relations 
 were in charge of the rightful princes. But Charles V. 
 was king over the Netherlands, having received that 
 country by inheritance. Therefore, when the Dutch re- 
 belled against the civil authorities, and declared them- 
 selves Protestants and republicans, it was a revolution 
 against his personal authority. He, accordingly, put to 
 death the Protestants of that country without the least 
 hesitation, while in Germany he never went so far as 
 to claim such rights. In England the condition was 
 still more encouraging for Protestants. Henry VIII. 
 not only professed their faith, but protected his sub- 
 jects against all interference on the part of the priest- 
 hood and the management of the pope. In sharp con- 
 
4 SHORT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 trast with this general improvement in personal safety, 
 during the progress of the Reformation, was that pre- 
 vious insecurity. The herald of reform was not safe 
 an hour. He had no protector. The shedding of blood 
 for a slight offence, especially against the Church, was 
 an easy thing to bring about. The secret methods 
 of silencing honest speech had long since grown into 
 a fine art. 
 
 3. The Unity of the Herald and his Successor. The 
 two kinds of Reformers were happily blended in the 
 foreground of the Protestant picture. The herald who 
 cried " in the wilderness " was a fit companion of him 
 whose coming he proclaimed. The former, because 
 silenced for the moment, appeared to fail. But he tri- 
 umphed, in reality, for to insure success, through any 
 brand, is the highest success. Victory is not a matter 
 of personality, but of principles and ages. The her- 
 alds of Protestantism taught their successors, by their 
 own experience, what dangers to avoid, and what were 
 the true forces of success. Luthei:^ for example, in the 
 most delicate and difficult part of his entire career — 
 his relation with the princes of Saxony — learned from 
 the indiscretion of Savonarola, in his dealing with the 
 Medici and the temporal government of Florence, that 
 the Reformer is never fully master of himself, and can 
 never be the finally successful leader, unless he hold 
 severely aloof from all political management, and con- 
 fine his labors to the one work of religious reform. 
 Luther saw that the moment the Reformer turns aside 
 from his work he is in danger of forfeiting his entire 
 mission. lie has, in any event, lost his crown — the 
 sublime unity of moral purpose. 
 
 4. The Paris Reformers planted the first seeds of Prot- 
 estantism in France. In the reformatory councils they 
 
THE HERALDS OF PEOTESTANTISM. 5 
 
 spoke strong words for universal regeneration. The 
 University of Paris, where they taught, was the scene 
 of their hard, hotly contested, and unrequited labor. 
 Peter d'Ailly, born 1350 and died 1425, contributed 
 largely towards awakening a desire for a thoroughly 
 new religious life in priesthood and people. His gen- 
 ius ripened early. He saw the vanity of the prevail- 
 ing scholasticism, and applied its better qualities to 
 Biblical interpretation. He laid before the Council 
 of Constance a plan for the reformation of the Church, 
 which proved of no avail. He nullified his own work, 
 however, and stained his otherwise fair fame by voting 
 for the condemnation of Huss. He never withdrew 
 from the Roman Catholic Church, and died in discon- 
 tent with the evils which he failed to remedy. His 
 great service lay in the distrust which he created tow- 
 ards the papal authorities, and in the dissatisfaction 
 with the Church which pervaded his sermons, lectures, 
 and writings, and which in time became a dangerous 
 factor against the Romanism of the land. 
 
 6. John Charlier Gerson, born 1363, and died 1429, was 
 a disciple of d'Ailly. He rose to great pi'ominence in 
 the University of Paris, and, withdrawing from scho- 
 lasticism, aimed at the reconciliation of Mysticism with 
 Christianity. He laid great stress on the necessity of 
 a pure religious experience, protested against the cor- 
 rupt state of the Church, and declared that the two 
 rival j)opes, in Rome and Avignon, should be removed, 
 rather than that Christians should be compelled to en- 
 dorse either the one or the other. His sermons, after 
 becoming pastor of a church in Paris, attracted large 
 audiences, because of his eloquence and his bold j^osi- 
 tion for ecclesiastical reform. He became an exile, 
 because of the opposition of the Duke of Burgundy, 
 
6 SHOET HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 and only in his later life, in 1419, returned to France. 
 He resided in Lyons, and died in the Roman Catholic 
 fold. He saw but little fruit of his reformatory labors, 
 and passed away with only the hope that others might 
 possess what he had striven, in much sorrow and dis- 
 appointment, to attain. He was a transitional charac- 
 ter, possessing the qualities of both the Romanist and 
 the Reformer. For example, he did not recognize the 
 Church and the papacy, but the Bible, as the only rule 
 of faith, and the one to which all final appeal must be 
 made. At the same time he opposed the reading of the 
 Bible in the popular language in the rural churches. 
 
 6. Nicholas Clemanges, born 1360, and died about 
 1440, was a disciple of l)oth d'Ailly and Gerson, but he 
 marked a great advance beyond them in reformatory 
 spirit. He declared that the councils were superior 
 authority to the papacy, that the pope was inferior to 
 the Council of Constance, and that the Bible had au- 
 thority even over the council. He boldly advocated 
 the doctrine of the invisible Church, and held that the 
 Church can only exist where the Holy Spirit is pres- 
 ent. He was an eloquent defender of the independence 
 of the Galilean Church against the absolute rule of the 
 papacy. 
 
 7. Ground of the French Failure. The Paris theologi- 
 ans failed in tlieir work, and from very obvious causes. 
 They never withdrew from the Roman Catholic Church, 
 or took steps to establish a separate ecclesiastical organ- 
 ization. This has been a general cause of the failure 
 of French reformatory movements, as it now is with 
 Father Hyacinthe. When the final hour came, the 
 Paris Reformers hesitated to revolt. They halted, 
 and did not take the one last step of departure from 
 the communion which they could not love or approve. 
 
THE HERALDS OF PEOTESTANTISM. 7 
 
 Besides this fatal mistake, the attack of the Paris the- 
 ologians was not a steady, earnest, and specific prog- 
 ress. It was a sudden blast, and often repeated, but not 
 an onward march. Some of the weakest points of Ro- 
 manism were entirely overlooked by them. They ex- 
 pressed, for example, but little sympathy with reform- 
 atory measures in other countries. They belonged to 
 the learned class, moved in that circle alone, and, un- 
 like the German Reformers, who also arose in a uni- 
 versity, were without popular tastes and affinities, and 
 had only a limited, though cultivated, constituency, 
 during their whole career. On the other hand, they 
 planted the seeds of a permanent popular dislike of the 
 prevailing order of things, and were the real and direct 
 precursors of the brave Huguenots. 
 
 8. The Mystics of the 14th and 15th Centuries arose 
 as a spiritual reaction against the supremacy of the 
 scholastic philosophy. Remotely, they were an op- 
 posing school to all the immorality and spiritual op- 
 pression of the times. They saw the injury inflicted 
 on the Church by the long and fruitless discussions of 
 the schoolmen, and aimed to call back the Christian 
 mind to the sense of dependence on God, the need of 
 a profound religious experience, and a contemplative 
 and receptive attitude of the soul, which awaits con- 
 stant communications of the Holy Spirit. The Mystic 
 attached too little importance to the written Word, and 
 magnified the worth of merely spiritual impressions. 
 He was contemplative and rhapsodical, and held him- 
 self constantly ready for new revelations. Intuitions 
 were his second Bible. He did not regard monasticism 
 as the solution for the spiritual death of the times ; 
 neither did he think the best way to build up a new 
 religious life was to separate from the Church. His 
 
8 SHOET HISTORY OF THE KEFOEMATION. 
 
 thought was, to preach to the people, and awaken them 
 to a sense of their needs, and thus, from the centre, to 
 reform the whole body of the Church, without disturb- 
 ing the existing economy and order. The Mystic cared 
 not who might be the pope of the hour, or whether 
 there was a pope at all. He considered that person- 
 age a fine piece of ornamental work, like a marble saint 
 in a cathedral chapel, but having no relation to the gen- 
 eral architecture of the edifice. The one concern of 
 the Mystic was the condition of the individual heart, 
 the religious life of the private believer. 
 
 9. Germany was the Central Scene and native country 
 of the most notable reformatory Mystics. Master Eck- 
 art, who died about 1329, belonged to the Dominican 
 Order of monks, and produced a strong impression by 
 his writings and preaching in favor of a purer relig- 
 ious life. The general drift of his teaching was that 
 the doctrines of the Bible are the only truth, and that 
 tliis truth has its proper effect in the purity of the 
 heart. We reach purity by introspection. God is in 
 the soul. We look outwardly when we should look 
 within. But purity must be deeply rooted in the soul, 
 for God will not enter where there is an unholy thought. 
 Many of Eckart's order pronounced him a heretic, be- 
 cause of his fearless speech. The three fundamental 
 objections to him were, his bold charges of immorality 
 in the clergy, his strong language against the worship 
 of Mary, and the power of purgatory to purify a cor- 
 rupt soul. 
 
 10. John Ruysbroek was born in 1293. He became 
 prior of the monastery of Griinthal, near Brussels, and 
 was tlic founder of the Dutch Mysticism. He saw a 
 universal sinfulness in his age, priests and people alike 
 overwhehued and whirled on bv tlie current of sin. 
 
THE HERALDS OF PROTESTANTISM. 9 
 
 The prime source of the prevailing corruption was the 
 impurity of the Church, and its incapacity to resist 
 the temptation of gold and lust. It was too far gone 
 to save itself. Even the popes, said Ruysbroek, bowed 
 the knee to the god of gold. The Church had no heal- 
 ing power. Only God in the soul could deliver from 
 sin. Ruysbroek was a twofold character, contempla- 
 tive and mystical on the one hand, and, on the other, 
 the practical and every-day Reformer. He had two 
 constituencies. His voice reached palace and hut with 
 equal force. 
 
 11. Henry Suso, born in Suabia, in 1300, took his 
 name from that of his mother's family, Suess, or Seuss, 
 which he Latinized into Suso. His early religious life 
 was spent in self-torture and contemplation. He lived 
 in thick gloom. His thought was, that only by the suf- 
 fering of the flesh could God be pleased. His close-fit- 
 ting shirt of one hundred and fifty nails, with points 
 turned towards his flesh, was his favorite and royal 
 robe. He loved it better than the purple. For sixteen 
 years he tortured both soul and body. By the hear- 
 ing of Tauler, in Cologne, he was admitted into larger 
 liberty. He became less ascetic, and more a citizen of 
 the world. He called himself "the Servant of the 
 Eternal Wisdom," to whom he paid a lover's homage, 
 as to a radiant May-queen. He was passionately fond 
 of music, and, wdien in ecstacy, fancied himself in the 
 midst of angelic ministers. Of his book, " The Horo- 
 loge of Wisdom," he said that it came to him in mo- 
 ments of supreme joy, when he lay passive in the pow- 
 er of the high inspiration. He summed up his whole 
 theology in the following : A meek man must be de- 
 formed from the creature, conformed to Christ, and 
 transformed into the Deity. The entire tendency of 
 
10 SHORT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 Suso's teacbinor was in favor of reli2jious reform. His 
 life was one long lament over the evils of his times, 
 for which he held the Church responsible. He de- 
 clared of the popes that good government had depart- 
 ed from them, and that they thought more of gold, 
 and the putting of their relatives into power, than of 
 the Church of God; and that the cardinals, bishops, ab- 
 bots, teachers, monastic orders, and secular clergy were 
 corrupt and debauched, and unworthy their places of 
 honor. He believed that his whole generation was so 
 depraved that a reformation would be a very miracle 
 of divine mercy. He feared the miracle might never 
 come. His pleas were lamentations. He was the Jer- 
 emiah of the 14th century. 
 
 12. John Tauler, born 1290, anddied 1361, was a de- 
 voted disciple of Eckart. He was more a man of the 
 people than his master. He spoke in plain language, 
 and often aroused the sensibilities to the highest pitch. 
 He excelled all the mediieval Mystics in his burning 
 zeal, his popular sympathies, and his profound adher- 
 ence to the doctrine of justification by faith. In this 
 last sense Luther followed only in his footprints. He 
 was the most eloquent preacher of his times. Stras- 
 burg was the chief scene of his ministry. There was 
 such realistic power in his preaching that, often, people 
 were overcome, and became insensible during the de- 
 livery of his sermons. He taught that there are three 
 stages possible to the heart — nature, grace, and the 
 direct shining of the Divine Spirit. AVhen this last 
 and highest stage is reached, the soul forgets itself, 
 and God possesses it wholly. The human spirit is as 
 molten wax, in which the Holy Spirit makes its image. 
 
 Tauler rebuked tlie priestly pretensions of his times, 
 and cried aloud for each man to tliink and feel for him- 
 
THE HERALDS OF PROTESTANTISM. 11 
 
 self. He declared " the true priesthood of every Chris- 
 tian man," and insisted that the Christ should dwell 
 within us. Like some of his mystical predecessors, 
 whose language was too strong for the fashion of the 
 times, he was threatened with excommunication. But 
 he continued his preaching against the prevailing sins 
 of the Church without serious interruption, and the 
 authorities in Rome were finally compelled to let him 
 proceed, as a person more dangerous to interfere with 
 than to be at liberty. The Black Death, a violent 
 plague, together with the papal interdict, rested upon 
 Strasburg. But Tauler's preaching attracted the entire 
 population, diverted their thought, and was the only 
 relief to the sorrow and suffering of the people. He 
 declared that the troubles were a divine visitation be- 
 cause of the sins of the people, and that only by re- 
 pentance and a pure life could relief come. His prin- 
 cipal work was his "Imitation of the Poor Life of 
 Christ." Of all the Mystics, Tauler was the nearest 
 approach to a universal character. Real goodness, 
 like genius, is at home in every age. Tauler was not 
 only reverenced by the devout and zealous Christians 
 of his own time, but stands out as a grand and tower- 
 ing figure in the spiritual world of all later periods. 
 He was a striking example, in a dark age, of how far 
 one man can lift up his generation, and furnish light 
 for even later ones : 
 
 " A voice as unto him that hears, 
 
 A cry above the conquered years, 
 To one that with us works." 
 
 When the Reformers arose they immediately dis- 
 covered in Tauler a kindred soul, one in whom they 
 found great joy, and Avho had contributed largely to 
 herald their approach. He was but an elder brother 
 
12 SHOET IIISTOKY OF THE KEFOKMATIOX. 
 
 to the groups in both Wittenberg and Oxford. Luther 
 himself edited the "Theologia Gerraanica," supposed 
 by many critics to have been written by Tauler. But 
 whether by him or not, it reflects his pure spirit, and 
 that of all the better Mystics, and is singularly in har- 
 mony with Tauler's preaching. Luther communed 
 with Tauler's writings as with a living and present 
 friend. To John Lange he wrote: "Keep to Tauler." 
 He gave to his friend Spelatin the advice: "If you 
 would be pleased to make acquaintance with a solid 
 theology of the good old sort in the German tongue, 
 get John Tauler's sermons; for neither in Latin nor 
 in our own language have I ever seen a theology more 
 sound, or more in harmony with the Gospel." 
 
 13. The School of St. Victor was one of the marvels 
 of the times. It represented, in organized and com- 
 pact form, the aspiration of the age for purer thinking, 
 for spiritual absorption, and for revolt against the pre- 
 vailing ecclesiastical evils. Within eighty years of 
 its founding, in the 11th century, it could count its 
 thirty abbeys and eighty priories. Its two most nota- 
 ble members were Hugo and Richard. They were at 
 once speculative thinkers and spiritual Mystics. They 
 aimed to harmonize mysticism with scholasticism. 
 These were but terms of the day for the two old, and 
 still ever new, names of revelation and science. Both 
 Hugo and Richard saw no antagonism, but held that 
 each was the complement of the other. Hugo aimed 
 to solidify and clarify spiritual thinking by logical 
 methods. He disdained the rigid uniformity of the 
 traditional creed of Romanism, and called for freedom 
 and faith, and freedom in faith. He declared that 
 there is an " eye of the soul," by which we contem- 
 plate and see new truths, and by them attain to a 
 
THE HERALDS OF TEOTESTANTISM. 13 
 
 blessedness of the soul and a peaceful trust in God 
 The common and natural faculties cannot see deeply. 
 The spiritual sense alone is far-sighted, and able to 
 apprehend, in the distant spaces, the spiritual truth. 
 But we must guard against delusion. ISTot the fancy, 
 but faith, can reveal it to us. 
 
 14. Richard of St. Victor was a native of Scotland. 
 In 1162 he became prior of the abbey. Ervisius was 
 the abbot, and therefore responsible for the discipline. 
 The morals in the abbey had been at a very low ebb, 
 and Richard saw in them a picture of the moral pros- 
 tration of his times, and the need of a new spiritual 
 life. He regarded mysticism as the only hope of re- 
 lief. But it must be a carefully adjusted, firm, and 
 well-rounded system; none of your wild and absurd 
 fancies of a disturbed brain. Build up mysticism on 
 logical scholasticism, and you have what you need to 
 cure the evils of the day. Thus Richard reasoned, 
 and wisely enough; but when he came to touch the 
 revealed truth he lost his balance. He converted all 
 Scripture into a string of shining allegory and meta- 
 phor. He surpassed all the fancies of Origen and the 
 Alexandrian school, and found in the Bible an illimi- 
 table realm of truth. No history or incident existed 
 that did not mean far more than the letter said. He 
 made meditation the great theological basis. Contem- 
 plation was a height which could be reached by six 
 steps, the uppermost of which is penitence. When the 
 soul once stood on that, it was above the low steps of 
 imagination and reason, and was lost in sublime ecsta- 
 sy. The age was corrupt, thrice dead, and plucked up 
 by the roots, and nothing could save it but purer mor- 
 als, a return to better thoughts, and the coming back 
 of the Church to an unselfish and zealous spiritual life. 
 
14 SHORT HISTOKY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 15. The Brothers of the Common Life were an associa- 
 tion of mystical minds who made it their aim to reform 
 the Church by a purification of the heart. They pLaced 
 more emphasis on the regeneration of the soul than 
 the outward organization of the Church. They held 
 that, if once the heart is right, the outward forms will 
 soon assume right shapes. The whole life must be 
 centred in the love of God, and then the heart will be 
 sanctified. Thomas a Kempis belonged to this frater- 
 nity. His "Imitation of Christ" has always been a 
 favorite among both Romanists and Protestants, and 
 has had the largest circulation of any book except the 
 Bible. It has been translated into all the principal 
 languages, and is known to have passed through three 
 hundred editions. 
 
 16. The Friends of God were an organization of lay- 
 men. They were warm in their attachment to the 
 Roman fold, and yet were alarmed at the evils which 
 they saw about them in both clergy and laity. This 
 society was a strong proof that the moral declension 
 of the times was seen and understood by devout minds 
 among the laymen as well as by ministers of the Gos- 
 pel. Its members extended throughout western Ger- 
 many and the larger part of Switzerland, and contrib- 
 uted largely to prepare the way among the people for 
 Luther and his coadjutors. Nicholas, a layman of Ba- 
 sel, and a convert through the preaching of Tauler, 
 wrought in connection with them, and was their most 
 conspicuous representative. Among their members 
 must be reckoned Conrad, abbot of Kaisersheim; the 
 nuns of Unterlinden, in Colmar and Basel; the sisters 
 of Engelthal; the knights of Rheinfeld, Pfaifenheim, 
 and Landsberg; and the rich merchant Rulman Mers- 
 win. The love of God was the one universal law which 
 
THE HERALDS OF PROTESTANTISM. 15 
 
 the Friends of God insisted upon. They declared that 
 the Church had closed its doors to the truth, and that 
 the only hope for their opening was a higher spiritual 
 life. Tauler called the Friends of God the pillars of 
 Christendom, and the protectors for a while from God's 
 just cloud of wrath. 
 
 17. The Dutch Forerunner of Reform. Holland was 
 one of the earliest and most forward countries in which 
 the spirit of reform was manifested. The universities 
 were the great fountains whence the Protestant stream 
 arose, and from which it descended into the less edu- 
 cated masses. John Pupper, born about 1401, took the 
 family name of Goch from the place of his birth, a 
 town near Cleves, and called himself John of Goch. 
 He founded the Priory of the Canonesses of St. Augus- 
 tine, in Mechlin, in 1451, and for twenty-five years occu- 
 pied the office of Rector or Confessor to the nuns. He 
 combined, in rare harmony, the spiritual and practical. 
 He held that faith must precede reason, for reason 
 without faith is a blind and false guide. Scholasticism 
 is a mere logical play, and must be fought by sound 
 theological logic, which draws its power from the writ- 
 ten Word of God. The scholastic philosophy is false, 
 because it is not based upon the Bible, but on Aristotle. 
 His whole theology has been strikingly summarized 
 into : Of God, through God, and to God. We derive all 
 from him. He is our Father, the Giver and Teacher of 
 all good. We should give to him our deepest love and 
 supreme confidence. All freedom is based on love, 
 and love is our best assurance of future blessedness. 
 John of Goch's entire system of doctrine was reforma- 
 tory, a protest against the usual modes of laying down 
 doctrine, and a holding up of mere good works to 
 contempt. In practical life, he hurled his strong lance 
 
16 SHORT iiisTOEY OF THE eefoematio:n-. 
 
 against the sale of indulgences and the personal cor- 
 ruption of the clergy. 
 
 18. The Mission of the Early Dutch Reformers wa'j 
 very important. They caught the spirit of the times, 
 and were bold and defiant in their protest against the 
 immorality of their day. If we ask, Why was it that 
 Holland gave such a prompt and cordial reception to 
 the doctrines of Luther and Calvin? the answer is, the 
 soil was fully prepared for the precious seed. The 
 Dutch peoi:>le had been taught, by these early preach- 
 ers of a purer morality, that the time was fully come 
 for a new spiritual order. They did not know whence 
 the light would break, but the whole land was astir 
 with a longing for it, and an expectation of its speedy 
 dawn. Hence, when they heard the strong words 
 from Wittenberg and Geneva, they rejoiced in them 
 as the fulfilment of their hopes. To them the new 
 truth was no surprise. They had listened to their 
 own prophets, and believed their burning words. 
 
Chapter II. 
 
 the humanism of italy. 
 
 1. The Revival of Letters. — Important general move- 
 ments, without connection with prominent characters, 
 were likewise in progress to hasten the approach of 
 reform. Chief of these, in the field of intellectual 
 progress, was the revival of literature, w^hich took the 
 name of Humanism. The studies were purely human and 
 literary, as distinguished from the theological themes 
 w^hich had long held sway in all the universities and 
 learned circles of Europe. Great attention w^as given 
 the Greek and Latin classical writers. Even down to 
 our time, in some places, the literature and languages 
 of Greece and Rome are denominated The Humani- 
 ties. This is especially the case in the Scotch and 
 English universities. In the Italian renaissance of 
 learning, however, Hebrew also came in for its share 
 of attention. Political events had large share in pro- 
 ducing this new turn in the world's thought. The 
 great Italian poets of the 14th century had written on 
 topics suggested by classical Avriters. Boccaccio de- 
 pended on Greece for his material, while Dante and 
 Petrarch drew their inspiration from Roman sources. 
 As notable public teachers in Italy, who contributed 
 largely to the development of Humanism, not only in 
 that land but in the countries north of the Alps, Chry- 
 soloras taught Greek literature in Pavia and Florence, 
 and John of Ravenna instructed in Latin literature in 
 
 2 
 
18 SHORT HISTOEY OF THE IlEFOliMATION. 
 
 Padua and Florence. A f urtlier impulse was given to 
 Greek studies by the fruitless attempt made at the 
 Council of Florence to secure a formal union of the 
 Greek and Roman Catholic churches, when the Byzan- 
 tine emperor, John YII., Paltcologus, was present in 
 person, and Bessarion, Archbishop of Niciea, brought 
 his plan for the union of the long-separated churches. 
 The points at issue were of too serious a character for 
 any return to a common communion. The most serious 
 one was the papal primacy, which the Roman Catholics 
 insisted upon, and which the Greek Church would not 
 accept. But these negotiations, hov/ever vain so far 
 as union was concerned, were exceedingly fruitful in 
 sowing in Italy, and especially in the Roman fold, an 
 ardent love for Greek letters — not only for the Greek 
 of the Church writers, but also for the productions of 
 the purest Attic authors. Greece became, even to ec- 
 clesiastical scholars and students, an enchanted land, 
 whose treasures were suddenly thrown open for the 
 enjoyment of the Avhole learned world. 
 
