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HISTORY

EEFORMATION

THE CONTINENT.

By GEORGE WADDINGTON, D.D.,
DEAN OF DURHAM,
AND AUTHOR OF A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. II.

LONDON:
DUNCAN AND MALCOLM, PATERNOSTER ROW.
1841.

LONDON :
Printed by William Clo-wes and Sons,
Stamford Street.

CONTENTS OF VOL. II.

CHAPTER XVII.
Page
Luther at Wittemberg . . . . . . . .1
CHAPTER XVIII.
Pope Adrian VI. and the Diet of Nuremberg — Practical Innova
tions of Luther ........ .34
CHAPTER XIX.
Pope Clement vn. — Diet of Nuremberg . . . .58
CHAPTER XX.
Progress of the Reformation — Carlstadt . . . . .73
CHAPTER XXL
Proceedings of Luther — 'Death of Frederick . . . .99
CHAPTER XXII.
The War of the Peasants  130
CHAPTER XXIII.
Erasmus . . . . . . . . .161
CHAPTER XXIV.
Various Political Movements — First Diet of Spires . . . 207
CHAPTER XXV.
Ecclesiastical Proceedings of the Reformers .... 234
CHAPTER XXVI.
Second Diet of Spires ....... 254
CHAPTER XXVII.
Reformation in Switzerland^ — Zurich ..... 268

CHAPTER XXVIIL
Pa^e
Reformation in Switzerland — Zurich ..... 289
CHAPTER XXIX.
Reformation in Switzerland — Basle ..... 307
CHAPTER XXX.
Reformation in Switzerland — Berne ..... 324
CHAPTER XXXI.
The Sacramentarian Controversy ...... 346
CHAPTER XXXII.
Sacramentarian Controversy — Conference of Marburg . .371

ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.
VOL. II.

P. 89, 1. 1. — After to, insert " people summoned by."
P. 207, 1.25.— For 1526, read 1525.
P. 262, 1.1.— "That sacred right of private judgment, &c." It
is not literally true that the Protestants at Spires asserted that right
directly, or in its broadest sense. But they pleaded very loudly for the
rights of " conscience ;" for instance : " Neque quicquam se agere aut
intendere, quam quod conscientise suce qua conricti sunt ipsoque Deo de
beant;" and again: "Sibi itaque concilium imperare non posse, ut a
sententia sua, quam conscientise ductu sequantur, discedant." Thus,
members of the Diet, in Diet, pleaded their individual consciences as
reason sufficient for refusing obedience to the edicts of the Diet. But
they intended to say, perhaps : " We princes will not subject our con
sciences to the ordinances of other princes, but we will subject the
consciences of our subjects to our own." This may have been their
secret meaning, though they then expressed nothing to that effect. Such,
however, was far from being the interpretation which Luther placed on
the asserted " rights of conscience." He extended them to the
subject, as well as to the Sovereign ; and in his remarks upon this very
edict he declared ; " that a prince had not the right of compelling his
subjects to restore abuses which they, acting from conscience and not by
compulsion, had abolished. Jus non est electori, ut subditos ad resta-
biliendos abusus vi cogat, quos illi pro sua conscientia et injussi abroga-
runt," Surely this principle in its most obvious consequences recognised
the right of conscience as universal. It is not here a question how well,
or how ill, Luther conformed to it in practice.
P. 265, 1. 18.—" When founded in religion." I think that the follow
ing distinction may be observed between the spirit which animated the
Reformers and their opponents in this contest. That of the former was
more a religious, that of the latter more an ecclesiastical zeal. The
former were contending for their faith, the latter for their church. The

vi ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.
one party was inflamed by a hearty devotion founded ou the deepest con
rictions, and appealing to the promises and terrors ofthe world to come.
The other thought more of this world — power, wealth, digmty, jurisdiction,
and such matters. The name of religion was indeed pleaded alike by both ;
but the feeling, the passion, at least during all the earlier struggles, was
almost entirely with the innovators.
These explanatory remarks may serve to obviate an objection which
might be made to the passage in the text, that the convictions of the
papistical part of the Diet were no less founded in religion than those of
the Protestants.

HISTORY

REFORMATION.

CHAPTER XVII.
LUTHER AT WITTEMBERG.
The moderate conduct of Frederick — Luther's second letter — motives of
his return — his proceedings — his seven sermons — their subjects, with
extracts — the feelings of his audience and the character of his elo
quence — effects of his preaching — retreat of Carlstadt — probable cha
racter of that reformer — mutual recriminations between him and
Luther — ^the motives of both may have been good — interview between
Luther and the prophets of Zwickau — he rejects them with rebukes,
and they leave the city — his tract against the Pope and Bishops — its
extreme and even impolitic violence — quotations — the bull of Luther —
visitation of the Bishop — tract on the " Necessity of avoiding Human
Doctrine" — some delicate subjects handled with little discretion —
" Discourse on the Conjugal Life" — " Letter to the Bohemians" — his
Translation of the New Testament — criticised by Emser — version of
Emser — patronised by the princes — complaint and consolation of
Luther — ^his treatise " On the Secular Power" — some principles con
tained in it — quotations — his reply to Henry VIII. — the points on
which he chiefly dwells — principle of the right of private interpretation '
— extremely attractive to the people, and useful to Luther — the violence
of his language — how far it did him harm — how he justified it — and
how far with reason — upon the whole it probably served his cause.
The effect which Luther's communication produced upon
the mind of Frederick was not injurious either to his
safety or his cause. That prince was not offended by
the independent expressions of his subject, because he
perceived the conviction from which they proceeded ;
and he had in his own mind a corresponding feeling
VOL. II. 4f B

2 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XVII.
which, though much feebler, enabled him to understand
and respect a superior virtue. He uttered no complaint ;
he vented no reproach ; he imposed no other restriction,
than a prohibition to preach in the great church, where
the late disorders had occurred. But to guard himself
against the charge of connivance, with which he was
certain to be assailed by the papal party, he required a
second letter from Luther, so indited, as to prove that
the return of the latter was a spontaneous and unau
thorised act.
Luther acquiesced without hesitation.* In a com
position which is still extant, he exculpated his prince
from any share in a proceeding which he admitted to
be daring, but asserted to be necessary. He then justi
fied it on three principal grounds. 1. He pleaded the
numerous prayers and solicitations which had reached
him from the church and people of Wittemberg. 2. He
declared that, during his absence, Satan had made so
violent an inroad upon his flock, attested by such uni
versal clamour and tumult, that his writings were no
longer sufficient to defeat it. " I must be there, living,
present, speaking, hearing ; I must act — I must act
with them, over them, for them. My conscience will
endure no longer interval or delay."f 3. He expressed
apprehensions lest some terrible sedition should arise
in Germany, through which the whole nation would

* In a letter to Spalatin, of March 12, he did indeed express his
objection to being obliged to address the Emperor " mein allergna-
digster herr," as being gross and notorious hypocrisy. " Yet would I
rather sustain ridicule and the charge of insincerity, than resist the
weakness of the prince. . . But I have indeed a wonderful detestation for
falsehood (ego fucos mire odio), and I have already conceded so much
to those men, that it is time at last to speak with freedom." (No. 366.)
t " Necesse est me vivum, prsesentem, loquentem, audientem ibi
agere, adesse, prseesse, prodesse."

CH. XVII.] LUTHER's SECOND LETTER. 3
expiate its contempt and ingratitude for the benefits of
God. " We perceive with what approbation and eager joy
the Gospel is received by most; yet are there those
among the people who accept this blessing with a carnal
view ; they see the truth with their eyes wide open, and
yet turn it to no good use. And these are further in
flamed by the manifest violence of another party, which
advances fiercely to quench the holy light, and thus
exasperates more and more the minds ofmen, and sounds
the trumpet of sedition. And this they seem to do
with the very intent to bring ruin upon themselves, or
certainly upon their posterity ; and this is through God's
ordinance for their chastisement. I had no other object
in my writings than to break down the ecclesiastical
tyranny, and this I have accomplished. But I now
perceive that the Lord has still farther designs, and
that He is about to accomplish that which He fulfilled at
Jerusalem, when He altogether overthrew the political,
as well as the ecclesiastical, constitution, because it was
stained by the persecution of the Gospel and other acts
of fury. For it is lately that I have come to the know
ledge of this truth, that not only the ecclesiastical and
spiritual power, but also the political and civil, must
yield, either with a good grace or a bad one, to the
authority of the Gospel. The historical records of the
Bible all manifestly declare this.
" Since, then, God requires, by his prophet Ezekiel,
that we oppose ourselves, as it were a wall, in defence
of thfe people, I have thought it necessary, in co-operation
with my friends, by teaching, admonition, exhortation,
to avert or at least to defer, as far as lies in our power,
the wrath and judgment of God. To this end, in spite
of the ridicule of my enemies, I shall do all that may"
b2

4 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XVII.
seem to me profitable. For I do not fear to assert, and
I wish you too to be well assured of this — that in the
councils of heaven it is ordered far otherwise than in
the decrees of the Regency of Nuremberg ;* and we
shall presently see that those, who now believe that they
have devoured the Gospel, have not yet so much as said
grace before their feast."
This letter sufficiently reveals the double motive by
which Luther was irresistibly impelled to resume at any
personal risk his proper position at the helm of the
Reformation — to repress the rashness of intemperate
friends, and to resist the exertions of avowed enemies.
He was as fearful of the abuse of Christian liberty, as
zealous against the bondage of Rome. He was not more
eager for the inward diffusion of spiritual light, than
averse from any premature invasion of the externals of
the church. Nor would he deign to purchase temporary
popularity by yielding to the injudicious inclinations of
the multitude. He scorned to flatter the errors either
of a prince or of a people.
He returned on the 6th of March, and was received
with sincere demonstrations of joy and affection. He
instantly availed himself of these feelings, and lost not
a moment in striking his first blow against the indiscre
tion of the zealots of his own party. Carlstadt had
occasioned some excesses ; he had committed too some
absurdities, which at the actual crisis Were almost equally
mischievous. He had excited the youthful students and
the ignorant populace to acts of violence. Professing
* Frederick objected to two or three strong expressions in this letter,
to this among the rest, and desired Luther to soften them. He obeyed.
But the original letter is that which is pubhshed in his works Tom
ii. fol. 515.

CH. XVII. ] LUTHER's RETURN TO WITTEMBERG. 5
the same devotion to the Gospel* which Luther pro
fessed he carried it into an indiscriminate contempt for
all other learning ; he inspired that principle into others,
and acted upon it himself. Great confusion in notions
and in discipline was beginning to prevail, and many
parents had withdrawn their children from the Univer-
sity- Luther immediately ascended the pulpit, and delivered
seven sermons, on seven following days, to large mul
titudes of devoted hearers. In the first, after expound
ing the peculiar doctrines of religion, he proceeded to
speak of the excellence of charity : how faith divested of
that was no better than an image of faith, a mere un
substantial reflection ; how the exercise of charity and
forbearance was necessary towards the infirm in faith ;
how all rashness and violence was a sin against charity.
He then declared, that the abrogation of private masses
was in itself requisite, but that the fault was in the
manner. The change should have been effected, not
by impetuous outrage, but after deep and serious prayer,
and with the consent of the civil authorities. In the
second, he argued against all compulsion whether in
faith or worship, and advocated the gradual operation
of instruction and persuasion. " I will preach, I will
speak, I will write, but I will never carry matters by
violence."t In the third and fourth he deplored the
impious abuse of images, which seemed almost to justify
their entire abolition ; nevertheless he preferred that
* His text was Matt. xi. 25. " I thank thee. Father, that thou hast
hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them even
unto babes."
t In a warning to Christians, written at Wartburg, he had expressed
the same opinions. " Aufruhr hat keine vernunft und gebt gemeinlich
mehr iiber die unschuldigen, denn iiber die schuldigen. Darum ist auch
kein aufruhr recht, wie rechte sache er immer haben mag. Darum
hab acht auf die oberkeit, &c." Ap. Marhein. tom. i. kap. xi.

6 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XVII.
they should be tolerated, yet so as not to be made in
any inanner objects of adoration. He allowed monks
and nuns to leave their cloisters, withput offering them
any compulsion ; fasting and partial abstinence he left in
like manner to the individual discretion of the faithful.
In theffth and siwth he treated on the holy communion.
He deprecated any violent change in the manner of its
celebration ; above all, he enforced the propriety of much
serious preparation, and the consciousness of a deep and
ardent faith. In the seventh he maintained the useful
ness of private confession, and permitted the adminis
tration under one or two kinds indifferently.*
All these various sermons were conceived in one and
the same spirit : that the restoration of the Gospel must
be the work of reason, not of force ; that the conscience
must be persuaded, not assaulted ; and that all altera
tions in externals must be the consequence of inward
regeneration and a general conviction of their neces
sity — so would they be peaceably and surely accom
plished. " I for example," as he said in his second
sermon, " have done no more than expound, preach and
write the word of God — beyond that I havfe done nothing.
But that word, while I have been sleeping, while I have
been drinking Wittemberg beer with my friends Philip
and Amsdorf, that word has been working so strongly
as to make the papacy stagger, as no prince, no not the
Emperor himself, has ever degraded it before.^ I have
done nothing. It is the word that has operated and
* Another question was, whether the elements were to be placed by
the priest in the mouth of the communicant, as was the Roman practice,
or in his hands. Luther would have left this open, to avoid scandal.
t " Verbum, se dormiente, aut cum Philippo suo et Amsdorfio Zythum
Wittembergicum bibente, papatum ita laborare fecit, ut nullus unquam
principum, aut Caesar ipse, tantum ei derogaverit." Ap. Scultet. Ann.
1522. p. 108.

CH. XVII.j HIS SERMONS. 7
effected everything. Had I thought proper to reform
by violence, I could have deluged Germany with blood.
Had I been disposed to excite sedition, I could have put
in jeopardy, when I was at Worms, the person of the
Emperor himself. But what would that have been?
The game of madness. I did nothing of the kind. I
allowed the word to take its course. What are the
meditations of Satan, when sedition is called in to effect
religious purposes ? He sits in the depths of hell and
thinks how good for him is the game which the mad
men are playing! But he is sick at heart when we
leave the word, and the word alone, to work its way.
For that is almighty — that imprisons men's hearts, and
so surely fulfils its destined purposes. . . ."*
Of all the subjects that can be addressed to a popular
audience the duty of moderation is the least attractive.
It is easy enough to move the passions and to mislead
the judgment ; but to appease the storm, to allay the
irritation that has been once excited, to substitute sense
and discretion for fiery feelings and for the excess of
virtuous indignation, especially when it proceeds from
religious zeal, this is the hardest task that can be imposed
on human eloquence. And indeed it can rarely be ac
complished by any power of talent, unless enforced by
great personal authority in the speaker. In the present
instance, the whole community was intensely interested
in the questions set before them. Religious matters held
in that age an enthralling control over the mind. The
immense power of the church, its universal and search
ing influence, the number, zeal and importunity of its
* Marheinecke, vol. i. chap. xi. Luther followed up these sermons
by a little German tract on the Communion in two kinds and the changes
introduced by Carlstadt, containing the same principles and counsels as
his sermons.

8 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XVII.
ministers, kept it always present, always uppermost in
every one's thoughts and feelings. It was a subject of
indifference to nobody ; and at that moment especially,
the crisis of a most important change; on that spot,
where the principles of the change originated, and its
elements, yet imperfectly understood, were mixed in
confusion together, the expressions of the preacher were
watched with deep and universal anxiety.
Luther possessed great eloquence. It is not that he
was a finished orator according to the rules of the art, or
adorned by all those graces which are so persuasive with
a polished audience; but he had many qualities and
talents which gave a powerful effect to his speaking —
a clear harmonious voice, great fluency, a ready and
retentive memory, unequalled knowledge and command
of his own language, singular force of thought and ex
pression, much theological learning, much acuteness of
intellect, and a general soundness of reasoning; all set
forth by an energy and earnestness of manner which
proved the sincerity of his purpose, and rendered his
appeals to a popular assembly irresistible.
On this occasion there were circumstances which may
have lent him peculiar animation. He had now begun
to perceive that evils might arise from the abuse of his
doctrine ; he had learnt to tremble at the fatal conse
quences even of truth perverted ; he knew that those
consequences would be imputed to the truth, not to its
perversion ; and that the blame, if not the crime, would
assuredly be fixed upon himself. Add to this the autho
rity of his name, the integrity of his character, his
courage, his disinterestedness, his devotion to the cause
of the gospel and the people, the mystery of his late re
tirement, the dangers which he had incurred and escaped,
those which still surrounded him and which at any mo-

CH. XVII.j HIS SERMONS. 9
ment might compass his destruction.* These and similar
considerations doubtless contributed to give even unusual
force to his exhortations. They were followed by the
most complete success. Every symptom of disorder im
mediately disappeared ; the city was restored to its former
tranquillity, the university to its legitimate studies and
rational principles; and Carlstadt, the unfortunate au
thor of the confusion, overwhelmed by the predominance
of a superior genius, withdrew not long afterwards from
the field of his disgrace.
A few days after this triumph Luther wrote as follows
to the prior of the Augustinians at Eisleben :f " I have
offended Carlstadt because I have annulled his institu
tions ; but to his doctrine I have only this objection, that
all his exertions are made about ceremonies and things
external, to the entire neglect of the true Christian prin
ciples, which are faith and charity : for by his prepos
terous manner of teaching he has brought the people to
estimate and approve their Christianity by things of no
value,:]: such as these — if they shall communicate in
* A letter written by him to Gerbelius of Strasburg about this time
contains expressions to the following effect : " I am surrounded by no
guards but those of heaven. My enemies are all about me, and they
have the authority of the law to destroy me at any hour. Yet I console
myself thus — I know that Christ is Lord of all, and that the Father hath
put all things under his feet, not excepting the anger of the Emperor,
and all evil spirits. If it seem good to Christ that I should be slain, let
me die in his name," &c.
t Ap. Seckendorf, lib. i. sect. 48, § 121. There are many similar
expressions in a letter written by Luther to John Duke of Saxony on
March 18, also cited and translated from the German by Seckendorf,
ibid, addit. i. " Non ideo sumus Christiani, quia sacramentum tangimus,
vel non tangimus, sed quatenus fidem et charitatem habemus. Libertas
servanda est in conscientia et publice predicanda ; sed ferendse erunt in-
firmorum conscientiee, donee et ipsi intelligentiores fiunt. Hic errarunt
Wittembergenses mei. Recte docuerunt ; sed non recte usi sunt doctrina ;
arte divites fuerunt, charitate pauperes, &c."
J " Por has res nihili. . ." Were they, at least two of them, really

10 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XVII.
both kinds, if they shall receive the bread in their hands,
.if they shall refuse confession, if they shall break the
images. This is the malice of Satan, who has introduced
himself under another form for the ruin of the church.
But it has always been my object to set the consciences
of men at liberty from these perverse practices, and then
would the thing fall to the ground by itself with the con
sent of all men. But he wanted to start up at once a
new master, and by putting down my authority to impose
his own institutions on the people."*
This last imputation obliges us to compare the avowed
principles and recorded proceedings of the now rival re
formers; and in so doing we can scarcely hesitate to
ascribe the praise of greater purity, of sounder discretion,
of much clearer foresight, to Luther. The other was
impatient and inconsiderate ; yet some of his earlier acts
had passed without disapprobation; and very lately,
when he married and solemnised that ceremony with
unusual publicity and parade, he had received the ap
plause and benediction of Luther. " May God comfort
himf for the excellent example that he has set, for the
repression and diminution of the lust of papacy !" Now
it seems that the celibacy of the clergy was one of the
established practices of which Luther encouraged the
immediate abolition, even by open practical disobedience.
Again, the sale of indulgences, the celebration of private
masses, were others ; so that Carlstadt may well have
been so far misled by those bold innovations, as to think
it no unreasonable step to pass onwards to the demolition
matters so utterly contemptible ? The people did not think so. " Video
et nostros irruere ad utramque speciem sumendam — cum interim fidem
et charitatem nihil pendant. . . ." Luther to John Hetz, Canon of
Breslau, March 25, 1522 (No. 372).
* " Ilie cupiebat fieri subito novus magister et suas ordinationes in
populo, pressa auctoritate mea, erigere."
, -f- Luther to Amsdorf, January 14, 1522.

CH. XVII.J LUTHER AND CARLSTADT. 1 1
of other evils of the same antichristian family, and just
as strongly denounced by the same commanding voice.
But in so doing he overlooked the leading principle by
which the conduct of Luther was directed — that abuses
were not to be extinguished till they were ripe for ex
tinction, till they were ready to fall to the ground almost
of themselves ; that the use of violence in a good cause
was only dangerous to the cause which used it ; and that
the gradual operation of reason, slow as it might some
times be, was after all the only certain method of ac
complishing a righteous purpose.
As to the motives of the parties in this difference, they
can only be known to Him who searched and saw their
hearts ; but neither of them, unhappily, was free from
the offence of disparaging the other. Luther, as we have
seen, imputed to Carlstadt vanity or ambition ; and a
hasty expression is ascribed to the latter, which, if truly
ascribed, might seem to justify the charge. Carlstadt,
on his part, attributed to Luther the most despotical
spirit — " he will have all other people enslaved to his
authority, nor will he permit any one to write or to do
anything except under his own dictation."* Historians,
who commonly love to enter largely into such topics,
have diligently repeated those recriminations. To me
it appears, that the undisputed indiscretion of Carlstadt
is argument sufficient to clear him from the suspicion of
selfish motives, and to account for every part of his pro-
ceedings.f And in respect to Luther, if his interference
* In his work " On the execrable abuse of the Eucharist."
t On August 6, 1521, Luther thus wrote to Spalatin concerning Carl
stadt : " There is great force of genius and learning in the writings of
Carlstadt, but I wish they contained clearer arguments. His cause is
excellent and his attempts laudable, but he should rely on proofs that are
unanswerable. ..." This was written before any dispute took place
between them, and we may infer from it, what was no doubt the truth, that

12 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XVII.
was really judicious, if his measures were those best cal
culated to promote the success of his own work, if his
conduct was consistent with his kriown principles and
his professed intentions, we have no right to ascribe to
him any other object or feelings, than those which he
claimed. There is so much vice and selfishness in the
palpable uncontested facts which are everywhere pre
sented to us by the history of man, that we may well be
spared the odious task of making inquisition into wick
edness, where there is no sure proof of its existence.
Since there are some who do sometimes act from right
eous motives, let us avoid the very risk of defrauding
them of the rare glory of their purity.
Among the anxious hearers of Luther were the dis
ciples of the exiles of Zwickau ; and we read that one of
these chiefs was so astounded by his eloquence, as to
declare that it was no human voice, but the speech of an
Carlstadt wanted neither cleverness nor erudition, but only that which
gives to both of them their value — judgment. Compare with this the
tirade of Melancthon written to Myconius afi;er the breach. "Carl
stadt first raised the tumult respecting the sacraipent, — a man of savage
disposition, of no genius, or learning, or even of common sense. He is so
far from having any marks of the Holy Spirit that I never could observe
him to understand or practice even the ordinary duties of humanity :
nay, he has discovered manifest signs of an unholy turn of mind. All his
notions savour of sedition and Judaism. From the first he embraced all
the fanatical notions of the Anabaptists, when Storch tried to sow the'
seeds in Germany : he made the commotion about the sacrament entirely
out of dislike to Luther. . . . There is not in his whole writings on that
subject even the specious appearance of a probable argument. . . . What
single expression is there in his whole disputation which indicates a
pious way of thinking? . . . Moreover, a great part of his writino-s is
taken up with railing. ... I have written this for the sake of my neigh-
bours,^that, if they have the least regard for my testimony, they may
beware of such a character ; for though he cannot dissemble for long to
gether, yet he has a fair outside, and possesses the arts of insinuation to- a
wonderful degree ; but his temper soon breaks out. . . ." This effusion
of party invective throws less discredit on its object than on its author.

CH. XVII.J LUTHER AND THE FANATICS. 13
angel from heaven. Stubner was absent ; but when he
presently returned to his flock and was exhorted to con
firm and defend his declining doctrines, he thought it
expedient to seek a personal conference with Luther and
explain .them to him. It was with great reluctance that
Luther consented to this. But at length the day and
hour were fixed ; and Stubner, with Cellarius and one
other disciple, appeared before the Reformer. Melanc
thon alone was present. Then Stubner expounded at
length the whole tissue of fables and fancies, which he
mistook for opinions. Luther listened with calmness ;
and when this exposition was at length concluded, per
ceiving that the absurdities were too wild and gross for
serious confutation, he admonished the speaker to this
effect : " Take heed of what you are doing. There is
nothing of all that you have related which has any found
ation in Scripture. These are at least but the devices
of curious imaginations ; and they may be the delirious
and fatal suggestions of a false and fraudulent spirit."*
On this Cellarius broke out into the most violent
phrenzy. With frantic voice and gesture, stamping on
the ground and beating the table before him, he ex
pressed his loud indignation that Luther should have
dared to harbour any such suspicion respecting so divine
a personage. Stubner replied with somewhat more
calmness : " That you may know, Luther, that I am en
dued with the spirit of God, I will tell you the thought
which you are even now conceiving in your heart — you
are beginning to incline towards a belief in my doctrine."
Now this divination was singularly unfortunate ; for it
so happened that the subject of Luther's meditation at
that moment was the scriptural sentence, " The Lord re
buke thee, Satan !" After this, Luther demanded a sign
* It does not appear that the distinctive opinion, from which they
afterwards received their denomination, was very prominent among the
pretensions of the original enthusiasts.

14 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XVII.
of the divinity of their mission ; and when they refused
it, he refrained from any further expostulation, and at
once dismissed them. They retired, menacing and boast
ing; and when they declared the dreadful demonstra
tions by which they would prove their doctrine, he
merely said to them, " That God, whom I venerate
and worship, will easily prevent your God from accom
plishing these threats." On the very same day they
departed from the city, and consoled themselves in their
defeat by heaping curses and execrations upon the head
of Luther.* There is little further mention of these
men in history. Of Stubner nothing certain is recorded.
Cellarius, after suffering imprisonment in Prussia, is said
to have escaped to Basle, and adopted more reasonable
doctrines. Having thus disposed of his injudicious allies, and of
the still sillier enthusiasts, who would have associated
their fanaticism with the cause of the Reformation,
Luther returned to battle once more against its open
enemies. Among these, as might well be expected,
where the ecclesiastical discipline was violated, the fore
most and most zealous were the bishops. Their principal
exertions were directed to chastise the clergy who had
married ; and against one of these the Bishop of Misnia
proceeded to the last extremities. Luther's indignation
was roused ; and then, as was his custom, not confining
* Camerarius. Vita Philippi, p. 51, ap. Seckend. 1. i. sect. 48, § 118.
Addit. Luther thus describes this affair in a letter to Spalatin, April 12,
1522 (No. 382) : — " Prophetas istos novos passus sum . . . Ego, quando
ita pertinaces erant, etiam mendaciis manifestis deprehendi, et misera
verborum lubricitate evadere molientes, ut serpentem antiquum agnosceres
jussi tandem ut miraculis probarent suam doctrinam, qua ultra et contra
Scripturas gloriarenter. Illi recusabant miracula, minati tamen sunt
fore ut credere tandem iis cogerer. Spumabat, et fremebat et furebat
inter hsec Magister Martinus (Cellarius) nee loqui jussus, nee interro
gatus, ut nee mihi loquendi spatium faceret. Ego, dimissis, interminatus
sum eorum Deo, ne miracula ederet, invito Deo meo : sic discessimus."

CH, XVII.J TRACT AGAINST THE BISHOPS. 15
his attack to any particular offence, or any individual
offender, he hastened to vent his wrath against the whole
hierarchy. He published a German tract against " The
Order, falsely called Spiritual, of the Pope and Bishops,"*
in which he even surpassed his former denunciations. He
dwelt on their ignorance, their avarice, the hopeless cor
ruption of their morals. He altogether renounced their
authority. He expressed his regret at the humility which
he had shown them for the third time at Worms ; and
warned them that thenceforward he would not deign to
submit his doctrines to them ; no, nor to an angel from
heaven. So long as I live (he said in substance) I will
assail your enormities with increasing boldness. I will
have no truce with you ; and if you succeed in destroying
me, you shall be still further from peace. As the prophet
Hosea says, " I will be unto you as a lion, as a leopard
by the way." It is my most earnest wish that you
should repent ; but if you will not, then must we war,
till your iron brow and bronze neck shall by some means
or other be broken.
After proceeding at some length in this strain, he rose
to a still loftier tone ; and in imitation of that pontifical
arrogance, which he was so fond of denouncing, issued a
sort of Bull of Anathema, a proclamation of proscription,
against the whole body of the bishops : " Whosoever
shall bring aid to this holy work ; whosoever shall con
tribute life, fortune, reputation, to this purpose, that the.
episcopacy may be wholly laid waste and the episcopal
* "Wider den falschgenanntem geistlichen stand des Pabsts und
der Bischoffe." In this work he contented himself with the title of
preacher — those of priest and doctor having been annulled by the Pope's
excommunications — adding at the same time, that should he assume that
of Evangelist he would do so on the highest authority; since it was clear
that he held the commission from Christ himself, and was ready to bear
testimony to it at his last hour.

16 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XVII.
government extinguished, these are the beloved children
of God ; these are the true Christians ; these are the ob
servers of the precepts of God ; these are the foes of the
ordinances of Satan. Or if they be unable to go so far,
let them at least condemn and repudiate that government.
But as to those who shall mairitain it and offer it a
voluntary obedience, they are indeed the appropriate
ministers of the devil, and live in repugnance to the law
of God. Yet (he continued) when I speak of their devas
tation and extinction, I by no means counsel that this
should be the work of the sword ; but that according to
the teaching of Daniel (viii. 25) they should be peaceably
worn down, by the constant collision of arguments from
the word of God, till they fall through universal shame
and contempt."
It is not perhaps very easy to reconcile the cautious
forbearance recommended in the concluding sentence of
this " BuU" with the fierce anathema which precedes it.
At any rate the enemies of Luther made no such attempt ;
but, without at all noticing the explanatory paragraph, at
once accused him of proclaiming a war of extermination
against the whole order, and instigating the common
people, by the strongest possible incentives, to engage in
it. These representations were sufficiently grounded to
have some weight with the higher classes, and to terrify
the timid ; so that Luther, however popular his exhorta
tions might be among those who envied the dignity of
the mitre, or hated the very existence of the hierarchy,
probably injured his cause by the fury of this production.
The most powerful families in Germany were interested
in maintaining the Sees, as splendid provisions for
younger sons, and were consequently opposed even to their
gradual and peaceful abolition. And the fear of seditious
tumults under the banners of the Reformer, which was
pretended by many and no doubt felt by some, furnished

CH. XVII.] APOSTATE MONKS. 17
them with an excuse for more decided hostility. Be
sides, it was the tendency of the work to throw the
higher and lower classes into that jealous opposition,
which is invariably injurious to the interests of both.
An order from the imperial regency, published in the
beginning of this year, compelled the bishops to make a
personal visitation of their dioceses, for the repression of
the Lutheran irregularities. The bishop of Misnia, with
the permission and professed support of the Elector,
obeyed. But his attempts were so feeble, and his profes
sional ignorance so conspicuous amidst the intelligence
which freedpm of thought was now diffusing, that he
retired without any other effect, than to throw one addi
tional slur upon the credit of his order.
The misconduct of some false reformers was far more
mischievous than the zeal of this prelate. Sevet-al
apostate monks, whose secret vices had polluted the es
tablishments they had abandoned, now carried forth into
the world their foul passions and dissolute habits, and
cast upon the Reformation the scandal which properly
belonged to the church of their education. On this oc
casion Luther published a German tract " On the Neces
sity of avoiding Human Doctrine." In this he repeated
many of his arguments " Concerning Monastic Vows,"
and maintained the truth of his principles. But he
deprecated their abuse. He declared that they were not
addressed to those shameless converts, who made their
religion to consist in the eating of eggs or the breaking
of images, but to the afflicted and enslaved consciences
of sincere but timid Christians. In this work the abo
minations which polluted the monastic life were depicted
with so little disguise as to inflame the indignation of
the papal writers against the indelicacy of the author.
But his life was free from the mere suspicion of immo
rality ; and the nakedness of his expressions only repre-
VOL. II. c

18 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XVII.
sented his own disgust at vice, and was intended to in
spire his readers with no other feelings. We cannot fail,
however, to observe that after his outbreak from Wart
burg, he threw off all self-restraint, together with all
fear, and deliberately stigmatised in the strongest and
plainest terms whatsoever might be the object of his
wrath, whether it were the tyranny of a prelate, or the
impurity of a monk.
In the same year he published, among several smaller
works, a " Discourse on the Conjugal Life," which gave
occasion to many misrepresentations. He was accused of
inculcating the obligation to marriage as universal and
essential, like the love of God, the forgiveness of enemies,
or any other Christian duty — nay, even of justifying,
under certain circumstances, positive sin. These were
indeed extreme inferences, suggested by party malignity.
Yet it must be admitted that Luther treated those deli
cate subjects with a degree of indiscretion which gave an
advantage to his enemies. And it would have been hap
pier for his fame, had he found it consistent with his
public duties or private feelings to abstain from any
mention ofthem.
About the same time, in the July of 1522, he addressed
a letter to the Bohemians, exhorting them to persevere
in their revolt against the papacy. And in reference to
one charge which was commonly alleged against them 
the want of unanimity in their heresy — he consoled them
by the example of their accusers, among whom differences
and dissensions prevailed, to at least as great an extent.
But those, which may be properly termed his contro
versial works, did not after all occupy the more serious
portion of his time and thoughts. They were but the
occasional explosions of his religious zeal; they were
composed with gre'at rapidity, and probably very few of
them received the calm and mature consideration of their

CH. XVII.j TRANSLATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 19
author. In his Patmos he had devoted the larger part
of his laborious solitude to the translation of the New
Testament into the German language. He completed it
there; and after it had undergone the more critical
revision of Melancthon, he published it in the September
of 1522. Such a work, proceeding from that author, at
that time, in the excited condition of the minds of all
men, was devoured with extraordinary avidity. It spread
in a inoment from one end of Germany to the other. It
found its way, not only into the schools of the doctors
and the mansions of the great, but to the hearth of the
humbler classes ; and by these especially was it embraced
with simple and unmixed transport — since they at least
were thirsting for the truth, and had fewer prejudices,
and not any interests, to warp them from it. There were
other translations of the Bible extant; four h^d been
published during the fifty preceding years. But their
style was so coarse and barbarous, as to repel rather than
invite the most devout curiosity ; while that of Luther
was distinguished by a perspicuous and sublime sim
plicity, without example or resemblance in the German
literature of that age — as if the reformer, in his holy de
sign to set forth the noblest truths in the strongest and
clearest expressions, had aimed to accomplish at the same
time a secondary object ; and while he purified the re
ligion, to elevate too the language, of his country.
The rapid diffusion of this work awakened the deepest
apprehensions of the papists — for they were in fact well
acquainted, notwithstanding all their disguise, with the
weak points of their system, or they never could have
defended it so long. Emser published a German criti
cism on Luther's version, and enumerated fourteen hun
dred errors, which he had detected in it — and these, to
serve the purposes of faction, he imputed to the wilful
corruption ofthe sacred writings even more than to the ig-
c2

20 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XVII.
norance of the translator. The version was not faultless ;
but the censures of Emser were almost innocent, because
they were founded on the assumption that the vulgate
was perfect, and that every deviation from that was an
error. Yet even Emser was well aware that it was now
too late to close that book against the people, and that
the thirst which consumed them must be satisfied from
some source or other. So he promised, when he pro-
'duced his criticism, that he would himself presently pub
lish another and a purer translation. In the year 1527
his version appeared; and it then proved to be no
more than a faithful transcript of that of Luther, ex
cepting only those passages which he had previously con
demned. Meanwhile many secular potentates, acting under
spiritual influence, continued to re-echo the original cry
of Emser. They prohibited, under the most severe penal
ties, the circulation of the suspected work ; they com
manded their subjects to deliver it up to the magistrates,
and the magistrates to consign it to the flames ; and, un
der the pretence of suppressing the mistakes and falsifi
cations of Luther, they waged a fierce and holy war
against the Bible itself. Yet even in this were they in
consistent; for when Emser's version appeared, they
gave their patronage to it. And this, as Luther com
plained, was somewhat vexatious—" that a Duke of Sax
ony should proscribe my translation and command Em
ser's to be received, when in reality they were one and
the same. And I cannot help regarding with a smile of
wonder those very wise heads, who condemn and vilify
my Testament, merely because it is published under the
name of Luther ; but pass no judgment on the deserts of
those who steal the writings of others, and af&x their
own names to them ; and thus fraudulently spread their
reputation among the people. But there is a judge who

CH. XVII.J TREATISE ON THE SECULAR POWER. 21
will see to this. Meanwhile, the best revenge that I
can desire is this : though Luther's name is suppressed
and that of his adversary substituted for it, yet Luther's
book is read, and thus the purpose of his labours is pro
moted by his very enemies.*"
Meanwhile he proceeded in the accomplishment of
his mighty task ; and with the learned aid of Melanc
thon, Amsdorff, Bugenhagen, and other friends, applied
his Hebrew acquirements to the version ofthe Old Testa
ment. This work was not completed till the year 1530,
but portions of it were previously published, from time to
time, as they were completed.
In a " Treatise on the Secular Power," published in
the beginning of 1523, Luther alluded to the persecution
of his version ; and at the same time exhorted the people
not to resist the execution of such edicts. Not indeed
that they were justified in spontaneously resigning the
sacred volume — for that was the same as to offer up Jesus
Christ to Herod — ^yet they must abstain from any active
resistance to the established authorities.f That treatise,
which was written in German, contained some sound
• In April, 1524, Luther -writes to Hausman respecting Emser in a
somewhat unchristian spirit — " Emsero nihil est respondendum, optime
Nicolae, quia is est de quo Paulus dicit — subversus est et suo judicio
damnatus et vitandus, peccat enim peccatum ad mortem. Adhuc modi
cum et orabo contra eum, ut reddat ei Dominus secundum opera sua ;
melius est enim ut moriatur, quam ut sic pergat contra conscientiam
suam Christum blasphemare ; sine ergo eum ; velociter nimis compes-
cetur miser iste. Sed et tu desine pro eo orare." Apud Seckend. i. sect.
52, § cxxvii. And certainly he did die very soon afterwards.
t Luther's advice was this : " If the prince command you to give up
the books, say — ' In respect to my person and my goods, I will obey.
Command according to the authority which you have on earth, I will sub
mit. But I will not submit if you force my faith or order me to deliver
up the books ; for this would be a tyrannical order, beyond the just
limits of your authority.' But if, on your making this reply, he shall
take away your goods, or inflict any punishment on you for your disobe-

22 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XVII.
principles, which, through the constant use of three cen
turies, are now indeed almost wom down into truisms ;
but which then were new to all, and strange to many, and
offensive to the. established notions of the great majority
of Christians. After tracing, in the first portion of his
work, the origin of human power, as a necessary remedy
for the vices of mankind, to the authority of Scripture,
he proceeded to contend : That, notwithstanding its divine
foundation, there were limits to its legitimate operation ;
that matters of faith were placed above the regulation of
princes; that there was no power, save that of God
alone, which could prescribe to any man the particulars
of his belief; and that any sovereigns, who might make
such attempts, were responsible for all the crimes which
might proceed from them.
Then, in pursuance of this principle, he argued : That
the secular power could not justly take any cognisance
of heresies ; that it was for the bishops alone to contend
against them, and that, not by fire or sword, but only
by the word of God ; if that weapon should fail, that
violence was a vain resource ; and that, though you should
deluge the world with blood, you would never correct
the inward, intellectual defect, whence heresy proceeds —
nay, that nothing was so fostering to heresy as violent op
pression, without appeal to the word of God. " That is
mere injustice and tyranny which operates without rea
son and conviction. You may tame the tongue ; you
may force men to falsehood and dissimulation, but the
heresy will still remain infixed in the soul, nor can it
be expelled by any other power tha!n the word of God
alone, throwing illumination into the heart.
" The bishops neglect the word of God. They do not
dience, happy are you! render thanks unto God, &c. ..." This was
passive resistance — an efficient instrument in peaceful revolutions.

CH. XVII.j TREATISE ON THE SECULAR POWER. 23
govern souls themselves, but they commit it to the princes
to rule them with the sword. The princes allow usuries,
rapines, adulteries, homicides, and other crimes to be
committed with impunity — nay, they themselves commit
them. They let the bishops proceed by their paper de
crees of excommunication and censure — so they invert
the scandal — they govern souls by the sword, bodies by
paper — from secular princes they become ecclesiastics,
from ecclesiastics secular. . . ." And afterwards : " Let
not the prince think — ' This is my kingdom ; these are
my people ; I will do what I like with my own.' But
rather let him say : ' I belong to this kingdom and to
these people ; I am bound to act, not for my own dignity
and domination, but for their welfare, that they may
live in peace and security.' You will say : But who
would be a prince on these terms ? Would you restrict
him from all enjoyments ? I reply that I am speaking
of a prince who is also a Christian. And thus it is cer
tainly very rare that princes are Christians, and almost
impossible that they should be so." And then proceed
ing with this subject, he suggested some wholesome
admonitions and warnings, respecting the choice and
use of counsellors and courtiers, the degree of confidence
to be placed in them, and other topics connected with
the duties of the throne.
In the year 1521 appeared the celebrated book of
Henry VIII. of England. It was dedicated, with a com
plimentary distich, to Leo X., and may have been
designed to earn the honourable title by which it was
immediately recompensed. Henry was at that time a
bigotted enemy to the principles pf the Reformation,
partly through the prejudices of a scholastic education,
partly through the imperious overrulings of his despotic
nature. Therefore, whether he actually composed that

24 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XVII.
work or not, it was with his sincere assent and perfect
approbation that it was presented to the world under
his name. It was in answer to the " Babylonish Cap
tivity," — that among Luther's compositions which most
excited the indignation of the papists. Accordingly,
besides other established opinions and practices, it de
fended at great length and with much ingenuity the
doctrine of the Seven Sacraments. The argument was
conducted according to the most approved strategics of
the system of Aquinas, and it was enlivened by much
severe invective against the Saxon innovator.
Luther was not remarkable for the mercy with which
he treated an assailant ; nor was it, at least at that mo
ment, any incentive to moderation that that assailant
was a king. Before his triumph at Worms, and his lofty
meditations at Wartburg, he might have made some com
promise in expression, though not in principle, through
deference to a royal adversary. But his present mood
inclined him to anything rather than humility ; and in
the contemptuous view which he took, from the height
of his evangelical confidence, of all the struggles of his
earthly enemies, it was even probable that he would
mark out for his fiercest onslaught the most conspicuous
among his foes.
His work* was dated on July 15, 1522. In respect
to the doctrines in dispute, the only article into which
he entered at length was the Sacrament of the Lord's
Supper. He ever deemed it of essential importance to
overthrow the sacrificial character of the mass. " Let us
only once triumph over the mass, and all the papacy is
subdued ; for on this, as on a rock, the whole system 
* It was originally written in Latin; but Luther himself composed,
not long afterwards, a free translation of it in German.

CH. XVII.J ANSWER TO HENRY VIII. 25
with all its monasteries, bishoprics, colleges, altars, minis
ters and doctrines, that is with its whole belly — is alto
gether founded." And thus, as was his practice, he
comparatively neglected the others as subordinate ques
tions, and addressed his arguments to that which seemed
to him to involve their fate. At the same time he
attacked with great force what he called the Thomistic
figment of transubstantiation,* and repeated, with the
same illustration, that peculiar opinion on this point
which he had propounded in his " Babylonish Captivity,"
— " that the body is really present in the bread, or along
with the bread (salvo pane), as fire is present in red-hot
iron (salva ferri substantia) ; or as the Godhead was pre
sent in the man Jesus, together with the manhood (salva
humanitate), the substances being in each case so
mixed together that each retains its own proper opera
tion and nature, and yet together they constitute a single
object." t
Another very important principle, which involved
indeed no theological difference, but was no less an
essential element of the Reformation, was repeated with
confirmed confidence in this work ; and as it was, in the
most extreme sense, a popular principle, it was the more
* " Habemus itaque hunc articulum, quamvis non anxie a me ex
actum antea, nunc multo confirmatissimum propriis papistarum asser-
tionibus, id est, mendaciis et stultitiis et blasphemiis, ut jam tutissimi
simus, merissimum esse impiorum et csecorum Thomistarum figmentum,
quidquid blaterant de transubstantione ista; esseque firmiter fidelibus
verbis Dei nitendum, ubi in Paulo simpliciter et pure dicit, panem esse
Corpus Christi quem frangimus et manducamus." He then proceeds to
say that, thanks to the tuition of Henry, he had so far changed his
opinion that, having before held the doctrine of transubstantiation to be
indifferent, he was now convinced that it was impious and blasphemous.
— Cont. Reg. Anglise, Luth. Oper., tom. ii. fol. 528.
t " Utrobique sic mixtis substantiis, ut sua cuique operatic et natura
propria maneat, et tamen unum aliquod constituant." — Ibidem.

26 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XVII.
courageous to address it to a king — I mean the universal
right of private interpretation of Scripture. And in as
serting this right, Luther did not restrict it by any ex
ceptions, nor confine it within any limits, nor express
any fear or even thought of any consequences that might
proceed from it, but laid it down as an indisputable truth
resting on scriptural authority, in the simplest and at
the same time the strongest terms. " The right of ia-
quiring and judging, concerning matters of faith, belongs
to Christians all and individually, and so entirely belongs
to them, that cursed be he who would curtail this right
by a single hair's-breadth. Christ has established it by
many irrefragable declarations.* .... Thus not only is
it their right but their duty to form such judgments; and
this authority easily overbalances the opinions of all the
pontiffs, of all the fathers, the councils, the schools,
which confine that right to the bishops and ministers,
and impiously and sacrilegiously ravish it from the
people, who are in truth the church. . . ."
The bold assertion of this principle, which would not
have been sp eagerly embraced by the pepple, had it been
asserted less bpldly, did mpre tp shake the ecclesiastical
structure than the exposure of many abuses, or the loudest
declamations against the hierarchy. In fact a reforma
tion recommending so many doctrines, so directly opposed
to all established notions, could scarcely have advanced
so rapidly, had it not been addressed in some respects to
the pride, to the independence, to the peculiar feelings of
the mass of the community. Luther's principal object
was the spiritual emancipation ofthe people, but he would
have failed in attaining it, had he not held out to them
* " De doctrina cognoscere et judicare pertinet ad omnes et singulos
Christianos, et ita pertinet, ut anathema sit, qui hoc jus uno pilo laeserit.
Christus enim ipse hoc statuit invictis et variis sententiis. — Matt. xiii.
&c. &c."— Cont. Reg. Anglic, Luth. Oper., tom. ii. fol. 532.

CH. XVII.J ANSWER TO HENRY VIII. 27
the strongest temptations, under the name of rights, to
rally round him; and among the various incentives which
he suggested to that end, not one was more effective than
this. Luther concluded' this tract as follows : — " In conclu
sion, if my asperity towards the king shall give offence
to any one, let him take this answer. I have to deal in
this book with insensate monsters, who have treated with
scom all my best and moderate writings, and even my
very humble submissions, and have only contracted
greater callousness through my modesty. Besides, I
have refrained from virulence and falsehood, with which
the book of the king is crammed quite full. Nor is it
a great thing if I should throw censure and sarcasm
upon an earthly king, when he has not shuddered to
blaspheme the King of Heaven in his discourses, and to
profane Him by the most venomous lies. The Lord
judges his people in equity. Amen."
I shall not here retail, as some have done, the insulting
expressions which Luther heaped, even in unusual pro
fusion, upon his royal aggressor ; for the majesty of the
purple was not concealed under the cloak of the Thomist,
and the twofold character of the polemic presented only
a double mark to the arrows of the Reformer.* Doubt
less it was from the depths of a religious indignation
that these invectives proceeded, as all his holy con
fidence certainly flowed from the same source. " I am
certain," he says in this work, " that I have my doc
trine from Heaven, ... so that theirs is a vain attempt
* A single and by no means the most violent specimen may suffice : —
" Confirmo itaque libellum meum de captivitate Babylonica Christianis-
simum; ut cujus roboranon tetigit meticulosus Thomista Rex, et contra
meas rupes vagis et aridis stipulis ludens egregium prsebuit orbi specta^
culum ; ut pueri et moriones inteUigant ejus insignem inscitiam, hebe-
tudinem, malitiam et nequitiam."

28 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XVII.
who boast against me their bulls of names and titles, ahd
parade their books of royal authorship. My doctrine
will stand, and the Pope will fall, in spite of all the gates
of hell, and all the powers of the air, earth, and sea.
They have provoked me to war ; they shall have war.
They scorned the peace which I offered them, and peace
they shall no longer have. God shall look to it ; which
of the two shall first retire from the strife — ^the Pope or
Luther. Thus am I resolved, by Christ's aid, to assume
day by day a higher and a higher tone against those
silly, senseless, little tyrants, and to keep pace with their
madness." And in another passage : — " This is the work
and word of God, not mine. Here I stand ; here I sit ;
here I am firm ; here I boast and triumph, and insult
papists, Thomists, Henricists, sophists, and all the gates
of hell  "
Yet those deep convictions of the co-operating and in
dwelling grace of Christ, that certainty of the truth of
his opinions and of heaven's protection upon them, which
justified his courage, should have repressed, as many will
think, emotions of inflated arrogance, so foreign to the
precepts and spirit of the gospel. His enemies perceived
this inconsistency, and forthwith, turned it against him.
Duke George of Saxony was indignant at the contumely
cast upon a brother papist and prince, and brought a
formal complaint against the libeller before the regency
of Nuremberg. Others endeavoured to derive from it
proofs of an unchristian and seditious spirit. Some even
of the professed adherents to the cause expressed their
dissatisfaction, and received a sort of prejudice in favour
of the royal composition which it might not otherwise
have created.
Yet there were doubtless others, whom the natural
tendency to favour the weaker party inclined to sym
pathise with a monk repelling the aggression of a

CH. XVII.] LUTHEr's defence of HIS SEVERITY. 29
king. And in respect to the manner of his defence,
Luther acted, if violently, yet not inconsiderately, nor
without a clear foresight of the scandal which he should
occasion : neither did he testify, even in reply to the
chidings of his friends, any sort of repentance or mis
giving : — " I knew very well that what I was writing
against the king of England, that silly and virulent
Thomist, would give offence to many ; but I chose to do
so — ita placuit mihi. Besides, there were many reasons
which made it necessary. What I am now doing is not
yet known, but it will be manifested hereafter." This
was addressed to Spalatin in the September following.
Somewhat earlier,* in a letter to another friend, he ven
tured to excuse his expressions by the example of those
which were addressed to the Jews by Peter, Paul, and
even by Christ himself.
" But I have already written," he continued, " as
every one" knows, abundance of smooth books without
any severity, in the most friendly and even humble tone,
and treated all their lies and wickedness in the most
even and regulated manner. But the more humble I
become, the more they rage and storm, and cry out
against me and my doctrine, till they become hardened
to all impressions, and have neither ears to hear nor eyes
to see. He then who is so constituted as to despise all
my patience and persuasion, why should it move me if
he is offended at my reproaches ? for it is clear enough
that such a one sees no good in me, and only seeks a
pretext to despise me. He who embraces my doctrine
with a right heart will never take pffence at my re
proaches. Besides, what injustice it is^^ while my ene
mies are heaping all sorts of slanders upon me, to cry up
them as the best of Christians, and to denounce me
heretic !
" In a word, the reason of my severity will be made

30 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XVII.
manifest in its proper season. Whosoever will npt be
lieve that it cpmes frpm a good intention, and will serve
a good end, let him wait ; he will acknowledge it here
after. My gracious sovereign and many of my other
friends have often admonished me to write more softly ;
but I have always replied, as I now reply, that I will not
do so. My cause is not a cause of middle measures,
wherein one may concede and dissemble, even as I to
this very moment have unwisely done."
In his reply to the preface of Latomus* there is an
other remarkable passage on this same subject, which,
as it has given more ground than any other for reflections
on his reputation, requires especially and in common
justice to be explained in his own words : —
" I have never required of any one to think me modest
or sanctified ; I only want men to recognise the gospel,
and I give them full licence of assailing to the utmost of
their lust my personal character. Yet does my con
science suggest to me this boast — that no man's private
lifef or charaeter has ever been atta^cked by me ; only I
have assailed with considerable bitterness doctrines,
studies, impious and sacrilegious devices for the corrup
tion of the word of God ; in which matter, though I may
have some blame, yet am I not without the example of
John the Baptist, and after him of Christ, in their de
nunciations of the Pharisees  My shell may be a
little too hard, but my kernel is soft and sweet. For I
wish no harm to any one ; I only wish that all would
take good counsel and agree with me.:]: Besides, this
harshness of mine, as it hurts no one, so does it deceive
* Luther, Op. tom. ii. fol. 380.
t Not Aleander's?
I " Nemini enim male volo, sed omnibus opto mecum quam optime
consultum. Porro duritia mea, ut nemini nocet, ita neminem fallit. Qui
me vitat nihil a me patietur. Qui me fert lucro augetur." — Ibid.

CH. XVII.J LUTHER's DEFENCE OF HIS SEVERITY. 31
no one. He that keeps out of my way will suffer nothing
from me. He that bears with me finds mc profitable.
He that rebuketh a man shall afterwards find more
favour than he that flattereth with his tongue. (Prov.
xxviii. 23.")
I shall leave this subject where Luther has placed it —
only observing that, however plausibly he might plead
in his defence a few occasional scriptural expressions very
rarely scattered through the volume of the New Testa
ment, the spirit of that book and of the religion taught
by it is extremely different from that, which presides over
most of the controversial works of Luther ; and which
gives them a tone of insolent indignation, more like the
clamour of the Apostles calling down fire from heaven
upon the Samaritan sectarians, than the calm and holy
voice of Christ rebuking their fury.
But in respect to the other and more plausible plea,
that it was good policy to give loose to this violence ;
that mighty objects were not to be attained by middle
measures ; that in dealing with a bigotted and implacable
foe, every compromise was dangerous, even to the show of
compromise ; that mildness would have been mistaken for
timidity, moderation for weakness, while every approach
to concession would only have redoubled the rage of the
persecutor— all this was unquestionably founded in truth,
if not altogether true. Luther's opponents were men
attached to the established abuses inseparably and incor
rigibly, because they were attached by the tie of personal
interest. Besides, all their hereditary prejudices, things
which are very slowly melted by the influence of reason,
cemented their adherence to the same cause. And to
this was superadded, among the most numerous and
virulent portion of them, the keen, exciting motive of
professional zeal. The blinder the understanding of
this faction the fiercer were their hearts. The hatred

32 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XVII.
which they bore to the Reformer could be extinguished
by nothing but his blood ; it was impossible to soften
them, it became necessary to overthrow them ; and there
was no consideration which could possibly check their
fury, except fear.
Again, it was to the mass of the community that the
writings of Luther were in fact addressed. It was there
alone that he could hope to make any deep impression —
there alone was his prospect of any lasting success.
Now the multitude (in which I do not intend to include
the very lowest classes) were of course unable to do per
fect justice to his arguments, or to calculate his means of
success. They were obliged to judge from appearances ;
they took their tone from his ; they caught their courage
from his confidence, for from his confidence they inferred
his strength ; and the higher he rose in audacity the better
expectations they formed of the triumph of their common
enterprise. From the same appearances they likewise
inferred his earnestness, and this with them was scarcely
a less important assurance than the other ; had he been
more temperate, they would probably have suspected
his honesty as well as his resolution. For these and
similar reasons I have no question, that the cause of
Luther was upon the whole advanced and recommended
even by the temerity of his unsparing invectives ; and
that, had he given less offence to his enemies, he would
have found less zeal, less courage, and far less devotion
in his friends. Moreover, we should not forget that the
comparative rudeness of that age permitted much that
now seems barbarous ; and also that in the strife which
was then raging his opponents were at least equally coarse
and abusive, while the example of scurrility and slander
was certainly set by them.

CH. XVII.J BUGENHAGEN. 33
NOTE.
John Bugenhagius or Bugenhagen, who has been mentioned in this
chapter, was a native of Pomerania, born in 1485. His literary distinc
tion recommended him when young to the notice of his sovereign, Bogis-
laus, under whose authority he devoted two years to composing the his
tory of his country. He, like Myconius, caught the first sparks of intel
lectual independence from the writings of Erasmus ; but when he
received, in 1520, a copy of the Babylonish Captivity, he was so as
tounded, on the first hasty glance which he threw over it, as to declare
that in the whole history of the church there had never existed so pesti
lential a heretic as the author. But he too examined and reflected, and
by these means he presently arrived at the opposite conclusion — " all the
rest ofthe world is blind and this man only sees the light." Thencefor
ward he became a zealous disciple and apostle of the Reformation, and
removing to Wittemberg on the following year undertook the ministry of
one of the churches there. Yet he made occasional journeys for evan
gelical purposes to his native land, to Hamburg in 1522, to Lubeck in
1530, till he was appointed in 1537 by Christiern to the episcopal super
intendence over the Danish churches.

VOL. II. D

34 [cH. XVIII.

CHAPTER XVIII.
POPE ADRIAN VI. AND THE DIET OF NUREMBERG.—
PRACTICAL INNOVATIONS OF LUTHER.
Assembly of the Diet of Nuremberg — death of Leo X. — accession of
Adrian VI. — his history and character — a thorough scholastic — his
Brief to the Diet in abuse of Luther — his Instruction in confession of
the corruptions of the church and in promise of reformation — astonish
ment and disgust of the ecclesiastics — the secular members draw up
the famous Hundred Grievances of Nuremberg — recess of the Diet —
substance of the grievances — all this favourable to the cause of Luther
— insulting Brief from Adrian to Frederick — substance and quotations
— resented by the latter — the Lutherans begin to establish their own
churches — Luther undertakes the office of reconstruction — with great
moderation — respecting baptism — the Eucharist — extent of his changes
— private confession — his measures for the spiritual instruction and
edification of the faithful — effects a version of the Psalms into German
verse — his principles entirely opposite to those of the papists — his to
enlighten, theirs to encourage spiritual ignorance — evils occasioned hy
the eruption of carnal monks — the revenues of the church — convention
pf Leisnitz — approved by Luther — his object and certain proposals by
him on that subject — various acts of persecution — by George of Sax
ony—exertions of Aleander — execution of the martyrs of Brussels —
Luther's hymn on the subject.
On the 17th of March, a few days after Luther's retum
to Wittemberg, the States of the empire assembled in
Diet at Nuremberg. It is probable that the affairs of
religion would have occupied little of their attention but
for the recent reappearance of the Reformer. He was
again in public, in action, in the very front of battle
preaching and writing with more than his wonted auda
city, in avowed and proclaimed defiance both of the
papal excommunication and the imperial edict. The

CH. XVIII.J DEATH OF LEO X. 35
bishops, who formed a numerous portion of the assembly,
loudly called for the execution of that sentence ; they in
veighed against Frederick, as now no longer conniving
at the treason of his subject, and throwing a decent veil
of dissimulation over his ambiguous policy, but openly
protecting the enemy of the church and the empire;
they derided the poor justification which was attempted
by the (above-mentioned) letter of Luther, and insisted
on immediate proceedings against him and his adherents.
But the explosion of this storm was deferred by the de
parture of some of the leading members and the conse
quent adjournment of the Diet till the autumn following.
Meanwhile a very important change had taken place
in the policy of the Vatican. In the December of 1521
Leo X., yet in the flower of life, died ; and without en
tering more deeply than I have already done into the
particulars of his character, I may observe that he left
behind him a reputation much surpassing his merits.
He had some brilliancy of talents, some show of classical
erudition, and some passion for polite literature and the
liberal arts ; and he maintained, if that be any praise in
a Christian prelate, a magnificent and festive court, fre
quented by the votaries of profane learning and enli
vened by various exhibitions of secular taste and genius.
But it would be a mistake to suppose that he was wise
because he was literary, or humane because he was po
lished, or liberal or charitable in principle because he
was prodigal of the revenues of the church. He was
notoriously, almost proverbially, immoral : to any theo
logical acquirements, or any religious sentiment, he did
never so much as pretend ;* and if he was personally
* Fra Paolo expresses the same with more delicacy : " E sarebbe stato
un perfetto pontefice, se con queste" («'. e. his liberality, taste for literature,
polite manner, &c.) " avesse congiunto qualche cognizione delle cose della
religione e aliquanto piil d' inclinazione alia pieta ; dell' una e dell' altra
D 2

36 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XVIII.
free from the rancour of ecclesiastical bigotry, he was
not very careful to restrain that vice in others : nor is
there any reason to believe that Luther, had he fallen
into the power of Rome, would have experienced more
mercy under the sceptre of Leo than under that of any
other pontiff.
He was succeeded, through a strange intrigue, by that
member of the sacred college who bore the least resem
blance to himself. Adrian VI. was a foreigner, a native
of Utrecht, educated at Louvain : he was of an obscure
and indigent family ; his morals were without stain ; his
manners were grave and severe ; he was little conversant
with the elegances of social life, or secular literature,
but he was deeply versed in the writings of Aquinas
and his followers, and enjoyed the reputation of an
accomplished scholastic ; and, to crown the contrast, he
was a rigid observer of ecclesiastical discipline, and had
always endeavoured, as far as his authority extended, to
enforce it.
He had been the tutor to Charles V.,* and his ambas
sador in Spain. He then became bishop of Tortosa.
He was promoted to the rank of cardinal in 1517, and
when his master succeeded to the monarchy of Spain
the regency was conferred upon Adrian. Thus it hap
pened that though he was elected to the See on the 9th
of January, 1522, he did not make his formal entry into
Rome till the 24th of the September following.
delle quali non mostrava aver gran cura." (Lib. i. cap. iv.) " Nel che"
(says Pallavicino still more delicately) " io non gli contraddico. Non
voglio gi^ io affermare, che fosse in lui tanta cura della pieta, quanta si
richiedeva dello stato quasi divino, &c. . . ." Guiccardini, ^ layman
(lib. xiv.), speaks with less caution : " Egli per natura dedito all' ozio ed
ai piaceri, ed ora per la troppo licenza e grandezza alieno sopra modo
dalle faccende, immerso tutto il giorno ad udire musiehe, facezie, e buffoni,
inchinato ancora troppo piii che 1' onesto ai piaceri. . . ."
* Hence a saying became current on his elevation to the pontificate :
" Utrecht planted, Louvain watered, and Charles gave the increase."

CH. XVIII.J ADRIAN VI. 37
His attention was immediately turned to the affair of
Luther, and the restoration of the concord of the church.
He perceived no doubt that some errors had been com
mitted by his predecessor, and he instantly decided on
adopting a very different line of policy. This was such
as sprang very naturally from the rectitude of his prin
ciples and the narrowness of his understanding. He was
thoroughly sensible of the manifold scandals which dis
graced the externals of the church, and he was seriously
bent on their removal ; but this was the extent of his
view. His mind, which had ever paced in the scholastic
trammels, which acknowledged no truth beyond the
schools of the Thomists, and was incapable of compre
hending any argument except such as were in use there,
rejected with sincere contempt the clearest conclusions
of Luther. Indeed his simple method of reasoning and
naked appeals to common sense appeared to the dis
torted eye of Adrian so palpably puerile, so manifestly
at variance with the first principles of ratiocination, as
to make him even incredulous as to the great effects
ascribed to them. If a powerful party had adopted his
name and professed his opinions, it was not, according to
this honest scholastic, that they really held those opinions,
or could possibly have fallen into errors so extravagant,
but that they were disgusted with the visible and notori
ous abuses of the ecclesiastical system — the violation of
the canons, the rapacity of the secular clergy, the igno
rant indolence of the monks, the profligacy of all — and
that, if these could be amended, they would return from
their present truancy self-convicted, and rush back with
penitent affection to the bosom of their holy mother.
Acting under these ideas he addressed, on the 25th of
November, a " Brief," to the following effect, to the Diet
then re-assembled at Nuremberg : — He deplored the
ravages of the church through the perversity of a here-

38 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XVIII.
tic, whom neither the paternal admonitions of Leo, nor
his condemnation, confirmed by the edict of Worms, had
been able to silence; he lamented the prevalence of
the heresy, and, placing it by the side of the Turkish *
invasions, described it as the intestine infliction of
Germany; he deplored it the more, as it had ex
tended even to the great and noble; he expressed
his amazement that a brave and sensible nation
should allow itself to be thus seduced away from godli
ness by a miserable apostate monk, who pretended
alone to possess lights which were refused to the uni
versal church ; he recommended the princes, if they
regarded their religion with little zeal, at least to be
watchful over their interests, since it was the obvious
purpose of those sectarians, under the cloak of the
gospel and Christian liberty, to overthrow all civil insti
tutions, and to spare neither the property nor the persons
of those in power. He concluded with a savage and
sanguinary peroration : he entreated the sovereigns to
have recourse to the sword ; f he reminded them how
God had punished Dathan and Abiram for their re
sistance to the high priest; how the most rehgious
emperors had employed the secular arm against Jovinian
and Priscillian ; and lastly how the pious ancestors of
those, whom he was then addressing, had by an act of
perfect justice delivered the world from the heretics Huss
and Jerome, who were even at this moment revived in
Luther. Pope Adrian was living by the light of the preceding
* In the early part of his "Instruction" Adrian compares Luther to
Mahomet, " because he allows a plurality of wives, and gives everv
facility of divorce." — Sleidan, lib. iv. A calumny of course.
t " Ubi cancer ita ulcerosum est, ut blandis lenibusque medicamentis
curari non possit, aspera erunt et ignita cauteria adhibenda et abalienata
membra ab integro corpore penitus resecanda, &c."

CH. XVIII.J THE DIET OF NUREMBERG. 39
century. As far as his books had carried him he was
right. The two heresies which he compared were in the
most essential points the same ; the same in some parti
cular tenets and principles, the same in their general
appeal to the Word of God — only the age was different.
That which had been blasphemy at Constance was held
to be very sound sense and very pure Christianity at
Nuremberg. In this numerous assembly there were few
or none, except the spiritual members, who responded to
the pontifical cry for blood. The secular princes uni
versally closed their hearts against it ; and whether it
was through the improved humanity of that age, or
through an augmented distrust and detestation of the
policy of Rome, they rejected with a single voice the
appeal of the Pontiff.
His nuncio, Cheregati, then proceeded to unfold the
second commission of his master. It was his honest
wish, however thwarted by his domestic councillors,*
* Francesco Soderino, cardinal of Preneste, had held important offices
under the three preceding Popes, and was accounted among the wisest
and most sagacious of the members of the Consistory. The counsels
which he offered to Adrian were to the following effect : — " That any
reformation of the court of Rome would only advance the credit of
Luther ; since the multitude, who only judge things by the event, would
receive it as an admission of the general corruption, and found on one
concession their strongest argument for demanding more ; that if such
was the nature of man, such was also the lesson taught by the history
ofthe church; that all the heresies which had ever risen had always
found their pretence in the abuses of the court, yet that no Pope had ever
reformed the court, but only admonished the princes to protect the
church ; that the policy which had succeeded in times past should be
persisted in for ever; that nothing was more destructive to govemments
than changes of policy ; that dangers always arose from opening new
paths ; that it was the safest plan for the Pope to tread in the footsteps of
his predecessors, which had led to such happy results ; that no heresy
had ever yet been extinguished by reformation, but by crusades and the
rousing of princes and their subjects to the use of salutary violence, &c."
— Fra Paolo, Istor. Concil. Trident., lib. i. sect. x.xiv.

40 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XVIII.
not only to destroy the offender, but also to remove what
were, in his mind, the real causes of the offence. He de
livered an " Instruction" to his ambassador conceived in
this spirit ; and the latter, to the perfect amazement and
dismay of the ecclesiastical portion of the assembly, de
nounced, almost in the language of Luther, the vices
and degradation of the hierarchy. " It cannot be dis
sembled that God afflicts his church for the sins of the
people, and especially of the prelates, since it is from the
priests, as Holy Writ assures us, that the sins of the
people derive their origin ; for no one is ignorant that
for some years the Holy See has committed many abomi
nations. There have been abuses in spiritual things, ex
cesses in ordinances — in short, everything has been
changed and perverted. Nor is it strange that the dis
ease should have descended from the head to the mem
bers, from the highest pontiffs to the inferior prelates.
We have all declined, every one of us, from his ways, nor
has there for a long time been one who has done good —
no not one. Let us then give glory to God, and humble
ourselves before him, and rather judge ourselves, than
wait to be judged of him with the scourge of his wrath.
Wherefore, so far as we are concemed, we will use all
our exertions, that first of all this court of Rome, whence
all the evil may have originated, be reformed, to the end
that the other parts of the ecclesiastical body may derive
their health and purification from the same source whence
they have contracted their corruption ; and we feel the
more closely bound to effect this reformation as we see
the people most earnestly bent upon it. . . ." At the
same time he directed the nuncio to make the most
satisfactory promises to the Diet, that grievances should
be redressed, abuses corrected, and the concordats which
had been made with his predecessors faithfully observed.
The propositions of Adrian shared the fate which

CH. XVIII.J Adrian's PROPOSED REFORM. 41
usually attends well-intentioned middle measures when
they come too late. They gave satisfaction to neither
party. The affairs had advanced too far. The opposite
factions were too decidedly compromised. They saw their
respective interests much too clearly ; and above all they
understood that, to which the Pope was totally blind,
the real state of the quarrel. Thus the papal adherents,
who were for the most part ecclesiastics, while they ap
plauded the " Brief," and rose up in a body and shouted
for vengeance upon Luther,* were no less deeply offended
by the " Instruction ;" for it revealed those unpleasant
truths of which the utterance had hitherto been called
heresy, which they may indeed sometimes have whispered
amongst themselves, but which they had certainly never
expected to hear from the lips of a Pope.
To the great body of the temporal princes this bold
declaration furnished matter for triumph and exultation,
since it contained an unqualified admission of the justice
of their manifold and oft-repeated and oft-eluded com
plaints against the court of Rome. It placed them on
higher and stronger ground ; it united them more
closely in the determination to shake off the burden and
the wrong. But it inspired them with no confidence in
the assurances which attended it ; it removed not the
well-grounded suspicion with which long experience of
her duplicity had taught them to regard all the acts and
all the promises of Rome.')" They- perceived that it still
* " ToUendum esse Lutherum."
t Sleidan (lib. iv.) expresses a suspicion that even Adrian may have
been at heart insincere. But he is probably wrong. Had the Pope
been a hypocrite he would scarcely have been so ardently hated at Rome
— this is the best pledge of his honesty. The great fault that even Palla
vicino finds with him is — That he was too vehement, too open, and too
sincere ; and most exceedingly imprudent in making a public acknow
ledgment of the corruptions of Rome ; that, since he had " these con
ceits," he did wrong to propound them to the Diet, and most so, to pro
pound them in writing ; that his wiser plan would have been to reform
in fact, while he palliated the causes of the abuses.

42 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XVIII.
remained for them to enforce the accomplishment of her
assurances, and they knew what Maximilian had so early
foreseen, that their most powerful instrument for that
purpose was Luther. And thus, while they prepared to
turn to their own account all the advantage that was
given them by the Instruction, they altogether declined
to comply with the requisition of the Brief.
In their official reply to the nuncio, the most im
portant article was a demand for a free council, to be
assembled within a year's time in some city of Germany,
for the final settlement of the various subjects in dispute.
It was declared in the same document : That just reasons
for the non-execution of the Edict of Worms were to be
found in the avowed abuses of the Court of Rome ; that
a schism and perhaps a fatal revolution were to be ap
prehended from the discontent of the people ; that the
Pope deserved great credit for his confession of those
abuses ; that the Lutherans should publish no new works
before the meeting of the above-mentioned council ; that
the preachers should preach the word of God pure, and
according to the approved interpretations of the church
of Christ, and abstain from seditious and controversial
harangues; that the bishops should see this enforced
and appoint proper preachers and do their utmost to
advance the course of the gospel ; that there should be
appointed censors of the press ; that married priests and
monks might be punished by canonical inflictions, but
not by civil — seeing that the civil law took no cognisance
of that offence ; that the Annates, collected on the plea
of a Turkish invasion, ought to pass for the future into
the public treasury.
It is needless to say that this reply was entirely un
satisfactory to the legate. It even betrayed him into
some unguarded expressions, almost unknown to the
cold dissimulation of Italian diplomacy. But the princes,
disregarding this, proceeded eagerly to pursue the shadow

CH. XVIII.J THE HUNDRED GRIEVANCES. 43
of the Reformation once more raised up before them, and
prepared the Memorial of " The Hundred Grievances,"
so celebrated in the annals of Germany.
It is unnecessary to remind the reader of the earlier
efforts of the German princes to moderate the bondage
of Rome, and of the ineffectual concordats to which they
had led. Twice, even since the appearance of Luther, had
this same vain attempt been repeated — at Augsburg in
1518, and more recently at Worms.* But I shall
here record rather more at length some of the leading
articles on which these remonstrances chiefly turned,
that it may be easier to contrast the sort of reformation
desired by the potentates with that which the people de
manded by the voice of Luther. The grievances reiter
ated by the former were of this description : legal pro
cesses carried to Rome which ought to be conducted on
the spot ; dispensations prejudicial to the rights of the
churches; uncanonical interference with elections;
the profusion of absolutions and indulgences, and the
general demoralization thus occasioned ; the intrusion of
cardinals or protonotaries into the best benefices; the
ignorance and entire incapacity of the resident pastors ;
perpetual levies of tenths under false pretences; and
above all, the oppressive impost of Annates,f and the
rigour with which it was levied. Many others swelled
the present list : the superstitious and puerile absurdi
ties delivered by ignorant and hireling preachers, in the
place of the pure word of God; the pernicious super
abundance of festivals; reservations of benefices, com-
* See above. Conclusion of chap. xiv.
t The original pretext for the imposition of Annates was, that the
Pope might have a perpetual fund to repel the invasions of the infidel.
Campeggio, in his first letter to Frederick, admits that the monies col
lected and carried to Rome for this purpose were not altogether applied
to it — "non esse totam hue impensam !"