 2. The Capture of Constantinople by the Turks, in 
 1453, was the culmination of the great movements 
 which brought about a love for the classic studies in 
 Italy. It was, in fact, of more weight than all other 
 agencies combined. The flight of Greek Christians 
 westward amounted almost to a national migration. 
 Large numbers lied to Italy, settled along the Adriatic 
 coast, swarmed into all the interior cities, and soon be- 
 gan to be felt as a political and spiritual force through- 
 out the peninsula. Rome, Florence, Siena, and all of 
 the larger cities became the home of learned Greeks, 
 who brought with them the classic treasures of their 
 former country, and cultivated them in their new 
 home with such zeal that the Greek writers, who had 
 
THE HUMANISM OF ITALY. 19 
 
 been in obscurity for a tliousand years, were soon fa- 
 miliarly known to the Italians. Even before the capture 
 of Constantinople, Greek scholars from the Eastern Em- 
 pire had entered Italy. Between 1420 and 1430 George 
 of Trapezium, Theodore Gaza, and John Argyropylus 
 had taken up their residence in Italy ; and, after the 
 capture, there came a multitude, represented by such 
 men as Constantine Lascaris, Demetrius Chalkondylas, 
 and Emanuel Moschopylus. No branch of Greek let- 
 ters was overlooked. Poetry, eloquence, art, and phi- 
 losophy came in for full recognition. Each depart- 
 ment had its enthusiastic representatives. What Bes- 
 sarion and Gemistius Pletho accomplished, in infatu- 
 ating large numbers of Italians with the new mania 
 for the Platonic philosophy, was achieved by others in 
 every sphere of Greek culture. 
 
 3. The Revival of the Latin Classics came in as a com- 
 peting factor with the Greek. The Italians were too 
 jealous of the triumphs of their own immortal ancestors 
 to permit the Greeks to monopolize attention. Hence 
 we find a great school of learned Italians laboring ear- 
 nestly for the re-enthronement of their writers of the 
 Augustan age. Gasperinus, John Aurispa, Guarinus, 
 Poggius, Laurentius Valla, Nicholas Perothes, Christo- 
 pher Laudinus, and Angelo Politianus were represent- 
 atives of this class. The Italian princes favored the 
 revival of both Greek and Latin letters. The Medici 
 of Florence, from 1429 to 1492, gathered about them 
 the most learned men of Italy, and patronized every 
 department of classic science and art. Their court 
 was the most splendid literary centre of modern times. 
 In their gardens the princes of thought convened, and 
 held communion on all the great themes of science, lit- 
 erature, and art which were then agitating Europe. 
 
20 SHOET HISTORY OF THE EEFORMATIOX. 
 
 From the Medicean gatherings many young minds, 
 like Raphael, derived an inspiration for great work, 
 which afterwards took form in art and poetry and phi- 
 lology. They constituted the literary exchange of the 
 century. 
 
 4. The Religious Tendency of Humanism in Italy was 
 purely negative. The general spirit was not alone in- 
 different to Christianity, but positively hostile to it. 
 The influence of the Medicean court, and even of the 
 papacy, was exerted simply to revive the classics, and 
 so put an end to the theological discussions which had 
 absorbed attention. There was no disj^osition to resort 
 to the Bible, but, rather, to make the famous writers of 
 the pagan times a substitute for the inspired authors of 
 the Scriptures. Scepticism was the craze of the hour. 
 Even learned hierarchs considered it well enough at 
 once to hold office in the Church and observe a suspi- 
 cious silence on the divine origin of Christianity. The 
 expression is ascribed to Leo X. : " What little use the 
 fable of Christ is to us and our people has been known 
 to all centuries." Whether the charge be true or not, 
 it is a fact that it expresses the theology both of Ital- 
 ian Humanism and the papal court of the 15th century. 
 Erasmus, who resided a time in Rome, wrote in lam- 
 entation over the blasphemous expressions which he 
 constantly heard from prominent ecclesiastics. 
 
 5. Humanism elsewhere in Europe was very different 
 from that of Italy, so far as sympathy with evangeli- 
 cal religion was concerned. North of the Alps the 
 taste for the classic languages and masterpieces spread 
 w^ith great rapidity, but it was turned into a theolog- 
 ical and religious channel, and served to hasten the 
 Reformation. The Scriptures wei*e studied with all 
 that new interest which came from the revival of phil- 
 
THE HUMANISM OF ITALY. 21 
 
 ological learning. Panzer relates that one hundred 
 editions of the Latin (Vulgate) Bible were printed be- 
 tween the years 1462 and 1500. The first edition of 
 the Greek Testament, however, which was printed, was 
 not edited by a sceptical Humanist, but by Erasmus, 
 and appeared in 1516. Hebrew received profound at- 
 tention, and hence the Old Testament became a book 
 of minute and laborious study. This new attention to 
 the Bible led imm.ediately to a comparison of its high 
 standard of morals and doctrine with the present fallen 
 state of the Church in both these fundamental depart- 
 ments. The invention of the art of printing was highly 
 favorable to the new intellectual departure, and Hu- 
 manist works soon spread throughout Western Eu- 
 rope. Heidelberg and Erfurt became centres of Ger- 
 man Humanism. Maternus Pistorius of Erfurt stood 
 at the head of the German poetic group. Konrad Muth 
 of Gotha led in the same direction, and assailed the 
 prevailing scholasticism with irresistible satire. Ru- 
 dolf Agricola of Heidelberg was a profound scholar, 
 and turned his attention chiefly to the promotion of 
 Greek criticism. He was a versatile character, and 
 was well worthy of Guizot's eulogy: "A good painter, 
 a good writer, a good poet, and a learned philologist." 
 He died in 1485. 
 
 6. John Reuchlin of Germany, Erasmus of Rotterdam, 
 and Thomas More of England were champions of the 
 new Humanism. Reuchlin's service lay in the de- 
 partment of Hebrew studies. He issued a strong pro- 
 test against the prevailing neglect of the study of the 
 Old Testament in the original Hebrew. His Hebrew 
 Grammar was a masterpiece of learning, and long re- 
 mained the favorite text-book in that field through- 
 out Europe. Erasmus confined his philological labors 
 
22 SIIOET HISTORY OF THE EEFORMATION. 
 
 chiefly to the Greek, and was the principal promoter 
 of New Testament studies for the first generation of 
 Protestants in every land. He turned the Kew Testa- 
 ment, as one would a pov/erful piece of artillery, 
 against the whole fabric of the ignorance, superstition, 
 and immorality of his times. His Greek edition of the 
 New Testament, enriched with notes and paraphrases, 
 constituted a scriptural arsenal for fighting the battle 
 of the Reformation. Thomas More was the friend of 
 Erasmus, and became, late in life, an earnest literary 
 vrorker for the cause of reform. The chapter in his 
 ''Utopia" which is entitled "The Religion of the 
 Utopians " is a shrewd and correct picture of the cor- 
 ruption of his times, and of the demand for a new 
 order of morals and learning. 
 
Chapter III. 
 
 THE EEFORMATORY COUNCILS. 
 
 1. The Councils of Pisa, Kostnitz, and Basel were formal 
 acknowledgments, on the part of the Roman Catholic 
 Church, of the evils within its pale, and the necessity 
 of relief from them. The 14th century opened with a 
 bitter controversy between the Church and the leading 
 civil rulers. It was the old question of authority — 
 whether pope or king was the supreme head. The 
 struggle centred in Pope Boniface VIII. and Philip 
 the Fair of France. In a bull issued in 1302, Boni- 
 face condemned Philip's declaration that the civil 
 ruler is independent of papal authority. Thereupon 
 Philip caused the arrest of the pope, on the ground of 
 his shameless life. The pope Avas rescued, however, 
 by his Italian supporters, and died shortly afterwards. 
 His successor lived but a short time, and, in 1305, the 
 French Archbishop of Bordeaux was chosen pope, and 
 bore the name of Clement V. He was thoroughly 
 identified with the French policy, and, in 1309, re- 
 moved the papal see from Rome to Avignon, in Franca 
 This was the beginning of the Avignon papacy, popu- 
 larly called, by the Romanists, " The Babylonian Cap- 
 tivity," from the light in which it was held, as an ec- 
 clesiastical calamity, and from its continuance of nearly 
 seventy years (1309 to 1377). The whole period was 
 one of great spiritual decline. At no time have the 
 morals of the papacy been at a lower ebb. Meanwhile 
 
24 SHORT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 the German rulers came into angry collision with the 
 popes. 
 
 2. Ludwig, of Bavaria, was a bitter opponent of the 
 claims of the papacy. In Rome, and even throughout 
 Italy, the divisions were very violent, and the whole 
 papal structure was threatened with destruction. Greg- 
 ory XL put an end to the Avignon papacy in 1377. Im- 
 mediately after his death the Romans elected an Italian 
 pope, but the French elected a pope of their own, who 
 resided in Avignon. There were, therefore, two popes, 
 one in Rome and another in France, each claiming the 
 supreme authority, and each surrounded with his court 
 and a college of cardinals. This papal schism lasted 
 thirty years. Its effects were widespread, the entire 
 Roman Catholic world being drawn into the strife. 
 The only possible relief seemed to lie in a general 
 council. The Paris theologians, with Gerson in the 
 lead, were the principal agents in securing it. This 
 council convened in Pisa, in the year 1409. The rival 
 popes were summoned to attend it, in order to have 
 their competing claims adjusted. Each feared for his 
 position, and both refused to attend. Another pope 
 was accordingly chosen, Alexander V. There were, 
 therefore, at this time, three rival popes, all regularly 
 elected, all claiming infallibility as the Lord's anoint- 
 ed vicegerents, and each fulminating maledictions upon 
 his rivals and their supporters. The Council of Pisa 
 failed of its end, for it was wrested from its original 
 intent — that of reforming the Church and healing its 
 dissensions — into a contest of parties. 
 
 3. The Council of Kostnitz, 1414, was brought about 
 l)y a second effort of the persistent and well-meaning 
 Paris theologians. The })apal incumbent, John XXIIL, 
 who had been a Mediterranean corsair, was charged 
 
THE REFORMATORY COUNCILS. 25 
 
 with murder, licentiousness, and simony. He saw no 
 hope of support in the council, and fled from it. The 
 council removed him by vote, and elected Martin V., 
 who disappointed the hopes of his friends, and, by cun- 
 ning, prorogued the council at its forty-fifth session, 
 promising to convene it again. The promise was nev- 
 er even meant to be kept. 
 
 4. The Council of Basel, 1431-1443, was convened by 
 Martin's successor, Eugene VI. It took the Kostnitz 
 programme of reform as its basis of operations, and 
 aimed at a thorough regeneration of the Church, from 
 its papal head to the secular clergy. The pope was 
 alarmed at the persistency and depth of the reforma- 
 tory spirit, and declared the council removed, first to 
 Ferrara and then to Florence. But the Basel Council 
 would not break up, even with the disadvantage of a 
 rival council and the absent pope. The pope therefore 
 issued his ban against the Council, whereupon the lat- 
 ter removed the pope, and elected a new one, Felix V., 
 in his stead. But the disadvantages were too great for 
 the Basel delegates to resist. They lacked cohesion, 
 and too many of them w^ere open to overtures from 
 Rome. One by one its members slipped off, and in 
 time it was compelled to cease for lack of numbers. 
 It performed, however, an immense service. Its place 
 of session, just across the Rhine from Germany, made 
 it an object of profound attention throughout the freer 
 Europe north of the Alps, while the evils which the 
 Council labored in vain to remove became more than 
 ever a source of sorrow and of heroism, in dealing with 
 the universal spiritual declension. All these three coun- 
 cils failed of their prime object, but they revealed to 
 the world the fact that no prospect for reform could 
 exist in any new council. The only way open for 
 
26 SHORT HISTOEY OF THE REFORMATION. 1 
 
 improvement was now clear — the independence of the I 
 
 individual reformer. The personal conscience was com- j 
 pelled to fight, with single lance, for the revival of truth 
 
 and virtue. It was the hour when the fate of modern | 
 
 times depended on the one man. | 
 
Chapter IV. 
 
 THE GERMAN REFORMATION I MARTIN LUTHER, FROM 
 HIS BIRTH TO THE RETIREMENT IN THE WARTBURG 
 CASTLE. 1483-1520. 
 
 1. Martin Luther, the Leader of the Reform. — All the 
 Teutonic countries had been getting ripe for the great 
 ecclesiastical revolt, and central Germany now became 
 the theatre for the Reformation. The popular mind 
 was so fully ready that the only great need now was 
 a man of sufficient courage, ability, and singleness of 
 purpose to become the representative of his generation. 
 Martin Luther responded to the universal aspiration 
 for a leader, to guide into new and safe paths. 
 
 2. Early Life of Luther. — Luther was born in Eis- 
 leben. Saxony, November 11, 1483, and died in the 
 same place, February 18, 1546. His father — first a 
 slate-cutter in Mohra, and then a miner in Eisleben — 
 was a man of humble tastes and scanty means. He 
 belonged to the peasant class. The boy Martin, in 
 later life, recalled the fact that his mother used to 
 carry on her back the wood necessary for the comfort 
 of the humble home. Li this son were combined the 
 characteristics of both the northern and southern Ger- 
 man. There were the calm judgment, the solid sense, 
 and the sturdy valor of the colder blood of the north. 
 But with these he possessed a gentle, cheerful, and 
 tuneful nature, a sympathetic and social feeling, which 
 stood him in good stead in his later struggles. As a 
 boy, he was fond of the village sports, had an ardent 
 
28 SnORT HISTOEY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 love for his friends, and as keen an antipathy towards 
 his foes, possessed a quaint and grotesque humor and 
 innocent wit, and to the day of his death took pride in 
 his lowly ancestry and modest home. His nature 
 seemed to derive its very grandeur and ruggedness 
 from the neighboring Harz JMountains, and its depth 
 from the mines beneath his father's thatched cottage. 
 When the burden of his great mission was upon him, 
 and he was the trusted friend of princes and the learned, 
 he was accustomed to say: "I am a peasant's son; my 
 father, grandfather, and remote ancestors were noth- 
 ing but veritable peasants." 
 
 3. The Home and the School. — But little liberty was 
 granted to the boy of genius and destiny. His par- 
 ents made free use of the rod, and thereby nearly 
 spoiled their child. The least indiscretion brought 
 severe castigation. His mother once punished him, 
 because of some trouble about a nut, until the blood 
 flowed. In the years of his strong manhood, when 
 looking back upon this harshness, he saw the mistake 
 of his parents, and said: *'My parents' severity made 
 me timid; their sternness and the strict life they led 
 me made me afterwards go into a monastery and be- 
 come a monk. They heartily meant it well, but they 
 did not understand the art of adjusting their punish- 
 ments." But, with all the severity of the home, these 
 parents seemed to recognize the genius of their son. 
 They determined that he should have an education, 
 and designed him for the law. In 1497 he was sent to 
 Magdeburg, in order that he might prepare for the 
 university. But the expense was too great for the 
 means of his parents, and he Avas removed to Eisenach, 
 where he could live Avith relatives, and attend school 
 at less expense. It was then the custom of the poorer 
 
THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 29 
 
 Bcholars in Thuringia to go about the streets, and sing 
 at the doors of the people, for alms. Young Martin 
 needed such help, and a wealthy lady, Ursula Cotta, 
 was so charmed by his singing that she took him to 
 her own home, where he had the advantages of an ex- 
 cellent teacher. 
 
 4. At the University. — In 1501 he went to the Uni- 
 versity of Erfurt, one of the centres of Humanis- 
 tic learning in northern Europe. He here came in 
 contact with the advancing learning of the times, and 
 was captivated by it. Neither mind nor heart had 
 rest. With great nervous power, he went from one 
 science to another, and mastered each with a thorough- 
 ness and despatch which amazed the professors. The 
 department which he made his specialty was philoso- 
 phy. On finishing his course, and taking his degree 
 
 ~as master of arts, he bade the world farewell, and in 
 1505 entered the Augustinian cloister as a monk. The 
 resolution seemed to be instantaneous, but his later 
 confessions reveal the fact that he had been led grad- 
 ually, by certain providential experiences, such as the 
 death of a friend at his side by lightning, to take this 
 step. He now subjected himself to severe discipline, 
 denied himself all comforts, tortured his body, and 
 fasted and prayed to a degree that almost proved fa- 
 tal to his life. But he kept at his studies, in this re- 
 spect differing from his brethren, who said: "If this 
 brother studies, he will rule us." The words were a 
 prophecy which was literally fulfilled. 
 
 5. Luther in Wittenberg. — In 1508 Luther was called 
 to Wittenberg as professor. While in Erfurt he had 
 come to a knowledge of the Bible, and had seen the 
 difference between the simple Gospel and the life and 
 practice of the Church of his times. His mind was in 
 
80 SHOET HISTORY OF THE EEFOEMATIOX. 
 
 doubt. He continued his ascetic life, and waited for 
 the light. The University of Wittenberg had been 
 founded by Frederic the Wise in 1502, and, like Er- 
 furt, was now alive with the new learning of the age. 
 Here Luther had a field, the first in his life, for his re- 
 markable powers. He carried with him the timidity 
 of the monk, but the fire and magnetism of the master 
 mind. He was so diffident that only the greatest per- 
 suasion could induce him to preach. "You will kill 
 me," he said to Staupitz, who had been the cause of his 
 call to Wittenberg ; "I shall not go on with it for a 
 quarter of a year." 
 
 Luther had been in Wittenberg two years when he 
 started on a journey to Rome. To one of his thirsting 
 mind and religious fervor such an opportunity was 
 hailed with inexpressible delight. He had been doubt- 
 ing the practices of the Church, but no thought of 
 keen criticism had arisen in his mind. He was still 
 the devoted servant of his order, the Augustines, and 
 a firm and full believer in the one Roman Catholic 
 Church. When he caught his first view of the Eternal 
 City he fell upon the earth, and, with uplifted hands, 
 cried out: "I greet thee, Holy Rome, thrice holy, from 
 the blood of the martyrs which has been shed in thee !" 
 The scenes which now passed before his eyes had but 
 little influence in strengthening his love for the Church. 
 He saw too much ostentation and pride to satisfy his 
 self-denying nature. While ascending the Scala Santa, 
 or Pilate's Staircase, as a reverent and penitential i)il- 
 grim, the words came to him: "The just shall live by 
 faith." He descended the steps, left Rome, and took 
 with him an abhorrence of the superstition and immo- 
 rality of the Church at its fountain-head which never 
 left him. 
 
THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 31 
 
 6. The Ninety-live Theses. — Luther was still a devoted 
 monk, but had felt the power of a new life. He did not 
 dream of separation from the Church. He continued 
 his lectures on the Biblical books, and fascinated his 
 hearers by the boldness and novelty of his views. His 
 life now moved on without excitement or serious change 
 for seven years. All the while he was growing in the 
 confidence of the students and in fame abroad. His 
 lectures were attractive beyond those of any one else, 
 while his sermons, differing, by their plain speech and 
 direct presentation of the truth, from the current 
 preaching, were heard with an intensity of interest 
 new in Wittenberg, or any other part of Germany, 
 since the Mystics. During this quiet interval a new 
 indulgence was published in Germany, and the tickets 
 of pardon were sold in the public places of the land. 
 Between 1500 and 1517 no less than five indulgences 
 extraordinary had been published, and put up for sale 
 to any buyer. They were wonderfully successful. 
 The money flowed in from every quarter. The cause 
 of the indulgences was alleged to be for defence 
 against the Turks, but it was a singular fact that it 
 had to go by the very circuitous way of Rome and the 
 papal treasure-box. The bishops cried out, half in joy 
 and half in complaint, against the weight of the silver: 
 "Hundredweights of German coin fly light as feath- 
 ers over the Alps, and no bearer of the heaviest bur- 
 dens, not even Atlas himself, can drag such heaps of 
 money." 
 
 The sale of the indulgences aroused Luther's nature 
 to a high pitch of excitement. He was now ready for 
 his mission. He went over the whole case against 
 Rome, as he saw it, and arraigned the Church in a bill 
 of charges which he called his Ninety -five Theses. 
 
32 SHORT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 They were directed principally against the sale of in- 
 dulgences, but they included the whole burden of Lu- 
 ther's soul. He insisted that the Church taught the 
 truth, but that there were excrescences which must be 
 removed. On October 31,1517, he nailed his Theses 
 to the door of the Schlosskirche of Wittenberg. Now 
 began the storm which lasted until the day of his 
 death. The Theses were soon heard from in Rome, 
 where the pope wrote of him to the Elector of Saxony 
 as that notorious "son of wickedness." He was or- 
 dered to recant, but replied, "I cannot recall." He 
 was ordered to Rome, but only wrote a respectful let- 
 ter in reply to the command. He was summoned to a 
 disputation in Leipzig, in 1519, with Eck, where he at- 
 tacked the doctrines of the primacy of the pope, indul- 
 gences, and purgatory. The Humanist Moscellanus 
 thus described the young monk on this first great ap- 
 pearance before the world: " He was of medium height. 
 His face and whole body were as thin as a skeleton, 
 caused by long study and much care. His voice was 
 clear. His address bore every mark of great learning 
 and acquaintance with the Bible. His bearing was 
 friendly and attractive. He was full of vitality, and 
 calm and joyous amid the threats of his enemies, as 
 one would be who undertakes great things with God's 
 help. In controversy he was defiant and incisive, as a 
 theologian ought to be." 
 
 7. The Diet at Worms. Luther left Leipzig with a 
 deeper determination than ever to continue his work. 
 He still had no thought of leaving the Church. He 
 would be an obedient son and servant, and thought 
 only of ever remaining in fellowship with the received 
 faith. But he was carried on by the force of his 
 convictions, and by some providential occurrences, in 
 
THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 33 
 
 which, indeed, he seemed to have little part. He now 
 struck the most vital blow of all. He attacked Rome 
 in a new department. He wrote an ''Address to the 
 Nobles of the German People," in which he declared 
 that the time had come when Germany ought to cast 
 off allegiance to Rome, to start out on an independent 
 religious and national life, and take care of its own 
 interests. This was rebellion, and shortly afterwards 
 brought its natural punishment from Rome — excom- 
 munication. Luther said : " I would regard the pojoe 
 as pope, but they want me to regard him as God." He 
 posted a notice on the church door, inviting the peo- 
 ple to go out with him, in solemn procession, through 
 the Elster gate, and, in presence of the citizens, pro- 
 fessors, and students, publicly burn the papal bull. 
 This notice was observed, and, in presence of the mul- 
 titude, Luther burned the bull on December 10, 1520. 
 But Rome was even worse off without him than with 
 him. 
 
 8. Charles V. had been elected Emperor of Germany 
 on June 28, 1519, and it was now a serious question 
 what position he would take as to the Reform. He 
 was a Hapsburg, and therefore a rigid Roman Catho- 
 lic, but he was also diplomatic, and was determined to 
 do nothing that would endanger his political strength. 
 He turned the matter over carefully in his mind, and, 
 as at the Diet at Worms, his election contract was to 
 be signed, and such additional business transacted as 
 related to the affairs of the Church, he resolved, be- 
 fore the Council met, that he would give Luther a 
 hearing, and condemn his doctrines. Luther was sum- 
 moned to Worms, and promised a safe conduct. Be- 
 fore starting he wrote to Spalatin : " If his majesty 
 calls me to account, so that I am ruined, and am 
 
 3 
 
34 SHORT HISTORY of the reformation. 
 
 looked upon, on account of my answer, as an enemy 
 to the empire, still I am ready to come. For I have 
 no intention of tieeing, nor of leaving the "Word in 
 danger, but I mean to confess it unto death, so far as 
 Christ's grace sustains me. But I am certain that the 
 bloodhounds will not rest until they have put me to 
 death." Ilis friends reminded him of Huss's death at 
 the Council of Constance, but their remonstrance had 
 no influence. He would go to "Worms though "the 
 devils were as many as tiles on the house-tops." Every 
 argument was used ; threats w^ere multiplied ; but all 
 to no avail. "When he had finished his defence, he 
 said : " Here I stand ; I cannot do otherwise. God 
 help me ! Amen." Carlyle describes the historical 
 significance of this occasion, and the importance of 
 Luther's firm attitude, in the following words : " It 
 was the greatest moment in the modern history of 
 men. English Puritanism, England and its j^arlia- 
 ments, Americas and vast work these two centuries ; 
 French Revolution, Europe and its work everywhere 
 at present : the germ of it all lay there ; had Luther 
 in that moment done otherwise, it had all been other- 
 wise !" The decree of the Diet at Worms against Lu- 
 ther w^as as follows : " Thus this individual, not a man, 
 but one like the devil in human form, under a monk's 
 cowl, has gathered into one noxious mass a number of 
 heretics who have been long concealed, and hold most 
 damnable heresies; and he has even devised some 
 fresh ones, under pretence of preaching faith, which 
 he has industriously made every one believe, in order 
 that he may destroy the true faith, and, under the 
 name and guise of evangelical doctrine, put an end to 
 all evangelical peace, and love, and all good order." 
 The sentence of ban and double ban was pronounced 
 
THE KEFOEMATION IN GERMANY. 
 
 35 
 
 
 on liim and e\eiy 
 friend and adhe- 
 rent to his here- 
 sy, and, after a 
 certain date. May 
 14th, all persons 
 were cautioned 
 against harboring 
 or protecting him, 
 and he was or- 
 dered to be de- 
 livered up to the 
 officers, wherever 
 found. 
 
 9. In the Wartburg. When Luther was returning 
 from Worms, and before the publication of the ban 
 against him, some knights, at the instance of Fred- 
 eric the Wise, took him to the Wartburg Castle, on 
 the heights above Eisenach, lest he might be captured 
 
 WAliTBUllG CASTLE. 
 
3G SHORT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 by his enemies, and possibly suffer death. He here 
 lived as " Junker Georg " (Squire George), a sobri- 
 quet given him by the jovial knights. He used his 
 pen vigorously during his eight months ^' in Patmos," 
 as he called his sojourn. No day was without its line. 
 While here he translated the New Testament entire, 
 and parts of the Old. 
 
Chapter Y. 
 
 luther : further labors and personal character. 
 
 —1520-1546. 
 
 1. The Reformation in Danger from its Friends. Lu- 
 ther was now compelled to pay the penalty of every 
 great reformer. He had to shield his work from the 
 errors of his friends. Carlstadt, a firm adherent of 
 the Protestant cause, began to think that Luther did 
 not o-o far enouirh. He declared that Romanism still be- 
 longed to the Reformation, and, at the head of a fanat- 
 ical band, the Zwickau Prophets, he made a fierce fight 
 against Luther. He wrote to them from his " Patmos," 
 in December, 1521, as follows: "This business has 
 been undertaken in a harum-scarum fashion, with great 
 rashness and violence. I do not like it at all ; and, that 
 you may know it, when it comes to the point, I will not 
 stand by you in this business. You have set about it 
 without me, and so you may see how you can get out of it 
 without me. Believe me, I know the devil well enough. 
 It is he alone who has set out to bring disgrace on the 
 Word." The fanatics would tear down every reminder 
 of Romanism — the ornamentation, pictures, and every- 
 thing else but the bare walls of the churches. They 
 would make such a thorough work with Rome that not 
 a trace would be left of the old order. They would 
 destroy every Avork of Christian art, in sculpture or on 
 canvas, wherever found. They turned prophets, and 
 saw visions. Luther, from his watch-tower, saw the 
 
38 SHORT IIISTOKY OF THE EEFOEMATION: 
 
 danger that threatened the whole Protestant cause, 
 and vras ill at ease. He could stay no longer in the 
 Wartburg. Duke George was ready to arrest him, 
 wherever he could be found at large, but Luther was 
 willing to take the risk. His true friend, the Elector, 
 cautioned him of his danger from Duke George, but 
 the Reformer wrote back : " One thing I can say for 
 myself, if things were at Leipzig as they are at Wit- 
 tenberg I would still go there, even if it rained Duke 
 Georges for nine days, and every one of them were 
 nine times as fierce as he." He plainly told the anx- 
 ious Elector that he did not want his protection, that 
 there was no real protection in a ruler of such faith, 
 and that he would go under God's protection to Wit- 
 tenberg. He kept his promise. 
 
 On March 3, 1522, he left the Wartburg, and, proceed- 
 ing without a guard, reached Wittenberg in safety. 
 The condition of things was alarming. The Zwickau 
 Prophets had frightened the Reform.ers. Melanchthon 
 was too weak in nerve to withstand their boldness. 
 He could not resist them, and trembled for the whole 
 Protestant fabric. The Proj^hets declared that they 
 had received special revelations from God to go even 
 further than religious reform, to resist all civil author- 
 ity, and set up a temporal kingdom. When Luther 
 appeared in Wittenberg it brought confidence to his 
 friends, and to Protestants. He was wise in every 
 movement, and did not even mention the names of the 
 fanatics. For a Aveek he publicly preached against 
 them, but with consummate tact, and, as a result, they 
 left the city a disorganized mass. 
 
 2. The Peasants' War. The German peasantry had 
 long been oi)i)ressed by the princes, and had several 
 times risen in revolt. Li the years 1470, 1491, 1498, 
 
LUTHER: LABORS AND CHARACTER. 39 
 
 and 1503 they had rebelled against their rulers, but 
 were overcome, and yet were kept down only by vio- 
 lent means. The peasantry saw, in the present relig- 
 ious convulsion, another opportunity for revolt. A 
 league was formed in 1514 ; by 1524 the insurrec- 
 tion broke out publicly ; and by the spring of 1525 it 
 was general. The peasants were largely in the Prot- 
 estant interest. They pleaded the Bible as their justi- 
 fication in demanding liberty of conscience and free- 
 dom from civil oppression. Luther was now put upon 
 trial in a new direction. He studied the matter closely, 
 and then took the side of law and order, but, in an ad- 
 dress to the princes, told them of the wrong of oppres- 
 sion, and cautioned moderation in dealing with the fa- 
 natics. The peasants were fully conquered, and their 
 leader, Miinzer, was beheaded. 
 
 3. Luther's Literary Labors. Luther now addressed 
 himself more than ever to severe literary labors. He 
 saw that his work needed consolidation. He must in- 
 struct the people, who were looking to him for spir- 
 itual guidance. The Miinster fanaticism was proof of 
 the great need of Protestantism for the most judi- 
 cious and safe instruction. So, by pen and speech, he 
 wrought with prodigious vigor. Through the kind- 
 ness of friends, his sermons and lectures were pub- 
 lished immediately after delivery. They were robust 
 in style, and consisted of strong and often homely 
 speech. The people read each word with the gladness 
 that came from an immediate understanding. His 
 translation of the Bible, the strongest and most ner- 
 vous and comprehensible ever executed, went all over 
 the land. His principle in translation was contained 
 in his own words : " For translating the Bible, we must 
 have a pious, true, industrious, reverent Christian, 
 
40 SHORT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 learned, experienced, and disciplined heart. AVe must 
 ask the mother in the house, the children in the alley, 
 the common man in the market-place, how to speak 
 German, and put the language they speak in his own 
 jaws." 
 
 As a specimen of Luther's care that he might trans- 
 late the Bible into a language which the people might 
 understand, he had a butcher ''kill some sheep for 
 him," and tell him the names of every part, in order 
 that he might translate accurately those parts of Le- 
 viticus relatinsj to the Jewish sacrifices. He wrote his 
 friend Spalatin a request to give him the names and 
 minute descriptions of all the precious stones men- 
 tioned in Revelations xxi., as constituting the walls 
 of the celestial city. 
 
 4. Hymns and Other Works. Luther's works multi- 
 plied rapidly. About one hundred and twenty sepa- 
 rate writings appeared from his pen. His Smaller 
 and Larger Catechisms became a household possession 
 throughout German Protestantism. His thirty hymns 
 were sung in palace and hut with equal joy. The fa- 
 vorites were, his martial hymn, 
 
 "A mighty fortress is our God, 
 A bulwark never failing;" 
 
 his Christmas Hymn, 
 
 " From heaven above to earth I come, 
 To bear good news to every home ;" 
 
 his Children's Hymn, 
 
 " Sleep well, my dear ;" 
 
 and the Hymn of Providence, 
 
 ** Flung to the heedless winds, 
 Or on the waters cast." 
 
LUTHER : LABOES AND CHARACTER. 41 
 
 Luther's writings were born of the occasion. He saw 
 deeply, and felt intensely. He held himself ready to 
 sing, or speak, or write, as he perceived a need and 
 felt an inspiration. He thought in images, and all his 
 w^orks abound in striking pictures. To him the devil 
 was no myth, but a visible creature, whom his own 
 eyes had seen all too frequently. Hence he frequently 
 addressed him as Mr., or Madam, Devil. Luther's com- 
 mentaries were practical expositions, little space being 
 given to philological discussions. It was his habit to 
 present the argument of a book in a full introduction, 
 and in language that the uneducated could understand. 
 His interpretations were crisp and strong declarations 
 of the author's meaning. He gave conclusions, and 
 but little of the process by which he reached them. 
 
 5. Luther's Personal Characteristics were of a very 
 striking character. He w^as of ardent and impulsive 
 nature, and called things by the first name that came 
 to him. He was born for war, and yet was always 
 sighing for peace. His element was the smoke and 
 flame and violence of the hot battle-field. Yet, strange- 
 ly enough, he thought himself very mild in language. 
 When a friend once expostulated with him on the 
 harshness of his language against the papacy, he re- 
 plied, in all seriousness, "On the contrary, I complain 
 that, alas, I am too mild. I wish that I could breathe 
 out lightning, and that every word were a thunder- 
 bolt!" A hair-splitting theologian once quoted to him 
 St. Augustine's reply to the question, " Where God was 
 before heaven was created ?" that he was in himself ; 
 and then asked the Reformer what his answer would 
 be. Luther replied, "He was building hell for such 
 idle, presumptuous, frivolous, and inquisitive spirits 
 as you!" His opinions were very decided concerning 
 
42 SIIOKT HISTORY OF THE KEFOEMATION. -j 
 
 some physicians: "Alack for him that depends on ■ 
 
 physic! When I was sick at Smalcald, the doctors i 
 
 made me take as much medicine as though I had been 
 
 a great bull. 'Tis these wretches that people the grave- \ 
 
 yards ; though able, cautious, and experienced physi- ■ 
 
 cians are the gift of God, those without fear of God ; 
 
 are mere homicides. I consider that exercise and change ■ 
 
 of air do more good than all their purgings and bleed- j 
 
 ings. AVhen I feel indisposed, I generally manage to j 
 
 get around by a strict diet, going to bed early, and ; 
 
 keeping my mind at rest." ; 
 
 6. Luther's Faith. In faith, Martin Luther was as j 
 
 fervent as any crusader in the heat of conflict. The | 
 
 time of prayer was his supreme hour. Every prayer • 
 
 was an imj^ortunity. He would not think of silence, 
 
 much less refusal. He argued with God, and showed • 
 
 him how unlike himself it would be not to grant his | 
 
 petitions. He caught hold of the very robe of the | 
 
 Master, and would not let it go. Or, rather, he vio- ; 
 
 lently grasped the divine arm with both hands, and ; 
 
 held it until his prayer was answered. He had the habit : 
 
 of recording his wants in the form of a catalogue, and i 
 
 taking them to God in order, as petitions which God • 
 
 could hardly be true to his own honor if he failed to j 
 
 answer. He was overheard to offer the following ; 
 
 prayer just before his appearance in the presence of i 
 
 the Council at Worms: "Almighty, Everlasting God, j 
 
 how terrible this world is ! How it would open its 
 
 jaws to devour me. And how weak is my trust in j 
 
 thee ! O thou my God, help me against all the wis- ■ 
 
 dom of this world. Do thou the work; it is thine, not ; 
 
 mine. I have notliino: to brincj me here. I have no I 
 
 . . i 
 
 controversy to maintain — not I — with the great ones | 
 
 of the earth. I, too, would fain that my days should ; 
 
luthee: labors and chaeactek. 43 
 
 glide along, happy and calm. But the cause is thine. 
 It is righteous ; it is eternal. O Lord, help me ! Thou 
 that art faithful, thou that art unchangeable ! It is not 
 in any man I trust. O God, my God, dost thou not 
 hear me ? Art thou dead ? No, thou art hiding thy- 
 self. O Lord my God, where art thou ? Come, come ! 
 Thou hast chosen me for this work. I know it. O, 
 then, arise and work! Be thou on my side, for the 
 sake of thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ, who is my de- 
 fence, my shield, and my fortress. I am ready — ready 
 to forsake life for thy truth — patient as a lamb. Though 
 the world should be full of demons ; though my body 
 should be stretched on the rack, cut into pieces, con- 
 sumed to ashes, the soul is thine. For this I have the 
 assurance of thy Word. Amen. O God, help thou 
 me. Amen. . . . (and then, as if in soliloquy) Amen, 
 Amen — that means. Yes, Yes, this shall be done!" 
 
 7. Organization of the Protestant Church in Germany. 
 When Luther saw the great need of sustaining and 
 building up of the peoj)le Avho were following his lead- 
 ership, he devised wise plans for ecclesiastical organiza- 
 tion. In 1527 he and Melanchthon, at the instance of 
 the Elector John, drew up a plan of general visitation. 
 An order of doctrine and service was established. Pa- 
 rochial schools were instituted, catechetical service was 
 enjoined, and full arrangements made for a complete 
 ecclesiastical life. At the Diet of Augsburg (1530) 
 the Augsburg Confession, drawn up by Melanchthon, 
 was adopted for the Protestants of Germany. In the 
 Convention at Smalcald the Protestants formed a com- 
 pact, which Avas the basis of their subsequent civil and 
 ecclesiastical unity. The theological standard of the 
 Protestants was the "Loci Theologici" of Melanch- 
 thon. Luther never undertook a systematic treatment 
 
44 SIIOKT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 of doctrine, but committed this work to his nearest 
 friend, Melanchthon, who was a complement to him in 
 many other respects. 
 
 8. Luther's Private Life was of a piece with his pub- 
 lic career. His labors before the world drew all their 
 inspiration from his pure and simple home-life. In 
 1525 he married Catharine von Bora, a nun of the 
 cloister of Nimj^tchen, and henceforth his home be- 
 came the centre of his labors and the rallying-place of 
 friends. His children Avere his loving companions. In 
 the intervals of his engrossing labors he would sing, 
 and, getting new inspiration, Avould again take up his 
 pen. Walther, the electoral chapel-master, who was 
 deputed to assist Luther in the arrangement of music 
 for public worship, thus wrote of him : '' Many a pre- 
 cious hour did he sing. I have often seen him, the 
 dear man, become so happy and transported in spirit 
 that he could not get enough of it. He knew how to 
 say wondrous things of music." Luther was especially 
 fond of having the students visit him, and sit at his 
 table. He was always thinking of others, and how he 
 might instruct and comfort. His engrossing labors 
 wore heavily upon him. His early ascetic life left an 
 impaired constitution, Avhich he was never able fully 
 to restore. He went on a journey to assist in recon- 
 ciling a difficulty between the Mansfeld counts, and 
 died from home, but in the place where he was born. 
 He breathed his last, after thanking God for the reve- 
 lation of his Son, and for having given him the privi- 
 lege of testifying for him before the world and the 
 poj^e. 
 
Chapter VI. 
 
 MELANCIITHON AND OTHER GERMAN REFORMERS. 
 
 1. Philip Melanchthon.— The friends and helpers of 
 Luther came from every class. Of all these, Melanch- 
 thon was destined to be of most service, not only as an 
 immediate co-laborer with Luther, but as a promoter 
 of the general cause of Protestantism. He was born 
 in Bretten, South Germany, in 1498, and was educated 
 at Pforzheim, Heidelberg, and Tubingen. When only 
 seventeen years of age he became a professor in the 
 Tubingen University, and began to attract attention 
 by his remarkable knowledge of the classic writers. 
 He edited Terence and other authors, and threw a new 
 light upon both Greek and Roman writers. His fame 
 spread abroad into other countries. Erasmus wrote of 
 him the following: " What hopes may we not conceive 
 of Philip Melanchthon, though as yet very young, al- 
 most a boy [he was only eighteen], but equally to be 
 admired for his proficiency in both languages ! What 
 quickness of invention ! What purity of diction ! 
 What vastness of memory! What variety of reading! 
 What modesty and gracefulness of behavior ! And 
 what a princely mind!" To Q^^colampadius the same 
 man, Erasmus, wrote: " Of Melanchthon I have already 
 the highest opinion, and cherish the most magnificent 
 hopes; so much so that I am persuaded Christ designs 
 this youth to excel us all. He will totally eclipse 
 Erasmus.'''^ He was called to Wittenberg as professor 
 
46 SHORT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 in 1518, and the same week began to lecture. He pro- 
 duced a profound impression immediately. Luther 
 heard him, and Y\'as charmed by him. A friendship 
 immediately sprang up between them, which was never 
 broken until death terminated the union of twenty- 
 eight years. The annals of literature and theology do 
 not furnish a more beautiful illustration of the manner 
 in which a great work can be performed by the com- 
 bined action of two men than we find in the case of 
 Luther and Melanchthon. There was no resemblance 
 between them in quality of mind or temperament. 
 The one thing which they had in common was the 
 great cause of reform, and to that all other interests 
 and gifts were made subordinate. 
 
 2. The Labors of Melanchthon were directed at once 
 to the improvement of the methods of study in the 
 university. His students increased rapidly, and soon 
 rose to about twenty-five hundred. He insisted that 
 the old scholastic philosophy was ridiculous, and con- 
 sisted of terms, rather than ideas. He urged the stu- 
 dents to the fountain-heads of truth, and placed before 
 them the Bible as the only source of real knowledge. 
 He then entered into the strife concerning indulgences, 
 Luther going before him, and Melanchthon following 
 closely with his philological lore, his fine logic, and his 
 marvellous unfoldings of scriptural truth. The life of 
 Melanchthon was now so thoroughly identified with 
 that of Luther that it is difiicult to separate the two. 
 They lived in the same town,Wittenberg. They were 
 in constant consultation, each doing what he was most 
 able to do, and both working Avith unwearied zeal for 
 the triumph of the cause to which they gave their life. 
 During Luther's stay in the Wartburg, Melanchthon 
 was sorely grieved. He needed Luther's martial spirit, 
 
MELANCHTHON AND OTHER GERMAN REFORMERS. 47 
 
 his strong will, his quick intuitions, as to the best meas- 
 ures to win new victories. Hence he wrote such words 
 as these: " I feel the need I have of good advice. Our 
 Elijah is confined at a distance from us, though we are 
 expecting and anticipating his return. What shall I 
 say more? His absence absolutely torments me." On 
 the other hand, Luther felt the need of Melanchthon's 
 calm spirit, and, among many other words of the same 
 character, he wrote him from the Wartburg: "For the 
 glory of the Word of God and the mutual consolation 
 of myself and others, I would rather be consumed in a 
 blazing fire than remain here half alive and utterly 
 useless. If I perish, the prophet of Christ will not 
 perish, and you, I hope, like another Elisha, will suc- 
 ceed Elijah." Luther, however, was sometimes out of 
 patience with Melanchthon's great infirmity, despond- 
 ency, afid wrote him the following, in reply to Me- 
 lanchthon's gloomy picture of the Protestant outlook: 
 "Let those who please talk against us. Bat why are 
 we to be alvv^ays looking on the dark side of things ? 
 Why not indulge hopes of better times ?" He com- 
 pared Paul's appearance with Melanchthon's in the fol- 
 lowing words: "Paul must have been an insignificant- 
 looking person, with no presence ; a poor, dry, little 
 man, like Master Philip." While Luther was still in 
 the Wartburg he, nevertheless, longed for the socie- 
 ty of his "poor, dry, little man," more than for all 
 the robust men of the Fatherland. So, when he re- 
 turned to Wittenberg, and put the fanatics to shame 
 and flight, he wrote with great joy to a relative: "I 
 am in Amsdorff's house, with my beloved friend, Phil- 
 ip Melanchthon." 
 
 Melanchthon's regularity in work was a marvel. He 
 was seldom known to miss a lecture from any cause. 
 
48 SHORT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 On the day, in 1520, when he was married to Catharine 
 Crappin, the burgomaster's daughter, he departed for 
 once from his inflexible, punctuality, and posted on the 
 roster the following release of his students from hear- 
 ing him on Paul's Epistle to the Romans: 
 
 " A studiis liodie facit ocia grata Philippus 
 
 Nee nobis Pauli dogmata sacra leget." 
 " Rest from your studies, Philip says you may ; 
 
 We'll read no lectures on St. Paul to-day." 
 
 Year after year passed by, and Melanchthon was al- 
 ways at his post, lecturing to the many students who 
 had come from different countries to hear him. If, in 
 the interests of the good cause of reform, he was absent 
 for a day or two, he was always at his post with re- 
 newed vigor. His lecture-room was his throne, lie 
 was devoted to theological students, and made them 
 his trusted friends. In his last illness he thought of 
 them, and wished, when too weak, to be dressed, and 
 deliver a lecture to them. He died in 1560. A short 
 time before his death he wrote his reasons why it is 
 better for the Christian to die than to live, the column 
 on the right containing the blessings gained by djing, 
 and those on the left the evils avoided: 
 
 Evils Removed. 
 
 You leave your sins. 
 
 You are delivered from contro- 
 versy and the rage of theolo- 
 gians." 
 
 Advantages Gained. 
 
 You come to the light. 
 
 You will see God. 
 
 You will contemplate the son of 
 God. 
 