44 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIPN. [CH. XVIII.
mendams, expectative graces, &c. ; the abuse of excom
munication, by introducing it into temporal concerns ;
the exactions of the clergy for the administration of the
sacraments; indeed the universal venality of things
sacred ; the licenses to keep concubines, and the general
immorality of the spiritual order. To these were added
the exemption of ecclesiastics in criminal causes, and the
great encroachments of the spiritual on the secular
jurisdiction. The grievances were divided under three heads : Those
which enslaved the people ; those which plundered them ;
those which deprived them of legitimate access to justice.
They touched no doctrine ; they disturbed no ceremony
or practice ; all that department of the church might
have continued to flourish with the perfect consent of
the rulers of the people, if Rome would have made some
concession in rapacity and ambition. Yet must it be
mentioned that, even in these moderate respresentations,
made within the pale of the strictest orthodoxy — even
after the avowal of the Pope himself — the ecclesiastics
would take no part ; and that the Hundred Grievances
of Nuremberg were drawn up entirely by the hands of
laymen. This paper concluded with a remonstrance, or
protest, that, if the abuses designated were not removed,
the German people neither could nor would endure them
longer, but would take immediate means to recover its
independence and vindicate its ancient freedom.
Yet imperfect as was this statement of the vices of the
Vatican, and worldly as were the motives whence it pro
ceeded, it was highly favourable to the cause of Luther.
His person and principles were alike protected by the
resolutions of this assembly, though it had, perhaps, no
great affection either for the one or the other. The
enemies of Rome, whatever might be the particular
grounds of their enmity, were for the moment drawn to-

CH. XVIII.J Adrian's brief to Frederick. 45
gether by one purpose ; and, though on many points
they felt and reasoned differently, they resolved on this
occasion to act in unison. The deep absorbing faith of
Luther, and the financial calculations of the ignorant and
perhaps selfish princes of the empire, co-operated for the
humiliation of the universal oppressor. And though the
object of the latter was no more than to reform the ex
ternals of the church, while that of the other was to
regenerate the religion at any peril to the church, yet
the diversity of their views might not at the moment
be perceptible to either, through the ardour of a common
hatred and, to a certain extent, a common cause. The
hopes of Luther had never - yet been so well founded as
at the close of the Diet of Nuremberg.
This took place on the Gth of March, 1523. Some
what earlier Frederick received a brief from Adrian,
which possesses some historical value, as a monument of
the honest bigotry, the bad taste, and the extreme impru
dence of its author. Prolix, violent, declamatory and
dull, it might have taken its place among the other long-
forgotten invectives against Luther, had it not concluded
with a very insulting menace to the Elector. The argu
ment on which the Pope chiefly rested his cause, was the
oft-repeated improbability, that one man, an apostate,
sacrilegious, carnal, " crapulous," should alone have disco
vered the truth, while the whole universe, with all the
holy fathers and sainted luminaries to guide it, was
wrapped in darkness and delusion. Likewise he cen
sured the violent language of that blasphemer, and
inferred from it what the spirit was by which he was
animated. Yet in the same breath he gave the same
evidence of his own spirit, by pouring out from his
apostolical bosom a flood of abuse and slander, in no
respect less virulent than that which he reproved ! He
professed too his regard for the souls of the faithful !
" You nourish in your bosom and cherish a serpent, who

46 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XVIII.
infests heaven and earth with the poison of his tongue.
And as the soul is more valuable than the body, so
much more horrible, even than the Turkish invasion,
is that more than hellish poison which, by the contagion
of heresies and schisms, destroys so many myriads of
souls. We owe it to you that numbers are now receding
from the unity of the church ; that the temples are with
out congregations, the congregations without priests, the
priests without the reverence due to them. Christians in
short without Christ : that the beautiful order of the
Tabernacle is confounded, and men, roused as by a
trumpet from their Christian tranquillity to rebellion,
rapine, carnage, conflagration, to the great and manifest
risk of the Christian republic — for which egregious
deserts of yours towards the church of Christ of what
reward shall I deem you deserving ? — of what chastise
ment undeserving ? You will say perhaps, the serpent
has deceived me ! You have merited this for havino-
nourished him. . . . But what diabolical blindness is
this, that you should rather trust for scriptural interpre
tation to one carnal wretch, who is for ever belching
forth wine and crapula,* than to the rest of the world, to
so many spiritual fathers, who have approved the truth
of their doctrine by the sanctity of their lives, by the
manifestation of the Spirit, by their glorious virtue, and
most of all by their martyrdom ! . . . . This sacrileoious
eneiny of God shudders not to break with impious hand
* " Uni carnali homuncioni, semper eructanti vinum et crapulam, quam
reliquo orbi universo," &c. ; and the conclusion : " Non committemus,
ut quos olim cum Magno Carolo Adrianus Pontifex in Christo genuerunt,
nunc Adrianus Pontifex et Imperator Carolus sub schismatico et heretico
tyranno haeresum et schismatum sinamus interire contagione. Quare
revertamini ad cor, resipiscite, tu tuique misere seducti Saxones, nisi
utrumque gladium Apostolicum simul et Caesareum olim velitis expe'riri."
This last clause will admit a slightly different interpretation from that
which I have given it.

CH. XVIII.J Adrian's brief to Frederick. 47
the sacred images — nay, the very cross of Christ, and to
trample them under his polluted feet ; he never ceases to
rouse the laity to wash their hands in the blood of the
clergy; it is his object that men may be suffocated in their
sins, that the wounded souls may not be healed by the
divine mercy, through the operation of the sacraments.
And thus he has either destroyed them all, or so infected
them, as to leave them poisons rather than medicines.
" Wherefore if you shall not listen to my warnings, nor
walk in my admonitions, I denounce this to you, in
the name of Almighty God and of our Lord Jesus Christ,
whose vicar on earth I am, that in this present world you
shall not escape with impunity, and in the future you
shall be burnt with eternal fire. Pope Adrian and the
Emperor Charles, whose worthy and Christian edict
against the Lutheran perfidy you have not feared offen
sively to violate, live and are in concord. And we will
take care that those Saxons whom Pope Adrian and
Charlemagne originally brought to Christ — we Adrian
and Charles will take good care that they perish not by
the contagion of heresies and schisms under a schisma
tical and heretical tyrant. Wherefore return to your
senses — return to reason — you and your miserably de
luded Saxons, unless you desire to feel the double edge
of the apostolical and imperial swords."
Frederick was extremely offended by this production.
He refused to accept it as the composition of a Pope — he
deemed it beneath the dignity and character even of the
church of that age. But in defiance of its insolent me
naces, or in consequence of them, he instructed his minis
ter at the Diet, Feilitsch, to publish a protest in his name —
that he would never consent to any regulation in opposi
tion to the progress of the gospel ; and that his conduct
should ever be guided, so long as he lived and reigned,
by the principles of uprightness and piety. Such was

48 HISTORY OF THE REFPRMATIPN. [CH. XVIII;
the whplespme effect of Adrian's fury ; respecting which
we may just observe, as a curious and at first sight a sin
gular circumstance, that, as one of the most barbarous
acts of authorised persecution had been perpetrated by
the popular and self-reforming Council of Constance, so
among all the Popes, with whom Luther had to deal, the
fiercest and most unmeasured in his hatred was the self-
reforming Adrian. To have some principles in common
adds a sting to religious difference. The papists gene
rally detested Luther more than they destested the Turk;
but the man among them who abhorred him most was
he who had proclaimed that there was some justice on
his side. And that impolitic avowal of Adrian — impo
litic because it was unseasonable and led to no results —
became an useful instrument in the hands of Luther and
his friends in their subsequent struggles with the papacy.
Meanwhile as the Diet of Nuremberg had not con
firmed the Edict of Worms or commanded its execution,
a general impression was created, that it was officially
suspended, as indeed, through the impossibility of en
forcing it, it was virtually null.
The towns and congregations, which were in open
revolt against Rome and had partially shaken off the
yoke of her doctrines and ceremonies, began presently
to discover the necessity of substituting something defi
nite in their places. They began to learn that in the
work of reformation the least and easiest task is to
destroy ; that, while mere courage and declamation will
sometimes suffice for the overthrow of a vicious system,
the much rarer qualities of discretion and tact and fore
sight and inventive genius are required for the office of
reconstruction. And thus, as they now turned their
thoughts in that direction, they immediately saw the
difficulties and dangers which beset them ; they felt the
want of some strong hand to guide and rule them.

CH. XVIII.J LUTHEr's REGULATIONS. 49
and again appealed, as to their sole resource, to the
authority of Luther.
He perceived that the season was arrived for this
renovation, and he consented. " Thus far," he wrote,
" have I treated with the people by books and sermons,
that I might win their hearts away from their attach
ment to impious ceremonies, and break in pieces without
violence those abominations of Satan. Therefore I have
commanded nothing and innovated nothing, but have
kept delaying with fear and anxiety, not only through
deference to the infirm in faith, to whom no sudden
change would have been acceptable, but still more
through the necessity of making a reluctant compromise
with those light and fastidious spirits, who rush forward
without faith or reason, and delight in nothing but
novelty, and, as soon as that is over, become sick and
disgusted. But as I have now good hope that the hearts
of many are, by the grace of God, enlightened and con
firmed, and as it is now high time to remove those
scandals from the church of Christ, we must venture on
some attempt ; lest, through an undue apprehension of
their levity and the scandals that may arise from it, we
should perpetuate the universally existing iniquities."*
The regulations propounded by Lutherf were in con
formity with the caution he expressed. In the first
place, he suggested them in the form of counsels rather
than of rules ; in the next, he restricted them to points
which seemed essential, and professed his wish to pre
serve all that could be safely preserved of the established
* " Formula Missse et Communionis pro Ecclesia Wittepibergensi,
Venerabili in Christo, D. Nicolao Hausmanno Episcopo Cygnese Eccle
sise." Luth. Oper. tom. ii. fol. 586.
t " Von Ordnung Gottes dienst in Germania, 1523. Das gesauge
in der sontaggs messen und vesper lass man bleiben, denn sie sind fast
gut, &c. . . "
VOL. II. E

50 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XVIII.
practices. In respect to the service of baptism, he made
no other change, than that it should be performed in
German instead of Latin ; and that the people should
be instructed to attach no serious importance to the
mere human ceremonies* which formed a part of it. But
regarding the administration of the other sacrament,
he went much farther into particulars, and suggested
many alterations ; because the attention of the people
had been much more strongly called to its abuses ; and
because these involved, as he had taught them, two very
important doctrinal errors.
Yet even here he was very careful not to recommend
any unnecessary alteration. On the assumption, that
the sacrifice and the change of substance were false
opinions, he abolished all the expressions or ceremonies
which gave countenance to either ; yet, while he pr6-
hibited the adoration of the host he permitted its eleva
tion, through the fear of offending the feebler brethren,
or those not yet sufficiently instructed. He likewise
retained the use of candles and sacerdotal habits and
incense, as matters of indifference. For the same reason
he did not press the immediate abolition even of private
masses, however strongly, by his writing and preaching,
he had denounced their blasphemous impiety. And
even these very moderate innovations, thus cautiously
proposed, he did not venture to prescribe for universal
reception, or as a perpetual law ; but, while he left much
to the discretion of individual pastors, under particular
* On this occasion he retained not only the exorcism, with the three
blowings upon the infant, but the putting of salt into its mouth, touching
its ears and nose with spittle, anointing its breast, and shoulders im
printing the cross upon its breast, and placing the cap on its head and
the taper in its hand. But in the second edition of his service of bap
tism, two years later, the sufflation, salt, spittle and chrism were omitted
but the exorcism, the sign ofthe cross and the induvium, or clothing, re
tained.

CH. XVIII.J LUTHER's REGULATIONS. 51
circumstances of time or place, he was desirous that the
forms of worship should be held comparatively insig
nificant. In his mind, the essential duty of the ministry
was to purify the heart, to enforce the everlasting doc
trines of faith and charity, and inculcate the unbounded
practice of mutual toleration and forbearance.
In the same spirit he recommended private confession*
as useful, but did not impose it as necessary. He even
retained provisionally the Latin service in the Eucharist,
interspersed with hymns in German, until the commu
nicants should be gradually brought to endure the entire
change. But he insisted in very plain terms on the ad
ministration in both kinds, and refused the communion
to any who still indulged scruples on this more im
portant point. At the same time he took measures
for the better instruction of the faithful. He directed
a previous examination of those intending to communi
cate, with rational and scriptural explanation ; and above
all things he inculcated the diligent exposition of the
holy writings, the delivering of sermons and homilies,
in short a perpetual and zealous appeal to the feelings
and understanding of the people. And here in fact was
the key to the most essential distinctions between the
church of Luther and that which it superseded. The
latter was founded upon the ignorance of mankind, and
addressed itself to the vices and infirmities which pro
ceed from ignorance. Therefore it was a church, ex
ternally, of pomp and ceremonies ; internally, of impos
ture and superstition — appealing, on the one side, to the
mere senses, on the other, to the credulity, that incurable
and most astonishing frailty, of uncultivated man.
Luther, with the opposite view, at once abolished
many of the festivals which overloaded and sensualised
* " Revocata est in usum confessio auricularis et privata absolutio,
quam Carolostadius aboleverat." Scultet. ann. 1523. p. 164.
E 2

52 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XVIII.
the church. In turning to the public services, he cen
sured the selections from the Epistles, read after the
Collects, as of too carnal a tendency : " The man who
placed them in the Liturgy seems to me to have been a
singularly ill-instructed and superstitious estimator of
works :" and he directed that for many of them should
be substituted those passages of St. Paul, which espe
cially inculcate faith. He was likewise desirous to in
troduce among the people the practice of singing hymns
and psalms, as means of exciting their devotion. And
to this end, he prevailed upon Spalatin and John of
Doltz to assist him in turning the Psalms into German
verse. In 1524 the first Psalm-book appeared at Wit
temberg. It was the joint composition of several learned
men ; but the spirit which it breathed was one and the
same. And it is observed by a German writer,* that
the sacred songs of those days possessed a depth of
power, which penetrated and warmed the very recesses of
the heart ; a simplicity and freshness of life, which was
never attained by the productions of any later age. Thus
were they especially suited to Luther's purpose of substi
tuting inward piety for the show of external observances.
He made his appeal to the common understanding
and to the better principles of mankind. He assumed
that they were sentient and rational beings ; that they
possessed minds susceptible of improvement ; souls which:
might be purified and exalted ; and therefore that their
religion should be placed, not in their ceremonies, but
in their bosoms. He believed, moreover, that it was a
good and true religion, and that it would endure any
scrutiny ; and thus that it was the duty of a church to
instruct its adherents, not to dazzle and delude them.
He took a higher view not only of the moral capacities
of the multitude, but also of the merits of the religion ;
* Marheinecke, tom. ii. kap. ii.

CH. XVIII.J LUTHEr's REGULATIONS. 53
and while the sceptical papist, pretending to be a bigot,
closed the Bible against the people, through a Conscious
fear lest a knowledge of its contents should lead them
to suspect its inspiration, Luther, having no such sus
picion, boldly threw open the Book of Life to universal
examination, confident that deeper inquiry would only
create a firmer conviction of its truth. No doubt the
hierarchy deemed this a fearful experiment. Yet, after
three centuries of trial, may we not pronounce it suc
cessful ?
If it was an office of great delicacy to legislate for
the spiritual government of his infant community, to
mediate, on the most tender of all subjects, between rash
ness and timidity, and so to prescribe the forms of wor
ship as to satisfy one party without offending the other,
another matter of no less difficulty now engaged the
attention of Luther. As several monasteries were in
part or wholly deserted, it became necessary to pro
vide a new object for their revenues. A fresh element
of discord and danger was thus thrown into the caul
dron ofthe Reformation ; and precaution was to be taken,
not only against the violence or the infirmity of re
ligious minds, but against the rapacity of the selfish and
worldly. In the former case, the perplexity lay for the
most part with the lower classes ; in the latter, the peril
was to be apprehended chiefly from the great.
A circumstance arose at this time which, though in
itself trifling, served to bring forward the views of
Luther on that question. The magistrates and prin
cipal inhabitants of the town of Leisnitz, in Misnia,
concluded, in 1522, a sort of convention with the Abbot
of the monastery of Bouch, in the immediate neighbour
hood, to the following effect : That a committee should
be appointed annually for the administration of the
revenues of this church ; that it should consist of ten

54 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XVIII.
persons, namely, two nobles, two magistrates, three
citizens of Leisnitz, and three of the principal inhabitants
ofthe adjacent country; that it should receive all the
rents and alms of the church, and employ them for the
maintenance of pastors, deacons and school-masters, of
the poor, of orphans and widows, and for the repairs of
the sacred edifices. Some other prudent and humane
regulations were added, for the repression of monastic
mendicity, the better provision for the poor in years of
famine, and such matters.
Now this arrangement entrusted the management of
ecclesiastical property to a body of laymen ; it likewise
recognised three objects, besides the maintenance of the
clergy, for its application, namely, education, charity,
and the support of the fabric of the churches. Yet Luther
entirely approved, if indeed he did not secretly dictate,
the convention containing these principles ; he prevailed
upon the Elector, by two bold letters, to sanction and
confirm it ; and he published it in the following year,
and prefaced it with some general observations, in Ger
man, respecting the ecclesiastical revenues. It was his
object to save them from the promiscuous rapine with
which they were threatened. He was as much opposed
to the spoliation of individuals, actually in enjoyment of
any portion of them, as to their forcible ejection ; and he
recommended the princes and magistrates to imitate the
wisdom and charity of the inhabitants of Leisnitz,
and to retain the property of the church as a common
fund, belonging to the body ofthe faithful, and applicable
to pious purposes. In respect to the cathedral churches,
he proposed to make over their revenues in fief to the
bishops, as laymen, seeing that they were practically so,
or else to give them back to the heirs of the founders 
or, in cases where neither of these arrangements might
be expedient, to throw them into the common treasury

CH. XVIII.J PERSECUTION OF THE LUTHERANS. 55
of the church. We shall have occasion to retum to this
subject. At present it is sufficient to notice the early
interference of Luther in this question, and by showing
whathis principles really were — not indeed to defend them
— but to justify him from any imputation of personal in-
terestedness, from any contempt of the vested rights
even of the bitterest of his enemies, and from any gene
ral disposition to sacrifice the property of the church and
poor to the rapacity of the rich and great. Yet his pro
posed application of the cathedral revenues is not by any
means free from the last suspicion.
We shall pass over the military contest which took
place at this time between the Archbishop of Treves and •
Francis of Sickingen, and which deprived the Reforma
tion of one of the most zealous of its secular supporters ;
because this war was not in fact connected with the cause
of Luther. But another effusion of blood, after a fashion
not yet disused by Rome — of the blood of her recusants
by the hands of her ministers and patrons — the first de
liberate act of sanguinary persecution, must be recorded,
however painful the office, with some few particulars.
George of Saxony, increasing in fury as the struggle
advanced, and irritated by the personal insults of his
adversary as well as by the contumacy of his subjects,
overstepped the more moderate limits to which he had
hitherto confined his vengeance, and proceeded to execute
the last inflictions. Exile, imprisonment, pecuniary
fines had for some time been attempted in vain ; he had
now recourse to the punishment of death. And not he
alone even among the princes of Germany. In the elec
torate of Mayence, at Eslingen, at Augsburg, and at
Worms the same extremities were adopted, and without
the absolute visitation of civil war, the prophetic ana
thema of Aleander was hastening to its accomplishment.
Meanwhile that faithful nuncio, still attached to the

56 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XVIII.
court of Charles, was directing the work with his own
hand in various cities of the Low Countries. His violence
was especially turned against the Augustinians of An
twerp, whose establishment he entirely destroyed, and
other apostate monks. Many yielded to the measures
employed to terrify or seduce them, and returned to their
allegiance. But there were three who still resisted.
These it was deemed expedient to sacrifice ; and that the
expected effect of this example might be general, it was
determined to give great publicity to their execution.
Accordingly, they were carried to Brussels and con
demned to be burnt alive. On the appointed day (the
1st of July, 1523), in the presence of a great concourse
of spectators, especially theological professors, mitred
abbots, bishops, and other dignitaries, they were brought
to the place of execution ; they were degraded from their
order ; they were led to the pile ; and there, with some
exclamations of holy joy and many of religious resigna
tion, protesting their faith and their obedience with fer
vent and devoted constancy, they endured, or rather em
braced, their fate.*
These were the first distinguished martyrs of the
Reformation; and their sufferings, their firmness and
their piety deserve a larger space than is here assigned
to them. As to the effect of this measure, it was no more
than another confirmation of the first lesson that we
gather from the history of persecution. The city of
* " Magis ipsi palos amplectentes quam alligati." Two only were
executed on this occasion, Henry Voes and John Esch, or Nesse or as
Seckendorf conjectures, Von Esse. It is to be hoped that the desire of
human celebrity did not mingle with the motives of this last seeing
that his very name is matter of conjecture. The third, named Lambert,
suffered the same fate four days afterwards. Scultetus (Ann 1523 n
178, et seq.) gives a long account of this transaction from an epistle o'f a
"Vir Doctus," an eye-witness, dated Bruxellse, 6to. idus Julii.

CH. XVIII.J MARTYRS OF BRUSSELS. 57
Brussels, which was compelled to be a witness of this
act, and which had hitherto maintained its fidelity to
Rome, was converted by the spectacle, and began to
favour the Reformation.*
Luther did not overlook so propitious an opportunity.
He composed a German hymn, in memory of the mar
tyrdom, which continued long afterwards to be chanted
in the church ; and he addressed a pious exhortation to
the inhabitants of that country, urging them to persevere
with fortitude, and to render thanks to that merciful God,
who had deigned to consecrate the harvest of his ministers
upon earth by the oblation of such holy first-fruits.f
* This is concisely expressed by Erasmus. " Bruxellse primum
exusti sunt duo ; tum demum civitas incipit favere Luthero. Epist. 7.
Lib. xxi. In another Epistle he remarks the same fact at greater length.
Again, the reformers were severely oppressed by Prince George at Leip
zig : the consequence was, that a great proportion of the students left that
university and removed to Wittemberg. Seckend. lib. i. sect. 55,
§ cxxxix. t The title of Luther's Hymn gives the credit of the execution to the
" Sophists of Louvain." Ein lied von den zweien Martyren zu Briis-
sel, von den Sophisten von Lowen verbrandt, geschehen im yahr 1523.
Ein neues lied wir heben an.
Das wait Gott unser Herre,
Zu singen, was Gott hat gethan
In seinem lob und ehre. . . .
Ap. Marhein., t. ii. kap. ii.

58 [cH. XIX.

CHAPTER XIX.
POPE CLEMENT VII.-DIET OF NUREMBERG.
Death of Adrian VI., and universal joy occasioned by it — succession of
Clement VIL, and return to the old policy — Campeggio sent to Nu
remberg — his reception at Augsburg — the policy of the Vatican — how
defended — exertions of Campeggio — his arguments — and reply of the
Diet — constitution of the parties — how variously broken up — the
consequent character of the edict — its substance — the Legate pre
viously remonstrates, and presents his own scheme of reformation —
it is ridiculed and despised — the Edict satisfies neither party — the
Pope abuses it — so does the Emperor — so does Luther — Clement
tries his second scheme — forms a confederacy at Ratisbon in his
favour — names of the members — they accept Campeggio's reformation
— remarks on this — the Imperial Regency changed ahd removed from
Nuremberg to Eslingen — henceforward the history of the Reformation
has a more political and a less religious character — and this was
advantageous to the Pope.
Adrian VI. , after passing exactly one year of disquietude
and infelicity in the chair of St. Peter, died on the 24th
of September, 1523. His monumental inscription* still
attests, in a few eloquent words, the disappointment of
his hopes and the honesty of his purposes, and his unfit
ness through that very honesty for the office to which he
was called. During his life he was defeated in all his
schemes, though some of them were projected with the
best intentions, and on principles which were virtuous
and which, a century earlier, would have been wise. At
Rome his plans of reformation were foiled and scouted,
* " Hadrianus VI. hic situs est, qui nihil sibi infelicius in vita duxit
quam quod imperaret."

CH. XIX.J CLEMENT VII. 59
and this could scarcely surprise him; but it must
have been more afflicting to witness the entire discom
fiture ofhis German policy ; to see his sincerity suspected,
his candour employed as a weapon against himself, and
the heretic, whom he was thirsting to destroy, grown
stronger and bolder from the conflict. His death was a
subject for universal joy. A profound theologian, a rigid
moralist and a bigoted churchman, he was pursued by
the court and people of Rome with a bitterness of detest
ation and contempt, which seldom attaches to the vilest
characters — so hateful was the very name of reform in
the metropolis of impurity, that the Pope himself was
deemed a traitor to his church, if he attempted to touch
even the slightest shred of its abominations.
Julius de Medicis, Clement VIL, was chosen as his
successor, and the policy of the Vatican then returned,
after this transient interruption, into its ordinary channel.
Frederick was again addressed in the usual style of un
meaning courtesy ; the very name and thought of reform
were dismissed from the precincts ofthe apostolical coun
cils ; the expectations of the discontented were to be
again disappointed ; the demands for a general council
again eluded ; and an accomplished instrument for all
these purposes was selected in the person of Lorenzo
Campeggio, and sent as nuncio to the Diet again assem
bled at Nuremberg.
The day appointed for its meeting was November II,
1523, but the Legate did not arrive till the 14th of Feb
ruary following. In the course of his journey he had
an opportunity of acquiring some experience as to the
feelings of the German nation, had he chosen to profit
by it. On his entrance into Augsburg he gave, as was
customary, his benediction to the multitude ; but instead
of the customary reverence on their part, he received
only expressions of contempt and ridicule. He might

60 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XIX.
have read in this insult the exasperation and the confi
dence of the people. He might have learnt that, even
should he win the suffrages of the princes, the strong
hold of his enemy would still remain unshaken.* He
only learnt that it would be more prudent to dispense
with that ceremony on his entrance into Nuremberg;
and accordingly he presented himself there without any
official pomp, in his travelling costume, and proceeded
directly to his hotel. The senate, or town-council, of
that city was strongly attached to the principles of Luther.
The preachers, many of whom were monks, were of the
same party. The Augustinians were so decided in their
resolution, that they administered the sacrament in both
kinds in the church of their monastery, during the Easter
following, to more than four thousand communicants ;
and even the Dominicans had adopted, though not per
haps to the same extent, the same opinions. Some faint
attempts were made by some of the assembled potentates
to repress this spirit. But they were wholly ineffectual,
and the presence of the Legate excited irritation rather
than dismay among the inhabitants, their magistrates
and their teachers.
But the diplomacy of the Vatican was calculated for
the councils of sovereigns ; it took no cognisance of the
feelings of the people ; it did not acknowledge them as any
element in the system of international intercourse; it
had ever been habituated to conclude, that where the
* Admitting the insubordination, he exhorted the princes to put it
down by force. In a letter to Frederick written at this Diet he remarked •
" It is very true that Germany has lately undergone a great change ¦ but
the change is in the vulgar, not apparently in the princes. It
is time for the princes to repress these first menaces of sedition before
they become more dangerous— ut populi licentiam non solum moleste
ferat magistratus, sed etiam mascule ulciscatur. Hanc autem disciplinee
severitatem in ipsius provincia imprimis exercendam esse. "

CH. XIX.J CAMPEGGIO AT NUREMBERG. 61
prince was gained all was gained — that the prison, the
sword and the faggot would accomplish the rest; and
thus Campeggio proceeded to execute, by the old conse
crated methods of intrigue, cajolery and dissimulation,
the counsels of his master. They were simply these : to
refuse every shadow of concession, so far as the court
was concerned, on the part of Rome ; and to induce the
potentates to enforce, by every means in their power, the
edict of Worms. For this latter purpose it was of course
his first object to unite all the princes in one determina
tion to act vigorously, each in his own dominions, for the
extirpation of the heresy ; but should this fail, he had, as
we shall presently observe, a second project in reserve —
to band together the powers which were favourable to
Rome, and by that league, if possible, to overwhelm the
rest. Thus philanthropic and benevolent towards the
Christian people of Germany were the dispositions which
the representative of Christ's catholic church brought
along with him to the approaching negotiations ! That
which was only the aspiration of Aleander was already
becoine the policy of Campeggio.
Of course, the Pope justified his obduracy by the ordi
nary pretences set up by the patrons of corruption in
every age — that one demand is only a prelude to another;
that the first concession necessarily entails the second ;
that the claims, which are granted under certain circum
stances, cannot be refused under others ; and that it is
wiser to fight the battle of self-interest at the most re
mote outposts, than to withdraw one footstep, even though
it be to stronger and more tenable ground. The question
of the justice of the demands was never for a moment
considered ; the only point at issue was whether the
church of Rome could any longer be maintained by any
exercise of despotism, by any severity of persecution, in

62 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIPN. [CH. XIX.
the full integrity of all her actual power, possessions and
prerogatives, or not.
Accordingly Campeggio was no less assiduous than he
was artful in his attempts to win the assembly. By fre
quent and private conferences with the leading indivi
duals he prepared their minds for the approbation of his
public address. He appealed to their prejudices and
to their passions ; he reminded them that the faith, which
he called on them to protect, was that in which their
venerable forefathers had lived and died ; he sneered at
the insignificance of the individuals who had presumed
to violate it ; he painted the fearful and certain progress
of innovation — how it advanced insatiably from one con
quest to another, so that ecclesiastical insubordination
would unavoidably be followed by civil sedition, and the
rabble which had insulted its priests would not long
refrain from the blood of its princes ; he drew an argu
ment even from the recent triumphs and menaced inva
sion of the Turks ; and represented the necessity of first
securing the religious unity and purity of Germany, before
the aid of God could be invoked with any confidence
against the external outrages of the infidel.
The principles contained in this address received a
ready sympathy from the spiritual princes and nobles,
who formed a large portion of the assembly. The
extinction of the heresy was with them at least as
important a matter as the repulse of the Mussulman —
in fact it was a nearer and far more pressing danger ;
and there was one among them (the bishop of Gurck)
who had the rashness to avow, that the extermination of
the Lutherans was in his mind far more necessary than
that of the Turks, and a much worthier object for the
contributions of the faithful. This was the true inter
pretation ofthe counsels of Campeggio; only the craftier

CH. XIX.J CAMPEGGIO AT NUREMBERG. 63
I
Italian found it safer to insinuate a sentiment, which
could only excite disgust in every generous bosom, and
to leave to some less discreet adherent the odium of pro
claiming it.
Yet, notwithstanding his own exertions and the zeal of
his supporters, the official reply which he received was
not such as to promise him perfect contentment. He
was requested to communicate to the Diet some satis
factory answer, on the part of the Pope, to the remon
strances contained in its last decree, and to the long:
list of grievances which had been presented to his pre
decessor by the German nation. Campeggio professed
to have very little knowledge of those documents. At
Rome, he said, though some copies might be found in
the hands of individuals, they were not considered as
authorised acts officially addressed by the Germanic
body to the Pope and his cardinals, but as the mere
declaration of a passionate faction, alike unbecoming the
dignity of the empire and of the See ; but at the same
time he desired to recal their recollection to another
edict, of unquestionable authority, which had received
the sanction of a diet where the Emperor himself pre
sided — the edict of Worms ; and he then pressed for its
immediate execution, on the ground that it was the
simpler method of accomplishing the end at which
both parties professed to aim — the pacification of the
empire. The assembly then proceeded to draw up its edict,
amidst the greatest discord and confusion. The' Arch
duke Ferdinand, president of the Diet and brother of the
Emperor, declared his decided adhesion to the papal
faction ; so did the ambassador of Charles, the Duke of
Bavaria and other secular members of considerable in
fluence. The prelates, who assembled in all their force.

64 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XIX.
were unanimous on the same side,* and rose in violence
and clamour as the debate proceeded. The higher ranks
of the nobility were, to a great extent, with them. The
opposite party was almost entirely composed of the
counts of the empire and the representatives of the im
perial cities, supported, if not conducted, by the ambas
sador of the Elector of Saxony. The struggle was
severe ; and, had the secular grandees of Germany loved
the court of Rome as sincerely as they hated its Lutheran
foes, the legate might have obtained a temporary tri
umph. But these were for the most part influenced by
two scarcely consistent motives : they were willing to
co-operate with the one party in effecting the overthrow
of Luther, but they sympathised with the other in their
wish for the humiliation of Rome.
Even at this crisis there was a pecuniary dispute be
tween the ecclesiastical and secular papists. Ferdinand
had demanded from the former, under the authority of
the Pope, a third part of one year's income for the ex
penses of the Turkish war. The prelates had resolutely
refused, and made a protest against the claim, and the
question was still pending ; and, besides this particular
quarrel, there were many general subjects of variance
and jealousy, even among the most zealous members of
that party.
On the other side, the friends of the Reformation did
not yet understand their own principles. Many upheld
it, not because they loved either Luther or his cause, but
because they hated the papal imposts. There were
others who supported the Reformer on temporal grounds,
* The princes present were Louis Palatine, William and Louis of
Bavaria, Frederick Palatine, Casimir of Brandenburg, Albert of
Brandenburg, and the prelates of Treves, Bamberg, Wurtzburg, Trent,
and Brixen. — Sleidan, hb. iv.

CH. XIX.J RECESS OF NUREMBERG. 65
as a mighty agent for the emancipation of his country
and his church ; and there may have been some few,
who carried an evangelical spirit into that great assem
bly, and acted on religious convictions — yet even these
not perhaps altogether such as constituted the faith of
Luther. Among the members met to decide this ques
tion, there may not have been one German who was in
all particulars a papal devotee, nor one who could be pro
perly called a disciple of Luther. Hence resulted the
mixed character of the decree, which, after indescribable
disorder, was, on the 18th of April, 1524, at last carried.
It was to this effect : That the states of the empire,
in obedience to the wishes of the Emperor, should use
their utmost exertions for the execution of the Edict of
Worms, referring, as far as might be possible, in case
any obstacles should arise, to the regency of the empire ;
that the Pope should immediately assemble a free coun
cil for the determination of religious differences ; that
the Diet should meet again at Spires on the I Oth ofthe
November following, and take such cognisance of those
differences as by right belonged to it ; that, meanwhile, a
commission of certain leamed doctors, elected by every
prince in his own states, should be appointed to examine
the writings of the modern teachers, and report upon
them ; that the same doctors should have the additional
office of examining the grievances which the secular
princes had presented against the Pope and the hierarchy,
and suggest means of reconciliation ; that the ensuing
Diet should form its final resolution on their report ; and
that the Gospel should be preached meanwhile, accord
ing to the authorised interpretations.
The legate, to whom the substance of this decree
was previously communicated, remonstrated in the
strongest terms against it. His various objections
need not be detailed, as they were founded on principles
VOL. II. F

66 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XIX.
already familiar to the reader. He interspersed, as usual,
promises with his remonstrances ; he asserted that his
own authority as nuncio was sufficient for the abolition
of all acknowledged grievances, and that he was most
willing to apply it to that purpose ; nay, he even carried
his duplicity so far as to affect a certain zeal for reform,
and was not ashamed to propound his project to the
assembled princes. It consisted of thirty-five articles, of
which all that were not absolutely frivolous were directed
against the offences of the inferior clergy.*
This papal scheme of eluding the reality of Reforma
tion by substituting its shadow — this hierarchical scheme
of casting upon the lower ranks of the profession the
scandal and the shame which attached, even in a greater
degree, to the highest — of curbing and chastising humble
transgressors while the ringleaders were to riot, as hereto
fore, in licentiousness and impunity — this poor device of
selfish hypocrisy did not really deceive any one, even
in that generation. By the people it was received
with mere derision ; it occasioned many humorous com
positions, jests, satires, pasquinades, and brought out all
the artillery of ridicule. Even the princes and nobles
were not thus easily gulled ; and being now more than
ever assured that the imposts, which impoverished them
and their subjects for the profit of Rome, and which in
the eyes of most of them formed the sum and substance
of their wrongs, would never be removed by Roman
hands, they persisted in their determination to seek re-
* " Vivant honeste, vestiantur decore, non negotientur, fiigiant cau-
ponas, non sint avari, neque pro sacrorum administratione pecuniam
acerbe impetrent; concubinarii removeantur loco, feriarum numerus sit
moderatus." — Sleidan, lib. iv. Magic and divination were likewise
prohibited to spiritual persons. It appears that this "reform" was
presented by Campeggio to the Diet, in full discharge of all claims upon
Rome, and was instantly refused.

CH. XIX.J RECESS OF NUREMBERG. 67
dress by other means. They retracted no part of their
proposed decree. It was prepared accordingly, and
published at the re-assembling of the Diet on the 1 8th
of April.
It gave satisfaction to neither party. On the contrary
it called forth from the leaders of both strong expressions
of disapproval. Clement trembled. The very mention
of the intended assembly at Spires — an ecclesiastical
tribunal independent of the Pope — a court to be sum
moned by laymen for the decision of a spiritual con
troversy — filled him with an anxiety which he called
indignation. The Emperor, whom civil dissension still
detained in Spain, finding his interest at that moment
in an alliance with the Pope, and having already en
listed his feelings on the same side, threw off the show
of impartiality and even moderation, and spoke the very
language that would have been dictated from the Vatican.
In a letter written from Burgos, on the 15th of the July
following, to the Orders of the empire,* he so far out
stepped his discretion, if lie did not exceed his authority,
as to annul some provisions of the decree of Nuremberg.
He expressed his astonishment that the convocation of a
general council, which belonged only to himself and the
Pope, should have been treated in that assembly. He
cancelled the proposed commission of doctors, and pro
hibited the assembly convened for the November follow
ing at Spires, and proclaimed himself the protector and
patron of the pontifical church. Luther he denounced
by name as a crafty and unchristian man, whose object,
like that of Mahomet, was to make for himself a name
and a sect, though it should be at the expense of the
* Sleidan (lib. iv. a..d. 1524) mentions that he wrote at the same
time private letters to the same effect to certain members of the Diet
(Frederick was one of these) as well as to the senate of Strasburg.

68 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XIX.
happiness of mankind ; and he called for the obsequious
execution of the Edict of Worms. It is said that, in trans
mitting to Germany a document offensive to the rights
ofthe nation and the independence ofthe Diet, he so far
remembered his caution as to desire Ferdinand not to
make it public, unless it- would probably prove accept
able to the Germanic body; but Ferdinand was now
a partisan, and perceiving how it would gratify his
own faction, he promulgated, it. Its general effect,
however, was only to hurt the national pride and irri
tate the free spirit both of the nobles and people;
and the greater number at once replied to Ferdinand,
that they found it impossible to execute the edict in
question. It may seem strange that the decree, which thus
exasperated the Emperor, should have awakened the
same indignation in Luther. To him the revolting
article was that which revived the edict of Worms ; and
he denounced, with even more than his accustomed fury,
the stupidity, the madness, the barbarity of all who
should attempt to enforce it. He exposed the imperial
inconsistency, which at, one moment published a sen
tence of condemnation against him, and at another
commanded him to wait till a council should assemble
and pronounce upon him.* He deplored the blindness
of the potentates of his country, who, while they still
listened to the oft-detected perjuries of Rome, were pre
paring to oppose by force the fixed determination of the
people ; and he went so far as to exhort the states of the
empire to abstain from aggressions against the Turk;
since he was more moderate in his councils than the
princes of Christendom, and since no heavenly blessing
* He published side by side the edicts of Worms and the second of
Nuremberg, under the title, " Zwei Kaiserliche uneinige und wider-
waartige Gebote."

CH. XIX.J LEAGUE OF RATISBON. 69
could be expected upon any enterprise undertaken by
men so sinful.
Meanwhile Pope Clement, sensible that he had been
foiled at Nuremberg^ and resolved to repair his defeat,
had recourse to the second expedient of his policy. His
first endeavour had been to gain to his views the great
mass ofthe Germanic body, and to urge it to proceed by
an official, if not an unanimous, act, to the extinction of
the heresy. But when this failed, and when he perceived
too, not only the great zeal of the open friends of Luther,
but also the determination of many who were not his
friends to obtain the redress of their spiritual grievances,
he despaired of ever uniting the powers of Germany in
his cause. It became his object then to divide them ;
and by striking the first blow at once, while the passions
were heated and recent from the dispute, to compromise
at least a powerful party in his interests.
Campeggio received instructions to that effect ; and
so well did he execute them that, on the 10th of July
following, a league was signed at Ratisbon among the
most determined enemies of the Reformation. The
parties to it were these : — Archduke Ferdinand, the
Archdukes William and Louis of Bavaria, the Arch
bishop of Saltzburg, the Bishops of Trent, Ratisbon,
Bamberg, Spires, Strasburg, Augsburg, Constance,
Basil, Freisingen, Passau and Brixen. These confede
rates immediately published a proclamation of the terms
of their alliance, among which the principal were these :
— ^To execute with all their power the edict of Worms ;
to permit no change in the sacraments, or in any of the
ordinances and. practices of the church ; to punish priests
who had married, and monks who had deserted their
convents ; to have the Gospel expounded according to
the interpretation of the fathers and other authorised

70 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XIX.
doctors ; to prohibit the sale of the books of Luther ;* to
recal all the youths who were studying at Wittemberg,
on pain of confiscation; to exclude from benefices and
academies all who had studied there ; to refuse a refuge
to any one banished from the states of another for
Lutheranism ; to afford mutual aid in case of any insur*
rection occasioned by these measures. At the same
time, as a sort of counterpoise against the Hundred
Grievances, they expressed their satisfaction with the
scheme of reformation proposed by Campeggio; which
was vaunted indeed by the legate himself as a com
plete and final measure, calculated to fulfil every ex
pectation and to silence all the clamours of the dis
contented. It was natural enough that an association of fifteen
persons, twelve of whom were prelates of a corrupt
church, should give their sanction to a project which
threw upon their inferiors the suffering and the shame,
and left untouched the power, the wealth, the luxuries
and the vices of the hierarchy. But it was a somewhat
audacious proceeding for a confederacy, which did not
comprise the sixth part of the Germanic body, to adopt
an independent course of policy on a question frequently
discussed and officially decided ; to publish a partial and
local edict in contravention of that so lately promul
gated by the universal assembly of the nation ; and to
assume for a defeated minority the right of separate and
opposite action in the very matters so decided.
It estabhshed at the same time a very dangerous pre
cedent ; for the example which was set by one party was
sure to be followed by the other, and thus would ensue a
certain series of dissensions and disorders threatenino- the
final dissolution of the Germanic body, and disturbing
* Scultetus,, ann. 1524.

CH. XIX.J FURTHER PROCEEDINGS OF CAMPEGGIO. 71
the peace and destrojang the happiness of the empire.
But neither the happiness of the empire, nor the peace
of Christendom, nor the interests of humanity, nor any
other interests, save those of the treasury and the tyranny
of the apostolical church, entered in any degree into the
consideration of the Italian representative of Rome. It
was his simple object to preserve, at any cost to others,
the wealth and dignity of his establishment.
Assuredly, under existing circumstances, the policy
then adopted presented the best chance of success. Yet
how loose must have been the constitution of that
empire, in which a foreigner, ignorant of the language
and despising the character of its subjects, acquired the
power of forming a league of partisans banded together
for purposes anti-national, and in defiance of the resolu
tions of the national assembly !
Another intrigue of the nuncio was equally successful.
The imperial regency, hitherto assembled at Nuremberg,
was accused by the papal party of a secret inclination
towards the cause of Luther. Certainly it had not
authorised those extreme measures of persecution, of
which the impolicy was as obvious as the cruelty, but
which the high" church faction never ceased to recom
mend. Under the pretence, that the funds for the main
tenance of this regency were exhausted, means were
found to dissolve it. But no sooner was this accomplished
than another, composed of members notoriously adverse
to the Reformation, was appointed in its place; and, since
the city of Nuremberg was tainted with that leprosy,
the seat of its deliberations was fixed at Eslingen, a town
in the duchy of Wirtemberg, at that time under the
government of Ferdinand. Frederick protested in the
strongest language against this new council, and boldly
disputed its authority, but it assembled and acted not
withstanding.

72 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XIX.
Thus the policy of Clement, administered by the
talents of Campeggio, already bore considerable fruits.
The second edict of Nuremberg, though by no means
such as the papists wished, was however less unfavour
able than the first. The Emperor, from whatsoever
motives, had declared more loudly his adhesion to the
cause of Rome. The confidence of the prelates, which
had been shaken by the indiscretion of Adrian, was re
stored. The imperial regency was purified, and brought
into direct co-operation with the pontifical agents ; and
a friendly coalition was established which, though not
in itself very powerful, might presently become the focus
of a more general confederacy — a rallying point for
future and bolder operations. And by this last success
the Catholics indeed achieved one great advantage : they
altered the character of the Reformation ; they made it
less a matter of religion, more a question of politics; to a
certain extent they dispiritualised it ; and by a measure,
which threatened to reduce it to a struggle between
princes, they not only checked its progress and narrowed
its limits, but really endangered the main support of its
existence, which was the independent enthusiasm of the
multitude.

CH. xx.J 73

CHAPTER XX.
PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION.— CARLSTADT.
The Reformation is adopted by Albert of Brandenburg — the Bishops of
Samland and Breslau — the Elector and Count Palatine — the Land
grave of Hesse — by a great number of cities and provinces — by Magde
burg, Nuremberg, Ulm, Frankfort — dispute at Strasburg about the
marriage of the clergy — appeal of the bishop to Campeggio — the
legate's answer — result — escape of nine nuns from the convent of
Nimpschen — consigned to Luther — his generous treatment of them —
revenues of the monastery of Heitzberg — Luther's appeal to Frederick
— Luther's own monastery is forsaken — some absurd opinions rise
among the reformers — opposed by Luther — origin of the sacramentary
controversy — Carlstadt's proceedings at Orlamund — Luther sent to
repress them — he preaches against Carlstadt at Jena — their inter
view — Luther proceeds to Orlamund — his hostile reception and hasty
escape — exile of Carlstadt and sympathy of his parishioners — con
troversy between him and Luther — Luther's letter to the Strasburgers
— remarks— further extracts from it — Luther's professed wish not to
believe the real presence — his general invective against Carlstadt —
his seeming inconsistency — his tract against the celestial prophets —
attempt of the Strasburgers to heal the controversy — rejected by Luther
— result of this — Carlstadt makes overtures to the Elector — rejected
— he wanders into different parts of Germany — among the fanatics
and insurgents — his danger — appeal to Luther — through whose media
tion he at last returns to Saxony, and makes a public recantation.
While the intrigues of Campeggio, working upon the
passions and prejudices and personal objects of certain
powerful individuals, were forming a party among
them for the suppression of the new opinions, these
were spreading day by day among the mass of the com
munity, and striking deeper and deej)er into the affec
tions of the people. And, as on all occasions of great

74 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XX.
popular excitement, some among the great will always
be found who share the emotion, or who serve their
interests by pretending to share it, so were there in
this instance some chiefs and nobles who placed them
selves, in their respective dominions, at the head of the
movement. Albert of Brandenburg, grand master of Prussia, de
clared in 1523, or early in 1524, his adhesion to the
Reformation. He conferred a vacant See upon Paul
Spretter, or Speratus, who had been personally recom
mended to him by Luther ; and under that pious super
intendence the Gospel was securely and successfully
preached by a zealous band of missionaries and con
verts. In January, 1524, George Polentz, Bishop of Sam-
land, promulgated a bull favourable to the Reformation,
in which he directed the office of baptism to be per
formed in the German language, and authorised the
reading of Luther's books. A few days earlier Maurice,
Bishop of Ermeland, had issued an edict to the opposite
effect. Luther immediately published the two bulls,
together with a short preface, in which he set forth, as
he was wont, the incurable malignity of the papists.*
The Bishop of Breslau, John Thurson, a man of great
holiness and a correspondent of Erasmus, had ventured
to favour, even in its feeblest infancy, the cause of Luther.
He died in 1520, and the beautiful expressions by which
Luther consoled his last moments are still extant.f
James of Saltza succeeded to his chair and to his prin-
* " Duse episcopales bullee, prior pii, posterior papistic! pontificis,
super doctrina Lutherana et Romana. Has duas buUas, diverso spiritu
editas, placuit invulgari, velut duos fructus insignes, alterum reflorescentis
pietatis, alterum inveteratee malitiae." — Luth. Oper. tom iii fol 62
t Scultetus, Annal. Evangel. Ann. 1520.

CH. XX.J PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 75
ciples. The magistrates co-operated with the bishop.
A public disputation was held, in 1521, on some of the
most important points of difference, both in doctrine
and discipline; and it was conducted for the space of
eight days, with so much detriment to the papal inte
rests, that the liberty of the preachers and the apostacy
of the people were presently made subjects of a remon
strance from Rome. The authorities, to whom the com
plaints were addressed, replied with firmness and know
ledge ; and it is proper to observe, that, among many
grounds of justification, that which they most strongly
urged was the disgusting impurity and indecency of
their former pastors.
A long German letter is extant, addressed by Luther,
on Sept. 7, 1523, to Charles, Duke of Savoy, exhorting
him to protect the ministers of the Gospel, as he had
already done, not by the sword — for that was not the
Aveapon of truth — but merely by granting them free
permission to preach the word of God. But the effect
of this communication is not recorded. Frederick,
Elector Palatine, and Louis, Count Palatine, encou
raged the progress of the new opinions in their
respective states, and introduced Schonbelius, a name of
distinction among the early Reformers, as their principal
instrument. In 1524 (on July 18) the Landgrave of
Hesse published an edict, in which he commanded all
the pastors in his states to preach the Gospel, according
to the doctrine of Jesus Christ and the Apostles. He
prohibited at the same time the mendicity of the monks,
which was one of the great practical evils and scandals
of the ancient system. This proclamation was accepted
by the Reformers as a proof of attachment to their prin
ciples, and a pledge of future adhesion to their party.
But these and similar instances, in which the Reform-

76 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XX.
ation derived strength from the patronage of princes,
were rare compared with those in which it took root and
flourished without any such assistance, through its own
direct operation upon the hearts of the people.
Among the various places of importance, where it was
established during the years 1523 and 1524, we may
enumerate Francfort-on-the-Maine, Milteberg, Strasburg,
Ulm and Halle in Swabia ; Bremen and Magdeburg ;
Goldberg in the Archduchy of Liegnitz ; Zerbst in the
principality of Anhalt ; Hamburg ; Stettin and Sunda
and Stolpen in Pomerania ; and the duchies of Mecklen
burg and of Holstein. Teachers instructed in the schools
of Wittemberg were sought by the convents of Friezland,
Westphalia, Livonia,* and other provinces ; and so great
was the diffusion of the evangelical light, as almost to
justify the boast of Matthias Cellius, " that there was
not a city, town, assembly, monastery, academy, chapter,
nay, not a family or house, in which there might not be
found some adherents of Luther."'|'
The religious revolution at Magdeburg was accom
plished in the following manner. Three evangelical
teachers, Melchior Myricius, Eberhard Widensee, and
John Frizhans, a Franciscan monk, produced, by their
preaching and writing, a deep effect on the minds of
the citizens, and roused' them to action. On the 23rd
* There is a letter of Luther to the Livonians, written in January,
1523, in which he strongly impresses " Faith in Christ as the founda
tion of all Christianity — and then love for your neighbour. But as for
the barter of indulgences, the worship of saints, and all those other works
which are inculcated as salutary — escape and fly away from them as
from the most deadly and immediate poison."
t It was admitted by Campeggio that Luther was a good deal read at
Venice. To the places here mentioned Maimburg adds the duchies
of Lunenburg and Holstein, the cities of Wismar and Rostock, and the
whole coast of the Baltic.

CH. XX.J MAGDEBURG.  NUREMBERG. 77
of June, 1524, they assembled in the Augustinian
monastery, and drew up a petition for the approbation
of the senate. It contained these articles : That the
word of God should ,be preached in its uncorrupted
purity, and the eucharist administered in both kinds;
that the sacrifice of the mass should be abolished ; that
the revenues of the old foundations should be thrown
into the ecclesiastical treasury ; that priests and monks
should have pensions for life, on condition however of
their receiving instruction in the evangelical doctrine ;
that marriage should be permitted to the clergy ; that
the sacraments should be administered gratuitously, and
mendicants expelled. The senate consented to this ad
dress, and commanded the immediate execution of all
the provisions contained in it. At the same time, they
despatched deputies to acquaint the Elector of Saxony
with this proceeding, and to request that Amsdorf might
be sent to direct their future steps. Amsdorf received
his commission, and was especially instructed to prevent
any disorderly expression of popular feeling. Notwith
standing, some outrages were committed, which fur
nished the canons of the cathedral, the strenuous enemies
of the change, sufficient grounds for an appeal to the
Regency. Rigorous proclamations were issued in con
sequence (on Sept. 6), and some of the principal magis
trates were summoned by name, as liable to the penalties
of the Edict of Worms. As a reply to this summons,
the senate opened a negotiation with the Elector of
Saxony, equipped a considerable body of cavalry and
made preparations to sustain a siege, rather than return
under the dominion of Rome.
Nearly the same was the origin of the Reformation
at Nuremberg, which took place about four months
afterwards. The preachers, the chief of whom was

78 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XX.
named Osiander,* persuaded the people; the people
petitioned the senate; and the senate, without any re
corded reluctance, consented. The articles ofthe petition
were somewhat different from those at Magdeburg, for
in so immense a field for the selection of abuses, it was
not probable that all would choose the same. The
bolder reformers of Nuremberg composed a longer list
of grievances and superstitions, accounting among the
latter, private masses, purgatory and the worship of the
Virgin. And at the same time they protested with great
force, not only against the notorious impostures of the
clergy, but against the wickedness of employing violence
and persecution in the support of fraud.
At Ulm the people were in like manner instructed
by teachers, educated at Wittemberg, or formed by the
writings of Luther. Here it proved that the senate
resisted the first application of the citizens. But as'the
feeling grew stronger, it yielded in the following year,
1524, and authorised the changes demanded. At Franc-
fort, the circumstances, essentially the same, were varied
by the zealous co-operation of a layman of rank and
eloquence, Hartmuth of Kronenberg, who both preached
and wrote with great vigour and effect against the com
mon enemy. This brief enumeration of the names is
confined, as the reader will observe, to the converts of
Germany. * Andrew Osiander was then only five-and-twenty years of age. He
was a native of Bavaria, and had studied theology at Wittemberg. From
Nuremberg he passed to reside in Prussia ; where, much later in hfe,
he engaged in a long dispute with his brother reformers, respecting
justification, which was denominated, by an equivocal compliment to its
author, " The Osiandric War— Bellum Osiandricum;" and which sur
vived its author for sixteen years (till 1566— he died in 1552). He
seems to have possessed considerable talents and learnino- with an im
petuous temper, which sometimes carried him into error. Melchior
Adam. Vita Osiandri.

CH. XX.J MARRIAGE OF THE CLERGY. 79
Of the practical innovations now generally introduced,
those which gave the greatest scandal to the dominant
party were the apostacy of the monks, and the marriage
of the clergy ; and in the various local attempts, which
were made to subdue the Reformers, these two com
monly appeared as their prominent offences. This was
natural; since the clergy were certainly the last who
might have been expected to set at defiance the eccle-'
siastical discipline ; and the monks, who were especially
the soldiers and champions of the Pope and had found
their account in that service, were held ungrateful and
unpardonable deserters from his camp.
Respecting the latter of these transgressions, a singular
dispute occurred at Strasburg,in April, 1523, which placed
the principles of the Roman Catholic Church in so strong
a contrast with those of the Reformers, that it becomes
proper to notice it more in detail than the plan of this
history will generally permit. A pastor* of one of the
churches in that city, whose name was Anthony, mar
ried at this time a girl, with whom he had for some
years lived in notorious concubinage, seemingly without
any reprehension from the ecclesiastical authorities. The
* " Hodie apud nos mira et incredita res acta. Nam quee Christiana
sunt rara apud nos hactenus fuere. M. Antonius, Parochus olim S.
Stephani, nunc St. Thomse, aliquot annos scortillum apud se habuit,
elegans sane et non vulgari forma. Hanc diebus superioribus uxorem
duxit, ductamque e suggestu palam populo vulgavit. Hodie vero, 20
Aprilis, cum hsec scribimus, subque banc horam, in templi foribus
apud D. Laurentium per M. Matthiam Zellium habita concione ad ple-
bem in matrimonii commendationem, publice introducitur, ducentibus
sponsam duabus honestissimis matribusfamilias, sequentibus vero omnis
generis hominibus, mirificeque applaudentibus. Est autem hora diei 8
qua ingens hominum multitudo ad rem novam inauditamque occurrit.
Tremunt papistse. Exultant Christiani, et media plebe acclamat unus :
Er hat ihm recht gethan. Gott geb ihm tausend guter jahr ! Tu crede
multos hunc secuturos esse." — -Gerbelius to Schwebel. Strasburg, April
20. Apud Scultet. Ann. 1523. p. 168.

80 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XX.
ceremony was performed with great publicity. A ser
mon was preached, in which the act was vindicated, and
the same privilege claimed for all the priesthood ; and
the people, who were assembled in great numbers, gave
their clamorous approbation to the new doctrine.
. These circumstances made it impossible for the bishop
to overlook the offence. Other priests had previously
married, but with less provoking parade ; in this -case
the insult was so notorious, that some attempt was ne
cessary to enforce the canons, and preserve at least the
semblance of dignity to the church. Accordingly, he
summoned all the married priests before his tribunal —
and that, be it observed, on the two-fold charge — that
they had violated not only the canons of the church
and the statutes of the empire, but also the ordinances
of God and the honour of the sacerdotal office. The
accused confined their defence to the latter and more
serious imputation, and professed their desire to be judged
on this ground, even though death should be the
penalty, in case of condemnation. At the same time,
instead of obeying the summons, they appealed to the
senate, as their tribunal in this matter, and placed them
selves at once under the protection of that body. The
senate remonstrated with the bishop. It urged on his
consideration — whether it were safe to chastise an act
which had been openly applauded by the people;
whether it were righteous to punish the marriage of the
clergy, and to tolerate their concubinage ; and it prayed
him at least to suspend his sentence, till the Diet of
Nuremberg should have come to some decision on the
subject. This led to a curious negotiation. The bishop laid
a double complaint, both against the clergy and the
magistrates, before the Legate at Nuremberg ; and
among several charges it was not the least serious— that

CH. XX.] MARRIAGE OF THE CLERGY. 81
the priests had been adopted by the senate into the
civil order, in contravention of the pontifical statutes.
The magistrates justified their conduct, and by the
highest reasons. They represented the infamous pro
fligacy of the greater number of the priesthood resident
among them, and the general corruption disseminated
by that contagious example among the youth of their
city. They denounced the injustice and impiety of
proceeding with rigour against a breach of the Pope's
law, and overlooking the habitual iniquities of pro
claimed violators of the law of God ; and they added
that the indignation of the people was so violent against
these last, as to make it easy to rouse them into open
outrage. The reply of Campeggio was remarkable. He did
not take upon him to approve the concubinage of the
clergy, or to sanction the connivance of the bishops. He
admitted, that it had been usual for the German clergy
to purchase from their bishops a licence to live in concu
binage, and he condemned the practice; but he was
not ashamed to declare that he held it to be a far more
venial offence than their marriage.* His argument for
this monstrous paradox amounted to this : the priest
who married believed that the act was innocent ; and
thus, as he sinned in blindness, he persisted in his sin ;
whereas he who lived in concubinage was aware of his
transgression and his danger, and might therefore turn
to repentance. And after all, (he added with great sim
plicity,) it is not every one who possesses the gift of
* " Quod sacerdotes fiant mariti multo esse gravius peccatum, quam
si plurimas domi meretrices alant; nam illos habere persuasum quasi
recte faciunt, hos autem scire et peccatum agnoscere. Nee enim omnes
ea esse qua fuit Johannes Baptista continentia  "—Sleidan, lib. iv.
M. D. 1524. The Bishop of Merseberg had made a similar declaration
ten years before : " Es sey besser ein geistlicher hatte eine hiire, als eine
frau," according to Marhein., tom. i. kap. xii.
VOL. II. G

82 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIPN. [cH. XX.
continency like John the Baptist  His impiety dis
gusted the honest senators of Strasburg more than his
sophistry deceived them : but they were contented to
propose, as a compromise, that they would prevent the
future marriage of their clergy, if the legate would
repress their impurities. So the matter rested. The
offenders were protected, and the principles of the Re
formation gained strength from the struggle. Indeed
there was no place where the cause was more effici
ently supported than at Strasburg. Bucer, PoUio,
Crellius, Gaspar Hedio, and Capito, the two last of
whom had recently abandoned the court of Mayence
for the free profession of their principles, formed an
evangelical band, such as could be boasted by no city
except Wittemberg: and we observe accordingly that
the new doctrines were in 1524 permanently established
there. The year 1523 produced again a new feature in the
history of the Reformation. Hitherto the rebellion in
the monastic establishments had been confined to their
male inhabitants ; it now extended itself to the nuns.
Nine of these recluses, all of them from the higher
classes, deserted their convent, at a place called Nimpt-
schen in Misnia, about the time of Easter ; and under
the escort of some of the principal inhabitants of Torgau,
who had abetted their escape, they were conducted to
Wittemberg, and placed under the protection of Luther.
Luther is not charged with any share in this transac
tion ; nor is there any pretence for imputing licentious
motives to any of the parties engaged in it : never
theless, it exposed him to much misrepresentation and
scandal, and his enemies lost not so fortunate an oc
casion for asserting or insinuating calumnies. Yet his
conduct, in a somewhat difficult situation, was at once
humane and manly. He did not, through any excess of

CH. XX.J ESCAPE OF CERTAIN NUNS. ¦ 83
delicacy, refuse the charge imposed on him, but im
mediately proceeded to consult the interests of the fugi
tives. First he acquainted their parents and relatives
with the circumstances, and solicited a refuge for them
under the roofs of their natural guardians. This being
at once refused, he cast upon the cruelty of the refusal
the blame of all that might ensue ; he prepared to pro
vide for them according to the best of his power ;* he
secretly interested the Elector in their behalf, and even
went so far as to justify their conduct by a public apo-
logy.f One of them was the celebrated Catharine of
Bora, the future bride of Luther.
Our attention is again called to the subject of the
ecclesiastical revenues. In 1523 the monastery of Herz-
berg, in the neighbourhood of Wittemberg, being en
tirely deserted by its inmates, the property devolved, at
least in trust, to the Elector. Luther allowed not this
circumstance to pass without remark. He immediately
wrote to Spalatin on the subject, first expressing his con
fident assurance, that Frederic never would consent to
* Luther thus wrote to Spalatin on this occasion : "Ad me venerunt
novem istse apostatse moniales, vulgus miserabile, sed per honestos cives
Torgaviensis advectse. . . . Miseret me illarum valde; maxime autem
et aliarum, quse ubique in tanto numero pereunt, maledicta et incesta ista
castitate. Sexus iste per sese longe infirmissimus, et ad virum natura
imo divinitus conjunctus, tanta crudelitate separatus perditur. Oh tyran-
nos et crudeles parentes et cognates in Germania ! Sed te, papa et vos
episcopi, quis digne maledicat ? Quis vestram csecitatem et fiirorem
talia docentem et exigentem satis execretur? Sed hic non est locus.
Quseris quid cum illis agam. Primum cognatis significabo, ut eas sus-
cipiant : qui si nolint curabo eas alibi suscipi ; nam est mihi promissio
facta ab aliquibus. Aliquas etiam matrimonio jungam, ubi potero.
Te autem oro ut tu opus charitatis facias, &c." — (April 10, 1523.)
Sixteen others soon afterwards escaped from the convent of Widerstet in,
the county of Mansfeld.
t Entitled " Ursachen und antwort dags jungfrauen kloster gottlich
verlassen mogen." It is in the form of a letter to Leonard Koppe, citizen
of Torgau. (No. 486.)
G 2

84 HISTORY OF THE REFPRMATION. [CH. XX.
confiscate that property, and next suggesting the justice
of distributing among the late inhabitants of the convent
the vases, ornaments and other valuables. In respect to
the fixed revenues of the churches, he maintained that
their first objects were the poor pastors who served them;
that at any rate they could not honestly be employed for
any except pious purposes ; and he condemned, with his
usual vehemence, the usurpation of any portion of the
ecclesiastical funds, on that or any other occasion, whether
by the local authorities, or by the public treasury. Yet
he clearly foresaw that such scandals must arise even in
an evangelical church ; and he consoled himself by the
reflection, that the converts of St. Paul himself had not
been free from worldliness, and that it would be unfair
to expect more purity in the revival of the Gospel than
had distinguished its apostolical infancy.
In the following year the monastery of which he was
himself a member was altogether abandoned. In this
case he again committed the revenues to the charge of
the Elector, only soliciting, on behalf of the prior, some
compensation for the loss of his private patrimony, which
he had sustained through his adhesion to the Gospel;
for his estates, being situated in the dominions of the
Archbishop of Treves, had been confiscated by that
prince. The papists, who were so ready to object a
lust for the ecclesiastical possessions as a leading motive
with the Reformers, were not slow to set the example of
such rapacity, whenever the occasion presented itself.
Among the large mass of persons, who had so sud
denly shaken off an oppressive spiritual despotism, many
were scarcely half enlightened, and all believed, as in
fact all had been taught to believe, that they were qua
lified to reason on sacred subjects. Consequently, many
differences immediately arose among them, and many
absurd opinions were propounded. There were some

CH. XX.J SACRAMENTARIAN CONTROVERSY. 85
who thought it essential to restore the observances of the
Mosaic law, and to abolish all the enactments of the
pagan emperors. With many the canonical law was an
object of especial abhorrence, because it had proceeded
from the legislation of the Vatican. In the exuberance of
evangelical zeal, many of the common practices of society
were denounced as sinful, particularly those which were
in any way connected with the principle of usury, so
that all commercial transactions were involved in this
condemnation. Luther perceived at once the folly of such propositions
and the ridicule which they threw upon his cause, and
he disavowed and discouraged them accordingly. But,
while he was thus wisely extinguishing these lesser dif
ferences, he permitted and even nourished the growth of
one which was incomparably more dangerous, which in
volved a question of the highest theological importance,
and which, after much obstinate dissension and bitter
ness of animosity, became at length the cause of a perpe
tual schism among the enemies of Rome. The principal
circumstances of the Sacramentarian Controversy will
be described in due season. At present I shall do no
more than point out its origin, in the disputes so unhap
pily commenced and so intemperately conducted between
Luther and Carlstadt.
When Carlstadt perceived that his influence at Wit
temberg was entirely overthrown by the superior genius
of his rival, he retired from that city, and was contented
to continue his operations in a narrower field. He with
drew to a little town in Thuringia, in the electorate of
Saxony, named Orlamund, whither he was invited by
the inhabitants, to reside among them as their spiritual
director. Here he not only persisted in his warfare
against the images, but likewise broached a third opinion
respecting the nature of the Eucharist. In opposition.

86 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIPN. [CH. XX.
no less to the doctrine of Luther than to that of Rome,
he denied the real bodily presence in the consecrated
elements, asserting that it was only a figurative and re
presentative presence. Some commotions, particularly
against images, appear to have been excited, and he was
summoned by the academical authorities to Wittemberg,
to discharge in person the duties imposed on him by the
offices which he held in the university.* He pleaded
the superior claims of the souls committed to his charge ;
and his parishioners, whose affections he had entirely
won, zealously supported him in his disobedience. In
letters, which they addressed both to the Elector and the
Chapter, they boldly maintained their divine right to
choose their own pastor; and they objected, besides, not
only to the orders of the university, but also to the acts
and doctrine of Luther, as unrighteous and papistical.
This did not avail them ; but Frederic, before he pro
ceeded to any severity, probably fearing the suspected
connexion between Carlstadt and Munzer, directed
Luther to visit in person the seat of this insubordination,
to ascertain its extent, and, if possible, to repress it.
This, as it proved, was not a very prudent enterprise.
Doubtless Luther counted on the force of his authority
and eloquence, and expected his accustomed success. At
Jena,t in his road to Orlamund, he preached (Aug. 22,
1524,) with great vehemence, and directed his fiercest
denunciations against two sorts of fanaticism — that of
the seditious enthusiasts who were now beginning to
* A lectureship and preachership of which he received the salaries.
Marhein., tom. ii. p. 141.
t There is a contemporary and tolerably fair account of this affair
among the Autographa Reformatum under this title : " Wie sich Doctor
Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt mit Doctor Martino Luther beredt zu
einen Bund, wie sie wider einander zuschreiben sich entschlossen batten
—in 1524.

CH. XX.J LUTHER AT ORLAMUND. 87
disturb the peace of Germany ; and that of the image-
breakers. Carlstadt was present ; and naturally interpreted the
first of these invectives, no less than the second, as
intended against himself. He instantly sought an in
terview with the preacher; he professed the deepest
indignation at the calumny ; he warmly disclaimed any
communion, either of action or of principle, with the
fanatics in question. Luther was compelled to admit
his exculpation, so far at least as to acquit him of any
deliberate association in their enterprises. But, in the
same conference, which took place at the inn, he severely
condemned his doctrine on the sacrament, and pledged
himself, by the deposit of a piece of gold,* that, when
any defence of it should be published, he would confute
it. Then, notwithstanding some warnings of no friendly
nature, he proceeded to Orlamund. The inhabitants
assembled to meet him, with their pastor at their head ;
and after a discussion, conducted apparently with little
temper on either side, perceiving that the determination
of the people was only irritated by the dispute, he hastily
escaped from the place — without personal injury indeed,
but with little advantage to his cause, or credit to him
self. " I saw very clearly," thus he wrote not long
afterwards to the people of Strasburg, "what was the sort
of seed which this accomplished teacher had been sowing
* The challenge with which he accompanied the deposit is said to
have been : " Nehmet ihn und greift mich nun tapfer an ! frisch auf
mich!" Carlstadt then took it up and showed it to all present, and
said ; " This is my arrhabo, in token of which I have power to write
against Luther, and I beg you all to remember and bear witness to this."
This is the account of Martin Reinhard, a preacher of Jena, and a parti
san of Carlstadt. But Scultetus likewise ascribes to Luther the blame
of having provoked the controversy, and also asserts that his account
of the affair was not altogether true. Annal.- 1524, p. 228. All agree
that he had a narrow escape at Orlamund.

88 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XX.
at Orlamund. Indeed I had good reason to rejoice that
I fortunately slipped away from among them with my
life, and was not overwhelmed with stones and dirt.
Some of them, as I was retiring, uttered the most
horrid imprecations against me, and prayed God that I
might break my neck before I could get away from the
town. ..."
It is a singular circumstance, that the only occasion
on which the person of Luther was in any danger, or
even subject to any serious insult, during the whole
course of a life passed in contention with a most unscru
pulous foe, should have been here — in the heairt of
Saxony, under the very eye of Frederick — and that this
peril should have proceeded from a mob of compatriots,
of reformers, acting under the guidance of one of the
principal members of the University of Wittemberg, and
that the very man, who first stepped forth to aid him,
when he stood alone in the infancy of his cause.
Luther made his representation to the Elector. Carl
stadt and his parishioners, on their side, sent up the
strongest appeals, inflamed by much invective, to the same
tribunal. Frederick decided in favour of the dominant
party. Immediately (on Sept. 18, 1524) he banished
Carlstadt from his territories, and rejected all the suppli
cations ofhis followers. That injudicious innovator thus
acquired another title to their affection. He claimed the
glory of martyrdom ; he described himself as the victim
of injustice and persecution, and denounced his antago
nist as his persecutor. He immediately wrote some
moving letters to his late congregation, subscribing him
self ''Andreas, Bodenstein, Carolostadt,* unheard, uncon
victed, banished by Martin Luther." These were pub-
* Carlstadt was commonly nicknamed A B C, or the alphabet, from
the three initials. We find constant allusion to this in the writers of that
period.

CH. XX.J BANISHMENT OF CARLSTADT. 89
licly read, to the toll of the bell,* amidst the tears and*
murmurs of a multitude of ardent evangelicals, to whom,
notwithstanding, no name was so detestable as that of
Luther. He for his part remarked, in a letter to Ams
dorf, respecting this affair : " Matters are now, forsooth,
greatly changed ; since I, who ought to haye been a
martyr myself, am making martyrs of others."
Luther invariably denied that he was the author of
Carlstadt's banishment, and declared that, though he was
perfectly able to justify the act, yet, had he been Elector,
it should not have been committed. Yet the very docu
ment which contained these assertions was not composed
in a spirit at all calculated to accredit them. Carl
stadt had retired to Strasburg, where he appears to have
passed part of his time and part at Basle, in Switzer
land ; for in both those places the eucharistical opinions,
for which he was supposed to be suffering, had some sup-
porters.'f Soon after his arrival he attacked,;}; with all
the bitterness of an exile, not only the doctrine, but also
the person of Luther, and, what must have delighted a
Catholic spectator, he was not contented to stigmatise
him as a persecutor, but proclaimed him besides — thus
* " Quse publice vocatis per campanas lectse sunt, omnibus simul
fientibus."— Luther to Amsdorf, Oct. 27, 1524.
t If we are to believe Erasmus, all classes at Basle were yet opposed
to them. In his letterto Hen. Stromer, Dec. 11, 1524, from Basle:
" Carlostadius hic fiiit. Excudit sex libellos. Duo qui excuderunt me-
dius tertius conjecti sunt in carcerem jussu magistratus ob id potissimum,
quod, ut audio, doceat in Eucharistia non esse verum corpus Domini.
Hoc nemo fert. Indignantur laici sibi eripi Deum suum, quasi nus
quam sit Deus, nisi sub illo signo. Docti commoventur verbis S. S. et
Ecclesise Decretis. Res hme excitabit nobis magnam Tragasdiam, cum
Tragoediarum plusquam satis sit." Why so, if there were no party which
favoured the new opinion ?
t " Von dem widerchristlichen Misbrauch des Herm Brodt und
Kelch. Anno 1524," was the title of one of his tracts.