 You will understand those won- 
 derful mysteries which you 
 cannot comprehend in this 
 life : namely, why we are made 
 as we are, and the union of the 
 two natures in Christ," 
 
 No man appreciated Melanchthon's character and 
 
MELANCHTHON AND OTHER GERMAN REFORMERS. 49 
 
 work more highly than Luther. Of his " Theological 
 Commonplaces" {Loci Tlieologici), Luther said: " For 
 theological study it is the best book, next to the Bible. 
 Melanchthon has no ground for fear." Of Melanch- 
 thon's books, as a whole, he said: "I love his books 
 better than my own. He ploughs and plants and 
 sows and waters with joy, while I am only a coarse 
 forester, digging up the roots and tearing out the 
 thorns." 
 
 3. Other Friends and Helpers of Reform.— The friend- 
 ship between Luther and Melanchthon, as a powerful 
 factor towards the success of the Reformation, was 
 only an illustration of a general fact. There were 
 other attachments not less charming. The whole pe- 
 riod of the planting of Protestantism abounds in re- 
 markable adjustments and surrenders of individual 
 tastes and capacities for the achievement of a great 
 end. Each man was as necessary to the rest as their 
 joint work was necessary to the success of the whole 
 movement. It was a harmony of opposites, and as 
 complete a providential blending of diverse natures as 
 the world had seen since the days of the apostles. All 
 temperaments and all classes of society were drawn 
 upon to make the one harmonious picture of a young 
 and vigorous Protestantism. Some of Luther's first 
 and strongest friends were of the princely and noble 
 class. Of the rulers, we count no less than six who 
 were devoted friends of the new movement for the 
 liberation of the conscience, and followed the leader- 
 ship of Luther : namely, George, Maurice, Frederick 
 the Wise, John, and John Frederick, all princes of 
 Saxony, and Philip of Hesse. While enjoying the full 
 confidence of these men, Luther never faltered in the 
 assertion of personal inde23endence. He never com- 
 
 4 
 
50 SHORT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 promised a 2:n'incii)le. In fact, he gained the confidence 
 of the princes not merely by his valiant defence of the 
 truth, but by his candor towards them. 
 
 4. Ulrich von Hutten and Franz von Sikingen. — With 
 the princes, ^ve must not omit to join two fearless 
 knights as friends of Protestantism — Ulrich von Hut- 
 ten and Franz von Sikingen. These men offered Lu- 
 ther the use of their swords and a home in their cas- 
 tles, but he declined them both, saying that his was a 
 spiritual conflict. In Luther's immediate circle, as co- 
 workers with him, the scholars Justus Jonas, George 
 Rorer, Cruciger, Forster, and Bugenhagen stand next 
 to Melanchthon. These men were mostly won to the 
 cause of reform by the reading of Luther's writings, 
 or the hearing of his lectures, or by his hymns; and, 
 having once come within the charm of his person, be- 
 came his willing co-operators in the various depart- 
 ments for which each was fitted. Bugenhagen was 
 elected pastor in Wittenberg through Luther's influ- 
 ence, and was a powerful organizer of the new Protes- 
 tant Church in North Germany. Jonas was a professor 
 in the university, and through his eloquence the city 
 of Halle was led to adopt the Protestant cause. Lucas 
 Cranach, the most celebrated German painter of his 
 times, was an intimate friend of Luther, and through 
 him we have accurate portraits of the parents, the en- 
 tire family of Luther, and nearly all his friends and 
 fellow-worker*. Cranach had a keen sense of the gro- 
 tesque and satirical, and it was his pleasure to fur- 
 nish woodcuts, as adjuncts to Luther's stinging words 
 against the abuses of the times. 
 
Chapter VII. 
 the reformation ix german switzerland. 
 
 1. The Political Condition of Switzerland was highly 
 favorable to the introduction of Protestant ideas. The 
 country was divided into cantons, or districts, an ar- 
 rangement that had existed from early times. Each 
 canton was, in a measure, independent of the rest, and 
 yet was connected in a federation with all the others. 
 While the Roman Catholic Church held sway over all, 
 the people of each canton claimed the right of decid- 
 ing what their confession should be. The spirit per- 
 vading all the cantons was that of civil liberty; and 
 so, when the Protestant doctrines descended from the 
 north the Swiss saw in them a system of religion close- 
 ly allied to their political traditions and preferences. 
 Freedom in the State, as the Swiss mind saw it, was 
 inseparable from freedom of conscience. In Zurich, 
 the largest city in Eastern Switzerland, the doctrines 
 of the German Reformers, and especially the works of 
 Luther, took strong hold. The people, speaking the 
 same language with the Germans, read the earliest 
 Protestant writings with interest, while correspondence 
 with the Reformers fanned the flame. 
 
 2. Ulric Zwingli was the leader of the new move- 
 ment in Switzerland. He was born in Wildhaus, in 
 1484. In his ninth year he went to Wesen, where he 
 enjoyed the instruction of his uncle, the dean of that 
 place. He was designed by his parents for the priest- 
 
52 SIIOET IIISTOKY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 hood, and no pains were spared to fit him for his call- 
 ing. In 1494 he went to Basel, and for three years 
 was a student in the St. Theodore School. He then 
 went to Berne, where the celehrated Humanist, Hein- 
 rich Wolfin, introduced him to a profound knowledge 
 of the classics. He then went to Venice, where, hav- 
 ing Latinized his name, he appeared as the student 
 Cogentius. In 1502 he returned to Basel, and, in ad- 
 dition to prosecuting further studies, taught in the 
 Latin school of St. Martin. AYyttenbach came to Basel 
 as professor, and he entered a bold protest against in- 
 dulgences. Zwingli came under his influence, and, 
 from that time omvard, it is likely that the seeds of 
 Protestantism lay in his mind. In 150G he became 
 priest in Glarus, and remained there ten years. All 
 the while he was an ardent student. He was enrapt- 
 ured with the new Humanism, and yet he regarded it 
 only as an aid to the study of the Bible. He wrote at 
 this time : " Nothing but God shall prevent me from 
 acquiring Greek; not for fame, but for the sake of the 
 Holy Scriptures." In 15 IG Zwingli went to the cele- 
 brated Abbey of Einsiedeln, which is situated on a 
 lofty mountain on the north side of Lake Zurich, and 
 is still visited annually by many thousands of pilgrims. 
 Zwingli, seeing the blind idolatry of the worshippers 
 of the miraculous image of the Virgin Mary in that 
 abbey, began to preacli against the superstition. 
 
 3. Zwing'li's Open Rupture with Rome. Zwingli awak 
 ened violent opposition in Einsiedeln. He was brand- 
 ed as a heretic, and yet was made by Pucci, the pope's 
 agent, the object of great attention and flattery. The 
 hope was, to conquer him by dissimulation. But Zwin- 
 gli saw through the deception, and kept steadily on in 
 his course. He did not remain, however, any longer 
 
GERMAN SWITZERLAND. 63 
 
 in Einsiedelii, but removed to Zurich, where he was 
 priest in the cathedral. Indulgences were just now 
 sold in public in that city, and Zwingli proclaimed 
 against them. Zurich was ready for the Reformation, 
 and was only waiting for a leader. The Humanist cir- 
 cles were tired of the old darkness, and were eager for 
 the light of the Gospel. The uneducated masses were 
 overwhelmed with the oppression of the Hapsburgs 
 and the priesthood. "I wish," said Zwingli, "that 
 they had bored a hole through the pope's letter, and 
 hung it to his messenger's back, that he might carry 
 it home. If a wolf is seen in the country, you sound 
 an alarm, that it may be caught, but you will not de- 
 fend yourselves from the wolves that ruin the bodies 
 and souls of men. How appropriate their red hats and 
 cloaks ! If you shake them, out fall ducats. If you 
 wring them, out flows the blood of your sons, broth- 
 ers, and friends." 
 
 Such language could not be tolerated. Maledictions 
 were hurled against Zwingli. But he continued to 
 preach, and the people thronged to hear him. He was 
 fearless, scriptural, and discreet. He was now drawn 
 within the circle of Reformers, and at once became 
 their head among the Swiss. He preached strongly 
 against indulgences, Mariolatry, clerical celibacy, and, 
 indeed, the whole cluster of those perverted doctrines 
 against which Luther was attacking in the north. Mass 
 was abolished in Zurich, and, one by one, the institu- 
 tions of Romanism fell to the ground. Zwingli's " Six- 
 ty-seven Articles " committed him so thoroughly to the 
 Protestant cause that no retracing of his steps was sup- 
 posable. He was very busy with his pen. His " Choos- 
 ing and Freedom of Foods," his " Christian Introduc- 
 tion," and "True and False Religion" were master- 
 pieces of polemical literature. 
 
54 SUORT HISTORY OF THE REFOKMATIOX. 
 
 4. Variations from the German Reform. The simplicity 
 of Zwiiigli's views of worship was a fundamental qual- 
 ity. His repugnance to Romanism was so strong that 
 he resolved on a complete renunciation. He would 
 have no pictures or organs or bells in the churches, or 
 any reminder of the old faith. He was morbidly in- 
 tense in his dread of all materialistic elements. He 
 differed radically from Luther on the doctrine of the 
 Lord's Supper, the German Reformer holding to con- 
 substantiation, while Zwingli regarded the bread and 
 wine as only symbols of the body and blood of Christ. 
 The two Reformers came into open difference. A dis- 
 cussion was arranged, and they met in the Castle of 
 Marburg, w^here each defended his views. No com- 
 promise was reached. Luther, with a piece of chalk 
 in his hand, wrote in great characters on the table, 
 "Hoc est corpus meum " (this is my body), and with 
 this appeal to Christ's own w^ords by which to defend 
 his belief in consubstantiation, the discussion closed. 
 Henceforward there was no agreement between Ger- 
 man and Swiss theology on the Lord's Supper. Lu- 
 ther and Zwingli returned to their fields of labor, 
 each as firmly intent upon the one work of reform as 
 though he did not differ from his brother on non-essen- 
 tials in theological interpretation. Bucer tried very 
 hard to harmonize the Swiss and German differences, but 
 failed completely. The Helvetic Confession, adopted 
 in 1536, became the final standard of doctrine for the 
 Protestants throughout Eastern Switzerland. 
 
 5. The Religious Conflict in the Eastern Cantons be- 
 came so bitter that it grew into an a])peal to arms. 
 Zuricli, Avhich had been included in the bishopric of 
 Constance, threw off all episcopal allegiance, banished 
 Latin from its churches, and burned the time-honored 
 
GERMAN SWITZEELAND. 55 
 
 relics. Some of the eastern cantons followed the lead 
 of Zurich, while others remained firm to Catholicism. 
 The result was a civil war. The Roman Catholic can- 
 tons were aided by the pope, the Austrian empire, and 
 even by Spain, while France and England helped the 
 Protestant cantons. The Protestants conquered. The 
 battle of Cai^pel, near Lake Zug, where Zwingli was 
 killed, in 1531, was followed by the Peace of Cappel, 
 which declared that each canton should decide its relig- 
 ion for itself. 
 
 6. Basel was an important centre of Protestant move- 
 ments in German Switzerland. The council which had 
 been held there in the preceding century had left a 
 strong desire for reform among the people. The uni- 
 versity was a rallying-place of minds intent upon the 
 liberty of science. Erasmus lived in its cloisters for a 
 time, and gave his scholarly energies to the good work. 
 Hedio, Capito, and Roublin preached the new doctrines 
 with energy and success. (Ecolampadius, though a 
 German by birth, became pastor of St. Martin's Church, 
 and was the acknowledged leader of the cause in the 
 city. In other parts of Eastern Switzerland the Ref- 
 ormation spread with amazing rapidity, and, in addi- 
 tion to Zurich and Basel, the cantons of St. Gall and 
 Schaffhausen renounced allegiance to the Roman Cath- 
 olic faith, and introduced Protestant worship and doc- 
 trines throughout their territory. 
 
Chapter YIII. 
 the reformation ix frexch switzerland. 
 
 1. The Influence of the German Reformers was felt 
 more slowly among the French - speaking people of 
 Switzerland than among those who spoke German. The 
 difference in language made the work of indoctrination 
 no easy process. The course of Protestant cA'angclism 
 in French Switzerland was simple — an eastern current 
 setting in from German Switzerland, and a western 
 one coming directly from France, and entering by Ge- 
 neva as a door. The two met in Berne, which city at 
 once became a centre for the dissemination of new doc- 
 trines throughout the French cantons. After the bat- 
 tle of Cappel the movement spread rapidly, and Avent 
 as far as Geneva, where it allied itself with the forces 
 already in operation there. Very soon a strong Prot- 
 estant party arose in that city, which was firm in the 
 beginning, and never wavered until it gained a com- 
 plete victory. 
 
 2. Geneva had been long an object of the ambition 
 of the dukes of Savoy, an historical struggle later com- 
 memorated by Byron in the incident which suggested 
 his " Prisoner of Chillon," an historical poem, in which 
 Bonnivard tells the sad story of a long period of per- 
 secution for conscience' sake: 
 
 " My limbs are bowed, though not with toil, 
 But rusted with a vile repose; 
 For they have been a dungeon's spoil, 
 And mine has been the fate of those 
 
FIIENCH SWITZERLAND. 57 
 
 To whom the goodly earth and air 
 Are bann'd and barr'd — forbidden fare ; 
 But this was for my father's faith 
 I suffered chains and courted death ; 
 That father perished at the stake 
 For tenets he could not forsake ; 
 And for the same his lineal race 
 In darkness found a dwelling-place ; 
 We were seven who now are one, 
 
 Six in youth and one in age 
 Finished as they had begun, 
 
 Proud of Persecution's rage ; 
 One in fire and two in field, 
 Their belief with blood have sealed ; 
 Dying as their father died, 
 For the God their foes denied ; 
 Three were in a dungeon cast. 
 Of whom this wreck is left the last." 
 
 A religious convention was held in Geneva in 1534. 
 Farel, who was the representative of the new doctrines, 
 labored by speech and pen for their introduction. As 
 in Eastern Switzerland, so here, the people were their 
 own rulers, and had resisted all attempts at absorption 
 by ambitious princes. Popular meetings were held, 
 where both Romanism and Protestantism were dis- 
 cussed freely. The doctrines of the Reformers spread, 
 however, until the majority of the citizens declared in 
 favor of them. Anton Froment and Peter Viret co- 
 operated with Farel in prosecuting the one work which 
 lay near their hearts. 
 
 3. John Calvin. — All the great Refonners had a 
 prompt and subtile perception of character. They 
 seemed to recognize their helpers by unerring instinct. 
 One July evening, in 1536, a French stranger called on 
 Farel, asked advice, expressed sympathy with Refor- 
 matioHj and was about to take his leave and proceed 
 
58 SHORT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 on his journey. But Farel was so attracted to him 
 that he invited him to spend a few days. This stran- 
 ger was John Calvin. He was born in Noyon, France, 
 1509, and died in Geneva, 1564. He received an ex- 
 cellent education, and was thoroughly prepared for the 
 practice of the law. His acquaintance with the class- 
 ics was intimate. His first work, written when a young 
 man of twenty-three, Avas a critical edition of Seneca's 
 essay on "Clemency." He studied in Paris, Bourges, 
 and Orleans. While in the last place, and about the 
 year 1532, he came in contact with a German reformer, 
 who told him more fully than he had known the great 
 doctrines of the Protestants of Germany. Calvin re- 
 solved to turn his attention to theology, and to accept 
 the doctrines of the new reform. In due time we find 
 him going abroad. There was no peace for his soul, 
 nor any rest for his body. He went southward, and 
 for a time stayed in Angouleme, where, for a century, 
 there lingered certain pleasant traditions of the quiet 
 stranger, who studied hard by day and night. He left 
 Angouleme, and knew not whither to go. In the pref- 
 ace to his " Psalms " he spoke of this period of early 
 uncertainty and anguish of soul: "God led me about 
 by so many circuitous paths that I could nowhere find 
 rest." During 1534 he wandered about in many direc- 
 tions, conversing with the most cultivated jDCople, and 
 doing all that lay in his power to communicate a 
 knowledge of Protestant doctrines. AVe now find him 
 suddenly in his native Noyon, now publishing a little 
 book, the " Psychopannychia," against the French Ana- 
 baptists, now halting a while in Paris, and now, with a 
 good prospect of being cast into prison with the rest 
 of the outspoken foes of the papacy, resolving to go 
 "to some hidden corner" in Germany, where he could 
 study theology in quiet. 
 
FRENCH SWITZERLAND. 59 
 
 4. Arrival in Basel, 1535. — Of all Calvin's friends, 
 only one accompanied him — Louis du Tillet. He was 
 in full sympathy with him, and the two resolved to 
 travel together and share each other's fortunes. The 
 two fugitives had no easy task to reach the limits of 
 France. A servant stole all their money and ran away. 
 They reached Basel in a penniless condition; but the 
 Protestants of that hospitable city had welcomed Farel 
 ten years before, and also, later, both Cop and Cou- 
 rault ; and now they welcomed with the same cordial- 
 ity both Calvin and his friend. While here he devoted 
 himself with passionate eagerness to Biblical studies, 
 for he knew that the Bible underlay the entire Protes- 
 tant fabric. He heard unfavorable news from France. 
 The Protestants were thrust into prison, and their life 
 was in constant danger. They were without cohesion, 
 guidance, or intention. Calvin resolved to write a the- 
 ological system for their special benefit. He now con- 
 ceived the idea of his "Institutes of the Christian Re- 
 ligion," which he published in 1536, and which became 
 the doctrinal standard for all the Reformed Churches 
 of the Continent and Great Britain. 
 
 5. Settlement in Geneva. — Calvin had no great sense 
 of relief when his book was completed. His work was 
 published under the assumed name of "Martianus Lu- 
 canius," and so retired had been his manner of living, 
 and so timid his nature, that no one knew of his plan 
 or who this new author might be. Probably to avoid 
 discovery, as much as for any other reason, he deter- 
 mined to leave Basel. He, in company Avith his friend 
 Da Tillet, journeyed to Italy, and stayed a while in 
 Ferrara, where Renata, the Protestant daughter of 
 Louis XII. of France, was duchess. He then quietly 
 returned to his native town, Noyon, and arranged the 
 
60 SHORT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 affairs of his now broken home, and left it forever. 
 He took with him his brother Anton, who was in f nil 
 sympathy with his views. He now turned his face 
 towards Germany again, intending to make Strasburg, 
 or perhaps Basel, his permanent home. The war of 
 this time, 1536, made his journey a dangerous under- 
 taking; and, the way to Strasburg being closed against 
 him, he was compelled to go southward through Savoy. 
 One evening, about July 1, he arrived at Geneva. He 
 expected to stay one night, and in the morning to pro- 
 ceed northward. Farel was fascinated by his scholar- 
 ship and spirit. 
 
 6. Calvin and Farel. — Farel invited Calvin to settle 
 in Geneva, and take charge of the new Protestant 
 Church of that city. Calvin refused. He pleaded his 
 youth, inexperience, constitutional timidity, and the 
 need of continuing his studies in a place where he 
 could have perfect quiet. He begged to be spared. 
 But Farel saw in all these reasons only the better 
 ground why Calvin should stay in Geneva. He said, 
 in great excitement, to him: "You plead your studies. 
 But, in the name of the Almighty God, I say to thee, 
 God's curse will overtake thee if thou deprivest God's 
 work of thy help, and seek thyself more than Christ !" 
 Farel's threat accomplished what his persuasion could 
 not do. The call of an hour lengthened into a visit, and 
 the visit into a Avhole lifetime. The acquaintance be- 
 tween Farel and Calvin ripened into one of those beau- 
 tiful friendships with Avliich Christianity has always 
 abounded in its periods of throe and agony. By a 
 natural gravitation of his genius, C\alvin assumed the 
 direction of the Protestant movements from Geneva 
 as a centre. He was soon in charge of the civil ad- 
 ministration of the city, and remained identiiied with 
 
FRENCH SWITZERLAND. 61 
 
 the interests of its citizens until his death. Without 
 knowing it, the group of Genevan Reformers were 
 rather waiting for guidance than following a settled 
 policy. They were pausing for a leader, and now they 
 found him in Calvin. 
 
 7. Calvin as Organizer of the Genevese Church. — To 
 a man of less nerve and wisdom than Calvin, the work 
 of organizing the Protestants of Geneva into a com- 
 pact and aggressive Church would have been a hope- 
 less undertaking. He saw that the first need was a 
 common platform of faith — a Confession. In three 
 months* time the Genevese possessed their Confession, 
 in twenty-one articles. Farel's name stood as the re- 
 sponsible author, but Calvin's exact style and strong 
 spirit pervade every part. On November 10 it was 
 placed before the city council for adoption, and was 
 accepted. Then came new measures, one after another, 
 in rapid succession — a plan for popular education, a 
 scheme of organization of the Church in Geneva, 
 measures of discipline and support, and a catechism. 
 Civil regulations were shaped according to the new 
 ecclesiastical constitution, and some of the regulations 
 were severe and exacting in the extreme. The theo- 
 logians were novices at civil legislation, but there was 
 no want of Spartan inflexibility. 
 
 8. Libertines and the Exile of the Reformers. — The 
 Libertines, a political party of Geneva, who were op- 
 posed to the strict life of the Reformers, and saw in 
 the Reformation a restraint on the morals of the peo- 
 f>le, arose against both Farel and Calvin, and secured 
 their banishment. Farel, after a stay of seven weeks 
 in Basel, went to Neuenburg as pastor, and Calvin 
 went to Strasburg, where, a few years before, he had 
 found a refuge from persecution at home. The two 
 
62 SHORT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIOX. 
 
 Reformers were at once brought into close relations 
 with the Strasbiirg circle of Protestant leaders — Bii- 
 cer, Capito, and Hedio. It was a happy company. 
 Calvin calculated on a permanent stay there, for they 
 saw little hope of the early rise of Protestant author- 
 ity in Geneva. lie took papers of citizenship as a 
 Strasburg resident, and, later, in 1540, was married to 
 Idelette von Buren, a lady in every way worthy of his 
 confidence and affection. He became pastor of the 
 French Emigrant Church, and, with his practical du- 
 ties, was absorbed in his studies. 
 
 9. The Recall to Geneva. — In due time the people of 
 Geneva rej^ented of their error in banishing the two 
 Reformers, for they found they needed them for the 
 government of the city. Calvin was recalled, but, 
 with true nobility of his soul, refused to accept the 
 offer unless Farel, his early benefactor, was also per- 
 mitted to return. The same liberty was therefore 
 granted Farel, and the two were welcomed back to 
 the city amid the rejoicings of the whole population. 
 Henceforth Calvin stood at the head of affairs, and 
 continued in that relation until his death. He " be- 
 longed to Geneva henceforth, and Geneva to him." 
 The organization of the Genevese Church was perfected 
 in directions where it had proved to be weak ; Calvin 
 preached repentance, that the entire population should 
 repent of their sins of many years, and begin to serve 
 God anew. Viret became a powerful aid to him and 
 Farel, and there was no want of strong and wise lead- 
 ership. Laws relating to the clergy, the church, di- 
 vine service, and schools were enacted, and there Avas 
 no department passed by in the new administration 
 under the direction of Calvin. A Protestant univer- 
 sity was established in that city, where young men 
 
JOHN CALVIN. 
 
64 SHORT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 were trained in the new doctrines of Protestantism. 
 A theological seminary was organized in Lausanne, 
 under the direction of Viret, and strongly aggressive 
 measures were employed to extend the work through- 
 out the French cantons. 
 