90 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIPN. [CH. XX.
early in the history of sectarian dissension—" to be a
twofold papist, the cousin-german of Antichrist.".*
Luther was irritated, and in that frame of mind he
addressed (on December 15, 1524,) that epistle to the
Strasburgers, which, whatever may have been its effect
at the moijLent, has not increased his reputation either for
charity or for candour with his posterity. " I rejoice,"
thus he said, in substance, "that Carlstadt has been
banished from our country ; and I shall heartily regret
if he shall have any opportunity of displaying his wild
and seditious spirit among you. However, had I been
Duke of Saxony, he would never have been expelled by
me, unless it had been out of compliance with the im
portunate entreaties of the people. But be not you, my
friends, influenced by my indiscreet, nay, foolish good
nature. Do you at least conduct yourselves like men of
wisdom.". . . If many were disposed to ascribe Carlstadt's
exile to the influence of Luther, the above expressions
could not fail to confirm that suspicion. We observe
besides that in the course of this epistle the opinions
which the other disclaimed were skilfully mixed toge
ther with those which he avowed. In a tract, of which
he alone was the real object, the fanaticism ofthe " Pro
phets" was denounced no less strongly than the fury of
the Iconoclasts ; and the error concerning infant baptism
was condemned in the same sentence with that concern
ing the sacrament. It had been the common artifice of
* " Einen zweyfachen papisten und Vetter des Antichrists." Marhein.,
tom. ii. p. 145. This author expressly asserts, that these and other
similar expressions preceded Luther's letter to the Strasburgers. Among
other works of Carlstadt to be found in the Oxford collection are—
(1) " Auslegung dieser Wort Christi Luc. 22. Wider die einfeltige und
zweifeltige papisten, welche solche wort zu einem abbruch des Kreuzes
Christi brauchen." (2) " Wider die alte und neue papistische messen"—
both in 1524.

CH. XX.J LUTHER's LETTER TO THE STRASBURGERS. 91
the Roman churchmen, in every age, to impute to their
heretics, along with their real opinions, some monstrous
errors, which the others disavowed ; and even thus it
was with Luther. No sooner was he become the head
of the Saxon church, than he showed no greater truth
in his method of arguing with those who dissented from
him. I shall abstain from any speculation on his motives.
But there is one passage in this letter, commonly ad
vanced as a proof of the sincerity of his sacramental
opinion, which is, on other accounts, deserving of notice.
" I am neither able nor willing to deny, that if Carl
stadt, or any one else, had been able to persuade me five
years ago that there is nothing in the sacrament except
bread and wine, he would have rendered me an important
service. I have laboured with the greatest possible
anxiety in the investigation of this question; I have
struggled with all the powers I possess to extricate and
set myself free ; for I could not help seeing how strong a
hold this subject would give me against the papacy. I
ha,ve besides had two correspondents who have written
to me on this matter much more skilfully and acutely
than Carlstadt, without being guilty of such a capricious
distortion of words ; but I find myself fast, and I can
discover no means of escaping away. The text of the
Gospel is too plain and strong ; it cannot easily be broken
down — least of all by expressions or glosses forged by
that dizzy head. And even now, if any one could con
vince me, by plain scriptural proofs, of the truth of that
opinion, I am sufficiently predisposed to embrace it,
without its being forced upon me with so much bitter
ness. But the madness, with which Carlstadt rages on
this subject, only makes me the more obstinate in the
defence of my own opinion. Nay, if I had no opi
nion on the subject, the very futility of the arguments

92 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XX.
excogitated by his whirling brain would lead me to re
ject his opinion as weak and frivolous, as I trust that I
shall make clear to all of you, as soon as I shall have re
plied to them. In fact, I can scarcely believe him to be
in earnest, so thoroughly must God have stupified and
blinded him. . . .
" In respect to his image-breaking, I might let that
tempest pass, seeing that I have broken more images
with my writings, than he ever will break with all his
storming and extravagance. But when he goes so far
as to excite and urge men to that work, as indispensable
to the name and liberty of a Christian, that is no longer
endurable .... It is the work of Satan, that in this
dangerous night he tums away our eyes from our true
light, and leads us astray by his unsteady brands and
torches. And I beseech you, evangelical Christians, my
beloved masters and brothers, to turn away from Luther
and Carlstadt, and turn towards Christ ; not like Carl
stadt, only towards the works of Christ — as if Christ
were an example only, and therein not superior to the
other Saints, but as He is the free gift of God, or, as Paul
says (1 Cor. i. 30), He is made unto us wisdom and
righteousness and sanctification and redemption — which
spirit these prophets have neither felt, nor tasted, nor
learnt, while they utter, with their quick lively voices,
buffooneries about heaven and such like high-flown ex
pressions, to which they attach no meaning themselves,
and by which they mislead, distract and oppress the
consciences of others, so that people stop to wonder at
their mighty knowledge and forget Christ the while."
I shall leave this passage to produce what effect it may
upon impartial readers — only reminding them that, at
the disputation at Leipzig, held but five years before, it
was Carlstadt, not Luther, who stood prominent as the
public defender ofthe doctrine of justification by faith in

(^H.XX.J TRACT AGAINST THE CELESTIAL PROPHETS. 93
opposition to any trust in works. And on that occasion,
we may remember, he was not charged by Luther or
any other reformer, with dulness, or dizziness, or fatuity,
still less with any indifference to that great dogma.*
This last and worst imputation was never breathed until
after his breach with the Wittembergers. But whatever
may have been the feelings by which Luther was actu
ated, his object was sufficiently manifest. It was to over
whelm, by reason or by invective, by spiritual denunci
ations or by the general influence which his name gave
him, both the doctrine and the credit of his antagonist.
In pursuance of this purpose he immediately published
(in the beginning of January, 1525) a trapt "Against
the Celestial Prophets." In this important work, after
describing in his own manner the circumstances which
led to the banishment of Carlstadt, he proceeded to a
more elaborate attack on his tenets. At the same time
he praised the greater moderation of the changes intro
duced by himself. It had been made a serious charge
against him that, in the celebration of the Eucharist,
though he denied the sacrifices, he retained the word
Mass, for which Carlstadt would have substituted Sup
per ; and that he still permitted the elevation of the con
secrated elements. He defended his regulations. He
maintained too the doctrine of the real presence with his
accustomed vehemence ; and treated the opposite opinion
with no greater respect, than he was wont to show to the
" impieties" of his papal adversaries. Yet while he was
arguing with all this heat, he was not blind to the im-
* It is ill a letter to Spalatin, written on the 13th of the preceding Sep
tember, that Luther appears first to have broached this charge : " Carl-
stadius traditus est tandem in reprobum sensum, ut desperem ejus redi-
tum. Semper alienus a gloria Christi fuit, eritque forte in perpetuum.
Infensior mihi est, quam ulli hactenus fuerunt inimici. Deus misereatur
ejus peccati quo peccat ad mortem !" (No. 619.)

94 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XX.
mediate consequences of the division which he thus in
flamed. He perceived the advantage that it would give
to the common enemy — but in comparison with the opi
nion, which he took for truth, he disregarded it. " I
know," he said, " that the pontificals are highly delighted
with this dissension and are prophesying our destruction
from it. Let them boast as they will ! If my work is
of God, no one will destroy it ; if not of God, neither I
nor any one else will perfect it." This undoubtedly was
to take an unassailable position. This his favourite
dilemma was indeed conclusive against every suggestion
of human prudence ; yet its security had not prevented
him, on many former occasions, from turning to the
service of God the common sense and policy, by which
the affairs of this world, under God's Providence, are
conducted. Nor was there any reason then, why he
should imitate the injudicious zeal of his rival, and cast
away that shield of charitable forbearance, which is often
the surest wisdom, as well as the brightest grace, of a
Christian philanthropist.
However, there were others, of juster views or calmer
temperament, who were desirous to crush this contro
versy in its origin. The theologians of Strasburg were
distinguished in this endeavour. They despatched their
Hebrew professor, Gregory Chaselius, on a pacific com
mission to Wittemberg. He was instructed to impress
upon Luther the necessity .of a fraternal union on the
question of the sacrament, and to suggest that this might
be effected by the use of general terms, which should
express the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, but not
pretend to define the manner of his presence. And such,
under similar circumstances, has generally been the
counsel of those, who loved the harmony and happiness
of their brother Christians better than they loved their
own opinion.

CH. XX.J REPENTANCE OF CARLSTADT. 95
But Luther would listen to no such proposal. "*' I too
am for peace," he replied, " but with no sacrifice of
truth.* The question concerning the presence must by
all means be examined ; it is not possible to do otherwise ;
it is of so much moment that the one party or the other
must be the servants of Satan ; there is no room here for
middle counsels." Such was the substance of his reply,
and it at once exhibited the obstinacy of his own reso
lution ; and cut off, as it unhappily proved, any pros
pect of concord among the reformed churches. For
whether it were, that he was so certain of the truth of his
own opinion as to feel assured of its immediate triumph,
or so confident in his talents and authority as to count
upon an easy victory by those means, in either case he
had ill-considered the character of his opponents. For
they were neither less deeply devoted to their doctrine
than he to his, nor less firm and fearless and learned and
ingenious in its defence. For it was no longer with the
exile of Orlamund that he had now to deal. The divines
of Switzerland had taken up the controversy with all
their force ; and we shall presently examine in what sort
of spirit they conducted it.
Meanwhile the unfortunate Carlstadt, insulted by the
one party, and not entirely trusted by the other, became
anxious to be reconciled with Luther, and to return in
peace to Saxony. After five months of exile he wrote to
Spalatin to request his intercession with the Elector.
Luther to a certain extent supported this petition, though
he professed little hope of coming to any lasting terms
with so insolent an antagonist. Frederick rejected it.
He even refused a safe-conduct, which Carlstadt sought
on the pretence of a conference with Luther, and recom
mended that such conference, if it were necessary, should
* " Se quidem pacem cupere, sed salva veritate" — i._ e. on his own
terms.

96 HISTORY PF THE REFPRMATIPN. [CH. XX.
take place put pf his dpminions. Carlstadt, after wan
dering through various parts of Upper Germany, fixed
his residence for a time at Rotenburg and continued to
rouse the people against the pictures and images ; but
there is certainly no sufficient proof that he had any
share in the seditious tumults* by which Germany was
then desolated. Yet, in the universal confusion, the dis
tinction between the spiritual and the civil insurgent
was not drawn; the general invectives and particular
insinuations of Luther had their effect ; and when the
rebels were at length overthrown and chastised, Carl
stadt was in very great danger of being involved in their
fate. He was pursued ; but some friends lowered him
out of the walls of the town in a basket, and thus saved
hiili. He then became more and more importunate for the
recal of the sentence of exile. He supplicated the Elec
tor — he supplicated Luther. He wrote a tract to prove
his entire innocence of any share in the insurrection,
and applied to the latter to assist him in publishing it.
Luther was moved by this appeal to his generosity.
Common justice and Christian charity alike urged him
to yield to it. The tract was published, and the defence
of Carlstadt prefaced and circulated by the hand of
his enemy.f But it must be mentioned that this defence
was accompanied by another communication relating to
their doctrinal difference ; and in this Carlstadt was not
ashamed to declare, that whatever he had hitherto pro
pounded on the subject of the Eucharist was in the form
* They will be mentioned in chapter xxii.
t " Entschuldigung D. A. Carlstadts des falschen namens des au
fruhr, so ihm ist mit unrecht aufgelegt. Mit einer vorred D. M. Lu-
thers." — Autog. Reform., a.d. 1525. Along with these, as well as
separately, is found the " Erklerung wie Karlstadt sein lehr von dem
hochwiirdigen sacrament und andere achtet und geachtet haben will."

CH. XX.J carlstadt's RECANTATION. 97
of disputation only, not in assertion of a deliberate con
viction. Luther accepted this apology. He renewed
(on September 12, 1525) his instances with the Elector
(John) to procure the recal of Carlstadt ; and to that
end he pressed, among other arguments, that, in Me-
lancthon's opinion as well as his own, it would be better
for the cause of the Reformation to relegate this turbu
lent spirit to some obscure village in Saxony, than to
send him forth as a preacher and propagator of mischief
in every part of Germany. By earnest and constant
prayers, and in opposition to the opinion of the whole
court, he at length succeeded. In the autumn of 1525
Carlstadt returned ; but his first act, and be it carefully
noted, was this — to make a public recantation of his
sacramental errors, and to transmit to the Elector his
assent to the fotmula of doctrine prescribed to him by
the faithful and celebrated divines of Wittemberg.
The conduct of the parties in this dispute has of course
been variously estimated by historians, and generally, as
it seems to me, in a light too favourable to Luther. On
his representation, and, however he may have disclaimed
the act, in agreement with his principles, Carlstadt was
exiled for a breach of spiritual, not civil, subordination ;
for there was no charge of sedition, unless the insults
offered to Luther were so accounted, against the rustics
of Orlamund. During his exile he was pursued some
what vindictively, and some very dangerous charges
were alleged against him, and not with perfect truth, by
his powerful enemy. If his defence was published by
Luther, yet it was associated with an act of humiliation ;
and when he was at length restored to the communion
of the Saxon church, it was on that very condition, which
Luther had so often and so insultingly rejected when
proposed by the papists to himself — the condition of his
retractation. Carlstadt was indiscreet and meddling,
VOL. II. H

98 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XX.
and he may have been vain ; and it was doubtless a great
offence that he carried both his practical and his doctrinal
changes farther than his chief. For Luther was now
transformed from a humble proscribed heretic into the
head of an ecclesiastical party ; and so he began to lay
aside the principles suited to his adversity and to return
towards those which essentially belonged to the dominant
establishment.* * Scultetus (ann. 1528) quotes a querulous letter from Carlstadt to
Swenckfeld, dated Kemberg, May 17, 1528, from which it appears that
the writer was still engaged in a private controversy with Luther on the
old subject, and that he was under some apprehension of a second exile,
or some severer persecution : " Ut mihi videtur, Lutherus iterum me
expellet, aut conabitur gravius malum inferre. Omnia vendo, lectulos,
tunicas, cantaros, et quicquid est supellectilis. Id sciunt, sed nullus mi-
seretur ; fortassis vellent etiam me et liberos meos inedia extingui. . . ."
He soon afterwards retired to Switzerland, not however on the compulsion
of Luther, and remained there till his death, on December 24, 1543.

CH. xxi.J 99

CHAPTER XXI.
PROCEEDINGS OF LUTHER.— DEATH OF FREDERICK.
Proposed synod for the establishment of the reformed church — rejected
by Luther — for what reasons — his principles as to ceremonies, &c.
— his exertions for the improvement of the university of Wit
temberg — two proposals to the Elector — remarks — ^his projects for
raising the condition of the parochial clergy — his general zeal for the
advancement of the education of the poor — his address to the magis
trates and cities of Germany — quotations — other works — his preface to
Pomeranus's Commentary on the Psalms — Cochlseus (note)— his apo
logy to Henry VIII. — false and fulsome, yet not extending to retrac
tation of doctrine — rejected with contempt — a similar attempt to con
ciliate George of Saxony received with still greater scorn — death
of Frederick of Saxony — his character — the gradual change in his
religious principles— nature of his policy in regard to the Reformation
— perhaps as favourable as it could have been — at least he gained
time — his funeral sermons and oration — epitaph — remarks — Luther
marries a nun— circumstances — his letter to the Archbishop of Mag
deburg recommending him to marry — published by the latter —
Luther's excuse for the act — Melancthon's apology for it to Came
rarius — six passages relating to it (note) — remarks on his occasional
levities in conversation and correspondence — general progress of the
Reformation — Dantzig — Albert of Prussia declares in favour of it
and marries, with all his knights — brief of Clement VII. to the par
liament of Paris.
Other difficulties arose at that period, and so many dif
ferences of more trifling importance began to threaten
the unity of the reformers, that it was proposed by
some to assemble a synod for the establishment of one
uniform ecclesiastical system. Luther objected to this
project. However boldly he had made his appeal under
other circumstances to a general council, he now disco-
h2

100 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXL
vered that the deliberations of such bodies were invariably
frivolous and unsatisfactory. " I do not think it at all
safe" (thus he wrote to Hausman on the llth of Novem
ber, 1524) "to call together a council of our party for
the purpose of imposing an uniformity of ceremonies ;
the thing is of bad example, however good the intentions
with which it may be attempted. All the councils of
the church from the very beginning prove this. Even
in the apostolical council, there was almost as much
treating about works and traditions as about faith. In
those of later times, there has been no mention of faith,
but only perpetual disputes about opinions and questions,
so that to me the very word council is as suspicious and
hateful as the word freewill." At the same time he laid
it down as his principle of church government, that in
indifferent matters every church should be left at liberty
either to imitate others or to legislate for itself.
His decision against the convoking of a synod was at
that moment unquestionably prudent, and the sort of
licence of self-regulation which he permitted to his
churches would certainly be popular and was not per
haps ill suited to those infant communities. But when
he spoke with so little hesitation about " indifferent mat
ters," he either forgot the difficulty of drawing any dis
tinction universally satisfactory between points indifferent
and points essential ; or he had not learnt, that the mind,
when thoroughly heated by doctrinal discussion, will
frequently attach the highest importance to trifles the
most insignificant ; that the confidence, which he felt in
his own views of the Christian system, was just as
strongly felt by others whose views were different ; and
that there is scarcely any point which may not be made
the subject of serious dispute during periods of religious
excitement. Having thus laid down principles for the internal dis-

CH. XXI.J LUTHER's zeal for EDUCATION. 101
cipline of his churches, he applied himself, in the year
following, to maintain and renovate the great nursery of
his doctrine and his disciples, the university of Wittem
berg. In a letter addressed (in 1525) to John Frederic,
son of John of Saxony, he mentioned : That many, being
promoted to the evangelical offices of teaching and
preaching, had left the university, and that it was not
easy during the prevailing confusion to supply their
numbers ; that their neighbours were predicting its
downfall, which without speedy assistance was indeed
threatened; yet how deplorable would be the ruin of
that school whence the Gospel had been propagated to
every quarter of the globe ! He then proceeded to pray
that proper students might be sent to receive the educa
tion there provided for them, and that no attention might
be paid to certain courtiers who spoke contemptuously
of letters. " For you, at least, are not ignorant that the
world is not governed by force and arms alone, but that
men of learning are no less required to restrain the people
by preaching to them the word of God. Without the
aid of such men political power would not long avail,
and the kingdom of God itself would witliout question be
taken away from us."
This remonstrance having been well received by the
Elector, Luther wrote again (in the September of the
same year), to request him to send commissioners to
Wittemberg for the double purpose — first, of regulating
the lectures and salaries of the professors ; next, of pre
scribing a form of sacred rites. In respect to the first of
these proposals, it was of course natural that the authority
which founded the university should legislate for its
preservation. But by the second, the control over eccle
siastical matters was at once conceded to the civil autho
rity ; and by the spontaneous suggestion of Luther him
self, the power of making laws for the church of Wittem-

102 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXI.
berg was vested in the crown. The commission was
granted, the system of lectures underwent some modifi
cation,* and certain changes in the service of the com
munion, which had been previously introduced by Luther,
received the confirmation of the Elector.
These objects being thus accomplished, Luther, with'
some excuses for his importunity, immediately (October
31) addressed to the Elector two other petitions : That
he would make provision for the necessities of the poorer
country clergy, who were suffering alike from the ruin
of the ancient establishments and from the ingratitude
ofthe people ; and that he would take measures to remedy
various defects in the civil administration. These too
were received in good part. Another commission was
issued, for the purpose of examining the condition of the
monastic revenues, and providing from those and from
other sources for the more decent maintenance of the
parochial clergy ; and the matter terminated as Luther
proposed. The zeal of Luther for the advancement of literature
was not confined to the schools of Wittemberg, or to the
limits of his own personal influence. Besides the general
interest which he unquestionably felt, in common with
every generous mind, in the improvement of the intel
lectual and moral destinies of mankind, he saw, more
clearly than any one,t how closely the cause of letters
* Frederick had established several foundations for masses in the
church of All Saints and others, and he enforced their application to that
purpose till the year 1523. When the mass was abolished he did not
resume the revenues, but applied them to the maintenance of professors
and students ; and John his successor confirmed this.
t In a letter to James Straus of April 25, 1524, he wrote: "Take
especial care to press upon those whom you can influence the great cause of
education ; for I see clearly that the greatest calamities are impending
over the gospel, if the education of the young be neglected. That of all
things is the most essential." (No. 596.)

CH. XXI.J LUTHER's ZEAL FOR EDUCATION. 103
was connected with his own. In the year 1524 he pub
lished an " Address to the Magistrates of all the Cities
of Germany, that they should establish and maintain
Christian Schools." It is a work of which, among all
his productions, the philanthropic wisdom and practical
piety is perhaps the least disputable. Its leading pur
pose was to bring about the application of some of those
fixed revenues which now remained without an object,
and of other numerous imposts which under various
pious pretences had been levied upon the people, to the
religious education of the poor ; and in the course of it
he appealed to the Christian feelings and national spirit
of his compatriots with the most persuasive power and
warmth. " I do beseech you, my beloved masters and friends,
for God's sake and for the sake of the indigent youth,
that you will not lightly esteem this matter, as many do
— for it is indeed an earnest and important work, a duty
to Christ and to the whole world, to give aid and in
struction to the young. Since we thus aid and instruct
not them only, but ourselves and all others besides them.
How is it, my dear friends, that we must contribute such
sums year by year, for arms, roads, by-roads, dams and
such-like things innumerable, for the temporal peace and
convenience of our city, and shall we not rather con
tribute to provide one or two intelligent instructors for
the children of the poor and indigent ? Let every indi
vidual citizen bring this consideration to his mind:
hitherto he must have wasted abundance of gold and
goods for indulgences, masses, vigils, foundations, wills,
anniversaries, mendicants, brotherhoods, pilgrimages and
all the rest of it ; and henceforwards, through the grace
of God, he is set free from all this giving and robbing :
surely then, out of mere thankfulness and honour to
God, he will bestow some part of this on schools for the

104 HISTORY OF THE REFPRMATIPN. [cH. XXI.
educaticn pf the children pf the poor. The Almighty
has indeed visited us Germans with His especial grace.
We have among us an abundant supply of enlightened
and talented young men, informed in languages and all
science, who may be usefully employed in the instruction
of the young. And our system too is so much improved,
that more may now be learnt in three years, than was
hitherto to be found in all the schools and all the clois
ters. ... It is then my earnest advice, prayer and sup
plication that you will either abolish those nurseries of
dulness and wickedness, or convert them into Christian
schools. And since we are thus providentially provided
with the means of instruction, let us not reject what
God's grace hath placed in our very hands. . . . Be
loved countrymen, buy while the market is at your doors ;
gather in the harvest while it is bright and fine weather ;
use the grace and word of God while it is before you. . .
" Wherefore I entreat you" (thus, after much powerful
argument and exhortation, he concluded) " tum this,
my faithfulness and diligence towards you, to your own
profit. And if there be any who shall look down upon
me as one condemned and excommunicated, and so de
spise my counsels, let them observe only this, that I am
seeking herein, not my own advantage or welfare, but
that of the whole German nation. And though I were
a fool, and counselled what was good, yet would there
be no shame in following me. And though I were a
Turk or a heathen, and it were clear that my advice
tended, not to my own profit, but to that of Christendom,
yet would you not do well to reject my service. A fool
hath sometimes better counselled than a whole cabinet
ofthe wise. And herewith I commend you all to God's
grace, that he will soften and kindle your hearts, to the
end that you may earnestly take charge of the poor,
miserable, abandoned youth, and with God's help in-

CH. XXI.J LUTHEr's zeal FOR EDUCATION. 105
struct and aid them towards holiness and the Christian
regulation ofthe German people, in body and soul, with
all fulness and overflowing, for the praise and honour of
God the Father, through Jesus Christ our Saviour."*
- Luther published some sermons at this time and wrote
several epistles, which, though they doubtless had their
influence at the moment, possess no great historical im
portance. A more elaborate and valuable work was his
" Prelections on Deuteronomy ;" in which however he
did not forget to intersperse his pure theological disqui
sitions with some severe invectives both against the
papists and the fanatics.f His friend and disciple
Bugenhagen, more commonly called Pomeranus, super
intendent of the church at Wittemberg, had composed a
Commentary on the Psalms of considerable merit.
Luther gave every facility to its publication. The more
his conduct may have been blamed and his motives sus
pected in the affair with Carlstadt, the more is it neces
sary to do justice to his disinterested bearing towards his
other fellow-labourers. On this occasion he prefixed a
Preface to the Commentary, of Pomeranus, in which he
expressed his joy that the Gospel had at length acquired
so many able advocates and expositors.
" I once began," he said, " to employ myself on this
work, but the tyranny of the papists obliged me to hang
up my harp on the willows of that Babylon. But Christ
has gloriously avenged my fortune. For now in the
place of me alone, instead of the mere drops with which
I was wearing him away, Satan is obliged to endure
* Marheinecke, tom. ii. ch. iii. p. 86 — 106.
t It should be observed that, in declaiming against the image-breakers,
he expressed no affection for the images : " Quanquam et ego imagines
non admodum amem et vellem in tempio non statui ; alias levi pictura
imagines in domo privata non possum darhnare." Luth. Op. t. iii. p. 99
(ap. Beaus. iii. p. 256).

106 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXI.
storms of rain and thunder and cataracts ; and thus has
it come to pass that I should be lessened and they in
creased. Therefore, good reader, you must no longer
expect my psaltery, but rather rejoice and congratulate
and give thanks to Christ our Saviour, who in the place
of the single poor and slender Luther has presented the
sacred writers to your eyes, ears and touch, not through
the pen and voice of one, but through the excellence' of
many." This was written in 1524, and on March 23 of
the same year he recommended Melancthon to the
Elector for the theological lectureship in still warmer
expressions, not hesitating to ascribe to his friend,
through the gift of God, even richer graces for the inter
pretation of Scripture than those which had been vouch
safed to himself. These instances however are sometimes
brought to prove too much. They show that he could
be generous — perhaps it was no more than just — to a
faithful colleague or disciple, to one who pursiied the
same ends with himself by exactly the same means and
under his own guidance. But they do not show that he
might not be unjust and overbearing towards a rival or
a rebel. The same energy of character which begets the
virtue will sometimes admit the vice ; and those, who re
ward obsequious co-operation with the warmest gratitude,
are most apt to resent the honest opposition of an inde
pendent mind.
During this period Luther exhibited two or three un
usual symptoms of a pacific disposition. An Apology
which he published for a young nun, lately escaped from
her convent, drew down upon him the taunts and sar
casms of Cochlseus and other papal adversaries. He
took not any notice of them, nor allowed his more serious
occupations to be thus interrupted.* So far indeed was
* In the year 1525 Cochlseus again attacked him in a tract in which
five hundred errors were imputed to him. I am not aware that this

<;H. XXI.] HIS APOLOGY TO HENRY VIII. 107
he from offering any fresji insults to his original enemies
— for the controversy with Carlstadt was an intestine
dissension — that he made some awkward endeavours to
atone for those already offered. He selected two names
from the long list of his antagonists as the objects of his
gratuitous contrition ; both of them were princes, and'
the first was Henry of England — whether it was that he
thought it politic at that moment of seditious anarchy to
make a public demonstration of his respect for the highest
authorities, or whether he was moved to those loyal sub
missions, as is generally asserted, by the pressing in
stances of Christiern King of Denmark, or whether he
was really persuaded that a few hypocritical profes
sions of reverence and humiliation would win over to his
cause the most tyrannical and merciless and unprincipled
and unchristian of all mankind.
However that may be, he now* found as strong expres
sions for his remorse as had before been suggested by his
wrath. He deplored in the most abject tone the offence
was answered. Luther always despised this antagonist; and a reply
which, he discharged against him in 1523 was opened by an amusing
parody. It was entitled "Adversus armatum Virum Cokleum," and it
began — " Arma virumque cano Mogani qui primus at oris
Leucoream fato stolidus Saxonaque venit
Littora. Multum ilie et furiis vexatus et cestro
Vi scelerum, memorem rasorum cladis ob iram,
Multa quoque et Satana passus, quo perderet urbem
Inferretque malum studiis, genus unde malorum
Errorumque patres atque alti gloria Papse."
Cochlseus was a native of Nuremberg. He became dean of Francfort and
was appointed successively to canonries in the cathedrals of Mayence
(Moganum), Meissen, and Breslau. In 1549 he published the " Acts and
Writings of M. Luther," and continued in unwearied contention to the
end of his life, in 1552.
* September 1, 1525. Henry asserts that he did not receive it till
February, 1527, when his reply is dated.

108 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXI..
which he had given by his folly and precipitation ; and
he supplicated, unworthy as he was, that he might still
be admitted to partake of that distinguished clemency,
of which he was daily hearing new commendations.
And in this hope he affected to be the more sanguine,
since many believed that his Majesty was not after
all the author of the book which circulated under
his name.* He then declared his willingness to give
the utmost publicity to this acknowledgment of his
crime. Such submissions were sufficiently degrading ; but it
must be distinctly understood that they were merely of
a personal nature. They extended to no offence beyond
polemical violence and irreverence for the majesty of the
monarch and the virtues of the man ; they did not com
promise any religious opinion or any evangelical prin
ciple. The doctrine of justification by faith was set forth
in all its strength as the foundation of the whole fabric
of the Reformation ; the papists were assailed with the
accustomed invectives ; and Wolsey himself was stig
matised as a pest to the kingdom.
Yet was the effect of this attempt at conciliation pre-
* " Ut qui mihi conscius maxime sim, gravissime offensam esse tuam
Majestatem libello meo quem (non meo genio sed incitantibus iis qui
Majestati tuse parum favebant) stultus et prseceps edidi. Tamen spem
et ausum mihi facit non modo regia ilia tua dementia, sic mihi literis et
verbis indies cantata a quam plurimis . . . verum etiam . . . libellum
sub Maj. Tuse nomine in me editum non esse Regis Anglise  "
(No. 735). In respect to the authorship of the work he had long
before expressed the same suspicion, and in fact insinuated by a pun
that Lee had composed it. On July 4, 1522, he thus wrote to Spalatin
(No. 412) : — "Cogor virulentissimo Leoni, qui sese in Anglise Regem
transformavit, respondere. Ignorantia quidem rege digna est in eo libro,
sed virulentia et mendacitas nullius nisi Lei est. Quam fiirit Satan !
Sed ego quoque eum irritabo de die in diem magis. The ignorance dis
played in that book is worthy of a king ; but the virulence and mendacity
belong to Lee alone."

CH. XXI.J HIS APOLOGY TO HENRY VIII. 109
cisely that, which Luther himself in his bolder moments
would have predicted. Henry contemptuously* rejected
the overture ; and to the multitude of imputations for
merly heaped upon the heretic, and lately exaggerated by
that of incest, he now added, and with a better semblance,
that of levity and inconsistency. The papal writers
everywhere exulted. They described his candour as a
proof of his self-condemnation. They misrepresented
his confession of one fault as the recantation of all his
doctrines and all his principles. They pretended to
despise him whom they had feared ; and they vilified
him more because they feared him less. With the high
churchmen on one side and the sacramentaries on the
other, Luther was now beginning to take the position
and adopt the policy of a middle party, and he com
mitted the error so common to reformers in that situa
tion. Placed between the avowed and disciplined ad
herents of the ancient system and the more violent section
of the innovators, he endeavoured to conciliate the im
placable foe, and vented his wrath upon the intemperate
friend. The violence, which only irritated the latter,
might have intimidated a papal antagonist ; and the soft
expressions, which he wasted on the most insolent of all
his adversaries, might have softened the excessive zeal of
an independent ally.

* Luther to Wenc. Link, December, 1525 (No. 761) : — " Anglorum
Rex respondet mihi tam hostiliter, ut videatur gaudere vindictse occa
sione, sicut et Dux Georgius. Tam impotens et muliebris est istis tyrannis
animus ac plane sordidus, &c." Henry certainly was not mild: " Quod
ais Libri te tui pudere, nescio quam tu istud vere dicas ; hoc unum scio,
satis esse causse cur debeatnon illius modo libri pudere te, sed tuorum ferme
omnium ; quippe qui nihil poene complectantur aliud quam errores turp-
issimos et insanissimas hsereses. . . . Utinam, Luthere, hsec tua verba tam
veya forent quam falsa esse cognosce, &c." The tract abounds with such
civilities.

110 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXL
He presently perceived his error and repented of his
repentance. And in his second contrition he not only
explained the nature and limits of his apology, but pro
claimed his hearty regret that he had offered it at afl.
He had always found, he said, in all his dealings with
the papists, whether with Henry, or George of Saxony,
or Erasmus, or Gaetan, or the princes assembled at
Worms, that excuses and moderation were injurious to
his cause ; that it was vain to seek for piety in the courts
or hearts of princes ; that his only solid confidence was
in the divinity of his doctrine, and that thus at length it
must be triumphant. These and similar assertions he
interspersed with some samples of that bold invective
which he now found on long experience to serve his
purpose best.*
In the same conciliatory spirit and mistaken policy, he
made, about three months after his letter to Henry, a
similar attempt to appease the fury of George of Saxony,
and with precisely the same result. He confessed the
asperity with which he had treated him. He came with
tears and laid his very heart before the feet of his high
ness, and humbly deprecated his further hostility. He
expressed his deep concern to see a prince of such excel
lent endowments standing in opposition to the rock of
Christ Jesus. In respect to any improper language at
any time employed by him, he cast himself entirely on
his clemency, and declared his readiness to make every
concession, except that of his doctrine. At the same
time he persisted in asserting the truth and eternity of
that doctrine, and offered up his most ardent suppli
cations that the prince might at length be softened and
* " Schreibe ich scharff und hart, so nympt man ursachen mein lehre
zu verdammen mit solcher farbe und schein : Ich sey stoltz, hoffertig,
beyssig, ungeduldig. Widerum, demiithige ich mich, so haben sie aber
ursachen und sagen : Ich fliehe, ich furchte mich, ich beucle, &c."

CH. XXI.J HIS APOLOGY TO GEORGE OF SAXONY. Ill
converted. But otherwise — should he persevere in his
present violence — Luther held out to him, as a menace
of the most awful consequence, that he should be com
pelled to direct his prayers against him ; and such, he
said, was his unbounded confidence in God's promises,
that he had not any doubt of an immediate and effectual
answer to his entreaties ; since prayer was the im
pregnable citadel of refuge whither he betook himself
invariably, whenever he was pressed by the crafty devices
of Satan.*
The Duke's reply was no less insulting than that of
Henry. And in his indignant spurning both at the
amicable advances and the concluding threat of Luther,
he cast upon him, as it were in a single mass, the various
terms of abuse so profusely scattered throughout the in
vectives of the papists. And then, that a practical con
firmation of his reply might not be w;anting, he proceeded
in his persecution of the reformers, occasionally carrying
his vengeance beyond the ordinary punishments of exile
and perpetual imprisonment, even to that of death.
In the midst of the manifold troubles, which from
without and from within were disturbing the progress if
not endangering the success of the Reformation, it was
deprived of its first and faithful patron, Frederick of
Saxony. He died on the 5th of May, 1525, in the sixty-
third year of his age, after an illness of some duration,
which probably impaired the energy of his declining
years, and increased the natural cautiousness of his tem
per. As he fell on turbulent times, and as his policy was,
in appearance at least, somewhat vacillating, his character
was not correctly estimated at the moment, nor is it very
easy entirely to unravel it now. Yet it had many points
which are fixed beyond dispute. He was prudent, just,
* Sleidan, lib. vi. f. 85. A.D. 1525.

1 12 HISTORY OF THE REFPRMATIPN. [CH. XXI.
benevplent.* Thpugh well skilled in military exercises
and instructed in the practice of arms in the camp of
Maximilian, he preferred the more glorious duties of
peace, and wisely sought the interests of the throne in
the happiness of the people. Hence his zeal for their
education, displayed, not only in the foundation of the
university of Wittemberg, but in the paternal care and
affection with which he perpetually sustained it. His
moral character had only one stain ; through a connexion
with a person of low rank he had two illegitimate sons.
But he consulted decency by endeavouring to conceal
the scandal ; he did not allow his children to be a burden
to the ^public ; and^ he was never married.
In respect to his religious principles , he appears to
have persisted in his attachment to saints and relics
and such-like objects, as late as the year 1520. Three
years earlier he made a will, in which he exhibited much
of the description of piety inculcated by the Roman
church. Herein he bequeathed a sum expressly for
vigils and masses for his soul. Besides other legacies
for holy purposes, he provided that in fifty monasteries
supplications should be offered in his behalf for four fol
lowing weeks ; that his name should be inscribed, in the
register of their benefactors, and mention made of him
* One of the latest sayings ascribed to him seems to indicate the bit
terness of disappointment which may be felt by a philosophical philan
thropist, when he becomes at length eonvinced of the natural corruption
and ingratitude of his fellow-creatures : " Whenever it is God's pleasure
I will die with willingness, since there is neither love, nor truth, nor
faith, nor any sort of good remaining any longer upon earth." Spalatin,
who wrote an account of his last sickness and death, relates that shortly
before his end he addressed his friends as follows : " My dear children, I
beseech you, by God's will, that, if I have at any time given any offence
to any one of you, by word or deed, he will forgive me, and also entreat all
others to forgive me in like manner; since we princes are ever inflicting
some hardship or wrong upon the poor." Ap. Marhein., tom. ii, p. 133.

CH. XXI.J DEATH OF FREDERICK. 113
in their prayers. But in his last will, made very shortly
before his death, there was no allusion to any such
matters. In their place was an earnest entreaty to God
that, through the merits of Christ Jesus, He would for
give him his trespasses. He made his confession, as was
the practice, and received the sacrament in both kinds
with the most affecting expressions of devotion.* He
likewise sent for Luther, but the latter being absent in
the disturbed provinces did not arrive till after his death.
There can be no doubt that Frederick was animated
throughout his life by a religious spirit, and his actions
influenced by what he took for piety. He was sincere in
his support of the ancient system, so long as its sanctity
remained unquestioned, but it was not the sincerity of
bigotry. His understanding was too enlightened, his
temper too moderate, his feelings too philanthropic, ever
to betray him into that vice. He loved religion : in the
first instance he embraced it, as was natural, in the form
which was presented to him ; and when late in life his
candid mind received purer instruction, he turned to
what he honestly believed to be the truth : and thus we
cannot questionthat the same sort of feeling or principle
(and it was feeling perhaps even more than principle)
which at one time filled his churches with relics, at
another bound him closely to the cause of the gospel.
And, if he showed less enthusiasm for his adopted than
for his ancient faith, this may even be a reason the more
for believing his sincerity ; since the zeal, with which
* On May 23, 1525, Luther thus wrote to John Riihel on this sub
ject: — "He died a christian and holy death. The signs of his death
(das Zeichen seines todes) were a rainbow which Philip and I saw in the
night during last winter over the Lochau, and a child lately bom at
Wittemberg without a head, and another with deformed feet."! —
(No. 705).
VOL. II. I

1 14 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXI.
great conversions are so commonly set off and embel
lished, is sometimes nothing more than the cloak, by
which the interested hypocrite endeavours to deceive
both others and himself.
For there can be little question that, during the last
four or five years of his life, the religious motive, which
always operated in Frederick, was operating in favour of
Luther. It was not, perhaps, that he was very deeply
impressed by his theological principles. The doctrine
of justification by faith, which with the divine was
the comer stone of the whole edifice, was not of the
same essential importance in the eyes of the prince ; yet
was the latter, in his own sense, a good evangelical
Christian. His notions of a reformation extended be
yond mere externals ; he wished to purify the religion
as well as the church — to re-establish the gospel in the
place of the code of the Vatican ; and if at one moment
of great perplexity he snatched at the delusive suggestion,
that the spiritual end at which he aimed might be as
well accomplished by the hands of a self-reforming
hierarchy, he presently abandoned that hope; and, as
the affair proceeded, he became more and more convinced,
that the only rational prospect of the revival of Christi
anity was to be found in the success of Luther. Mean
while he was himself, if we are to credit Scultetus,* in
the eyes of many the substantial support of the cause ; as
was proved by an impression generally prevalent, " that
at his death the doctrine of Luther would perish like
wise." The protection which he extended to Luther during his
earliest perils probably proceeded from his sense of justice,
* " Moriente Frederico morituram quoque doctrinam Lutheri."—
Ann. 1525, p. 330.

CH. XXI.J DEATH OF FREDERICK. 1 15
for he must have perceived at once that Luther had some
right on his side, and therefore some claim on the pro
tection of his sovereign ; but though his motives may
afterwards have changed, his policy can scarcely be said
to have undergone any alteration. It was regulated
throughout by the same calculating caution — it was a
policy of perpetual disavowal and perpetual connivance.
While he permitted everything, he determined to be
responsible for nothing. Resolved perhaps (for this is
not quite clear) not under any circumstances to sacrifice
the Reformer, he yet so trimmed his actions as to pre
sent a decent show to the powerful friends of Rome.
Thus he tolerated much that he professed to disapprove,
and he even left unpunished acts which he had posi
tively prohibited. " I know the temper of the man,"
said Luther in a letter to Hausman : "he will allow
many things to be done by others, which he would not
take upon himself either to advise or command." Indeed
so far did he carry the appearance of neutrality and
entire disconnexion with the party, that he never ad
mitted Luther to his presence ; he never held any con
versation with him ; he had never been seen by him,
except once only, when he was pleading the cause of
mankind before the Diet of Worms.*
It is easy to justify a successful policy ; and that of
Frederick was doubtless well calculated to meet the
various difficulties of his position. If his caution bor
dered on timidity, the courage of Luther frequently
broke out into rashness. By an early profession of the
yet obnoxious principles he might have drawn upon the
* " I have never," as Luther wrote soon afterwards, " spoken a single
word to the Elector, nor heard him speak, nor have ever seen his face,
except once at Worms in the presence of the Emperor, when I under
went my second examination." — Marhein., tom. ii. p. 134.
i2

116 HISTORY OF THE REFPRMATIPN. [CH. XXL
cause the arms of all its enemies, before it had won any
powerful adherents. Probably he believed too that its
progress was the most sure, when least interrupted
by external causes ; that better principles will then
most certainly prevail over worse, when they are left to
operate with the least interference of authority on either
side; that, in the conflict of truth with falsehood — of
right with wrong — if only violence and powerful influ
ence and every other form of compulsion can be pre
vented and the parties committed to a fair contention —
Time, the great arbiter of our destinies, will never fail to
award the victory to the former : and thus it may really
be, that he was aiding the cause most effectually when
he was refusing it every aid, except such secret negative
protection, as was barely sufficient to preserve its infancy
from violent destruction, and create for it space to
strengthen after its own fashion, and to prepare its own
weapons for the good fight that awaited it.
He was buried in the church of All Saints at Wittem
berg. His funeral was conducted with little pomp and
a total absence of superstitious observances, under the
direction of Luther and Melancthon. Luther preached
two sermons on the occasion, and rose above the tempta
tion of flattering even a departed prince and friend.
Melancthon pronounced the funeral oration in Latin,
and composed the epitaph, which concludes with the
following distich : —
" Nulla tuas unquam virtutes nesciet aetas;
Non jus in laudes mors habet atra tuas."
This likewise was true ; yet, that it was so, is owing to
that providential dispensation, which brought the subject
of it into contact with a spirit incomparably greater than
his own, and thus, without much agency on his part,
made the last years of his reign the epoch of the most

CH. XXI.J LUTHER's MARRIAGE. 117
important revolution in the history of Christianity. For
had this been otherwise — had Frederick died only seven
years earlier — he would have been consigned to the
same obscurity with the nameless line of his ancestors ;
and the monument, the silent memorial of his peaceful
virtues, would probably have recorded, as the most glori
ous result of his piety, that he had enriched and conse
crated by thousands and ten thousands of holy relics the
walls within which he reposed.
Just one month after he had thus celebrated the obse
quies of his patron Luther married ;* and, that the scan
dal which attended this act might be still greater, he
married a nun. Her name was Catharine of Bora ; she
was of good family, and one of the nine recluses already
mentioned as having escaped two years before from a
convent in Misnia. She had passed this interval at
Wittemberg, supported by such gratuitous means as
could be provided, and, in spite of the calumnies of the
papists,"!" in perfect respectability. It appears, from the
* Luther preached his sermons of May 9 and 10, and he married on
June 13. "Tertia decima mensis Junii inexpectato Boriam duxit Lu
therus, nulli amicorum factum suum aperiens. Sed vesperi ad coenam
vocavit oios Pomeranum, Lucam pictorem, jurisconsultum Apellum, et
consueta sponsalia celebravit." — Melancthon to Camerarius.
t Even Erasmus must be accounted amongst these calumniators. At
least Scultetus (ann. 1525, p. 278) publishes, from an inedited epistle
addressed by him to Daniel Manchius, a friend of Campeggio, the fol
lowing slander : " Lutherus, quod felix faustumque sit, deposito philosophi
pallio, duxit uxorem, ex clara familia Bornse," (so the name is written,)
" puellam eleganti forma, natam annos vighiti sex, sed indotatam et quse
pridem desierat esse vestalis. Atque ut scias auspicatas esse nuptias
pauculis diebus post decantatum Hymenseum, nova nupta peperit."
In the following March, however, in a letter to Franciscus Sylvius, he
retracted the calumny : " De conjugio Lutheri certum est, de partu ma-
turo sposse vanus erat memor; nunc tamen gravida esse dicitur. Si
vera est vulgi fabula, antichristura nasciturum ex monacho et monacha,
quemadmodum isti jactitant, quot antichristorum millia jam olim habet
mundus !"

118 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXI.
relation of Amsdorf, that Luther had designed to unite
her to one of his friends, a humble evangelical pastor ;
but that she had rejected this arrangement, remarking,
with great simplicity, that had he proposed either to
espouse her himself or to affiance her to Amsdorf, she
should have felt less repugnance. Luther is repre
sented to have been entirely overpowered by so flattering
a declaration. He decided with his usual impetuosity ;
and, without any notice of his intention, he caused
the ceremony to be immediately performed in the pre
sence of only three friends, of whom Melancthon was
not one.
This transaction afforded such fair ground for exultar
tion to the papal party ; and, what was more important,
it was regarded with so much serious mortification by the
Reformers, that it has acquired more historical import
ance than would seem justly to belong to it. I shall
therefore briefly relate some of the attendant circum
stances from which it seems to derive its proper charac
ter. It must first be mentioned that seven months before
(November 9, 1524) Luther had formally abandoned the
monastic profession, with all its obligations and appen
dages, and assumed the dress and title of doctor. He
took this step, when he found his monastery entirely de
serted, with every publicity, and after communicating
his intention to the Elector ; and the latter in reply pre
sented him with the cloth necessary for his new habit.
But there was then no serious suspicion of his intention
to marry,* though Scurff is indeed related, on some
* On the SOth of the same November, in a letter written to Spalatin
expressly to exhort him to marriage, Luther strongly disclaimed any such
¦present intention : " I am in the hands of Providence, as a creature whose
heart he can change and re-change, destroy and revive, at any hour or
moment ; but with the heart which I hitherto have had and now have
it will never come to pass that I shall marry. Not that I am insensible

CH. XXI.J LUTHEr's MARRIAGE. 119
occasion, when speculating on that contingency, to have
remarked, " If that monk should marry, he will undo all
that he has done, and furnish abundant subject for ridi
cule both to the world and to the devil."
A few days before his marriage (on the 2nd of June)
he wrote a very singular letter to Albert, Cardinal Arch
bishop of Magdeburg, which is generally connected with
that event, and which at any rate is deserving of notice.
This prelate had never thought proper by any act of
violence to compromise himself with Luther : he even
professed a general respect for his character and regard
for his person. Luther on his part had treated him
upon the whole with unusual moderation, and even en
tertained, as it might seem, some hopes of his conversion.
At this time a report became current, that it was the de
sign of the cardinal to secularise the property of his see
in favour of himself and his own family, and according
to the principles of the Reformation to marry. Luther
heard this rumour, and was elated by the hope of gain
ing, from whatsoever motives, so illustrious a proselyte.
He seized* his pen accordingly and addressed him to
to my flesh and sex, for I am neither a stock nor a stone ; but because
my mind is averse from wedlock, and my thoughts are rather turned on
death and the punishment due to me as a heretic. I shall therefore nei
ther fix hmits to God's workings within me, nor will I strive in my heart
against them ; but my hope rather is that he will not permit me to live
much longer."— Luther to Spalatin (No. 637). In another letter ofthe
16th of the followuig April (No. 693), partly on the same subject, he
said : " I am as far as possible from any wish to marry ; but take care
that I don't yet get the start of some of you, as God is wont to brmg to
pass events the most unexpected."
* Luther displayed great eagerness in this business. He sent a con
fidential friend and relative named Riihel to conduct the negociation
with the archbishop, and made him the bearer of his letter. Riihel
received it on June 3, and in case the prelate should urge in the course

120 HISTORY OF THE REFPRMATIPN. [cH. XXI.
the fpllpwing effect :— That the hatred pf the pepple was
directed against the ecclesiastical rather than the secular
princes, and that the former could scarcely hope to sur
vive the storm ; that by marrying and secularising one
of his provinces he would recover the affection of his
subjects ; that he had a precedent for such proceeding in
his own family — that of his cousin the grand master of
Prussia, who had adopted the cause of the gospel with
great advantage to his own affairs ; that with all, who
did not possess the gift of continence, marriage was be
come a religious duty essential to salvation.
We must here recollect, that these were not new prin
ciples invented on the occasion, for the sake of pandering
to the passions of a powerful prince whom it was expe
dient by any means to win ; but that they had been
generally propounded by the Reformers some time he
fore and without any view to the particular application
of them. Doubtless Albert had encouraged the report
and trifled with the credulity of Luther ; there may even
have been moments in which he meditated the double
act of apostacy so warmly recommended to him; but
he refrained from the commission of it. Yet willing to
countenance an expectation, which he found perhaps to
be agreeable to his people, and at the same time to show.
with what eloquence and authority the act from which
he magnanimously refrained might be justified, he pub
lished the letter of Luther.
One reason, by which Luther himself, as well as his
friends, attempted to justify his marriage, was the urgent
importunity of his father; for he still lived, and was
anxious, it seems, for the perpetuation of his race, or
of argument the propriety of example on the part of Luther as well as
advice, he was instructed to reply that the latter was already prepared to
set such example.

CH. xxlJ Luther's MARRIAGE. 121
rather of that of his illustrious son. But when we re
collect the contempt, with which he had treated the
paternal instances twenty years before, when he took the
most important step in his early life in direct opposition
to them, we may question whether the actions of his
mature age were directed by that influence, and whether,
with his present imperious character and habits, even
the persuasion of a father would have induced him to
take any step, on which he was not previously deter
mined. The truth is this : the inclinations which had
been long working within him suddenly became predo
minant and irresistible ; * and the principles, which he
* I shall cite three or four passages relating to this event. I . The ac
count of Amsdorf: " Ecce autem, dum Lutherus de Catharina a Bora,
virgine vestali, Doctori Glacio, pastori Orlamundico collocanda deliberat,
venit Catharina ad Nicolaum Amsdorffium, conqueriturque se de consilio
Lutheri D. Glacio contra voluntatem suam nuptiis locandam ; scire se
Lutherum familiarissime uti Amsdorflfio ; itaque rogare, ad qusevis alia
consilia Lutherum vocet. Vellet Lutherus, vellet Amsdorffius, se para-
tam cum alterutro honestum inire matrimonium ; cum D. Glacio nullo
modo. Hoc ubi Lutherus intellexit, audissetque ex D. Hieronymi
Schurffii ore : ' Si monachus iste uxorem duceret, risuros mundum uni
versum et diabolum ipsum, facturumque ipsum irritas actiones suas
universas;' ut segr^ faceret mundo et diabolo, ut parenti etiara suadenti
gratificaretur, Catharinam sibi uxorem ducendam censuit." 2. On the
15th of June Luther wrote to Riihel as follows: "Such being the
madness of these rebels, I have taken measures that before my death I
may be found by God in the state in which I was created, and cast ofi^,
as far as may be, every shred of my former papistical life. Let them
rage then with still greater ferocity, and consider this as my valedictory
act ; for I have a presage that I shall presently be summoned away by
God to his grace. Therefore at the instance of my father I have mar
ried." 3. About thesame time, in a letter to Spalatin, he said: "I have
silenced those who calumniated me and Catharine of Bora. If I am to
give a feast in celebration of these nuptials you must not only be present
yourself, but you must procure me a supply of venison. Meanwhile pray
for us and give us your benediction. I have made myself so vile and
contemptible, forsooth, by this marriage that all the angels, I trust, are

122 history of the reform atipn. [ch. xxi.
had maintained for more than three years, permitted—
he may have thought that they commanded — ^the desired
induleence. This defence would have been sufficient
for any man except Luther ; but his position was so pre
eminent before that of all his brother Reformers, his
achievements had been so splendid, his pretensions were
so lofty, and, above all, his success had been so much
advanced by the unquestionable disinterestedness of his
designs and character, that his followers had a right to
expect greater self-denial from him, than from a Spalatin
or a Carlstadt. They had a right to expect, in return
for the almost implicit obedience which they yielded
him, that he would sacrifice any private inclination, how-
rejoicing and all the demons in tears. But those worldly-wise folks
do not yet recognise the work of God, a pious and sacred work, and in
my case only they deem it impious and diabolical." 4. To Wenceslas
Link he wrote : " Quite suddenly, and while I was thinking of anything
rather than marriage, God wonderfully brought me into wedlock with
the celebrated nun Catharine of Bora." 5, The following was addressed
to Amsdorf: " The report is true that I married Catharine, and that, in
great haste, before the accustomed clamours of tumultuous tongues could
reach me ; for I hope that I shall yet live some short time, and I could
not refuse this last act of obedience to the importunity of my father, that I
might prolong his family and at the same time confirm my doctrine by
my example — so many are there, even in the present light of the gospel,
who are still pusillanimous. It has been the will and act of God ; for I
neither love nor bum, but feel an affection for my wife (neque amo ne
que sestuo, sed diligo uxorem). I shall therefore give a feast in celebra
tion of my nuptials, at which my parents will be present ; I wish you by
all means to be of the party, and I therefore now invite and intreat you
by no means to be absent." 6. The following to Stifelius, on Michael
mas day of the same year : " If my marriage is the work of God, what
wonder is it if the flesh is offended by it ? for it is offended in the very
flesh of the Deity and Creator, which he gave as a ransom and food for
the salvation of the world : if the world were not offended in me I should
be offended in the world, and should fear lest my act were not the a«t
of God : but perceiving it to be offended and impatient, I am the more
edified and consoled ; and let such be your feeling."

CH. XXI.J LUTHER's MARRIAGE. 123
ever consistent with evangelical principles, rather than
cast a certain, though it might be an unmerited, scandal
upon the cause over which he presided. It was not
merely the indecency of the moment which he chose for
his nuptials, while the ashes of his prince and protector
were scarcely cold and all Germany was reeking with
the blood of her children — though this was at least an
indiscretion, and was converted by the papists into a
serious aggravation of his crime — but it was, that Luther,
whose character had hitherto been free from any suspi
cion of sensuality, gave occasion, by this one imprudent
act of self-indulgence, to those imputations of unholy
motives, which were so freely, and sometimes so justly,
thrown upon his followers. Thenceforward he ceased
to stand apart from his brethren, and came nearer to the
level of their common humanity.
Melancthon felt the wound ; and in a letter, which he
immediately afterwards addressed to Camerarius, he suf
ficiently showed his opinion, that the act required defence,
by his forwardness in defending it. After shortly de
scribing the circumstances of the marriage, he continued :
" Some perhaps will be surprised that, in this unfortu
nate moment, while good and honest men are everywhere
in affliction, he should appear not only to be not op
pressed with sorrow, but almost to disregard those evils
which are before our very eyes ; especially since he will
suffer in general estimation, at the very instant when
Germany stands most in need of his dignity and mag
nanimity. And I account for this affair in this manner :
he is by no means one of those who dislike society and
intercourse with mankind. You know his habits of life,
and can reflect better than I can describe them. Thus
is it not surprising that his great and generous mind
should have been in some measure softened, especially

124 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXI.
since no sort of impropriety has been committed ; for
any vulgar reports which may be current on the subject
are manifestly false and calumnious. I suppose too that
nature compelled him to become a husband ; and it is
a humble and holy life, and declared honourable by
Holy Scripture.* And in respect to what is said of the
unseasonableness of the act, let us not be disturbed by
that ; for there may be something secret, something of
the divine operation therein, which it would not be be
seeming to search too curiously ; nor to heed the deri
sions and scoffings of those, who have neither piety
towards God nor virtue towards man. But since I ob
serve Luther himself to be somewhat melancholy, and
disturbed through the change in his manner of life, 1
endeavour to console him with all assiduity and benevo
lence. Nor can I condemn this transaction as an error
or falling away, though many of the ancient saints have
both erred and fallen ; because it is God's wish that,
when we search his word, we should not regard the dig
nity or person of the man, but the word only ; but least
of all should we condemn the doctrine taught, through
the infirmity of the teacher. Yet, as I have said, I do
not admit that anything has been committed in this
matter which is incapable of apology, or which ought
indeed to be censured. ..."
This was not a very confident defence ; but the humi
liation really was, that Luther, the master and idol of his
friends, the contemptuous heaven-directed assailant of
his enemies, should have committed any act of so dubious
* " Est vir iste nequaquam ex iis, qui homines oderunt et congressus
ftigiunt. . . . Itaque mollitum fuisse quodammodo generosum et magnum
animum ipsius non est mirandum. . . . Ego etiam naturam arbitror ipsum
coegisse, ut fieret maritus. Estque vita ista humilis ilia quidem, &c. . . ."
— Melancthon to Camerarius.

CH. XXI.J luther's marriage. 125
a character as to require any apology from any man.
Yet, though this affair unquestionably lowered him in
public estimation,* it inflicted no serious blow upon the
cause. It came too late : the principles of the Reforma
tion were too well established ; the parties were too dis
tinctly separated ; the work was too deeply founded to
be shaken through the infirmity of any individual, even
though it were Luther who failed. Meanwhile he is
believed to have increased his domestic comforts by his
marriage ; and it was worth some loss of public reputa
tion and influence, if he purchased by the sacrifice twenty
peaceful years of private happiness.f
Melancthon alludes in the above letter to the social
habits and susceptible disposition of Luther. It is besides
* The papists continued the cry for some time. I find a fract of one
John Hasenberg, published in 1528, and exhorting Luther even then to
restore the nun to her lawful husband, Christ. " M. J. Hasenbergii
epistola M. Ludero et suse parum legitimse uxori Catharinse a Bhor,
Christiano prorsus animo scripta. In hoc, ut aut vel tandem cum
prodigo filio resipiscant ... aut certe Luderus nonnam suo sponso
Christo .... reponat.
" Omnibus in terris Ludero turpior alter
Non fuit, et non est, nee magis ullus erit."
It begins : " Quosque tandem apostata omnium insanissime libidinosis-
simeque  Verum tu, Ludere, homo apostata, hseretice, Picharde,
superbe, scortator, livide, colerice, hominum deorumque spretor. . ." Such
are specimens not only of the "Animus Christianus" ofthe author, but
of the language very commonly applied to Luther by the subalterns of
the opposite party.
t The following expressions are strong; but he wrote them little more
than a year after his marriage, and just after the birth of his first child
(August 11, 1526) : — " Ketha (Kitty), my rib, salutes you, and thanks
you for having honoured her with so delightful a letter. She is extremely
well and attentive to me, and in all respects obsequious and obliging to
a degree that I had not ventured to hope, so that I would not exchange
my poverty for all the riches of Croesus."— Luther to Michel Stifelius.
(No. 816).

126 history of the refprmation. [ch. xxi.
not disputed that in the familiarity of private intercourse
he was sometimes betrayed into unguarded and even in
decent expressions. It was the force of his imagination,
the warmth of his temperament, the freedom of his bold
and careless mind, which led to this laxity ; and it was
nourished by the rudeness of a monastic hfe and his in
experience in the manners of the more polished society
even of that unpolished age. In his letters to his friends
we find traces of the same irregularities which are im
puted to his conversation ; for of his letters many are
indeed merely conversational, and no more than a faith
ful representation of what he would have said to the
same friends, in moments of unrestrained conviviahty.
He sometimes wrote, as he sometimes talked, without con
sideration ; but before he acted he commonly reflected,
and when he reflected he was generally right. Thus,
as we should always bear in mind, his moral character
was entirely free from stain. And it is even in those very
epistles, which do indeed betray the secret weaknesses of
the man, and represent him without any exaggeration
or disguise, as he was himself conscious when he remon
strated against their publication,* that we discover the
strongest, because the most unsuspected, proofs of his
excellence. It is even there, that we see the clearest
marks of his genuine piety, of the upright and disinte
rested integrity ofhis intentions, of those natural good and
grand qualities, which may be feigned indeed for a time
and for a purpose, but which cannot be sustained through
a long and various correspondence, unless they be true.
* In a letter to Capito of May 25, 1524, Luther, after complainmg
that a former letter had been published, thus proceeds : — " This circum
stance almost deters me from writing letters at all, if they are to be thus
hurried against my consent to the press ; since among friends one both
may and ought to express many things more freely, than it would be ex
pedient to do before the public." — (No. 606.)

CH. XXI.J luther's marriage. 127
Of his public actions the very greatest might easily be
ascribed, as they have been ascribed, to pride, or vanity,
or ambition ; but his letters betray no such secret. In
his most intimate communications, " when he speaks
without reserve, as if he were at the feet of his confessor,"
we find his predominant motives to have been the fear
of God and the love of truth. That these were not always
unalloyed, was the condition on which he wore his flesh,
and walked with his brother sinners upon this corrupt
earth. The marriage of Luther may be fairly accounted as
one of the many adverse events, which combined at this
period to retard the progress of the Reformation ; but it
advanced notwithstanding. Among the imperial cities,
those which had already embraced it became confirmed
in their convictions, and, what was equally important,
were acquiring the habits of ecclesiastical independence.
In the infancy of a popular cause, founded upon newly-
asserted principles, and struggling against an established
despotism, every advantage retained is a position forti
fied — an additional point of support for further and
bolder operations. It was a considerable gain to the
reformers to have lost nothing. Under circumstances so
adverse they could scarcely count on any fresh conquests,
yet they made several and of great importance. The
city of Dantzig declared in their favour.* The Counts of
Oldemburg, of Hannau, and of Tecklemburg, announced
their adhesion to the new principles. Further progress
was made in Misnia and Lusatia ; and the connexion
between the Elector of Saxony and Philip Landgrave of
Hesse was becoming every day more close and intimate.
But the greatest triumph was the establishment of the
* There is a letter from Luther extant (May 5, 1525), recommending
a preacher Anzden Rathu, Danzig. — (No. 697.)

128 history of the reformation. [ch. xxi.
dukedom of Prussia, on the suggestion of Luther,* as an
independent state, upon the ruins of the Teutonic order.
This revolution was attended by the secularisation of the
domains ofthe church. On the installation of Albert in
the dignity of duke, the Bishop of Samland resigned
into his hands all the temporal jurisdiction attached to
his see, as at variance with the evangelical institution
and purely spiritual character of the episcopal office.
The gospel preachers, already introduced from Germany,
were encouraged and multiplied ; and that their instruc
tions might reach even the lowest of the people, inter
preters were appointed to translate their sermons into
the Prussian dialect. The marriage of the duke speedily
confirmed the declaration of his independence ; and this
example was followed, with the single exception of the
Duke of Brunswick, by all the knights, his brethren,
the sworn and consecrated champions of the Apostolical
Church. A brief was addressed by Clement VII. to the parlia
ment of Paris on the 20th of May, 1525, which would
prove, if proof were wanting, that the principles of the
Reformation had already extended to France. The
Pope observed, that he had been informed how impious
heresies were beginning to spread in that country, and
how prudently a commission had been appointed for their
* Luther thus wrote to John Brisman, a mimster in Prussia, on July 4,
1524: — "When I first conversed with Prince Albert, master ofthe
Teutonic order, and he consulted me about the rule of his order, I coun
selled him to despise that foolish and confused rule, and to marry (suasi
ut contempta ilia stulta confiisaque regula uxorem duceret), and to reduce
Prussia into a political form, whether princedom or dukedom. After me
Melancthon gave him the same advice. He then smiled, but made no
reply. Now I see that he has adopted this counsel, and I trust that he
may bring it to a speedy accomplishment."— (No. 609). When it was
accomplished, Luther addressed to Albert a letter of applause and con
gratulation.

CH. XXI.J CLEMENT TO THE PARLIAMENT OF PARIS. 129
chastisement. By his authority he confirmed that com
mission. He urged the necessity of an universal com
bination against the fury of Satan and his satellites, for
the common preservation of all mankind; since this
madness did not assail religion alone, but designed to
confound and overthrow all thrones, nobles, laws and
subordination. He promised that no exertions should
be wanting on his part to heal the disease ; and on theirs
he trusted that such provisions would be made, as might
rescue not only the truth and faith, but also the prosperity
of their kingdom and the dignity of their order, from
the domestic calamities everywhere disseminated by this
pestiferous heresy, &c. &c.*
Such are the expressions invariably employed by the
instruments of despotic power for the preservation of
their tyranny, through fear of the opposite evil of anar
chy. But in this case they received an apparent confirma
tion from the intestine commotions by which Germany
was then desolated ; and these were indeed well suited to
stimulate the conservative spirit of a contiguous people,
and tb occasion the immediate suppression of principles
which, however sound and popular, were found con
nected, even in their misinterpretation and abuse, with
such grave and substantial calamities.
* Sleidan, De Statu, &c., lib. v. p. 83.

VOL. IT. K

130 [ch. xxil

CHAPTER XXII.
THE WAR OF THE PEASANTS.
Various causes for discontent, civil and ecclesiastical, among the German
peasantry — and their extreme degradation — insurrections from 1491 to
1517 — those of 1524 and 1525 originating in Swabia — the most vio
lent were among the subjects of ecclesiastical princes — ^how far they
were occasioned or coloured by the Lutheran principles — account of
Thomas Munzer — his pretensions and doctrines — he formed a party,
and established his sect in Muhlhausen — he placed himself at the head
of the insurrection — his addresses to the peasants — cruelty, defeat, and
execution — the principles on which the rebellions seem to have heen
founded — Luther gave early warning against the designs of Munzer—'
his epistle to Frederick and John of Saxony on that subject — his general
exhortation to peace and subordination — the twelve demands of the
Swabian rebels, and their address to Luther — his reply — written with
considerable impartiality — he justifies slavery — Melancthon propounds
the same sort of counsels and principles — Luther's personal attempts
to repress the insurrection in Saxony — his philippic against the peii-
sants — violent even to atrocity — his defence of that philippic even
fiercer than the book itself — remarks — his spirit in this matter con
trasted with the dying exhortations of Frederick of Saxony.
The German people had been gradually reduced from
the rude independence of their original institutions to a
condition of unparalleled degradation and misery. First
of all, through the progress of feudalism, the princes and
great nobility grew in power and wealth at the expense
of the lower classes ; and they abused their superiority
by the grossest sensual indulgences, by eager rapacity
and even gratuitous oppression. Those evils were multi
plied by the excessive aggrandisement of the hierarchy.
There was no country in which the higher orders of the

CH. XXII. J CONDITION OF THE GERMAN PEASANTRY. 131
prelacy had acquired such extensive territorial domains,
with all the attendant prerogatives and authority, as in
Germany. Several Sees were powerful principalities ;
and, according to universal testimony, the subjects of
these were of all others the most deeply sunk in slavery
and wretchedness — and this not only through the ordi
nary chance of greater extortion on the part of a tenant
for life — not only through the fees, perhaps the purchase-
money, due to Rome, and to be exacted by some expe
dient or other from the people — but also because those
ecclesiastical governments were in their nature more
arbitrary. In some of the secular principalities there
was some semblance of free institutions, some relic, or
at least some shadow, of ancestral privilege and inde
pendence; but in the spiritual principalities even this
was not preserved, and being purely despotical they
combined, as spiritual despotism is wont to do, the most
cruel and searching modifications of tyranny.
But besides the pomps and luxuries of the prelacy,
the whole swarm of inferior ecclesiastics was likewise to
be supported ; and in no other country were they more
abundant or more rapacious. During the last two or
three centuries their numbers had increased, and the
idlest and most consuming portion of them was that
which had increased the most. Monasteries produced
others of the same order, and each fraternity propagated
its own branches with poisonous fertility. New orders,
again, were perpetually rising up in rivalry to the ancient
and to each other ; and the mendicants especially spread
like locusts over the whole surface of the country, and
became more and more devouring through long encou
ragement and impunity. Besides, as the church ad
vanced in corruption, their facilities of extortion were
multiplied even beyond the proportion of their nume
rical aggrandisement. Fresh devices were invented, the
k2

132 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIL
ancient superstitions were perpetuated with more perni
cious activity, and all were turned with augmented
shamelessness to the one manifest purpose of pecuniary
gain. So many were the implements of exaction, so
numerous, so skilful, and so willing the hands that
wielded them, so harassed by other grievances the
people against whom they were directed, that the fre
quent insurrections, of which we read, amongst the
German peasants occasion no surprise — the less so as
the weight of their actual burdens was aggravated by
the traditional records of their primitive independence.
Many such partial outbreaks disturbed the conclu
sion of the fifteenth and the beginning of the following
century. One, of sufficient importance to acquire a
distinctive appellation,* created much confusion in the
low countries. In 1491 the subjects of the Abbot of
Kempten revolted against him. In 1503 a combina
tion of peasants, under the name of the Bundschuh,
produced much disorder in the neighbourhood of Spires.
In 1514 the rebellion of the peasants of Wirtemberg
against Ulrich, their duke, assumed so formidable an
appearance, that the mediation of the emperor and other
princes, and the removal of certain obnoxious imposts
were found necessary to appease it. In the year fol
lowing two thousand insurgents were massacred in
Carinthia. At the same time Hungary was the scene
of a much more serious disturbance, which was only put
down by a dreadful slaughter of the factious. These
various movements in so many quarters — we overlook
the successful revolution of the Swiss — occasioned by
ancient grievances, and foretold by the wisest of the
preceding generations, took place during a period of un-
* The rebels were called the KSsebrodter — cheese and bread men—
from the emblems of hunger inscribed upon their banners.

CH. XXII.J VARIOUS INSURRECTIONS. 133
usual ecclesiastical concord, and before the voice of
Luther had been raised against any one of the abuses of
the church.
The movements were for the most part repressed by
force, which is but a temporary resource against the
general dissatisfaction of a nation. They were local
only, so that there existed multitudes of disaffected who
had not yet made any trial of their strength. The causes
remained ; and while the authorities permitted them
to flourish in their full exuberance, the people were
becoming somewhat more enlightened, and therefore
more sensible of the weight of their wrongs and the
shame of enduring them. And even the memory of
past reverses was effaced, when they beheld the indepen
dence and comparative prosperity of Switzerland, and
thought on the means by which she had won them. On
these accounts there can be little question that some
general attempt at emancipation would have been made
by the peasants of Germany about this time, even had
Luther and Zwingle remained faithful sons and minis
ters of the apostolical church. But the circumstances
and the moment were no doubt influenced by those great
ecclesiastical disputes which then occupied universal
attention, and excited in the cottage as deep a sensation
— attended with at least as much religious sincerity — as
in the courts of kings.
The first insurgents were the Swabians. They had
the plea of peculiar oppression in some obnoxious im
posts ; and they may have beeu moved by their contiguity
with the Swiss and the easier communication of free
principles. They rose in the autumn of 1524. In the
beginning of the following year the conflagration spread
so rapidly, that few provinces in Upper Germany alto
gether escaped it. It is not my office to trace its pro
gress, or to describe the measures by which it was extin-

134 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIL
guished. The former was disgraced by much barbarous
outrage and depredation ; the latter by vindictive craelty,
sometimes aggravated by treachery. I willingly consign
such painful topics to the diligence of the civil historian.
Yet it should be observed, that the first and most violent
insurrections broke out among the subjects of ecclesias
tics ; and that the destruction and plunder of monasteries,
the demolition of images, and other similar excesses were
the earliest offences of the rebels. And as those spiritual
nobles are believed to have given the greatest provocation
to revolt, and as they were the first against whom the
torrent of popular indignation was directed, so is it re
lated that they were the fiercest in their conflicts and the
most implacable in their vengeance.*
And hence arises the obvious remark, that these tumults
were not directly occasioned by the writings of Luther.
For the States in which they originated, and in which
they raged most furiously, were those from which the
doctrines of the reformer had been most diligently ex
cluded. This proved the impolicy of the prohibition.
Those who evaded it (for some of course contrived to do
so) probably acquired very erroneous notions of the mat
ters in dispute, through the difficulty of access to the
compositions in which they were treated; while the
majority were kept in entire ignorance of the particular
• nature of those discussions, by which all Europe was
agitated, and of which the general results could not pos
sibly be concealed from them. And thus it came to pass
* On one occasion, in the month of May, a large body of insurgents
surrendered on conditions to the forces of the Prince Palatine and the
Archbishop of Treves, commanded in person by those two potentates.
On some vain pretence of tumult the prisoners were massacred; and it is
particularly related that while the Prince Palatine was generously exerting
himself to restrain the fiiry ofthe soldiers, the Archbishop was fomenting
the crime.

CH. XXII.J THOMAS MUNZER. 135
that that very evil, which was most apprehended from
the diffusion of the works of Luther, namely, civil in
subordination, was only inflamed by the half successful
attempt to suppress them. Ignorance of the principles
of the Reformation was called, in the specious language
of the malcontents, ignorance of the Gospel ; it was not
the arguments of man, but the word of God which had
been closed against the people. This gave them an ad
ditional grievance, another and a stronger plea for rebel
lion — since it was a grievance in which their eternal
interests were supposed to be concerned, and which was
placed in their imagination as a crown upon all the rest
— their oppressors forsooth had thought it little to rob
and degrade them in this world, unless they could ex
clude them at the same time from the world to come.*
Under these peculiar circumstances, with so many real
wrongs, so many temporal grounds for just complaint,
while at the same time the seeds of religious discontent
were loosely scattered among the insurgents, with no
proper cultivation, it was easy to give a religious colour
ing to the whole course of their operations. Nothing
was wanted but the voice of some popular fanatic to
inflame the spirit of civil rebellion by a higher and still
keener incentive; and that pernicious enthusiast was
found in the person of Munzer.
Thomas Munzer was, in the first instance, the asso
ciate of Storck and Stubner, in the seditions chastised
at Zwickau, and in the tenets (if such they can be called)
afterwards denounced by Luther at Wittemberg; and
though he was not there present at the overthrow of his
* " Hujus anni vere primo, per Sueviam, atque vicinam Germanise
partem, quse est ad Danubium, altera est exorta tempestas ordinis plebeii
contra Proceres Ecclesiasticos ; jamque jurejurando et fide data socie
tatem coibant, obducta causa, quasi et evangelii doctrinam tueri et servi-
tutem ab se profligare vellent. . . ." Sleidan, lib. iv. p. 67.

136 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIL
comrades, he had been brought on other occasions within
reach of the reformer, and had inspired him with indig
nation and contempt.* After being expelled from
Prague, Jutterbock, and other places, he obtained the
ofiice of a preacher at Altadt in Thuringia, an imperial
city, in the Electorate of Saxony ; and there for some
time propounded his opinions, under the immediate in
fluence, as he declared, of the spirit of God. He was
not destitute of literary attainments, and possessed be
sides a great command of scriptural texts and expres
sions — a sort of acquirement essential to a theological
polemic and demagogue. In his harangues he attacked
with almost equal vehemence the Pope and Luther — the
former in the customary expressions of popular invective
— and the latter as scarcely less criminal, through his
indulgence to the infirmities of his brethren, and his
ignorance of the genuine gifts of the spirit. Those
among his own peculiar doctrines, which were not purely
fanatical, savoured of mysticism. He preached that sal
vation was to be procured by the observance of the moral
code, by the mortification of the flesh in clothing and
fasting, by solemnity of countenance, by nourishing the
beard and by silence. These and such like offices he
called the cross of Christ and the discipline of a Chris
tian. He was opposed to all ecclesiastical ceremonies.
He exhorted his disciples to seek the Lord in frequent
* " Alstadii qusestorem, cum apud me esset, monui ut Thomse pro
phetse spiritum ab se alienaret ; si quid interim actum est ignoro. Ego
plane spiritum istum, quisquis sit, non queo ferre. Laudat mea, ut
Thomas ipse scribit, et tamen contemnit et alia majora queerit. Deinde
sic absurdis et inusitatis et extra scripturam verbis et orationibus loquitur,
ut phreneticum aut ebrium credas. Nos fiigit et congredi non vult, et
tamen sese mire jactat. Rogavi itaque qusestorem, ut urgeret hominem
ad conferendam nobiscum suam doctrinam ; nescio an eificiet. Noster
spiritus talis non est, ut metuat conferri cum omnibus etiam malis et bonis
spiritibus." Luther to Spalatin, Aug. 3, 1523. (No. 517).

CH. XXII.J DOCTRINE OF MUNZER. 137
and solitary meditation, apart from human intercourse ;
and on such occasions to inquire into the nature of God
and the reality of his Providence towards man ; into the
certainty of the atonement of Christ and of the truth of
his religion. And if any doubts should arise — for he
admitted the possibility of doubt — he directed them to
appeal at once to God* and ask some sign of Him.
Should this for the moment be withheld, they were to
expostulate with their Maker, as men aggrieved and
angry, and to persist still more fervently in the pious
importunity of prayer. Doubtless this passionate per
severance would prove acceptable to God ; who, perceiv
ing therein the zeal and ardour of their hearts, would
at length vouchsafe a sign to his faithful followers, as to
his saints in ancient days. In support of such injunc
tions, he taught the supernatural character of dreams,
as the means employed by the Almighty for the mani
festation of His will. And having once opened this
illimitable field to the imagination of his followers, it
was easy for him to find a sign for the removal of every
doubt, a vision in answer to every supplication.
By this strange confusion of sound morality with
attractive absurdities, heated by violent declamation
against the doctrines and ministers of the church, Mun
zer presently formed a religious party; and then he
proceeded to his further purpose, which was to convert it
into a political faction. To this end he wrote down the
names of his adherents, and bound them by oath to co-
* " Satan so advances those prophets of his, that there are now some
few citizens of Nuremberg who deny Christ, who deny the word of God,
who deny baptism and the sacrament of the altar, who deny the civil
authorities. They acknowledge nothing but God, therefore they sit cap
tive in prison — solum confitentur esse Deum, ideo capti sedent in carcere."
Luther to John Brisman, Feb. 4, 1525. (No. 671). Ifthis were true,
it represented the abuse of Munzer's opinions.

138 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXII.
operate faithfully together, for the subversion of the civil
authorities. As soon as these designs were discovered,
Frederick, who had tolerated his mere religious extrava
gance, at once expelled him from his states. He fled to
the neighbouring town of Muhlhausen, where he had
•previously acquired some notoriety, and where his pro
jects were attended with better success. By his influence
with the people he removed his enemies from the govem
ment of the city, and acquired for himself the senatorial
dignity. He caused the expulsion of the monks, and
appropriated to his own use the largest a,nd wealthiest
among their establishments. And he then pronounced,
as from immediate inspiration, his decisions upon all
matters and causes, at his own arbitrary discretion, by
the interpretation of dreams, or scriptural passages;
and all that proceeded from his lips was deemed holy.
In addition to this, he maintained the community of
property, as a natural and universal law, vindicated by
the dignity, the equality and the liberty of man. And
this principle he likewise inculcated with so much effect,
that all laborious works, as we are informed, did really
cease, and the artisan and the peasant, suspending the
implements of their skill, received their share of the
abundance ofthe wealthy, under the authority of the law
of Christ.
This continued for several months, during the conclu
sion of 1524 and the beginning of the following year.
Meanwhile the rustics were in arms throughout the neigh
bouring provinces to the number of at least forty thou
sand ; they had gained some advantages over the nobles,
and had burnt or plundered many castles and citadels.
Munzer, on the persuasion of one Pfeiffer, who was even
a wilder fanatic than himself, seized this moment to place
himself at the head of the insurrection. He began by
an inflammatory address to the miners of Mansfeldt :—

CH. XXII.J HIS REBELLION. 139
" How long, my beloved brethren, will you remain with
your arms folded ? How long will you resist the will of
God? Are you faithful, and do you believe that the
Lord has forsaken you ? How often have I represented
to you your duty ! But God cannot now delay much
longer. You must now take courage, or the sacrifice of
your broken hearts will avail you nothing. Your miseries
will be multiplied ; it is my authority which assures you
of this. If you refuse to wear the crown of martyrdom,
which God now offers you, you will presently be found
wearing that of Satan. You will perish all of you if
you despise the commands of God, which I, in His behalf,
announce to you. Already France, Italy, Germany have
taken up arms. Three hundred thousand peasants are
in array in Klegau, in Hegau, and along the banks of
the Neckar. My only fear is that they will fall into the
net of peace that is laid for them ; for wherever it may
happen that but three of you are assembled together,
with a full confidence in God and no other object but
His glory, you have no cause to fear a hundred thousand
enemies. Let us then procure the peace which we desire,
and which God hath promised us. But be not softened
by the flatteries of Esau ; be not moved by the calamities
of the impious, by their prayers, or by their tears. Show
them no mercy. It is God's will that you treat them as
Moses treated the inhabitants of Canaan ; and that will
He hath revealed unto me."
Soon afterwards, on the Sth of May, when the insur
gents were assembled at Frankenhausen in the presence
of the forces of John and George of Saxony, the Land
grave of Hesse and the Duke of Brunswick, those princes
offered them pardon on condition that they would sur
render Munzer and his accomplices. To avert that fate
the fanatic collected his people around him, and with
even more than his wonted severity of countenance ad-

140 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXII.
dressed them : " You see, my fellow-soldiers and brothers,
that your tyrants are at hand ; yet, though they have
conspired against your lives and mine, they have not the
courage to attack us ; but they offer vain and absurd
conditions, that they may deprive you of your arms. So
manifest must it now become to you that this is not my
enterprise ; it is not undertaken on my authority, but by
the command of God. And thus it is the duty both of
you and of me to obey, and not to desert the post in
which the Lord hath placed us. When Abraham was
obedient to the divine voice, God preserved to him his
son, and rewarded his faith with many other benefits ;
we therefore, who are now in the condition of Abraham,
must persevere and commit the event to God. . . . Our
enemies are called princes ; they ought to be called ty
rants ; for they take no care of you : they exhaust all
your means and then squander them away in wickedness.
They pay no attention to the public good, they take no
cognisance of the causes of the poor ; they neglect jus
tice, they permit the practice of robbery and every other
crime ; they have no regard for the orphan or the widow,
they make no provision for the education of youth ; and
as to the worship of God, they not only themselves neglect
it, but prevent it in others. In short, they have but one
single object before them, to convert the property of all
their subjects to their own uses. . . . But even if all
this were endurable, is it with impunity that they shall
defend the accursed impiety of the ecclesiastics ? Who
knows not how flagitious is their barter of masses, and
all their other scandals ! . . . Let us then rather perish
than consent to so much iniquity, and allow the gospel
truth to be snatched away from us. I, on my part, can
most confidently assure you that God will be with us,
and the victory our own, for He hath himself, face to
face, made me this promise ; himself, I say. He who can

CH. XXII.J HIS DEFEAT AND DEATH. 141
neither deceive nor lie, hath commanded us to proceed
against our governors, after this fashion. And as in
ancient time He revealed his might for the protection of
his saints, so can there be no possible doubt that He will
also glorify this day by some miraculous interposition.
Be not moved then by the decisions of your reason ; let
not the show and shadow of danger disturb you, but
rush bravely forward upon your impious foes ; be not
terrified by their artillery, for as to the balls which they
shall cast against us, I will receive them all in my own
vest. But even now behold the propitiousness of God !
Behold the sign and testimony of his perpetual benevo
lence towards us ! Lift up your eyes, I pray you, and
behold that heavenly bow ! The same is painted on our
banners, and by this representation which he displays to
us from above, God clearly signifies that He will be with
us in the battle. By this very symbol He denounces
overthrow and destruction to our tyrants. Forward then
with confident courage, in the certain expectation of
divine aid, for God will permit no peace between you
and your impious adversaries."
Before the onset commenced, a young man of a noble
family presented himself as a herald at the camp of the
insurgents ; he was seized by the command of Munzer,
and immediately murdered — a faithful sign indeed of
the spirit by which the fanatic was guided. This spec
tacle infuriated the royalists ; and in the unequal combat
which ensued the rebels were vanquished with great
slaughter and little resistance, as they stood singing a
hymn to the Holy Spirit, and awaiting the promised
succour from above. Munzer fell into the hands of the
conquerors. The bearing of the prisoner did not, in the
first instance, disgrace his former pretensions. To the
questions of George of Saxony and the Landgrave of
Hesse he firmly replied that he had in nowise exceeded

142 HISTORY PF THE REFPRMATIPN. [CH. XXII.
his cpmmission, and that the princes who had persecuted
the doctrine of the gospel were to be resisted as he had
resisted them. " Reflect," said Duke George to him,
when on the application of the torture he cried aloud
with pain, " reflect on the agonies of those wretched men,
whom you have this' day deluded to their destruction."
" Even thus," he replied, with a disdainful laugh, " even
thus they would have it." But afterwards, when the
hour of execution approached, he displayed a more mode
rate and reasonable temper. He made a public confession
of his error and his crime; and then, though encom
passed by the soldiery, he raised his voice to exhort the
princes to show greater mercy towards -their wretched
subjects — thus would they be thereafter exempt from
similar perils. At the same time he admonished them
to study at least that portion of the Holy Scriptures
which relates to the duties of kings. He then received
the communion, and suffered.
The death of Munzer may be considered as the ter
mination of this dreadful affair ; which began in the op
pression of the princes and nobles, which was inflamed
by the admixture of religious incentives, and which
closed in almost* every instance with the defeat and
slaughter of the insurgents. In the harangues of their
* The peasants of Rhingau, who had great complaints against the
Chapter of Erbach, came to terms on various conditions, partly civil,
partly religious. The latter we^e these : That evangelical priests should
be chosen by the people with perfect liberty ; that they should be no
longer persecuted ; that they should be maintained by a general impost of
a thirtieth, and that tithes should be altogether abolished ; that no more
monks or nuns should be received into the convents, and that those then
in that condition should be free to throw it off; that the mendicants
should be suppressed; that ecclesiastics should no longer be exempt from
public burdens. This treaty was signed by the Bishop of Strasburg,
Vicar ofthe Archbishop of Mayence in that country, and by the Chapter
and Abbot of Erbach. Beaus. iii. 175.

CH. XXII.J EFFECT OF LUTHER's WRITINGS. 143
chiefs and in the proclamations of their wrongs they de
manded in the same breath two essential boons — civil
liberty and the gospel ; and however false the notions
that they may have attached both to the one and to the
other, they showed at least a strong, though in some
degree a misconceived, persuasion, that they had spiritual,
as well as civil, rights, and that no earthly authority
could justly deprive them of the means of eternal salva
tion. This naked principle was intelligible to the rudest
understanding, and may have been felt by the most illi
terate peasant ; it was unquestionably derived from the
works of Luther, and it may have been the only truth
contained in them that was universally disseminated.
For the provinces first and most disturbed were those (as
has been mentioned) in which the doctrine of the Re
formation was least known ; and the unfortunate men,
who composed the mass of the rebels, were the poorest
and most ignorant in the community.
It is probable, moreover, that there were some among
them who, though somewhat better instructed in Luther's
principles, yet misunderstood and misapplied them.
His opinions concerning Christian or evangelical liberty,
however carefully guarded by the strongest declarations of
civil allegiance, may easily have misled the half-informed
into a belief that he advocated the overthrow of every
form of despotism, and resisted the power and privileges
of the constituted authorities of the empire. The extreme
violence, with which he so repeatedly denounced the
frauds, vices and extortions of the ecclesiastical rulers of
the people, may have given birth to the notion that he
was hostile to all governments. And when he spoke of
liberty, he might be represented, in the interpretation of
the vulgar, to mean licentiousness and anarchy. To this
extent the writings of Luther may have contributed to
give a direction to this lamentable affair, and to furnish.

144 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIL
as it might happen, principles, motives, or pretexts to
those engaged in it; but to this their influence was
clearly confined.
Yet as the papal party, both in that and in after ages,
has endeavoured to fasten the crime of those calamities,
not only upon his principles but upon himself; and
derived a plausible argument against his cause from the
mischiefs immediately connected with it ; and even ven
tured to describe as Lutherans the oppressed, misguided
and ignorant horde which committed and suffered all
those atrocities ; it becomes necessary to examine with
some attention the course adopted by the reformer in
this conjuncture, one of the most critical in his life.
As early as August 14, 1524, Luther, who had long
penetrated the spirit of Munzer, addressed a warning to
the senate of Mulhausen, to refuse admission to so dan
gerous an adventurer. He assured them of his seditious
designs and character; he reminded them of his pro
ceedings at Zwickau and Alstadt ; that he had emis
saries everywhere deluding the people ; that his doctrine
was no less absurd and ignorant than seditious ; that he
ought to be proved and questioned respecting the origin
and author of his commission ; that, should he refer it
immediately to God, some sign should be required of
him in attestation of his claim ; since it was God's usage,
whensoever He departed from the ordinary course of his
Providence, to declare his will by some supernatural
manifestation.* I may here remark that this test, which
might be applied with perfect fairness to every pretender
to immediate communication with the Deity, was pecu-
* " Wenn er sagt : Gott und sein Geist hab ihm gesandt, wie den
Apostel : so lasst ihn dasselb beweisen mit Zeichen und Wunder, oder
wehret ihm das predigen ; denn wo Gott die ordentliche weise will
andem, so thut er allwege Wunderzeichen dabey." Luther's Letters,
Aug. 14, 1524. De Wette.

CH. XXII.J LUTHER AGAINST MUNZER. 145
liarly appropriate in its application to Munzer ; since it
supposed no other doctrine in himself than that which
he was impressing day by day upon his disciples. If
an evident sign from God might certainly be obtained,
as he perpetually assured them, by their prayers, doubt
less the same divine interposition would not be refused
to his own.
A few days afterwards (Aug. 21) Luther wrote to the
Princes Frederick and John of Saxony a similar epistle,
in strong denunciation of the doctrines and designs of
Munzer, and containing sentiments to the following-
purport : " Now this is to me an especial pleasure that
such are not our proceedings, since these people are
themselves making boast that they are not of our party
and have learnt nothing from us ; no, they come direct
from heaven, and hear God himself converse with them
as with His angels, and it is a miserable doctrine that is
taught at Wittemberg, about faith and love and the cross
of Christ ! God's voice you must hear with your own
ears, they cry ; God's work you must endure and expe
rience in your own persons. They say nothing of the
Scriptures — only about Bibel, Bubel, Babel. I have
never read or heard of a spirit more lofty and inffated
than this  I have heard that fellow formerly at
Wittemberg express his opinion that this work can only
make progress by the sword ; whence I conclude that it
is his design to overthrow all secular authorities, and
establish himself as Lord in the World.
" They say that they are moved by the Spirit ; but
surely that is a very bad spirit which exerts itself in
pulling down temples and monasteries and burning
images. The greatest villains can do such things as
these. They resist all enquiry into their principles.
They talk pompously in private corners and inflame the
VOL. II. L

146 HISTPRY PF THE REFPRMATION. [cH. XXII.
minds pf the deluded multitude, but will npt open their
mouths before any whom they see disposed to examine
the grounds of their pretensions. I augured no good of
them since they refused to disclose their sentiments before
their evangelical friends at Wittemberg. They look on
me as a lifeless Christian, as one who was never favoured
with hearing a voice from heaven  It is not my
wish that any persons, no not these fanatics, should be
prevented from preaching. Let them have free liberty of
exhibiting the best specimens they can of their erudition.
Let them teach, but keep their hands from violence.
Otherwise, if they will persist in their ferocious seditious
practices, it will be your duty to banish them from your
dominions. The war of an evangelist is of a spiritual
nature. He is to preach and bear the cross. We no
where read that either Christ or his Apostles pulled
down temples or images. But when the divine word
had penetrated the hearts of men, the heathen churches
and images of themselves fell to the ground. We ought
to act in the same manner. Had I attempted, like those
prophets, to bring about this revolution by violence, I
might have levelled a thousand buildings; but the
minds of men would have been enchained in darkness, as
before, and the salvation of souls not at all promoted.
" Wherefore I will humbly entreat your highnesses to
oppose such turbulence, that we may proceed in this
affair no otherwise than by the word of God, as is be
coming in Christian men ; and thus will you turn aside
the cause of a commotion, to which Mr. Everybody is
already far too well inclined  "*
* " Hiebey will ich diesmal lassen bleiben und E. F. G. untherthanig-
lich gebetten haben, dags sie mit ernst zu solchem sturmen und schwiir-
men thun, auf dass  ursach der aufruhr, dazu sonst Herr omnes
mehr als zuviel geneiget ist, verhiitet werde."

CH. XXII.J HIS PACIFIC EXHORTATIONS. 147
Before the outbreak of the rebellion Luther published
a general exhortation to peace and subordination.* And
at the same time he admonished the clergy, whom he
observed to be especially moved by the terror of the im
pending calamity, to repent and amend. For, though
he did not expect, as some expected, the general massacre
of the sacred order, yet was it clear enough, he said, that
the wrath of God was abroad, and that their sins had
contributed to bring down the visitation. He then pro
ceeded to advise the people, on the one hand, to show all
obedience to their magistrates ; the magistrates, on the
other, to remove the grievances of the people, diligently
to provide for their religious wants, to reject the corrup
tions of the faith and to remove without any violence the
errors and abuse of the papacy. He argued with great
force against the impolicy, as well as the wickedness, of
civil commotion : That there was nothing rational in
sedition ; that the most innocent in such cases were
usually the greatest sufferers; and that the movers of
turbulence were inexcusable, even when the cause was
just. His counsel was, that the progress of a good prin
ciple should be left to the peaceful operation of reason and
prayer ; that truth should be established and imposture
cast down by the power of conviction, gradually working
upon the public mind and leading it step by step to con
tempt for the fabrications of man ; that these were the
only means which he had at any time employed in the ac
complishment of his own mission, and that he devoutly
trusted by the same means, through the quiet propaga
tion of the gospel, to bring his work to a speedy conclu-
* "Eyn Freu Vormanung M. Luther alien Christen sich zu vorhiiten
fiir aufruhr vmd emporung." Dated from Wittemberg. Under this
peacefiil title it contains however some very severe remarks on the Pope
and the papists.
L 2

148 HISTORY OF THE REFPRMATION. [CH. XXIL
sion, so that he who had but recently laid its foundations
might with his own hands perfect it.
Much more might be cited to the same effect, but the
above is sufficient to place the principles of Luther be
yond the possibility of a doubt, not merely because he
made profession of them, but because they were the
wisest that he could have adopted, and because his man
ner of defending them proves that he thoroughly under
stood them and knew their wisdom.
These exhortations having failed of all effect, let us now
observe his conduct during the progress of the insurrec
tion. The Swabian rebels published twelve demands,
which were immediately circulated in every part of Ger
many, as a sort of general manifesto of the complaints of
all. They were in substance as follow : That they
should be permitted to choose their own religious minis
ters, who should preach the word of God in purity,
without any admixture of human decrees, and inculcate
the vital doctrine of justification by faith alone; that
they should pay no further tithes, except of corn ;* and
that these should be appropriated partly to the ministers
of the church, partly to the support of the poor, partly to
public purposes ; that they should be released from the
condition of servitude, as being unworthy of the liberty
which all had acquired by the blood of Christ. They
disclaimed any wish to withdraw themselves by this con
dition from the sacred authority of the magistrate ; but
they declined the yoke of slavery, unless it could be
proved to rest on clear Scriptural testimony. The eight
demands which followed related to the right of fishing
and of the chase, especially that of destructive animals;
±0 the common use of the forests ; to charges, imposi-
* Sleidan, 1. v. p. 76.

CH. XXII.] LUTHER AND THE PEASANTS. 149
tions, tributes, land taxes, fines and other exactions and
usurpations ; and in the last they protested that, if they
were in error in respect to any of these articles, they
were ready to retract, provided only they could be con
vinced by Scripture ; that they would not accept any
concession or privilege contrary to that holy law, but
that they reserved to themselves the right of making
any further claim conformable to religion and to natural
justice. Besides this public remonstrance — which professed to
rest, be it observed, on the fundamental religious principle
of Luther, and was in one or two places expressed in his
very words — they had made somewhat earlier a personal
appeal to himself. This was composed in a spirit of
great moderation; and with a firm determination to shake
off the oppression of slavery, it united the strongest pro
fessions of reverence for the established authorities.* It
does not appear that Luther made any separate reply to
this address; but the manifesto of the peasants called
from him, in the month of May, an elaborate and very
important paper which we must not leave unnoticed.
After some preliminary remarks respecting the troubles
which were visiting the earth through God's displeasure
at the sins of mankind, he turned round to the princes
and nobles : — " To you especially, blind bishops, in
sensate priests and monks, who do not desist even to
this day from your stupid stormings and ragings against
the gospel, though you know where the truth is, and that
no man can confute it ; in your secular govemment you
do nothing but tax and fleece, for the support of your
pomp and arrogance, till the poor common people can
possibly endure the thing no longer. The sword is on
* Marheinecke (tom. ii. p. 120) refers to Strobel in S. Bteitragen, ii. § 25.

150 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXH.
your neck, yet you sit, as you think, so fast in the saddle
that no human power can unhorse you. This very se
curity and insolence of pride will be the means of your
destruction. God is wont sometimes to vent his indig
nation against princes ; and if, in spite of my repeated
admonitions, you refuse to amend your lives, the wrath
of heaven will redound upon your heads. Those are not
propitious omens which we see everywhere about us. It
is through God's anger that false teachers are permitted
to have such weight among us ; hence proceeds too
that popular sedition which will lay all Germany waste,
unless God shall be moved by our prayers to vouchsafe
some remedy. Things are now in this condition that
men neither can, nor will, nor ought to endure your
dominion any longer. You must entirely change your
character, and yield to the Word of God ; for though the
people should fail in this attempt, others will succeed,
I repeat it ; and though you should destroy these present
insurgents, God will presently raise up others ; for it
is His work — it is He who wages war against you, and
takes vengeance on your impiety.
" In respect to the charges which are brought against
me, as having originated this confusion, you know that
from the very beginning I have inculcated moderation
and peaceable deportment and civil subordination ; nay,
I have even exhorted them to endure you and your
impious tyranny, and you are my witnesses that I have
done so. The blame then is not mine ; but it is properly
charged upon those bloodthirsty prophets, who detest me
as much as you do, and who for more than three years
have been deluding these people, and to whom no one
has offered any manful resistance except myself alone;
and if it were really my wish to revenge myself upon
you, I might laugh in secret as a spectator of your

CH. XXII.J LUTHER AND THE PEASANTS. 151
troubles, or even lend my aid to aggravate them ; but
frpm that crime my God will continue to preserve me,
as He has done hitherto."
He next exhorted the princes to the exercise of mercy,
and pointed out the obvious justice of some of the de
mands of the peasants.
Then he turned to these last ; and while he acknow
ledged that there were princes who, through their pro
hibition ofthe gospel and other unpardonable oppressions,
were entirely unworthy to reign, yet the people, he as
serted, were equally bound to examine the justice of
their own cause, and to see whether they had not been
misled by false teachers who, under the cloak of the
gospel, were doing the work of Satan. In a tone of
brotherly and respectful affection,* he applied to their
proceedings the test of the gospel ; he showed how im
perfectly they had been instructed in its true meaning
and spirit ; and how vain a pretext it was to plead reli
gion in justification of their violence. All they that
take the sword shall perish with the sword. . . If their
rulers had committed crimes, that did not excuse other
crimes in them ; and there was no precept more clearly
laid down in the divine law than the duty of civil obe
dience. The same duty was no less founded in natural
law and natural justice : every reason combined to esta
blish it as sacred and universal.
" You perceive not, that, in your endeavours to ad
vance the gospel, you are inflicting upon it the greatest
imaginable injury. Lay aside then the appellation of
Christian; do not dare to veil a turbulent, inhuman,
unchristian enterprise under the name of Christ. I
will never give nor allow you that name, but both by
* He calls them his " lieben freunde," his " lieben herren und
briider."

152 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXIL
my writings and words will strive to tear it from you,
so long as a single vein shall flow in my body. If you
shall retain it, I will profess myself your enemy. I will
importune Heaven with prayer, though I trust that you
will not so proceed as to have my prayers recorded
against you ; for, sinner as I am, I doubt not that here
would be just occasion for me to offer up my petitions,-
and that they would not be offered in vain."
He then exhorted them to employ prayer rather than
violence for the attainment of their own purposes: —
" Which is there among you who has implored the aid
of God for his cause? — Scarcely one. No, you place'
your confidence in arms and brute force ; yet those who
are truly Christian do nothing with violence, but endure
and weary Heaven with prayer, as the example of holy
men in all ages demonstrates ; for this is the only means
of safety, the only path of peace. But you disregard ,
this, and neither offer prayers nor exhibit patience, but
place all your hopes in yourselves ; therefore shall you
find no grace with God. You may indeed, through His
sufferance, have some partial success ; but even that will
recoil to your perdition. This is answer enough to your
demands, that, though they were founded in equity and
natural justice, yet they have this essential inconsistency,
that you would wrest them by force from the authori- ;
ties — an attempt at variance with equity and common
justice. He who composed them is not a good man;
for he misrepresents and perverts the texts of Scripture
which he cites to inflame you, and which, when more
closely and faithfully examined, not only do not favour,
but are even directly opposed to you. . . ."
He then proceeded to their demands, and treated them
with much greater severity than in his address to the
princes. Respecting the first, it was his opinion that
the ministers should be appointed by the civil authority.

CH. XXII.J LUTHER AND THE PEASANTS. 153
as being the dispenser of the funds for their support ;
and that the pastors, who might be chosen by the people
should be supported by the people. He argued that
their claim in regard to tithes was entirely unjust, and
equivalent to an overthrow of all temporal power. As
to the abolition of slavery: — "What means this?" he
said. " Did not Abraham, and other holy men, possess
slaves ? Read St. Paul : he will instruct you in your
determinations about slaves. This demand then is con
nected with violence and rapine, and is in direct opposi
tion to the gospel ; for, though one be a slave, he may be
holy nevertheless, and enjoy the liberty of a Christian.
But your real object is to reduce all men to an equality,
while the very essence of social life and civil administra
tion consists in the distinction of conditions, that some
may be free while others are slaves, that some may
govem while others obey. . . ."
• In a well intended and dispassionate peroration, after
throwing some blame on both parties — after censuring
the various oppressions of the one, the violent rebellion
ofthe other — he exhorted them to accommodate their
differences by mutual concessions; to this end he ad
vised them to refer the matters in dispute to the arbi
tration of a council chosen from among the leaders of
both sides ; and then with some ardent prayers, offered
not without distrust, for the averting of the threatened
calamities, he concluded.
That this pacific spirit and abhorrence of the princi
ples of rebellion were not peculiar to Luther, but common
to the other chiefs of the Reformation, is proved by a
tract written at the same time by Melancthon,* upon
the same subject. At the desire of the Elector Palatine
* " Schrift P. Melancthons widder die Artikel der Bawrschafft.—
'A0p7/rwp adeniards avlarioQ tanv ekCivoq
'Of TToXifiov ipdrai iirtSrifiiov oupvoiVTOQ.

154 HISTORY PF THE REFPRMATION. [CH. XXIL
he composed some remarks upon the twelve articles,
and they all tended to the same conclusion : That it was
above all things sinful to oppose the authorities esta
blished by God ; that a real Christian should rather
endure any oppression and suffering ; that personal
slavery was not inconsistent with Christian liberty ; that
the preaching of the gospel ought not to be advo
cated by violence and uproar ; that insubordination had
nothing in common with evangelical doctrine, but was
rather a scandal to the profession of truth: and while on
the one hand he gave loose to some very harsh expres
sions of invective against the German populace,* on the
other he exhorted the princes to bear themselves with
moderation and mercy, to allow the gospel its free
course, to permit the marriage of spiritual persons, to
apply the monastic revenues to the uses of the poor, and
above all to conciliate their subjects by kindness and
mercy. But the voice of humanity and reason was lost in the
tumult of fanatical sedition. The insurrection spread
more widely, and grew more lawless and sanguinary as
it spread. It advanced nearer to the Saxon territory;
it threatened the very heart of the Electorate, the very
home of Luther. His energy did not then desert him.
He made great personal exertions for the preservation of
peace. On Easter Sunday, after preaching, he set out
on an expedition to the disturbed provinces. He visited
Seeburg, Nordhausen, Weimar, Orlamund, Kala and
Jena, and by his sermons and other public addresses
produced some partial effect ; but the storm continued
notwithstanding, and he had now been an eyewitness of
its ravages. Under these circumstances his equanimity
* " Es ist ein solch ungezogen, murthwiUig, blutgierig Volk, die
Teutschen, das mans billig viel barter halten sollte." — Marhein., tom. ii.
p. 120, cites Melancthon's History of Thomas Munzer.

CH. XXII.J LUTHER AND THE PEASANTS. 155
deserted him and was succeeded by feelings that were
positively vindictive. He forgot his lofty character of
mediator between an insulted but tyrannical authority,
and an offending but suffering people. He forgot that
magnanimous impartiality, which had just held almost
with an even hand the balance between despotism and
rebellion ; and, unhappily for his present and future
reputation, he gave a fierce and lasting expression to the
bitterness of his soul.*
" In my former tract," thus he said in substance, " I
did not venture to condemn the peasants, because they
offered theinselves to reason and better instruction. But,
before I could look about me, forth they rush with vio
lence, unmindful of their professions, and commit brutal
acts of devastation and fury ; whence one perceives what
is the real meaning of their false pretensions and how
vain are all the pleas that they have advanced in the
name of the gospel and in their twelve articles. In short,
it is purely the work of the devil that they are doing, and
especially that of the archdevil, who presides at Muhl
hausen, and directs nothing but robbery, murder and
bloodshed. This then is no time for slumber; this is no
moment for indulgence or compassion. It is the moment
for the sword and for vengeance, not for mercy.f
" In three respects the offences of the peasants against
God and man are so frightful as to deserve death both of
body and of soul. First — having sworn faith and obe
dient allegiance to their rulers they insolently break
this obedience and rise up against their masters, thereby
* " Wider die mordischen und reubischen rotten der Bawnn." In
,this, as in other instances, I follow the orthography of the original edi
tion, as I find it in the "Autographa Reformatorum " in the Bodleian.
t " Darumb ist hie nicht zu schlaffen. Es gibt auch nicht die gedult
hie, oder barm herzigkeit. Es ist des schwerts und zorns zeit hie, und
nicht der gnaden zeit."

156 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXII.
forfeiting body and soul, as faithless, perjured, lying and
rebellious scoundrels and miscreants. Next — they excite
tumults and plunder monasteries and castles which do
not belong to them ; wherefore, let any man, who has the
power, smite, strangle and stab them, in private and in
public, and consider in so doing that nothing can be
more poisonous, scandalous and diabolical than a sedi
tious man. Smite them down as you would destroy
mad dogs ; if you smite them not, they will smite you
and all the land with you. Thirdly — it is a frightful sin
that they assume the veil of the gospel, that they call
themselves Christian brothers, that they take oaths of
confederacy and constrain others to associate with them
in these horrors. Thus are they made of all men the
greatest sinners against God and defamers of His holy
name ; and do in fact honour and serve the devil under
the show of the gospel, whereby they well deserve death
tenfold, both in body and soul. . . .
" Such wonderful times are these that a prince may
merit heaven by shedding of blood better than others
can by prayer.* And whosoever shall perish, conscien
tiously fighting the battles of the authorities, will stand
a genuine martyr in the presence of God, since he walks
in God's word and obedience. On the other hand, who
soever shall perish on the side of the peasants will be an
eternal torch in hell (ein ewiger hoUen-brandt), since he
* " Solch wunderliche zeytens eind jetzt dags ein Fiirst den himel mit
blutvergiessen verdienen kan, dann andere mit beten." Cochlseus did
not lose so fair an occasion for an attack on Luther as this production
afforded him. He republished it clause by clause with severe remarks.
On the above he observed ingeniously — " Thou dost not utter this, Luther,
as thine own opinion, but from the sanguinary thirst and inspiration of
the old homicide, the enemy of man. For hitherto, of thine own opinion,
thou hast always denied that any man can deserve heaven, thou hast taken
away every merit from the holy ones of God  " Autographa Re
formatorum. Bodl. Oxf.

CH. XXII.J LUTHER AND THE PEASANTS. 157
draws the sword against God's word and obedience, and
is a limb of the devil. Meanwhile mercy ought to be
shown to prisoners and to all who have been reluctantly
forced into the sedition. Wherefore, beloved nobles,
release, aid and compassionate these poor men ; but as to
the rest, stab, crush, strangle them who can. And if
you fall in strife well is it for you, since you can never
meet a holier death. Those who will not hear me I pray
God to enlighten and convert them. As to those who
will not be converted, may God grant them neither hap
piness nor prosperity ! This is the speech of every pious
Christian. Amen !"*
These his horrible denunciations of a venofeance almost
demoniacal against those misguided wretches, whose
crime demanded indeed punishment, but punishment
tempered by compassion, and of whose offence some pe
culiar and aggravating circumstances were unquestion
ably occasioned by his own doctrines, were not the mere
explosion of a transient and rash resentment, to be effaced
by tears of contrition and shame ; no, they were the de
liberate offspring of his reason and his religion. For,
when he found that they were received, even in the fierce
* " Darumb, lieber Herren, loset hie, retet hie, helffit hie, erbaumpt
euch der armen leute, Steche, schlage, wiirde hie der kan." In a letter to
Amsdorf, of May 30, 1525, Luther wrote as follows : " Novam gloriam
mihi nuntias, quod adulator Principum vocer  Ego sic sentio ;
melius esse omnes Rusticos csedi quam principes et magistratus, eo quod
Rustici sine auctoritate Dei gladium accipiunt. Quam nequitiam Satanae
sequi non potest nisi Satanica vastitas regni Dei. Et mundi Principes,
etsi excedunt, tamen gladium auctoritate Dei gerunt. Ibi utrumque
regnum consistere potest. Quare nulla misericordia, nulla patientia rus-
ticis debetur, sed ira et indignatio Dei et hominum  Hos ergo jus-
tificare, horum misereri, illis favere est Deum negare, blasphemare et de
ccelo velle dejicere. Hoc die istis vestris concionatoribus ut audeant et
tentent, sed me non consentiente, imo eorum studia maledicente in nomine
Domini." (No. 708.)

158 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXII.
excitement of the moment, with much disapprobation* —
when he heard himself accused by some of unchristian
harshness, by others of base servility towards the great —
he published a defencef in every respect worthy of the
production that it attempted to justify. Indeed, in this
still more atrocious composition, he seems to have re
pented even of the scanty doling out of mercy with which
he had leavened the former, and he retracted more than
half of his niggardly humanity. He now maintained
that pardon should be extended to those only who on
admonition should surrender themselves ; that those, who
might have been forced into the conspiracy and driven
to acts of violence by the positive compulsion of the mul
titude, should be involved in the same destruction with
the most eager criminals. And he even went out of his
way to prove, that any, who might have committed vio
lence short of murder, were not on that account to be
distinguished from their sanguinary associates.;];
It is disgusting enough to peruse the naked records
of indiscriminate carnage, to read of acts of massacre,
perpetrated under any circumstances and excused by any
necessity; and it is most so when those acts are com
mitted by a servile soldiery upon an oppressed and
deluded multitude. But it is far more revolting to read
a deliberate apology for such acts; to see the man of
* Luther thus wrote, on June 15, to John Riihel and others, in a letter
inviting them to his wedding-feast : " Welch ein zettergeschrey hab ich
angericht mit dem Biichlein wider die Bauern ! Da ist alles vergessen,
das Got der Welt durch mich gethan hat. Nun sind Herm, Pfaffen,
Bauern, alles wider mich, und drauen mir den tod." (No. 715.)
t " Sendbrief vom harten Biichlein wider die Bauren." It was ad
dressed to Gaspar Miiller, Chancellor of Mansfeldt; and is much
longer, calmer and more deliberate than the other — " Ich will hie nichts
horen noch wissen von baumherzigkeit." He places his defence entirely
on Scriptural grounds.
I Sleidan, lib. v. p. 82. Seckendorf, lib. ii, sect. 3, § iii.

CH. XXII.J LUTHER AND THE PEASANTS. 159
peace exciting from his closet or his pulpit the fury of
the avenger ; to see the sword whetted and the trumpet
blown by the ministers of Christ, and that too in the
name of Christ, and for the maintenance of His pure
truth, and for the glory of the gospel of mercy. It is
in vain to seek an apology for such a proceeding in the
wild habits and uncivilised barbarity of the age. That
might indeed be some plea for the soldiers who com
mitted the massacres — it certainly was no slight excuse
for the outrages of the uneducated insurgents^ — but it
was none for the ferocity of Luther. He professed to
stand on higher principles. He made his appeal to that
everlasting law, which belongs to no particular age or
place, and is capable of no change. He presented him
self before the world in no humbler character, than that
of the advocate and missionary of God's word. There
was the only source of his power and his distinction.
We compare his actions with the precepts there de
livered. We compare his expressed feelings with the
spirit breathing there. We confront him with that
blessed law of love and charity which he so fervently
prescribed to others, and we judge him accordingly.
We can do no more than this, and we ought to do no
less. But after all, it is in ignorance that we judge.
The final sentence rests with Him, to whom the heart is
known. But the fairest, though it may be the severest, com
mentary on these two productions of Luther is furnished
by the tone adopted by Frederick, almost at the same
moment — and in a prince menaced by the rebellion of
his subjects inhumanity might have been less unpardon
able. When solicited to assist in the forcible suppression
of these commotions he wrote to his brother John, on the
14th of April, to this effect : That this was far too im
portant an affair to be treated with mere violence ; that

160 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXII.
some cause had been given for discontent, especially by
the prohibition of the word of God ; and that the poor
people had likewise suffered many other oppressions,
both from their spiritual and their temporal rulers. A
few days later, very shortly before his death, he again
addressed to his brother expressions of compassion and
piety, suggesting ; That God, who had hitherto protected
his dominions, would not now withdraw his safeguard;
and that this blindness of the people could not be of long
continuance. And then with his dying breath he be
sought his successor to be sparing in the effusion of
blood ; to show mercy upon the miserable multitude, and
to punish none, but the leaders who had deluded them.
" This," he added, " is the last communication that you
will ever receive from me ; for the hand of death is upon
me, and we are now about to be separated, that we may
meet again in a more blessed abode."

CH. XXIII.] 161

CHAPTER XXIII.
ERASMUS.
Erasmus had not declared for the Reformation — his cautious character —
ecclesiastical principles — his own defence of his earlier proceedings—
his correspondence with Pope Adrian — and letters of advice — his dis
pute with Hiitten — ' The Sponge' — Luther's conduct towards him — ^his
letter of April, 1524— reply of Erasmus — publication of his 'Dia
tribe' and explanatory letter to Melancthon — his correspondence with
Henry VIII. on that subject — his angry letter to CEcolampadius—
efforts of the great to gain him to the papal party — remarks on his
probable motives — his subject chosen skilfoUy — positions defended in
the Diatribe — obscurity ofthe subject— common reputation of the work
— afler some deliberation, Luther replies by the Servo Arbitrio —
principles asserted in that work — various opinions regarding it —
violence and injustice of the invectives against Erasmus — reply of the
latter in the two Books of the Hyperaspistes — ^his letter of remon
strance to the Elector of Saxony — supposed opinion of Melancthon —
doctrine of the Saxon church — ^henceforward Erasmus hates the Re
formers — specimens of his abuse — his letter to Vulturius Neocomus —
more invectives against the reformers — object of that letter — to confirm
the established principle that heretics might, and sometimes should, be
punished with death — quotations — moment chosen for the publication
— the Address to the brethren of Lower Germany — in defence of that
letter — strong assertion of the impiety of heresy — courteous expressions
of Erasmus towards Melancthon — letter written after the publication
of the Diatribe — containing an overture from Campeggio — Melanc
thon's reply — rejoinder of Erasmus — suspension of their correspond
ence — qualities common to them — respects in which they differed —
Erasmus probably never quite understood the magnanimity of Luther
— charge of epicurism alleged by Luther against Erasmus and fre
quently repeated, without any just ground — concluding remarks.
Notwithstanding the recent progress of the Reforma
tion, it must have given some mortification to its chiefs,
that they could not count as a partner in their triumphs
VOL. II. M

162 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIII,
the most distinguished scholar in Christendom. In their
disputes with the papal party they constantly employed
the arms of polite literature against the old scholastic
fallacies, and gloried in the association of their cause
with the light of leaming* and the advance of general
civilisation. With antiquity, prescription, prejudice,
authority opposed to them, they eagerly appealed to the
new resources unfolded by the revival of letters. Yet
the most eminent proficient in those studies, the man
quite singularly endowed with literary talents and enjoy
ing a reputation and dominion in that field quite uncon
tested, had not declared in their favour.
Again, nothing had so much recommended them to
the people as their bold attacks on the vices and ignorance
of the clergy ; and even more especially of the monastic
orders ; this was one of their strongest grounds, one on
which the common principles and feelings of the whole
Christian world went along with them. Yet the man,
who had previously exposed and stigmatised those evils
with the greatest force and courage, who was almost at
open war with Dominicans, Sophists, Concubinaries, with
all that was most offensive and corrupt in the church,
had not allowed himself to be numbered among them.
On the contrary, he appeared to be receding farther from
them, as they became more powerful and confident.
This singularity calls for some examination into the per
sonal character, the ecclesiastical principles, and the
particular circumstances of Erasmus.
It might seem unjust to impute moral timidity to the
man who had deserved by his biting sarcasms the hatred
of more than half the church. Yet the circumspection
which regulated all his proceedings has the appearance
* Erasmus to Albertus Pius. Basilea, 6to Id. Oct., 1525 : "Quot
quot apud Germanos et Elvetios amant bonas literas, initio erant Luthero
addictissimi."

CH. XXIII. J ERASMUS TO RICHARD PACE. 163
of fearfulness, when contrasted with the movements of
Luther. Let us refer to his own writings. In 1521 he
addressed Richard Pace, Dean of St. Paul's, as follows :*
" I wish some God would interpose to bring to a sud
den and happy termination this drama which Luther has
so inauspiciously commenced. He has himself supplied
his enemies with the weapon for his destruction ; he has
acted as if determined to perish, though frequently
warned by my letters and the mouths of his friends to
temper the edge of his style. For there is so much bit
temess in him that, even if he had written nothing but
the purest truth, the affair could not have ended happily.
And I fear that the Jacobites and theologians will use
their victory with little moderation. ... I now at length
perceive that it was the design of the Germans to drag
me, whether I would or not, into the affair of Luther — in
truth an ill-advised design, rather tending to alienate
me. Or, what aid could I have afforded to Luther, had I
consented to share his peril, except that two would perish
instead of one ? I am unable to express my astonish
ment at the spirit in which he has written ; but I am
certain that he has cast great odium on the lovers of lite
rature. He has produced many admirable instructions
and admonitions ; and I wish that he had not vitiated
his good doings by intolerable faults. But if everything
* Dated Brussels, July 5. " Utinam huic Fabulae, quam parum aus
picate exorsus est Lutherus, Deus aliquis aito fi-ri-xavrjg felicem imponat
finem. Dedit ipse telum hostibus suis quo confoderetur. . . . Aut quid
ego possem opitulari Luthero, si me periculi comitem fecissem, nisi ut pro
uno perirent duo ? Quo spiritu ilie scriperit non possum satis demirari ;
certe bonarum literarum cultores ingenti gravavit invidia  Quod
si omnia pie scripsisset, non tamen erat animus ob veritatem capite peri
clitari. Non omnes ad martyrium satis habent roboris ; vereor autem,
ne, siquid inciderit tumultus, Petrum sim imitaturus. Pontificis et
Csesaris bene decernentis sequor quod pium est; male statuentis fero
quod tutum est."
M 2

164 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION- [CH. XXIIL
that he has written were holy, I have still no disposition
to risk death for the sake of truth. All men have not
firmness enough for martyrdom ; and for my own part I
fear that if any trouble should befal me I should imitate
the example of Peter. If Pope or Emperor decree right,
I follow what is holy : if wrong, I endure what is safe.
I think this course allowable even to good men, if there
be no hope of advantage from the opposite."
The correspondence of Erasmus furnishes other proofs
of his disinclination to incur any personal danger in
support of his opinions, though he has seldom avowed
it unreservedly. And as the preceding composition
was written soon after the publication of the Edict of
Worms, and in a city where the Emperor's authority
was paramount, we can account for the panic, which con
signed to destruction both Luther and his cause so pre
maturely. His ecclesiastical principles were those of a moderate
and cautious Reformer. In dealing with the Roman
church he would have removed the most glaring abuses,
but retained all the essentials. He would have purified
the monasteries, he would have amended the morals of
the clergy, he would have abated the superstitious ob
servances, he would have improved the system of the
schools,* and, above all, he would have enlarged the
means of literary education, and expelled the prevailing
ignorance from every department of the church. But
he would have maintained the authority and prerogatives
of the Pope, as the final appeal in the interpretation of
Scripture, as the centre of religious unity, as a restraint;
on the despotism of the prelacy, as a refuge for the faith
ful of every land against the oppressions of their secular
tyrants. To the power of the church he expressed his
* " Scholae non tam aspernandee sunt, quam ad studia magis sobria
revocandae." — Erasmus to Luther, May 30, 1519.

CH. XXIII.J HIS ECCLESIASTICAL PRINCIPLES. 165
unbounded devotion in language sometimes overstepping
his habitual caution : " With me the authority of the
church has so much weight, that I could be of the same
opinion with Arians and Pelagians, had the church sig
nified its approbation of their doctrines.* It is not that
the words of Christ are not to me sufficient ; but it should
not seem strange if I follow the interpretation of the
church, through whose authority it is, that I believe the
canonical Scriptures. Others may have more genius
and courage than I ; but there is nothing in which I
acquiesce more confidently than the decisive judgment
of the church : as to reasonings and arguings there is no
end to them  "
Accordingly, his voice was raised for peace. " Dis
cord is so hateful to me, that truth itself would displease
me if coupled with sedition ;f and though there are many
practices in the church which could be removed with
great advantage to the Christian religion, yet no change
will have my approbation which is conducted with tu
mult." Hence the disquietude with which he heard the
thunders of Luther. "As yet," he said in 1521,;}; "I
* Erasmus to Bilibald Pirkheimer, ann. 1527. "Apud me tantum
valet (ecclesiae authoritas) ut cum Arianis et Pelagianis sentire possim,
si probasset ecclesia quod illi docuerunt. Nee mihi non sufficiunt verba
Christi ; sed mirum videri non debet, si sequor interpretem ecclesiam,
cujus auctoritate persuasus credo Scripturis canonicis. . . ."
t Erasmus to Peter Barbitius, August 13, 1521.
I To Justus Jonas, Louvain, May 10, 1521. " Hsec quse tecum nunc
ago, mi Jona, velim agas cum Philippo et si qui sint alii Philippo similes.
Ante omnia censeo vitandumesse dissidium, nulli bono non perniciosum.
Et ita sancta quadam vafritie tempori serviendum, ne tamen prodatur
thesaurus evangelicse veritatis, unde corrupti mores publici possint res
titui. . . . Semper correctum malui quam oppressum. Optabam ilium
sic tractare Christi negotium, ut ecclesise proceribus aut probaretur, aut
certe non reprobaretur. Sic amari cupiebam Lutherum, ut palam ettuto
posset amari. . . ." There is not in Erasmus's works a single passage
more characteristic of the author than this.

166 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIIL
have only skimmed his works, but I find much in his
manner that offends me. Truth is in itself a thing bitter
enough to most people ; it is an office seditious enough
in itself to tear up long-established practices ; it would
have been more discreet to soften by civil management a
matter by its very nature distasteful, than to heap hatred
upon hatred. ... I admit that any deceit is unworthy
of a Christian : yet there may be seasons when truth is
properly suppressed; and it is always of consequence
when, and before whom, and in what manner it is pro
pounded. . . . Let me beg you to discourse on this matter
with Philip Melancthon and any others who may re
semble him. Above all, avoid dissension, a thing de
structive of every good ; and be careful to serve the times
with a sort of holy craft, yet in such manner as not to
betray the treasure of evangelical truth, whence the cor
rupted morality of the public may be restored. Perhaps
it will be asked whether my feelings towards Luther are
altered ? By no means. I have always wished that he
would continue to handle, though in a somewhat dif
ferent manner, the philosophy of the gospel. I have
always preferred his correction to his destruction; I
have wished him so to treat the interests of Christ as to
please, or at least not to displease, the peers of the
church. I have desired to see him enjoying that sort of
regard which might be acknowledged openly and with
safety. . . ."
Four years afterwards, while excusing to a distin
guished Roman Catholic his earlier indecision, he wrote :
" When the Procemium of the Lutheran tragedy first came
out and almost all the world was applauding it, I was
the first of all to dissuade my friends from taking any
share in a business which I foresaw would end in blood.
... I published tracts to declare that I had no concern
with Luther and never would have any. ... I admonished

CH. XXIII.J HIS ECCLESIASTICAL PRINCIPLES. 167
Luther himself. ... I prevented Frobenius by threats
from publishing any Lutheran work. . . . And you would
give me some credit for this my resolution ... if you
knew what tumults I could have excited, had I chosen to
place myself at the head of that business. . . ."*
In a letter to Melancthon, written in the preceding
year, he stated some services which by his moderation
he had endeavoured to render to the cause of the gospel:
" I checked, as far as I was able, the clamours of the
theologians; I restrained the cruel dispositions of the
princes, and I do so still ; I separated the cause of lite
rature from the cause of Luther; I caught at every
occasion of promoting the gospel without any breach, or
at least any great breach, of peace. Nor even now do I
omit any opportunity to do so, writing to the Emperor
and the other princes, enacting a sort of Gamaliel, and
striving to bring the drama to a happy catastrophe. . . .
I have written to Pope Adrian, I have written to Cle
ment. . . ."t It should not be forgotten that in his first
letter to Luther, of May, 1519, he even then proclaimed
his neutrality : " I keep as clear as I can from this affair,
that I may be the better able to assist in the revival of
literature. And it seems to me that civility and mode
ration are more conducive to success than violence."
The honourable pursuits and migratory habits of Eras
mus had connected him in a variety of ways with many
of the principal personages in Christendom, both eccle
siastical and secular. Ties of literature bound him to
* To Albertus Pius, Basle, 6to Idus October, 1525. "Frobenium
minis etiam coercui, nequid excuderet Lutheranum. . . . Hunc animum
non omnino contemneres. . . si scires, quot tumultus excitare potuissem,
si me ducem hujus negotii voluissem profiteri."
t Erasmus to Melancthon, Basilea, 6th October, 1524. I am not
aware of the existence of any letter from Erasmus to Charles V. of an
earlier date than September 2, 1527.

168 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXHL
some of these ; ties of interest, present or prospective, to
others. By far the greater number of his friends and
patrons adhered to the papal party ; some were its very
chiefs and directors ; so that here was no slight obstacle
to a bold and independent course. Besides, he had
reached an age of life, at which established opinions and
modes of action and views of interest are seldom
changed, not at least through the impulse of any strong
passion, or the result of any new calculation. He was
sixteen years older than Luther ; and certainly it would
have implied a most ardent temperament had he entered
with the same earnestness into the same turbulent and
perilous scene. It was even something that he wavered
so long ; that he was neutral during the first seven cri
tical years should be accounted to him for praise.
The earliest transactions in which Erasmus engaged
with the Reformers, as far as the affair at Cologne (at
the end of 1520) and the axioms so unadvisedly pub
lished, have been related in the twelfth chapter. From
the quotations contained in the preceding pages it is ob
vious that after that time, during the conflict at Worms
and under the terror of the imperial edict, he became
continually more desirous to separate his name and cause
from theirs. Somewhat later, in 1522 and 1523, when
Adrian, his ancient friend and schoolfellow, occupied
the see, he addressed him in very earnest exculpation
from the charge of Lutheranism. Adrian accepted the
explanation and at the same time urged him to take the
field against the heresy. Erasmus proffered his counsels
as to the means of extinguishing it, and the letter con
taining them is extant; and in this remarkable com
position he made no attempt to dissemble the extent to
which the evil had spread.
" Germany is a wide country, abounding with men of
excellent genius. But it is not to Germany alone that

CH. XXIII.J HIS LETTER TO ADRIAN. 169
this passion is confined. I dare not express in how
many regions and how entirely the love of Luther and
the hatred of the pontifical name are rooted in the po
pular mind ; nay, it is incredible how great is that per
versity of spirit which they call constancy ; and among
them may be found a good many of those who are de
voted to polite literature. It is with tears and groans
that I relate this to you, most blessed father, and I would
that it were not thus. . . ." After displaying in such a
¦strain the virulence of the disease, he proceeded to the
more difficult and delicate office of indicating the reme
dies. " First, the fountains must be explored whence this
evil so continuously flows, and these must be closed ; cle
mency must then be exhibited towards all offenders ; the
press must be placed under a general censorship ; a hope
must be held out of the reformation of all abuses — but
then your holiness will say, what are those fountains ?
what are these changes which you recommend ? For
the due consideration of this subject I think that a con
ference should be assembled of men of every nation —
men of integrity, of weight, mild, courteous, dispas
sionate, whose opinion  ."* Erasmus left it to his
infallible reader to divine the rest. Whether he indulged
the fanciful vein of the moment; whether he feared by
too plain admonitions to offend his pontifical master;
whether he doubted how much authority he should give
to his proposed assembly of immaculate men ; or whether
he at once perceived that no such assembly could possibly
be collected together, he veiled the conclusion in a mo
dest, though somewhat startling, aposiopesis. The Pope
* " Dicet tua Sanctitas, Qui sunt isti fontes, aut quse sunt ista mutanda?
Ad harum rerum expensionem censeo evocandos e singulis regionibus
viros incorruptos, graves, mansuetos, gratiosos, sedates affectibus, quorum
sententia  ." The letter seems to have been written in January, 1523.

170 HISTORY OF THE REFPRMATIPN. [CH. XXIIL
was displeased, and the cprresppndence seems tp have
prpceeded no farther.
About the same time Ulric Hiitten, when driven to
seek refuge in Switzerland, repaired to Basle, and courted
the protection of Erasmus. He hoped that the claims
of ancient friendship would be recognised even in his
adversity. Erasmus repudiated them. It would have
been an act of some generosity to encounter the odium,
in which such patronage would then have involved him,
especially as he had certainly never given any counte
nance to the irregularities of that military reformer.
The latter was nevertheless exasperated, and issued from
his concealment* a violent tract against Erasmus. He .
immediately replied in a little book of some celebrity,
which he called ' The Sponge ;'f and he prefaced it by a
very courteous letter to Zwingle, in which he com
plained of the injustice ofhis former friend. In this work
he adopted his favourite tone of impartial neutrality.
He reproved on the one hand the vehemence and para
doxes of Luthei" and the arrogance of his followers;
while on the other he commended whatever was true in
his doctrine, and maintained that being true it was not
* " Apud Helvetios latitans. . . qui concedunt latebras, quo tutus sit
interim ab his qui venantur ilium ad supplicium. . ." ' Spongia.'
t " Spongia Adversus Aspergines Hutteni." In his letter of Sept.
6, 1524, to Melancthon, Erasmus mentions that he had reasons for
avoiding Hutten to which he did not allude in ' the Sponge.' " In want,
and destitute of everything, he was seeking some nest, where he might
die. That vain-glorious soldier, cum sua scabie, was to be received
then into my house, and along with him, all that chorus of so called
evangelicals — evangelical in nothing but name. At Sletstadt he had
levied a contribution upon all his friends. . . ." There may have been
reasons enough for refusing hospitality. But, as Erasmus once wrote
to Luther : " Quorundam virulentas contentiones magis conducit con-
temnere, quam refellere" — he should have applied this precept to the
Aspergines.

CH. XXIII.J LUTHER TO ERASMUS. 171
the less to be revered, because it was announced by men
without birth or dignity— for even such were the Apostles
of Christ.
With principles thus balanced, with a mind so cau
tious and calculating, so fearful of violent innovation,
so enamoured of literary repose ; so sensible of the cor
ruption of the church, yet so bigotted to its authority ;
it is probable that even to that moment he wished to
steer a middle course through the troubles which he
deplored, but which he could not alleviate, and to avoid,
so long as the result of the struggle should be doubtful,
any direct connexion with either party. Luther could
not fail to watch his course with anxiety. He might
not sufficiently appreciate the mere literary talents of
the other ; he might blame the imperfection of his doc
trine, and the want of that religious ardour which in
flamed himself ; he might despise the vacillations of his
conduct and the worldliness of his motives ; but he could
not overlook the position occupied by Erasmus, not
among scholars only, but in the eyes of all Christendom ;
he could not be blind to the influence of his counsels,
and what he feared much more, to the authority of his
name — he was accordingly desirous, if he could not se
cure his adhesion, at least to avert his open hostility.
And thus he treated him with a show of kindness and
respect ; he dissembled some taunts and occasional
sarcasms, and was willing to leave him in that peace
ful neutrality which he professed to covet. Perceiv
ing, however, as things advanced, that he only re
ceded farther from his friendship, and hearing of
some peevish and menacing declarations, Luther de
termined by one bold and seasonable effort to prevent,
if it were yet possible, a public rupture. Accordingly,
he addressed to him, in April, 1524, an epistle, couched
for the most part in expressions of courteous condescen-

172 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIIL
sion, which, without positive insult, might probably inti
midate a cautious and undecided character.
" I shall not complain of you for having kept aloof
from us, the more independently to maintain your cause
against the papists, my enemies. Nor was I much
offended that in your printed books, to gain their favour
or to soften their rage, you have censured us with rather
too much acrimony. We perceive that the Lord has not
yet conferred upon you the courage or even the discern
ment to join with us in free and confident opposition to
the things which we deem monstrous ; nor could we ven
ture to exact from you that, which greatly surpasses my
strength and capacity. We have even borne with your
weakness, and honoured that portion of the gift of God
which is in you." Then after some praise bestowed on
the reviver of literature, as the means of examining the
holy Scriptures in the original languages, he continued:
" I never wished that forsaking your proper talents you
should enter into our camp. You might indeed have aided
us not a little by your wit and eloquence ; but, forasmuch
as you have not courage, it was safer for you to serve in
your own department. Only we feared lest our adver
saries should entice you to write against our doctrines,
and that necessity should then constrain us to oppose
you to your face. We have prevented some persons
among us, who were disposed and prepared to attack
you ; and for the same reason I could have wished that
the ' Expostulation' of Hiitten had never been published,
and still more that your ' Spongia' had not come forth ;
in which matter you now feel, if I mistake not, how
easy it is to say fine things about modesty and modera
tion, and to accuse Luther of wanting them ; and how
hard and even impossible it is to be really modest and
moderate, without a particular gift of the Holy Spirit.
Believe me, or believe me not, Jesus Christ is my wit-

CH. XXIII.J LUTHER TO ERASMUS. 173
ness, I am concerned, as well as you, that the resentment
of SO many eminent persons has been excited against you.
I must suppose that this gives you no small uneasiness ;
for virtue like your's, mere human virtue, cannot exalt
a man above such feelings. To tell you freely what I
think, there are persons who, having this weakness also
about them, cannot bear as they ought your acrimony
and dissimulation, which you would pass off for prudence
and modesty. These men have cause to be offended ;
yet would they not be offended, had they a greater spirit.
Although I also am irritable, and have been often pro
voked so as to use harshness of style, yet have I never
acted thus, except against the hardened and incurable.
My mercy and mildness towards sinful and unholy per
sons, however great their madness and wickedness, is
well attested, not only by my own conscience, but by
the evidence of many witnesses. Hitherto, I have re
strained my pen, although you have provoked me ; and
I promised, in letters to my friends which you have seen,
that I would continue to do so, unless you should come
forth openly against us. For, although you do not pro
fess our opinions, and either condemn or hold in sus
pense, impiously or artfully, many leading points of
holiness, yet I neither can nor will ascribe a stubborn
perverseness to you. What can I do now ? Things are
exasperated on both sides. I could wish, if I were me
diator, that they might desist from assailing you so
passionately, and suffer your old age to rest in peace in
the Lord. And thus they would act, in my opinion, if
they considered your imbecility, and weighed the great
ness of the cause, which has long since exceeded the
measure of your powers. And that the more, since our
interests are now so well advanced, that there would be
little peril, though Erasmus should attack us even with
all his might— so far are we from fearing some of

174 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATIPN. [cH. XXUI.
his Stings and bites. On the pther hand, my dear
Erasmus, you too ought to reflect on their infirmity;
you ought to refrain from your sharp and spiteful figures
of rhetoric ; and if you cannot or dare not assert our
principles, at least leave them unnoticed and treat of
your own matters. It is not without some reason, even
in my judgment, that they dislike your lashes ; since
human infirmity, when it thinks on the authority and
name of Erasmus, foolishly fears them ; and indeed there
is more pain from a single bite of Erasmus, than from
the continual grinding of all the papists."*
Erasmus replied at length :'j" he asserted his claim to
evangelical sincerity by the persecution that he was in
cessantly enduring in that cause, and his zeal in commu
nicating the Gospel to all mankind. Respecting the
doctrine of Luther, he professed much apprehension lest
it should be some delusion of Satan. He declined to
adopt a faith, of which he was not only not persuaded,
but which he did not yet clearly comprehend : he ex
pressed his fears for the overthrow of literature and dis
cipline. " I have written nothing against you yet, though
many princes would have applauded me, because I saw
* " Nunc autem quid faciam ? Utrimque res exacerbatissima est. Ego
optarem, si essem mediator, utet illi desin erent te impetere tantis animis,
sinerentque senectutem tuam cum pace in Deo obdormire. Id sane face-
rent mea quidem sententia, si rationem haberent tuse imbecillitatis, et
magnitudinem causse, quse modulum tuum jamdudum egressa est, per-
penderent. Prsesertim cum res eo pervenerit, ut parum sit metuendum
periculum causse nostrse, si Erasmus etiam summis viribus oppugnaret,
nedum si aliquando spargit aculeos et dentes. Tamen rursus tu, mi
Erasme, si illorum infirmitatem cogitares, a figuris illis Rhetoricse tuse
salsis et amaris abstineres, ut si omnino neque potes, neque audes nostra
asserere, intacta tamen dimitteres et tua tractares. . . ." Edit. Le Clere.
t From Basle, May 5. This epistle is reported by Seckendorf (1. 1,
s. 63, § 179. Addit.) from a MS. in the archives. It is not found in
Le Clerc's edition of Erasmus's works.

CH. XXIII.J REPLY OF ERASMUS. 175
that the Gospel would suffer by the deed. Only I
have repressed those who would have persuaded all the
princes that you and I were in league together, that we
agreed on every point, and that everything that you had
taught was to be found in my books. And this opinion
can even now scarcely be rooted out of their minds. It
matters not much to me what you may write against me,
and in a worldly view nothing could befall me more pro
pitious. But I wish to render up this soul pure unto
Christ, and would that all men were in the same dispo
sition. If you are so ready to give account to all of that
faith which is in you, why take it ill that one should
dispute with you, for the sake of better instruction ? It
may be, that Erasmus by writing against you would do
better service to the Gospel than some foolish people who
write in your defence, and who thus prevent me from
being a mere spectator of this drama, of which I pray God
that the catastrophe may not be tragical."
Very soon after this Erasmus published his celebrated
Diatribe on Free Will. The pretext for this first act of
open hostility was the irregular skirmishing of Hiitten
and other reformers ; but the motives were deeper, and
founded much less on passion than calculation. They
are disclosed in his own letters written about that time,
and while his mind was occupied by the subject. The
following was addressed to Melancthon :* " You will
wonder why I published my book on Free Will. I was
assailed by a triple array of adversaries. The theologians
* Basilea, Sept. 6, 1524. " Sustinebam triplex agijien inimicorum.
Theologi et bonarum literarum osores nullum non movebant lapidem,
ut jerderent Erasmum. Hi monarchis omnibus persuaserant, me jura-
tissimum esse Luthero. Itaque amici me videntes periclitari spem prse-
buerunt Pontifici et Principibus fore ut aliquid ederem in Lutherum.
Eam spem et ipse pro tempore alui. Et interim isti, non expectato
libello, cceperant rae libellis lacessere. . . ."

176 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH, XXIIL
and the haters of literature left no stone unturned to de
stroy Erasmus ; and these persuaded all the sovereigns
that I was the sworn friend of Luther. On which account
my friends, seeing me in danger, gave some hope to the
Pope and the Princes that I should publish something
against Luther. I too for a time encouraged that hope.
Meanwhile, the others, without waiting for my tract,
began to attack me with theirs. So that nothing re
mained for me but to publish what I had written ; other
wise I should have had the sovereigns for my enemies,
and those noisy wranglers would have clamoured, that I
was suppressing my work through fear. . . . Lastly,
since that letter of Luther, in which he promises not to
write against me so long as I remain quiet, is in every
one's hands, it might have seemed that my silence was
bargained. Besides, those who at Rome profess Gentile
literature, themselves more Gentile than their books,
cry out loudly against me, through national envy, as it
would seem, of the Germans. So that, had I published
nothing, I should have given to the theologians and
monks and those Romish potters a handle more easily to
persuade the pontiffs and monarchs what they were trying
to persuade them. Last of all, I should have had these
furious evangelicals still more violent against me. . . ."
Three years afterwards he addressed to Emser, one of
the leaders of the papal party, the following expressions :
" What could be more civil than my ' Diatribe ?' Yet
what effect had that, but to excite the Lutherans to
greater madness ? I foresaw this, but I yielded to the
English king and cardinal, to the Pope, and to a few
leamed friends ; though I told them at the time what
would follow. I expected nothing moderate from Luther ;
but such a mass of malicious calumny I did not expect."*
* Basilea, Ann. 1527. " Id non ignarus futurum tamen morem
gessi Regi et Cardinali Anglise, Pontifici, et aliquot doctis amicis, non

CH. XXIII.J LETTERS TO HENRY VIII. 177
There are likewise extant three letters to Henry VIII.
on the same subject. In the first (Sept. 4, 1523) we
find : " I am attempting something against the new
dogmas, but I dare not publish it till after I have left
Germany, lest I should fall before I take the field. . . ."
With the second, written later in the same year, he sent
a copy of his yet imperfect tract : " I present to you the
first transcript of my book on Free Will, against Luther.
The work is not yet finished owing to ill health and occu
pation. But if this taste of it shall be approved by your
Majesty and the body of the learned, I will finish and
send it to the press elsewhere ; for here, at Basle, I do not
imagine that there is any printer who would dare to strike
off so much as a single syllable reflecting on Luther.
Against the Pope one may write what one will. Such
is the present state of Germany."
In the third, dated still at Basle, on Sept. 6, 1524, he
announced the publication of his work :
" Most Invincible King ! It is no secret to me how
disqualified I am for the field of polemics, I who have
ever delighted in the sweetest gardens of the Muses.
But what is there beyond my courage, when I rely on
your most happy auspices ? The die is cast. My book
on Free Will is gone forth — a daring adventure, believe
me, as matters now stand in Germany. I expect to be
stoned, and indeed a few raving treatises have already
been projected against my head. But I shall console
myself with the example of your Majesty, which is not
sacred from their ferocity. I had determined at any
rate to do that which you by your letters exhort, and
even to die in lending succour to the religion of Christ ;
tacens interim quod esset secuturum. . . ." This ex post facto claim to
prescience is scarcely consistent with the clause last quoted from the letter
to Melancthon. Scultetus appears to assign this letter to 1 524— of course
erroneously. VOL. II. ^

178 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXIIL
but I shall do this with more alacrity, since your Ma
jesty has condescended to spur me on. I pray for your
perpetual prosperity."*
There are other compositions in which Erasmus re
peats, with some variations of expression, most of the
above reasons for his somewhat tardy decision, but it
would be wearisome to adduce them here. Yet is there
one, so very strongly indicating the irritability of his
feelings in respect to any insinuated connexion with the
reformers, that it cannot be properly omitted. In the
Preface to his Commentaries on Isaiah, CEcolampadius,
the reformer of Basle, a man of piety, learning and great '
humanity, found occasion to mention Erasmus, and
designated him as Ours — magnus Erasmus noster. This
was his offence. He wished to associate the name of the
great restorer of literature, the assailant of ecclesiastical
abuses, the faithful interpreter of Scripture, with the
principles, if not with the cause, of the Reformation.
Erasmus was terrified, and he pretended indignation.
" I do not profess to pass sentence upon you. I leave
you to the Lord, to whom you stand or fall. But I do con
sider what others think of you — the Emperor, the Pope,
Ferdinand, the King of England, the Bishop of Chester,
the Cardinal of York, and very many others, whose au
thority I cannot despise with safety, nor their favour
without disadvantage. I will not mention the herds of
monks and theologians who are now renewing their
declamations, with however slight reason. All these
people, who, as you well know, hold you to be heresiarchs
* The above is the entire letter. " Jacta est alea. Exiit in lucem
libellus De Libero Arbitrio — audax mihi crede facinus, ut nunc res habent
Germanise. Expecto lapidationem ; et jam nunc aliquot rabiosi libelU
provolarunt in caput meum. Sed consolor meipsum exemplo Maj. tuas,
cui non parcit istorum immanitas, Decretum erat et alioqui facere id
quod per literas hortaris et religioni Christianse juvandse immori, &c. . ."