 10. Beza. — The work left unfinished by Calvin at 
 his death was taken up by Beza. His nature was dif- 
 ferent from that of Calvin. The latter had a broader 
 mind, was stronger in purpose, and could have ruled a 
 kingdom, had he been born to an earthly crown. He 
 was a master in the management of men, less by ac- 
 commodating differences than by inducing men to ac- 
 cept his own views. His theology found its way into 
 Germany, where it produced the Reformed Church; 
 was taught in the University of Heidelberg ; extended 
 to Holland ; formed the basis of the prevailing confes- 
 sion there; crossed the Channel into England; exerted 
 a marked influence on the new Anglican Church ; as- 
 cended into Scotland; became the theological founda- 
 tion of the Scotch National Church ; came over to this 
 country with the Pilgrims in the Mayflower in 1620; 
 and has had no small share in moulding the faith of 
 the people in the colonies and states, and the territories 
 which have grown from them. 
 
 11. The Second Helvetic Confession, adopted in 1566, 
 became the formula of faith for the Protestants of all 
 French Switzerland. It was in general harmony with 
 the Augsburg Confession, but with more emphasis on 
 the doctrine of election. The Protestantism of Geneva 
 and other parts of French Switzerland exerted a strong 
 influence on the cause in France. The intercourse was 
 constantly maintained. The works from the Genevan 
 press, and especially the tracts, were carried by trades- 
 men and others into most of the southern provinces of 
 
FRENCH SWITZERLAND. 65 
 
 France, and aided largely in creating a French senti- 
 ment and giving courage to the rising Huguenots. 
 Thus Geneva, which became a refuge for the fugitive 
 Calvin and other French Protestants, became a fort 
 which, for generations, and, indeed, down to the pres- 
 ent time, has discharged its Protestant artillery against 
 the very country which produced and drove out its best 
 sons and daughters. 
 
 5 
 
ClIArTER IX. 
 THE ENGLISH EEFOEMATIOX. — FIRST PEEIOD, 1509-1553. 
 
 1. The Early Attempts at Reformation in England were 
 in advance of those in any other part of Euro^^e. To 
 that country belongs the honor of having discovered 
 the need of a universal religious regeneration in Eu- 
 rope. The beginnings of reform centred in Wycliffe, 
 born about 1324. He was a student, and afterwards 
 professor, in Oxford. His first position of hostility to 
 the prevailing doctrines was his declaration against the 
 mendicant monks, who went up and down the land, ex- 
 torting money from the people, and preaching against 
 learning and progress in every form. He issued sev- 
 eral pamphlets against them, and called loudly to his 
 countrymen to get rid of them. So signal was his ser- 
 vice that he was promoted to a wardenship in Oxford 
 — namely, of Balliol Hall, or College. Four years 
 later, in 1365, he became master of Canterbury Hall, 
 or tlie Christ College of a later day. 
 
 2. Attacks on Wycliffe. — Schemes were soon in prog- 
 ress on the part of Langham, Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, to eject Wycliffe, and the pope issued a bull to 
 that effect in 1370. Wycliffe replied by a tract against 
 the papal policy arraying itself in hostility to the nation. 
 The king, Edward III., v>'as already in revolt against 
 the pope, and took up the cause of Wycliffe, who was 
 appointed a royal chaplain and rector of Lutterworth. 
 Wycliffe gained a clearer view every year of the cor- 
 
THE ENGLISH REFOEMATION. 67 
 
 ruptions of the church, and preached boldly against 
 them. He was summoned by the authorities of the 
 church for trial for heresy, but was rescued by his 
 friends. A second time he was tried, and escaped 
 through the sympathy of the people. The court, which 
 was held in Lambeth Palace, broke up in disorder, but 
 not without commanding Wycliffe to stop preaching 
 and writing. But he was, if possible, more industrious 
 than ever. He spared no evil that he saw about him, 
 and hurled anathemas against wilful pope and deluded 
 priesthood. He died a natural death in his own house 
 in Lutterwortli. The same council which executed 
 Huss, that of Constance, in 1415, condemned the writ- 
 ings of Wy cliff e, and in 1428 his dust was taken from 
 the grave, and cast out upon the Avon. The event 
 gave rise to Fuller's lines : 
 
 " The Avon to the Severn runs, 
 And Severn to the sea ; 
 And Wycliffe's dust shall spread abroad, 
 Wide as the waters be." 
 
 3. Wyclifife's English Bible.— Wycliffe's greatest ser- 
 vice to the coming Reformation was, first, his transla- 
 tion of the New Testament, and afterwards the whole 
 Bible, into English. It was the first attempt at repro- 
 ducing any considerable portion of the Scriptures into 
 the popular tongue, and was a new revelation to the 
 English people. The original of his translation was 
 the Latin Vulgate, a very faulty source, but yet good 
 enough to create a thirst for better things and prepare 
 the way for the pure Word. Between Wycliffe and 
 the Reformers of Henry YIII.'s reign lay a period of 
 nearly two centuries. But through all those years the 
 seeds planted by Wycliffe never died. No great in- 
 terval passed without some bold spirit arising, and 
 
68 SHORT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 saying strong words of protest against the errors of 
 the times. The age was not rij^e, as yet, for organized 
 effort. The herald's mission must first be wrought 
 out. 
 
 4. Agencies of Reform. — The political character of the 
 English Reformation was a striking feature from the out- 
 set. In this regard the new movement differed from that 
 in all other countries, except Holland. While the people 
 were fully ready for religious revolt, the first organized 
 rupture with Rome came from the king, Henry VIII. 
 The influence of his court was favorable to the cause, 
 not as a spiritual necessity, but as a means of national 
 independence. Then came the inflow of Protestants 
 from the Continent. Many learned men crossed the 
 Channel, and settled in Oxford and Cambridge, and 
 oonducted discussions in favor of the Reformation. 
 Among them may be mentioned Ochino, Peter Martyr, 
 Martin Bucer, Paul Fagius, and Tremellius. But great- 
 er of all the men from abroad was Erasmus, whose 
 Greek New Testament found a ready entrance into 
 England. He settled in Cambridge and taught there. 
 
 5. Henry VIII.'s Patronage of the Reformation. Hen- 
 ry's grievance against Romanism was purely j^ersonal. 
 He wanted more wives than Rome was willing to grant 
 him. He had been married, while his father was yet 
 king, to Catharine of Aragon, the daughter of Ferdi- 
 nand and Isabella, and the widow of Henry VII. 's eld- 
 est son, Arthur. The king, for political reasons, chose 
 Catharine as wife for his second son and successor on 
 the throne, Henry VIII. After a marriage of nearly 
 twenty years, Henry VIII. resolved on a divorce from 
 Catharine, and the disinheriting of their daughter Mary. 
 His object was to marry Anne Bolcyn. But the ques- 
 tion was, how to get the pope's consent. Wolsey was 
 
THE ENGLISH KEFOKMATION. 69 
 
 deputed to do this work, and to proceed in person to 
 Rome. Should the pope consent, he would oifend the 
 Emperor Charles Y., who would be insulted by the di- 
 vorce of Henry from Catharine. Should he refuse, he 
 knew that it would be an affront to England. He chose 
 the latter, as by that course he thought he would have 
 less to lose. What should Henry VHI. do ? He had 
 made public his determination. The religious revolt 
 in Germany proved to him that rebellion against the 
 papacy was in the air of the age. His own people were 
 eager for reform. So he determined to put away his 
 wife, disavow his daughter, and make Anne Boleyn 
 his queen. This brought about an open rupture with 
 the pope. Henry's real purpose was a National Roman 
 Catholic Church, with himself as head. But this proved 
 an impossibility. He saw there could not be two inde- 
 pendent Catholicisms, one on the Tiber and the other 
 on the Thames. He was borne along by the current 
 of his people, and found himself finally compelled to 
 link himself ostensibly with the new Protestantism, 
 and yet, in reality, deeply in sympathy with the old 
 Romanism. Henry VIH. was a Roman Catholic in all 
 but name and endorsement of the papacy. He despised 
 the Lutheran doctrines, and even wrote against them. 
 His book against Luther was so fully Romanist that it 
 was hailed in Rome as a powerful attack on Protes 
 tantism, and it even secured to Henry YIII., from Leo 
 X., the title of " defender of the faith." Luther, how- 
 ever, went on steadily. He was master of his theme, 
 and, besides refuting the positions of Henry, paid him 
 the compliment of saying : ''When God wants a fool, 
 he turns a king into a theological writer." 
 
 There was no positively settled policy on the part 
 of king or parliament. One day the Roman Catholics, 
 
70 SHORT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 under the lead of Cardinal Pole and Bishop Gardiner, 
 had the confidence of the king, and on another Thom- 
 as Cromwell and Cranmer Avere the stronger. Parlia- 
 ment was the willing servant of a capricious tyrant, 
 and at one hour was ready to revoke its work of the 
 preceding one. As a proof of how nearly England re- 
 mained Roman Catholic under Henry VIII., we may 
 mention the fact that, at his dictation, in 1538, parlia- 
 ment established the following six articles of faith : 
 
 1. Transubstantiation, or the real presence of Christ 
 in the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper. 
 
 2. Sufficiency of communion in one kind only. 
 
 3. Illegality of the marriage of priests. 
 
 4. Obligation of vows of celibacy. 
 
 5. Propriety of retaining private masses. 
 
 6. Necessity of the confessional. 
 
 It must be remembered, hoAvever, that, notwithstand- 
 ing all these attachments to the old Romanism, the 
 country was gradually drifting away from it. The 
 old order was breaking up. The Bible was publicly 
 distributed, and Protestant doctrines were gaining 
 more friends every day. 
 
 6. Colet and Sir Thomas More were of great influence 
 in bringing about the revolution in the popular mind. 
 The former had studied the classics in Italy, and 
 brought with him to Oxford an ardent love for the 
 new Humanism. His great object of attack was the 
 profligacy of the Church, from the papacy down, 
 through all grades of priesthood, as he had witnessed 
 it in Rome. He cried aloud for the redemption of his 
 beloved England: " Oh, Jesu Christ, wasli for us not 
 ' our feet only, but also our hands and our head.' 
 Otherwise our disordered Church cannot be far from 
 death !" Sir Thomas More was a student in Oxford 
 
THE ENGLISH KEFORMATION. 71 
 
 when he adopted Protestant doctrines. He became 
 Lord Chancellor of England, and was a devoted and 
 confidential friend of the king. But he incurred the 
 king's displeasure by disapproving the latter's divorce 
 from Catharine of Aragon, and absented himself from 
 the coronation of Anne Boleyn. He refused to take 
 the oath of allegiance to her as queen, and was sent to 
 the Tower of London, and afterwards beheaded. He 
 was a model of eloquence, purity of heart, domestic 
 virtue, simplicity, and tenderness. After kissing his 
 executioner, he said, " Thou art to do me the greatest 
 benefit that I can receive ; pluck up thy spirit, man, 
 and be not afraid to do thine office. My neck is very 
 short ; take heed, therefore, that thou strike not awry, 
 for saving of thine honesty." 
 
 7. Cranmer was, of all men of his time, most power- 
 ful in hastening the English reform. He erred in fa- 
 voring the divorce of Henry and Catharine. He was 
 rewarded by the king with the highest ecclesiastical 
 preferment in his gift, the archbishopric of Canter- 
 bury. But Cranmer was a pure and unselfish man, 
 and expressed only his real convictions. When he af- 
 terwards yielded to Henry so far as to pronounce his 
 marriage with Anne Boleyn void, he was still the same 
 pure man, but unwisely and irresolutely submitted to 
 the pressure of the king. Cranmer became one of the 
 regents of the kingdom after Henry's death. The 
 young Edward, who succeeded Henry, was a Protes- 
 tant, but he died early, and was succeeded by Mary, a 
 rigid Roman Catholic. The court was at once filled 
 with men in sympathy with her. The Reformers were 
 now in danger. Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley were 
 thrown into the Tower. Cranmer, in a moment of 
 weakness, signed a recantation, but soon withdrew it. 
 
72 SHORT IIISTOEY OF THE KEFOEMATION. 
 
 He, with Latimer and Ridley, was burned at the stake 
 in 1556. His last words were, as he held in the flames 
 the hand with Avhich he had written his recantation, 
 " This unworthy hand ! Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" 
 8. The Publication of the Bible in the language of 
 the people was the most powerful single agency in 
 bringing about the English Reformation. Tyndale 
 translated the New Testament, which was printed in 
 Antwerp, in 1526, and introduced into England, and 
 circulated quietly over the country. Miles Coverdale's 
 translation of the entire Bible appeared in 1535. This 
 was the first complete English Bible ever printed. 
 Without bearing any imj^rint of place or printer, the 
 evidence is strong, founded on the resemblance of 
 types, that it was printed in Zurich, by Christopher 
 Froschover. Coverdale also published several of the 
 Psalms in verse, with musical notes. The date is not 
 known, but it was probably before 1538. The follow- 
 ing was the way in which he sent out his little book 
 on its singing mission : 
 
 " Be not ashamed I warande the 
 
 Though thou be rude in songe and ryme, 
 Thou shalt to youth some occasion be 
 In Godly sportes to passe theyr tyme." 
 
 The following is his first stanza of Psalm cxxxvii. : 
 
 " At the rivers of Babilon 
 
 there sat we doune ryght hevcly 
 Even whan we thought upon Sion 
 
 we wept together sorofuUy 
 for we were in soch hevyncs 
 y* we forgat al our merynes 
 
 and left of all our sporte and playe 
 on the willye trees y' were therby 
 we hanged up our harpcs truly 
 
 And niorned pore both night and day." 
 
THE ENGLISH REFOKMATIOIS'. 73 
 
 Matthew's Bible appeared in 1539, with the royal 
 sanction. Cranmer's translation of the Bible had, 
 likewise, the royal approval, and was powerful in 
 gaining many minds to the cause of reform. In addi- 
 tion to the Scriptures, other writings were circulated, 
 as formularies of doctrine and the public services. 
 Among these must be mentioned " The Ten Articles," 
 " The Bishop's Book," " The King's Book," and " The 
 King's Primer." Then comes Erasmus's " Paraphrase 
 of the Scriptures," which, in 1547, was placed in the 
 parish churches. In the same year the first " Book of 
 Homilies" went out, with the royal approval. In 1548 
 the "First Communion Office," "Cranmer's Cate- 
 chism," and the " First English Liturgy, or. Book of 
 Common Prayer," were issued. In 1552 the "Second 
 English Liturgy, or. Book of Common Prayer," was 
 ordered for use, while, in 1553, the " Fifty-two Articles 
 of Religion " and the " Larger Catechism " were ap- 
 proved and enjoined. 
 
 9. The Condition of the Reformation. At Henry's 
 death Protestantism in England still continued to be 
 an uncertainty. Much had been done, but no fixed 
 state of things had been reached. Protestant influ- 
 ences were permeating the masses, and this was the 
 most hopeful sign. Both the king and his subjects 
 had rejected the pope's supremacy. The people had 
 become acquainted with the Bible, and many now pos- 
 sessed copies in their own tongue. The monasteries 
 had been suppressed, and their vast wealth secularized. 
 A visitancy, to arrange services and preach Protes- 
 tantism, was ordered throughout the kingdom. Relig- 
 ious formularies were made binding upon the people, 
 and all the ecclesiastical oflices were filled with Protes- 
 tants. But Rome was still watchful for the opportu- 
 
74 SHORT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 nity of restoration in England. It was too fair a ; 
 
 land to lose. Besides, there was a powerful party | 
 
 at home which was eager to restore the old order, i 
 
 and, by so doing, to bring itself to power and I 
 
 wealth. ! 
 
Chapter X. 
 
 THE ENGLISH EEFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD, 
 
 1558-1603. 
 
 1. The Reaction under Edward VI.— There was great 
 uncertainty as to the succession to Henry VIII. On 
 the occupant of the throne depended largely the ques- 
 tion of Protestantism in the British Isles. Henry had 
 left three children — Mary, whose mother was Cath- 
 arine of Aragon ; Elizabeth, whose mother was Anne 
 Boleyn; and Edward, whose mother was Jane Sey- 
 mour. It was now a question as to whether Mary, 
 Elizabeth, or Edward should rule. The result proved 
 that each one Avore the crown. But who should first 
 wear it? Henry VIII. and Catharine had been di- 
 vorced, and hence that ruled out Mary. Anne Boleyn 
 was condemned to death, and that was a declaration 
 that her child, Elizabeth, Avas illegitimate. Against 
 Edward no such objection could be made. His mother 
 died a natural death, too early and too young to be 
 cast away by the king. All England was divided 
 into parties. The friends of Edward were shrewd 
 and bold. They won at last, and seated the boy on 
 the throne, in 1547, when he was only ten years of age. 
 There was a protectorate over him, the first protector 
 being the king's uncle on his mother's side, Edward 
 Seymour, Duke of Somerset ; the second, Dudley, Earl 
 of Warwick. In addition to these men, who were 
 Protestants, and gave a Protestant direction to the ad- 
 
76 THE ENGLISH KEFOKMATION. 
 
 ministration, Cranmer was the constant and practical 
 adviser of young Edward. In due time England was 
 brought into strong Protestant sympathies, and spe- 
 cial efforts were employed to indoctrinate the people 
 in Protestant princij^les. An improved catechism was 
 used for popular instruction; the Lord's Suj^per was 
 administered in both kinds; and the mass, clerical cel- 
 ibacy, the worship of images, and the invocation of 
 saints were abolished. 
 
 2. Mary as Queen. — Edward YI. died in 1553. There 
 now arose new troubles about the succession, and it 
 Avas a question as to whether a Protestant or Roman- 
 ist should wear the crown. The strongest party would 
 again win, and this time it was Mary's friends, Mary 
 had been a sufferer on account of her Roman Catholic 
 faith. The daughter of Henry YIII. and Catharine 
 of Aragon, she carried to her new position the bitter 
 memory of the injustice done her, and a determination 
 to restore the land to the faith of her mother and her 
 remote Spanish ancestors. A formal alliance with Spain 
 was brought about through her marriage with Philip 
 II. of Spain. No pains were now spared to bring into 
 force the old order. Parliament hesitated; but its 
 members, finally fearing for their heads, tamely sub- 
 mitted. Power was restored to the ecclesiastical courts 
 to depose and punish as they might judge best. No 
 less than sixteen thousand clergymen were deposed 
 from their positions. Strict celibaey was enjoined on 
 every pastor. Tlie oath of royal supremacy was no 
 longer required. Tlie Englisli language was banished 
 from the public services, and the Latin restored to its 
 old place. All the old ceremonies in use before Henry 
 were brought back again. Protestant teachers were 
 ejected from the universities. A commission was ap- 
 
THE ENGLISH REFORMATION. 77 
 
 pointed to suppress heresy, and martyr-fires were kin- 
 dled in various parts of England. A low estimate of 
 persons burned places the martyrdoms at eight hun- 
 dred. The number would have gone to thousands had 
 not many leading Reformers fled to the Continent. 
 Strasburg, Zurich, Geneva, and other places became 
 their homes, where they established services in the Eng- 
 lish language, and waited until the time might come 
 when they could return home. 
 
 3. The Final Triumph of the Reformation.— Elizabeth 
 succeeded Mary in 1558. She was gifted with rare 
 caution, strong will, and a quick and accurate percep- 
 tion of character. She was a devoted Protestant, and 
 immediately set to work to complete the interrupted 
 fabric of reform in her dominions. The country was 
 desperate because of material reverses. England was 
 losing at home and abroad, and the people were ready 
 for any change. Roman Catholic rule had proven its 
 inability to make them prosperous and happy. The 
 queen at once recognized Protestantism as the national 
 faith. The " Articles " and second " Book of Homilies " 
 were adopted in parliament and convocation, in 1563, 
 and Protestants were placed in charge of all the 
 churches. The exiles came home from the Continent, 
 and were among the most zealous in promoting the 
 work of reform. 
 
 4. The Independents were a growing class of people, 
 who believed that neither Henry nor Elizabeth had 
 broken fully from Rome. They looked upon the elab- 
 orate ceremonial, the episcoi3acy, the use of robes, and 
 the mild observance of the Sabbath as wretched rem- 
 nants of the evil times, and would do away with all 
 such reminders of Antichrist. They refused to adopt 
 the new order, and would establish one of their own, 
 
78 SHORT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 in harmony with the example of the Genevan Church. 
 Elizabeth took strong ground against the Indepen- 
 dents. The Act of Uniformity was enforced in 1563, 
 and this was the first stroke of separation. Lords Bur- 
 leigh and Walsingham endeavored in vain to secure a 
 compromise. The first English presbytery was organ- 
 ized at Wandsworth, and was the practical beginning 
 of all the non-conforming bodies of England. But, 
 despite all the internal divisions of English Protestant- 
 ism, the Reformation became a fact under Elizabeth. 
 Her long reign brought to England material prosper- 
 ity; but, still more, a strong and enduring Protestant- 
 ism. 
 
 5. The Puritan Pilgrims. — The most important event 
 of the English Reformation, in its relation to America, 
 Avas the rise of the Brownist sect. Robert Bro-vvn, 
 born about 1550, was a student in Cambridge. "While 
 there he adopted Puritan views, and became a warm 
 advocate of them. His followers went by the name 
 of Brownists, and were alike firm in their hostility to 
 the Church of England and Romanism. The Brown- 
 ists were persecuted, not so much by royal order as by 
 the ecclesiastical courts. Unable to circulate their 
 writings or hold public services, they fled from Eng- 
 land, and organized a Church in Amsterdam, and after- 
 wards in Leyden. In the latter place John Robinson 
 was their pastor. They resolved on leaving Holland, 
 and set sail for the New World. They landed at 
 Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1020, and became the 
 chief factor for the civil and religious development of 
 the colonies and the United States. Holmes, in his 
 *' Robinson of Leyden," thus pictures the hour of their 
 departure: 
 
THE ENGLISH KEFOKMATION. 79 
 
 No home for these ! Too well they knew 
 
 The mitred king behind the throne ; 
 The sails were set, the pennons flew, 
 
 And westward ho ! for worlds unknown. 
 
 And these were they who gave us birth, 
 
 The Pilgrims of the sunset wave. 
 Who won for us this virgin earth, 
 
 And freedom with the soil they gave," 
 
Chapter XL 
 
 THE SCOTCH REFORMATION. 
 
 1. The Scotch Reformers were of sturdy type, like their 
 own rugged bills. Their country was not as yet under 
 the English crown, but was a separate kingdom, di- 
 vided into fierce and warlike clans, and ruled by the 
 Stuarts, a royal family in full sympathy with Rome. 
 The bishops and the rulers were in close league to re- 
 sist all Protestant encroachments. The new doctrines, 
 however, did cross the Tweed, and were adopted there 
 in various parts of the country. Cardinal Beatoun 
 was appointed leading inquisitor, and he did not hesi- 
 tate to burn heretics without mercy. Patrick Hamil- 
 ton was the first Protestant leader. He was for a time 
 on the Continent, and though the movement was haz- 
 ardous, he returned to Scotland, to carry out the cause 
 that lay near his heart. He was not long permitted 
 to preach and teach the new doctrines. He suffered 
 martyrdom, and his followers were left without a 
 guide. 
 