CH. XXIII.J ATTEMPTS TO GAIN ERASMUS. 179
and the authors of schisms, what will they say when
they shall read in your Preface, ' Our great Erasmus !'
. . . But there are some, you say, who suspect that you
and I are on bad terms : we are not on good terms, ex
cept in regard to private friendship, which I have never
refused to any one. And so, that you may remove this
suspicion, entertained by I know not whom, I am to be
again subjected to a suspicion fraught with much danger,
and that too from princes or implacable enemies, who
were at length becoming less violent, through the publi
cation of my book on Free Will. ... As things now
stand, it would have been best that you should offer me
neither your praise nor your blame. But if this may
not be, let me be taunted rather than extolled by you,
especially as one of ' yours.' . . . Wherefore, if you
wish me to believe that your disposition towards me is
really that which you profess, you will erase the ' noster
Erasmus,' and reserve that praise for some other occa
sion. . . ."*
It is true that great exertions were made by the heads
and patrons of the church to secure his decided adhesion ;
and that for some time they were made in vain. Duke
George of Saxony was urgent in his solicitations, con
vinced that the early interference of Erasmus would at
once have extinguished the flame. Campeggio addressed
to him three very flattering letters. He requested a per
sonal conference with him at Nuremberg, and, in the
failure of that proposal, sent messengers to Basle to re
ceive his advice. Pope Adrian did not deem it any
compromise of his dignity to require in two compliment
ary epistles the assistance of his counsels. He offered
him a deanery too ; and when that was refused, a con
siderable pecuniary present, which was rejected also.
* Basilea, Jan. 25, 1525.
N 2

180 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIIL
Clement VII. was equally assiduous and more successful ;
but it may have been the influence of Henry VIIL, even
more than that of Clement, which achieved the final
triumph. All these continued efforts at least demonstrate, that
the chiefs of the church were not wholly blind to the
real nature of the present struggle. However they might
clamour for the sword, they perceived that it was a con
test of intellect, not of brute force only; that appeals
must be made to the reason of mankind ; and that pubhc
opinion, which they had almost lost, must be recovered.
Hitherto their literary champions had done them little
credit. It was important that the cause should be better
defended ; that the arguments, which are always at hand
for the support of every established system, and which
are often sound, and which are always specious, should be
pointed and brightened by the wit and eloquence of
Erasmus. But as to the considerations which induced that writer
at length to make war on a party with which he had so
many principles in common, they may be resolved, even
from his own declarations, into the least dignified and
not the most honourable. He was terrified by a triple
array of adversaries, who, for different reasons and by
different methods, were plotting his destructipn. He was
terrified by the name of Lutheran, which some were
endeavouring to fix upon him ; he trembled at the bare
suspicion of any secret understanding between the Re
former and himself. Again, he was irritated by some
impatient taunts which he had sustained from some sub
alterns in the Lutheran camp ; and while his vanity was
offended on that side, it was abundantly flattered on the
other by the solicitous overtures of the powerful, which
in effect prevailed. Erasmus wanted that first essential
of magnanimity, independence. Not any high motive

CH. XXIII.J HIS DIATRIBE. 181
seems ever for a moment to have impelled him: to the
highest of all — a deep, absorbing, religious conviction —
he scarcely so much as pretended.* But even those nobler
incentives to mere human virtue — the love of truth, the
love of mankind, the lessons of a generous philosophy —
seem to have had no share in influencing his determina
tion. He did little more than weigh danger against
danger, and loss against loss ; and he decided according
to the narrowness of his views, and the prevalence of his
selfish hopes or fears.
Having at length, however, determined to throw his
weight into the papal scale, he selected the ground of
battle with his accustomed skill. He did not raise his
voice in defence of any of the practical abuses of the
church ; he attempted no apology for the secular usurpa
tions of the hierarchy — for the pride, the profligacy, the
rapacity of the court of Rome. These perhaps might
have been subjects more pleasing to his powerful patrons ;
but he was compromised by his former writings, and
doubtless by his real feelings and principles, to refrain
from them. Besides, those evils were now growing so
unpopular that there would have been great risk of
reputation in any attempt to shield them. Thus he left
to Luther the uridisputed possession of that field, and
chose another more abstruse and intricate, and less ac
cessible to vulgar understandings. A discussion on the
unfathomable question of free will afforded ample space
for metaphysical plausibility. And while it assumed on
this occasion much of a theological character, it was

* His boast to Henry about dying in the support of Christianity may
be contrasted with his far more deliberate confession to the Dean of St.
Paul's. Besides, in speaking of a controversy with Luther, the expres
sion was absolutely unmeaning.

182 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXHI.
connected so closely with the doctrine of justification
by faith, as to involve the great religious principle on
which the Reformation was founded.*
The positions which Erasmus endeavoured to establish
in his Diatribe, so far as they can be discerned through
the obscurity of a subject engendering many incon
sistencies, were these: — That there is a power in the
human will by which man can turn to things pertaining
to his salvation, or avoid them ; that though the work is
for the most part accomplished by divine grace, yet
some share is due to that power, as inviting grace into
the soul, and co-operating with it when received ; that
this doctrine in no manner contradicts the necessity of
faith, of entire love and devotion to God, of an absolute
confidence, not in the merits of our own works, or in our
own strength, but in Him and His promises. The argu
ments were for the most part levelled against two propo
sitions which had been asserted by Luther : that free
will had no force in respect to good ; and that man had
no liberty except for evil.
I shall altogether refrain from any mention of the
reasonings adduced on either side, because a partial
delineation of this controversy would tend only to mis
lead ; and I have neither any space for a complete expo
sition of its merits, nor any inclination to pursue it into
the inextricable mazes of necessity, contingence, the
origin of evil, the eternal prescience of God. " Wicked
* " I exceedingly commend you," says Luther in the conclusion of
his reply, " for as much as you are the only one among all my ad
versaries who has attempted to handle the real subject in dispute. Nor
have you fatigued me with extraneous matter about the papaCy, purgatory,
indulgences, and such-like trifles, about which I have hitherto been
hunted on all sides to no purpose. You, and only you, have seen the
true hinge upon which all turned, and have aimed your blow at the
throat." — De Servo Arbitrio.

CH. XXIII.J HIS DIATRIBE. 183
men," says Luther, " will always harbour wicked and
blasphemous thoughts ; but pious and good men will
adore the divine economy, without scrutinising it too
nicely, firmly persuaded that God only is just and wise,
and never does wrong to any one ; and that, whatever
may be the appearances to us, there are always good
reasons for what he does. We may not be able to com
prehend ho-w it is that he is just and merciful, though
many perish and few are saved, nevertheless it is our
duty to believe that he is so, and that he has no plea
sure in the death of him that dieth. God does not
punish the wicked because he delights in the sufferings
of the wretched, but because he has wise purposes in
view which call for their punishment. The best of men
are content with this account : they pretend not to ex
plain all the difficulties that arise on the subject ; they
rather repress the struggles of pride and discontent, and
exercise the graces of humility."
Even those most addicted to the doctrine of Erasmus
were not satisfied with this work. They blamed its want
of force and boldness ; they considered it as the produc
tion of a mind acting with reluctance, more sensible of
the dangers and difficulties of the subject than impressed
with the truth of its positions, and steering so fearfully
between opposite doctrines and opposite parties as to give
no efiicacy to its arguments, nor any confidence to the
cause which it supported. By others it was considered as
the work of a man who had read much, rather than
thought profoundly ; who knew the contents, rather than
the spirit, of his Bible ; who swept the surface of his sub
ject, but went no deeper ; who was equally far from esta
blishing either his objections or his conclusions. How
ever this may be, it certainly had the fate usual to com
positions published under such circumstances: it offended
the one faction without contenting the expectations of

184 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIIL
the other; and it was finally admitted by the author
himself, that in writing his Diatribe he had exceeded the
legitimate limits of his powers.* Meanwhile it was almost
entirely free from the habitual vice of polemical compo
sitions, personal or party virulence, and affected the
peaceful character of a conference or disquisition.
Luther thought fit to use unwonted deliberation in
arguing so grave a subject against so renowned an an
tagonist. It was not till the close of the following year
(1525) that he published, in reply, his book " De Servo
Arbitrio, — On the Bondage of the Will." In this long
and very elaborate composition it was his object to show:
That there is no freedom in the human will before the
reception of faith, and that this faith is the gratuitous
gift of God ; that God has predestined from eternity on
whom he shall bestow it, and to whom he shall refuse
it; that He has thus elected some for salvation through
Christ, others for reprobation ; that in this election he
has had no regard to the merits of men, but only to his
own will. At the same time it should be observed that,
while he thus advanced the extreme doctrine of absolute
predestination, he never intended to disparage good
works, but inculcated them as the natural and necessary
fruits of faith. He never proposed to uproot the reh
gious foundation of practical morality by teaching that
God was in any sense indifferent to the actions of his
creatures. A more careful arrangement of his materials, more
system in the conduct of his argument, a style more
smooth and polished, attest the unusual labour bestowed
* " Se cum Diatriben scriberet in sua arena non esse versatnm," in
a letter to Bishop Fisher. In another to Louis Vives, he said that while
he was writing " On Free "Will," he had lost his own free will, and that
his pen wrote one thing while his mind dictated another.— Apud Seckend.
lib. i. sect. 63, § 179.

\
CH. XXIII.J LUTHER ON THE BONDAGE OF THE WILL. 185
upon this treatise. His manner was warm and impas
sioned, for the subject was next to his heart ; he believed
that the truth was on his side, and that all depended on
this truth — not only the stability of the Reformation,
built on that basis, but what was even dearer to him,
the salvation of his soul and of the souls of all mankind.
Yet he permitted this ardour, sacred as Avas its source, to
carry him beyond its just limits into angry and even
calumnious invective, altogether unprovoked by the tone
of his adversary.
The work was received with much avidity. Nume
rous editions were published at Wittemberg, Augsburg,
and Nuremberg, and the rapidity of their circulation
proved at least the interest excited by the controversy.*
Then, as well as since that time, it was the subject of
much difference between those who adopted its doctrine
and those who rejected it. The former cited it as a
marvel of close and vigorous reasoning, of force and
eloquence and consistency. The others detected in it the
seeds of immorality and impiety. They maintained that
its positions were in their necessary consequences subver
sive of the resppnsibility of all human actions, and that
they converted the God of mercy and justice into a capri
cious and arbitrary tyrant. Luther, for his part, was so
far from intending any such inferences, so far from be
lieving that though not intended they were true, that he
continued to take peculiar pride in this composition;
and he wrote, some years afterwards, to Wolfgang Ca
pito, that among all his writings there was not one
which he esteemed perfect (justum), except perhaps his
Bondage of the Will and his Catechism.
Erasmus was irritated ; and so little careful was he to
* " Among the Germans," says Erasmus to Louis Vives, December
27, 1524, "scarcely anything will sell except party writings, Lutheran
and anti- Lutheran!"

186 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIIL
dissemble the offence, or to set forth in his own conduct
that calm temper and philosophical moderatipji which
he loved to preach to the Reformers, that he instantly
gave vent to his indignation in a little tract, composed
in ten days,* called Hyperaspistesf Diatribes, the De
fender of the Diatribe. Unquestionably there was much
in Luther's personal treatment of his antagonist which
might have wounded a vanity less sensitive than that of
Erasmus. Ridicule, invective and contempt were dis
charged upon him, as the occasion might prompt, and
in no measured terms ; and the sort of praise and almost
supercilious respect, not unsparingly mixed with them,
did but increase the bitterness of the draught. But
there was one accusation by which his wrath was most
especially and most deservedly roused. Indulging in
that utmost licence of controversy, which pretends to in
fer from general tone, or particular expressions, or dis-
* In the preface, dated Basle, February 20, 1526, he alleges as the
reason for this impatience, that only that short space remained before the
great fair at Francfort, at which it was essential that he should circulate
some reply to the aspersions of Luther.
t "Did you ever read" (writes Melancthon to Camerarius) "a more
bitter production than this of Erasmus ? It is absolutely an asp." And
in allusion to this pun, of which Melancthon shall have the credit, Lu
ther writes to Spalatin (March 27, 1526) : " Besides, that irritated viper,
Erasmus, is again writing against me. "What eloquence will that httle
vain-glorious creature exert in endeavouring to overthrow Luther!"
Again, on October 8, 1527, after the publication of the second part of
the Hyperaspistes, Luther writes to Stiefel : " Erasmus viperinas duas
Hyperaspistes seu Hyperaspides potius in me peperit, fere vipereas et
supervipereas  " "What Erasmus says (adversus calumniosissiam
epist. M. L.) is this : " When all his book resounds with nothing else
but Erasmus, Epicurus, Democritus, a sceptic, a detester of Christ, a
derider of Christian piety, a corrupter of the Scriptures, a disseminator
of evil, a drunkard ; and when I did not thank him for these sweet
compliments, but dared to refute his charges, suddenly I am trans
formed into a viper and a begetter of viper-asps. . . ." — No. 784 and
904.

CH. XXIII.J REPLY OF ERASMUS. 187
puted consequences, the entire insincerity of an opponent,
Luther had ventured to charge him with Epicurean
opinions. The slander justified his resentment, and
might have been turned to his profit ; but by losing his
dignity he lost his advantage. His hasty and bitter
reply carried with it little conviction.
Still less credit did he gain by another attempt to
which his anger impelled him. He wrote a letter of
remonstrance to John, then Duke of Saxony, in which,
after warmly complaining of the offensive imputation,
he requested that some punishment, or at least some
admonition, some mark of a prince's displeasure, might
be administered to the calumniator.* And thus it
proved, that he, whose counsels to the papal party so
constantly prescribed a charitable forbearance from all
forcible measures and all appeals to the secular arm,
was no sooner himself engaged in the struggle, no sooner
struck by the first shaft of controversial slander, than he
had recourse to the temporal authority, and claimed its
especial interference in his own defence. The demand,
which the crown of Saxony had so frequently refused to
popes and their nuncios, was not accorded to the queru
lous solicitation of Erasmus. Being at length embarked
in the contest, and having made, in however mild a
spirit, the first aggression, he was left, as was most fit,
to avenge his wounds by the same sort of weapons which
had inflicted them. He did so ; and following up the
first book of his Hyperaspistes by a second, published
during the following year (1527), he endeavoured, by
the bittemess of his sarcastic invectives, not perhaps so
much to advance his own cause, as to emulate what he
had so often stigmatised as the besetting vice of his an
tagonist. This second part was, however, composed with great
* Seckendorf, lib. i., sect. 63, § 180, addit.

188 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIIL
labour, and exhibited the utmost powers of the disputant.
It was written too with less constraint than the Diatribe,
because the party of the author was irrevocably decided ;
he had no longer to keep any terms or observe any deh
cacy towards Luther or his followers; he was even
smarting under the lash, and impatient to repay the
stripes ; so that the course of his argument was enlivened
by the frequent expression of his resentment, and there
was a spirit of animation and earnestness in this compo
sition which was wanting in the other. Some have
asserted that he gained by it no less eminent a convert
than Melancthon. It is certain that the latter was
thenceforward extremely cautious in expressing his con
viction or passing any decided judgment on the question
in dispute ; and also, that, in the subsequent editions of
his " Common Places," those passages which had most
explicitly laid down the doctrine of Luther, and to which
reference was triumphantly made in the " Bondage of
the Will," were altered or altogether erased. On the
other hand, passages are cited from his Defence against
Flavius and an Epistle to Calvin, both written many
years afterwards, which prove him to have been at least
far removed from Pelagianism. On a subject bordering
on the inscrutable he may have thought at different
times somewhat differently. And while his reason may
have trembled at the imputed consequences of the ex
treme doctrine, his piety may have yielded to the Scrip
tural authority of Luther's argument, so as to leave in
some indecision a mind less impetuous and single than
that of Luther, less metaphysical and perhaps more re-
lig-ious than that of Erasmus.
But whatever may have been the subsequent opinion
of Melancthon, there is certainly no ground to believe
that Luther at any time retracted or modified his own :
and as there were many of his disciples, whose faith

CH. XXIII.J HIS ABUSE OF THE REFORMERS. 189
could not carry them to support him in the utter anni
hilation of freewill, yet who reverenced his authority too
much to revolt against his decrees, it was attempted to
reconcile the opposite doctrines and to explain away the
differences. But this was soon found impossible; the
principles were too obviously at variance. And thus at
length, in the year 1580, certain Lutheran doctors, un
der the guidance of Hegidius Hunnius, a professor at
Wittemberg, not disputing that an absolute predestina
tion and entire dependence of the will was the doctrine
of their founder, yet themselves dissenting from it, in
troduced into the Lutheran church the more moderate
opinions which prevail there to this day.*
From this time forwards Erasmus pursued the Re
formers, as a body, so fiercely as to make it doubtful
whether he did not detest them more even than his ori
ginal enemies, the monks. Yet he was in this respect
unfortunate, and, since he sought the good opinion of
others rather than his own, especially so, that he did not
escape from the vituperations of the one party by vitupe
rating the other ; nor did the abuse now heaped upon him
by the Lutherans recommend him to the favour, or even
to the mercy, of the opposite extreme of the theological
world. Nay, so unmitigated was the virulence of his old
antagonists that he did not disdain, in 1527, to suppli
cate the imperial protection against them.f His bitterness
* Beaus. Hist. Ref., lib. vi. p. 259.
t His letter to Charles, from Basle, Sept. 2, 1527, is extant. He
began it by boasting of the efficacy of his services against the Lutherans,
and the storms and perils then excited against him. "But now," he
continued, " since the Lutheran faction has begun to decline and that in
some measure through my exertions and my risks, others under the pre
tence of religion rise up against me," &c. Charles replied, on Dec. 13,
from Bruges with much civility, expressing pleasure at the intelligence
that the Lutheran madness was declining, and ascribing to Erasmus alone
that triumph, which neither emperors, pontiffs, princes, nor universities

190 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIIL
against the Reformers he presently began to vent in ex
pressions such as these : " This new gospel produces us
here a new race of men — harsh, impudent, false, slan
derers, liars, sycophants, quarrelling with each other,
courteous to none, to all uncourteous, seditious, furious,
brawlers — men to me so hateful, that if I knew any city
that was free from their race, thither would I emigrate."*
Again : " I hate these Gospellers — as for many reasons,
so particularly for this, that through them literature de
clines every hour, and is on the point of perishing — and
without letters, what is life ? They love money and a
wife, and care not a straw for anything else. We have
been stunned long enough with the cry of Gospel, Gospel,
Gospel ; we want Gospel-morals." Sometimes he tri
umphed in the internal dissentions of the Reformers and
predicted their speedy dissolution. Sometimes he gloried
in the accomplishment of his own prophecies ; and on one
occasion taunted Luther himself with recantation and
had been able to achieve! The two present a good specimen both ofthe
blindness of Erasmus' vanity, and of the food by which it was nourished.
In a letter to George of Saxony written in the same year he predicted
the easy dissolution of the faction through its intemal dissentions and
corrupt morals.
* " Hic nobis hoc novum Evangelium gignit novum hominum genus,
prsefractos, impudentes, fiicatos, maledicos, mendaces, sycophantas, inter se
discordes, nulli commodos, omnibus incommodos, seditiosos, fiiriosos,
rabulas, qui mihi adeo displicent, ut siquam nossem civitatem, ab hoc
genere liberam, eo demigrarem." There is a letter from him to George
of Saxony of Sept. 4, 1524, in which he says " My desire was that the
Pharisaic tyranny should be abolished, not changed. But if we must be
slaves, let us rather serve the pontiffs and bishops, indifferent as they are,
than those shabby, sordid Phalarides, more insufferable than all the rest
together. . ." Nay, even to Melancthon (Sept. 6, 1524) he wrote: "For
merly the gospel made men civilised, and liberal, and peacefiil, and of
friendly speech, expelling the opposite vices ; these fellows are become
furious; they defraud their neighbours; they raise tumults everywhere;
they slander men of merit; they are new hypocrites, new tyrants, without
a grain of Evangelical spirit within them. . ."

CH. XXIII.J HIS LETTER TO NEOCOMUS. 191
apostacy. But the most deliberate and offensive of his
attacks was in the form of a letter to one Vulturius Neo
comus, a Reformer, and in better times his friend. He
called it an " Epistle against certain persons falsely call
ing themselves Evangelical;" and he published it (Nov.
4, 1529) at the moment when the Emperor was about
to pass from Italy into his German dominions, to restore
the peace of the church.
Before we notice the particular object of this composi
tion, let us record some of the expressions in which the
author characterised the opposite party :
" Look around among the Evangelical folks, and see
whether they are less luxurious, libidinous, avaricious than
those whom you denounce. Bring me a single instance
of any one whom that gospel of yours has reformed from
intemperance to sobriety, from brutality to courteousness,
from rapacity to liberality, from evil speaking to speak
ing well of others, from shamelessness to modesty. I
will show you many who are deteriorated through it.
They have cast out the statues from the churches. But
to what end is that, if the idols of their vices are still just
as much worshipped in their hearts ? .... In their as
semblies, who ever beheld any one pouring forth tears for
his sins, beating his bosom, venting groans ? They have
abolished confession : meanwhile most of them do not
so much as confess to their God. They have done away
with fasts and distinctions of meats : meanwhile they in
dulge in heavy gluttony ; and some have got so far away
from Judaism, as to become Epicureans. . . . Nay they
say that the race is detestable even to the Turkish Sultan,
who accuses its propensity to sedition."
Again: " Let us examine that Evangelical connexion;
how many adulterers it contains, how many drunkards,
how many gamblers, how many bankrupts, how many
stained with other infamous vices ! And yet so far are

192 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIH.
they from avoiding such men, that they take pleasure
and delight in them.*  And while they love no
one except themselves ; while they are obedient neither
to God, nor bishop, nor princes, nor authorities ; while
they are slaves to avarice, to sensuality, to gluttony, to
lust, they demand to be esteemed Evangelical and say
that Luther is their master. But with what front can
those acknowledge Luther, who are conspicuous for their
neglect of the very duties, which are especially taught
and inculcated by Luther ! . . ."
In this effusion of party bitterness there are some as
sertions bearing so undisguisedly the impress of slander,
as to require no observation. And had such been the
only purpose of the composition, it would scarcely have
deserved the notice already bestowed on it. As the
earlier writings of Erasmus contained much that was
favourable to the cause, the Reformers were now wont to
select certain passages from his works and publish them.
Among other matters a principle was imputed to him, and
the imputation justified by such quotations, which the
others were well pleased to assert, at Spires, on his autho
rity. It was this : That heretics could not rightfully be
punished with death. Erasmus was extremely offended by
the charge. He even designated it as an atrocious asser
tion. He declaimed against the unfairness of producing
partial extracts from his writings without the explanatory
context. He disavowed the " seditious " principle (so he
now called it) ; he declared that he had never at any
time maintained it. He confessed indeed that he had
exhorted the princes to use the sword with discretion,
and not to destroy their subjects for every trifling differ-
* " At iste populus tam Evangelicus etiam Turcarum Principi dicitur'
esse detestabilis, quem ait sedition! natum. . . . Nunc circumspice mihi
sodalitatem istam Evangelicam, quot habet adulteros, quot temulentos, quot
aleatores, fquot decoctores, quot aliis vitiis infames. Et hos quidem
etiam habent in deliciis, tantum abest ut vitent."

CH. XXIII.J HIS LETTER TO NEOCOMUS. 193
ence and on every light complaint ; but he had never
disputed their right, nor the duty which, on certain occa
sions, required them to exercise it.
" I have nowhere asserted that punishment is not to
be inflicted upon heretics, nor in any passage do I de
prive the princes of that right of the sword, which is left
them by Christ and the Apostles. Only I admonish
them in some few places not to be precipitate in their
severity, nor to listen readily to the ravings of certain
monks and theologians. . . There is one kind of heresy,
which teaches manifest blasphemy ; as that which de
prives Christ of his divine nature, that which indirectly
charges the Holy Scriptures with falsehood. There is
another, which seeks wealth and advancement by tumult
and sedition. Shall we in these cases tie up the sword
of the prince ? Even were it unlawful to put heretics to
death, yet certainly, in respect to blasphemers and sedi
tious persons, it is not only lawful, but necessary for the
safety of the republic. Wherefore, as those are wrong on
the one hand, who would cast men into the fire for every
trifling error, so are those on the other, who hold that
the civil magistrate has no right of capital punishment
over any heretics .... that severity, which they call
cruelty, is essentially necessary to governments."
In asserting the most detestable principle of his age
and church, Erasmus did not sufficiently consider how
easily it might have been applied to himself. In the
judgment of those merciless bigots, whose vices he had
exposed and lashed with such honest severity, there was
not any man who deserved the penal faggot more en
tirely than Erasmus* — not any man, Luther himself not
* There is a letter from Erasmus to one John de Hondt, a canon and
a high papist, dated Easter, 1524, to this efi'ect: Erasmus had leamt
that the canon had described his books as more pernicious than those of
Luther, and declared that they ought all to be burnt and the author along
VOL. II. O

194 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXHI.
excepted, whose execution they would have witnessed
with greater exultation, or justified by more conclusive
arguments. It was no excuse that he had guarded the
princes against rash or partial severity — his own offences
were of the gravest character, of the deepest dye, and they
had been reiterated with seditious contumacity in many
and various writings, through a long succession of
years — doubtless they deserved no lighter penalty than
death !
The moment which Erasmus chose to come forward in
public defence of that principle proves indeed how deep
was his ill-will against the Protestant party. Charles was
descending from the Alps with professions of peace — to
restore the blessings of concord, to allay the horrors of
religious strife, to devise means of reconciliation and
love. At such a crisis to suggest the sword, to remind
him of his right, of his duty, to exterminate, would
have been cruel in a cardinal or an inquisitor ; but in
the mild and moderate Erasmus, the peaceful mediator,
the foe of all violence, the veteran advocate of mercy,
it betokened the last deliration of selfish and revengeful
malice. The evangelical ministers of Strasburg published an
answer to this letter, and Erasmus again replied in the
form of an " Address to the Brethren of Lower Germany
and Friesland." The greater part of this tract is occu
pied in self-defence, and the abuse of the EvangeHcals
is less reckless, unmeasured and indiscriminate than in
with them. " You must be ignorant," says Erasmus, " what a mass of
evils I am suffering here from the Lutherans ! Death is more endurable
than my afflictions ; and had I known the state of this conspiracy I
would rather have migrated to the Turks than hither. Not thus did
Pope Adrian judge my writings, who silenced the theologians brawling
against me; not thus the cardinals; not thus Campeggio; not thus
the Lutherans themselves, who clamour against no one more loudly than
against me."

CH. XXIII.J TO THE BRETHREN OF LOWER GERMANY. 195
the former work; but in the conclusion, the crime of
religious dissent is proclaimed in expressions which no
Dominican could have surpassed : " There is no worse
vice than heresy or schism. Let luxury, lewdness, am
bition, avarice and every other denomination of crime
be all heaped together in the person of one single priest,
yet heresy alone is more vicious than all this pool of
vices put together.* In all ages there have been many
complaints, as well against priests and princes, as
against the morals of the people. In our anger against
ecclesiastics let us not forget that they are but men.
Intolerable practices will be corrected by the authority
of princes much more eflSicaciously than by inexpe
rienced upstarts, who exasperate the evils by the bad
methods which they employ to remove them. Let the
reform be made through the medium of Charles V.,
an Emperor eminent for his power, eminent for his
clemency, and equally eminent for his religion. The
co-operation of the German princes is assured to him,
and there is much hope that the thoughts of the Pope
are turned in the same direction. No reformation of the
church will succeed unless it originate with our rulers."
Was this flattery, or was it the ignorant expression of a
vain and foolish aspiration ?
In the letter to Vulturius, Erasmus rather happily
compared the office of Melancthon pursuing the steps
* " Nullum enim est vitium hseresi aut schismate deterius. Conge-
rantur in unum sacerdotem luxus, libido, ambitio, avaritia, et si quid
prseterea criminum est, totam hanc vitiorum lernam una superat hseresis."
This was written from Friburg on August 1, 1530, while the Diet of
Augsburg was sitting, under the direction of the Emperor. In 1519 he
wrote : " Optima Christianismi pars est vita Christo digna ; quse cum
suppetit, non debet ipse facilis hseresos suspicio." But in the interval
he had returned from his truancy to a faithful filial devotion to the apos
tolical church.
o2

196 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIII.
of Luther to that of Lite following Ate, and repairing
the mischief inflicted by her hands.* He treated Me
lancthon with invariable respect and every show of
affection. Indeed the latter, from the moment that he
rose into notice, was considered by the enemy as the
least exceptionable among all the reformers, and his
name was not unhonoured even at the court of Rome.
His purely literary tastes and the moderation of his
temper favourably distinguished him from the more
stubborn polemics of his party. Thus Erasmus main
tained a friendly correspondence with him ; and on the
publication of his Diatribe addressed to him a long
letter of compliment and conciliation. It was dated on
September 6, 1524.
" If Wittemberg were not so far distant, I should not
hesitate to go and pass a few days there, to converse with
Luther and you. But I am deterred from writing by
the publication of my first letter to Luther, which brought
me into some danger. ... I have read through all your
Commonplaces, in which I discover your peculiar ge
nius, no less candid than happy, which I have ever looked
up to and loved ; but this with greater reason since I
have read this work ; though I have some few objections
to offer, could I do so by word of mouth. I perceive
a host of dogmas well arrayed against the Pharisaic
* A more faithful representation is that of Luther himself, who in his
preface to Melancthon's Exposition of the Epistle to the Colossians
writes as follows : " I have always greater pleasure in seeing Melanc
thon's books, whether in Latin or German, exposed for sale than my
own. I am born to this — to war and battle with troops of devils, so that
my books are stormy and warlike. I have to break the clods and root
out the stocks, to hew away thorns and bushes, to fill up the pools ; I am
the rough forester and have to break and lay down the road. But Philip
travels delicately and quietly along it, builds and plants, sows and waters
with pleasure, since God has richly endowed him with his gifts."

CH. XXIII.J ERASMUS AND MELANCTHON. ] 97
tyranny, yet among these are there some, &c. &c." Then,
after treating some other matters in the same temper,
with the same balanced expressions, he proceeded to
what may perhaps have been the secret object of the
whole : " Cardinal Campeggio, a man of most singular
humanity, has sent a messenger to treat with me about
many matters, and among the rest about removing you
to some other place. I replied, that I wished such genius
as yours to be set free from these hateful contentions,
but that I despaired of your recantation. I pour this
secret into your bosom, my dear Philip, relying on your
honour. You will take care that it be not divulged
among the wicked ones."*
In his answer, on the SOth of the October following,
Melancthon praised the generalf temper in which the
Diatribe was composed, and added a promise from Lu
ther that he would reply with the same moderation :
" My knowledge of the goodwill of Luther towards you
confirms me in that hope. . . . You may safely deposit
with me whatsoever you may write to me. I would
rather lay down my life than break my faith."
Erasmus replied, on the 10th of December, with con
siderable address, and doubtless with the scarcely-veiled

* " Misit ad me Campeggio Cardinalis vi profecto singulari humani
tate, qui mecum ageret de multis et inter csetera de te alio quopiam evo
cando. Respondi, me optare tuum istum ingenium esse liberum ab istis
contentionibus, sed desperare te suscepturum palinodiam. Hsec tuo fretus
ingenio effudi in sinum tuum, rai Philippe. Tui candoris erit curare,
ne spargantur ad improbos."
t " Tametsi alicubi nigrum salem adsperseris. Verum non est tam irri-
tabilis Lutherus, ut devorare nihil possit. . . . Apud me tuto deponas quic
quid ad me scripseris. Malim enim emori quam fidem fallere  "
The letter ends with the expression of a wish that Erasmus would trans
late the avriiroXove Ao-yove of Demosthenes and .(Eschines — a compliment
which is courteously returned in the reply.

198 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXIII
motive of alienating his correspondent from the friend
ship of Luther : " What Luther's spirit may dictate to
him is his own concern. You I have not exhorted to
recantation with any vehemence, only for this reason,
because I knew that I should lose my pains. I am not
the judge of another's conscience, nor the master of
another's faith. Certainly I could wish that your talents,
which are born for literature, might be perpetually de
dicated to literature. There would be no lack of actors
in that tragedy, nor is it quite clear what will be its
catastrophe." Then, after retailing his own dreams about
a gradual, peaceful, pontifical reformation, and urging
against Luther the abuses to which his doctrine had
been turned, and censuring his too undisguised procla
mation of the truth, and praising the more discreet
CEcolampadius, he proceeded : —
" But it may be that the morals of this generation
have deserved so merciless a physician, a man to treat
our diseases with the knife and with cautery. ... Of the
sincerity of your mind I have no sort of doubt ; proceed
sedulously with the work you have undertaken; but
there is much to lead me to question that of Luther.
His is a burning and a vehement spirit, the soul of Pe-
lides, who knows not how to yield. . . . Nor had I any
other object in my hesitation, or moderation, as you may
be best pleased to call it, than the interest of both par
ties. I hate sedition : from cruelty I have ever and
constantly dissuaded the princes. ... I do not question
your honour, often as I have been deceived by those to
whom I would have trusted ten lives. But whatever is
committed to paper is sure to be published, either through
the perfidy of the bearers, or through some other chance.
If I could only converse with you, I could pour out much
more into your bosom. As it is, it is my chief wish that

CH. XXIII.J ERASMUS AND MELANCTHON. 199
the Gospel may be religiously observed and loved among
you. About myself I am not very solicitous . . ."
I find no further allusion to this delicate subject.*
There is a letter from Melancthon to Erasmus, of March
23, 1528, written with cold respectful courtesy, and ac
counting for a long interruption in his correspondence ;
and this was confined, indeed, to very rare communica
tions, from the time that the latter dipped his pen in
gall, and engaged in open warfare with the evangelical
party. There were some qualities common to these two
scholars, which led Erasmus to imagine perhaps that he
might successfully tamper with the principles of the
other. That he believed the sincerity of Melancthon,
while he questioned that of Luther, is an improbable
assertion, falsified by the very advances he was now
making to sound at least, if not to tempt, the integrity
of the one, and which he would not have dared so much
as to breathe towards Luther. But he had mistaken
mildness of temper for weakness of principle ; and
having observed, besides, in the Greek professor and
layman a stronger inclination to profane learning and a
less exclusive devotion to religious pursuits, than in the
doctor and preacher of divinity, he hoped that he might
be seduced away from the turbulent scene, for which
* The ofBce of mediator seems to have been deputed to Faber. Afler
Melancthon had published his " Libellus Visitationis Saxonicse," he re
ceived, as he relates to Camerarius, overtures from that divine : " Faber
writes to me from Bohemia and exhorts me to desert the cause, pro
mising me some place at the court of Ferdinand as the reward of my
apostacy. He thinks that I am wavering, because I have written with
some moderation in that book, though, as you know, I have written no
thing but what Luther has taught commonly. Yet, because I write
without verbal asperity, these very acute men imagine that I dissent from
Luther."— Ap. Scultet., ann. 1527.

200 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIII.
certainly he was not altogether formed, and relegated to
the peaceful fields of literary meditation. But in two
respects he had calculated the character of Melancthon
by his own, and in those he was most mistaken. Me
lancthon was poor, and delivered his lectures with zealous
industry to crowds of scholars for a very inconsiderable
salary. But he had no thirst for money ; he had no
hankering after the emoluments, or even after the dig
nities, of this world ; he had no secret cravings for the
notice of princes or the adulations of the great. There
is no act in his life, there is no sentence in his voluminous
and confidential correspondence, which betrays any work
ing of that restless anxiety after little vanities and little
gains so constantly conspicuous in Erasmus ;* and in as
far as his spirit was removed above such considerations,
it was misunderstood and undervalued by the other.
Besides, the study of their writings assures us, that
religious considerations had a stronger influence on the
actions of Melancthon than on those of Erasmus. The
latter was doubtless sincere in his belief, as a matter of
opinion ; and his works abound with holy sentiments, in
the contemplative philosophical tone of a Christian phi-
lanthropist.f Still, on a closer examination of his senti-
* When he published his Freewill the reformers called him a Ba
laam. " Me passim appellant Balaam, quod Adrianus pontifex invitavit
me ut mitterem consilium. Misi partem, sed displicuit. Obtulit deca-
natum; simpliciter recusavi. Voluit. mittere pecuniam; rescripsi ne
mitteret obolum. Sic sum Balaamus . . ." So he wrote to Melancthon.
Elsewhere he declared that a bishopric was at his service, if he would
write against Luther. No doubt he was above accepting an open bribe.
But I find in one of his epistles the following singular remark respect
ing one Hankel, who was related to have refused the mitre : " Quod
episcopen recuset, non dubito quin illi constet ratio ; tamen, ut nunc res
sunt mortalium, prsestat esse subulcum quam suem."
f " Ego, mi Dorpi," wrote Erasmus, early in life, " neminem con-
temno, nisi meipsum. For my part, I despise no one, except myself"

CH. XXIII.J ERASMUS AND MELANCTHON. 201
ments, as painted in his epistles and represented in his
life, it is clear at least that a strong sense of his Christian
duties and responsibilities was not the mling principle
of his conduct. His religion resided in his under
standing, and frequently warmed and excited it to
eloquent expressions of piety, and a dignified and lofty
view of evangelical morality ; but it had little dominion
over his feelings. It had no possession of his heart ; it
never exalted him to any disinterested action ; it could
never have moved him to any serious sacrifice ; it ani
mated his speculations, it did not guide his life. It was
not thus with Melancthon, whose faith, if less burning
and impetuous than that of Luther, was ever awake and
active in his bosom, not lighting only, but warming and
raising up an immoveable mark for his guidance, in all
that he did or meditated : and thus that very cautious
ness, bordering sometimes on timidity, in which he
seemed most to resemble Erasmus, sprang from a dif
ferent state of mind. In the one, it proceeded from the
fear of this world — from a calculation of the probable
acts, speeches, or opinions ofmen ; in the other, from the
fear of God, and a scrupulous solicitude about the means
best suited to promote His glory, and the final well-being
of His creatures.
Such were they ; yet is it hard to say how much of
this distinction may be ascribed to circumstances. In
their natures there was much similarity. Could they
have changed positions, each might have acted the
other's part. Could Erasmus have been placed at an
early age under the impassioned influence of a Luther,
he might have followed much the same course which
Melancthon followed; and the latter, freed from the
perpetual trammels of theological controversy, might
have been as easy, as elegant, as favoured by the rich
and powerful, and as fond of such favour, as Erasmus.

202 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIIL
Respecting Luther, Erasmus doubtless expressed a
sincere opinion when he said, " I am astonished to find
in Luther two perfectly different persons. Sometimes
he so writes that the very soul of the apostles seems to
breathe within him ; but then again, when he takes to
his jeers and gibes and scoffs and jests, what buffoon
is there to be compared with him ? Again, with what
magnanimity does he look down upon emperors and
pontiffs ! and then, roused by the slightest whisper of
the most insignificant and abject of mankind, he assails
some poor individual with such fury, as if he had for
gotten the drama in which he is engaged and the part
which he has undertaken."
There is much truth in this ; yet it should be observed
that, by such a mind as that of Erasmus, the fervid ear
nestness of Luther might often be mistaken for violence,
and the generous expressions of a disinterested indigna
tion attributed to party or personal malice. To those,
the multitude of mankind, whose feelings are seldom
busy except about themselves, whom nothing can rouse
to warmth, unless it be connected with their own vanity,
objects, or interests, the emotions of a nobler spirit,
deeply affected by the conviction of some general truth,
or the spectacle of some wickedness or baseness, and
vehemently expressing that affection, are commonly an
inexplicable phenomenon ; and so they are resolved into
private pique or petty jealousy, according to the stinted
measure of ordinary character, and the vulgar envious
practice of ascribing to low passions or selfish calcula
tions that which is really great in the actions of man.
Having thus exposed, without any reserve, the de
fects, which are indeed but too visible, in the character
of Erasmus, I must protect him from one very serious
charge. Many theologians of all churches, Roman
Catholic, reformed and English, from Luther down to

CH. XXIII.J SLANDER ON ERASMUS. 203
Milner,* have questioned the sincerity of his religious
profession, and even accused him of absolute infidelity.
In reply to Luther's taunts, he thought it necessary, in
the first book of his ' Hyperaspistes,' to make the most
solemn imaginable declaration of his entire and perfect
belief in Providence and revelation, which in other
places he has repeated.^ In my opinion there is no
plausible reason for doubting it. It is easy, and perhaps
not very uncommon, for controversialists and zealots,
passionately convinced of the truth of their own peculiar
opinions, to regard as empty or insincere anything that
* Vol. V. chap. xii.
f His tract, " Adversus Calumniosissimam Epistolam M. L.," was
written expressly to repel this charge. " En recanduit in me," he
begins, " prseter expectatum M. Lutheri dvjxbg a-ynvdip. Edisit enim
epistolam quse tota spirat parricidiale quoddam odium  I would,
that by the sacrifice of this wretched body I could lull the dissensions of
the church ; how willingly and gladly would I submit to that death ! —
Meanwhile I entreat from the Lord the pardon of my sins by nightly
and daily prayers ; and as to faith, I beseech him, not to give it to me,
but to confirm and augment what he has already given. I say this sin
cerely, and before the Lord : let him take instant vengeance on me if it
be not entirely true. But I can never believe that Luther does really enter
tain of me that suspicion which he endeavours to instil into others. . . ,"
In a letter to Luther from Basle, April 11, 1526, after complaining of
" the scurrilous calummes, the criminal falsehoods of the other— that I
am an Atheist, an Epicurean, sceptical in my Christian profession, a
blasphemer, and what not," — he continues, " I care the less about all
this, because my conscience is sound in these matters. Unless my senti
ments concerning God and the divine writings were those of a Christian,
I would not desire that my life should be prolonged even till to
morrow  " Luther persisted in the taunt notwithstanding. On
March 7, 1529, he wrote to Link: " Judicet Christus hunc aflEoj'
Lucianumque Epicurum." And on May 28, of the same year, to James
Montanus: " Homo est enim levissimus, qui religiones omnes plane
ridet, more sui Luciani, nee serio ahquid scribit, nisi cum vindictas et
noxia scribit." Compare this calumny with the first letters from Luther
to Erasmus, breathing the very soul of humility and veneration.

204 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXHI.
may fall short of that impetuous assurance, and to repre
sent as no better than sceptics men who differ from them
on any important dogma, or even inculcate the same
dogma less imperatively ; but in this they are guilty of
unintentional injustice. It is one thing to hesitate con
cerning the truth of Scripture, and another to be per
plexed about its interpretation. That which they call
scepticism is sometimes no more than a modest distrust
in the power of the human understanding ; and the ques
tion may really be, not whether the Bible be the Word
of God, but whether certain senses be properly affixed to
certain passages contained in it. Such, as far as I can
judge, was the scepticism of Erasmus. He had diffi
culties in reconciling some seeming inconsistencies, and
in explaining some particular texts. He sought his
knowledge only in his reason ; yet even in his reason he
placed no unbounded confidence ; and thus he continued,
even in his latter years (and this very disposition has
been alleged as a proof of his insincerity), to seek in
struction, and to profess his willingness to be led by
stronger arguments to more correct convictions.
The peroration of his Diatribe will illustrate these
remarks : — " I do not assume in this matter the cha
racter of a judge, but of a disputant ; yet I can with
truth affirm, that I have observed in my disputation that
religious impartiality to which judges in former days
were sworn. Nor shall I feel either shame or reluctance,
though now in my old age, to receive instruction from a
young man, if any one shall bring forward with evan
gelical mildness more evident truths. I well know that
I shall here be told : ' Let Erasmus leam Christ, and
dismiss his human prudence ; no man understands these
things but he who has the spirit of God.' If I do not
yet understand what Christ is, I must indeed thus far

CH. XXIII.J SLANDER ON ERASMUS. 205
have widely missed my mark ; yet I should be glad to
learn what is the spirit, which has guided so many
Christian doctors and people (for the people probably
agreed with their bishops) persisting for thirteen hundred
years in this same non-understanding."
It was this self-distrusting temper which bound him
to the established ecclesiastical authority. Through the
same sense of his own doubts and difficulties he was
willing to acquiesce, so far as interpretation was con
cerned, in the final judgment of the church. He would
have amended its morality and enlightened its ignorance,
but he would have preserved its power. He foresaw the
discords which must arise otherwise ; he perceived to how
many different and conflicting conclusions the free use
and abuse of mere reason, as applied to the explanation
of Scripture, must ever lead even honest and intelli
gent men ; and he was aware besides, that those over
ruling impressions, or experiences, which may sometimes
strengthen, but which sometimes supersede, reason, would
convince none, except those upon whom Heaven should
vouchsafe to bestow them — so that religious unanimity
was not to be expected from either source, but rather
a sort of doctrinal anarchy would spring from the ruins
of the existing despotism. Thus he chose, as he thought,
the lesser evil, when he rejected the newly-asserted
claims of private judgment, and kept religious opinion,
or, as it was now called, conscience, still subject to the
spiritual yoke of Rome.
By these remarks I only wish to show, that the ex
pressed scruples and perplexities of Erasmus were con
sistent with a sincere belief in the truth of the religion,
though in his calmer temperament it awakened none of
those impetuous emotions which are the most conspicu
ous signs of faith, which give birth to acts of devotion

206 history of the reformation. [ch. XXIIL
and enthusiasm, and shed over the whole life the colour
of holiness.*
* The following was his own opinion of himself, written at Basle not
long before his death : — " Ingenium simplex, abhorrens a mendacio. . .
Linguse inter amicos liberioris, nonnunquam plus quam sat esset. Ssepe
falsus, amicis tamen diffidere non poterat. Nee putidulus erat, neque
quicquam unquam scripsit quod ipsi placeret. Ac ne facie quidem
propria delectabatur, vixque extortum est amicorum precibus, ut se pingi
pateretur. Dignitatum ac divitiarum perpetuus contemptor fuit, neque
quicquam prius otio et libertate habuit. Candidus alienee doctrine
sestimator. In provfehendis bonis literis nemo magis profecit, gravemque
ob hanc rem invidiam sustinuit a barbaris et monachis. Usque ad
annum quinquagesimum nee impetiit quenquam nee impetitus est a
quoquam, stylo. Idque habebat sibi propositum omnino stylum incru-
entum servare. A Fabro primum est impetitus, nam Dorpiana visa
suppressa sunt. In respondendo semper civilis erat. Lutherana tra-
goedia intolerabili ilium oneravit invidia. Discerptus est ab utraque
parte, dum utrique studet consulere.— i^'mw."

ch. xxiv.J 207

CHAPTER XXIV.
VARIOUS POLITICAL MOVEMENTS— FIRST DIET OF
SPIRES.
Anti-Lutheran policy of the principal powers in Europe, and various
treaties among them — broad division of the two parties — strength of
the Evangelical party— their closer union and alliance — conference of
Salfield — doctrine of justification — the imperial cities — conduct of
the papists — Diet of Augsburg in 1526 — defence of the Reforma
tion by Melancthon — the substance of his reasonings— another docu
ment chiefly respecting the property of the church — the first Diet of
Spires — previous treaties of alliances — dictation of the Emperor —
firmness of the Reformers, especially the imperial cities, and entire
success — the progress of the Turks influences the Archduke Ferdinand
— sketch of the great political transactions of that period — battle of
Pavia — captivity of Francis — treaty of Madrid — violation of that by
Francis, authorised by the Pope — the Holy League— Charles sin
cerely anti-Lutheran — Charles's letter to the Pope — to the Cardinals
— both inefiectual — sacking of Rome by the imperialists, and captivity
, of Clement — Ferdinand raised to the throne of Hungary and Bohemia
— consequent change in his policy — treaty of Cambray between Charles
and Francis — visit of Charles to Italy, and interview with the Pope
at Bologna — the real and supposed treaty among the papal chiefs
revealed to the Reformers by Otho Pack — conduct of the Elector and
Landgrave — fate of Pack — policy recommended by the divines of
Wittemberg.
Immediately after the battle of Pavia (Feb. 24, 1526),
in which Francis I. became the prisoner of his rival, the
Pope transferred his friendship to the conqueror, and
entered into close alliance with the Emperor, the King
of England, and Archduke Ferdinand. The ninth
article of the treaty then concluded was to the following
effect : That the contracting parties should unite all
their forces and march in arms against the disturbers
of the Catholic religion and the insulters of the Pope,

208 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIV.
and avenge every outrage committed against the See of
Rome, as if it had been committed against themselves.
In all the negociations of the great powers during this
period the same spirit is apparent. In a treaty con
cluded between Henry VIII. of England and Louise,
the mother of Francis and Regent of France during his
captivity, a clause was inserted to the same purpose;
and a similar stipulation was contained in the treaty of
Madrid, between Charles and Francis, by which the
latter was restored to liberty.
Thus far the policy of the Vatican was triumphant.
The three most powerful princes of Europe were as
sociated with the Pope, or with each other, in one com
mon object — which was the only object they had in com
mon, — ^that of extirpating the Lutheran heresy. And as
it was not unreasonable in the Pope to rest his hopes of
victory in the arms of princes, and his greatest hopes in
those of the greatest princes, so was it very natural that
the latter, who saw the Reformation from a distance,
and, being for the most part unacquainted with its real
principles, were readily brought to believe that the late
seditions had originated there, should engage in this
confederacy. We need not question the sincerity of
any one of them in this purpose ; and, doubtless, they
would have pursued it with unanimous zeal, had not
other interests and other passions interposed to prevent
their concord.
The same, under existing circumstances, was the best
policy of the Pope. It was too late to concede ; the
time for amusing the discontented with the shadow of
a reformation was passed by. A contest of principles
had commenced. The principles of spiritual independ
ence had gained such strong ground, as to secure
a certain degree of success; and had they been op
posed by no more substantial arms than sophistry,
prejudice and calumny, they might have spread into

CH. XXIV.J REFORMED PRINCES. 209
every province of Christendom. Luther knew this truth
even better than Clement ; and thus, while the one was
endeavouring to commit the difference to the sword, the
other was equally solicitous to leave it entirely to the
arbitration of reason. Both judged rightly ; and as far
as the policy of either prevailed so far was it successful.
The most despotic kingdoms preserved for the present
their allegiance to Rome; but the principles of the
Reformation were triumphantly diffused, wherever there
was free access to the people, and the spots in which
they took their firmest root were the imperial cities of
Germany. Meanwhile, the fruits of the policy of Clement and
the intrigues of Campeggio now became visible. The
League of Eslingen had set the example of a political
division of the religious disputants. The parties thence
forward became more and more declared. The sove
reigns began to act more, the people less ; and the foun
dation of the future division, into Catholic and Protestant
states, may be discemed in the occurrences of that early
period. For no inconsiderable portion even of the
princes of Germany now declared with more or less con
fidence in favour of the new principles. The chief of
these was John, Elector of Saxony, the successor of
Frederick, who, with the same views, possessed the in
tegrity and firmness, without the political wisdom and
foresight, ofhis brother. A younger and equally honest
and more energetic confederate was Philip, Landgrave
of Hesse — for it was at this time that he avowed his ad
herence to the cause, for which he seems long to have
nourished a secret affection. These two leaders were
supported by the Archduke of Prussia, by George and
Casimir,* Margraves of Brandenburg, by the Elector
* Casimir wrote to his brothers George and John, to mention the
VOL. II. P

210 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIV.
Palatine, by the Dukes of Lunenburg, Pomerania and
Mecklenburg, by the Princes of Anhalt and Henneberg.
And though the ancient practices were not yet officially
abolished in all these states, they were so generally
condemned by the voice ofthe people, that, their defence
being abandoned by the rulers of the people, they were
ripe for immediate removal.
These princes now began to draw more closely to
gether, through the motive, not only of common prin
ciples, but of a common danger. Conferences took
place at Salfeld and at Coburg ; and at the former, in
the summer of 1525, a resolution was agreed upon :
" That the parties would use their utmost exertions to
advance the glory of God, and to maintain a doctrine
in conformity with his word — rendering thanks to Him
for having revived in their time the true doctrine of jus
tification by faith, which' had been long buried under
a mass of superstitions ; and that they would not per
mit the extinction of the truth, which God had so
lately revealed to them." This is remarkable on two
accounts — first, as being the earliest declaration of any
league among the political chiefs of the Reformation;
next, as resting its plea, not on political grounds, nor
on any great moral or social principle, not even on
the abuses or exactions of the Roman church and the
necessity of repressing them, not on ceremonies or any
question of externals, but on the very basis, which Luther
desire of their common subjects for the preaching ofthe Gospel, forthe
abolition of various forms and ceremonies and for changes in several
others, such or nearly such as had been introduced by Luther at Wittem
berg. George gave his fiill consent. But John, who wrote from Toledo,
and was breathing the air of Spain, expressed his opinion with cautious
ambiguity. Matters, therefore, did not advance rapidly. But the two
Reformers put themselves in friendly communication with John of
Saxony. The particulars may be found in Marheinecke, t. ii. p. 160—
167.

CH. XXIV.J CO-OPERATION AMONG REFORMERS. 211
SO constantly asserted to be that of his whole work —
the scriptural doctrine of justification. The princes
may have been honest in this declaration — they may
really have set the importance, which they professed to
set, on that great question. Or, if this were not so,
they must have pretended to so much piety, out of re
spect to the convictions of their subjects. In either case,
it is clear that multitudes were impressed with the views
and animated with the spirit of Luther, and that the
essential dogma of the religion was then very commonly
considered as the corner-stone of the Reformation.
The imperial cities held about the same time an
assembly at Ulm, for the same purpose. And these
defensive measures were fully justified by the previous
movements of the papal party. Of its chiefs, whether
secular or ecclesiastical, there were many who sincerely
ascribed the late insurrections to the principles of Luther ;
there were doubtless others who, though better instructed,
dishonestly joined in the cry. All were elated by the
overthrow of the insurgents ; and they now imagined
nothing less, than to pursue their triumph to the dis
comfiture of the spiritual rebels, and the entire extirpa
tion of the heresy. It was the perpetual cry of the
papists, that the principles of religious independence,
or Christian liberty, now broached, must inevitably lead
to civil insubordination. And thus they showed the
same desire in this, as in earlier ages of the church, to
confound the crimes, and to inflict upon the former,
wheresoever they had the power, the penalties which
were properly due to the latter. So that, if the Re
formers did sometimes, through ignorance or passion,
overstep the limits of their genuine principles, their
enemies were always eager, as a part of their wisdom
and policy, to visit the two offences with indiscriminate
vengeance. p 2

212 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIV.
Meanwhile, Charles issued from Toledo an edict, for
the convocation of a Diet at Augsburg, which spoke
very clearly the language of the Vatican. He demanded
the execution of the Edict of Worms, and the forcible
destruction of the Lutherans. The immediate effect of
this was to draw still closer the bonds which united that
party. On the pressing solicitation of the Landgrave,
an interview took place, (on the 7th of November,
1525,) between himself and the son of the Elector, at
which the basis of a general alliance, among all the
reformed or reforming states and cities, was established.
Further measures were arranged for resistance to any
violence which might be proposed at the approaching
Diet. And those two princes instructed their ministers to
remonstrate against the harshness of the imperial Edict,
to point out the great calamities with which it threatened
the German republic, to recommend an adhesion to
the decree of Nuremberg, and to insist on the impossi
bility of enforcing that of Worms. The Diet assembled
in November : very few members were present, either
in person or by deputy, and not any ecclesiastical lord
except the bishop of Trent. Accordingly the moderate
party prevailed ; and the Recess, which was published
on Jan. 9, 1526, was composed, for the most part, in the
spirit of those instructions. The Emperor was urged be
sides to hasten the convocation of a general Council ; and
an embassy was appointed to solicit his immediate return
to his German dominions. Ferdinand, who presided,
seems to have offered no opposition to these prudent
counsels ; and not a voice was raised, even by the adver
saries of the Reformation, in behalf of the very device
and watchword of their party, the Edict of Worms.
Among the other preparations for resistance to the
threatened hostility of this Diet, the reformers carried
thither an elaborate justification of their proceedings,

CH. XXIV.J DEFENCE OF THE REFORMATION. 213
from the pen of Melancthon. He composed it, in con
junction with the other doctors of Wittemberg, by the
command of the Elector. The arguments of the apolo
gists were directed to two questions: first, whether it
were a lawful act, or an act of schism, to denounce and
abolish manifest abuses, without the permission, and
even in despite of the prohibition, of the episcopal autho
rities ? secondly, whether it were a lawful act, or an act of
revolt, to continue the preaching of the new doctrines in
defiance of the edict of the Emperor ? In treating the
former of these questions, the theologians handled in
succession five of the favourite principles of the Roman
church — respecting the inviolable power and jurisdiction
of the bishops ; the long duration of the rejected prac
tices in an infallible church ; the scriptural duty of en
during even real grievances, rather than incurring the
guilt of disobedience ; the duty of a charitable indulgence
towards infirm consciences ; and that of guarding against
the wars and tumults which would arise from the degra
dation of the spiritual authorities and the overthrow of
the established opinions.
The Reformers began the attack by asserting three an
tagonist principles : That the pastors, as holding their
first commission from God, were inviolably bound to
preach His word, and most of all the essential doctrine
of justification by faith alone, without the merit of works
— those works included, to which the highest merit was
assigned by the church, and which were no better than
superstitious and empty ceremonies: that, false wor
ships and idolatries having been prohibited by God, and
sundry doctrines and practices of the church being mani
festly such, it became the indispensable duty of every
gospel minister to denounce to the faithful those abuses :
that the authority of the Pope was a notorious usurpa
tion ; yet it might have been tolerated had not the bishops

214 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIV.
themselves rendered it insupportable by the neglect of
the duties of their ministry, and the employment of
their power only for the oppression of the Gospel and the
exercise of a tyrannical dominion over the souls and
consciences of men.
They then proceeded to confute the five principles of
the papists by the following and similar arguments:
That the duty of preaching the word of God was inalien
able, and anterior to any statutes or obligations that
could possibly be imposed by man ; and that the bishops,
so far from enforcing or even permitting the discharge
of that duty, had thwarted it by violent persecutions;
that the church consisted, not in the Pope, his cardinals
and his clergy, but in the entire body of the faithful ;
that subservience towards the bishops in respect to the
endurance of unscriptural abuses would be disobedience
to God ; that the tolerance due to weaker brethren was
confined to indifferent practices, and could not be ex
tended to corruptions expressly prohibited in Scripture ;
and that it ill became those to speak of tolerance, who
were employing fire and sword in support of their own
errors ; that if wars and seditions should unhappily arise
out of the preaching of the Gospel, the crime would rest
with those alone who had endeavoured to extinguish the
truth ; and that the doctrine of justification by faith was
of importance so essential, that no fear either of troubles,
wars, or persecutions ought to deter a Christian from
professing it.
Thus much respected the spiritual disobedience of the
reformers ; they urged besides, that the crime of schism
rested not so much with them, whose only prayer it was
to be permitted to preach the Gospel, as with the papists,
who had tyrannically excluded them from the communion
of the church. And, as to their political offence in disre
garding the imperial edict, they justified it on religious

CH. XXIV.J DEFENCE OF THE REFORMATION. 215
grounds ; maintaining that it was the highest duty of
princes to encourage what they believed to be evangelical
truth ; or if they beheved not, at least to tolerate that
which possibly might be truth.
In respect to this document, I shall only call attention
to one circumstance^ — ^that its authors assumed, as already
proved and established, the great points at issue betwixt
them and the papists. They assumed that the corrup
tions of the church were convicted and notorious ; and in
asserting the paramount obligation of the Gospel gene
rally, and of the doctrine of justification in particular,
they proclaimed as unquestionable their own new prin
ciple of spiritual independence — that is, the inalienable
right of every man to think for himself on religious
questions, to interpret Scripture according to the measure
of his own knowledge, and to act in such matters accord
ing to the conscientious conviction of his soul.
There appeared another Paper at this Diet, which
is preserved in the archives of Weimar, but without the
names of its authors, containing several counsels on these
affairs, some of a rational, others of an impracticable
nature. Among other suggestions, it recommended the
formation of a council of twelve, chosen from the princes,
nobles, and the cities in each of the six grand circles of
the empire, for the management of all the property of
the church ; that this property should support the actual
possessors during their lives, in their present revenues ;
but that their places should not be filled up at their death ;
that it should then be appropriated to the maintenance
of the pastors and preachers, and of a bishop for every
district, who should take no part in politics, but attend
to the government of his diocese ; also of an academy in
the same circle, and of two or three nunneries for the
education of females, which the novices should be per
mitted to quit when they might choose ; and that the

216 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIV.
surplus should be applied to the equipment of a local
standing army for the service of the Emperor and the
empire. The Diet was again assembled at Spires on the 25th
of the June following (1526) ; and the interval was dih
gently employed by both parties in strengthening their
respective alliances and augmenting the number of their
adherents. On the one side the Elector and the Land
grave met at Torgau, and concluded there, on the 4th of
May, a defensive alliance, by which they engaged to
maintain the Reformation in their States, to provide for
the security of their people, and to assist each other with
all their forces in repelling all hostile assaults, whether
against their dominions, their subjects, or their religion.
And this treaty, which was the basis of the League of
Smalcald, was immediately embraced by several princes
favourable to the cause, and by the city of Magdeburg.
On the other side, the Emperor issued secret instructions
from Seville, on the 23rd of March, for the closer con
federacy of the papists and the extinction of the heresy.
In a letter to Henry, Duke of Brunswick, he proclaimed
the zeal which he felt for the faith of his forefathers, his
resolution presently to visit Rome and Germany, for the
purpose of concerting measures against the Lutherans,
and his willingness to support any alliance that might
be formed in Germany for the defence of the established
religion. Similar communications were made to other
sovereigns and nobles, who were distinguished by their
fidelity to the papal interests. When Charles issued
those exhortations, he was on terms of friendship with
the Pope. But his adherence to them is remarkable ;
as during the session of the Diet those relations were alto
gether changed ; and he had then more reason than any
man living to complain of the apostolical treachery.
Under these circumstances the Diet met, and imme-

CH. XXIV.J FIRST DIET OF SPIRES. 217
diately proceeded to deliberation. It was very nume
rously attended, and most of the chiefs of both parties
were present. The presidents proposed the subjects of
debate ; and in so doing they informed the States, that the
Emperor had convoked them for the purpose of preserv
ing the ancient religion, and chastising those opposed to
it, according to the provisions of the edict of Worms ;
and also of maintaining the peace of the empire in case
of sedition ©r revolt.
The reader will by this time perceive, that that cele
brated edict, the result of so much intrigue, and hailed
as so great a triumph by the papal adherents, was in effect
injurious to them. Ignorant or contemptuous of the
opinion and feelings of the people, they saw nothing
more than the authority of the Emperor and the physical
force which surrounded him. They made no allowance
for that moral resistance, founded on strong convictions,
which so often prevails against the swords of kings. Be
sides, they felt compromised by their edict. Even after
they began to discover the impossibility of enforcing it,
they clung to it with perverse tenacity ; and thus, through
their obstinate defence of an untenable position, gave the
victory to their enemies. A law, too violent to be exe
cuted, did but lay bare the injustice of the cause which
it was intended to protect.
It was thus at the Diet of Spires. The Instruction of
the Emperor offended the feelings of the great majority
of the assembly ; and the evangelical party took their
stand on the more recent Recess of Nuremberg. They
demanded the appointment of the commission, then de
creed for the provisional arrangement of religious differ
ences, and even proposed the members who should form
it. The ambassadors of Charles pleaded the peremptory
character of their orders ; wherein he expressly charged
them to withstand every attempt at change, whether in

218 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXIV.
doctrine or ceremony, and reminded them that he had
already abrogated the edict in cjuestion. But the re
formers remained firm, and those who offered the most
decided and fearless resistance were the deputies of the
imperial cities. They asserted the practical nullity of
the edict of Worms and the propriety of suspending it.
They deplored the continual absence of the Emperor, and
his consequent ignorance of the real condition of the
country. They urged the necessity of assembling forth
with a national council, at least for the temporary accom
modation of the dispute. And as to the revolts which
had occurred, and the evils which had attended them,
they imputed them entirely to the wrongs which had
been inflicted upon the people, and to the reiterated con
tempt which had ever been shown to popular remon
strances. At the same time they observed, that those
seditions had been least violent in the states which had
embraced the Reformation.
But they did not stop there. They followed up these
remonstrances by certain demands, which contained in
deed a very moderate expression of their own principles,
but which were in direct contradiction to the will of the
Emperor, and were the boldest that had yet been ad
dressed to the States of the empire. They required:
That the monasteries of the mendicants, with a due re
spect to vested interests, should be suppressed, since they
consumed the alms intended for the subsistence of the
poor ; that those monks should be no longer permitted
to make the wills of persons on the point of death ; that
ecclesiastics should be no longer exempt from pubhc
charges, because they were now neither poor nor few, as
they had been when those exemptions were granted ; that
the number of festivals should be reduced, as tending to
impoverish and corrupt the working classes ; that all dis
tinction of meats should be abolished ; that the observance

CH. XXIV.J FIRST DIET OF SPIRES. 219
of ceremonies, which were indifferent, should be left to
the free discretion of the people, until the decision of the
council ; and that the course of the Gospel should in no
manner be restrained.
The firmness of the evangelical party, the solid justice
of their demands, and the temper with which they urged
them, produced a great effect upon all who were not
previously engaged to the opposite policy. Those, and
there were many, who sincerely desired the repose of
the empire and the removal of all proved abuses, how
ever they might dislike or fear the name of Luther,
listened without disapprobation to the proposals of the
free cities. The ecclesiastical princes almost alone re
sisted ; but with so much violence and obstinacy, that
there seemed little probability of any agreement, and
the Elector and the Landgrave were making preparations
for their departure. Meanwhile ambassadors arrived
from the King of Hungary, representing the calamities
with which that country was overwhelmed, and the
danger which threatened all the rest of Europe from the
triumphant progress of the Turks. They had taken
Peterwaradin, and were advancing towards Buda with a
numerous force ; the provinces of Ferdinand were con
tiguous and exposed to immediate peril.*
This circumstance, aided by the political perplexities
which at that moment appeared to beset the Emperor,
* Luther mentions, in a letter to Wenceslas Link, written during
the Diet ("Aug. 28, 1526) from Wittemberg, that great exertions were
then making to fortify that city. " Nihil hic novi est, nisi quod Wittem-
berga munitur magno labore, ut vix agnosceres, si priscam conferres cum
prsBsente." (No. 817.) In the same letter he speaks contemptuously of
the labours of the Diet, after his fashion : " Spirse comitia sunt more
solito Germanis comitia celebrandi — potatur et luditur, praeterea nihil."
It so happened that this was written on the very day after the publication
of an edict, more advantageous to his cause than any public act, till that
of Nuremberg in 1532.

220 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXIV.
decided the Archduke to prevent that open breach, to
which the affairs of Germany were approaching. In
conjunction with the Archbishop of Treves, who was not
the avowed adherent of either party, he applied himself
to calm the fury of the prelates, and to lead them step
by step to more temperate counsels. At length, (on the
27th of August,) after much negociation, through the
difficulty of devising an edict in terms not positively
offensive to either party, the Recess was published. It
was to this effect : That for the establishment of a form
of worship and the tranquillity of the empire a legitimate
council, either of Germany or of the whole world, was
necessary ; that it should be convoked within the space
of a year ; that an embassy should be sent to the Empe
ror to entreat him to behold with his own eyes the dis
turbed condition of the country, and to bring about this
council ; and that, in respect to the edict of Worms, all
the princes should so conduct the administration of their
States, pending the decision of the proposed council, as
to be able to render account of their government both
to God and to the Emperor.*
This decision was a manifest triumph for the evan
gelical party, and that not in fact only, but also in prin
ciple. Not only did it virtually suspend the edict of
Worms, and leave the reformers to their own undisputed
government for an indefinite space of time, and that a
long space, as was obvious enough to all who knew the
character of Clement and the policy of Rome ; but even
after this, it committed the regulation of the ecclesias
tical concerns of Germany to a future council. Thus it
rejected the existing authorities ; it put aside the canons
and constitutions enacted in former times ; and above all,
it renounced the very profession of unqualified obedience
* Sleidan, 1. vi. p. 88.

CH. XXIV.J POLITICAL OCCURRENCES. 221
to the edicts of Rome. The same spirit had indeed been
already displayed both at Nureitiberg and at Augsburg.
But on the present occasion the assembly was so nume
rously attended, every elector except one being present,
and the result was so unequivocal, and in such . direct
opposition to the loudly expressed dictation of the Empe
ror, that it becomes proper to examine how far it may
have been influenced by political causes.
The triumphs of the Turk, and the dangers imme
diately impending over the dominions of Ferdinand,
have been mentioned. I shall now trace in very few
pages the course of pubhc events in Italy, France and
Spain during this period. The two great rivals who
were disputing the possession of Italy were both ob
jects of suspicion with Clement, but the more power
ful of the greater suspicion. His first connexions were
formed with the Emperor. But presently growing
jealous of his designs, and willing to disturb his authority
over the Neapolitan States, he suddenly transferred his
friendship, and concluded a treaty of neutrality with the
King of France. This occurred during the siege of Pavia
by the French, in the winter of 1524-5. Very soon
afterwards, on the 24th of February, Francis was defeated
by the Imperialists, and became the prisoner of his
enemy.* Great terror immediately spread among the
* Luther's remarks on this event, expressed in a letter to Spalatin
of March 11, 1525 (No. 681), deserve to be recorded: " I am not glad
that the King of the French has been defeated and taken — his defeat I
could have borne, but his captivity is monstrous. Csesar now triumphs,
but it will be his turn to yield presently. Yet this perpetual overthrow
of kings and princes in this age seems to me one of those signs, which
attest the approach of the last day and the destruction of the world. . . . One
thing pleases me, that the attempt of Antichrist has been frustrated, who
had begun to employ the King of France as his instrument ; and thus
God has manifested his determination to defeat all the councils of this
other tyrant of souls. . . . Caesar triumphat, ut et ipse cedat tan-

222 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIV.
Italian States. It was supposed that a victorious prince,
young and of unbounded ambition, would pursue his
advantages to the destruction of their independence.
Some hasty attempts at confederacy and co-operation
produced no result ; till Clement was terrified or cajoled
into a separate treaty with the imperial viceroy, by which
he obliged himself, on certain conditions, to the imme
diate payment of a considerable sum of money. The
money was paid, but the conditions were not ratified by
the Emperor ; so that the vicar of Christ, after having
extracted, by spiritual impostures, such masses of wealth
from princes and their subjects, found himself at length
and perhaps for the first time a pecuniary sufferer, through
a political fraud. The treaty was signed on April 1, 1525,
and the result proves at least this — that Charles was not at
that time disposed to show any obsequiousness, personal or
political, to the bishop of Rome. Yet it was in the very
following month (May 24, 1525) that he published the
edict of Toledo, in which he convoked the Diet of Augs
burg, and thundered forth the most fearful denunciations
against the Lutheran heresy.
The victory of Pavia was not followed by any very
important military movements, and the year was chiefly
spent by Charles in those negociations with his prisoner,
which ended in the Treaty of Madrid, on Jan. 24, 1526.
Francis, restored to liberty, immediately sought means
to evade the conditions to which he owed that liberty ;
and the Pope, still trembling at the predominance of the
Emperor, was at hand to aid him. He effected a league,
to which the Venetians and the Duke of Milan were
parties, and of which the grand professed object was to

dem ; quanquam sic reges et principes dejici nostro saeculo mihi unum
de sigiiis esse videtur testantibus casurum mundum per novissimum
diem."

CH. XXIV.J POLITICAL OCCURRENCES. 223
destroy the Spanish power in Italy. This he denominated
the Holy League ; and that he might set his own seal of
sanctity upon it, and consecrate it by an act peculiarly
pontifical, at a moment when the church was so reso
lutely assailed and the eyes of all suspiciously fixed upon
its conduct, in the plenitude of his apostolical power, he
absolved the King of France from all his oaths, and
authorised the violation of the treaty.
The Holy League was proclaimed on the 1 1th of June,
a few days before the meeting of that Diet of which the
acts have just been recorded. And assuredly, if the
ecclesiastical policy of Charles had been directed by the
state of his relations with the See of Rome, or by the
feelings which he could not fail to entertain towards the
individual who possessed it, his ambassadors at that
assembly would not have been found in the very van of
the papal party. There can, then, be no question that he
was sincere in his enmity to the new opinions ; and it
may be, that Clement counted upon this before he ven
tured on so bold an opposition. This was the policy
which he had adopted from the beginning, and from
which he never deviated very far. It was no doubt
founded on the despot's jealousy of any insurrection
against any established authority, intellectual or physical,
spiritual or secular; and so decided was it, that even
the indignation, which must have filled him at that mo
ment, did not divert him from it. Still those political
circumstances may have exercised some indirect influence
on the efficacy of his ecclesiastical policy. His private
friends and adherents and courtiers could scarcely at that
crisis be very zealous advocates of papal interests. The
papal party, fighting under the imperial banner, was to
a certain extent, in a false position. There could not
exist between them that perfect unity of purpose and

224 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIV.
feeling, which will sometimes give success even to the
less numerous party in great public deliberations ; while
the reformers, who were bound together by a common
interest as well as a common passion, and whom no dis
putes or jealousies yet divided, engaged to an advantage
in the struggles then proceeding, and triumphed ac
cordingly. Clement attempted to justify his perfidy by a commu
nication* to the Emperor, alleging manjr injuries that he
had suffered, in return for many services that he had
conferred. Charles replied from Granada; and after
relating in the same spirit many particulars of the civil
transactions between himself and Clement, he proceeded
as follows : " Out of my kingdoms and provinces more
emoluments and annual income are exported to Rome,
than from all other nations put together. This may be
proved from the well-known grievances of the German
princes, when they brought their heavy complaints
against the court of Rome and demanded a remedy.
But I, through the reverence in which I held the Roman
church, disregarded their remonstrances. On which
account, and because I have given you no just cause for
reproach, I entreat you, retire from arms ; I will then do
likewise. For since we are constituted by God as two
mighty luminaries, let us use our endeavours to give
light to the world, lest an eclipse should be occasioned
by our dlssention. Let us reflect upon the universal com
monwealth, on the necessity of repelling the barbarians,
and repressing the sects and errors of the Lutherans.
* Consisting in fact of two letters, which were delivered to the Em
peror, by the Nuncio in Spain, on two following days — the former
objurgatory, the latter conciliatory. The Emperor replied to both after
the same fashion — to the one on Sept. 17, tothe other on Sept. 18. The
former is in each case the really important one.

CH. XXIV.J CHARLES V. TO THE CARDINALS. 225
These are matters which concern the glory of God ; and
here let us make our beginning. Afterwards, let us dis
cuss all the other controversies, and you will find me well
prepared for all these things. But if you refuse these
proposals and persist in your warlike projects, I give you
warning that I shall appeal to a council for the decision
of the existing differences and demand its immediate
convocation." In another epistle addressed a few days afterwards
(on October 6) to the Consistory of Cardinals, Charles
made it again a boast that he had disregarded the
grievances of the German princes, expressed at Worms,
through his paramount affection for the See of Rome ;
that, when still greater troubles arose and many tumults
occurred throughout Germany and the States ordained
a general assembly for the settlement of the religious
disputes, he had prevented them from persisting in that
project, only through fear of the damage which such an
assembly would have occasioned to the church and Pope
of Rome ; that he had soothed them with the empty
hope of a future council; and that he had alienated
their affections by those proceedings. After this enume
ration of his good offices, he repeated his conviction that
a general council was really necessary for the welfare of
Christendom, and exhorted them, should the Pope re
fuse to convoke it, to convoke it themselves.*
But Clement was of all men the least likely to obey
that call. For, besides the general apprehensions with
which the Popes of later ages invariably regarded those
meetings — and Clement was of a character pecuharly
apprehensive — he was deterred by the somewhat noto
rious circumstance, that his own election had not been
free from irregularity; so that he had some reason to fear
* Sleidan, lib. vi. fol. 90.
VOL. 11. Q

226 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIV.
that the first act of the assembled representatives of the
church might be to depose himself. The cardinals on their
side, approving of his policy and aiding him very heartily
in his opposition to any change in the church, were not
disposed to insubordination. Thus the double remon
strance of Charles fell without any weight upon either
party. Yet was it not without effect in Germany,
where it was immediately published, not only as dis
closing some of the springs of the Emperor's policy, but
also because two great antipapal principles were broached
in it. For it contained, at least by implication, not only
an appeal from a Pope to a council, but also an acknow
ledgment that the power of convoking such council
resided in the body of cardinals no less than in the
Pope himself.
The holy alliance terminated in a catastrophe, which
might seem to mark the wrath of Providence against the
perfidy and perjury in which it was founded. The city
of Rome was stormed by the Imperial forces on the
6th of May, 1527, and Clement, after some contemptible
vacillation and a vain attempt at another act of political
apostacy, witnessed with his own eyes the conquest of his
capital.* For instead of escaping away from this
calamity, according to the maxims of his customary
caution, he had the temerity to retire to the castle of
St. Angelo and to attempt its defence. During a month
of close blockade, while an uninterrupted variety of bar
barities was perpetrated upon his subjects in his very
* Luther, in a letter to Hausman of July 13, 1527, thus remarks on
that event : " Roma vastata est miserabiliter ; sic regnante Christo, ut
Csesar, pto Papa Lutherum persequens, pro Luthero Papam cogatur
vastare. Omnia scilicet serviunt Christo," &c. (No. 885.) " Christ has
so controlled events, that the Emperor, who would persecute Luther in
the cause of the Pope, is compelled to overthrow the Pope in the cause of
Luther."

CH. XXIV.J CAPTURE OF ROME. 227
presence by the fierce and rapacious conquerors, after
sustaining the extremities of famine, he surrendered, on
the 6th of June, his fortress and his person to the indig
nant enemy. Thus Charles, within little more than a
year after the liberation of his royal prisoner, had the
singular fortune to replace him by the captivity of the
spiritual despot.
Meanwhile, the fatal battle of Moharz, in which
Lewis IL King of Hungary and Bohemia fell together
with the flower of his nobility (Aug. 29, 1526), delivered
up a large portion of the Hungarian provinces to the
arms of Solyman. Ferdinand Archduke of Austria
claimed the vacant crowns under a plausible title, which
was further recommended by his personal merits and his
close relationship to the greatest monarch in Christen
dom. The crowns were elective, and the votes were
divided between him and the Vay vode of Transylvania ;
but the larger party supported the claims of Ferdinand,
and he received the double sceptre. By his advancement
to this perilous dignity, his presence was continually re
quired in the eastern parts of his dominions ; and his
attention and schemes were thus carried away from the
intestine broils of the German people to close and deadly
conflict with the common enemy. The cry of a Turkish
invasion, which with so many other princes, secular as
well as ecclesiastical, was often no more than a pre
tence to conceal projects of avarice or ambition, became
with him the honest expression of a well-founded appre
hension. There must we seek thenceforward for the key
of his policy. However sincere and deep might be his
detestation of the Lutheran faction, he was now absorbed
by a stronger hatred and a nearer interest, to which all
other considerations became more or less subordinate.
After a confinement of six months in the castle of
St. Angelo the Pope was liberated, on the 6th of Decem-
q2

228 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIV.
ber, 1527, on the payment of a considerable sum and the
engagement to make still larger disbursements. Mean
while the war between Francis and the Emperor con
tinued, and was conducted for some time to the advantage
of the former, whose forces laid siege to Naples. But
they were presently (Aug. 15, 1528) compelled to raise
the siege ; the loss of Genoa succeeded the disaster at
Naples; and operations were again confined to the terri
tory of Milan. At length all parties, wearied with this
unprofitable struggle, renewed their negotiations with
more sincerity. On the 20th June, 1529, Charles granted,
at Barcelona, a separate and very favourable treaty to the
Pope ; and, on the 5th of August following, the peace of
Cambrai was concluded between the rival monarchs. A
few days afterwards, the Emperor landed in Italy with
the pomp and authority of a monarch, which he tempered
with his wonted policy. He regulated the affairs com
mitted to him with moderation and justice. He won
the praise of the Italians by his courteous and graceful
manner, as well as by a decent observance of the cere
monies of religion ; and on his appointed interview with
the Pope at Bologna (on the 5th of November) he kneeled
to kiss the foot of the man, so lately his prisoner, with
a reverential abasement, which would have become the
very humblest among the subjects of the church.
This hasty sketch was necessary to show, how entirely
the principal powers of Europe were engrossed by poh
tical concerns during the period immediately preceding
and following the Diet of Spires. And those affairs were
not of trifling or temporary importance, but pregnant
with events on a larger scale and of more lasting conse
quence, than any which had yet marked the international
concerns of Christendom. The anti-Lutheran projects of
Charles were doubtless suspended by his actual hostility
with the Pope — those of Ferdinand by his close coUision

CH. XXIV.J THE AFFAIR OF PACK. 229
with the Infidel. These circumstances secured to the
reformers a valuable interval of repose and toleration,
which gave them opportunity to consolidate their
strength, to increase the numbers of their adherents, to
understand their own principles, and to prevent, had that
been possible, the threatening disease of their dissensions.
As a council of the empire, which was convoked at
Ratisbon, for the March of 1528, for the purpose of deli
berating on the two grand subjects of German interest,
the state of religion and the Turkish war, did not take
effect, there was no general assembly of the states from
the recess of the first Diet of Spires (Aug. 27, 1526) to
the meeting ofthe second, on March 15, 1529. But in
the mean time a curious occurrence took place, which
forms a sort of episode in this history, and throws light
on the temper and conduct of the evangelical princes.
A lawyer named Otho Pack, of a noble family in
Misnia, one of the principal councillors of George Duke
of Saxony, took occasion, during a conference with the
Landgrave of Hesse, to warn him of a great impending
danger. He assured him of the existence of a secret
treaty among the papal chiefs for the destruction of the
reformers. He communicated the names of the con
federates — Ferdinand, then King of Bohemia, Joachim
of Brandenburg, George of Saxony, the two Dukes Wil
liam and Louis of Bavaria, and the prelates of Mayence,
Saltzburg, Bamberg and Wurtzburg. He mentioned
the time and place of the conclusion of this confederacy,
Breslau, May 27, 1527. He disclosed the stipulations;*
* Among them were the following : That the Elector should be first
entreated, and, if that failed, compelled, to deliver up to the confederates
the arch-heretic Martin Luther, and with him all the other heretical
preachers and pastors ; that all apostate monks and nuns should be re
stored to their convents ; that all masses, rites and ceremonies should be
placed on the ancient footing : and it was particularly arranged which

230 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIV.
he even exhibited a copy of the treaty, and promised to
produce the original.
The Landgrave and the Elector of Saxony, as being
most nearly menaced by this transaction, united in strong
and immediate measures of resistance. The sword, they
argued, had been committed to them by God for the de
fence of their states ; and they were now more than ever
bound to draw it, since He had likewise vouchsafed to
them and to their subjects the knowledge of his holy
gospel. They would not in any way permit this treasure
to be wrested from them by the base councils of their
opponents ; but rather would they stake thereon hfe,
honour, dignity, lands, subjects, everything that was held
valuable in this world. When their forces were assem
bled and they were in readiness, if needful, for offensive
operations, they proclaimed to all, who were parties to
the league, that they were aware of its existence, and de
manded information respecting the intentions of the con
federates. The princes severally replied with the strongest as
surances that no such league did exist, and that no such
treaty had ever been concluded ; and George of Saxony
with especial vehemence required the investigation of
the charge. These declarations were confirmed by the
failure of Pack to exhibit the original; and the two
princes probably lent no unwilling ear to the pacific
professions of so formidable a body. At length, after
some negotiation, they disbanded their forces on certain
stipulations. On an appointed day the author of the
confusion was publicly accused at Cassel by the ambas
sadors of the potentates aggrieved. He was convicted
of falsehood and driven into exile in Flanders. Thither

provinces should be overrun, in case of refiisal, and by which power of
the confederacy.

CH. XXIV.J THE AFFAIR OF PACK. 231
he was pursued by the unrelenting enmity of the Duke
of Saxony; and eight years afterwards he made a tardy
atonement by death for an act, which, if not a mis
chievous forgery, was a treacherous breach of faith.
There were many who persisted in believing that it was
the latter; that, notwithstanding the formality of his
condemnation, there was at least some strong foundation
for his tale ; and that the treaty, if not actually ratified,
had made some progress towards its conclusion.* The
league, formed at Ratisbon four years before among
members of the same party, of whom several were indi
vidually the same, justified this opinion and the decided
measures which it occasioned.
The energy displayed by the two evangelical princes
may be chiefly ascribed to the influence ofthe Landgrave;
whose more impatient and active character sought safety
in bold expedients, and prepared to repel the danger by
advancing to meet it. The Elector, though not less firm,
was more cautious ; and this disposition was in this in
stance encouraged by the pacific counsels of his theolo
gians at Wittemberg. They addressed to him several
pressing admonitions to adopt a moderate and defensive
policy. Luther, Melancthon and Pomeranus urged him,
in a joint composition, to show every forbearance and
cling to every hope of peace, so that the crime of blood
might not at least rest with him. They advised him to
despatch an embassy to the Imperial Court, to remon
strate with the several members of the league, to esta
blish an interest among others who were not yet com
promised — in short, to try every expedient rather than
resort to military aggression. The two former of those
* The courtiers of Duke George are said scarcely to have denied the
league. The court of Saxony continued to believe in it ; and Spalatin,
in his manuscript history, deplored the fate of Pack, as having atoned
by exile and death for saving the Reformation.

232 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIV.
divines expressed similar sentiments, supported by many
references to Holy Writ, in a letter to the young prince,
John Frederick, dated on the 18tli of May ;* and soon
afterwards Melancthon urged the Chancellor Pontanus
with like exhortations. The argument was placed on
theological grounds, and religious scruples weighed so
much with Luther, that he even counselled his master
rather to break off his treaty with the Landgrave than
to engage in any measure of offence.
Such remonstrances, proceeding from such authority,
had no doubt their effect in moderating the violence of
the Landgrave, and restraining him from any hasty
enterprise ; and the praise of wisdom as well as humanity
may possibly be due to the divines who offered them.
But I must remark that they were not so much occa
sioned by any doubts as to the existence of the treaty,!
and of the dangers which it threatened, as by that fixed
and sound principle of Luther's policy which rejected
* Herein they propounded, among other Christian sentiments, " War
gains little, loses much, and ventures all ; but gentleness loses nothing,
ventures little, and gains everything."
t Luther wrote thus to Amsdorf on June 13, 1528 : " Excusationes
eorum apud me nihil concludunt ; cum certum sit, animo, facto, edicto
et omni studio eos hactenus egisse, agere voluisse, et etiamnum velle,
quod istud foedus multipliciter in se continet. . . ." On the following
day he wrote to Link to the same effect : " Foedus istud principum im
piorum, quod ipsi negant, vides quantos motus moverit. Sed ego ducis
Georgii frigidissimam excusationem fere pro confessione interpreter. Sed
negent, excusent, fingant; ego sciens scio non esse foedus istud merum
nihil aut chimaeram, licet monstrum sit monstrosum satis. . . ." And
this was followed in December by a desperate attack on Duke George,
in the form of another letter to Link : " Te quseso ut cum ecclesia tua
(that of Nuremberg) ores contra furiosum istum homicidam sanguinariura-
que latronem et plane non ab uno daemone possessum, nihil nisi csedes
et minas spirantem, ut Christus vel servet eum, sicuti Paulum, vel de
medio tollat. Quid enim divexat coelum et terram organum hoc Satanse
noxium et inquietura ?" The prince had just before published an in
vective against Luther, to which the latter had instantly replied.

CH. XXIV.J THE AFFAIR OF PACK. 233
every appeal to force, and sought success in the operation
of reason and the sword of the spirit. Charles, on his
part, when informed of these proceedings, sent a rebuke
from Toledo, on Nov. 9, in a tone of unusual haughti
ness, to the Elector. He reproached him for having
engaged on such slight grounds in so rash an under
taking, and disturbed, through his hasty belief of an
improbable fiction, and without any previous communi
cation with himself, the repose of the German empire.

234 [cH. xxv.

CHAPTER XXV.
ECCLESIASTICAL PROCEEDINGS OF THE REFORMERS.
The Council of Sens — publishes fifty-six articles — ^their substance-
remarks — Luther establishes the Saxon Church — his great caution —
iu respect to the alteration of ceremonies — his homilies — two cate
chisms — depredations of certain nobles on the church property — zeal
of Luther in repelling them — his interview with the Elector — the anti-
reformers charged with being the plunderers — general visitation of
Saxony — the visitors — the Elector's instructions to the commissioners
— means suggested for promoting the Reformation — among the pastors
and among the people — other regulations — remarks — on the principle
and practice of toleration as adopted by the Lutherans — dealings with
the canons of Altenburg — edicts issued by Ferdinand against the
Lutherans — remarks — education a favourite object with Luther — pro
posal to grant to certain patrons a portion of the value of their bene
fices — the book of doctrines and ceremonies — some of the articles
contained in it — two letters of Luther on the subject of ceremonies-
expressing great moderation — how the Catholics misrepresent this
— the Landgrave of Hesse, advised by Melancthon, calls an assembly
of his clergy at Homberg, and establishes the Reformation — Francis
Lambert — the plague raging at Wittemberg, Luther refuses to desert
his post.
The principles of the Reformation, ten years after their
first promulgation, had made very slight impression
upon the people of France — sufficient however to alarm
the jealousy and rouse the zeal of her prelates. Antoine
du Prat was Archbishop of Sens and Primate of France ;
he was likewise Cardinal of St. Anastasia and Legate of
the Pope ; and from this eminence he was believed to
entertain the not unreasonable ambition of ascending to
the highest. Accordingly, to testify his ardour for the
See of Rome and to overthrow the hopes of its opponents,

CH. XXV.J THE COUNCIL OF SENS. 235
he summoned a council of his suffragans. It is known
in history as the Council of Sens ; but it was held in the
Archiepiscopal palace at Paris. Its first meeting was
in the February of 1527, and it was prolonged till the
October of the following year.
This council is not nearly so remarkable for the
sentence which it pronounced on the various heresies of
Luther, as for the many acknowledgments which it
made of the abuses of the church, and the decrees which
it propounded for removing them. It issued fifty-six
articles, of which sixteen only related to doctrine, the
rest to the reformation of certain points in the externals
of the church. These articles are of little historical
importance, except as far as they prove how limited
were the concessions which even the more liberal among
the adherents of Rome were prepared to make to the
popular discontent — what was the sort of compromise
which they proposed, so as to satisfy the just demands
of the Gospel without offending the authority of Rome.
The scheme of Campeggio, proceeding from a devoted
minister of the See, was of course fallacious and con
temptible. But from the primates of the Galilean
church, which even yet boasted its ancient privileges
and partial independence, some deeper views might have
been expected, some more enlightened and honest exer
tions to purify their communion.
The extreme ignorance which disgraced the priesthood
was in some degree occasioned by the facility with which
candidates, rejected by their own bishops, obtained ordi
nation at Rome. To prevent this evil, it was decreed
that those ordained at Rome should be re-examined, and
suspended from any clerical duties, until they should
exhibit the requisite qualifications. The parochial mi
nisters were likewise commanded to explain to the

236 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXV.
people the Lord's Prayer and the Creed ; or, if them
selves incapable, to read a chapter from the Book of
Gerson. One or two festivals were abolished. Soft
and effeminate music was prohibited in the service of
God. The Gloria Patri was to be chanted standing,
and every head to bend whenever the name of Jesus
was pronounced. The bishops were to correct the bre
viaries, missals and legends of the saints. Some regu
lations were published respecting the habiliments of the
clergy ; they were forbidden on the one hand to appear
in tattered garments, and on the other to wear their
outward vestment of silk — an exception, however, being
made in favour of such as belonged to any great family.
But while such minute restrictions were imposed, and
with such an exception, the practice of concubinage was
treated with mildness. Those, living in notorious viola
tion of one of the first principles of Christian morality,
were only exhorted to change their manner of life, other
wise the canons would be enforced against them.
To correct that long-denounced scandal, the abuse of
excommunication, the clergy were commanded to be more
sparing in the employment of that weapon, and at least
not to unsheathe it in avenging a verbal injury, unless
it were one of a very atrocious description. In respect
to images, as it was acknowledged that many of a lasci
vious and antiscriptural character had found their way
into the churches, it was ordained that none should
thenceforward be suspended there without the approba
tion of the bishop ; and in like manner, as the credulity
of the faithful had been frequently and confessedly in
sulted by false miracles in order to feed the avarice of
the clergy, it was decreed that no title, chapel, or altar
should be set up, either within any church or without it,
except by the same episcopal authority.

CH. XXV.J THE LUTHERAN CHURCHES. 237
These and such as these were the regulations* pub
lished by the hierarchy of France, after a deliberation of
twenty months, as a sufficient remedy for the corruptions
of the church and a satisfactory substitute for the reform
ation of Luther. They require no further observation.
Proceeding from a synod of prelates, it was scarcely to
be expected that they should touch any one of the mani
fold iniquities of the prelacy. But even the defects of
the inferior clergy, even the vices of the lower depart
ments of the sacred office, were touched with so sparing
and partial a hand, as to prove at once that any substan
tial improvement from that quarter was altogether hope
less, and to justify by one additional argument the
enterprise of the Saxon reformer.
Meanwhile Luther, being free from any immediate
fear of outward aggression, was proceeding to construct
in his own churches new services of worship in the place
of those which he had condemned ; and in this delicate
work he continued to advance with a caution surprising
to those who understood not its delicacy. He would not
yet (in 1526) consent to the entire abolition ofthe Latin
mass ;f he persisted in retaining for the present some
Latin hymns and canticles ; he recommended the strict
observance of Lent, though without imposing a positive
obligation ; and he retained the sacred vestments, tapers
and altars until it should be safe to remove them. But
* It is Pallavicino's remark (lib. ii. cap. xii.) "that the doctrine re
ceived at Sens was precisely that which was afterwards established by the
Universal Council of Trent."
t This year he published his " Teutsche Messe und Ordnung des
Gottesdienstes." The reason which he gives in this work for retaining
the Latin service is far from satisfactory : " That the young men might
be serviceable to Christ in foreign lands and communicate with foreigners,
and not be as helpless as the Waldenses were in Bohemia, who had shut
up their own faith in their own language, and had no medium of reli
gious intercourse with the people of that country."

238 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXV.
at the same time he established the use of catechisms fbr
the illustration of the Creed, the Decalogue and the
Lord's Prayer; and in the appointed services for the
several days in the week he inserted explanations of the
Epistle and Gospel of the day, as well as other portions
of Scripture, both from the Old and New Testaments.
To such ministers as were unable to preach he enjoined
the reading of appointed homilies, as a method of in
struction which would at least preserve the people from
the legends of the ancient system and the puerilities of
illiterate preachers. He ventured, besides, to abolish cer
tain profane and ridiculous ceremonies and usages; but
his retrenchments in these matters were conducted with
remarkable discretion ; as he acted upon his general
principle that ceremonies were things indifferent, and
that, so long as the doctrine was preserved in purity,
they might be left to die away of themselves, through
the gradual progress of holy teaching. " Above all,"
he said, " we must bring the simple-minded and the
young to the knowledge of the Gospel by perpetual in
struction. And to this end we must read, sing, preach,
write prose and poetry; and, if such means would further
this good purpose, I would let them ring all the bells,
and play all the organs, and make every possible noise
that man can make."
The homilies recommended to the pastors were com
posed by himself, as well as the formulary delivered
to the faithful. The Elector promulgated an edict, by
which he established them as the service of the Saxon
church ; and he found such ready obedience, that among
all the landed proprietors in his dominions, many of
whom possessed a direct control over the parochial
churches, two only hesitated in their compliance, and
that for a very short time only. Preachers were then
sent forth into every part of the electorate, and the per-

CH. XXV.J THE LUTHERAN CHURCHES. 239
fecting of this provisional institution was committed to
their exertions, gradually operating to undermine the
remnants of hereditary prejudices.
Three years afterwards Luther published his two cate
chisms — works considered of so much value in that age,
that in 1580 they were received among the symbolical
books of his church. The first of these contained no
more than a succinct exposition of his articles of faith.
The second entered more into detail respecting the points
treated in it, which are the Creed, the Decalogue, the
Lord's Prayer, and the Sacraments. The necessity of
some such work of authority was discovered during
a complete visitation of the churches, which had been
made in 1527 and 1528.
In the preface to his Second Catechism we find the
author strongly deprecating, and not for the first time,
a serious evil which threatened both the safety and the
honour of the Reformation. As early as the year 1526,
after the death of Frederick and under the indulgent
sceptre of his successor, some lords of Thuringia, men of
credit at court, began to appropriate to themselves por
tions of the ecclesiastical property. It was not that the
Elector connived at this fraud, but it was easily con
cealed from his unsuspicious eye. And we may remark,
though with no surprise, that those who began this prac
tice were adherents of the ancient system, men who from
the beginning had been adverse to the cause of Luther.
Luther was no sooner made acquainted by Spalatin with
these transactions, than he took effectual measures to
stop them. " This matter is very serious," he replied,
" respecting the plunder of the monasteries, and you may
beheve that it torments me exceedingly. I have long
ago written to the effect you desire ; but not contented
with it, I have done more. When the prince was here
I forced myself into his very bedchamber, against every

240 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXV.
one's consent, that I might have a private audience with
him on the subject. . . . And to me it is the bitterest drop
of this most bitter draught, that they who have ever
been, and who still are, the enemies of the Gospel, those
who tried to chill the piety of Frederick, now that a
chance of plunder presents itself, are loud and insulting
in their exultations ; thinking that under the name of
the Gospel they can most effectually damage the Gospel,
and at the same time enjoy all the licences of the Gospel."
Luther did not stop there. He addressed a remon
strance to John Frederick, the Elector's son, in the pre
sence of the whole court. And he made it known to
Spalatin that, unless the prince should at once repress
the evil, he would himself denounce the transaction in
the face of all Christendom by a public appeal to his
justice ; which required that those funds should be ap
plied to the use of the poor and of the public, to whom
they properly belonged. " The prince," continued Lu
ther, " is a man of honour, and exposes himself to every
one's artifices, because he believes every one to be hke
himself, good and honourable. A man ought to be
wicked if he must be a prince — a king ought to rule
like a tyrant : the world will have it so. ..." *
There were several among the landed proprietors who'
affected to believe that, since the restoration of the Gos
pel, there was no longer any necessity for an order of
ministers, or for any sacred edifices ; and accordingly
they refused to support the clergy and to repair the
churches. That such selfish rapacity should have stained
the character of the Reformation is a circumstance to be
deplored, rather than palliated ; the more so, as the trans
gressors were for the most part mere pretenders to evan-
* " Homo fidelis est et omnium versutiis expositus, et qui credat ho
mines esse sui similes, bonos et fideles. Nequam esse oportet qui prin
ceps esse debet, et tyrannum decet regem esse. Hoc exigit mundus."

CH. XXV.J VISITATION OF THE CHURCHES. 241
gelical principles. Yet, if all who advocated the cause
of Luther had been, like their master, sincere, devout,
and disinterested, this had been a regeneration, not of
the church only, but of human nature likewise. The
existence of such impure worldly adherents was, of
course, no argument against the principles which they
falsely professed. But it proved to Luther and the other
chiefs of the party that their dangers were not all from
avowed adversaries or dissentients — that it was not
enough to confute the Papists on the one side and the
Anabaptists and Sacramentaries on the other — unless
they could establish on a solid foundation an ecclesias
tical system for themselves, with a strict attention to
external as well as spiritual objects, so as to secure by
laws and discipline the purity and honour of their com
munion. With this view the Elector, after some respectful but
vain communication with his bishops, undertook in
1527* a general visitation through his dominions. He
divided them into four districts, and appointed a com
mission for each, consisting partly of divines, partly of
laymen distinguished by station or birth. The district
nearest to Wittemberg was assigned to Luther, Justus
Jonas and Pomeranus, associated with the Prefect of
Wittemberg and three other laymen of consequence.
* Luther, in a letter to Hausman, of July 13, 1527 (No. 885), mentions
that the visitation was begun, Schurff and Melancthon having set out on
it eight days before. The difficulties encountered by the latter in the
performance of his office are somewhat querulously stated : " Ego" (says
Melancthon, lib. iv., ep. 58) "in molestissimis negotiis hoc tempore et
quidem nullo cum fructu, quantum video, versor. Adeo sunt omnia per-
turbata partim inscitia docentium, partim improbitate." These impedi
ments doubtless existed, but it is not easy to understand how his exer
tions, so judiciously directed and so strongly supported by the civil
authority, could be fruitless.
VOL. II. R

242 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXV.
The province called Osterland, comprehending Alten
burg and Zwickau, was committed to Spalatin, Musa
and Fusius, assisted by six laymen, prefects, or coun
cillors. Melancthon, Myconius and others were ap
pointed to inspect Thuringia ; and others of less note
were sent to that part of Franconia which was under
the jurisdiction of the Elector.
The Book of Instructions issued to the commissioners
contained some particulars worthy of record, as disclosing
the internal condition of the religious affairs of Saxony
at that period, and the principles by which the Elector
was guided in amending it. After setting forth to
the nobility, magistrates, pastors, schoolmasters and the
deputies of the people, the great blessing which the
revival of the Gospel had bestowed on them and the
gratitude due for it to Providence, the visitors were in
structed to express their sorrow that there were still
many who clung to the ancient abuses, and some so un
thankful for God's benefits as to refuse to His ministers
and preachers their rightful salaries ; let these be ex
horted to reflection and obedience.
Next they were directed to examine the doctrine
and lives of the pastors. Those, who should be found
absolutely disqualified for their office, were to be removed
and pensioned and others appointed in their places.
Those, who should persevere in teaching false doctrines,
or with sound doctrine in leading immoral lives, were to
be expelled without any compensation. Those, who gave
hope of improvement, might properly be transferred to
some other place. Such as should persist in publicly
propounding pernicious opinions were to be sent into
exile — not that the Elector wished to force any one's
faith — but that he could not carry toleration so far as
not to coerce and chastise those, who pertinaciously ex-

CII. XXV.J THE BOOK OF INSTRUCTIONS. 243
cited disturbances and sedition. Among the vulo-ar,
those, whose religious notions were incorrect, were to be
subjected to a course of instruction ; and if they perse
vered in rejecting the truth, a certain time was to be
allowed them to sell their goods and depart from the
country; any contumaciousness was to be visited with
punishment. The number of pastors and schoolmasters was to be
increased wherever it was necessary, and the funds of
the vacant churches and monasteries to be in part apphed
to their maintenance. The larger benefices were to be
taxed for the increase of the smaller in their neighbour
hood. And the visitors were desired to consider whether
some portion (a third for instance) of the benefices in the
patronage of nobles and other individuals might not be
set apart to relieve the necessities, should such exist, of
the patrons, or to assist the literary studies of young men,
or as dowries for the daughters of the patrons. Mea
sures were likewise proposed to protect the ecclesiastical
revenues against fraud, and persons appointed to enforce
the laws against debtors in behalf of the clergy, and thus
prevent collision between them and their parishioners.
Many regulations were suggested for the enforcement of
discipline and the discouragement of every sort of immo
rality, both among the ecclesiastics and the people. In
quisitions were likewise instituted into the condition of
the remaining monasteries and convents with a view to
the amendment of their inmates, and to reducing them
under the yoke of the Gospel.
The following are the, remarks which are most obvi
ously suggested by this document : —
The sort of toleration therein proposed was not far
removed from a modified form of persecution. As far as
the clergy were concemed, we observe that the teachers

244 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXV.
of "false doctrines" were to be punished by deprivation;
nor can we censure that resolution — but connected with
it we cannot fail to perceive the disposition, so inherent
in the dominant religion, to connect dissent with sedition,
and to chastise the former under the plea of repressing
or preventing the latter. In respect to the people, they
were undisguisedly condemned to exile if they should
persevere in rejecting " the truth." The greater mercy .
of the reformers consisted in abstaining from the inflic
tion of confiscation, imprisonment, or death.
These principles are illustrated by an event which
occurred a few years earlier in this history^ In 1525
the canons of Altenburg, in that electorate, desirous to
retain in their church the ancient mass, requested the
mediation of Duke George to that effect. Luther was
consulted on the subject by the Elector, and his reply
amounted to this : " That the mass being idolatrous, the
Elector had the undoubted right of interdicting it ; that
in truth it was never lawful to force any one's conscience,
or to oblige any one to renounce any worship which he
might consider true ; but that the prince could prohibit
that worship, if he thought it criminal." The canons
persevered ; and in the following year Luther was again
consulted. He answered (Feb. 6, 1526), " That the
Elector ought not to tolerate in one of his own churches
a worship offensive to himself and to his subjects; but
that, if the canons pleaded conscience, they might con
tinue to celebrate their mass in private and to defend it
by their writings as publicly as they might choose ; only
they must not be allowed to retain their revenues and
dignities." And this counsel was followed.
There are writers who applaud the moderation of
Luther in this transaction, and with unquestionable jus
tice, if we are only to compare it with the spirit of the

CH. XXV.J PRINCIPLES OF TOLERATION. 245
Inquisition. Yet what did it amount to in fact? The
prince prohibits the worship. The worshippers, sup
posing such to be their only means of salvation, persist ;
and they are punished, not for the worship, but for the
disobedience ; not for the spiritual offence, but for the
civil. What was this, but the most common subterfuge
of the papal church in its worst ages, practised without
mercy upon the many denominations of its heretics ; and
borrowed from the code, which armed the first Roman
persecutors against the " contumacy " of their Christian
subjects? The true theory of toleration was indeed
directly asserted by Luther, as it had been admitted in
directly by the Pagan emperors and popes. But it was
evaded in practice; and the only important difference
consisted in the execution.*
That we may understand the extent of this difference,
it is proper to confront with the above declarations an
edict relating to the same subject, which proceeded about
* It is a question whether even this scanty mercy was not confined to
the papal recusants, whether it extended to the Anabaptists, or even to
the Sacramentaries. From a passage cited in the next chapter it appears
that the Elector treated both these denominations of dissentients with the
greatest severity, and that Luther encouraged him in that practice. And
from a letter of the latter to W. Link, dated May 12, 1528, he appears
to have reasoned on the fortitude, displayed by these sectarians under per
secution, just as the Papists used, respecting the constancy of the Albi
genses and others of their heretics : " I think," says Luther with perfect
calmness, " that the constancy of Anabaptists in death (constantiam Ana
baptistarum morientium) is ofthe same nature with that which Augustine
inentions in the Donatists and Josephus in the Jews, on the destruction of
Jerusalem. And there is no doubt that many of such demonstrations are
the fury of Satan, especially when those who so die are blasphemers of
the sacraraent. The holy martyrs, such as our Leonard Keyser, suffer
with fear and humility, &c  Multa talia furorem esse Satanse non
est dubium, prsesertim ubi sic moriuntur cum blasphemia sacramenti."
(No. 980.)

246 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXV.
the same time from the papal party. In the August of
1527, Ferdinand King of Hungary and Bohemia issued
a mandate against the Lutherans and other heretics, to
the following effect : " Whosoever shall impugn by
speech, preaching, or writing, the godhead or manhood
of Christ, or his birth, passion, resurrection, ascension, or
the like, shall without mercy be consigned to the flames.
Whosoever shall speak disrespectfully of the etemal im
maculate Queen the Virgin Mary, or of the Apostles,
Evangelists, Martyrs, and other beloved Saints of God,
or of their service, mediation, or miracles, shall be
punished with imprisonment, exile and other inflictions.
Whosoever shall change the ancient form or order of
baptism, of the mass, or holy unction, or so celebrate the
Lord's Supper as to distribute or take both bread and
wine, shall be punished as heretics in limb, life and
goods, their houses confiscated, &c."
These were accompanied by other equally stringent
resolutions, and they were no doubt carried into general
effect. The instances of the infliction of death were
probably not common. But we read that one Leonard
Csesar, or Keyser, vicar of a parish belonging to the
canons of Passau, was burnt, in Bavaria, on the 16th
of this same month, for his adherence to the evangelical
cause. Luther, in a letter to Michael Stiefel, denounced
this act with the utmost power of virtuous and Christian
indignation ; but he forgot that degradation and exile
may sometimes be more bitter than death, and that those
sentences were executed under the same circumstances
by the chiefs of his own party, and by his own deliberate
instigation. The promotion of education was closely connected
with the principles of the Reformation, and its import
ance was strongly recognised in the " Instructions." In-

CH. XXV.J THE BOOK OF DOCTRINES. 247
somuch that the support of schoolmasters was placed on
the same ground with that of the ministers of the
churches, and a part of the confiscated revenues was to
be appropriated to the one purpose as well as to the other.
The religious and intellectual instruction of the children
ofthe lower classes was an object in itself so grand and
benevolent, and so mighty in its consequences, as to
command a foremost place in the capacious mind of
Luther and engage his warm and constant solicitude.
But another portion of the ecclesiastical revenues
was assigned to a much more equivocal purpose, when
an avenue was opened to the patrons to apply it to their
own necessities, and to impoverish the incumbents for
the maintenance of themselves and their families. This
was indeed a proposal of direct spoliation. It was to
divert the property of the church from every object
having any pretence to be legitimate, ecclesiastical, reli
gious, charitable, educational, nay even from every
public object, and to bestow it, as a boon or a bribe, upon
powerful individuals.
Besides the above Instructions, a Book of Doctrines
and Ceremonies was published by the Elector at the same
time, Jan. 3, 1528. This was composed by Melancthon,
but submitted before publication to the correction of
Luther, whose alterations were not numerous, and who
wrote the Preface. It was divided into eighteen chapters,
embracing numerous points of doctrine, morality and dis
cipline, and presenting a summary of the ecclesiastical
system then proposed to be established in the Saxon
States. It is not necessary to enter into the particular
provisions contained in it. In the fifth article the ne
cessity of infant baptism was carefully inculcated. In
the eighth the theory of pontifical confession was pro
nounced impracticable ; but the people were admonished

248 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXV.
to confess those cases in which the counsel of their pas
tors might be useful to them. In the tenth, which
concerned public worship generally, several festivals
in honour of saints were retained, though the people were
expressly warned not to pray to such saints even as in
tercessors, for that their only mediator was Christ. It
was declared to be indifferent whether mass were cele
brated in Latin or in German, though, whenever the body
of the communicants was ignorant of Latin, the latter
was recommended. In the thirteenth it was defined, that
man by his free will might observe an outward probity
and rectitude, and that it was his duty to do so ; but
that the grace of God by His free gift was required for
inward purification. In the thirteenth the people were
warned against the abuse of Christian liberty. The
sixteenth directed, that notorious sinners should be ex
cluded from the communion of the Eucharist, though
they might be admitted to sermons. By the seventeenth,
superintendents were appointed to the various districts
or dioceses, with power to exhort offenders and represent
them to the prefects, and through the prefects to the
prince : it was likewise their office to examine can
didates for ordination ; but this was the extent of their
privileges. The eighteenth and last provided for the
institution of schools, and inculcated the necessity and
usefulness of scholastic institutions.
Two letters written by Luther during the same year
(1528) supply a sort of commentary upon the tone of
the above instructions. One was addressed (on March
24) to William Pravest, a pastor of Holstadt. " I con
demn no ceremonies unless they be repugnant to the
Gospel. I preserve all the rest in our church in their
integrity. For the baptistery remains; and baptism,
though administered in the vulgar tongue, has the same

CH. XXV.J THE BOOK OF DOCTRINES. 249
rites as heretofore. Nay, I permit images in the church,
except such as were violently broken before my retum.
Thus we celebrate mass in the ordinary vestments and
with the ancient rites, except that we insert some chants
in German, and deliver the words of consecration in the
same language. Lastly, I do not wish to abolish the
Latin mass ; nor would I have permitted it in the vulgar
tongue, had I not been compelled.* In fine, there are
no people whom I hate more- than those, who forcibly
abolish free and innocent ceremonies, and in the place of
that freedom impose a necessity."
In the other, written on the subject of an Anabaptist
chief, Balthasar Hubmaier, who had been burnt at Vienna,
after asserting that the Anabaptist erred in condemning
everything that proceeded from Rome, the author con
tinued : " I confess that there are many Christian and
good things under the papacy, nay, everything that is so,
and that has come to us from that quarter, has been
retained by us. They had in the papacy the true Scrip
tures, the true baptism, the true sacrament of the altar,
the true absolution, true ministers, true catechism. The
Pope knows that we receive all these. We do not reject,
as the fanatics do, all that the papists hold, for thus
should we reject the assembly of Christ and the temple
of God ; but only those things do we renounce which
the Pope, not contented with the spiritual gifts trans
mitted to him from the apostles, presumed to add, at the
instigation of the devil, by his own authority. Yet God
preserved his Christian servants even in that desolation,
as He preserved Lot in Sodom (2 Pet. ii. 6, 7). They
will say that I am coaxing the Pope. But if he can
* " Denique Missam Latinam nequaquam volo sublatam, nee verna
culam permisissem nisi coactus." Luth. Brief. (No. 962.)

250 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXV.
bear such blandishments as this, I will be his obedient
son and a good papist, and will revoke everything by
which I have offended him.*
" This is the true method of contending against the
Pope ; lest we wound through his side those true Chris
tians who groan under his tyranny, and, while they ad
here to the primary articles of faith, disregard the fig
ments which have been patched upon them. What is
required is a prudent and circumspect spirit, which can
distinguish between the temple of God and the outhouses
which have been added to it by the Pope, so as to leave
the former untouched, while it demolishes only the
latter.t . . ."
In fact, what is chiefly admirable in the " Book of
Doctrines and Ceremonies," considering the heat of party
excitement then prevailing, is its moderation. And this
virtue was misinterpreted, as it is wont to be, on two
sides. The more violent reformers reproached the nerve
less languor and lukewarmness of a document breathing
so little of the fiery spirit of Luther, while the papists
immediately perceived in it the repentance and recanta
tion of both the chiefs of the Saxon Reformation. They
exclaimed with triumph that Luther had abjured most
of his errors — that Melancthon was scarcely at all re
moved from the Catholic faith ; and that the advantage
promised by this seeming disposition might not be lost,
* " Blandiri me dicent Papse. Sed si hic hsec blandimenta pati
potest, obediens ero filius et bonus papista et revocabo omnia quibus
eum offendi." It was on the strength of these and a few similar
expressions, that the papists raised their clamour, in which Erasmus
was not ashamed to join, about the concessions and retractations of
Luther. t Apud Seek., lib. ii. t. i. p. 116. It was in this compositipn that
Luther asserted the faith of infants.

CH. XXV.J REFORMATION OF HESSE. 251
Faber wrote directly to the latter, and offered him some
office of consequence about the court of Ferdinand, as the
price of his apostacy. Melancthon mentioned this fact
in a letter to Camerarius ; he then continued : " This
man imagines that I am vacillating, because my book of
the Inspection of the Churches is composed with mode
ration. Yet you will find nothing therein which has
not been frequently laid down by Luther. But, because
1 have said the same things without the same asperity,
these acute persons fancy that I dissent from him."
Luther treated those suspicions with mere contempt.
" If," as he wrote to Spalatin, " our adversaries make
any boast about these statutes of ours, it is a miserable
boast, and will not last them long."
While these affairs were thus proceeding in Saxony,
the Landgrave of Hesse was no less desirous to place the
Reformation in his own dominions on a firm and safe
foundation. To this end he applied in 1526 for counsel
to Melancthon. The answer of the latter appears to
have been written during the first Diet of Spires, and
the spirit of his suggestions was the same, which directed
him in the establishment of his national church. He
advised. That great caution should be used in the
abolition of ceremonies ; that private masses should be
prohibited, except one on every Sunday and feast-
day in each parish; that all canonical hours, except
those celebrated in honour of the saints, should be
retained, as well, indeed, as every practice not tainted
with idolatry and superstition; that faith, the fear of
God, charity and civil obedience, were to be inculcated
by the preachers.
As soon as the Landgrave returned from Spires, he
ordered an assembly of his clergy to be held at Homberg
on Oct. 21, 1526, for the purpose of a public disputation

252 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXV.
on the contested questions. One Francis Lambert, a
reformed Franciscan, from the neighbourhood of Avig
non, was presented as the evangelical champion, and he
proposed twenty-three theses to be defended against all
opponents.; .'g^He was a man of some leaming and talents,
and of unsuspected morals ; and, having resided for
some time at Wittemberg, he was not unknown to the
chiefs of the party. Two obscure polemics assailed his
theses, but with so little success, before an audience pro
bably prejudiced and a prince already decided, that they
were glad to escape the consequences of their freedom by
a voluntary banishment. The Landgrave then corti-
manded the monks and the nuns to withdraw from their
houses, and applied the revenues to the support of the
academy of Marburg and the foundation of four hospi
tals. At the same time he removed the images from the
churches and prescribed some regulations for the religious
ceremonies. Many other cities and districts are mentioned, where
the Reformation was either planted or perfected during
the year 1528 — Brandenburg, Goslar, Gottingen, Ulm,
Strasburg. And the Elector sent Pomeranus on a com
mission first to Brunswick, afterwards to Hamburg, to
establish a form of government (Kirchen-ordnung) among
the churches of those places.
During the earlier part of the visitation, in the sum
mer and autumn of 1527, an epidemic disease raged with
some violence at Wittemberg. All who were able fled
from the place. The whole university, as well as many
of the inhabitants, withdrew from the peril and retired
for the while to Jena. Of the entire academical and
sacerdotal body, Luther, with Pomeranus and their chap
lains, alone remained. It was in vain that the Elector
frequently exhorted him to provide for his safety ; in

CH. XXV.J PLAGUE AT WITTEMBERG. 253
vain that the plague penetrated into his very household ;
he entreated his sovereign not to remove him from his
duties.* At that time John Hess, pastor of Breslau,
wrote to consult him, whether it were permitted to retire
from an infected place ? He replied that it was not per
mitted to those who had public duties to discharge there.
And fulfilling faithfully his own precept, he continued to
perform those imposed upon himself till it pleased Provi
dence to stay the visitation.
* At the same time, in various letters to Spalatin, he frankly confessed
that the panic was much greater than the danger : " Pestem nostram
superat rumor suus longissime ; quod facit fuga ista et metus inauditus
nostrorum." " Pomeranus et ego hic soli sumus cum Capellanis . . .
'propter monstrum pavoris istius in vulgo."

254 [ch. xxvi.

CHAPTER XXVI.
SECOND DIET OF SPIRES.
Assembly of the Second Diet of Spires — determination of the papal
party — instruction of the Emperor strongly anti-Lutheran and im
perious — struggle forthe abolition of the Edict of Spires — address of
the papal nuncio Mirandola — attempt to divide the reformers, by
proscribing the Sacramentaries, with the consent of the Lutherans-
controversy between Melancthon and CEcolampadius — greater modera
tion of the latter — attempt of the free cities to prevent a breach — the
Elector hesitates — but the Landgrave decides for union — Luther's reply
to the Elector's application for counsel — nevertheless the Cathohcs
repeal the Edict of (1) Spires by a majority — the reformers remon
strate and then protest, whence the designation of Protestant — substance
ofthe decision of the Diet — substance of the protestation — parties who
sign it — the papists persevere — and the Protestants appeal— sub
stance of their appeal — publication of the protestation — the papal party,
dissatisfied with their success, become eamest in their wish for a
general council.
The states of the empire assembled at Spires (on
March 15, 1529) with more than their usual alacrity.
The papal party especially mustered all their forces and
assumed a warlike and insulting attitude. Never on
any like occasion had there appeared so large an assem
blage of spiritual nobles ; and these more than any be
trayed by their looks and manners the malignity of their
designs. One or two princes, who had hitherto been
considered neutral, or even favourable to the Reform
ation, now declared against it. Others came attended
by considerable escorts of cavalry, breathing hatred and
defiance. Nothing less was meditated than the imrae
diate extinction of the heresy by the sword. To this

ch. XXVI.J INSTRUCTION OF THE EMPEROR. 255
formidable array of military and ecclesiastical animosity
the Elector of Saxony opposed nothing but the peaceful
pen of Melancthon, his only attendant at the Diet. And
yet neither the spirit which he then manifested, nor his
advanced age, nor his undisputed virtues, recommended
him to the charity of the papists, who refused to him
even the common offices of courtesy, and treated him as
if he had fallen under the same excommunication with
his detested subject.
The intolerance of the party was confirmed by the In
struction of the Emperor. In this document he com
plained of the changes in religion, and the disrespect
which had been shown to his own authority ; for he
claimed to be the chief of the Christian world, and de
manded unreserved obedience to his decrees. He ob
served, that the religious innovators whom he had pro
scribed were daily increasing in numbers, and that too
under the pretext of the Edict of Spires (in 1526). He
then made known to the Diet that, by virtue of his
absolute power, he abrogated that Edict, as in direct
opposition to his orders.
The imperious tone of this proclamation, the assump
tion of a despotic control over the affairs of the empire,
which would have annihilated its constitution and the
free privileges of its members, offended the pride and
independence of the assembled princes ; yet not so much
as to prevent the anti-Lutheran confederates from en
deavouring to tum to their own account so marked an
approval of their principles. They overlooked the in
sult to their prerogatives in the promised attainment of
their immediate object, and applied themselves to carry
into effect the spirit of the Instruction. Accordingly,
their first cry was the same which they had so often
raised to so little purpose — the execution of the Edict of
Worms. They did not now, probably, expect success ;

256 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXVL
but it was a common expedient of ecclesiastical pohcy
to fight the first battle at the most distant outworks, and
thence to retreat, with some show perhaps of ungraceful
concession, to more defensible positions. And so on this
occasion the prelates, being immediately overpowered
in their first struggle, entrenched themselves in the
imperial order. They insisted on the abrogation of the
Edict of Spires. The evangelical princes and the depu
ties of the free cities contended, with equal resolution and
more justice, that that Edict had been drawn up accord
ing to the usual forms ; that the commissioners of the
Emperor had consented to it in his name ; that it was
the legal act of the whole body of the republic ; and that
it was beyond the imperial authority to annul it.
The discussions which arose on this subject were in
terrupted by the arrival of the pontifical nuncio, John
Thomas of Mirandola. In his official address to the
Diet he urged the necessity of concord during the actual
pressure and progress of the Turkish arms. He deplored
the divisions of Christendom and the increase of the
heresies which deformed it. And while, in general
terms, he exhorted the faithful to persevere and the
apostates to repent, he alluded to the council, so earnestly
desired and so repeatedly demanded, in expressions not
at all calculated to nourish the hopes, or win the con
fidence, of the German princes. For even in the fury
of party strife, the Hundred Grievances of Nuremberg
were not yet forgotten; and there were none, at least
among the secular princes, such eager advocates of the
prerogatives of Rome, as to be wholly unmindful of the
wrongs and the burdens which she had never ceased to
inflict on them.
As it was not easy to overthrow the reformers, so
long as they continued to act together with cordiality,
a very dangerous attempt was next made to divide them.

CH. XXVI.J SCHEME TO DIVIDE THE REFORMERS. 257
Faber, Bishop of Vienna, and the celebrated Eck, ex
erted considerable influence at this Diet, and suggested
the craftiest counsels to the Catholic princes. We
have not yet pursued the sacramentarian controversy
into any of its details; but enough has been said to
prove, that a very serious difference existed in the
evangelical camp on the subject of the Eucharist ; that
that difference was considered important by both parties,
and by one of them essential ; and that the schism had
been made wider and more notorious by the violent
intolerance of Luther. The seeds of dissension were
thus sown, and the moment was not unfavourable to
mature them.
The scheme of the papal party was to direct their
main attack against the Sacramentaries ; to defame and
blacken them by every form of vituperation ; to turn
to their destruction the arms which had been furnished
by Luther himself; to incite against them even the
adherents of Luther ; and finally to overwhelm them by
an edict of proscription. They began to say that the
Lutherans might possibly be tolerated ; that, with all
their errors, they had refrained at least from one species
of blasphemy — they had spared the body and blood of
Christ; that they had even displayed their just detesta
tion of a tenet which removed them farther from the
Sacramentaries on the one side, than their errors sepa
rated from the Catholics on the other ; that they might
indeed hope for reconciliation with the church, provided
they would unite in denouncing the far more abominable
heresy of their brother sectarians.
These artful suggestions were indeed more calculated
to influence the passions of the theologians, than the
policy of the princes ; yet could they scarcely fail to do
some mischief. Should they succeed in dividing the
parties, they would open the best imaginable prospect for
VOL. II. s

258 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXVI.
the destruction of both ; and should they not, they would
at least subject the Lutherans to some share in that
fiercer clamour, now especially levelled against the
bolder and more obnoxious schismatics.
Again, during this very crisis, a controversy was pro
ceeding between Melancthon and CEcolampadius, re
specting the disputed doctrine. On hearing the rumour,
of the intended proscription of his party, the latter wrote
from Basle (March 31, 1529) a letter abounding in ex
pressions of personal consideration, and desire for the
general harmony and co-operation of all the friends of
the Gospel. Melancthon replied from Spires, that he
too was no less the friend of concord ; that hitherto he
had taken no part in the controversy in question, nor
written one syllable on the subject; that he had been
a spectator rather than an actor in that drama ; and that
he had many grave reasons for having refused to mingle
in so odious a strife. Then, after this sage exordium,
he entered at some length into the theological argu
ment ; and, after again deploring the difference, suggested
that a few good men of both parties should meet in con
ference, to reconcile it. CEcolampadius replied. The
argument was conducted with much ingenuity, and the
victory, as is usual in such matters, was claimed by
both. But as to the spirit, in which this little episode
in the controversy was conducted, we may observe this
distinction — while Melancthon hastily published his
letter, both in Latin and German, and appeared im
patient for the applause and triumph of his party, the
other more magnanimously suppressed his reply,* on
the ground that it was more conducive to the concord,
so essential to both, to throw the veil of secresy over
their unhappy and unseasonable disputes.
* He did not publish it till after the conference of Marburg.

CH. XXVI.J MEDIATION OF THE FREE CITIES. 259
Meanwhile the free cities, some of which* were less
decidedly addicted to Luther's sacramental opinion,
were urgent in their endeavours to prevent a breach.
To this end they represented to the princes with per
fect justice : That this was a palpable artifice of their
common enemy ; that their safety depended on their
union ; that that union was founded in a general agree
ment on Essentials ; that their difference respected one
doctrine only ; that even on that they were agreed,
as to the only important point, since they alike ad
mitted the presence of Christ, though they differed
as to the manner of His presence ; that they both re
cognised the Gospel as the only rule of faith ; that the
Reformation was established on the same principles
and by the same authority in the cities, as under the
princes ; that the caresses, which the papists now offered
to the latter, were insincere and dangerous, and sup
plied only an additional motive for concord; that
their common enterprise had received the sanction of
the former Diet of Spires ; and that they were bound
* Seckendorf, lib. ii. sect. 14. § 44. Pallavicino (lib. ii. cap. xviii.)
remarks, that, as the heresy of Luther was born under a prince, so it
affected some mixture of notions favourable to monarchy ; while that of
Zwingle, having originated in a republic, was addressed to the popular
inclination for liberty. " And in conformity with this, we observe," he
continues, " that in this Diet all the princes were on the side of Luther,
and many of the free cities followed Zwingle." It does not appear that
any of the free cities declared themselves believers in the doctrine of the
Sacramentaries, though they were not prepared, any more than the
Landgrave, to break off all communion with the others on account of
that doctrine. But I do not see how this wise resolution was connected
with their form of government. " L' eresia di Martino era nata sotto
un principe ; e a fin d' inescolarlo s' era seminata con mistura di concetti
piil vantaggiosi al dominio d' un solo. La, dove quella di Zwinglio
originata in un governo popolare erasi nelle prediche e negli scritti de'
suoi con altri sentimenti, gradevoli alia liberta del popolo," &c.
s 2

260 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXVI..
to prevent by their united exertions the abrogation of its
decree. The Landgrave, with his usual decision, instantly
assented to these truths, and exerted all his power to
prevent a rupture. The Elector, whether through a
defect in political sagacity or through the influence of
religious scruples, suspended his determination, until he
should learn the opinion of Luther. But the other
princes, not being equally bigotted to the responses of
that doctor, resolved at once to maintain their connexion
with the Sacramentaries, and rejected the proposition of
condemning them. The reasons which they gave for
this wise determination were these : That notwithstand
ing the grand error of that party, it had not yet ex
hibited the spirit of obstinacy and schism which properly
constitutes heresy; that the subject of difference had
not yet undergone a perfect discussion, and ought to
be referred to the decision of the future council ; that
the accused should at least be heard before they were
condemned ; that proscription would only render them
desperate, and give occasion to violence and calamity.
These reasons were devised with more ingenuity than
boldness. They did not disclose the real cause of the
resolution which they professed to justify, but placed its
defence on ecclesiastical principles, recognised by their
adversaries, and on political expediency. The first, in
deed, embodied one of the favourite maxims of the
church ; none of them expressed any indulgence towards
the error of the Sacramentaries, nor any determination
to persist, should that error continue, in retaining them
in communion.
It was well that those pious and prudent men did not
suspend their judgment in deference to the name of
Luther. His reply to the Elector's communication, de-

CH. XXVI.J THE COUNSEL OF LUTHER. 261
manding his counsel on that as well as on other matters,
was suggested by a different spirit. In that document
he spoke generally of the rottenness of the ecclesiastical
abuses which prevailed, till his hand seized and shook
them in pieces. He assumed credit for having always
preached, among other Christian doctrines, obedience to
the civil authorities ; — but for his injunctions the people
would have carried their revolt against their spiritual
oppressors into universal disorder, ending in atheism.
He argued, that the Elector could not have prevented the
Reformation even had he so desired ; he gave many rea
sons why an edict, violating the rights of conscience,
should be resisted : but in respect to the Sacramentaries
and Anabaptists, whom he comprehended without dis
tinction in the same category, he counselled his master
to obey the determination of the Diet, to execute what
ever might be enacted against them, and to persist in the
great severity with which he had hitherto treated them.*
This insidious attempt having failed, the Roman Ca
tholics proceeded to try their strength with their united
adversaries. On the 4th of April they proposed the re
peal of the edict of Spires, and the majority decided in
their favour. The Reformers persisted in their remon
strances; and, what deserves especial notice, they de
fended their resistance chiefly by the grand distinction,
now indeed familiar to all men, but then for the first
time broached as a principle of government, between a
temporal and a spiritual obedience. Had the resolutions
of the Diet, they argued, concerned nothing more than
their secular interests, they would have cheerfully sub
mitted. But since it touched their conscience, and that
* " Reliquis Decreti capitibus contra Anabaptistas et Sacramentaries
parendum est, et hucusque adversus errores illos in provinciis suis cum
omni severitate ab Electore actum fuit." — Apud Seckend., 1. ii., sect. 14,
§ 44, addit.

262 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXVI.
sacred right of private judgment which every man car
ried in his own bosom, they represented the impossibility
of obedience. They urged besides, that to cancel the
unanimous declaration of one Diet by a mere majority
in another, was contrary to the constant practice of the
States of the empire.
Notwithstanding, Ferdinand and the papists, in the
confidence of their numerical superiority, which was
further proved by a second trial of strength on the 12th,
after some other vain attempts to divide their opponents,
demanded their unconditional submission to the decision
of the assembly. This was on the 19th of April, 1529.
The Reformers protested; and, as that simple act was
disregarded, they presented on the following day in
writing that second and more elaborate remonstrance,
whence they received the designation of Protestants.
Yet the decision of the Diet, as embodied in its edict,*
was more moderate than the Reformers probably ex
pected, or than the ecclesiastical faction desired. Ferdi
nand was perhaps perplexed by the firmness of his
opponents ; he had certainly personal reasons for avoid
ing extremities. His dominions were invaded by the
Turks and the safety of his sceptre menaced. Thus once
more was it his nearest object to obtain supplies of mo
ney or men from the German States, and of this there
* This edict (as Melancthon mentions in a letter of the Ith of May
following) finally passed the Diet on the 23rd of April, though it was not
published till the 6th of May ; but of course its contents had been dis
cussed in the previous deliberations of the Assembly ; and thus we may
easily account for the circumstance, at first sight singular, that the date
of the protest (April 19) is earlier than that of the Decree protested
against. No doubt, one object of the Reformers, in thus anticipating the
concluding act of the Diet, was to prevent the ratification of the edict.
It is therefore unnecessary to adopt the suggestion, of Courayer, (note 74,
on lib. i. of Fra Paolo Sarpi Istor. Concil. Trident.,) who, on the single
authority ofthe continuator of Fleury, would substitute (April) 13 for 23.

CH. XXVI.J EDICT OF THE DIET. 263
could be no hope should he embroil them in a civil war.
Moreover, the contest between Charles and Francis was
not yet concluded, and the latter had already begun to
turn his views towards an alliance with the German Re
formers. These circumstances doubtless had their weight
in influencing both the matter and spirit of a document,
so much more temperate than the imperial instructions
under which the assembly commenced its deliberations.
The following were its most important provisions.
These States, in which the Edict of Worms had already
been executed, were commanded to persevere in en
forcing it, of course to the exclusion of the evangelical
doctrines. In respect to the others, they were permitted
to retain such of their innovations as could not be abo
lished without popular disorders, until the meeting of a
general or national council ; meanwhile they were pro
hibited from introducing any others. The Eucharistical
doctrine opposed to the real presence was condemned
and its promulgation forbidden, but without any express
mention of the Sacramentaries. The mass was to be
maintained where it existed, and to be restored where it
had been abolished, for the service of those who might
prefer that form. " The lately arisen error and sect" of
the Anabaptists was proscribed, acc^'ding to the tenor
of the imperial edict issued against them on the same
day, and thereby confirmed by the Diet. The Gospel
was to be preached according to the interpretation of the
church and without allusion to contested doctrines; and
peace and religious harmony were recommended to all
the States of the empire.
Such were the enactments against which the memo
rable protestation was directed — a document founded on
the principle, that every man possessed the right of
judging for himself in matters of religion, and that the
conscience was amenable to no authority but that of

264 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXVI.
God. The Reformers pleaded at some length to this
effect : — That the cause of the various troubles which
afflicted the empire was not to be found iu the opinions of
the Lutherans, but in the notorious abuses of the church,
which even a pope had confessed and avowed; that
as they, the Protestants, presumed not in any manner to
interfere with the religious concerns of others, so they
might justly claim the same independence for them
selves ; that the pontifical mass had been proved by
irrefragable argument to be contrary to the word of
God, and therefore that they could not without impiety
restore it in their States ; that in respect to the doctrine
of the real presence, they were not disposed to issue any
decree against any who might think differently, at least
until their arguments had been fairly heard and contro
verted ; that the highest authority for the interpretation
of Scripture was Scripture, the clearer passages being
employed for the elucidation of the more obscure — since
the word church was somewhat equivocal, owing to the
difficulty of ascertaining which was the true church;
that human tradition rested on no certain foundation ;
that the unanimous Edict of Spires, which they were
called upon to cancel, did no more than protect the
members of the emjm-e in the worship of God, according
to what might seem to each its purity, and was really
an instrument of peace and concord ; that the Edict of
Worms had been made a means of oppression and con
fiscation by the princes who adopted it ; that for these
reasons they dissented from the proposed decree, and
were ready to render account of that proceeding to all
men, the Emperor not excepted; meanwhile, until a
general or national council should be assembled, that
they would abstain from every act which might give
reasonable ground for offence.*
* Sleidan, lib. VI., foL 101.

CH. XXVI.J THE PROTEST OF SPIRES. 265
This manifesto bore the signatures of six princes and
of the deputies of fourteen imperial cities. The former
were the Elector of Saxony, George of Brandenburg,
Ernest and Francis of Lunenberg, Wolffgang of Anhalt,
and Philip, Landgrave of Hesse. The cities were Stras
burg, Nuremberg, Ulm, Constance, Lindau, Memmingen,
Kempten, Nordlingen, Heilbrun, Reutlingen, Isne, Weis-
semburg, Winsheim, and St. Gal. If the power of some
of these was very inconsiderable, their boldness was the
more remarkable, and the moral effect of such intrepid
adherence to a popular principle was not lost upon the
adversary. Inferiority in numbers was supplied by
deeply-rooted determination ; and the zeal of interest,
or profession, or prejudice, or loyalty towards a vene
rable ancestral institution, was foiled by that earnest in
flexible spirit, which proceeded from a strong sense of
right and justice, and the predominance of conscientious
convictions, irresistible when they are founded in religion.
However, the papists were firm. They rejected the
protestation, and two days afterwards (April 22) they
again called upon the minority to adhere to the resolu
tions which had been voted. On the 24th it appears that
Ferdinand expressed his willingness to receive the docu
ment, but insisted that its authors sh(^ld not publish it.
This was at once refused ; and on the following day, the
recess being now irrevocably passed and proclaimed, the
Reformers issued a second manifesto, on the same prin
ciples and in the same tone with the first, but under a
different form. It was an " Appeal" from the decision
of the Diet to the Emperor, or to a Christian and free
or national council, or to any competent judge.
The appeal was in behalf of " themselves and their
subjects, and all those who either then adhered to the
holy word of God, or who might do so at any future
time." And in the same spirit of universal sympathy

266 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION, [CH. XXVL
and communion with all that was just and holy they
proceeded to call God to witness, " that their intention
was no other than to further the honour of God and His
most holy word, and the salvation of themselves and of
others ; and that they were neither doing nor designing
anything except to pay, without wrong to any one, the
debt which they owed to their controlling conscience
and to their God. All these were by nature connected
one with another; and, as in worldly perils it was
permitted to any one to interfere for the preservation of
his neighbour, how much greater right had those, who
were members of the one spiritual body of Christ Jesus,
and children of the one heavenly Father, and were thus
spiritually brothers, to be watchful and provident with
every legitimate remedy to save both themselves and
their neighbours, in that mighty concern which involved
their everlasting condition !" They then referred to their
protestation and touched again on various matters which
had been treated in it — the Edict of Worms, the restora
tion of the papal mass, and above all the abrogation of
the Edict of Spires of 1526 ; and, after referring to some
subsequent proceedings of the Diet, they solemnly inter
posed their appeal.
Having given tj^is last proof of their unflinching con
stancy, they departed to their several states and cities.
The protestation was immediately printed and published,
by the Landgrave on the 5th, by the Elector on the
13th of the following May ; and then they consulted as
to the best means of approaching the Emperor and ob
taining for their acts and their cause that respectful
attention, which on so many accounts they deserved.
Meanwhile, the opposite party had no great reason to
exult in their triumph, if such indeed it could be ac
counted. And they perceived this so clearly, that when
the ambassadors of Charles transmitted to him an ac-

CH. XXVI.J SUBSEQUENT PROCEEDINGS. 267
count of the proceedings of the Diet they accompanied it
with this advice, that he should immediately procure the
convocation of a free council in Germany ; that, should
the Pope refuse, he should himself convoke it ; and that
he should be present and preside over it. After so many
trials of strength, with such unsatisfactory results, it was
now manifest to all, who were not quite blinded by pro
fessional or party bigotry, that the principles of Luther
could not be put down, either by mere irrational force,
or even by the decisions of universities, or of majorities
in partial though dignified assemblies. The demands of
that party had so much show of justice, their opinions
were so popular and so deeply fixed wherever they had
taken root, that nothing less than the condemnation of
the highest Christian or national tribunal could have
shaken them. If the sword were to be the final arbiter,
even the sword could only have succeeded by contending,
not as the implement of ecclesiastical or even imperial
vengeance, but in execution of the solemn, deliberate,
impartial sentence of the representatives of the Christian
community. There were some too, even among the papal princes,
who had other motives for desiring a council. They ex
pected some benefit to themselves or to their subjects
from its labours ; they looked forward to it as a consti
tutional instrument for the abolition of those manifold
grievances which they suffered in common with their
Protestant brethren, and against which so many weary
remonstrances had been reiterated in vain.

268 [ch. xxvii.

CHAPTER XXVII.
REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND.— ZURICH.
Birth and education of Zwingle — his earliest professional employment
at Glarus — Einsiedlen — his promotion to the collegiate church at
Zurich— Bernhard Samson and his indulgences— opposed for what
reason by the Bishop of Constance, and by Zwingle — repulsed from
Zurich — correspondence between the Zurichers and Leo X. — the first
lectures of Zwingle purely evangelical — ^liis belief in the doctrine of
justification by faith — first decree of the senate of Zurich — dispute on
the use of meats — Zwingle's apprehensions and firmness— he resigns
a salary received from Rome — ^lie advocates the cause, and recommends
the writings of Luther — opposition of the Bishop, through the agency
of Faber — defence of Zwingle — the Bishop appeals to the national
assembly at Baden — opposition of the monks— disregarded by the
senate — Zwingle's religious confidence — ^he convinces Lambert in
public disputation — reasons which occasioned the convocation of the
synod of January, 1523 — no opponent appearing, the senate decree in
favour of the Reformation — Zwingle's sixty-seven articles — and eluci
dation of them — his book on the canon of the mass — the second synod
of Zurich in September, 1523 — account of its proceedings — two sub
jects proposed for disputation — no Catholics appear — decree of the
synod — and consequent proceeding of the Zurichers.
Ulric Zwingle was born in an obscure village in the
district of Tokenburg, named Wildenhaus, situated
among the summits of the loftiest mountains, and en
nobled only by the fortune which made it the birth
place of a great man. The time of his nativity is
disputed, but Gerdesius confidently fixes it on Janu
ary 1, 1484,* rather less than two months after that
* Zwingle, writing to Vadianus on September 17, 1531, mentions
liimself as in his forty-eighth year.

CH. XXVII.] ULRIC ZWINGLE. 269
of Luther. His family was ancient and respectable.
The most careful attention was paid to his educa
tion, which is traced indeed to his very infancy. Till
the age of ten he was under the care of his uncle, a
dean ; then he passed under the tuition of one Gregory
Bingli, master of an elementary school at Basle ; and
even at that early period there are records of the asto
nishing promises of his genius. The rudiments of lite
rature he received from Henry Lupulus, a scholar of
reputation in those days, at Bern. Thence he was
removed to Vienna, in Austria, where he pursued for
two years his studies in philosophy ; and thence he re
turned to Basle, and commenced a course of theological
instruction under the celebrated Thomas Wittenbach.
From this last master, of whom he never spoke without
reverence, he learnt, by his own confession — what Luther
about the same time learnt from Staupitz — the great
doctrine of justification by faith. And we are likewise
assured by Leo Judse, his friend and fellow-student, that
their intelligent preceptor being well versed in scriptural
lore, and not blind to the ecclesiastical corruptions,
among which the foremost place was invariably yielded
to the system of papal indulgences, distinctly indicated
to them many of those truths afterwards so loudly pro
claimed, and impressed into their minds the rudiments
of those great principles which directed and distin
guished their lives.
From the same master they received too, as was cus
tomary and necessary, some instructions in the scholastic
system of ratiocination ; but both presently forsook it,
with no other regret than for the time which had been
spent so fruitlessly. "We have good reason," so Zwingle
wrote in 1523 to his ancient preceptor, " to pity each
other foi* our useless application to the vain subtleties of
the school. But do not distrust yourself on my account :

270 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXVII.
it is the evil of the age. Our repentance, however, may
have this use : it may serve as a motive and example
for those, who have any elevation and freedom of minji,
not to trifle about things which we have abandoned, with
a joy only mingled with regret that we did not abandon
them sooner."
As a relaxation from his severer studies, Zwingle,
like Luther, applied to the science and performance of
music ; and this with so much success, and while he was
yet very young, as to attract the admiration of certain
Dominicans, who were desirous that he should enter
into their order, and adorn it by the exertion of that
talent. Erasmus had been recommended by the sweet
ness of his voice to like solicitations ; but Zwingle was
preserved by the good sense of his father and uncle,
who were preparing him for a very different field of
distinction. He was ordained by the Bishop of Constance in 1506,
and obtained a preachership in the city of Glarus. There
he remained for ten years, faithfully discharging his pro
fessional duties, not only by his sermons, but by occa
sional public disputations. During this space, his chief
devotion was to the epistles of St. Paul, which he
transcribed from the original Greek with his own hand,
together with various comments collected from the
writings of the fathers and committed to his faithful
memory. He also composed some theological common
places, in which he collected the opinions of the fathers,
respecting the principal articles of faith. At the same
time he pursued his studies in profane literature with
great ardour, neglecting neither the Greek nor the Latin
writers, in poetry or in prose ; and as a sort of link be
tween the past and the future — between the meditations
of his youth and the actions of his riper years — he de
voured, as they successively appeared, the writings of

CH. XXVII.J ULRIC .ZWINGLE. 271
Erasmus. Such was the discipline by which he forti
fied his hardy mind for the struggles to come, and such
the stores that he was diligently laying up for the use of
his after life : but it is not clear that he yet projected any
of the achievements which Providence had ordained for
him. For though some affirm, that even at that time
he did not altogether refrain from censures on the papal
superstitions, so that some Reformers, who afterwards
arose in that district, may have derived their maturer
principles from the seeds which he scattered there, yet in
speaking in later days of his own evangelical labours, he
did not date their commencement until after his de
parture from Glarus.*
This took place in 1516. In the autumn of that year
he was invited by the governors of the Benedictine
monastery of Einsiedlen (called the desert of Switzer
land) to undertake the office of pastor and preacher in
the church of the Virgo Eremitana (the Virgin of the
Hermitage), much celebrated throughout that country and
the whole of Upper Germany, and continually crowded
with credulous devotees. In this seclusion he continued
his studies and improved his knowledge, especially that
of the Greek language. He presently acquired the con
fidence of several learned and liberal persons whom he
found residing there, admirers of Reuchlln and Erasmus,
and destined in due season to become readers of Luther
hkewise. He endeavoured besides to amend the spiritual
condition of the people committed to his charge. He
* " Ccepi ego evangelium praedicare anno salutis 1516, eo scilicet tem
pore cum Lutheri nomen in nostris regionibus ne auditum quidem adhuc
erat." — Operum, tom. i., p. 37. It is to be observed too, that in this
passage he was endeavouring to place the beginning of his preaching at
as early a date as he could consistently with truth. Myconius remarks
that during his residence at Glarus he confined himself to gospel-
preaching, and abstained, or nearly so, from touching the ecclesiastical
abuses.

272 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXVII.
strove to lead them away from the worship of images to
faith in Christ ; from human inventions and traditions
to the doctrine of the Gospel. He even addressed to the
Bishop of Constance and the Cardinal of Sitten certain
admonitory epistles, entreating them to employ their
authority for the reformation of their respective churches ;
and so great already was his credit, that those prelates
were not offended by the boldness of his remonstrances.
He remained at Einsiedlen rather more than two years ;
and then, at the close of 1518, he was summoned to the
great and final field of his exertions : he was appointed
preacher in the collegiate church at Zurich.
The crisis of his appearance on this scene was so
extraordinary, as to indicate to every devout mind a
providential dispensation, designed to raise up a second
instrument in the work of reformation, and that, almost
by the same means which had been employed to produce
the first.
One Bernhard Samson, or Sanson, a native of Milan,
and a Franciscan monk, selected this moment to open a
sale of indulgences at Zurich. He was the Tetzel of
Switzerland. He preached through many of its pro
vinces, exercising the same trade, with the same blas
phemous pretensions and the same clamorous effrontery ;
and in a land of greater political freedom his impostures
excited even a deeper and more general disgust. The
grand religious dogma, which had peculiarly excited
Luther against that barter, was as strongly, though less
violently, impressed upon the belief of Zwingle ; who,
during the preceding summer, had already preluded with
some occasional declamations against the office and
person of Samson. Meanwhile that commissioner was
advancing from the Italian Alps with his long proces
sion of attendants, and practising the usual pompous
impositions in Lucerne, Ury, Bern, and other cantons.