 2. Mary, Queen of Scots. — Mary Stuart was tlie daugh- 
 ter of James V., King of Scotland. Her f atlier said of 
 her : "The kingdom cam' wi' a lass (daughter of Rob- 
 ert Bruce), an' it wuU gae wi' a lass." His words be- 
 came a correct prophecy. The country was under a 
 protectorate during her minority, about nineteen years. 
 Through this period the drift Avas constantly towards 
 Protestantism. The Scotch had imbibed the Calvin- 
 
THE SCOTCH KEFOEMATION. 81 
 
 istic doctrines, and were growing firmer in their at- 
 tachment every year. Mary, on licr reception as queen, 
 caused great offence to them. Her French confessors 
 and courtiers gave extreme Roman Catholic color to 
 the very first days of her reign. Knox expressed 
 the deep feeling of the people when he prayed : " Pu- 
 rify, O Lord, the heart of the queen from the poi- 
 son of idolatry. Release her from the bondage of Sa- 
 tan in which she was brought up, and in which, from 
 want of true teaching, she still remains." Mary's life 
 was not blameless. In 1565 she was married to the 
 Earl of Darnley. A disagreement took place between 
 them, and, the queen being attached to an Italian, Riz- 
 zio, Darnley headed a conspiracy which murdered him. 
 Darnley himself, according to the general opinion of 
 the Scotch at the time, was put to death by Bothwell, 
 at Mary's instance, through the combined method of 
 strangling and the explosion of the house in w^hich he 
 lay ill. Shortly afterwards Mary married Bothwell. 
 The i3eople had endured her rule as long as possible. 
 The illustration of Romanism in the rule and life of 
 their queen was enough to make the whole land thor- 
 oughly Protestant. The revolution broke out with 
 great violence, and Mary fled to England. She had 
 been invited by Elizabeth, and when the invitation was 
 accepted, Elizabeth showed her hospitality by throw- 
 ing her into prison. Mary hoped that, Elizabeth hav- 
 ing once been declared illegitimate, she might lead 
 the Roman Catholics of the country to revolt against 
 Elizabeth's rule, and herself become queen of England. 
 But Elizabeth was too shrewd to allow such a plan to 
 succeed. Mary was tried, and put to death in 1587, 
 and Elizabeth became practically queen of both Eng- 
 land and Scotland. Mary's revenge came, however, 
 
 6 
 
82 SHORT HISTORY of the reformation. 
 
 after her death, wlien her Bon succeeded Elizabeth, as 
 James VI. of Scotland and James I. of England. 
 
 3. John Knox. — This man was Hamilton's natural 
 successor. He began just where his predecessor had 
 left off, and very soon the Scotch Protestants felt the 
 power of his genius. He was born in 1505, and in 
 1542 publicly proclaimed himself in Edinburgh as a 
 Reformer. His studies had been leading him thither 
 for some time, but from the moment of his public re- 
 nunciation of Romanism he never wavered. His hero- 
 ism was as intense as that of Luther. He felt, and 
 therefore he spoke. He Avas degraded from his office 
 as preacher in St. Andrews, and sent to France, where 
 he was subjected nearly two years to hard labor in the 
 galleys. As soon as he was released he promptly re- 
 turned to Scotland, and preached the doctrines of 
 the Reformation with great eloquence. When Mary, 
 Queen of Scots, ascended the throne, he fled to Ger- 
 many, where he established himself in Frankfort-on-the 
 Main, as one of the three hundred Protestant exiles. He 
 became pastor of the little colony of English refugees. 
 From there he Vv'^ent to Geneva, where he imbibed from 
 Calvin himself the Calvinistic tyj^e of Protestantism. 
 He was burnt in effigy in Scotland by Mary's order — 
 a very harmless proceeding on her part. In 1558 he 
 published his *' First Blast of the Trumpet Against the 
 Monstrous Regiment of AYomen." The Protestants 
 formed an organized body, and bound themselves to 
 resistance by a covenant. The country became in- 
 volved in civil war, and when peace was restored 
 Queen Mary had six interviews with him, and, though 
 moved to tears by his eloquence, afterwards caused his 
 arrest on the charge of treason. But the court acquit- 
 ted him. He was fearless in all his work. His life 
 
THE SCOTCH refoematiox. 83 
 
 was in constant clanger, but be at no time besitated 
 to preacb and teacb tbe Protestant doctrines. He died 
 in Edinbnrgb in 1572. By tbe time of bis deatb tbe 
 trimnpb of tbe Scotcb Reformation was complete. It 
 was tbe victory of tbe people, under tbe leadersbip 
 of a brave and true man, against tbe combined forces 
 of a queen, a court, and a powerful nobility. Tbe 
 Scotcb Reformers did tbeir work so tborougbly tbat 
 it was never necessary to do it over again. They bad 
 written tbeir protest witb tbeir own blood, and it stands 
 to tbis day. 
 
Chapter XII. 
 the eeformation ix the netherlands. 
 
 1. The Union of the Netherlands under the Spanish 
 crown was a firm bond with the old order of monarch- 
 ical and hierarchical despotism. Charles V., King of 
 Spain and Emperor of Germany, received the country 
 as an inheritance from his grandmother, Maria of Bur- 
 gundy. The Dutch had always been distinguished 
 for their love of freedom, and, even as far back as the 
 Roman period, Julius Ca?sar was compelled to annex 
 Batavia to his dominions, less as a conquered than as 
 an affiliated province. The same love of independence 
 still prevailed through all the mediaeval period, and 
 expressed itself in both civil and religious life. The 
 Brothers of the Common Life, a society which was 
 founded in 1384, made it their chief aim to improve 
 the morals of the people, and looked intently upon a 
 thorough reform. Gerhard Groot and Florentius Ra- 
 dewin represented the order, and the Brothers' House, 
 in Deventer, was a centre for both laymen and preach- 
 ers to teach and preach, and send their evangelists 
 through the country. In the two schools of Deventer 
 and Ilerzogenbusch alone there were, at one time, as 
 many as twelve hundred students in attendance. AVhen 
 the news of the Wittenberg revolt from Romanism 
 came, the whole country was eager for co-operation. 
 In fact, in no land was there such a complete and pop- 
 ular preparation for the Reformation as in the Nether- 
 
IN THE NETHERLANDS. 85 
 
 lands. Luther's writings were caught up with avidity, 
 while his hymns were sung with fervor along the 
 Dutch dikes, in the boats, and in the cottages of the 
 whole country. The Reformation assumed a political 
 character. The people were prohibited from adopting 
 Protestantism, and were slaughtered for disobedience. 
 Charles V.'s measures were cruel and unremitting — a 
 course which he continued until his abdication. Even 
 among the last words spoken, in the far-off Spanish 
 monastery of Yuste, to his son, Philip II., he urged 
 no leniency to his heretical subjects. So violent was 
 the opposition to Protestantism that the people were 
 driven to revolution, and the Spanish army marched 
 thither, under the cruel Duke of Alva, to conquer the 
 people into submission. 
 
 2. The Edict of Worms, the cruel order against all 
 sympathy with the Protestant cause, was made bind- 
 ing upon the Netherlands. The Inquisition was estab- 
 lished, and the fires of martyrdom blazed all over the 
 land. To be known as a Protestant was certain death. 
 Not less than one hundred thousand j^eople are com- 
 puted to have been put to death for professing the 
 new doctrines. After Charles V. abdicated, and Philip 
 II., his son, succeeded him, there was even greater 
 cruelty. After 1555 not a vestige of civil or religious 
 liberty remained in the country. The Protestant no- 
 bility formed themselves into the Beggars' League, 
 otherwise called the Compromise, by which they made 
 it their object to overthrow the Spanish authority and 
 establish Protestantism and national independence. 
 They were derisively called '' Beggars " by their op- 
 pressors. They adopted the term for their entire 
 league, wore plain clothes, made of the coarsest cloth, 
 and carried a wooden bowl, hung to a wooden chain, as 
 
86 SHORT IllSTOKY OF THE REFORMATIOX. 
 
 an emblem of their simplicity, and of tlieir readiness to 
 be called poor, for conscience' sake. The Duke of Alva, 
 at the head of the Spanish army, succeeded in conquer- 
 ing the Beggars. But the peace was of only short 
 duration. The seven northern provinces united in a 
 league, the Utrecht Union (1579), and in due time 
 conquered the Spanish army. William of Orange 
 stood at the head of the movement for national inde- 
 pendence, and he was succeeded, in 1584, by his son 
 Maurice, who completed the work begun by his father. 
 3. Erasmus, of Rotterdam, belongs in the front rank 
 of Reformers. He was the one cosmopolitan character 
 of the times, and was Holland's greatest gift to the ec- 
 clesiastical scholarship of Europe. He did more than 
 any man of the period of the Reformation to dissemi- 
 nate a knowledge of the IN'ew Testament. His pen 
 touched all the lands which showed signs of awaking 
 to the new life, for it was he who handed over to the 
 Protestant cause the best and purest philological learn- 
 ing awakened by the Humanists. He was born in 1467, 
 and died in 1536. After a thorough training in Ox- 
 ford University, whither he went through the influence 
 of Lord Montjoy, he began to teach privately. Here 
 began his attachment with Sir Thomas More, which 
 was only interrupted by the latter's death. Erasmus 
 went to Italy for further studies, and took his doctor's 
 degree in Turin. He stayed for a time in Bologna and 
 Venice, at which latter place he published his first 
 books. Henry VIH. invited him to England, and while 
 on his way thither he wrote his " Praise of Folly," the 
 most satirical work of the times. In this he makes 
 Folly speak her o^^^l mind, and boast of her silliness. 
 The work is a picture of priestly superstition, igno- 
 rance, and corruption. 
 
IN THE NETHEKLANDS. 87 
 
 4. Erasmus in Basel. — Erasmus returned to the Conti- 
 nent, and dwelt a long time in Basel, where he enjoyed 
 the friendship of (Ecolampadius and Beer, then prom- 
 inent Reformers. He divided his time chiefly between 
 Basel and England, all the ^vhile writing w^th great 
 industry, and spreading a knowledge of the Kew Tes- 
 tament. His chief w^orks were his "Colloquies," his 
 edition of the Greek Testament, his Paraphrase on the 
 same, and his " Praise of Folly." He was a profound 
 and versatile scholar, and it was alone as such that he 
 was important as a Reformer. He was always hesitant 
 about withdrawing from Rome, allowed himself to come 
 into opposition to Luther, and had no clear conception 
 of that firm and strong theological basis which under- 
 lay the Protestant structure. He placed much faith in 
 a comj^romise, and had not that clear vision to see that 
 such a course was an impossibility in a grave crisis of 
 principle. 
 
 5. Erasmus and Luther. — One of the most unpleasant 
 chapters in the history of the Reformation, abundant 
 as it is in beautiful and lasting friendships, is the un- 
 fraternal relationship between Erasmus and Luther. 
 There was a time of cordiality, but this gave place to 
 coldness, and even to bitterness. Erasmus always held 
 that Luther's course was right, only that he was too 
 vehement. Doctrinally, they differed on the freedom 
 of the will, Luther taking the Augustinian view in al- 
 most its full force. Besides, Erasmus hesitated to 
 break openly with Rome, and so the distance between 
 them widened. Luther wrote the following of Eras- 
 mus, a proof of how unable men of genius often are to 
 appreciate each other: "I have cracked many hollow 
 nuts, which I thought had been good, but they fouled 
 my mouth and filled it with dust: Erasmus and Carl- 
 
88 SHOET HISTORY OF THE KEFORMATION. 
 
 stadt are hollow nuts. Erasmus is a mere Momus, mak- 
 ing his mows and mocks at everything and everybody, 
 at Papist and Protestant, but all the while using such 
 shuffling and double-meaning terms that no one can 
 lay hold of him to any effectual purpose. His chief 
 doctrine is. Hang the cloak according to the wind. He 
 only looked to himself, to have good and easy days, 
 and so died like an Epicurean, without any one comfort 
 of God. I hold Erasmus of Rotterdam to be Christ's 
 most bitter enemy. I leave this as my will and testa- 
 ment." This was harsh language, unjust towards Eras- 
 mus, and not at all in harmony with Luther's gener- 
 ous nature. 
 
Chapter XIII. 
 
 THE REFOEMATIOX IN FRANCE. 
 
 1. The Outlook for Protestantism in France was very 
 favorable at the beginning. The conditions were such 
 that no violent opposition could be expected, especially 
 along the Seine and in the southern provinces. The 
 seventy years' residence of the popes in Avignon had 
 inflamed the people with a desire for a national Roman 
 Catholic Church, and a corresponding hostility to Rome. 
 The "Galilean," as against the "Pa^^al" Church, had 
 long been a hope of French kings and people. There 
 was abroad a spirit of dissatisfaction with the existing 
 order, and an ardent craving for religious liberty and 
 freedom from the despotism of provincial princes. 
 There were six principal causes which led to this desire 
 for Reformation : the remaining influence of the early 
 Paris Reformers, which was still powerful in private 
 circles ; the religious fervor of the inhabitants of the 
 Cevennes mountains, in the south ; the example of the 
 heroic Waldenses in the Vaudois Alps ; the example 
 and force of the Genevan Reformers, with Calvin at 
 their head ; the great work of the German Reformers, 
 v\^ith Wittenberg as their centre of life and force ; and 
 the literary spirit, or free tendency towards inquiry, 
 which radiated from the university into every jDart of 
 the kingdom. 
 
 2. The Dread of the German Reformation. Nothing 
 was more dreaded by the Romanism of France than 
 
90 SIJOET HISTORY OF THE REFOKMATIOX. 
 
 the work which was done by the German Reformers. 
 The books of Luther found their way into France, and 
 Avere translated and read extensively. By an order of 
 the Sorbonne they were publicly burned, in the year 
 1521, and violent threats made against any joerson read- 
 ing them. Francis L, who succeeded to the French 
 throne in 1515, was a mixed character, now half Prot- 
 estant, and again thoroughly Roman Catholic. In 1535 
 he was lenient enough to invite Melanchthon to accept 
 a chair in the University of Paris — a bait which that 
 calm German was too shrewd to accept, gladly reply- 
 ing that the Elector of Saxony refused permission to 
 leave Wittenberg. It will add emphasis to the real 
 meaning of this generous patronage of German schol- 
 arship when we remember that, in that very year, Fran- 
 cis I. burned to death from twenty to thirty of his own 
 subjects, because they were Huguenots. 
 
 3. The Danger of French Protestantism. The real 
 danger to the Protestants came from a firm alliance be- 
 tween the authorities at Rome and the French throne. 
 Francis I., whatever pleasant exterior he presented, re- 
 mained, at heart, a bitter advocate of oppressive meas- 
 ures against Protestantism in his own dominions. But 
 the Protestants, who, in France, were called Huguenots, 
 proceeded to the work of evangelization and organi- 
 zation. In 1553 their lirst church was established 
 and recognized, and the first pastor installed, in Paris. 
 They also had fifteen other societies in various parts 
 of tlie kingdom, those in Meaux, Angers, and Poictiers 
 being among the chief. But there was no cohesion 
 between them. They were simply isolated Christian 
 bodies, tired of Romish supremacy, and in thorough 
 sympathy with the great I'rotestant cause in other 
 lands. However, the scattered Huguenots soon coa- 
 
IN FRANCE. 91 
 
 lesced, and in 1559 the General Synod of Paris met, 
 and the Gallic Confession was adopted as the creed of 
 French Protestantism. 
 
 4. Opposition to the Huguenots. The Huguenots pos- 
 sessed a martial spirit. Many of them had a military 
 education, and their fundamental error was their 
 hope that, by political and martial measures, they 
 might succeed in the end. The royal family was di- 
 vided between Huguenots and Romanists. The Bour- 
 bons were with the Huguenots, and the Guises with 
 the Roman Catholics. The subdued opposition camo 
 to violent outbreak. The appeal was to arms, and, in 
 1561, the land was convulsed by a civil war, which last- 
 ed thirty years. Three wars were carried on, and three 
 times a peace was patched up. The third peace, that 
 of St. Germain, in 1570, guaranteed liberty of doc- 
 trine and public worship to the Huguenots, with the 
 exception of the residence of the court and the city of 
 Paris. Catharine de Medici became regent in 1560, 
 her son, Charles IX., being only ten years old. She 
 professed profound sympathy with the Huguenots, but 
 was only playing a shrewd game of deception. She 
 was waiting for an opportunity to deal destruction on 
 every side. 
 
 6. Rapid Spread of the Huguenots. The increase of 
 Protestantism at this time was remarkably rapid. The 
 Synod of 1559 had not only adopted a Confession, 
 which bore every mark of Calvin's hand, but had also 
 thoroughly organized a Protestant Church, with a pro- 
 vision for provincial synods throughout the kingdom, 
 and a complete system of Church discipline and litur- 
 gical order. When the war began, in 1561, there were, 
 according to Beza, four hundred thousand Huguenots 
 throughout France, and Conde's list of their churches, 
 
92 SHORT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 presented as an exhibit to Catharine de Medici, com- 
 prised two thousand one hundred and fifty names. 
 They were distributed chiefly through the south and 
 west. Normandy, also, possessed many of their soci- 
 eties, but in the north the Huguenots were less repre- 
 sented. 
 
 6. Massacre of St. Bartholomew. It was arranged by 
 Catharine that the semblance of a thorough reconcili- 
 ation between the Protestants and the Roman Catho- 
 lics should take place. Charles's sister was to marry 
 Henry of Navarre, the leader of the Huguenots. Brill- 
 iant festivities were arranged, and the whole land was 
 alive with new joy that, at last, the Huguenots and 
 Roman Catholics could live henceforth in peace, and 
 each worship with equal rights before the law. The 
 marriage was celebrated August 18, 1572, but on the 
 night of the 24th a bell in the palace belfry gave the 
 signal for general slaughter. This was the Massacre 
 of St. Bartholomew's eve. The Huguenot chiefs were 
 all in Paris, and their whereabouts was known. Ad- 
 miral Coligny, an intrepid warrior and firm Huguenot, 
 was murdered in cold blood, and cast out of the win- 
 dow into the stone court below. For seven days and 
 nights the streets ran with Protestant blood. Out- 
 side of Paris the massacre was sudden and overwhelm- 
 ing. The Loire and the Rhone ran red and thick with 
 the blood and bodies of victims. The cities of Meaux, 
 Orleans, Bourges, Lyons, Rouen, Toulouse, and Bor- 
 deaux were centres of the persecution. Not less than 
 one hundred thousand Huguenots fell beneath flame 
 and sword. The pretext for the universal murder was, 
 that Coligny had concerted a secret conspiracy against 
 the crown. There is not, and never was, a vestige 
 of authority for even the suspicion of such a thing. 
 
IX FKANCE. 93 
 
 At Rome there was great rejoicing over the blood- 
 shed. Pope Gregory ordered the ringing of the bells 
 of the city, and a special medal to be struck in honor 
 of his triumph. 
 
 7. The Huguenot Uprising. The Huguenots were not 
 willing, even yet, to surrender. They had lost immense 
 numbers, but were eager to renew the conflict. The 
 struggle began again, and in 1576 the Peace of Beau- 
 lieu guaranteed the Huguenots once more the liberty of 
 worship and doctrine. Henry of Navarre ascended the 
 throne in 1589, as Henry IV. He renounced his Prot- 
 estantism, as the jDrice of his crown ; but, by the Edict 
 of Nantes, in 1598, he gave full liberty to the Hugue- 
 nots to worship in places where they had established 
 services, and to stand equal with Roman Catholics be- 
 fore the law. Protestants now increased very rapidly. 
 Henry IV. granted them personal safety and the right 
 of worship in one hundred and fifty places throughout 
 the kingdom, the chief of which were Bordeaux, Poic- 
 tiers, and Montpellier. By the year 1628 they possessed 
 six hundred and eighty-eight churches, and by 1637 
 these had grown to seven hundred and twenty. For 
 nearly a century they enjoyed comparative peace, and 
 rapidly multiplied in every department of ecclesiastical 
 prosperity. When Louis XIV. came to the throne he 
 strongly opposed them. No wrong was spared to make 
 France an unwelcome home. There were at this time 
 about two million Huguenots throughout the country ; 
 though, at one time, they had numbered at least one 
 third the entire population of the country. In the 
 quarter of a century preceding 1685, not less than five 
 hundred and twenty of their churches were destroyed. 
 They were permitted to leave the country, and the 
 exile began in 1666. It continued not less than a half- 
 
94 SHORT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 century, during which time a low estimate of the num- 
 ber of Huguenots who forsook France places it at one 
 million. But still many remained, and, to give a finish- 
 ing stroke to them, the Edict of Xantes was revoked, in 
 the year 1685. This act destroyed the last vestige of civil 
 and religious rights now remaining to the Huguenots. 
 There were still about one thousand of their pastors, 
 and of these one hundred were sent to the galleys or 
 put to death, six hundred fled the country, and the oth- 
 er three hundred disappeared in unaccountable ways. 
 For a century Protestantism was almost blotted out of 
 the country. Only at the close of the 18th century 
 was there a comparative revival of the old Protestant 
 spirit. 
 
Chapter XIV. 
 
 THE REFORMATION IN ITALY. 
 
 1. The Soil Prepared by Savonarola. — The Italians 
 were prepared by Savonarola to give hearty credence 
 to the new doctrines. He was born in Ferrara in 1452, 
 and was executed in Florence in 1498. In 1484 he be- 
 gan to preach in Brescia on the book of Revelation. 
 In 1489 he removed to Florence, and became a monk 
 in the convent of St. Mark. He was an eloquent pleader 
 for reformation in the church, and showed no mercy 
 in declaring against the corruptions of Rome. His 
 great error lay in having interfered Avith the politi- 
 cal convulsions of Florence. Not for his bold protest 
 against immorality alone was he compelled to suffer ; 
 he became an object of political hostility on the part 
 of Lorenzo and Pietro, of the Medici family, who had 
 stood in charge of the Republic of Florence. Savon- 
 arola was at the head of a revolution against them. 
 The people of Florence, who were witnesses of his 
 pure and sacrificing life, believed in him fully, and 
 supported him by their sympathy. Pietro de Medici, 
 unable to resist Savonarola alone, called to his aid the 
 pope, Alexander VI., who was already eager to sup- 
 press the Florentine monk. The brave Reformer fell 
 beneath the power of Rome. Savonarola had wrought 
 alone. He held a free lance, and the power of his 
 speech and the heroism of his life long survived his 
 
9G SHORT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 death. For the moral greatness of the man there was 
 not, and could not be, a martyrdom. 
 
 2. Protestant Books from the North. — Venice was at 
 this very time in the throes of the religions revolution. 
 The works of Luther and his coadjutors were not only 
 circulated, but even printed, along the Grand Canal. 
 Some little skill was needful to escape papal interdic- 
 tion. For example, the *' Loci Theologici " of Melanch- 
 thon — the Greek term into which he translated his name, 
 after the usage of scholars, from his German name of 
 Schwarzerd, or Black Earth — was translated into Ital- 
 ian, and published under the almost undistinguishable, 
 but accurately Italianized, name of " I Principii della 
 Theologia di Ippofilo de Terra Nigra." This work 
 reached Rome, and was sold and read for a whole year 
 with enthusiasm. When the copies were exhausted 
 an order was sent to Venice for a new supply. A 
 Franciscan friar discovered the identity of the author 
 with the German IMelanchthon, and exposed it. Of 
 course, Rome was not long in seeing the heresy, and 
 ordering the burning of the dangerous book. Char- 
 don de la Rochette wrote : " My hostess, the good 
 mother Coleti, says her prayers every day before a 
 beautiful miniature, which represents Luther on one 
 side and Melanchthon on the other." Zwingli's works 
 were circulated under the name of " Coricius Cogelius," 
 and Bucer's " Psalms " went abroad in Italy and France 
 as the commentary of " Aretius Felinus." Melanchthon 
 was not astray Avhen he wrote to George, Prince of 
 Anhalt, " What libraries have been carried from the 
 late fair into Italy, though the pope has published fresh 
 edicts against us!" 
 