CH. XXVII.J THE INDULGENCES OF SAMSON. 273
He reaped some profits, and he sustained no reverse : he
encountered no opposition till he arrived at Zurich.
But here appears a circumstance which throws a
shade of distinction between the almost parallel histories
of Samson and Tetzel. The latter observed in his
ministration all the necessary ecclesiastical forms; the
former omitted to present his credentials to the bishop
of the diocese, and acted solely on the authority of
the pontifical bulls. Hugo, Bishop of Constance, was
offended at this disrespectful temerity, and immediately
directed Zwingle and the other pastors to exclude the
stranger from their churches. The first who had occa
sion to show obedience to this mandate was John Frey,
minister of Staufberg. Bullinger, Dean of Bremgarten,
was the second. From Bremgarten, after a severe alter
cation which ended by the excommunication of that dig-
¦ nitary, Samson proceeded to Zurich. Meanwhile Zwingle
had been engaged for about two months* in rousing the
indignation of the people against the same object ; and
i so successfully did he support the instruction of the
Bishop, and such efficacy was added to his eloquence
by the personal unpopularity of Samson, that the senate
determined not so much as to admit him within the
gates of the city. A deputation of honour was appointed
to welcome the pontifical legate without the walls. He
was then commanded to absolve the Dean from the
sentence launched against him, and to depart from the
canton. He obeyed, and presently turned his steps to
wards Italy, and repassed the mountains. This took
place at the end of February, 1519.
The Zurichers immediately addressed a strong re
monstrance to the Pope, in which they denounced the
misconduct of his agent. Leo rephed, on the last of
April, with characteristic mildness; for though he main-
* It was on January 1,1519, that Zwingle first preached in the cathedral.

VOL. II.

T

274 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXVII.
tained, as might be expected, the Pope's authority to
grant those indulgences, and enjoined the most unequi
vocal obedience to that church and see " which permits
not errour," yet he accorded the prayer of the petition
so far as to recal the preacher, and to promise his punish
ment, should he be convicted of having exceeded his
commission. When it is considered, that this answer
was addressed to men who had already ejected his legate
and insulted his bulls, it may be inferred that Leo was
confirmed in his moderate view of these transactions by
the experience of the Saxon insurrection, and that he
hoped to prevent the progress of this second flame by
the timely and decorous concession of the most obnoxi
ous scandals. Still as the concession was the conse
quence of resistance, it was accounted as a triumph by
the Zurichers ; who, notwithstanding the general claims
asserted in the bull, deemed themselves, as indeed they
were, liberated for ever from the degrading impost. But
what is strange in this affair is, that no one was louder
in assailing the vendors of the indulgences and the
abuse of the practice, than John Faber, Vicar of the
Bishop of Constance, then the friend of Zwingle, after
wards one of the most persevering foes of the Reforma
tion. It is also deserving of record, that that prelate was
not contented to co-operate with the indignation of the
people in excluding the impostor, but also wrote to
Zwingle, exhorting him to accomplish with boldness the
work which he had begun, and promising to assist him
with his faithful support.*
* " Hugo Constantiensis Episcopus . . . literas ad me dedit per vica
rium suum Johannem Fabrum, a.d. 1519, quibus hortabatur ut quod
coeptum erat fortiter exequi pergerem, se enim mihi bona fide affuturum-^
nisi ipsius vicarii chirographum, quod etiamnum penes me est, adulteri-
num sit et inscio Episcopo ad me transmissum. Quid hic facerem? Annon
Episcopo Constantiensi obedirem ? . . . ." — Zwinglii Opera. Responsio
ad Valentinum Comparem, apud Gerdes. tom. i. p. 262.

CH. XXVII.J PROCEEDINGS OF ZWINGLE. 275
But Zwingle's views were not such as long to be
approved by an episcopal reformer in that church.
Encouraged by this applause he began to invite the
Bishop, both by public and private solicitations, with
perfect respect but great earnestness, to give his adhe
sion to the evangelical truth, which no devices or ex
ertions could now avail to stifle, and to permit the free
preaching of the gospel throughout his diocese.
" I know not," says Zwingle, in his own account of
this affair, " wherefore matters were changed ; but I do
know that those, who incited me with repeated exhorta
tions at the beginning of my course, presently ceased to
honour me with any reply, with any communication
whatsoever, except indeed certain public and general
documents, which bore as much resemblance to their
former counsels as a fly to an elephant ; for the Vicar, in
the first instance, expressly assured me, both by word of
mouth and by letter, that his Bishop could no longer
endure the insolence and unjust arrogance of the Roman
Pontiff. " Again ; Antonio Pucci, legate of the Pope, conferred
with me four times on this subject, and made me many
splendid promises. I for my part told him very freely
what ought to be done. I told him too, that from that
time forward I should devote myself, by the divine
grace, to the preaching of the Word, as the effectual
means of shaking the power of the papacy. . . . Yet no
result followed from these admonitions."
Zwingle, even in that early stage of his proceedings,
was not so ill acquainted with the spirit of the papal
hierarchy as to expect any honest assistance from that
quarter : and thus, though willing to hail any glimpse
of light that might break upon him even from the
prelacy of Rome, he placed his true reliance on much
safer ground. From the beginning of his preaching at
T 2

276 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXVII.
Zurich it was his twofold object to instruct the people
in the meaning, design, and character of the scriptural
writings ; and at the same time to teach them to seek
their religion only there. His very first proceeding was
to substitute the gospel of St. Matthew, as the text-book
of his discourses, for the scraps of Scripture exclusively
treated by the papal preachers; and he pursued this
purpose by next illustrating the Acts of the Apostles,
and the epistles of Paul and Peter. He considered the
doctrine of justification by faith as the corner-stone of
Christianity, and he strove to draw away his hearers
from the gross observances of a pharisaical church to
a more spiritual conception of the covenant of their
redemption. He assailed, with the power of a severe
eloquence, every form of vice and immorality. The
most frequent subjects of his denunciations were hypo
crisy and superstition ; but he spared neither luxury nor
idleness, nor intemperance, nor any description of de
bauchery; and he enforced his admonitions, not only
with courage and learning far surpassing those of any
contemporary compatriot, but with the still stronger
recommendation of a high and unsullied reputation.*
His success was so considerable, that at the end of 1519
he numbered as many as two thousand disciples ; and
* Zwingle is described as of a pleasant and affable temper, and of a
countenance agreeable beyond expression : — " Ingenio amoenus et ore
jucundus supra quam dici possit erat." — Osw. Myconius, Vita ZwingL
His early youth has not escaped the charge of occasional licentiousness.
His own explanation on this subject, in his " Responsio ad Valentinum
Comparem," is candid and manly : — " Peccatorem equidem magnum
me esse non inficior ; turpiter vero et flagitiose nunquam visi, ne tunc
quidem cum annis essem junior  Nolim tamen licita quaedam
gaudia et animi oblectationes honestas, quibus et musicae studium ad
numero, quisquam mihi fraudi vertat, tum et alia qusedam juvenili aetati
cognata; quse tamen ipsa per divinam clementiam (exceptis solis musicse
studiis) in hanc usque eetatem mihi non adhseserunt." This was written
in 1525.

CH. XXVII.J PROCEEDINGS OF ZWINGLE. 277
his influence so powerful among the chiefs of the com
monwealth, that he procured, in the following year,
an official decree to the effect: That all pastors and
rainisters should thenceforward reject the unfaithful
devices and ordinances of men, and teach with freedom
such doctrines only as rested on the authority of the
prophecies, gospels, and apostolical epistles.
In the course of that year (1520), the effect produced
upon the lower classes by his writing and preaching
first displayed itself. Being taught by him, that their
hberty as Christians dispensed with all distinctions of
meats, they presently showed a disposition to enjoy that
freedom. The Bishop of Constance instantly issued an
edict, and by his agents exhorted the people to remain
in their adhesion to the church, at least till after the
decision of a council. Zwingle defended his positions,
and the inhabitants entreated the Bishop to convoke a
synod for the decision of the disputed questions.
The storm was now rising ; and he who had excited
it, and perceived its increasing fury, was not without
apprehension that its course might be turned against
himself; but he prepared to confront it with a firm and
fearless soul. " In respect to myself," as he wrote to
Oswald Myconius, " I stand like a man devoted, ex
pecting all evils from all, whether clergy or laity, only
beseeching Christ that He will give me a manly spirit
for all endurance, and break or preserve his vessel, as
may please Him best. If I shall be excommunicated, I
shall be mindful of Hilary, a most learned and pious
man, who was exiled from Gaul into Africa; and of
Lucius, who was restored with honour to the Roman
see, whence he had been expelled. Not that I am com
parable to them, but I am consoled that men so far
better than myself have suffered such miserable indig
nities. If I should venture to make any boast, it would

278 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXVII.
be of the joy with which I would endure outrage for the
name of Christ." *
These were no more than the calm effusions of a
mind prepared to proceed inflexibly, and in defiance of
all danger, on its destined purpose ; and in proof of this
sincerity — in proof, at least, that he could make some
sacrifice of personal interest for his cause— ^he resigned
about the same time a pension which he received from
Rome for the purchase of books. He had been admitted
by Leo into the number of the acolyth f chaplains of the
see ; but as soon as his principles were so established as
to place him in direct opposition to that see, he justly
deemed it dishonourable to receive from it any further
gratuity. " Formerly," he thus wrote in 1522, " I
thought myself permitted to enjoy the liberality of the
Pope, so long as I could maintain with a pure and pious
conscience his religion and doctrines ; but after the
knowledge of the sin had grown up in me, I renounced
for ever both the Pontiff and his presents."
During the period when the threat of excommunica
tion was suspended over Luther, Zwingle exerted his
humble endeavours to prevent the blow. He warned
the Pope's commissary at Zurich of the impolicy of the
* Zwingle believed, like Luther, and perhaps with more truth than
Luther, that he was by nature disposed to peace : — " Thou knowest, oh
most holy Jesus, how the ears of thy people are stunned by brawlers,
sycophants, hunters after lucre. Thou knowest how from my child
hood I have hated disputes ; yet in spite of myself thou hast perpetually
dragged me into battle. . . . Wherefore I appeal with confidence unto
Thee, that what thou hast begun thou mayest accomplish  "
t " Acolythi sedis apostolicse octo ordinarii, qui, cum pontifex apud
lectum pavamenti et similiter in Ecclesia est celebraturus et induitur
sacris vestibus, circumstant genuflexi et ornamenta subministrant dia-
conis cardinalibus." — Du Cange in Glossario. It should be mentioned
that Zwingle was for some time attached to the political party of the
Pope, in opposition to that of France ; and that he actually served on
that side in Italy in 1515, and was presfent at the battle of Marignan.

CH. XXVII.J PROCEEDINGS OF ZWINGLE. 279
proceeding, and truly foretold the effect of the anathema
upon the German people — to raise the influence of the
martyr, and to bring into contempt the authority of the
see. He expressed, without any shadow of jealousy, his
admiration for the deeds and character of his more cele
brated fellow-labourer, and recommended the study of
some of his writings from the pulpit.
In 1522 the new doctrines had made such progress at
Zurich, as not only to rouse the Bishop to a second
interference, but also to move the apprehensions of the
monks. The former made his great appeal to the senate,
and laid before that body the various complaints which
he had received respecting Zwingle. He likewise twice
addressed the college of canons, of which Zwingle was
elected a member in the preceding year. He warned
them at great length against the seditious and destruc
tive teachers who were disturbing the repose of the
church. On the first of these occasions he deputed
Faber, with two or three others, to substantiate his
assertions. Zwingle, and two other evangelical pastors,
were placed on their defence before the Council of Two
Hundred ; and this was the first of several encounters
which took place between those two polemics. To the
various accusations ofthe Bishop, Zwingle replied: That
there was not anywhere a more orderly congregation
than his own, so far was he from propounding any
seditious doctrines; that the popish ceremonies, more
cumbrous than those of Judaism, were indeed no longer
endurable, and must now be shaken off; but that, in
preaching this necessity, he had never countenanced any
general disobedience to human statutes ; that he intended
no separation from the church of Christ ; and that he
was ready to render account of his gospel-preaching
before heaven and earth and hell. Moreover, on the 16th
of April in the same year he published a book " Con-

280 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXVII.
cerning the choice and free eating of meats," and the
body of the citizens seem to have favoured his princi
ples ; but the senate issued a temporising decree in faint
support of the established practices in those matters,
and the Bishop, of course, persisted in opposing all inno
vation. Zwingle and his colleagues then addressed, on
July 22, a respectful petition to the latter, entreating
him not to promulgate any ordinance injurious to the
gospel, nor any longer to tolerate fornication, or to en
force the celibacy of the clergy.
In reply to the Bishop's second remonstrance to the
canons, Zwingle wrote, on August 23, a tract which
appears in his works under the title of " Architetes," *
composed with much gravity and earnestness, and dir
rected, for the most part, against the intolerable burden
of the ceremonial law of Rome. The Bishop, now dis
trusting his own power to repress the insubordination,
poured out his grievances to the national assembly
held at Baden, and claimed for the execution of his
decrees the protection of the entire Helvetic body. This
appeal ended in the persecution of a single and a humble
delinquent. One Urban Wys, pastor of Wiflitzbach, a
village near Baden, was seized on suspicion of being
addicted to the new opinions, and delivered up to the
prelate ; and a long imprisonment which he underwent
at Constance has dignified him with the distinction of
being the first martyr of the Swiss Reformation.
There were three orders of monks in the city of
Zurich. These formed a confederacy against Zwingle,
* Zwingle appealed in this work to the Bishop's knowledge of his
character and principles : — " Quod ad nos attinet, nihil opus te vocare
testem quo jam animo quseque faciam ; ipse enim nosti quam longinque
a teneris abfiierim ab omni dissentione et tumultu ; nee tamen destiteris
ad id muneris invitum et reclamantem trahere; quamobrem te nunc
merito adpello, ut bonum opus quod cccpisti perficias  "

CH. XXVII.] PROCEEDINGS OF ZWINGLE. 281
and charged him before the senate with having brought
them into contempt by his sermons. They petitioned
the authorities to silence his preaching, or at least to
repeal so much of the edict of 1520 as would allow
them to derive their discourses from Aquinas and Scotus.
The senate was deaf to their remonstrances, and Zwingle
was in this respect more fortunate than Luther — that he
could place a more certain dependence on the constancy
of the civil government.
Yet his language in a letter to Myconius, written
during this year, proves that he was not unshaken by
these various obstacles ; and likewise that he placed not
his confidence in the support of the senate, or any other
human agency : — " The assaults are so frequent, the
blows so vehement, by which they are striving to over
throw the House of God, that one might reasonably
take them not for common tempests, but for hail and
thunderbolts ; and unless I had clearly seen that it is
God which guards the commonwealth, I should long ago
have abandoned the helm; but when I behold Him
tending the ropes and sails, nay even commanding the
very winds, and they obey, I should be slothful and un
worthy of the name of man, if I should desert my station
and perish — for I should perish, notwithstanding, with
ignominy. Wherefore I consign myself to His mercy,
&c. . ." The same was the source whence Luther was
deriving, under similar perplexities, the same consola
tion ; and in the greater force and fire, with which he
gave expression to the same principles and feelings, we
read one among many proofs of the more stormy vehe
mence of his character.
During the same year the hall of the canons was
made the scene of another disputation extremely honour
able to Zwingle. Francis Lambert of Avignon, who has
been already mentioned as a man of learning and dis-

282 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXVII.
tinction, had adopted the new opinions, and abandoned
his Franciscan monastery in consequence ; and after
preaching the gospel with good effect in various parts
of Germany and Switzerland, he had fixed his temporary
residence at Zurich. Convinced by the arguments of
Luther, and properly his convert, he had still some
doubts respecting the invocation of the saints, and he
solicited a conference with Zwingle on that question.
It was granted ; and it took place with a result so dif
ferent from that commonly attending such disputations,
that it becomes memorable through that very singularity.
Lambert was convinced; he confessed his conversion;
he publicly adopted the opinion of his antagonist ; and
with his hands clasped towards heaven retumed thanks
to God for the light which was vouchsafed to him.*
The divisions and confusion that had disturbed the
city during several months, the uncertainty that pre
vailed on every side, the animosities that were growing
up amongst individuals and families and amongst
members of the same family, the insufficiency of the
authority of the bishop, or even of the senate, had it
been so disposed, to repress these increasing dissensions,
rendered it now essential to adopt some general measure
for the settlement of the matters in controversy. Accord
ingly, recourse was had to the expedient commonly
adopted on such occasions, especially in free countries, —
a conference. In fact the monks were so loud and per
severing in their clamours, big with the accustomed
charges of heresy, sedition, infidelity, that it became
necessary to give the one party an opportunity to sub
stantiate, and the other to confute, such grave accusa-
* Gerdesius, Hist. Evangel. Renov., tom. i. §115. It was a matter
of much surprise to Zwingle that so much liberality should be found in
a Franciscan and a Frenchman. — Ep. 207.

CH. XXVII.J CONFERENCE AT ZURICH. 283
tions. For these reasons the senate and people of Zurich
proclaimed a synod for the discussion of the religious
differences, to be held on January 29, 1523 ; and while
they invited all their countrymen and all their neigh
bours to attend it, they especially entreated the Bishop
of Constance to appear there in person, or, if that
were impossible, at least to send an efficient repre
sentative. That all parties might be well informed as to the sub
jects proposed for debate, Zwingle published some time
before, in sixty-seven propositions, the doctrines which
he had preached, and which he was prepared to maintain.
Great multitudes thronged to Zurich on the appointed
day. They assembled in the Hall of Conference, and
the Consul of the Republic opened the deliberations.
He referred to the Theses of Zwingle, and called upon
any who might dissent from them to proclaim their ob
jections. Faber was present ; and, when all supposed
that he would have attempted a confutation of the creed
of the Reformers and defended the established system,
he pleaded : That this was not the place for so great an
argument ; that it was more decorous to await the de
cision of a general council, which was the only legitimate
tribunal in doctrinal matters and which would shortly
be convoked ; meanwhile, that he was commanded to
offer his mediation for the removal of the differences
which distracted the city. Zwingle pressed him to the
disputation. He complained of the calumnious charges
with which his doctrines were continually assailed ; he
challenged his slanderers to come forward on that public
occasion, appointed for that express purpose, and contend
with him ; he conjured them to acquaint him with his
errors ; and as to the council, which he treated as a mere
delusion, he professed to desire no other tribunal than
the judges assembled before him, and to admit no other

284 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXVII.
test of the truth of his opinions, than the books of Holy
Scripture. Still Faber was contented to reply that he
should abstain from any dispute, but should presently
publish a written refutation of the errors. But he was
betrayed, notwithstanding, into a short skirmish respect
ing the invocation of the saints, just sufiicient to prove
the superiority of his antagonist.
No other opponent appearing, the evangelical propo
sitions obtained an undisputed triumph, and the Senate
immediately published an edict to this effect : " That,
since Ulric Zwingle had publicly and repeatedly chal
lenged the adversaries of his doctrine to confute it by
scriptural arguments, and since, notwithstanding, no one
had undertaken to do so, he should continue to announce
and preach the word of God, just as heretofore. Likewise'
that all other ministers of religion, whether resident in
the city or country, should abstain from teaching any
tenet which they could not prove from Scripture; that
they should refrain too from making charges of heresy
and other scandalous allegations, on pain of severe
punishment." Zwingle soon afterwards, at the desire of Faber, pub
lished an " Elucidation ofthe Sixty-seven Articles;" and
it was about this time that the latter, addressing a friend
at Mayence, expressed in the following terms his appre
hensions of Zwingle : " I have no news for you, except
that a second Luther has arisen at Zurich, who is the
more dangerous, as he has an austerer people to deal'
with. Contend with him, whether I will or not, I must ;
I do it with the greatest reluctance, but I am compelled:
You will presently learn this, when I publish my book,
to prove the mass to be a sacrifice." We know not
whether he ever published this book. But the opposite
doctrine was asserted by Zwingle in his eighteenth pro
position ; who produced, in the same year, a work " On

CH. XXVII.J A SECOND CONFERENCE. 285
the Canon of the Mass," arguing with force against that
comer-stone of the whole papacy. At the same time he
assailed a second and scarcely less essential branch of
the Roman system — the use of images ; and this with so
much effect, that the indignation of the people rose even
beyond its just limits, proceeding to acts of violence and
open resistance to the authorities. This outbreak of in
subordination made it necessary to open a fresh contro
versy, and a second synod was accordingly summoned
for the 26th of the September following.
This assembly was much more numerous than the
preceding ; above nine hundred persons are said to have
been present, from every part of Switzerland. The
Bishops of Coire and Basle were invited, as well as the
Ordinary of Constance, and the Reformers meditated no
less, than to make this an occasion for establishing their
doctrines not at Zurich only, but in every province of
the whole country. They sought publicity, and feared
not controversy ; and, seeing how able a polemic they
possessed in Zwingle, they were desirous that the
papists should appear in force and defend their positions,
rather than leave the field, as on the last occasion, un
disputed. The papists were of the same opinion. The bishops
neither appeared in person, nor on this occasion sent any
to represent them. Nevertheless, the assembly proceeded
to deliberation. The edict of convocation had declared :
That, as a strict adhesion to Scripture had been en
joined to all ecclesiastics, after the late disputation, and
the truth had thus been proclaimed with perfect freedom,
the Senate had discovered that there were still two abuses
prevailing in the church — the worship of images, and
the sacrifice of the mass ; that they had not chosen, not
withstanding, to abohsh them until they had heard all

286 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXVH.
that could be advanced in their defence ; and that the
present synod was called together for that purpose ; that
a perfect freedom of debate would be allowed, so long as
the arguments were derived from Scripture. Having
read this decree, the Consul commanded Zwingle to ad
dress the meeting.
He began by expounding, according to his view, the
scriptural usage of the word Church, as designating —
first, the universal body of the faithful — secondly, any
portion of that body meeting in the same province or
city. His object was to overthrow the objections urged
by the Roman Catholics against the authority of such
assemblies as the present ; and to show that every assem
bly, united together by common faith in Christ and by
the Gospel as a common and only rule of faith and
practice, possessed the perfect right to decide its own
controversies. In the course of this address he failed not
to throw out some severe taunts against the flagitious
usurpations of the Pope and his cardinals.
Of the two subjects proposed for discussion the former
was undertaken by Leo Judse ; that of the mass by
Zwingle. Two very feeble attempts were made, by ad
versaries without name or credit, to sustain the established
practice and doctrine, but they were immediately con
futed by the two champions of the Reformation, to the
entire satisfaction of the Senate. Yet, when the Consul
would have proceeded still farther in his zeal, and re
commended an inquiry into various abuses connected
with the administration of the Eucharist, Zwingle pru
dently repressed his ardour and observed, that the people
were not yet sufficiently enlightened to receive with
unanimity such extensive alterations. On which, that
magistrate yielded; and after a pathetic exhortation
from Zwingle and some useful admonitions to the

CH. XXVII.J SUBSEQUENT PROCEEDINGS. 287
ministers from his learned colleague, the synod was
dissolved.* The authorities did not think it expedient to enforce
either of the conclusions to which the Conference had
arrived, but were contented to remove those abuses which
were in most open contradiction to the word of God.
They commanded the priests and monks not thencefor
ward to institute any public processions ; and above all,
not to carry about the consecrated bread, or to expose it
for adoration in the churches ; since those practices were
in manifest opposition to the institution of the Supper.
Moreover, certain chosen from among the senators, to
gether with the ministers, removed from the principal
churches the tombs, which were said to contain the
bodies or ashes of the martyrs, and examined them.
Many were found empty; those, wherein any fragments of
mortality still remained were again committed to conse
crated earth. Orders were likewise issued to the minis
ters against the further use of organs in churches, and the
tolling of bells at funerals ; against ceremonies for the
averting of tempests ; against the consecration of palm-
branches, of salt, water, tapers, and such like matters ;
against supreme unction on the point of death, usually
denominated the last baptism — all these things were de
nounced as manifest superstitions and at open variance
with the express word of God.
At the same time the Senate caused communications
to be addressed to the three prelates above mentioned, to
the University of Basle, and the provinces of Switzer
land, to explain the precise scheme of reformation which
had been adopted at Zurich — earnestly entreating them,
* Two of the cantons, Schaffhausen and St. Gall, were represented at
this assembly ; and their deputies returned with convictions favourable to
the Reformation.

288 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXVII.
should they discover anything in those changes incon
sistent with Holy Writ, to give them friendly admonition
thereon, and to count upon their respectful attention to
it. Together with these, they sent a little work of edifi
cation,* just published by Zwingle, for the establishment
of a reformed church ; and they promised to wait for a
reply till the following Whitsunday, and then, and not
till then, to proceed to the completion of their work.
* " Kurtze und Christliche Einleitung des Rathe zu Zurich an alle
Pradicanten."

CH. xxviii.J 289

CHAPTER XXVIII.
REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND— ZURICH.
The conduct of Zwingle— question of priority between him and Luther
—his earliest preaching— his beginnings independent of Luther— the
extent of his influence — his exertions to prevent the Swiss from being
the mercenary soldiers of foreign powers — and the personal dangers in
curred through them — his books of religious edification— influence on
the morals of the citizens — a new conference in January, 1524 — ¦
decree for the abolition of images — meeting of the Catholic Cantons at
Lucerne in the same month— their decree for the conservation of the
established system — their embassy to Zurich, and remonstrances — ^the
reply of the Zurichers, and execution of the edict against images —
cautious proceedings of the Senate in this affair — Zwingle's account of
it — conversion ofthe Abbesses' College, and ofthe canons and monks of
the three orders — marriage of Zwingle — imputations of the Papists
repelled by him — Adrian's attempt to seduce him from his principles
— 'the address of the same and of his successor to the Helvetic body —
politic conduct of Rome — the Bishop of Constance wrote in defence of
images and the mass — at length, after another mock disputation, in
April, 1525, the mass is abolished in Zurich — the form of communion
established in its place — Zwingle's dream, and the calumnies derived
from it — publication of the historical books of the Old Testament in
the Swiss language.
Having thus rapidly traced the Reformation at Zurich
through all the dangers of its infancy to a position of
security, we must look back for a few moments on the
conduct and character of that very eminent person, by
whom the work, under Divine Providence, was prin
cipally performed. We have seen it not uncommonly
contended, first, that Zwinglq^ preceded his Saxon ally in
the aggression upon the church ; next, that, though cir
cumstances gave the larger field and the greater glory to
Luther, the same results would still have been effected by
VOL. II. u

290 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXVIIL
the other, even had Luther never been born. It appears
to me that neither of these opinions is strictly true.
There is no question that Zwingle, in his earliest preach
ing, at the Hermitage, and even at Glarus, propounded
principles far more evangelical, far more conducive to
spiritual edification, than any that proceeded from the
ordinary organs of the church. Even then he may have
occasionally lashed the ecclesiastical abuses, following
the feelings which appeared in his respectful remonstrance
to the Bishop of Constance. These are facts which
prove the original spirit and independent boldness with
which he thought and acted. His talents, too, were suf
ficient, his learning sufficient, to qualify him for the
head of a religious party; and he was early imbued
with that essentially Christian doctrine,* which in
spired Luther with more than half his energy. Yet it
does not appear that he committed any act of insub
ordination, that he publicly denounced any one of the
dogmas or practices of the church, that he sounded any
audible note of the trumpet of insurrection, until after
his establishment at Zurich. The first contest, in which
he engaged even then, he waged under the banners of
his bishop ; and this took place about sixteen months
* "To trust in the merit of our own works," says Zwingle, "is no
better than vanity and folly, not to call it impiety and ignorant impu
dence." Yet these convictions, strong as they doubtless were, were
attained through fewer struggles and burnt with less violence, than the
faith of Luther. Zwingle was less vehement, less overbearing, but not
less sincere. A similar distinction marks most ofthe acts and writings of
those two champions. His great work, " De Vera et Falsa Relio-ione,"
concludes with a sort of creed : " He therefore is a Christian man who
trusts in the only and true God ; who relies on His mercy through Christ
His Son, God begotten by God (Deum de Deo) ; who forms himself
alfter His example; who dies daily; who daily denies himself ; who is
only intent on this, thathe commit nothing which can possibly offend his
God. . . . ." This is rather in the tone df Erasmus than of Luther.

CH. XXVIII.J PRIORITY OF ZWINGLE OR LUTHER. 291
after the publication of the theses of Luther. From
these considerations it is quite clear, that however early
the principles may have been impressed on his mind,
however strongly they may have been working there,
whatever preparations he may have made for the coming
conflict, whatever seed he may have sown by the elo
quence of his evangelical teaching, it was Luther who
first proclaimed the war and took up arms against the
foe. As to the other question, it is likewise true, that his
first movement was perfectly independent of the pro
ceedings of Luther, and was not perhaps occasioned by
them. The abuse of indulgences was an evil so mon
strous, that Zwingle might probably have resisted it, had
Luther been silent. He might even have proceeded
farther, and emancipated Zurich from the papal yoke.
Politically free, it might have shaken off its religious
servitude ; and some other canton might have followed,
as others did actually follow, its example. Still it is very
questionable, whether a revolution, originating in Swit
zerland, would have spread very widely among the
states of Germany. It might have gained some prose
lytes among the lower classes, or in the imperial cities.
But the princes and nobles would assuredly have sus
pected its republican origin and conspired almost unani
mously to repress it. If the central position of Wittem
berg, flourishing in the very heart of Germany, was one
circumstance propitious to the spread of the principles
proceeding from it, it was another that they were
engendered under a monarchical government, and
that they were not discouraged by a prince, renowned
above all others for his virtue, his foresight, and his
piety. Some of the earliest and most strenuous of the profes
sional exertions of Zwingle were directed to the removal
u 2

292 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXVIII.
of a great national evil. The courage and poverty of his
countrymen had long placed their military services at
the disposal of wealthier foreigners and made them a
people, not only of soldiers, but of mercenaries. Great
mischief flowed from this — much individual misery, des
titution of families, neglect of husbandry, rudeness and
degradation of character. While he was still at Glarus,
this Christian patriot turned his eloquence and spiritual
influence to that subject, and endeavoured to make it
manifest to the misguided peasantry, how little profitable
were those warlike habits, either to their country or to
themselves — how little consistent with the profession of
the Gospel of peace. The princes, who profited by the
venality of the Swiss, stationed powerful agents in various
parts ofthe country to forward their respective interests;
and among them there was not one who pressed those in
terests so diligently as the Pope. To him the Apostolical
treasury supplied, by the purchase of foreign defenders,
what his own subjects wanted in bravery or fidelity;
and as it was essential to the prosperity of the church
that such defenders should be provided, so its very
ministers were instructed to prepare the people for that
form of obedience. The ignorant Highlanders of the
Alps were taught, that it was a holy thing to gird their
loins for battle, and a glorious martyrdom to fall in the
service of the See of Rome.
When Zwingle raised his voice against this practice,
not only long established, but maintained by so strong a
combination of interests and power, he roused at once a
host of enemies, entirely independent of those created by
his general struggles for reformation ; and so fierce and
so unscrupulous, as not to shrink from any measures for
his destruction. At Zurich he persisted in his generous
exertions, and incurred through them great personal
danger. More than once attempts were made upon his

CH. XXVIII.J VARIOUS OBJECTS OF ZWINGLE. 293
life;* and at one period it was necessary to station
guards before his house during the night, in order to
preserve him from the daggers of his foes.
Yet at this very time he was devoting all his energies
to the improvement of the people. Besides his Sunday
sermons, he delivered daily lectures in theology, and dis
charged with diligence his pastoral duties. He esta
blished and directed various schools; maintained an
important and very extensive correspondence on private
no less than public matters ; and composed several ela
borate and valuable works on subjects of religious edifi
cation. Besides, he was engaged in a succession of
serious controversies — first, with the Roman Catholics
alone, then with the Anabaptists also, and lastly, as the
sad consummation of his theological feuds, with Luther
and his clamorous disciples. Meanwhile he had his
recompence in observing the immediate effect of his
domestic triumphs upon the morals of the citizens. At
least it was made matter of boast by his followers, that
the manners of the Zurichers were softened and their
habits improved by the knowledge and influence of the
Gospel ; and that the acts of violence, wantonness and
intemperance, which had hitherto disgraced them, be
came less and less frequent, according to the progress
of the principles of the Reformation.
Certain canons and priests of Zurich, dissatisfied with
the termination of the last conference, urged the govern
ment to afford them another opportunity of defending
the ancient practices. Their request was granted, and
the time appointed was the 13th and Uth of the follow
ing January, 1524. This disputation appears to have
* Hottinger (lib. xvi. p. 236) publishes an anonymous letter, ad
dressed to Zwingle, in May, 1519, informing him of an intended attempt
to poison him. It was written in Greek, and was the composition of a
priest, communicating what he had received in confession.

294 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXVIII.
been private, and was conducted before certain delegates
ofthe senate. The subjects of discussion were images,
the mass and the invocation of the saints. Zwingle and
Leo Judse advocated their principles, as before, and with
the same success. And so far were the papists from
gaining any advantage from this faint and tardy effort,
that the senate, on the conclusion of the debate, advanced
one step beyond its former conclusion, and decreed the
immediate abolition of the images. The mass was still
left for the moment untouched; but it was rapidly
sinking into disuse, and merely lingering on towards
self-dissolution. Meanwhile, the other cantons of Switzerland, which
still continued, without exception, in real or nominal
obedience to the church, considered that some demon
stration was at length become necessary on their part.
Accordingly they assembled in large numbers at Lu
cerne, on the 26th of January, 1524, and issued their
unanimous decree : , " That no one should deride or
contemn the word of God, as it had been announced
for more than 1400 years, nor the mass, in which the
body of the Lord was consecrated, to His honour and to
the solace of the living and the dead ; that those who
received the Lord's Supper should confess during Lent
their sins to the priests, and observe in all respects the
established customs ; that all the rights and usages of
the church should be observed ; that every one should
obey his pastor, and receive as usual the sacraments at his
hands, and pay him the annual dues ; that honour
should be shown to the priesthood; that abstinence
from meats should be observed on the prescribed days,
and from eggs and cheese during Lent ; that no opinion
of Luther, adverse to the received custom of the church,
should be taught either in public or private ; that no
mention should be made of Luther, or of any new doc-

CH. XXVIII.J DECREE OF LUCERNE. 295
trine, in taverns or at festivals ; that the images of the
saints should remain everywhere inviolate; that the
ministers of the churches should be held responsible for
their teaching to none except the civil government,
and that protection should be afforded them in case of
popular commotion ; that those who carried about the
rehcs of the Holy Spirit, of the Virgin Mary, and St.
Anthony, should be subject to no derision ;* that the
religious edicts of the bishop of Constance should be
observed ; that all violations of the present decree should
be denounced to the magistrate ; and that persons should
be established everywhere as inspectors of religious
affairs."f To give effect to this decree an embassy was sent, on
the 21st of the following March, to Zurich, in which
all the cantons represented at Lucerne united, with the
single exception of Schaffhausen. The delegates ex
pressed the sorrow universally occasioned by the changes
which had been introduced. They lamented that the
delightful repose of church and state, transmitted from
all antiquity, had been thus violently interrupted. The
time was arrived for interference, to prevent the further
diffusion of the evil. The fruits of the doctrine of Lu
ther were now sufficiently apparent — the people were
everywhere insubordinate, and not indistinctly menacing
rebellion. Zwingle and Leo Judae were the instruments
of communicating this contagion among the Swiss, and
they put such arbitrary interpretations on what was in
truth the Gospel of peace, as to open the gates to dis
order and dissension. The nature of their doctrine was
not quite clear, but its effects were sufficiently obvious —
* " Qui S. Spiritus, Marise Virginis, Divi Antonii circumferant Re-
liquias a nemine rideantur."
t " Sint ubique tanquam Inspectores eorum quse fiunt." Gerdes.
tom. i. p. 295.

296 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXVIII.
the neglect of the distinction of meats, the marriage of
priests, monks and nuns, the suspension of the services of
religion, of the music and prayers in churches, neglect of
confession and penitence, destruction of images, &c. &c.
The states in assembly could no longer endure those in
novations ; they therefore entreated the men of Zurich to
desist from their enterprise, and to return to the religion
of their ancestors. Unquestionably there were abuses
in the ecclesiastical system. They were all oppressed
by the Pope, and his train of cardinals, bishops, and
such like (id genus aliis),* who, by their usurpations,
simony and indulgences, exhausted the wealth of the
country — and at the same time acquired a jurisdiction,
which had properly no reference to civil matters, but
which they extended to everything. They were willing
to co-operate in any scheme for the correction of these
evils and such as these.
To this specious remonstrance, proceeding from so
very large a portion of the Helvetic body, the Senate
of Zurich returned an immediate and manly reply : " It
is now almost five years since we began to listen to
the sacred instructions of the ministers of our Church ;
and at first this kind of doctrine did indeed seem new to
us, as we had heard nothing of the like before. But
when we understood and clearly perceived that this was
its end and scope : to make manifest Jesus Christ, the
altar and safeguard of our salvation, who poured out
his life and blood for the sins of the world, and alone
redeemed miserable men from eternal death, the only
advocate and mediator between God and man : we could
not refrain from embracing with ardent eagemess so
salutary a message." They then argued, in reply to
the representations of the Assembly, that great har-
* Sleidan, lib. iv. ann. 1524.

CH. XXVIII.J REPLY OF THE ZURICHERS. 297
mony prevailed in the apostolic ages of the Church,
which might now again be realised, if men would only
reject human traditions and adhere to the Gospel ; that
Luther, or any other who taught that doctrine, taught
the truth, but that the introduction of his name was
invidious, as if they believed it on his persuasion ; that
it was no disparagement to the Virgin and the saints
that they placed their faith in Christ ; that the Scrip
tures were now in the hands of every one, so that the
preachers could not pervert the truth if they would ; that
the errors ascribed to them had not been proved ; and,
though they had held a council for that purpose, and
summoned the bishops and all others to attend it, yet
that those prelates did not attend either in person or
by deputy, nor were any of the cantons represented
there, except Schaffhausen and St. Gall ; that their
teachers and ministers gave no ground for dissension,
but rather those whose emoluments led them to op
pose the word of God ; that they denounced various
vices prevailing among the people, and exhorted them
to the fear of God ; and, if all were not amended, yet
certainly that there existed not within their territo
ries that degree of debauchery and intemperance which
was commonly found elsewhere; and this especially,
since the practice of foreign and mercenary service had
been disused among them. Conceming the eating of
meat and eggs, that they had published a law to pre
vent any great scandals ; that marriage was by God's
word permitted to all men ; while Paul expressly com
manded that the minister of a church should be the
husband of one wife ; not so fornication, for which
licences were confessedly sold by bishops to their clergy;
that convents of nuns were not free from the same re
proach ; that colleges of canons and such-like establish
ments were founded for the support of the poor ; it was
therefore just that they should retum to those purposes ;

298 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXVIII.
that pious and faithful ministers were nowhere more in
honour than with them ; that the orders of monks were
a human invention, not an institution of God.
They continued : " If that body of clergy, who have
lately sent us an embassy and a remonstrance, will in
struct us as to any one of our errors, we will give them
every satisfaction. If not, then let them perform their
duty — let them teach the truth themselves, and abstain
from calumniating others. That they are so averse
from the rapacity and immoderate usurpations of the
Papists, and wish the removal of those scandals is de
lightful information to us ; but we must tell them, that
there is no better method of effecting this, than by the
entire acceptance of the word of God. For so long as
their laws and decrees shall be in force, there can be
no hope of emancipation — the single weapon for over
throwing all their dignity and power is the preaching
of the word of God. They perceive clearly enough how
great is the force of the Gospel and of truth ; and it is
because they can put no trust in their own strength
that they are imploring the aid of kings. . . . There
is nothing that we desire more ardently, than the uni
versal prevalence of peace, nor will we in any respect
violate our laws and treaties of alliance. But in this
affair, which involves our eternal safety, we cannot act
otherwise than we do, unless we should be first con
victed of error. We therefore again exhort you, as we
have already done, if you think our doctrine opposed
to Scripture, to prove this within a fixed period, before
the end of May for instance ; for till that time we shall
expect an answer from you and from the bishops, and
from the University of Basle."
After the appointed interval had elapsed, as no reply
was received from the Roman Catholic cantons, the se
nate of Zurich proceeded to the execution of its late
decree respecting images. We should observe the de-

CH. XXVIII.J THE DESTRUCTION OF THE IMAGES. 299
liberate caution of its progress in this delicate transac
tion. In September, 1523, the images, as well as the
mass, were arraigned in a public disputation, and the
evangelical ministers encouraged to continue their at
tacks upon both ; but neither the one nor the other was
officially condemned in the edict which followed. After
a second discussion on the same subjects in the January
following, with the same result, the abolition of the
images was indeed decreed ; but the authorities for the
moment advanced no farther — they wished the work
to be accomplished by the general consent, but not
by the open violence, of the people, and some time
was yet necessary to secure that consent. Meanwhile
they challenged the whole of Catholic Switzerland to
defend the idols, and the challenge was not accepted.
Thus fortified, when at length they did interpose to re
move the condemned abuse, they still conducted their
measures with so much moderation, as to make it appear
that they were rather obeying and regulating the popu
lar will than leading it, so that every shadow of civil
dissension was avoided, and the work seemed to spring
from the unanimous determination of the canton.
There exists a long account of this transaction from
the pen of Zwingle* himself, who was a principal actor
in it. From this it appears that the power of the senate
was first exerted to restrain individuals from destroying
any images, except such as were their own property. It
was next decreed, that every separate church might de
stroy its images after a certain prescribed method : the
members of each church were to be in the first instance
assembled, with their pastors at their head, to be con
sulted on the subject, and guided by the opinion of the
majority ; those churches which would still retain their
* In Responsione ad Valentinum Comparem.

300 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXVIII.
idols being left to the further instruction of their minis
ters. Before the work of demolition commenced, all the
proprietors of private idols were directed to remove
them from the churches within a prescribed time ; and
when these various precautions had been duly observed,
the appointed officers proceeded (about the middle of
June) to their duty. They consisted of three ministers,
Zwingle, Leo Judse and Engelhard, and twelve senators,
with some necessary assistants ; and they accomplished
their labours without any opposition from the citizens,
while the rural population displayed even greater zeal
in destroying the objects of their recent adoration.
" What surprised me," continues Zwingle, " was this ;
that among all those wooden gods, which had been held
in such high honour, not one had virtue enough to re
sist the flames, but all, without a word in reply, sub
mitted to the fiery punishment. Still there was one
prodigy, and I must relate it. There was a famous
stone statue of the Virgin among the nuns in Altenbach,
held in great reverence, and of much miraculous cele
brity. There was a constant belief respecting it, that
nothing could remove it from its place, and that, so often
as it had been transferred elsewhere, however firmly it
might have been fixed and fastened, so often it had re-ap
peared on the following morning on its former basis, as
steady and stable as before. We too removed this
statue, and in good earnest ; but from that time it has
never returned to its position — here is indeed the miracle !
Forgive me, my Christian brethren, if I speak with
some ridicule on this subject; but ridicule is not un
suitable to those lying and most absurd inventions and
fables, which have been related in utter shamelessness
respecting these idols. I rejoice, then, and bid all others
rejoice, that this most iniquitous imposture was at length
removed from the eyes of men ; for when this was once

CH. XXVIII.J CONVERSION OF NUNS AND MONKS. 301
accomplished, all the other figments of the pontifical
religion were overthrown still more successfully, and
with a more complete consent of all the citizens.* To
God, through whose power and grace all this has been
accomplished, be praise and glory for ever, amen."
The demolition of the images was presently followed
by the conversion of the two most important religious
institutions in Zurich. The first which offered its volun
tary adhesion was the Abbesses' College, called the
Frauen-Miinster. It was distinguished, not only by
very high antiquity, but also by various immunities and
privileges and the possession of splendid revenues.
These it surrendered into the hands of the government,
on the understanding that the funds should be applied
to pious and charitable purposes, with a due respect to
vested interests, and the privileges, which were those of
coining and a peculiar jurisdiction, were thenceforward
exercised by the senate. The abbess, named Catharine
Cimmern, retired on an honourable pension and pre
sently married. Towards the end of tJie same year,
1524, the canons, after some negotiation with the govern
ment respecting the disposal of their revenues, followed
this example. The few remaining monks of the three
prders were united in one monastery, where the young
were taught to apply their industry to some useful trade,
and the old were permitted to end their days in peace.
The monastery of the Dominicans was converted into a
house of public reception, and their chapel into the fourth
parish church.
In the April of the same year, Zwingle made publicf
his nuptials with Ann Reinhart, the widow of John
* " His enim sublatis, reliqua quoque omnia pontificise religionis fig-
menta felicius et majori cum consensu omnium nostrorum expugnata
sunt." t D'Aubigne5 (vol. ii. p. 527, note) gives proofs from Zwingle's cor-

302 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXVIII.
Meyer, a gentleman of the county of Baden. This
event took place about fourteen months before the mar
riage of Luther, and, like the other, it gave occasion to
some calumnies. That it was an earlier declaration of
ecclesiastical independence, of course aggravated the
offence. Yet, as Zwingle had not been a monk, nor his
bride a nun, the scandal was not in his case so enor
mous, nor was there so wide a field for slander. One
imputation alone seems to have given him much morti
fication — that of interestedness, arising from the supposed
wealth of the lady : and he thought it not beneath him
to publish a short " Apology," now extant, in refutation
of the charge. His character needed no such justifica
tion : he was as free throughout his whole life from the
influence of pecuniary motives as Luther, or Melanc
thon, or Calvin ; nor has any act, betraying a mean or
sordid spirit, ever been alleged against him with any
show of truth, either by his Catholic or Lutheran op
ponents. Meanwhile the pontiffs were not indifferent spectators.
Adrian's first attempt to undermine the Swiss Reform
ation was an insidious address to the vanity and ambi
tion of its chief. On the 23rd of January, 1523, he
wrote to Zwingle in terms of the utmost condescension
and flattery. " Although we have commanded the
bishop to treat of these matters in common with you all
and in public, yet, since we have especial knowledge of
your distinguished merits, since we have a very close
regard and respect for your devotion and a peculiar
confidence in you, we have directed the same bishop,
our nuncio, to deliver to you our letters separately, and
respondence that the ceremony had been performed before this date,
probably two years before. It may have been prudent lo conceal an act,
so sure to be misrepresented, till the Reformation was placed beyond
danger.

CH. XXVIII.J POLICY OF THE POPES. 303
to declare our great good will towards you. We do
therefore encourage your devotion in the name of the
Lord, and exhort you to place your whole trust in him ;
and as our designs are tending to your honour and ad
vantage, so do you on your behalf prosper our affairs
and those of the apostolical see ; you will thus secure
from us no moderate recompence."* The subsequent
conduct of Zwingle supplies his answer to this insulting
overture. On the 15th of the following August the same Pope
addressed a very warm exhortation to the Helvetic
body ; and in like manner his successor Clement, in the
ensuing April, saluted it with the most profuse ex
pressions of respect and benevolence. And not only to
the governing body were his briefs directed, but to all
the individuals, whether lay or clerical, who were dis
tinguished by any recent exertions in support of the
established faith. These timely efforts were not without
effect in cementing a closer union among the Roman
Catholic cantons, and rousing them to officious inter
vention in the religious concerns of those which wavered.
Whatever errors the see may have committed in its
dealings with the German Reformers, in Switzerland it
can be charged with no defect in policy. No art was
left untried to recover the apostates, or to fix the unde
cided, or to confirm and band together the spirits of the
faithful. The Bishop of Constance did not himself disdain to
enter into polemical controversy with the government of
Zurich. He composed a long treatise in defence of
images and the mass, in which he collected the argu
ments usually employed by the church, and sent it to
the senate on the 1st of June, 1 524. He professed to have
* Apud Melchior Adam. Vitse Germ. Theologorum. Vit. Zwinglii.

304 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXVIII.
written it in compliance with the request of that body for
scriptural instruction on those points, and he exhorted
them to be guided by that which he thus offered them.
The senate replied on the 18th of the following August,
and confuted his reasonings, having previously retumed
the most convincing and effectual answer by the aboli
tion of one of the contested practices.
But the mass continued still untouched. So deeply
was the opinion, on which it rested, impressed upon the
feelings and credulity of the vulgar, that some time was
required to efface it. It now disappeared, however, with
greater rapidity. The constant exhortations and argu
ments of the preachers, all directed against it, the ex
ample of the great, the expressed decision of two con
ferences, the perpetual appeal to the simple scriptural
account of the institution of the Sacrament, and the
steady progress of the evangelical doctrine on many
other points — all combined to remove it even from the
least enlightened mind ; and it fell day by day into less
and less repute, till at length, on the llth of April, 1525,
Zwingle, and the other principal ministers of the church
of Zurich, thought the moment arrived to recommend to
the senate the immediate abolition of the sacrifice of the
altar. One advocate only, whom Zwingle designates as
a certain scribe,* presented himself to defend the -esta-
* " Scriba quidam, qui albus an ater sit non est hujus instituti
dicere." This dispute gave occasion to a foolish story, on which
Zwingle's enemies founded some memorable calumnies. The scribe
produced some argument, to which Zwingle, though he perceived its
fallacy, was not prepared with a satisfactory scriptural answer. After
deeply reflecting on the subject he fell asleep, and as the following
morning was at hand—" Visus sum mihi in somno multo cum tsedio
demum contendere cum scriba, sicque obmutuisse, ut quod verum scirem,
negante lingua beneficium suum, proloqui non possem  Ibi airo
jirjxavrJQ visus est monitor adesse {ater an albus nihil memini, somnium
enim narro) qui diceret : ' Quin ignave respondes ei, quod Exodi xii.

CH. XXVIII.J ABOLITION OF THE MASS. 305
bhshed opinion. The senate adjourned the debate till
the following day, and then, after a conference between
the divines and four of their own deputies, published
their decree : " Henceforward, by God's will, celebrate
the Eucharist according to the institution of Christ and
the apostolical rite. Be it permitted to those infirm and
yet rude in faith to continue the ancient practice for this
once only. Let the mass be universally abolished, laid
aside, and antiquated, so as not to be repeated even to
morrow." The great body of the people immediately
communicated according to the new form : those who
still clung to the hereditary observance were even less
numerous than the Reformers expected.
Zwingle had previously prepared a form of communion,
which was delivered in writing, and was as follows : —
After the conclusion of the sermon, a table was broug-ht
scribitur. Est enim Phase, hoc est, transitus Dei.' Protinus ut hoc
phasma visum est expergefio et e lecto exilio. Locum apud Septuaginta
primum undique circumspicio, ac de eo coram tota concione pro virili
dissero — qui sermo ubi acceptus est, &c." Zwingle considering this
vision as a divine interposition in his favour, published the account of it,
not blind to the ridicule which it would occasion, in Dei solius gratiam.
It did ofcourse give rise to much ridicule; but the severest slander was
precisely of a nature which Zwingle could not foresee. Of his monitor
he says — ^by a Latinism somewhat too refined for his adversaries, and
which he had also employed when speaking of " the scribe " — " I know
not whether he was white or black;" — meaning merely, I know not, I
observed not, his shape or colour; I paid no attention to him. Yet
they immediately circulated, with great triumph, " that Zwingle, by his
own confession, had learnt his doctrine of the Sacrament from a black
monitor, i.e., the devil." This taunt was not very creditable in a Roman
Catholic foe ; but, after the confessions of Wartburg, the disciples of
Luther should have been still more cautious in objecting it. Luther and
Zwingle had each his own superstition. It was not to be expected that
the common enemy should spare either ; but they should have shown
mercy on each other. Zwingle relates this dream in a grave work:
"Subsidium de Eucharistia. Gerdes. Histor. Evangel. Renov.," tom. i.,
§ 127, et seq.
VOL. II. ^

306 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXVIII.
into the church and covered with a clean cloth, and the
bread and wine were placed upon it. The minister, with
the deacons, approached the table, and called the people
to attention ; then, after a short prayer, one of the dea
cons read the institution of the Lord's Supper from the
epistle to the Corinthians, and another recited a part of
the sixth of St. John, to show in what sense the commu
nicants do truly eat the body and blood of Christ. Next,
after reciting the Creed, the minister exhorted the people
to self-examination. Then all knelt down, and repeated
the Lord's Prayer, on which the minister took in his
hands unleavened bread, and in the sight of all the
faithful recited, with a loud voice, the institution of the
Lord's Supper. He then delivered the bread and cup
to the deacon, to present them to the people, for the
people to distribute them to each other. During this
process, one of the ministers read from the Gospel of
St. John those edifying discourses held by Jesus with
his disciples after the ablution of their feet.* The con
gregation then again fell down on their knees, and re
turned thanks for the benefit of their redemption by
Christ Jesus.
For the everlasting establishment of their work,
Zwingle, with Leo Judse and other learned coadjutors,
published in the same year the Pentateuch, and other
historical books of the Old Testament, after the version
of Luther, correcting such errors as they discovered in
it, and accommodating the language to the dialect of
Switzerland. * Gerdesius, lib. c.

CH. xxix.J 307

CHAPTER XXIX.
REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND.— BASLE.
(Ecolampadius — his origin, and early life and proficiency — connexion
with Erasmus— residence at Augsburg — retires to a neighbouring
monastery — whence his liberal opinions occasion his removal — his
return to Basle— origin of the Reformation there — Erasmus — parties
long balanced — influence of the university and bishop — hostile to re
form — disputation and expulsion of Farel — great Catholic gatherino-
at Baden — the disputation — Faber, Eck, and CEcolampadius present —
Zwingle not permitted to leave Zurich — Erasmus makes a declaration
of adherence to the church — matters controverted— substance of the
decree for the support of the papal church — the result generally ad
vantageous to the Catholics — attempt to excite the Emperor against
the Swiss Reformers — boldly resisted by Zwingle — official order for
the abolition of idols in some ofthe churches at Basle — the conduct of
the senate during these transactions — the popular commotion, and cir
cumstances attending the final demolition of the images — concomitant
popular change in the political constitution of Basle — departure of
Erasmus — marriage of CEcolampadius, and sarcasms of Erasmus.
John Hausschein, which in Greek is (Ecolampadius,
was born at Winsperg in 1482, the same year with
Spalatin. He was descended from an honourable family
of Basle, and received his early education at Heilbrun
and Heidelberg, where he was presently distinguished
above his contemporaries by the precocity of his talents.
He was intended for the profession of the law, and pro
ceeded to learn the principles of the science at Bologna ;
but there, partly through the unwholesomeness of an
Italian climate, partly through a domestic misfortune
which diminished his pecuniary means, he resided for
a few months only, and presently returned to Heidel-
X 2

308 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIX.
berg. He then abandoned the studies, which had been
imposed on him by his father's inclination rather than
his own, and devoted himself to theology. He began
his ministry in his native place ; but he was called from
this obscurity in 1514, and appointed to the principal
church at Basle ; and two years afterwards he was pro
moted by the university to the dignity of doctor in
theology. Meanwhile he had made such unusual proficiency in
" the three languages," as to attract the attention of
Erasmus, who was at that time at Basle, engaged in
preparing his first edition of the New Testament. He
obtained the assistance of QScolampadius in comparing
the quotations from the Old Testament, which are found
in the New, with the Hebrew original, and he acknow
ledged it in his preface : — " In this part I have received
no little aid from the subsidiary labour of a man eminent
not for his piety only, but for his knowledge of the three
languages, which constitutes a true theologian. I mean
John CEcolampadius ; for I had not myself made suffi
cient progress in Hebrew to authorise me to pronounce
on those passages."
In 1518 (Ecolampadius, on the invitation of the canons
of the principal church at Augsburg, removed to that
city, and preached to large numbers of the people ; but
it appears that in this department of his profession he
was not successful. His manner was too chastised for
ears accustomed to the noisy gesticulations of the men
dicants; his style and expressions were subdued and
nerveless, and argued a moral timidity, fatal to the ac
quisition and exercise of that authority which is essential
to the effective performance of the duty of the pulpit.
And thus, whether disheartened by the consciousness of
this incapacity, or desirous of more exclusive devotion to
his literary pursuits, he retired in the following year, in

CH. XXIX.J CECOLAMPADIUS. 309
spite of the urgent remonstrances of his best friends, to
a monastery in the neighbourhood of Augsburg. In that
seclusion he probably purposed to pass the remainder of
his days, and had he lived in peaceful days it might
have ended even so ; but in those times of religious agi
tation, while such violent exertions were making by both
parties, it was not probable that a divine of high celebrity
and solid erudition would be allowed to repose in obscure
neutrality. His friends, especially Capito, urged him to declare
his opinion on the subjects then in controversy. Some
expressions favourable to the new doctrines, which had
fallen from him in the confidence of private intercourse,
were eagerly divulged and propagated. He then pub
lished some sermons of an evangelical tendency, and
next a book " Concerning Confession," which betrayed
his wide dissent from the pontifical system. His brother
monks were immediately in arms ; he was denounced
by Glapio* at the Diet of Worms ; he was threatened
with imprisonment by some ; with death by others ; a
conspiracy seems actually to have been formed for his
destruction ; till at length he found it necessary to take
a somewhat hasty departure from his convent (in 1521)
after residing there rather less than two years. His
immediate refuge was the castle of Francis Sickingen,
at Ebernburg, where he remained, with some other
learned reformers, till the violent death of their patron.
Then he retumed to Basle, and engaged in good eamest
in the work of the Reformation.
The foundations were already laid and the materials
prepared for his hands. The edition of the New Testa
ment published there was the corner-stone ; and to
Erasmus, however he might afterwards disclaim it,
* Melchior Adam, Vita CEcolampadii.

310 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXIX.
the honour of originating the changes at Basle in
justice belongs. For five years, ending with 1520,
Capito had been engaged in expounding the Scrip'
tures, especially the Gospel of Matthew, to large congre
gations; and he thus announced, in that year, his
progressive success : " Here matters are constantly im
proving. The theologians and monks are with us. A
very large audience attends my lectures on Matthew.
There are some indeed who threaten dreadful things
against Luther; but the doctrine is too deeply rooted
to be torn up by any violence. Some accuse me of
favouring Lutheranism; but I carefully dissemble my
inclination."* Gaspar Hedio,t who was doctor in the
university, was engaged, with the same discretion, in
the same cause. " There is no good man here (as he
wrote to Zwingle in 1519) who does not wish you well
— in body I mean ; for about the health of your mind
we have no apprehension." Likewise one Adolphus, a
physician of Schaffhausen, wrote to Vadianus, in 1521 :
" At Basle and Friburg every man of learning is a
Lutheran — i. e., a good Christian."
But notwithstanding these flattering professions, and
some effects which were really produced by the working
of the evangelical principles, the parties remained for
some time nearly balanced, both in the senate and even
among the people ; and the fury of the conflict was not
* Ap. Scultetum, Ann. 1520, p. 67. In 1518 Capito thus wrote to
John Eck : — " Neque enim omnia Lutheri amplector ; qui nunc Paulo
deditissimus, quotidie comperio ex quibusnam fontibus hauserit novita-
tem." Capito was a native of Alsace, born in 1578. He died at Stras
burg, of a plague which raged there in 1541.
t He was born at Eslingen, was educated and graduated at Basle, and
was thence removed to Mayence to preach the Gospel. Expelled irom
that city he retired to Strasburg, where his labours were more accept
able. There he generally resided, respectable for piety and a mild and
moderate temper.

CH. XXIX.J CECOLAMPADIUS. 31]
appeased by two edicts, the one prohibiting slanders and
personalities, the other enjoining " Union, Peace, and
Charity," which were published by the authorities in 1524
and 1525. It appears, however, that the monasteries
were thrown open during the latter year, and permis
sion granted to those, who so wished, to quit them and
carry their property away with them.* (Ecolampadius
was at this time the undisputed leader of the evangelical
party. Being desirous to resign his cure (of St. Martin's
church) and being much solicited to retain it by the
congregation and managers (curatores) of the church, he
agreed to do so on two conditions : That he should be
free to teach or repudiate whatever was commanded or
condemned by Scripture ; and also to reject such papal
ceremonies as he might deem useless. The Senate sanc
tioned this compact ; and by virtue of it he performed
the services, that of baptism included, in the vulgar
* On July 14, 1522, Erasmus wrote to the President of the Senate of
Mechlin : " There are here more than an hundred thousand persons who
hate the See of Rome, and are to a great extent adherents of Luther."
In 1523 he assured Henry VIII. of England (see ch. xxiii.) that there then
was no press at Basle which dared to publish a word against Luther, or
refijsed to promulgate anything against the Pope. In 1525 he thus wrote
to John de Hondt : " Evangelii mirus hic est successus. Missam abo-
minantur plurimi .... Velum et cuculla deponitur passim. Nubunt et
dudunt uxores Monachse et Monachi — tam mihi tutum non est hic
diutius vivere. Mores istorum, qui hic docent, magis mihi displicent
quam ipsa Dogmata." During the same year he was consulted by the
Senate concerning the imposition of restrictions upon the press and
other matters. His replies were guarded, but not altogether hostile.
Without allowing any general licence to the press, he would not pro
hibit the works of Pellican and CEcolampadius. He considered images,
sacred music, chrism, &c., among things indifferent. He regretted the
proceedings of Zwingle, but he would not counsel war against Zurich.
Dispensations about morals, vows, &c., ought (he said) to be obtained
from the Pope. At any rate these matters should not be pressed until an
Imperial Diet, or some general council, had decided regarding them.
Gerdes. tom. ii. § 105.

312 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXIX.
tongue, and administered the sacrament in both kinds.
At the same time he assailed with so much advantage
other papal ceremonies, such as the use of holy water,
the consecration of palms, wax lights, cakes, &c., that
they presently lost their reverence among the people, and
fell into contempt and disuse.
Yet the influence of the university, with that of the
bishop, was continually exerted in opposition to the new
opinions.* A strong proof of this appeared in 1524.
William Farel, an exile from France, arrived at Basle in
the February of that year, and demanded permission to
dispute publicly against human traditions. The vicar of
the bishop and the rector of the university resisted this
intention by their edicts. But the Senate, justly consider
ing that fair discussion offered the best prospect of elicit
ing truth, insisted that the disputation should be held.
Farel advanced thirteen articles, of which the follow
ing is the substance : That a perfect rule of life was
prescribed by Christ; that marriage was permitted to
the incontinent ; that distinctions of food, dress, cere
monies, &c., were judaical; that long prayers were
dangerous ; that it was the minister's duty to preach the
word of God ; that he, who does not believe that he is
justified by faith, makes himself a god ; that fasts were
the pretexts of hypocrites ; that idols were prohibited by
Scripture, &c, These theses were supported with great
approbation in the presence of a very numerous assembly.
Yet so powerful even then was the influence of the com
bined academical and ecclesiastical authorities, that means
were presently found to expel the dangerous intruder
from the city.
Meanwhile the great majority of the cantons continued
in their allegiance to the church. In many the evan-
* Basle was not one of the latest universities. It was founded by
Pius II. in 1460.

CH. XXIX.J DISPUTATION OF BADEN. 313
gelical opinions had gained little or no footing ; in others
they were embraced by few, and professed perhaps by
none— at least the government still protected the ancient
rehgion. Yet had they not remained inactive observers
of the changes, which had been introduced into a por
tion of the league and which were continually progres
sive. At length they were moved, chiefly by the agency
of the indefatigable Eck, to make a great demonstration
of their fidelity. Twelve cantons subscribed, after some
altercations, to an act convoking a general assembly of
the Helvetic body. The place fixed for the meeting
was Baden, and the day the 16th of May, 1526. Their
object was scarcely veiled by a decent show of imparti
ality—it was, in fact, what it almost professed to be, to
silence the evangelical teachers and to destroy the hopes
ofthe Reformation.
At the time appointed, Faber, Eck and other cele
brated papal polemics presented themselves; the bishops
of Constance, Basle, Coire and Lausanne, sent their
representatives; the whole force and parade of the
Roman Catholic party were displayed. Opposed to
them were (Ecolampadius, Berthold Haller of Bern and
a few other teachers of less eminence. Zwingle had
been summoned. But the authorities of Zurich posi
tively prohibited his egress from the walls.* It was
against him most especially that this storm was directed.
* Zwingle's letter (April 21, 1526) "To the legates of the twelve
cantons assembled at Baden," excusing his absence from the conference,
may be found in Gerdesius. Monum. Antiq. t. ii. no. xvi. He objected
to the place chosen for the disputation, and represented the whole matter,
not as an inquisition into truth, but merely as a grand effort to put down
the Reformation. But his deference to the authorities, under which he
lived, fiirnished of course the grand excuse. Eck had challenged him to
a public disputation two years before, but they had been unable to agree
about the field of action — each of course desiring a city and an audience

314 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXIX.
Two or three evangelical teachers much less obnoxious
had very lately fallen victims to their zeal. Zwingle would
have been a more illustrious martyr. When he was made
acquainted with the decision of the Senate, being still
desirous that the cause at least should not suffer through
his absence, he made to the directors of the conference
this proposal : That reports of all that might be advanced
by Eck should be carefully taken and transmitted to
him on the same day ; and he engaged that on the fol
lowing his confutation of the whole should be presented
to the assembly. He received no reply to this offer ; for
it was not his arguments that the papists wanted, but his
presence. Erasmus, who was still at Basle, was likewise sum
moned ; but he declined, as afterwards when invited to
Augsburg, on the plea of health. However he took that
occasion to make a solemn declaration of his perfect ad
herence to the orthodox opinion regarding the Eucharist.
" God is my witness, who alone knoweth the hearts of
men, and His wrath I call down upon my head, if I have
ever given place in my mind to an opinion opposed to
that, which the Catholic church has hitherto maintained
with such general consent." The best commentary on
this declaration was also furnished by himself, in a letter
which he wrote very soon afterwards to Pickheimer : " I
should not dislike the opinion of (Ecolampadius, were it
not that the consent of the church is against it. I can
neither understand what a body does which is not the
object of the senses, nor what advantage it would confer
partial to himself. Among his reasons for objecting to Baden, as the
place of conference, one was, that the canton of Fribourg, conjointly with
those of Lucerne, Uri, Schweitz, Zug, and Underwalden, had given orders
to seize his person and conduct him as a prisoner to Lucerne, in violation
of the treaties among the cantons.

CH. XXIX.J DISPUTATION OF BADEN. 315
if it were, so long as the spiritual grace is present in the
symbols. Yet I cannot depart, as I never have departed,
from the consent of the church."*
The disputation was opened on the 17th of May, and
Eck proposed the seven following theses : — That the
true body and blood of Christ were present in the Lord's
Supper ; that these were truly offered in the mass both
for the living and the dead ; that the Virgin Mary and
the other saints were to be invoked as intercessors ; that
their images were not to be removed ; that there was a
Purgatory after this life ; that infants were born in
original sin; that the baptism of Christ, not that of
John, washed away original sin. The two last of these,
which were probably directed against some opinions
ascribed to Zwingle, were not contested ; but respecting
the others much elaborate argument was maintained on
both sides, during a tedious controversy of eighteen days.
(Ecolampadius contended with learning and earnestness;
but the clamour, as at Leipzig, was on the side of Eck;
and on this occasion he obtained a rnore substantial tri
umph. When the debate at length concluded, and the
question was proposed to the assembly : Whether they
"approved the positions of Eck, or the confutations of
(Ecolampadius ? a large majority decided in favour of
the former. A decree was then published, and subscribed
by nine of the assembled cantons, in direct condemna
tion of the evangelical cause. It was to this effect : —
" Since Zwingle, the principal author of this doctrine
which is misleading the confederacy, though frequently
summoned, has not appeared to give account of his faith,
and since those preachers who think with him, and who
have disputed at Baden, have not suffered themselves to
be brought to wisdom, be they, without further warning,
* Apud Gerdes., tom. ii. § 109.

316 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIX.
proscribed, excluded and separated from our commu
nion, as condemned by the common church of Christ.
We, for our parts, will persist in the faith which has
been transmitted through so many centuries, and in
which our ancestors have been born and died."
It then specified several observances and ceremonies,
to which, notwithstanding the objections of the new
sectarians, a faithful adherence Avas enjoined ; and lastly,
it prohibited the sale of any work either of Luther or
Zwingle, and established a rigid censorship on the press.
The immediate effect of this decree was unquestionably
that which its framers designed. It strengthened the
partisans of the church. Where they were already pre
dominant, it gave them authority to crush the buds of
insurrection ; where they were weak, it gave them
courage to withstand the advances of apostacy — seeing
that the large proportion of the confederacy was still
with them, that it did not overlook their struggles, and
that it might presently exert itself in good earnest to
assist them. Such was the effect of the edict ; but the
disputation had an opposite tendency. Notwithstanding
the exultation of the papists, the calm and scriptural
reasonings of the Reformers had their influence upon
the less prejudiced hearers, the voice of reason was not
entirely drowned in the orthodox clamours, and the
cause of the Gospel was secretly promoted by the blow,
which was intended for its destruction.
But not contented with their theological triumph, Eck
and Faber next endeavoured to turn other arms against
the rebels. They would have excited, not the Pope only,
but the Emperor also, to issue edicts for their chastise
ment. This last attempt gave an advantage to Zwingle,
of which he instantly availed himself. He represented
to the Helvetic body that they were exempt from the
imperial jurisdiction; that, according to the treaty which

CH. XXIX.J REFORMATION OF BASLE. 317
terminated the war of Swabia, the Emperor could not
by any statute molest their republic ; and that they
should beware how they made themselves parties to his
usurpation, and, by enforcing his edicts, reimpose upon
their own necks the yoke, which it had cost them so
much to break. Doubtless this seasonable appeal to the
nationality of his fellow-countrymen was useful to his
cause ; and it was of no trifling service to him, among a
free and sensitive people, that he could associate the
name of the Reformation with the principles of their
independence. On his return to Basle, (Ecolampadius advanced gra
dually, though every step was disputed, to the conclusion
of his work. The evangelical practice of singing hymns
in the vulgar tongue was found to be a successful method
of exciting the people to piety, and attaching them to
the new opinions. It was in the same degree offensive
to the papists; but in 1526 it was established, after
some struggles, by the authority of the senate.
In 1527 the question of the mass was submitted to
open disputation. The Roman system was defended by
one Augustinus Marius, and assailed as an abomination
by (Ecolampadius and others. The authorities were de
sirous to refer the dispute to the decision of a council,
but the citizens demanded an immediate declaration on
the subject. Accordingly, on the 7th of October, the
senate decreed, that both parties should continue to
preach their respective doctrines, provided there were no
interruption of civil concord.*
In 1528 that body advanced somewhat farther. In a
popular tumult several images were pulled down and
demolished. The offenders were imprisoned ; but this
was followed by so strong a demonstration of the popular
* " Salva concordia animorum civili." — Scultet, ann. 1527.

318 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXIX.
will, that the government issued orders, on the 15th of
April, for the official abolition of the idols in four of the
principal churches and an hospital. In all the others
they were still tolerated and protected. The mass was
likewise preserved partially — in the same institutions
which retained their images. Here, as at Zurich, those
two were the principal points on which the conflict
turned — the bulwarks which the church defended with
the fiercest pertinacity, as the most fruitful sources of
wealth and power, and which the Reformers assailed
with the most determined hatred — the one as the great
speculative imposition, the other as the grossest practical
symbol of superstition.
The prudence and firmness, with which the senate of
Basle directed the vessel in the midst of such fierce dis
orders, have attracted the applause of historians ; yet the
conclusion of the struggle, which was now approach
ing, rather convicts that body of partiality to the old
opinions,* and also of the want of that first requisite in
the art of popular government, the tact to discern the
exact moment for concession to popular opinion. The
praise of foresight at least can scarcely be due when a
long contested object, demanded by the people with
a gradually increasing determination, is at length ex
torted by force : yet thus it was at Basle. An edict
had been published a few years before, " That there
should be an uniformity in the religious worship, and
that on some future day a public disputation should
be held on the subject of the mass, and the question of
its continuance decided by vote." Nevertheless the pa-
* Jacobus Monasteriensis, a papist, in the letter describing the dis
putation at Bern, and dated January 29, 1528, says, " Senatum quoque
Basiliensem scis metu plebis suse, quam incantat CEcolampadius non
tam eruditione quam hypocrisi sua, nihil posse." Thus the senate was
known by the papal party to be well disposed to them.