 3. The War Between the German Empire and Italy 
 broke out in 152G, and in 1527 the imperial army sacked 
 
IN ITALY. 97 
 
 Rome itself, and for a long time occupied Naples. With 
 this array there was a large number of Protestants. 
 They carried the reform south of the Alps, and the 
 contagion spread among the Italian peoples. We have 
 positive proof that Melanchthon corresponded with the 
 Venetian Reformers in 1529, and that Modena was a 
 Lutheran city. 
 
 4. The Sceptical Humanism. — Italy was the native 
 country of Humanism. But the new scholarship was 
 so negative, and manifested itself in the cultivated cir- 
 cles by such positive indifference towards all religious 
 life, that the land, though rising in intelligence, drifted 
 far from the Gospel. The poems of Portano, Sanazzaro 
 and Marcellus were nothing but fulsome praises of the 
 gods of Greece and Rome. The clergy introduced the 
 whole dead mythology of the pagan times into their 
 sermons, and drew parallels between Jupiter Maximus 
 and God the Father, Apollo and Jesus, and Diana and 
 the Virgin Mary. The people were left in profound 
 ignorance. Dante said of the preachers of his day : 
 
 " E'en they whose office is 
 To preach the gospel, let the gospel sleep, 
 And pass their own inventions off instead." 
 
 In another place he became still more bold : 
 
 " The preacher now provides himself with store 
 Of jests and gibes ; and, so there be no lack 
 Of laughter, while he vents them, his big cowl 
 Distends, and he has won the meed he sought. 
 Could but the vulgar catch a glimpse the while, 
 Of that dark bird which nestles in his hood, 
 They scarce could wait to hear the blessing said, 
 Which word the dotards hold in such esteem." 
 
 Of the moral condition of Rome, Petrarch ex- 
 claimed : 
 
98 SHORT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 " Foul nest of treason ! Is there aught 
 Wherewith the spacious world is fraught 
 
 Of bad or vile — 'tis hatched in thee ; 
 Who revellest in thy -costly meats, 
 Thy precious wines and curious seats, 
 And all the fruits of luxury." 
 
 6. Spread of Protestant Doctrines. — The Protestanft 
 doctrines spre;id rapidly through every part of Italy. 
 In the extreme south, or Calabria, where the descend- 
 ants of some Waldensian emigrants lived, the sympathy 
 with the new doctrines was j^rompt and strong. In the 
 north every important town numbered among its people 
 some disciples of the German Reformers. Ferrara, Mo- 
 dena, Florence, Bologna, Padua,Verona, Brescia, Milan, 
 Lucca, and Venice had large numbers of devoted Re- 
 formers, who v\^ere reading, praying, and consulting, hop- 
 ing that the same good i:)rovidence Avhich had favored 
 their spiritual fathers in Germany would bless their 
 country. Lucca had, perhaps, more adherents to the 
 Reform than any other city. But Venice excelled all 
 others in the distribution of the Scriptures. To Flor- 
 ence belonged the great honor of having three of its 
 sons — Brucioli,Marmochini, and Teofilo — prepare, each, 
 an Italian translation of the Scriptures. The version of 
 Brucioli became the favorite. Among the firmest Re- 
 formers were Ochino, Peter Martyr, Paleario, Paschali, 
 and Vergerio. None were more fully the objects of 
 suspicion than the two former, both of Avhom suc- 
 ceeded in leaving the country before the officers could 
 arrest them. 
 
 6. Woman's Work. — In no country of Kur<>])e were 
 women so prominent in the advocacy of the Reforma- 
 tion as in Italy. There was one court, Ferrara, where 
 the duchess Renata was a firm adherent, and her court 
 
IN ITALY. 99 
 
 was, in a quiet way, a rallying-place for all Protestants. 
 Calvin visited her once, and afterwards kept up a cor- 
 respondence, until the poor woman fell a victim to her 
 loyalty to Protestantism. Other women were none 
 the less true, and, either socially or by their writings, 
 did all in their power to advance the new measures. 
 Olympia Morata, Isabella Mauricha, Lavinia della Re- 
 vere, Madonna Maddelena and Madonna Cherbina (both 
 of the Orsini family), the learned duchess Julia Gon- 
 zago, and the brilliant Vittoria Colonna, were repre- 
 sentatives of a large class of noble and heroic women, 
 who were among the first to welcome the doctrines 
 from the north, and also among the first to suffer for 
 their devotion to them. 
 
 7. Oppression of Protestantism. — The cause of the 
 Reformation advanced just far enough to be recog- 
 nized as an opposing and dangerous religious factor, 
 when the orders v/ent out from Rome for its forcible 
 suppression. There was nowhere sufticient momentum 
 to the new cause to organize a church or establish a 
 formulary of doctrine. But there were indications 
 enough to begin the work of resistance. In 1542 the 
 Inquisition, which was already in operaton in Spain, was 
 ordered to begin in Italy. Caraffa was put in charge 
 of the work, and a more competent man could not be 
 found. In every city where Protestants could be found 
 they were publicly executed, and without delay. An- 
 tonio Paleario, the author of a powerful treatise, " The 
 Benefit of Christ," v/as burned. Paschali suffered a 
 like fate. As a result, by the end of the century near- 
 ly every trace of Protestantism was suppressed. 
 
 8. The Council of Trent— The Council of Trent was 
 the papal method of dealing with Protestantism out- 
 side of Italy. It was a recognition by Rome of the 
 
100 SHORT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 necessity of adopting a new course to arrest reform. 
 It convened in December, 1545, and adjourned in 1547. 
 One of its first acts was to revoke the old method of 
 the rule of the majority, and to order that the pope's 
 consent was necessary to every decree. Reforms in a 
 small way were ordered. The two principal reforma- 
 tory measures were, that better teachers and preachers 
 should be provided by the bishops, and that bishops 
 should be punished for neglect of their duties. But, 
 with these concessions, the work of reform ended. The 
 general spirit of the council was relentless in its oppo- 
 sition to Protestantism. 
 
 9. Italian Protestants in Exile. — Many Italians es- 
 caped death. Owing to the difficulty of detecting them, 
 so soon as they reached the Alps they were generally 
 safe from arrest. Italy was a confederation of little 
 duchies and republics, which we-i-e often at war with 
 each other, and this want of civil connection favored 
 their escape. The larger Swiss towns and cities had 
 little groups of fugitive Italian Protestants, who re- 
 ceived a cordial welcome, and to whom avenues of 
 trade and industry were opened. The canton of the 
 Orisons, in the Eastern Alps, was almost populated by 
 them. Its population consisted of three folk-stems, the 
 old Rhetian, the Italian, and the German, and when the 
 Protestants from the south took their place among them, 
 they gave their impress to the faith and language of the 
 whole people. A body of exiles from Locarno settled in 
 Zurich, and established a Protestant service and or- 
 ganization there. Peter Martyr accepted an invitation 
 of Cranmer to go to England, and became a professor 
 in Oxford. Ochino also went to England, and preached 
 in London. Exiles from Italy, likewise, amoug whom 
 may bo named Paolo di Colli, Grataroli, Oorrado, Te- 
 
IN ITALY. 101 
 
 glio, Betti, Celso, and Curio, went to Basel, and settled 
 there. All these men were talented, some being au- 
 thors, who had made themselves objects of suspicion 
 at home because of their heroic devotion, by pen and 
 speech, to the new Protestantism. 
 
Chapter XV. 
 
 THE EEFORilATIOX IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. 
 
 1. Religious Despotism in Spain. — No country in Eu- 
 rope was under a more complete despotism than Spain. 
 It was too far removed from the life and heart of Eu- 
 rope to respond aggressively to any profound move- 
 ment elsewhere. The Church and the State were at- 
 tached together as by hooks of steel. Charles V., and, 
 later, his son, Philip II., ruled in harmony with the 
 spirit of mediaeval oppression and superstition. There 
 was no need of counsel from the pope, for they carried 
 out every extreme measure which could be acceptable 
 to Rome. The completeness of the hierarchical rule in 
 Spain can be seen from the statistics of the clergy and 
 minor priesthood of this time. There Avere 58 arch- 
 bishoprics, 684 bishoprics, 11,400 monasteries, 23,000 
 brotherhoods, 46,000 monks, 13,800 nuns, 312 secular 
 priests, and over 400,000 ecclesiastics of other grades. 
 With such a machinery as this, it can easily be imag- 
 ined that to introduce Protestant ideas was no easy 
 task. Still, in spite of the distance of Spain from the 
 general intellectual activity of Europe, so powerful was 
 the Protestant movement in the north and east that a 
 sympathy with it was awakened even among the peo- 
 ple of the S]);inish ])eiiinsula. 
 
 2. Spanish Mysticism, a peculiar phenomenon, indic- 
 ative of coming religious life, had already permeated 
 
THE EEFORMATION IN SPAIX AND PORTUGAL. 103 
 
 many classes. The new prosperity that came from 
 discoveries in America created an intellectual activity 
 which took note of every new movement in other 
 countries of Europe. The writings of Erasmus, and 
 even of Luther, found their way south of the Pyre- 
 nees, and were read in secret by many persons of the 
 more cultivated classes. A taste for them had been 
 awakened by the Mysticism, which was a popular aspi- 
 ration for purer morals and ecclesiastical government. 
 The officers of Charles V., and other members of his 
 military court, came in contact with Luther's doctrines 
 while in the German wars, and Avhen they returned 
 they brought this new attachment with them. As 
 representatives of this class may be mentioned Alphon- 
 so de Vives and Ponce de la Fuente. Translations of 
 the Bible into Spanish were a powerful auxiliary. 
 Franz Enzinas, of Burgos, issued the first Spanish Bi- 
 ble in Antwerp, in 1543. Knowing that his emperor, 
 Charles V., was a patron of learning — some kinds — he 
 had the simplicity to dedicate his version to that ruler. 
 His reward was a confinement of fourteen months in 
 a Brussels prison, on the ground that he had printed 
 in capital letters the passage, " Where is boasting then? 
 It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but 
 by the law of faith" (Romans, iii. 21). 
 
 3. Spread of the Reformation. — Entire cloisters, such 
 as San Lsidoro del Campo, threw off the authority of 
 Rome, and adopted the Protestant doctrines. Valla- 
 dolid, Seville, and Medina del Campo became centres 
 for the distribution of Protestant writings. Rodrigo 
 de Varelo, Juan iEgidius, Augustine Cazalla, and Diaz 
 Vv^ere representatives of the new measures. Small so- 
 cieties were organized in many places, and public wor- 
 ship was held. 
 
104 SHORT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 4. Suppression by the Inquisition. — Just as soon as 
 the Spanish people expressed sympathy with the Refor- 
 mation in an organized and public way, violent means 
 were employed to arrest the work. The Inquisition was 
 ordered from Rome. Fernando Valdez was appointed 
 Grand Inquisitor. He was the very man for the work, 
 having an indomitable will, blind zeal for Roman Ca- 
 tholicism, and intense hostility towards the cause of re- 
 form. Autos-da-Fe (Acts of Faith), or public burnings 
 of heretics, were kindled in twelve cities. All specta- 
 tors of these scenes were granted plenary indulgences. 
 The first prominent martyr was Carlos de Seso. Then 
 came Domingo de Roxas, Garcia de Arrias, Montanos, 
 and Hernandez, as leaders of a great host of victims. 
 Even women were not spared, whether from the nobility 
 or lower classes. Maria Gomez, Maria de Boborguez, 
 and Eleonora de Cisneros were noble representatives 
 of their sex in joyful readiness to endure martyrdom 
 for their faith. Protestant Englishmen, temporarily 
 in Spain, were likewise executed when known to be in 
 sympathy with Protestantism. 
 
 6. Portugal was much less affected by the reforma- 
 tory movement than Spain. Still, there were indica- 
 tions enough to excite alarm. Diego de Silva was 
 appointed Grand Inquisitor. He performed his work 
 thoroughly, and soon all Protestant traces were de- 
 stroyed. 
 
 6. The Causes of Failure in the whole Spanish penin- 
 sula are not difficult to find. Protestantism was largely 
 a measure of scholars and thinkers. No Spanish Prot- 
 estant was gifted with popular powers. There was not 
 a strong preacher or powerful speaker among them. 
 Thoy were men of the study, quiet authors, who thought 
 that thoy could win by the pen alone. They wrote in 
 
IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. 105 
 
 the language of the learned, and their writings never 
 pervaded the masses. In Spain there was no exception 
 to the general law, that no reform succeeds which is 
 confined to the educated and the aristocracy. The 
 persistent energy of the Spanish authorities, reinforced 
 from Rome, made thorough work of suppression. The 
 rights of conscience and intellectual liberty shared a 
 common fate. Even all lectures on morals were pro- 
 hibited in the universities, as favoring, by implication, 
 the Protestant cause. 
 
Chapter XVI. 
 the keformatiox ix scandinavia. 
 
 1. The Groundwork of Protestantism in tlie three Scan- 
 dinavian countries — Sweden, Denmark, and Norway — 
 was already laid in the dissatisfaction of the people 
 with the prevailing order of civil and ecclesiastical 
 government. The barons and priests had long since 
 united in popular oppression. The masses were ground 
 down, and centuries had passed without an improvement 
 in their condition. When the people learned of the re- 
 form in Germany they hailed it as a blessing to them. 
 Tliey eagerly listened to its first representatives in 
 their own country. 
 
 2. Olaf and Laurence Petersen were the first native 
 Swedish Reformers. They w^ent to Wittenberg as stu- 
 dents of theology, returned to Sweden, and, after 1519, 
 were devoted preachers of the new doctrines. But many 
 of the people were reluctant to give up their old faith, 
 which, indeed, was intermixed with traces of the old 
 Gothic paganism. The king, Gustavus Vasa, was a 
 firm Protestant, and vwas greatly beloved by his peo- 
 ple, lie told them that unless they Avould become 
 Protestants he would abdicate. This he proposed in 
 public, at a great meeting held in Upsala. The people 
 then declared in favor of Protestantism, and, at the 
 Diet of Orebro, in 1529 and 1537, and of Westeras, in 
 1527, the Protestant doctrines were declared to be the 
 faith of the kingdom. The Augsburg Confession was 
 
THE REFORMATION IN SCANDINAVIA. 107 
 
 endorsed in 1593, and the Form of Concord in 1663. 
 Apostasy to Komanism was punished with banish- 
 ment. 
 
 3. Protestantism in Denmark and Norway was intro- 
 duced by men who had studied in Wittenberg, and 
 brought back with them the new doctrines. Chris- 
 tian II., King of Denmark, publicly adopted them, and 
 took measures for their approval by the whole people. 
 John Tausen, who had studied under Luther, was ap- 
 pointed pastor in Copenhagen. The Roman Catholic 
 bishops were deposed, and the property of the monas- 
 teries was appropriated to the national treasury. Prot- 
 estantism was publicly adopted in Copenhagen in 1536, 
 a; id the Diet of Odensee, in 1539, completed the work. 
 The Reformation was introduced, and formally adopt- 
 ed, into Norway, in 1528. Danish missionaries carried 
 it to Iceland in 1551, where an ecclesiastical constitu- 
 tion, similar to that of Denmark, Avas adopted. 
 
Chapter XVII. 
 
 THE REFORMATION IX THE SLAVIC LANDS. 
 
 1. The Hussite Preparation was a powerful aid tow- 
 ards introducing the new measures. John Huss was 
 born about 1373, and burned at Constance in 1415. 
 He became acquainted with Wycliffe's writings when 
 at Prague, as a professor of theology and philosophy 
 in the University, through students who had brought 
 them from England. He eagerly adopted them. In 
 1402 he was appointed preacher in the Bethlehem chap- 
 el, where he preached in the Bohemian language. lie 
 aftervv^ards became rector of the University. He at- 
 tacked all the chief evils of the Church in his day, and 
 in due time the opposition to him became intense. The 
 King of Bohemia took his part. The struggle between 
 the pope and Huss was long in doubt, the people being 
 with the latter, and the priesthood Avith the former. 
 Pope John XXIII. summoned a general council, which 
 met in Constance in 1414. Huss was ordered thither, 
 and was promised personal safety. But the pledges 
 were violated, and in June, 1415, he was publicly 
 burned, and his ashes cast into Lake Constance. But 
 his cause did not die with him. His followers lived as 
 a political and ecclesiastical party in the retired parts 
 of the country. They withdrew to the rugged moun- 
 tains of Moravia, and lived in quiet. The Moravians 
 who afterwards went from there, and settled in Ilerrn- 
 
THE REFORMATION IN THE SLAVIC LANDS. 109 
 
 hut, in Saxony, and, under Zinzendorf, became known 
 as the United Brethren, are the spiritual descendants 
 of John Huss. 
 
 2. The Protestantism of Germany had warm sympa- 
 thizers in every part of Bohemia. Preachers went back 
 and forth between Bohemia and AVittenberg, and Lu- 
 ther was in frequent consultation with them as to the 
 best means of introducing the reform. The Calvinis- 
 tic theology, together with that of Luther, was like- 
 wise introduced. So successful was the work, that the 
 greater part of the country became Protestant. The 
 Jesuits, however, made this one of their favorite fields, 
 and, with the emperor on their side, gradually gained 
 the upper hand. In 1627 Protestants were declared 
 heretics, and had to choose between Romanism and 
 death. A universal exile was the result. 
 
 3. Poland. Bohemian Protestants carried the doc- 
 trines of Protestantism into Poland, at this time a 
 powerful and independent kingdom. The crime of the 
 partition and absorption of that country by Prussia, 
 Austria, and Russia was reserved for a later and more en- 
 lightened century, being begun in 1768, and completed 
 in 1795. Luther's writings were introduced with great 
 success, but opposed by the king, Sigismund I. His suc- 
 cessor, Sigismund Augustus, was favorable to Protes- 
 tantism, but the movement was weakened by a strife 
 between the Lutheran and Calvinistic confessions. The 
 Protestant nobility formed a league, by which a com- 
 promise was reached, in 1573. But there was no gen- 
 eral prosperity of the Protestants. They grew in Li- 
 vonia, and other parts of the Baltic coast, but in the 
 interior they led a feeble existence, being ground be- 
 neath the schemes of Jesuits and the political revolu- 
 tions that came from the efforts of Poland to preserve 
 
110 SHORT inSTOEY OF THE KEFOEMATIOX. 
 
 her independence. The work of Protestant disinte- 
 gration was greatly aided by a colony of Italians, who 
 were so permeated with the skeptical Humanism of 
 their country that they were illy prepared for an evan- 
 gelien.l Protestantism. 
 
 4. Hungary and Transylvania were early fields for 
 the Reformation. Many students went from those far- 
 off regions to Wittenberg, and carried back with them a 
 warm admiration of Luther and an inborn devotion to 
 his cause. Martin Cyriaci was one of the number, and 
 he began to preach, in 1524, in favor of the reform. 
 Matthias Devay translated the Bible into Hungarian, 
 and it was widely circulated. In 1545 the Synod of 
 Erdod formally adopted the Augsburg Confession as the 
 theological standard of the country. Much of the favor 
 which was shown to Protestantism came from the mer- 
 chants who had attended the Leipzig Fair every year 
 since Luther had begun to preach. When these re- 
 turned, they not only brought back with them books 
 in favor of the Reformation, but a profound sympathy 
 with the doctrines. Reformers Avent from Basel, which 
 was in the Protestant .ferment, and did much to aid in 
 the good work of propagation. The kings Lewis II., 
 Ferdinand, and John Zapoyla opposed the reform, 
 Avhile Maximilian I. favored it. The Peace of Vienna, 
 however, in 1606, resulted in its favor. Both the Lu- 
 theran and Calvinist types of theology were represent- 
 ed. The people who spoke the German language, and 
 heard of the Reformation from preachers who had stud- 
 ied in Wittenberg, adopted the Augsburg Confession, 
 while those who were under the teaching of Swiss 
 preachers adopted the Helvetic Confession. 
 
Chapter XVIIT. 
 survey of results. 
 
 1. The Fruits of the Reformation are not difficult to 
 find. Hitherto there had been but little liberty grant- 
 ed the common people. They were oppressed both 
 civilly and ecclesiastically, and all the political convul- 
 sions were of little fruit for them. The Hanse or 
 Free Cities constituted a confederation of powerful 
 centres, extending from the North Sea down to the 
 Alps. They arose as a reaction against despotic meas- 
 ures, but no sooner did they gain independence than 
 they were as repressive as their masters had been. 
 The effect of the Reformation was to elevate the peo- 
 ple to a thirst for liberty and a higher and purer citi- 
 zenship. Wherever the Protestant cause extended, it 
 made the masses more self-asserting. Social respect 
 and order were introduced, and subjected to firm regu- 
 lation. Nations were taught a higher regard for each 
 other's rights, and kings learned that their subjects 
 were no longer mere playthings or serfs. In some 
 countries the aspiration for independence took organ- 
 ized shape. The Reformation became the mother of 
 republics. The Dutch Republic was born of the ef- 
 forts of the Protestants of the Netherlands to secure 
 liberty of conscience. No thought of civil indepen- 
 dence animated the Dutch at the outset. They simply 
 fought for liberty of doctrine and worship. But once 
 in the current, they were carried on. They builded 
 
112 SHOET HISTORY OF THE EEFOEMATION. 
 
 more wisely than they knew, and so founded a nation 
 whose commerce covered every sea, whose discoveries 
 reached the antipodes, and whose universities became 
 
 the pride and wonder of Europe. '. 
 
 2. The American Union owes a large measure of its ! 
 
 genesis to the European struggle for reform. The | 
 Germans who came with Penn to this country were 
 
 strongly attached to the doctrines of Luther, and im- ■ 
 
 mediately began to build churches and establish schools ; 
 
 in that interest. The Dutch who settled in New York | 
 
 and the adjacent country brought with them a fervent i 
 
 love of Protestantism, which had been the creative ■ 
 
 force of their nation at home, and which their fathers : 
 had bought at the price of their treasure and blood. 
 
 The Swedes of New Jersey and Delaware were ani- ', 
 
 mated with the same attachment, which they had en- • 
 
 joyed in Scandinavia. The Huguenots, who came here I 
 and settled in many places along the coast, from Mas- 
 sachusetts down to Georgia, found that safe asylum 
 
 which was denied them at home, because of their fidel- ; 
 
 ity to their conscience. The Pilgrims who came over I 
 
 in the 3Iayfloii'er, and became the strongest nucleus in I 
 
 the development of our northern colonies, were fugi- ; 
 tives from oppression in their native England. All 
 
 these elements, the finest wheat from the trampled < 
 harvest-fields of Europe, combined on these shores, 
 
 and became a unit in this western planting of evan- ' 
 gelical Christianity. Yillers says with truth, after 
 
 speaking of the debt which the United States owe to | 
 
 the Reformation: *' Powerful republics are based on j 
 
 the Reformation. Republican principles, more power- j 
 
 ful than weapons of steel, have been introduced among | 
 
 all nations. Great revolutions have come from this I 
 
 source, and those yet to come are innumerable." | 
 
SURVEY OF RESULTS. 113 
 
 3. The Promotion of Learning was not the least ben- 
 efit conferred upon the world by the Reformation. 
 Cultured men were its first advocates. The universi- 
 ties were the cradles of Protestantism. Wherever su- 
 perstition and other abnormal tendencies appeared, the 
 Reformers promptly rebuked them. The translation 
 of the Scriptures had the effect to formulate and solid- 
 ify the languages as no other literary movement had 
 been able to do. Wycliffe's Bible preserved the Saxon 
 tongue, and our Authorized Version, or King James's 
 version, shows its constant dependence upon his trans- 
 lation. Luther found the German a mere conglomera- 
 tion of rude and coarse dialects, and, in his translation 
 of the Bible, he grouped the best and purest idioms, 
 and, for the first time, made the German a unit. 
 
 4. Literature. — Universities sprang up throughout 
 Germany as an innnediate fruit of the Reformation. 
 The University of Leyden was the first creation of the 
 new nation, which was born after the siege of that city 
 was raised, and the Spanish troops left the land. Not un- 
 til now, and then only as a fruit of the Reformation, was 
 the Gospel generally preached in the popular language. 
 When (Ecolampadius, in 1522, began to preach in Ger- 
 man, in the castle of Franz von Sickingen, even the 
 friends of the reform regarded it as a dangerous pro- 
 cedure. His friend, Caspar Hedio, for example, thought 
 it hurrying matters too rapidly. In 1515 Leo X. issued 
 his prohibition against the printing and publication of 
 all books translated from the Greek, the Hebrew, and 
 the Arabic languages, but when the Reformation was 
 once in progress the printing-press was free. The 
 study of all the languages became a new fascina- 
 tion, which no edict could destroy. Public schools 
 were introduced, though crudely at first, in Germany, 
 
114 SHORT HISTOKY OF THE REFORMATIOX. 
 
 directly through Luther's labors. The intermediate 
 schools, between the lower and highest education, were 
 established. The German gymnasium of our times 
 owes its real origin to the period of the Reformation. 
 During the centuries since the Reformation over 
 twenty universities, three fourths of which are Protes- 
 tant, have been founded in Germany alone. Holland 
 has built up, in addition to the University of Leydcn, 
 five other universities, and all are the direct result of 
 her Protestantism. Everywhere, where the Reforma- 
 tion triumphed and became a permanent force, the 
 cause of education, good morals, and political liberty 
 advanced securely and rapidly. 
 
Chapter XIX. 
 
 THE 400th anniversary OF LUTHER's BIRTH. 
 
 The Memories of the Reformation have been renewed 
 by the celebration on November 11, 1883, of the 400th 
 anniversary of the birth of Luther. The day was ob- 
 served with becoming festivities in all the Protestant 
 countries of the world. In Germany, as might be 
 expected, the enthusiasm was more intense than any- 
 where else. In Berlin there was a procession of chil- 
 dren, numbering nearly one hundred thousand, to whom 
 the Emperor William distributed copies of the works 
 of the Reformer. Services were held in all the Prot- 
 estant churches, and eulogies were pronounced on Lu- 
 ther and his achievements in behalf of all Teutonic 
 peoples. In anticipation of November 11, the Crown 
 Prince of Prussia, Frederic William, proceeded to Wit- 
 tenberg, taking with him a laurel wreath, which, amid 
 the silence of the multitude, he laid upon Luther's 
 grave, in the floor of the Castle Church. Immediately 
 afterwards the people sang Luther's martial hymn, 
 which was caught up by the throngs in the streets and 
 along the country roads. In Eisenach, which claimed 
 the honor of having discovered Luther's genius when 
 a choir-boy singing for his bread, the festivities were 
 such as to attract people from every part of the Thu- 
 ringian Forest. In Eisleben, where he was born and 
 died, there was a popular rejoicing not excelled in any 
 part of Germany. The entire day was devoted to the 
 
116 SHORT HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIOX. 
 
 celebration. The nobility and peasantry vied ^vitll 
 each other in doing honor to the miner's son. Scenic 
 representations, in which all the leading participants of 
 the Reformation were personified, and marched at the 
 head of a great procession through the streets, consti- 
 tuted the chief feature of the ceremonies by which the 
 quaint town did honor to its own child. Even the Old 
 Catholics of Germany, through the example and en- 
 couraging words of Dollinger, paid a tribute to Lu- 
 ther's memory, because of the service he had done to 
 the language and spiritual life of the Fatherland. 
 
 In all the Slavic and Scandinavian countries the same 
 regard was paid to the memory of Luther. Even in the 
 very lands where his writings had been burned, wher- 
 ever a little Protestant society exists, by whatever de- 
 nominational name it may be called, religious services 
 were held and tributes to the Reformer pronounced. 
 Such celebrations were observed in Spain, where the 
 Protestants in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Bilboa, and 
 other cities united with their brethren in Germany and 
 the whole world in honoring Luther's name and memory. 
 In Paris and other parts of France, where his doctrines 
 had been despised, and from which Calvin, and, later, 
 hundreds of thousands of Huguenots, had been driven, 
 the same rejoicings took place. In Italy, there was a 
 thoroughly organized plan to celebrate the Reformer's 
 birthday wherever Protestantism had gained a foot- 
 hold. In Florence there was first an immense chil- 
 dren's meeting, which was followed by a general gath- 
 ering, where missionaries from foreign countries united 
 with the "Waldenses and other native Protestants, each 
 making an address in his own language, and the peo- 
 ple singing Luther's hymn in Italian : 
 
 " Forte Rocca 4 il nostro Dio." 
 
THE 40UT1I ANMVERSAllY OF LUTHER S BIRTH. 117 
 
 In Rome a large memorial service was held, where a ser- 
 mon was preached, addresses made, and hymns sung. In 
 Naples there w^as a similar celebration, where represen- 
 tatives of the Protestantism of many countries united 
 in doing honor to the memory of Luther. Even as 
 far south as Sicily, w^here, in the 16th century, it w^as 
 certain death to profess sympathy with the Witten- 
 berg heretic, there w^as a large meeting in Palermo, 
 under the presidency of the venerable patriot, Em- 
 manuele Sartorio. In the United States all Protestant 
 denominations united in doing honor to the memory 
 of Luther. Every department of his great w^ork and 
 character was made the subject of special considera- 
 tion, in churches from the Atlantic across to the Pa- 
 cific Ocean. It is a striking proof of the growing inter- 
 est, even in secular circles, that, on the morning follow- 
 ing this unique celebration in Eisleben, all the details 
 appeared in both English and German in the New York 
 daily papers. History nowhere furnishes a higher trib- 
 ute to the recognition of the worth of the w^orker for 
 his fellow^men than in the fact that multitudes of 
 Americans gathered in the churches and public halls 
 to recall in gratitude and love the life and service of a 
 miner's son, who w^as born Avhen there was not a Chris- 
 tian on this Continent, and nine years before Colum- 
 bus set out on the voyage that led to its discovery. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 American Union, the, largely indebted to the struggle for Reform in Eu- ' 
 
 rope, 112. ; 
 
 Argyropylus, John, 19. • 
 Aristotle, summary of his theology, 15. 
 Articles of faith established by Parliament in 1538, 70. 
 
 A ^ceticism : self-torture of Henry Suso, 9. - 
 
 Augsburg Confession, the, 43. ■ 
 Augsburg, Diet of, 43. 
 
 Avignon, removal of Papal See to, 23. : 
 
 " Babylon Captivity," the, 23. 
 
 Bartholomew, St., the massacre of, 92. 1 
 
 Basel : an important centre of Protestant agitation, 55; Council of, 23, 25; i 
 
 sojourn of Erasmus in, 55. \ 
 
 Beatoun, Cardinal, 80. i 
 " Beggars' League," the, 87. 
 
 Berne : a centre for the dissemination of the new doctrines, 56. ■ 
 
 Beza, Theodore, his work and theology, G3. i 
 
 Bible, the : Coverdale's translation of, 72 ; Matthew's version of, 73 ; pub- \ 
 
 lication of, in the mother tongue, most powerful in effecting the Eng- j 
 
 lish Reformation, 72 ; Tyndale's translation, 72. 
 Black Death, the, in Strasbnrg, 11. 
 
 " Brothers of the Common Lite," the, 14, 84. ^ 
 
 Brown, Robert, 78. i 
 Brownists, the, 78. 
 
 Bugenhagen, Johann, 50. 1 
 
 \ 
 Calvin, John : arrival in Basel, 69 ; birth, education, and writings, 57 ; 
 
 Genevese Church, the organizer of the, 61 ; recalled to Geneva, 62; '{ 
 
 settlement in Geneva, 59. '. 
 
 Chalkondylas, Demetrius, 19. j 
 
 Character, personal, of Martin Luther, 37. { 
 
 Charles Y., Emperor of Gerraanv, attitude of, towards the Reformers, 3, 1 
 
 33. 
 
120 INDEX. 
 
 Christianity, opinion in Italy generally hostile to, 20. 
 
 Church, the purification of the, the first aim of the lieformers, 2. 
 
 Classics, revival of the, 19. 
 
 Clemanges, Nicholas, great advance of, in reformatory methods, 6. 
 
 Clement V., removes papal See from Rome to Avignon, 23. 
 
 Clergy, morals of the, at the epoch of the Reformation, 2. 
 
 Colet, John, 70. 
 
 Coligny, Admiral, murder of, 92. 
 
 Conrad, Abbot of Kaisersheim, 14. 
 
 Constantinople, the capture of, by the Turks, forms an epocli, 18. 
 
 Councils, the Reformatory, 23. 
 
 Cranach, Lucas, 50. 
 
 Cranmer, Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury : the adviser of Edward VI., 
 
 7G ; character and influence of, 71 ; his recantation, 71. 
 Culture, the spread of, north of the Alps, hastened the Reformation, 20. 
 
 D'Ailly, Peter, influence of, 5. 
 
 Danger to French Protestantism from the alliance between France and 
 
 'Rome, 90. 
 Darnloy, Lord, death of, 81. 
 
 Death, constant risk of, incurred by the Reformers, 3. 
 Denmark, Protestantism introduced into, 107. 
 Diet of Augsburg, 43. 
 
 Diet of Worms, the, 32; decree of, against Luther, 34. 
 Dread of the German Reformation in France, 89. I 
 
 Dutch forerunner of Reform, tlie : John of Goch, 15. | 
 
 Dutcli Republic, the, born of the effort to secure freedom of conscience, j 
 
 111. 
 
 Eastern cantons of Switzerland, the religious conflict in the, 54. 
 
 Eckart, Master: drift of his teaching, 8; Tauler a disciple of, 10. 
 
 Edict of Nantes, the, 93; revocation of, 94. 
 
 Edict of \Yorms, the, 85. 
 
 Edward YI. of England : death of, 7G ; the reaction under, 75. 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen, becomes ruler of both England and Scotland, 81. | 
 
 England, early attempts at Reformation in, GG. 
 
 English Reformation, the, G7. 
 
 Erasmus: his "Paraphrase of the Scriptures," 73 ; his sojourn in Basel, 
 
 55, 87; Avritings of, circulated south of the Pyrenees, 103. | 
 
 Erasmus of Rotterdam, 21, 8G. I 
 
 Exile of Italian Protestants, 100. ; 
 
 i 
 
 Faith, Luther's, 42. ; 
 
 Final triumph of the Reformation, 77. , 
 
 France : dread of the German Reformation in, 89, 90 ; the Reformation in, , 
 
 89, 90. I 
 
 French Protestantism, danger to, from the Romish alliance, 90. j 
 
 J 
 
INDEX. 121 
 
 Friendship of Luther and Melanchthon, 46, 47. 
 
 " Friends of God," the, 14. 
 
 Fruits of the Reformation, the, 111. 
 
 Gaza, Theodore, 19. 
 
 Geneva: struggle for possession of, 5G; the " Libertines" of, 61. 
 
 George of Trapezium, 19. 
 
 German Reformation, the, 27 ; dread of, in France, 89, 90. 
 
 German Reform, Zwingli's variations from the, 54. 
 
 Germany: native country of the Mystics, 8; organization of the Protestant 
 
 Church in, 43. 
 Gerson, Jean Charlier, prominence of, 5. 
 God, love, insisted on by the "Friends of God," 15. 
 Groot, Gerhard, 84. 
 
 Hamilton, Patrick, 80. 
 
 Hanse Towns, the, and their influence on Protestantism, 111. 
 
 Helvetic Confession, the second, G3. 
 
 Henry of Navarre ascends tlie throne of France, 93. 
 
 Heralds of Protestantism, the, 1, 4. 
 
 Holland: persecutions of the Protestants in, 3; prompt reception of the 
 Reform doctrines in, 16 ; spirit of Reform early shown in, 15. 
 
 Huguenots, the: many settle in America, 112; opposition to the, 91; pre- 
 text for the massacre of, 92; rapid spread of, 91; the Paris theolo- 
 gians the precursors of the, 7. 
 
 Huguenot uprising, the, 93. 
 
 Humanism: in Europe at large, 20; in Italy, 17; religious tendency of, 
 in Italy, 20 ; sceptical, 97. 
 
 Hungary and Transylvania, the Reformation in, 110, 
 
 Huss, John : birth, teachings, and death, 108. 
 
 Hussite Preparation, the, 108. 
 
 Hutten, Ulrich von, 50. 
 
 Hymns, the, of Luther, 40. 
 
 Iceland, the Reformation in, 107. 
 
 Ignorance of the common people at the epoch of the Reformation, 2. 
 
 Independents, the, 77. 
 
 Indulgences, sale of, in Germany, 31. 
 
 Inquisition, the, 85; suppression of Spanish Protestantism by the, 104. 
 
 Italy: Humanism in, 17; Humanism native to that country, 97; influx of 
 Protestant books into, under changed titles, 96 ; prepared for the great 
 reform by Savonarola, 95; Protestants of, driven into exile, 100; the 
 Reformation in, 96; v/ar between Germany and, 96; women greatly 
 promote the Reformation in, 98. 
 
 John of Goch, " the Dutch forerunner of Reform," his system of doctrine, 15. 
 Jonas, Justus, 50. 
 
122 INDEX. 
 
 Julian the Apostate : leniency of, towards the faiths of the later Roman 
 
 Empire, 3. 
 " Junker Georg," 36. 
 
 Knox, John, 82 ; natural successor to Hamilton, 82 ; his studies, preaching, 
 
 and death, 83. 
 Kostnitz, Council of, 23, 24. 
 
 Lascaris, Constantine, 19. 
 
 Latin classics, revival of the, 19. 
 
 Learning, promotion of, one of the boons conferred by the Reformation, 113. 
 
 Letters, the European revival of, 17 ; the Greek and Latin revival of, fa- 
 vored by the Italian princes, 19. 
 
 Leyden, the University of, 113. 
 
 "Libertines," the, of Geneva, Gl. 
 
 Literature, a revival of, the immediate fruit of the Reformation, 113. 
 
 " Loci Theologici " of Melanchthon, the, 43. 
 
 Ludwig of Bavaria, 24. 
 
 Luther, Martin: his "Address to the Nobles of the German People," 32 ; 
 the ascetic life of, 30; four hundredth anniversary of his birth, 116; 
 death of, 44 ; his wise plans for an ecclesiastical polity, 43 ; the fervent 
 faith of, 42 ; home and school life, 27, 28 ; hymns and other works, 40 ; 
 the sale of indulgences arouses his indignation, 31 ; labors and per- 
 sonal character, 37 ; the leader of the Reformation, 27 ; literarj' labors 
 of, 39 ; translations of New and Old Testaments, 30 ; his sojourn in 
 " Patmos," 36 ; personal characteristics, 41 ; freedom from political en- 
 tanglements, 4 ; private life of, 44 ; his famous reply to a theologian, 
 41 ; pilgrimage to Rome, 30 ; scrupulous care in translating the Scrip- 
 tures, 40; his ninety-five theses, 31; university life of, 29; his so- 
 journ in the Wartburg, 38 ; career in Wittenberg, 29; works of, pub- 
 licly burned in France, 90; his summons to Worms, 33 ; writings of, 
 circulated in Spain and Portugal, 103; writings of, welcomed in the 
 Netherlands, 85. 
 
 Mary, Queen of England, 76. 
 
 Mary, Qneen of Scots, 80 ; connives at the death of Darnley, 81 ; her flight 
 to England, 81 ; gives offense to Scotch Calvinists, 81. 
 
 Massacre of St. Bartholomew, 92. 
 
 Medici, the, 19. 
 
 Melanchthon, Philip, 45 ; called to Wittenberg, 45, 46 ; draws up the Augs- 
 burg Confession, 43 ; friendship of, for Luther, 46 ; industry and hon- 
 esty of, 48 ; labors and teaching of, 46 ; the " Loci Theologici" of, 43 ; 
 widespread fame of, 45. 
 
 Melanchthon and the other German Reformers, 45. 
 
 Moravians, the, 108. 
 
 More, Sir Thomas, 21 ; great influence of, 70. 
 
 Moschopylus, Emanuel, 19. 
 
INDEX. 123 
 
 Mysticism, Spanish, 102. 
 
 Mystics, the : attached too little importance to the written word, 7 ; 
 " Brothers of the Common Life," the, 14 ; " Friends of God," the, 14 ; 
 Hugo, aims of the teaching of, 12 ; of the fourteenth and fifteenth cen- 
 turies, 7 ; Eichard, opinions of, 12 ; Victor, St., school of, 12. 
 
 Nantes, the Edict of, 93 ; revoked, 94. 
 
 Netherlands, the : complete preparation for the Reformation in the, 84 ; 
 
 cruelty of Charles V. to the people of the, 85 ; the Reformation in the, 
 
 84, 85. 
 Norway, Protestantism introduced into, 107. 
 
 Qi^colampadius, leader of Protestantism in Basel, 55. 
 Opposition to the Huguenots in France, 91. 
 Organization of the Protestant Church in Germany, 43. 
 
 Paleario, Antonio, burned, 99. 
 
 Papal Reformers, the, 4. 
 
 Pardon, tickets of, 31. 
 
 Paris theologians, the, precursors of the Huguenots, 7. 
 
 Paris, the University of, 5. 
 
 " Patmos," Luther in, 37. 
 
 Peasants' War, the, 38. 
 
 Personal characteristics of Luther, 41. 
 
 Peter Martyr, 100. 
 
 Peterson, Olaf and Laurence, the first native Swedish Reformers, 106. 
 
 Pisa, the Council of, 23, 24. 
 
 Philip the Fair, of France, arrests Pope Boniface VHL, 23. 
 
 Pilgrims, the Puritan, 78 ; departure from Holland, 78. 
 
 Pletho, Gemistius, 19. 
 
 Poland, Protestantism in, 109. 
 
 Popes, the rival, 24. 
 
 Portugal: Protestantism suppressed by the Inquisition in, 104; the Refor- 
 mation in, 103. 
 
 Printing, the invention of, favorable to the new intellectual departure, 21. 
 
 Private life of Luther, the, 44. 
 
 Protestant books find their way to Italy, 96. 
 
 Protestant Church, organization of, in Germany, 43. 
 
 Protestant doctrines, spread of, in Italy, 98. 
 
 Protestantism : basis of, solid and newly laid, 2 ; growth of, 1 ; in Hungary 
 and Transylvania, 111; rendered the masses self-asserting, 111 ; op- 
 pression of, by Rome, 99 ; suppressed by the Spanish Inquisition, 104. 
 
 Protestantism, the heralds of, 1, 4. 
 
 Puritan Pilgrims, the, 78. 
 
 Radewin, Florentius, 84. 
 
 Reform, Dutch forerunner of the, 15 ; obscure pioneers of, in religious life, 2. 
 
124 INDEX. 
 
 Reformation, the : causes of failure of, in the Spanish peninsula, 104, 
 105 ; the chief turning-point in modern history, 1 ; danger to, from 
 its friends, 37 ; development of, slow and unattractive, 1 ; early Eng- 
 lish literature of, 73; English language banished from public services, 
 76; English Reformation — first period, 66; second period, 75; ground 
 of its failure in France, 6; final triumph of, 77; fostered educa- 
 tion, good morals, and political liberty, 114; the struggle in France, 
 89; the various friends and helpers of, 49; the struggle in Germany, 
 27; the new faith in Hungary and Transylvania, 110; in German 
 Switzerland, 51 ; Henry VIH.'s patronage of, 68 ; influence of British 
 sovereigns upon, 75 ; Queen Mary, reign of, 76 ; the new faith in the 
 Netherlands, 84 ; Protestantism in Poland, 109; political condition of 
 Switzerland favorable to, 51 ; the invention of printing favorable 
 to, 21; progress of, in French Switzerland, 56; reaction in England 
 under Edward VI., 75 ; the Reformation the mother of republics, 111 ; 
 spread of culture north of the Al[)s favorable to, 20; women greatly 
 promote the reform in Italy, 98. 
 
 Reformatory Councils, the, 23. 
 
 Reformers, mission of the Dutch, 10. 
 
 Reformers of Geneva and the " Libertines," 01. 
 
 Reformers: the Papal, 4; the Scottish, 80. 
 
 Results of the Reformation, survey of the. 111, 112. 
 
 Reuchlin, John, 21. 
 
 Richard of St. Victor, 13. 
 
 Robinson, John, 78. 
 
 Ruysbroek, John, far-reaching power of, 9. 
 
 Savonarola, Girolarao : birth, preaching, and death, 96 ; prepared Italy foi 
 the Reformation, 95. 
 
 Savoy, the friendly princes of, 49. 
 
 Scandinavia, groundwork of Protestantism in, 106; the Reformation in, 
 107. 
 
 Sceptical Humanism, the, 97. 
 
 Schools of Deventer and Herzogenbusch, 84. 
 
 Sclavic lands, the Reformation in, 109. 
 
 Scottish Reformation, the, 81. 
 
 Scottish Reformers, the, 80. 
 
 Sikingcn, Franz von, 50. 
 
 Smalcald, convention at, 43. 
 
 Spain, religious despotism in, 102; spread of the Reformation in, 103. 
 
 Strasburg, the Black Death in, 11. 
 
 Suppression of Protestantism ordered by Rome, 99. 
 
 Suso, Henry, theology and teaching of, 9, 10. 
 
 Switzerland: the second Helvetic Confession, 03; political condition of. 
 51; religious contlict in the eastern cantons, 54; the Reformation 
 in French Switzerland, 56, the Reformation in German Switzer- 
 land, 51. 
 
INDEX. 125 
 
 Tauler, John : preaching of, during the plague in Strasburg, 11 ; writings 
 
 of, 11, 12 ; zeal, doctrines, preaching, and influence of, 10, 11. 
 Theologians, the Paris, 6. 
 Theses, the ninety-live, of Luther, 31, 32. 
 
 Universities, the English, Protestant teachers ejected from, 76. 
 Universities in Germany the outcome of the Reformation, 113. 
 Uprising of the Huguenots, the, 93. 
 
 Valla, Laurentius, 19. 
 
 Victor, St., teachings and attitude of the school of, 12. 
 
 War between Germany and Italy, 96. 
 Wartburg, Luther leaves the, 38. 
 Worms, the Diet at, 32. 
 Worms, the Edict of, 85. 
 
 WycliflFe, John : attacks on, 66 ; his English Bible, 67 ; his writings con- 
 demned, 67. 
 
 Zwickau Prophets, the, 37. 
 
 Zvvingli, Ulrich, 51 ; early life and training, 52 ; opposition excited by his 
 teachings, 53 ; removes to Zurich, 53 ; his rupture with Rome, 52. 
 
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