CH. XXIX.J REFORMATION AT BASLE. 319
pists continued their preaching with so much boldness
and bitterness, as to make it appear that they had their
supporters among the leading people in the state. This
suspicion inflamed the citizens. They assembled toge
ther, and sent deputies from their body to remind the
senate of the obligation of their decree. Much debate
ensued with no effect, till the deputies proceeded to
demand, that those senators who encouraged the papal
preachings, in contempt of the decree, and to the pro
motion of disorder and discord, should be deprived of
their dignity.
The senate altogether refused the demand ; and then
the people collected together, on February 8, 1529, in
the Franciscan monastery ; and really apprehensive that
it was intended to convert their aristocratical constitu
tion into a mere oligarchy, and considering also what
was due to the glory of Christ, to public justice, and to
the welfare of their posterity,* they repeated their re
monstrances with less respect, at the same time occu
pying, though without arms, the public buildings and
places. On the same evening the senate replied : " That
those senators whose removal was required should refrain
from voting on religious questions, but should retain
their seats and voices upon all others." The citizens
inferred from this, that the senate was in fact governed
by a small faction within it, and that their liberties were
in danger as well as their religion. Thus they became
still more incensed ; and then seizing arms, they took
military possession of the gates and towers of the city.
A further compromise was then proposed by the
senate ; and while this was still under deliberation, it
* These are the words of CEcolampadius in a letter to Wolfgang
Capito, in which he describes this affair. — Apud Scultet. ann. 1529.
His account agrees, in all important respects, with the others.

320 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXIX.
came to pass that certain of the inhabitants, who were
appointed to patrol the streets, went up into the principal
church. One of them raised his spear against the
statue of some saint erected there, overthrew and demo
lished it. The example was followed ; but the instant
and forcible interference of the ministers of the church
prevented the completion of the work, and the assailants
departed. While this scuffle was yet proceeding, an
exaggerated rumour reached the body of the people who
were assembled in the Forum, and they, believing that
their fellow-citizens were in personal danger from the
violence of the papal party, sent a body of three hundred
armed men to their rescue. When these arrived, the
struggle was already finished ; but, that their errand
might not be without some fruit, they immediately
destroyed all the images remaining in the church in
question, and then extended the devastation to all the
others. And when the senate, in the course of these
proceedings, sent forth some of its members to appease
the storm, the chiefs of the rioters merely observed to
them : " That, on which you have been deliberating for
these three years, whether it should be done or not, we
will accomplish in one hour; so that we shall not hence
forward have any further difference, at least on that
head." The senate submitted : the twelve obnoxious members
were dismissed to an honourable obscurity, and a decree
was presently published ordaining the entire abolition
both of the images and the mass,* both in the city and
country. By the same instrument it was likewise
enacted : " That for the better consideration of subjects
pertaining both to the glory of God and the welfare of
* "Ita seevitum est in idola," says CEcolampadius; "ac missa expi-
ravit prse dolore." — Epist. Wolf. Capitoni.

CH. XXIX.] DESTRUCTION OF THE IMAGES. 321
the commonwealth, the senate should thenceforward
admit to its councils two hundred and sixty deputies
from the people." This last provision proves that in
whatever motive these tumults may have originated,
they assumed in their course something of a political
character ; and that the people of Basle were not slow in
turning the religious excitement to civil advantages.
Nor was this the only instance in which the two objects
were combined, in furthering the Reformation in Swit
zerland. Meanwhile the citizens indulged in the wildest exult
ation on their double triumph ; and so many were the
insults heaped upon the images and crucifixes, as to
make it strange, according to the sarcastic observation
of Erasmus, that those holy saints, who had been wont to
display such prodigies of poAver on very slight offences,
should have refi-ained, in this most important emergency,
from the exertion of their miraculous energies.
Erasmus was still at Basle ; and the account of this
affair, which he communicated at the time to his corre
spondent Pirckheimer, differs in no essential circum
stance from that of Sleidan. He mentioned, indeed,
that the ecclesiastical faction was the first which had
recourse to arms, and that its greater respectability
made amends for its numerical inferiority. But, though
he affirmed, that among the popular party there were
many foreigners, spendthrifts and persons of notorious
infamy, he did not accuse them of any cruelty, or any
wanton or predatory violence. Indeed, so far as can
be judged from such records as remain of this transac
tion, the praise of greater discretion, as well as greater
courage and constancy, belongs to the adherents of the
Reformation. Immediately afterwards, in spite of the courteous en~
VOL. II. ^

322 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXIX.
treaties of (Ecolampadius,* he took his departure. His
salaries were now in danger : his credit with the great
would have been compromised, had he remained any
longer in that polluted residence. Indeed he was then
so professedly an adherent of the papal party, that, if any
event were required to mark the crisis of the triumph of
the Reformation at Basle, we might find it in the seces
sion of Erasmus. He parted, however, on good terms
with his ancient friends and hosts, and left behind him
the following benediction —
Jam Basilea vale ! qua non urbs altera multis
Annis e.xhibuit gratius hospitium.
Hinc precor omnia Iseta tibi : simul illud, Erasmo
Hospes uti ne unquam tristior adveniaj.
The year before, during the heat of the conflict, (Eco
lampadius married. He described that event to W.
Farel in the following expressions : " Moreover, be it
known to you, if it be not already known, that in the
place of my departed mother the Lord has given me a
wife, of sufficiently Christian feelings, poor but of re
spectable origin, a widow, and for some years experi
enced in the cross. I would, indeed, that she were
somewhat older ; but I have not yet observed in her any
symptom of youthful petulance. Do you pray the Lord
that the marriage may be happy and lasting." With
* Erasmus mentioned this in his letter to Pirckheimer, but he felt
that, as he was not a Reformer, it was time that he should quit the scene.
(Ecolampadius, in a letter to Simon Grynaeus, wrote as follows : " No
one has been forcibly expelled hence ; but some, who are displeased to
see the kingdom of Christ established here, have removed by preference
elsewhere. Erasmus is likewise on the point of departing, out of com
pliment to the princes to whom he is bound by obligations ; but I do
not think that he is taking a final leave of us. But we do not much
regard those persons, seeing that we are intending to place the university
on a new and happier footing."

CH. XXIX.J MARRIAGE OF CECOLAMPADIUS. 323
this simple announcement it is proper to contrast the
remarks which Erasmus addressed to his friend Adrianus
on the same subject and at the same time: "(Ecolam
padius has lately taken a wife, rather an elegant girl.
Doubtless he intends to mortify the flesh. Some call
this Lutheran business a tragedy; but for my part I
think it partakes much more of the character of a co
medy, for I observe that all its plots and counterplots end
in one invariable catastrophe — a wedding."*
* Among the chiefs of the Reformation, Melancthon, Zwingle, Luther,
Spalatin, Capito, and CEcolampadius were married. Among the less
distinguished evangelical pastors the practice was becoming general. At
Basle, in the beginning of 1524, one Stephanus, a married minister, de
fended his act in public disputation ; and as no one rose to confute him,
and many advanced to support him, he won an easy triumph. The same
occurred at Strasburg and in other , places. The people decidedly
encouraged the marriage of the clergy, and they may have had their
reasons.

324 [en. xxx.

CHAPTER XXX.
REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND.— BERNE.
Berthold Haller and Sebastian Meyer laid the foundation of the Reform
ation at Berne — neutrality of the senate — rather, however, inclining to
papacy — dissolution of the nunnery of Konigsfelde — in 1525 comes a
more liberal edict from the senate — edict for exercise of mutual charity
— ^papal party recover ascendancy and take an oath of fidelity to the old
observances — decision of the senate in favour of Haller — the Reform
ation gradually triumphs and the oath is revoked — grand conference
proclaimed — Haller presses Zwingle to be present — attempts of the
papists to prevent it — fail — firmness of the Bernese — the disputation
opens January 7, 1528 — ^no Catholic of any consequence present —
accounts by Bucer and Jacobus Monasteriensis — the result is the
conversion of the Canton, and establishment of tbe Ten Articles —
manner of celebrating this triumph — prohibition of mercenary service
— Constance, Schaffhausen, St. Gall, Glarus, Tokenburg follow — re
marks — progress of the Swiss Reformation — indulgences — fasts —
monastic life — images — mass — good policy of the papists in Switzer
land — some comparison between the Swiss and Saxon divines — ^how
far political causes occasioned the distinctions — greater progress ofthe
Swiss than of the German Reformers — term Lutheran applied to the
Swiss and disclaimed by Zwingle — his expressions — his praise of Lu
ther — his greater consistency and moderation.
For the first three years after the appearance of Luther
no city was more adverse to the new opinions than Berne.
In 1520, however, they gained some footing there, and
the more violent prejudices were beginning to soften
under the evangelical preaching of Berthold Haller and
Sebastian Meyer. Both were men of worth and piety.
Haller possessed considerable learning and eloquence;
but, through a just distrust in the sufficiency of his own
powers, he looked to Zwingle for support and guidance.

CH. XXX.J DISPUTES AT BERNE. 325
Under those auspices the cause prospered ;* and three
years afterwards the state of religion was such, as to call
for the interference of the government. On June 15,
1523, it was decreed: "That, as conflicting doctrines
were delivered to the people and the preachers thundered
against each other, they should all of them thencefor
ward preach the same Gospel, namely, the doctrine re
pealed by God and illustrated by the prophetical and
apostolical writings ; that they should propound nothing
contrary to Holy Writ, whether on Luther's or on any
other authority, and avoid every discourse of a seditious
tendency." About the same time one George Brunner, pastor of
Landsberg, was accused of designating the Pope as the
Antichrist. The senate allowed him a public defence ;
he rested it entirely on the word of God ; and after due
deliberation it was determined, that he had successfully
replied to his adversaries, and might return to his sacred
functions. By this decision the foundation was surely
laid ; the preaching of the Gospel was encouraged, free
dom and publicity were allowed to religious discussions ;
* There is a letter from Zwingle to Haller dated Cal. Januar., 1522,
in which allusion is made to the greater progress of the Zurichers in
evangelical knowledge : " Do you execute strenuously that which you
require of me, that your bears, now a little wild, may begin to grow
tame on hearing the doctrine of Christ. But you must set about this
work with the greatest mildness ; for you cannot treat yours as we can
ours. The ears of yours are yet too tender, and must not be at once
wounded by any very biting truth, which I suppose to have been the
meaning of Chrrst when he forbade to cast pearls before swine, lest they
should turn about on you and tear you, and contract a perpetual horror
of the Gospel of Christ. These wild beasts are to be handled more
gently . . . till at length, overcome by our patient and intrepid constancy,
they may become tractable." The reply of Haller to his " integerrimus
Frseceptor" at once acknowledges and proves the influence, and even the
authority, pf the latter. — Gerdesius Monum. Antiq., tom. ii. num. xiii.

326 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXX.
and the word of God was established as the only arbiter
of controversy and the only test of truth.
The Orders of the Helvetic body, assembled at Beme
in the course of this year, issued some angry proclama
tions against Zwingle. Their great demonstration at
Lucerne, on Jan. 26, 1524, has been already described.
These efforts no doubt retarded the progress ofthe Reform
ation and prolonged the struggle. Thus we perceive,
that at the end of April in this year, the Senate pub
lished a decree, prohibiting on the one hand the marriage
of the clergy, the pernicious use of meats during Lent,
and any disrespect to the mediatory office of the saints ;
on the other, the maintenance of concubines by the
ministers of Christ, and all further traffic in indulgences.
A dispute which followed between Meyer and one Heim,
a Dominican, respecting the satisfaction made by Christ
for the sins of mankind, occasioned another interference on
the part of the government, and called forth a third edict
on the subject of religion. Both parties were, for peace
and quietness' sake (umb frid und ruwen willen) ejected
from the city. Images and fasts were protected, religi
ous contentions were prohibited, and the points in dispute
were ordered to be brought at once before the magistracy.
Heretical and antiscriptural books were to be neither
bought nor sold, but burnt. All factious and turbulent
meetings were forbidden. At the same time, a just in
dignation was expressed against those obnoxious imposts,
which, under the various pretexts of excommunication,
indulgence, dispensation, &c., were exacted by the Roman
See ; and it was promised that, after due deliberation
with the other cantons, measures should be taken to re
move them.
This decree was published on the 22nd of November,
and its spirit was decidedly papal. Yet a few months

CH. XXX.J DISSOLUTION OF A NUNNERY. 327
earlier (on the 10th of June) a great practical triumph
had been obtained by the principles of the Reformation,
in the dissolution of the nunnery of Konigsfelde. The
inmates of this institution, having received new instruc
tions respecting Christian liberty from the writings of
Luther and Zwingle, expressed a strong desire to return
to a secular life. They were the daughters of the nobles
and principal citizens, and as they persisted in their
petition, and as their ardour and unanimity seemed only
to be increased by the obstacles interposed and the pre
texts suggested by the government, it was found neces
sary at length to yield. And the decree which restored
them to liberty contained a general provision for the
liberation of all who, with the consent of their parents,
raight desire it. It was further enacted that no female
should thenceforward be received into a convent till after
her seventeenth year, and that she should then pass three
further probationary years, before she took the indis
soluble vow. The bishop of Constance and many other
nobles made great exertions to prevent or counteract this
decree, chiefly with the object of preventing the apostates
from reclaiming their forfeited shares in the family tem
poralities. But the perseverance of the parties most in
terested, aided by the moderation of the Senate, finally
prevailed; and the ladies were married in due season,
without any detriment to the cause of religion or to the
welfare of the republic.
Early in the succeeding year (1525) another edict was
published for the regulation of religious affairs, of a
much more extensive and liberal character. It con
tained thirty-five articles, and among them were the
following : " That purgatory, canonical hours, anniver
saries and such like matters were open to individual
opinion and practice ; that married priests might retain
their benefices; that the sale of indulgences should be

328 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXX.
absolutely prevented ; that no foreigner, even members
of the court of Rome not excepted, should possess any
benefice within the canton of Berne; that the clergy,
without respect to the peculiarity of their sacred cha
racter, should be subject to the same jurisdiction and the
same penalties as the laity ; that no ecclesiastics or reli
gious establishments should purchase land, or other
hereditary possessions, without the permission of the
government. Still, notwithstanding these checks, the Roman Ca
tholic party was very powerful ; and the dissension was
carried on with so much bitterness on both sides, that on
May 8 the Senate published another decree, prohibiting
those animosities and enjoining the exercise of mutual
charity. We are assured that this injunction was by
some received with great satisfaction. But if there were
any who really dreamed, that the storm of passions infu
riated by sectarian strife could be allayed by an edict,
that charity could be breathed into the hearts of the reli
gious combatants, or conflicting opinions and feelings
reconciled, by a proclamation, they presently discovered
their great mistake. The differences became more in
flamed, and the breach which separated the parties
widened day by day.
The decree of Baden produced an immediate effect at
Berne. The papal party gained a temporary ascendancy.
They succeeded in obtaining an official act of adhesion to
the ancient religion ; and, to provide still further security
for its power and permanence, they bound themselves by
an oath to enforce it. It commanded that dissensions
should cease and the papists and Zwinglians abstain from
invectives ; that no books should be written against the
established faith; that priests who were married, or might
thereafter marry, should, if foreigners, be expelled from
the republic; that no sort of change should be permitted

CH. xxx. J PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 329
in matters of religion. The majority both of the nobles
and the people are said to have undertaken this solemn
obligation. Yet a dispute immediately followed, which
ended in the introduction, and by authority too, of a
very essential innovation. Haller had suspended the
celebration of mass for the six preceding months, and on
his return from the conference of Baden he was com
manded by the lesser Senate to restore it. He claimed
to be heard in apology before the larger Senate ; and his
demand, after some difficulty, was accorded. There
he persisted with respectful firmness in his disobe
dience, and resigned a canonry which he had for
some time held. Meanwhile the people, by whom he
was much beloved, assembled in multitudes and ex
pressed their determination not to be deprived of their
Christian pastor. The Senate decided accordingly :
That he should resign his dignity, but continue in his
ministerial functions with a sufficient salary, and that
the celebration of mass should not be required of him.
The popular commotion had doubtless much influence in
procuring this decree ; which was indeed, as far as it
went, a retractation of the sworn manifesto so lately
issued, and a step towards the events which immediately
followed. The seven Catholic Cantons, perceiving these symp
toms of instability in the citizens of Berne, offered to the
authorities to send deputies to that city, to aid in the
maintenance of the old religion. The government re
turned, on the 7th of March, 1527, a bold and indepen
dent reply : That the embassy proposed was quite unne
cessary, since the people of Berne were sufficient for the
management of their own affairs, and the care of their
religion was of all others most especially their own.
They presently took three steps, which evinced that inde
pendence, and at the same time showed that the transient

330 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXX.
reaction, occasioned by the disputation at Baden, was
already passed. They revoked the sacred engagement,
into which they had entered on the preceding year.
They confirmed the edict of 1523, by which they had
established the Bible as the only rule and text book for
their preachers ;* and they decreed that a public dis
putation should be held in their city during the winter
following, for the final decision of the disputed questions.
To this great conference they summoned the bishops
of Constance, Basle, Sion and Lausanne, together with
all their most eminent theologians, on pain of forfeiting
such of their possessions as lay in the Bernese territory.
They commanded all their own divines to be present,
and established the books of the Old and New Testaments
as the only objects of appeal. At the same time, they
published ten articles, to be maintained by the advocates
of the reformed churches against all opponents. The
articles were in substance: That the church had no head
but Christ ; that it sprang from fhe word of God, and
subsisted in that alone ; that traditions were only bind
ing when they agreed with God's written word; that
Christ was a sufficient expiation for the sins of the whole
world ; that there was no Scriptural proof of the real
and corporal manducation of the body and blood of
Christ; that the sacrifice of the mass was opposed to
Scripture and insulting to the sacrifice of Christ ; that
there was no other intercessor between God and man,
except Christ ; that the existence of a purgatory could
not be proved from Holy Writ; that the worship of
statues and images was contrary to Scripture; that
marriage was forbidden to no order of men ; that, since

* Gerdesius publishes the original edict. Monument. Antiq. tom. ii.
num. xxi.; and also the convocation ofthe meeting (num. xxii.) —
both in Swiss-German ; together with the ten articles.

CH. XXX.J DISPUTATION OF BERNE. 331
fornication was expressly denounced in Scripture, it was
a vice least of all becoming the sacerdotal order.
Haller, prudently reluctant to sustain the whole
burden of this disputation, wrote very earnestly to
solicit the support of Zwingle ; he requested him
to undertake the defence of the ten articles, with free
permission to make any alteration in them that might
seem fit to him. "All pious persons here feel the
strongest confidence that you will not be absent. You
know how much depends on this republic. If we should
sink under the task, how disgraceful would that be to
us, how detrimental to the Gospel ! I know and have
experienced, how dear to you are the honour of God
and His Word, and the salvation of Beme and of the
whole Helvetic body ; and thus I feel assured of your
presence on this occasion, to the great advantage of the
whole Christian commonwealth and the scandal of its
enemies. . . . All will be prepared for you, provided you
be prepared, as we all trust you will. Hasten your reply,
andi spare no expense, that we may have proof how cer
tainly we may count on you. For the whole turns on
this, that you do not fail us. You understand me.
Perform what our whole republic expects from you. I
send you our conclusions, which you may amplify, cur
tail or augment, at your discretion." Zwingle, as well as
(Ecolampadius, promised his assistance. In fact the
crisis was much too important — the success of the
Reformation throughout the whole of Switzerland was
too deeply involved in this proceeding — to dispense with
the strenuous exertions of its two great supporters.
The opposite party foresaw its consequences, and
made great efforts to prevent it. The Catholics of Ger
many addressed to the government of Berne, in the
name of the Emperor, a strong though tardy remon
strance, dissuasive of the meeting. The reply was firm

332 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXX.
and respectful : That many of those invited were already
arrived; that the religious dissensions were becoming day
by day more intolerable ; that the princes of Christendom
took no measures to compose them ; that the authorities
had accordingly deemed it their duty to investigate the
truth, and to that end had decreed this conference.
The papal cantons were not idle or indifferent spec
tators. They too urged their united remonstrances with
great earnestness and energy : they reminded the Bernese
of the solemn obligations into which they had entered ;
they referred to the disputation of Baden, of which none
had been more zealous promoters; they disputed the
right of them, or any other state, to introduce any change
into religious concerns without the consent of a general
council; they implored them not to be seduced into those
novelties by the influence of a few foreigners, but to ad
here to the religion of their fathers and forefathers, under
the shadow of which they had achieved so many glorious
triumphs, and extended so widely the boundaries of their
dominions. To this plausible appeal the men of Berne
replied inflexibly : That the religion of Christ, that the
salvation of souls, that the peace of the republic, were at
stake; and that, from a resolution thus grounded, no
reasons could possibly disturb them. Other means of
persuasion and intimidation were then attempted. The
bishops employed all their power and influence for the
same purpose. Passports were refused to the evangelical
ministers; menaces were not spared;* but all were equally
vain. In fact, during the latter months of 1527, the
* See Bucer's Epist. Dedicator, ad Magistratus et Evangel. Ministros
Bernenses prsemiss. Commentar. in Evangel. Johannis, in which he
gives a summary ofthe disputation. The Acts were likewise published
by authority. In Gerdesius (Monument. Antiq., tom. ii. No. xxiv.)
we find the papal account of the disputation, as contained in a letter of
one Jacobus Monasteriensis, a priest, who was present.

CH. XXX.J THE DISPUTATION OF BERNE. 333
evangelical principles had made such rapid and manifest
progress among all classes of the inhabitants, that any
attempts to arrest it, whether by coercive edicts or
foreign interference, would have immediately ended in
bloodshed. The disputation opened on the appointed day, which
was January 7, 1528. No bishop was present; but more
than three hundred and fifty evangelical teachers were
there, with Zwingle and (Ecolampadius at their head.
There came, besides, deputies from Zurich, Basle, Schaff
hausen, Glarus, St. Gall, Miihlhausen, within the league;
and from Strasburg, Ulm, Constance, Augsburg, Lin
dau, and other cities without it. All these were previ
ously received and entertained at Zurich, and arrived at
Berne in the company of the doctors and deputies from
that city; and so suspicious were its inhabitants of papal
treachery, and so anxious about the safety of their own
Reformer, that they did not permit Zwingle to quit their
territory without the escort of an armed force.
Vadianus, consul of St. Gall, was appointed president;
and that publicity might be ensured and a faithful account
taken ofthe proceedings, four secretaries were deputed on
oath, to record everything that might pass. Perfect free
dom of debate was allowed to both parties ; yet in such
manner, that all arguments were to be derived directly
from Scripture, and all mere verbal disputes, and vain
and contentious subtleties, to be immediately repressed.
Each party selected its own disputants ; and the forms,
rather than the reality, of controversy were maintained
during eighteen days, and six and thirty sessions. The
articles proposed for deliberation were successively de
bated,* but in most unequal combat ; for while Zwingle
* According to Bucer's account, the Papists urged, among other
matters, that it was proper to wait for the decision of a council, or in other

334 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXX,
and (Ecolampadius, Capito and Bucer, the flower of
the Swiss and Strasburg Reformation, were arrayed on
one side, defending the positions of Haller with much
solid erudition and great and practised talents, the oppo
site cause was left to the feeble protection of men with
out talents or learning,* or any sort of reputation or
words, ofthe church ; that the Gospels themselves were only received by the
determination of the church, which was consequently the judge of every
dispute ; that the Bohemians were divided into various sects ; that there
were already points of difference between the Swiss and Lutherans — all
which proceeded from the rejection of the authority of the church. To
this it was replied: That the righteous man lived by his own faith, not by
that of popes or councils ; that consequently, not only every church, but
every individual should be his own interpreter of the will and promises
of God ; that the doctrines and observances of the Romanists were in
manifest opposition to the first principles of Christianity ; that the Scrip
tures were in every one's hands, and there was no want of faithfiil ex
positors, but that the receiving them with faith was not the gift of any
council, or any created thing ; that the Father, thrpugh Christ, was the
only dispenser of faith, and that He dispensed it to those elected before
the world began ; that in the Gospel was the treasure of etemal life,
though Jews were chosen to receive it, &c.
* Jacobus Monasteriensis (apud Gerdes., 1. c.) writes with feeling
on this subject: — "Sic nos decet poenas dare contemptarum literarum
et neglectus studiorum. . . . De haereticis forte cupis ut scribam. . . .
Facilis illis pugna fiiit, cum nulli instruct! coram starent antagonistse.
Ita paratos non vidi, quin si dextri homines adfiiissent et in Scripturis
versati, si non in omnibus illos vicissent, remorati tamen fiiissent in
dubio illorum conatus. Oh si vel unus Erasmus commissus illis fuisset !
vidi enim ssepe de responsionibus inter eos non convenire." After
speaking of Zwingle's vehemence and fervency as rather injuring than
aiding his cause, he proceeds : — " Doctior tamen haec bellua est quam puta-
bam. Nasutus CE colampadius in prophetis ilie, et Hebrsea lingua praestare
videtur ; sed nihil illi ubertate ingenii et exponendi perspicuitate : tamen
in Graecis si non major, par illi. Quid nunc impostor Capito valeat, non
potuit dijudicari : pauca enim locutus est. Plura Snaphaticus Bucerus,
qui, si eruditione et llnguarum scientia par esset Zwinglio et CEcolampadio,
nobis magis metuendus esset. Ita difScile commovetur bestiola, et satis
luculenter sua proponit  Oh tempora, oh mores, oh nostram

CH. XXX.J , DISPUTATION OF BERNE. 335
authority, not comparable to Eck and Faber — Alexius
Grad, Tregarius, or Trgegerinus, Buchstab, ^Egidius —
names which appear on no other occasion in the pages of
history. An argument so conducted, before a tribunal
already predisposed towards the stronger party, could
have but one result ; and if we except an attempt made
by Althamer, a Lutheran doctor of Nuremberg, acting
under papal influence, to disturb the unanimity of the
Reformers on the doctrine of the real presence, there
was no feature of any remarkable interest in the whole
disputation. The immediate consequence was the entire abolition
of the papacy throughout the whole of that extensive
canton. Nor was the triumph of the Reformers attended
by any respect for the opinions of those who differed
from them, whether Papists or Lutherans. The Ten
Articles were established as the creed of all ; the citizens
were commanded, without exception, to withdraw their
obedience from the episcopal authorities; deacons, pastors,
and all other ministers of the church, were absolved from
their oaths of allegiance to the bishop ; altars, images,
and masses were abolished throughout the territory — the
same expressions, which repudiated transubstantiation,
involving also a condemnation of the doctrine of Luther ;
together with these, departed the long list of pontifical
observances and ceremonies, such as anniversaries of the
saints, dedications of churches, the use of sacred costumes,
fast-days and feast-days; a new form of worship was
published ; and the most important monastic establish
ments were converted into schools, which were thence
forward supported by the monastic revenues.
socordiam ! quam facile potuisset hoc malum caveri, si studiosorum quam
scortorum nostri Episcopi amantiores essent  Nisi nos exscindi
volumus, ad eas artes nobis confugiendum est, quibus primum crevit
Ecclesia, eruditionem et mores aliqua saltem specie* laudabiles."

336 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXX.
The citizens of Berne consecrated this great victory
by acts of mercy. Two prisoners condemned to death
were pardoned ; others who had been banished from
the republic were recalled. " If some mortal king
or prince," they said one to another, " were to make his
entry into our city, we should remit, if it could be safely
done, the sentence of the condemned. And now the King
of kings, the Prince of Souls, the Son of God, who is at
the same time our own brother, has come in to us ; and
can we better celebrate the advent of Him, who brought
us pardon and remission of eternal punishment, than by
pardoning those who have trespassed against us ? "
At the same time they exhibited a more permanent
proof of moral and political regeneration, and offered a
still more glorious sacrifice to the Prince of Peace, by
prohibiting all mercenary service to foreign powers, and
renouncing the sale of the blood of their fellow-citizens ;
and when they next proceeded to erect a column, and
inscribe it with letters of gold, for the perpetual com
memoration of their victory over the pontifical supersti
tion, they perceived not how unnecessary was that act ;
seeing that they raised a far nobler and more durable
monument when they restored the Gospel, not in name
only, but in spirit and practice, and turned its blessed
precepts into instruments of civilization and humanity —
into the means of amending, not private principles only,
but public and political morality.
Whatever was the effect which the disputation at Baden
produced in favour of the papal party, it was more
than compensated at Berne. The citizens of Constance,
Schaffhausen, St. Gall, Glarus, Tokenburg, and other
places, in which the struggle was till that time undecided,
now boldly declared their adhesion to the Reformation,
and gave the customary proofs of their evangelical zeal
by abolishing images, altars, and the mass. At Con-

CH. XXX.J SCHAFFHAUSEN. 337
stance the work had been slowly progressing during five
or six years, under the direction of two pious ministers,
Blaurer and Zwickius. Some edicts had been issued
against fornication and adultery, which are recorded to
have given great scandal to the influential body of
canons ; and many heats were excited and much bitter
dissension, until the scale was tumed at Berne in favour
of the new doctrines.
At Schaffhausen the protection of the senate was pro
mised, as early as 1523, to an evangelical minister
named Hofmeister, and the preaching ofthe pure Gospel
permitted. The legates, who were present at the second
disputation at Zurich, brought back with them strong
convictions of the truth of Zwingle's propositions, and
diffused them among their fellow-citizens. CEcolam
padius was consulted as to the manner of proceeding.
Presently the abbot and his monks quitted their monas
tery and married, on the assurance of certain pensions,
the tithes of other revenues of the foundation being
given over to the civil government. An abbess and her
spiritual daughters went forth, on the same condition, to
the enjoyments of a secular life.* This was in 1524.
During the succeeding years a gradual advancement
was made under the moderate guidance of Erasmus
Ritter, a discreet and learned man, till at length, in
1529, the Reformers completed their triumph; and
" the great Lord God of Schaffhausen," an image of
prodigious magnitude, was consigned, along with its
less distinguished companions, amidst great popular
exultation, to the consuming flame. On this occasion
the men of Schaffhausen received an epistle of congratu
lation from those of Zurich ; for this city continued to
disseminate, as far as it was able, the principles which it
* Scultet., ann. 1524.
VOL. II. ^

338 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXX.
had first planted and ripened, to watch over the progress
of the work which was peculiarly its own, and to assert
its proper position as the Wittemberg of Switzerland.
The Swiss Reformation began, like that in Saxony,
by an attack on indulgences — that among all the abuses
of the Church which was most obnoxious, as affecting
the greatest multitudes of people, and aiming with the
least disguise at the most sordid object. The circum
stances of the attack were indeed somewhat different;
but the very fact, that the bishop in Switzerland abetted
the reformer, from whatsoever motive, was still a proof
the more, that that favourite outwork of the papal citadel
was no longer defensible. It fell almost without a
struggle ; and that, which in Germany was a fierce and
noisy conflict, was a mere skirmish and prolusion among
the Swiss.
But, having once effected an entrance, the soldiers of
the Gospel proceeded to the assault upon other and
somewhat more tenable positions. First they tumed
their wrath against the mass of unscriptural and vexati
ous observances which most sensibly harassed them,
especially the restriction on meats — matters in which
their daily comforts were concerned, which pressed most
inquisitorially upon all, and most of all upon the multi
tude, who were too poor to purchase dispensations.
The monastic system stood next in order, and some
of Zwingle's earliest efforts were directed against it.
The egress of monks and nuns, which, so far as we are
informed, was voluntary, was one of the first triumphs
of his principles, and doubtless it was a great political
advantage to have effected this ; for the revenues were
not at Zurich, as in some other countries, confiscated for
the immediate profit of the government, or of unde
serving individuals, but faithfully applied, after a just
regard to vested interests, to the maintenance of the

CH. XXX.J PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 339
ministers of religion, to the establishment of schools for
the poor, and other pious and charitable purposes.
The images were next assailed. The most manifest
objects of superstitious reverence, they attracted the
fiercest indignation of the severe evangelical Christian :
yet was it not easy to overthrow them at once, owing
to the general prevalence of that very reverence. Some
caution, some little respect for misguided consciences,
not the less earnest and zealous for being misguided^
was required for a time, but for a short time only.
Perfect freedom of discussion being permitted, the im
postures, which had been so long practised in honour of
those figures, were exposed, the miracles, to which they
pretended, were exploded, and the indignation ofthe dupes
themselves was presently roused against them : so that
they fell with universal approbation, and in some places
not so much by the command of an enlightened govern
ment as by the very hands of their most credulous
worshippers. The multitude is never so fierce in its
vengeance, as when it believes that it has been deluded.
Lastly fell the mass. This was an object likewise en
deared to the people by ancestral usage, and the notion
of peculiar holiness and supernatural protection attested
by miracles. The question besides was in its nature more
speculative than the others, and therefore the reasons for
its abolition were less intelligible to the vulgar. How
ever, the previous successes prepared the way for this ;
and in every instance, in which the other objects had been
achieved, the mass followed in its own season, and by its
overthrow consummated the triumph of the Reformation.
It was not that the Papists contended either timidly or
unskilfully. The Catholic cantons not only maintained
a vigorous, united, and very judicious resistance, but
adopted at the same time the most artful of all expedi
ents — a pretended zeal for reform. They professed great
z2

340 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXX.
anxiety to remove all proved abuses, to satisfy every rea
sonable demand for innovation. They even indicated
certain very unpopular usurpations of the Church, and
promised to co-operate in up-rooting them. The show
which they presented and the promises which they held
out were fairer than any similar demonstrations by the
German Papists, and the fairer, possibly the more false,
certainly the more dangerous. At Rome a milder policy
was adopted towards the Swiss insurgents. Adrian,
while he was insulting Luther almost in the language of
Luther, was lisping out insidious compliments to Zwingle.
Clement pursued the same course. And here it was un
questionably the wisest; for whatever anathemas he might
have thought proper to send forth would not in Switzer
land have found any to enforce them ; they would pro
bably have irritated his supporters. And to these causes
it may in a great measure be ascribed, that of a country,
seemingly so well prepared by political independence
for the reception of the principles of religious liberty, so
large a portion continued faithful in allegiance to Rome.
The views of Zwingle in regard to a forcible resistance
to the imperial mandates were bolder than those of the
Saxon divines. In 1530, Charles having threatened
Augsburg and Memmingen with violence, if they per
sisted in their apostacy, their ministers consulted Zwingle
on the duty of the government in such a contingency.
He replied : Confess the truth boldly ; and promise obe
dience to the Emperor, if he will leave you liberty of
conscience, unless, indeed, he shall succeed in convicting
you of error by the word of God, in a free, impartial and
public conference. If he shall refuse this, then you will
reply : That you are grieved to see him seduced by a
false zeal, so as to imagine that he has any authority
over your souls and your faith — authority which no reli-
.gious Emperor will ever claim, and which, if he should

CH. XXX.J OBSERVATIONS. 341
claim, no man ought to concede to him ; that you are
resolved to endure all, rather than submit in such matters
to any power but that of God.
Meanwhile, it should be remembered that Zwingle
was delivering his response from a place of comparative
security, and little liable to the dangers which threatened
the pastors of an imperial city. For a free citizen of
Zurich, acting with the entire approbation of his own
government, the ban of the empire had no terrors.
While any violent intervention in the affairs of Switzer
land would probably have united all the cantons in
defence of their national privileges, and created, perhaps,
an impression favourable to the religious principles of
the State, against which the imperial aggression had
been directed.
The same independence was one principal reason why
the Reformation, wherever it did succeed, was carried
farther in Switzerland than was proposed or approved by
Luther. The hatred, felt by the Swiss for all that they
held to be unscriptural, acknowledged no restraint short
of the entire extirpation of the abuses ; and thus they
overthrew, not only indulgences and fasts, celibacy,
images and masses, but even some ceremonies and prac
tices, which might well be deemed indifferent, such as the
religious use of organs and bells. With them the object
was to efface every vestige of the ancient system, even in
externals. And in like manner they were more coura
geous in the investigation of doctrine, as appears from
the grand difference on the question ofthe Eucharist,
which will be treated presently.
Thus Luther gradually assumed, as events proceeded,
a sort of middle position between the Swiss and the
Papists, rejecting many tenets and observances of the
latter, censuring the too violent innovations of the former,
and renouncing the communion of both. Yet, in the

342 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXX.
first instance, the course pursued by him was not mate
rially different from that of Zwingle; and before the
outbreak of the Sacramentarian dissentions, it was not
unusual to apply the term Lutheran to the Swiss, as well
as to the German, reformers. Through the greater cele
brity of the Saxon for good or for evil, that appellation
conveyed a higher praise from the mouth of a friend,
and a more invidious stigma from that of an enemy.
Zwingle was far from courting the name. On many
occasions he disclaimed not only all personal connection,
but all designed co-operation, with the German divines,
still less would he admit any subordination of his mis
sion, or ministry, to theirs.
" In the year 1516, before the name of Luther was so
much as known in our country, I began to preach Christ's
gospel. How then can I be justly reproached with being
a Lutheran ? . . . . For two years, during which I was
engaged in the simple study of the Scriptures, I had
never heard the very name of Luther. But it is a mere
artifice of the Papists to designate me and others as
Lutherans. If they say you are a Lutheran because you
preach what Luther writes, my answer is : I preach as
Paul writes ; why not rather call me a disciple of Paul ?
I preach the Word of Christ ; why not rather call me a
Christian? In my opinion, Luther is an excellent
champion of God, who searches the Scriptures with
more industry and zeal than has been employed in the
cause during the last thousand years. In respect of the
bold and manly spirit with which he has attacked the
Pope of Rome, he has never yet been equalled. But
whose work is that ? Is it the work of God, or of Luther ?
Ask Luther himself, and he will tell you that it is the
work of God. Wherefore do you ascribe to Luther the
doctrines which he himself ascribes to God ? . . .
" Good Chnstians ! suffer not the glorious name of

CH. XXX.J ZWINGLE ON LUTHER. 343
Christ to be changed into the name of Luther; for
Luther has not died for us, but only teaches us to know
Him, through whom alone we may obtain salvation. . . .
As Luther preaches Christ, so far he does exactly what
I do, although, and God be praised for it, far greater
multitudes are led to God by his means, than by means
of myself and my friends. But this is according to the
measure which is given to every one of us by God him
self. .... I will not bear any other name than that of
my Master, Jesus Christ, whose soldier I am.
" There cannot be any man who has a higher esteem
for Luther than myself. But I declare before God and
men, that in all my days I never have written a letter to
him, nor he to me, neither have we caused any to be
written. I have purposely abstained from such corre
spondence, not through fear, but because I was desirous
that all men should thus perceive how uniform is the
Spirit of God ; since we, who are so far removed from
each other, and are without any communication, are yet
agreed in the doctrines which we preach^although I am
not worthy to be compared unto Luther, for every man
acts according to the ability which God bestows."
Even during the heat of the controversy, Zwingle,
while he treated with little deference either the arg:u-
ments or the authority of his great antagonist, did not
refuse him the praise which was really his due, nor was
it a cold and reluctant eulogy that he offered. He com
pared him to Hercules going forth alone and unassisted
on his labours — ^to David, marching against the gigantic
power of Rome.
" At a time when there were not a few who understood
religion as well as you, yet was there not one, in the
whole camp of Israel, who dared to offer himself to the
danger; in such terror did they stand of that vast Goliah,
menacing them with the weight of his arms and strength.

344 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXX.
Then, even then, dost thou, thou alone faithful, David,
to this anointed by the Lord, gird on thine arms ; and
first, contending with the foe according to his own fa
shion, thou puttest forth disputations, and paradoxes,
and Gordian knots ; but presently casting off these im
pediments, choosest out stones from the celestial stream
and poisest them for the battle ; and then whirlest thy
sling with so much dispatch and force, as to stretch the
unseemly monster at his length before thee. Thou alone
wast Hercules, seeking for danger wherever it might be
found, and facing it. Thou hast slain the Roman boar,
thou hast crushed Antaeus, born of earth ; for who ever
demonstrated, from the apostolic fountains, the enmity of
the spirit and the flesh more clearly and purely than
thou  ?"*
It is by such generous effusions that Zwingle has de
served the praise of candour and moderation : for though
in the field of controversy no one was more keen and
bitter than he, yet, when contrasted with the impetuous
sallies of Luther, even his severest attacks appear to be
tempered with mercy. But he has earned this praise,
not only through a less irritable and better governed
temper, but also through the more studied polish of his
style. He was not ignorant of the art of vituperation. f
* Yet Zwingle closed this panegyric with a warning : " Yet I warn
thee, take heed lest, through some wanton woman's love, thou lay aside
thy lion's skin and club. . . . We are one body; Christ is the head:
Luther is one eye ; but let him not grudge to the ear the oifice that be
longs to the ear. These allegories, my Luther, I propound to thee with
good intent. It is for thee to understand them all with candour." —
Amica Exegesis, i. e. Expositio Eucharistiae negotii. Ad M. Lutherum.
Prid. Cal. Mart. 1527.
t " Why do you call that a lie, which is a mistake? Have the words
mistake and lie indeed the same meaning? I will tell you, Luther, and
without any lie, what sort of men are properly called liars — men, who
call the truth a lie ; men, who assert in public and before the world that
which they know in their closets to be otherwise ; men, who proceed against

CH. XXX.J ZWINGLE ON LUTHER. 345
By some plausible praises of some notorious excellence
in his antagonist he could give efficacy to the sarcasm
which followed, and convey the sting without the cla
mour of reproach, after the fashion of a more civilised,
but not less deadly, warfare. But some such arms were
necessary for the purpose, which he was commissioned
to accomplish. Had he not been capable of inspiring
fear, he would never have been the author of a Re
formation. the divine oracles with seditious clamours and calumnies ; men, who, in
the confidence of their own authority, contravene the authority of Scrip
ture ; men, who corrupt the spirit of Scripture and obtrude on it a sense
which it cannot endure — these are the men whose course is marked by
lies. . . ." — Ibidem.

346 [cH. XXXI.

CHAPTER XXXI.
THE SACRAMENTARIAN CONTROVERSY.
Zwingle's difficulties as to the corporal presence — and consequent inqui
ries — the first expressions of his opinion private — prejudices on wbich
the papal doctrine rested — and Zwingle's caution — premature explo
sion of Carlostadt — his opinion adopted by Zwingle — Zwingle's work
concerning True and False Religion — he is attacked by Pomeranus —
his moderate reply — CEcolampadius on the Genuine Exposition of the
Words of the Lord — the book referred to Erasmus — his cautious re
ply — the Syngramma of the divines of Swabia — Antisyngramma of
CEcolampadius— Zwingle's defence of him — Luther defends the Syn
gramma — variations in the opinions of the Swiss — Zwingle's address
to Luther — his Exegesis — two sermons by CEcolampadius — various
calumnies against the Swiss — Luther on the Ubiquity of Christ's
Body — on the use of the doctrine of the bodily presence — remarks —
his treatise Against the Fanatical Spirits of the Sacramentaries —
some positions contained in it — his Great Confession concerning the
Lord's Supper — specimen of his arguments on the person of Christ —
the controversy becomes more abstruse as it proceeds — divines of
Strasburg — Bucer — Capito — mission of Chazelius to Luther — -Lu
ther's reply — Bucer's confession of faith on this point — ^his dialogue
between Sebastus and Arbegastus — state of the controversy — the
greater blame with Luther and his followers — extracts from his cor
respondence — his letters to Hausman, Justus Jonas, and others — his
complaints against Zwingle.
As soon as Zwingle began to reflect with boldness upon
the doctrines of the church, and to examine them by no
other test than the written law of God, his attention was
of course attracted by the startling tenet of transubstan
tiation. He considered how clearly it was revealed that
the body of Christ had been withdrawn from the earth,
whither there was no reason to expect its return until
the final judgment. Besides, he could discover no salu-

CH. XXXI. J TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 347
tary use in the corporal manducation. The great pur
pose of salvation, in his mind, was accomplished by the
death of Christ, by faith in His atoning merits, and by
that repentance which is the fruit of faith — the eating of
His actual body and blood, even if it could be shown
that the sacramental elements were such, could still be
no essential part in the work of justification. Accord
ingly, he turned to investigate the question with an
unprejudiced mind, first inquiring, whether the style of
the sacred writings and the idioms of oriental language
were such as to justify a metaphorical interpretation of
the passage on which the Roman doctrine rested ; next,
searching out the opinions of the most respectable fa
thers, and from them collecting the original doctrine of
the church.
Both these inquiries conducted him to the same con
clusion, and this he presently communicated, in conver
sation or private correspondence, to sundry learned
Reformers. He then discovered that he was not singular
in his opinion. John Rhodius, George Saganus, a doc
tor in Holland named Honius,* and Henry Bullinger,
avowed, as early as September, 1523, that they were
already imbued with it ; and many others had doubtless
arrived, by the unrestricted use of their Bible and their
reason, if not at any positive assurance respecting the
manner of the real presence, at least at a state of disbe
lief in the dogma of the church. Thus he felt assured
that he should find some minds prepared to receive his
arguments on the subject, whenever he might think it
expedient to broach them. Yet was he not hasty in this
matter. Unlike the impetuous Carlostadt, he suppressed
for a while, and recommended others to suppress, the
premature discovery. He perceived the difficulty and
* Cornelii Honii, Batavi, Epistola. Apud Gerdes. tom. i. Monumenta
Antiquitatis, No. xxiii.

348 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXXI,
even danger of the undertaking. The sacred importance
which the church had so long attached to its own belief;
the especial exertions of the ecclesiastics to impress it
upon the people ; the ceremonies by which it was pecu
liarly recoinmended ; the stupendous miracles by which
it was continually and everywhere proclaimed — had
fixed it deeply in the affections of the people.
Besides, the very nature of the doctrine itself adapted
it singularly to retain its hold on an ignorant and super
stitious generation. The notion once impressed upon
the multitude that, when they celebrated one of the
sacraments of their church they actually swallowed the
real body and blood — the very person of their God —
was too intensely exciting, too attractive to their imagi
nation, too closely connected with their senses, to be
abandoned without great reluctance. We might indeed
wonder how it was found possible to obtain so general
a credence for a dogma, than which, in its popular
sense, no more audacious paradox was ever obtruded on
the credulity of man ; but once received, once impressed
on the belief, once embraced as an essential truth, it
became so entirely essential, so predominant, so engross
ing a truth, as to take almost exclusive possession of the
soul, and to throw a shade of comparative insignificance
over every other tenet. To be deprived of this convic
tion, to be assured that the consecrated elements, hitherto
reverenced and adored as the very body of the Divinity,
were no more than bread and wine, unchanged by the sa
cerdotal consecration either in substance or accident, was,
in the vulgar mind, to part with the portion of religion
most nearly touching both feelings and practice. " That
they were robbed of their God," was the first impression
produced upon the ignorant devotees ; and those, who
had nourished that ignorance and found their profit in
it, the chiefs and champions of the system, to which that

CH. XXXI.] zwingle's first opinion. 349
dogma was so necessary, united in one great confederacy
to propagate the cry.
Zwingle foresaw this resistance ; and he proposed to
surmount it by forming a secret party in favour of the
new opinion, before he should venture openly to pro
pound it. Accordingly he caused private communica
tions on the subject to be made to many learned men in
France, as well as Germany ; so that those, who could not
at once receive his doctrine, might at least be brought
to, examine and reflect on it. But while he was laying
this train with so much care and forethought, Carlo
stadt, from another quarter, without any consultation
with him, began his premature and ill-conducted ag
gression.* Then, and not till then, Zwingle addressed
an epistle to Matthew Albert, preacher of Reutlingen,
who was already engaged in a private controversy on
the subject, to this effect — that the opinion of Carlostadt
appeared, upon the whole, probable both to himself, to
Leo Judse and to others; but that, in his manner of
maintaining it, he had given offence, as well by his un
seasonable levity as by the obscurity of his reasoning ;
and that the eating of the body of Christ was in fact
nothing more, than to believe that it had died for man.
He confirmed this position by four arguments, and con
cluded by solemnly conjuring his correspondent not to
communicate his letter to any one who was not sincere
in the faith of Christ Jesus. It was dated November 16,
1524, and it is the earliest pubhshed expression of its
author's opinion on that question.
It appears from this, that he was still unwilling to pro
claim it before the world. But the time for concealment
was now passed. The secret transpired and reached the
* The name of his principal work is " Von dem Widerchristlichem
missbrauch des Herren brodt und kelch — On the Antichristian Abuse of
the Lord's bread and cup."

350 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXXI.
ears of Luther. In the very following month the latter
vented his consternation in a letter to Amsdorf : "No^
thing befals us which is not cause for humiliation. The
poison of Carlostadt spreads in every direction. Zwingle
has given his assent to the opinion ; so have Leo Judae
and many others, who persist in asserting that the bread
in the sacrament is merely bread, like that in the
shops . . ." At the same time (Dec. 15, 1524) he wrote
his German epistle to the Reformers of Strasburg, warn
ing them with his usual earnestness against the sur
rounding infection, and visiting the sacramentarian
doctrine and the fanaticism of Munzer and his col
leagues with the same condemnation. In the same
spirit he published, early in the following year, his
" Book against the Celestial Prophets," of which the
violence justifies the remark of Scultetus, that if the con
troversy of the sacrament was first moved by Carlostadt,
the war of the sacrament as certainly originated with
Luther. Zwingle published, about the same time, his great
work " Conceming True and False Religion,"* in which
he treated the subject of the Eucharist according to his
own views, but with much conciseness. To supply this
deficiency he subjoined an Appendix, in the August fol
lowing, which may be considered as his first decided
movement in assertion of his opinion. John Bugen
hagen, the Pomeranian, was his first opponent. A
* "De Vera et Falsa Religione," a.d. 1525, dedicated to Francis I.
In the course of this work the errors of the papists and the writings of
Eck and Emser are the chief objects of attack. Neither are the Ana
baptists spared, through their insubordinate and seditious spirit. The
authorities had forbidden these to preach their doctrines. They had re
plied, God must be obeyed rather than man. Zwingle argues warmly
against this plea, forgetting, for the moment, how naturally it arose from
the first principles of the Reformation, and how serviceable it might be
against a papal persecutor.

CH. XXXI. J THE CONTROVERSY. 351
letter, addressed to John Hesse, which he published at
this time, " against the new error of the Sacrament
aries," was directed for the most part against the argu
ments of Zwingle. The latter immediately replied (on
Oct. 23, 1525); and after urging various reasons in sup
port of his opinion, he concluded by deprecating any
contest with his evangelical brethren ; he admonished
Pomeranus and his associates that they ought at least to
abstain from personalities, and maintain their cause by
rational and scriptural argument, not by tribunitial cla
mours. He reminded him that there were foes enough
for them both in the pontifical camp ; and at the same
time so strongly pressed his opposition to the Lutheran
tenet, as to declare his conviction " that Antichrist could
not be altogether put to flight, unless the error of con-
substantiation were routed along with him."
Meanwhile, (Ecolampadius was preaching the same
doctrine at Basle ; and finding that he was thus acquir
ing the not very honourable distinction of "an adherent
of Carlostadt," he determined to proclaim and defend his
own opinions : accordingly he produced his treatise
" On the Genuine Exposition of the Words of the Lord,
This is my Body." In this celebrated work, after tracing
the papal tenet to the books of Peter Lombard, the mas
ter of the sentences, he asserted the metaphorical sense,
and urged in its favour the authority of the most emi
nent and ancient among the fathers. He confuted some
of the arguments of his opponents; he repelled the
calumny, already promulgated from the pulpits of the
church, that whoever denied the oral manducation de
nied at the same time the truth of the Gospels, and the
divinity of Christ, and the whole substance of Christ
ianity : and finally, he confirmed his own interpretation
with much acuteness of reasoning and scriptural eru
dition.

352 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXXI.
The senate of Basle, somewhat perplexed by the ap
pearance of so grave a defence of the doctrine from so
respectable an author, requested the opinion of Erasmus,
then residing in that city, before they permitted the
publication of the work. He replied : " That he had
read the book of CEcolampadius, in his opinion a learned,
eloquent and elaborate composition ; that he would wil
lingly call it a pious composition, could anything be
pious which was opposed to the decisions of the church,
from which no one could dissent without danger."*
The true commentary on this artful evasion is furnished
by Erasmus himself, in a letter written, about the middle
of October, 1525, to Michael Buda, Bishop of Lingen:
" A new dogma has arisen, that there is nothing in the
Eucharist except bread and wine. To confute this is
now a very difficult matter; for John (Ecolampadius
has fortified it by so many evidences and arguments,
that the very elect might almost be seduced by them."
He expressed the same judgment to Peter Barbirius, in
almost the same words.f
On the publication of this treatise, (Ecolampadius
wrote to Melancthon and Conrad Pellican, to explain to
them, especially to the latter, by what process he had
been gradually led to forsake the established doctrine,
* " Magnifici Domini ; celsitudinis vestrae hortatu perlegi librum
J. CEcolampadii de Verbis Coenae Domini — mea sententia doctum, di-
sertum, elaboratum, adderem etiam pium, si quid pium esse posset, quod
pugnat eum sententia consensuque Ecclesiae — a qua dissentire periculosum
esse judico." — Apud Melchior Adam. Vita CEcolampadii.
t Scultetus Ann. 1525, p. 249. Gerdes. Hist. Evang. Renov., tom.
ii. § 105. Hospin. Pars. ii. p. 57. There was a general impression at
the time that Erasmus (and even Luther himself, before his dispute with
Carlostadt) believed no more than the spiritual presence. Conrad Pelli
can, who was in the confidence of Erasmus, declared that such was the
real and secret opinion of the latter ; but it was warmly disclaimed by
him. See Scultet. ann. 1526, p. 57.

CH. XXXI. J THE SYNGRAMMA. 353
what reflections had awakened him, what scruples had
restrained, what difficulties had perplexed him, so long
as he was guided by any human authority ; and how at
length he broke his fetters and shook off the prejudices
which obscured his intellect. At the same time he sent
copies of his book to his evangelical brethren in Swabia ;
and while he deprecated any offence on their parts on
account of his honest investigation of the truth, and
entreated them so to judge his work as never to lose
sight of charity, he displayed the peacefulness of his
own spirit in the following reflection — " Errour is par
donable, so long as there is faith in Christ ; but discord,
though we should pour out our blood to atone for it, can
never be expiated."
The divines of Swabia did not profit by this overture
of amity. They immediately replied to his manifesto
(on the 12th of November) in a tone and feeling very
different from his own. Fourteen theologians subscribed
their names to the composition, which was called in
consequence the "Syngramma;" but it was generally
ascribed to Brentius, minister of Halle in Swabia, an
early and zealous disciple and correspondent of Luther,
a young man of education and some leaming. At the
head and in the name of this confederacy he warmly
maintained the doctrine of consubstantiation, asserting
that the body of Christ was united to the bread by the
same sort of operation, by which a healing efficacy was
communicated to the serpent of brass on the utterance
of the words of God — " Every one that is bitten, when
he looketh upon it shall live." To this treatise, wherein
the literal sense was defended, as usual, against the me
taphorical, (Ecolampadius, before the end of the year,
opposed his Antisyngramma ; in which he endeavoured
to show that the arguments of his antagonists, properly
VOL. II. 2 ^

354 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION- [cH. XXXI,
considered, only demonstrated the conclusions advanced
by himself.
It had been well had the controversy rested there.
But Zwingle was too deeply offended by the insults,
offered by the Swabians to his brother Reformer, to re
main a mere spectator of the contest. " I have seen
nothing in this age," thus he wrote to Theobald Billi-
can,* " less praiseworthy than this Syngramma, on ac
count both of the violence almost invariably offered in
it to Holy Writ, and of its immoderate pride and inso
lence. CEcolampadius, of all men the most harmless, a
very model of every sort of piety and leaming, he, from
whom most of them have learnt what they know of
literature,^ is so infamously treated by them, with such
filial ingratitude, that we are called upon, not for re
proaches, but for execrations. . . ." These fierce expres
sions, being immediately circulated among the Lutheran
party, did not tend to smooth the course of the contro
versy. Luther regarded the Syngramma with a very different
eye. It contained his own opinion, and defended it by
his own arguments ; and to him it was not the less ac
ceptable for its very severity and rudeness. Accordingly
he undertook its patronage. He caused it to be trans
lated into German by Pomeranus, and gave weight to
the translation by a preface, composed in no conciliatory
spirit. He designated the opposite opinions as novel
* Ad Theobaldi Billicani Epistolam Responsio, Calend. Martii, 1526.
In speaking of the insolence of the Lutheran doctors he expressed his
apprehension, lest a body of Vpafinaro-nipawoi. should rise up in the
church, in the place of the old episcopal tyrants. They had threatened
him with Melancthon : Nos de Melancthone nihil sinistrum suspicamur,
neque ad pugnam lacessimus; but with truth on our side we shall finally
succeed. This tract is written in a tone of confident moderation.
t Brentz had been the pupil of CEcolampadius.

CH. XXXI.J LUTHER AND ZWINGLE. 355
dreams, and ridiculed the variations to which the rejec
tion of the literal interpretation had already given rise.
Some ground for this imputation did indeed exist,* but
it was not for Luther to urge it ; for if the appearance
of certain shades of difference among the Sacramentaries
was any argument that they were all in error, then did
this very controversy between himself and them furnish
very strong presumption, that both were wrong in the
leading principles of the Reformation and that the truth
remained with the church, from which both had seceded ;
but it was a plausible and popular argument, and it
answered the purpose of the moment. He did not pur
sue it to its consequences ; he did not pause so much as
to reflect, to what good account it might afterwards be
turned, as turned indeed it was, by the common enemy.
In July, 1527, Zwingle replied to a book of Luther's,
and sent his treatise to the Elector of Saxony. In the
opening passages he apostrophised his antagonist as fol
lows : " You will not yourself deny that you are wild
and raging under the influence of anger, if you will only
read well the book which you have yourself written ; for
such a mass of personalities and perverse opinions cannot
possibly proceed from the fountain of charity, or from
careful and considerate premeditation. Only read
through the compositions of all those who have ever
poured forth the bitterness of their souls, and see if there
be any one who has insulted all the bounds of reason so
licentiously as you have done in this work, in which,
* For instance, both Zwingle and CEcolampadius maintained a meta
phorical sense, but Zwingle placed the figure in the word is — this is my
body — this signifies my body — ^while CEcolampadius placed it in the
word bod^y, according to a common metonomy which transfers the name
of the thing signified to the sign which represents it. But how did this
difference affect the main argument between them and Luther ? The
others were even less important.
2 A 2

356 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXXI.
indeed, you seem to have fallen beside, yourself. Are
we then to call this impotence of mind a spirit? Are we
to be withheld by any awe from contradicting you in
this matter?"
This was one only among many writings produced
by Zwingle about the same time, on the subject of this
controversy. In the year 1526 he published his answer
to the letters of Billican and Urban Rhegius; an expo
sition of the words of the Lord's Supper, in German —
the first occasion on which he descended from the lan
guage of the learned to that of the vulgar ; an exhorta
tion to the inhabitants of Nuremberg ; an answer to a
private communication from a distinguished friend; and
an elaborate epistle, also in German, to the inhabitants
of Eslingen. In 1527 he published the above-mentioned
reply to Luther's treatise on the Eucharist, and another
to a book of James Struthio on the same subject ; also,
in February, his " Friendly Exegesis, or Exposition " of
the controversy, likewise addressed to Luther ; and an
" Apology," in answer to a sermon preached by the same
against the " fanatics." In the Exegesis he replied at
once to six publications of Luther, in which he declared
himself to have been censured, before he had so much as
mentioned the name of his opponent in any composition
of his own.
At the same time (Ecolampadius, though somewhat
less active in this controversy, maintained by occasional
treatises both his doctrine and his reputation. In 1526
he published, together with his letter to Billican and
his Antisyngramma, two sermons concerning the dig
nity of the Eucharist. They were written with his
accustomed moderation ; and their object was rather to
explain his opinion, and to remove various false impres
sions which had been spread abroad regarding it, than
to assail either the tenets or the persons of its adversaries.

CH. XXXI.J LUTHER AND CECOLAMPADIUS. 357
That he had robbed the Sacrament of all its honour ;
that he had torn away Christ the bridegroom from His
spouse the church ; that the Swiss Reformers acknow
ledged nothing in the Eucharist, except the mere bread
and wine ; that they had less of true religion and divine
worship in their churches, than was to be found among
the very Jews — such were the calumnies which that sin
cere and charitable Christian found it necessary to repel.
There was only one among them, which would seem to
us deserving of any notice. Respecting the nature of the
consecrated elements, (Ecolampadius replied to the de
tractors : That that could not properly be called mere
bread and wine which was solemnly recommended by
Christ, which was the most sacred sign of His most
holy body, which was the means of preserving the
memory of His passion, which was a league of charity
amongst the faithful. In the year following he once
more defended his principles in a tract in titled " A second
just and fair Reply to Martin Luther."
Meanwhile Luther contended with a vehemence,
which seemed to increase with the perseverance of the
opposition. In 1526, besides a letter to the inhabitants
of Reutlingen, in which he spared neither of his oppo
nents, besides his preface to the translation of the Syn
gramma, and various exhortations to individual ministers
to be constant in the truth, he published a celebrated
sermon on the same subject. Herein, with a perfect
confidence in the certainty of his opinion, as based on
the literal interpretation, he cast the stigma of heresy
upon those who did not adopt it, and removed them
from his communion. He reasoned against the two
assertions of his opponents — that the supposition of the
oral manducation was absurd ; that it was unnecessary.
He maintained that the ubiquity of Christ's body was
not a more irrational notion, than the diffusion of the

358 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXXI.
soul through every part of the body, or the production
of many grains of wheat from one grain, or the simul
taneous comprehension of many objects by the eye, or
the extensive and penetrating efficacy of the corporeal
voice of man.
" Further, when the Gospel is preached through the
exertion of the human voice, does not every true believer,
by the instrumentality of the Word, become actually
possessed ofChrist in his heart? Not that Christ sits in
the heart as a man sits upon a chair, but rather as He
sits at the right hand of the Father. How this is, no
man can tell, yet the Christian knows by experience that
Christ is present in his heart. Again : every individual
heart possesses the whole of Christ, and yet a thousand
hearts in the aggregate possess no more than one Christ.
The Sacrament is not a greater miracle than this."
Respecting the second objection — that the supposition
of the bodily presence was useless — he argued that that
was not the question, but its scriptural truth ; and that
many other facts were believed by us on that authority,
which, so far as we can comprehend, were unnecessary
for the work of redemption. " The great use of the Sa
crament is, that the faithful communicant may not only
believe, that the body and blood of Christ are there
present, but also that Christ himself is thereby given to
him as a free gift. He is therefore to preserve a lively
attention to the injunction, ' Take, eat, this is my body,
which is given for you ;' for these are the very words
which give strength to his faith. There are two posi
tions in the Sacrament, both of which are the objects of
the true Christian's belief. The first is the real presence
of the body and blood of Christ, and this the papists
profess that they believe ; the second is, that the body
and blood of Christ are freely bestowed upon us, without
any merits of our own, and this the papists do not be-

CH. XXXI.J luther's compositions. 359
lieve. Now, our adversaries, the Sacramentaries, place
all the virtue of the Eucharist in a mere commemoration
of the death of Christ; they contend that the bread
and wine are no more than symbols whereby we make
it plain to others that we are Christians : whereas our
doctrine is, that in receiving the bread and wine our
Lord freely bestows on us his body and blood, and that
we appropriate these to ourselves, and become actually
possessed of them for the remission of our sins. Thus
Christ becomes ours." *
The reader will discover, even in these short specimens
of Luther's Sacramentarian publications, that peculiar
mixture of striking defects with some excellence — of
false though lively illustration, assumption of the ques
tion, misrepresentation of the opposite opinion, bigotted
confidence in his own, interspersed with some just and
Christian observations— which characterise, in greater
or less proportions, the many injudicious compositions,
with which he prolonged and irritated this unfortunate
controversy. In the year 1527 he published an elaborate treatise,
asserting the unshaken efficacy of the words of Christ,
" Against the fanatical Spirits of the Sacramentaries."
Herein, assuming as he was wont, the whole point in dis
pute, that is, the truth of the literal interpretation, and
inferring the ubiquity of the body of Christ from the
text — "No man hath ascended up to Heaven, but He
that came down from Heaven"! — he advanced, according
to Scultetus, the following singular propositions : " That
the body of Christ is not of necessity in the bread, as
wine is contained in a barrel ; but rather as objects are
in a mirror, or trees in seeds, or as Levi was in the loins
of Abraham ; that the nature of the flesh of Christ is
* Milner cites this passage. De Eucharistia, vii. 335.
t St. John iii. 13.

360 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXXI.
illustrated by the text : that which is born of the Spirit
is Spirit : as it was not begotten by flesh, but by the
Holy Ghost ; that our bodies have a physical perception
of the body of Christ in the Eucharist ; that the words
of St. Paul* — ' That rock was Christ' — are not to be
understood of a visible and bodily rock, but of Christ him
self; that the fruit of the corporal manducation is this —
the mouth, palate and body which eat the body of Christ
obtain thereby everlasting life." Both Zwingle and
CEcolampadius replied to these theses ; the latter in his
" Just and fair Reply ;" the other in that tract, of which
the opening passage has already been cited.
Besides the works already mentioned, Luther had
published a letter to one Hervagius, and a treatise " On
the Adoration of the Sacrament," inscribed to the Bohe
mians; and these were comprehended by Zwingle
among the six offensive compositions, to which he replied
in his " Friendly Exposition."
In 1528 Luther, still unwearied and undaunted, re
newed the assault with redoubled violence in his " Great
Confession concerning the Lord's Supper." This work
was divided into three parts. In the first he attacked
Zwingle ; in the second (Ecolampadius ; in the third he
declared his own confession of faith, which he put forth
as the sure considerate conviction of his mind, to be held
fast by him through life and after death. In this com
position, as if desirous to shift the contest from its plain
intelligible ground and to remove it to a more perplexed
and intricate field, he entered deeply into the metaphyr
sical controversy concerning the person of Christ. He
did not blush, since it served his present purpose, to in
vest himself with all that scholastic jargon and sophistry,
which he had so often and so eloquently denounced, and
* 1 Cor. X. 4.

CH. XXXI.J luther's compositions. 361
to descend into the darkest depths of minute and elabo
rate, rather than ingenious, absurdity.
" The body of Christ (this he advanced among other
similar positions) has an incomprehensible and spiritual
mode, by which it occupies no space, but penetrates
through all created things whithersoever it will — as the
sight penetrates through air, light and water, and occu
pies no place ; or as sound pervades air, water, or walls,
and yet fills no space ; or as light and heat penetrate the
same and similar substances, yet occupy no space. This
mode He used, when He went out of the closed Sepulchre ;
when He entered, the doors being shut ; such is He in
the Eucharistical bread and wine, and such we believe
He was, when he was born of His Virgin Mother." He
asserted besides, that the body of Christ had a definitive
mode of existence, by which it was in the rock (Christus
petra est) and penetrated the rock ; and that the same
would hereafter be common to all the Saints in Heaven,
as it is now common to the angels and the devils. . . .
Luther set great value upon this production, and the
opinion was shared by his followers, insomuch, that
when in after times the divines of his persuasion drew
up the formulary of their faith, they received it as a work
of irrefragable authority and enrolled it among their
symbolical books.
The defenders of the opposite opinion immediately re
plied, as was now indeed no difficult task. For the con
troversy having once deserted its original ground and
spread into the boundless field of speculation, of licen
tious speculation on things inscrutable, the facilities of
dispute were multiplied without end, and fallacies innu
merable were at hand on the fruitful suggestion of
sophistry. As the contest proceeded, the points contested
became more minute and insignificant; and from an
argument on the principles of scriptural interpretation

362 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXXI.
and the application of them to an important text, it
degenerated into a quarrel about mere words. And
what was worse than this, though not less customary in
the progress of theological dlssention, the more abstruse,
or vain, or fanciful the question disputed, the warmer
the zeal of the disputants ; while every new turn in the
combat only roused them to more obstinate exertion and
a fiercer enmity.
While the theologians of Saxony and Switzerland
were furnishing every year by their increasing intem
perance fresh ground of lamentation to the friends of the
Reformation, of joy and triumph to the common foe, a
more moderate party was making some ineffectual at
tempts at reconciliation. These were the divines of
Strasburg, of whom the chief was Bucer. This excel
lent and learned Christian, in all other points the adhe
rent of Luther and attached to him by personal intimacy,
differed from him on the subject of the Eucharist; yet so
as to deprecate any hostile discussion and to exhort both
parties, by placing a candid construction on each other's
opinion, to preserve the unity of the church. Offended
by the publication of the Syngramma, he admonished
Brentius how dangerous would be the effects of the
contention which he and his Swabian brethren was
raising; and how inconsistent it was with justice and
piety to assail the pure evangelical reputation of (Eco
lampadius. A few months earlier, on Nov. 18, 1525, Capito,
another eminent divine of Strasburg, thus expressed his
doctrine in a letter to Osiander :* " We maintain that
* Osiander was a native of Bavaria, born in 149S. Of a warm and
zealous temperament, he became an early convert to the doctrines of
Luther and a devoted adherent to his person. After concluding his theo
logical studies at Wittemberg, he was appointed a preacher at Nuremberg
in 1522 and remained there for many years. After his master's death

CH. XXXI.J THE DIVINES OF STRASBURG. 363
Christ, who is the way and the truth, is in the matter of
the Eucharist. Some make of this an article of faith
and say, the corporal body of Christ is truly in the bread
and wine. Others deem it essential that the elements be
regarded as mere bread. We do neither : because both
the one and the other infect the purity of the faith, inter
rupt the concord of the churches, throw snares round the
minds of the simple, and open the door to a new des
potism. For the mysteries of Scripture are not to be
rashly laid hold of and made necessary articles of faith."
The mission of Chazelius (the professor of Hebrew at
Strasburg) to Luther, in the beginning of the same
month, was intended, in the same spirit, to perpetuate a
brotherly union between the Saxon and the Swiss Re
formers; and to suggest that each party might retain
its own opinion, veiling the unimportant difference by a
discreet use of general terms. But the " Instruction to
the Evangelists of Strasburg,"* which Luther returned
to their messenger, was not favourable to the hope of
concord. In this document, he threw all the blame of
the aggression on Zwingle and (Ecolampadius : " There
is nothing that we desire more than peace. We were
not the first to get up this tragedy. It is not endurable
that we should be silent, and, while they are talking and
disturbing our churches and lessening our authority, to
submit to it. If they are anxious about the continuance
and integrity of their own doctrinal authority, let them
refrain from diminishing ours. Finally, the one or the
other of us must be ministers of Satan ; either they are
so, or we.f Therefore there is no place here for temper-
he engaged so ardently in the disputes about the Interim as to be expelled
from his church. He died at Koningsberg in 1552.
* Lett. Luth. Nov. 5, 1525 : " Instructio M. M. L. data Georgio
Chaselio ad Evangelistas Argentinenses." (No. 753.)
t " Summa— alterutros oportet esse Satanae ministros, vel ipsos, vel

364 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXXI.
aments or a middle course. Each party must make
profession of its belief. And we do at once entreat our
opponents, since they are so certain of their opinion, not
to dissemble our difference before the people. But if
they shall persist in their dissimulation, it will be incum
bent on us to make profession of the diversity and oppo
sition of our spirits. For what compact can there be
between Christ and Belial ? We will readily accept the
proffered peace, so long as we can preserve that peace
with God which we have received through Christ. . . .
I am grieved that Zwingle is offended at the certainty
which I have expressed of the truth of my doctrine. It
was indeed a very vain expression, if you regard the
flesh ; but a very wholesome one, if true ; since Peter
has taught us to say that we are certain we speak the
word of God. Unless they were destitute of this cer
tainty, they would not cast such reproaches on my
certainty and confidence." From the tone of this pro
duction Bucer must have perceived, that there could be
little prospect of any change or compromise in the con
viction of Luther. And if his exertions were still con
tinued, it was in the spirit of evangelical perseverance,
and in the hope that, by keeping open the gates of con
ciliation, he might at length bring the less determined
partisans to admit the manifest expediency of entering
them. Meanwhile the Strasburgers, though they would wil
lingly have acted as mediators, did not refrain from
taking their part in the controversy. In the year 1526
both Capito and Bucer tendered their assistance to the
nos ; ideo hic nulli consilio aut medio locus ; confiteri oportet alterutram
partem quod credit. . . . Quod Zwinglius vel ipsi meo verbo offenduntur
quod dixi ; Es muss recht seyn, was ich schreib : doleo .... qua certi
tudine nisi ipsi inanes essent, meam certitudinem et fiduciam non sic dam-
narent. . . ."

CH. XXXI.J THE DIVINES OF STRASBURG. 365
Sacramentarian party. The latter especially, while he
published a Latin translation of Luther's Postilla, and
noted from time to time such opinions as he thought in
correct, prefixed a preface to his work, in which he pro
claimed the belief of his own church respecting the great
question in dispute : "Our belief is this — that according
to the doctrine of St. Paul, as often as we eat the bread
and drink the wine of the Sacrament, we show the
Lord's death till he come ; that is, we consider, confess
and declare that Christ offered to his Father on the cross
His body and blood for our redemption ; and doing this
with a true faith we know that our souls are really fed,
nourished and strengthened by the flesh and the blood of
Christ."* Two years afterwards he once more aided his
Helvetian aUies in their attack on Luther's " Great Con
fession," by the publication of a witty and elegant Ger
man treatise, in the form of a dialogue between two
imaginary persons, Sebaldus and Arbegastus.
Such was the state of this controversy at the end of
the year 1528. The attempts of the mediating party
had altogether failed. The principal disputants, so far
from convincing, or conceding, or approaching at all
nearer in opinion, were only become more bigotted each
to his own doctrine; so far from moderating the polemi
cal spirit and language of the debate, they were only
more passionate and personal in their invectives. Be-

* " Since both parties preach and acknowledge," thus Bucer wrote in
another place, " that Christ our only saviour is with his servants in the
supper ; since they are even not unwilling to confess and call the bread
of the supper his body ; what such great risk is there to faith or piety,
that we are to quarrel and fight so fiiriously about the manner in which
the bread is the body ? Since even those, who contend for the corporal
presence of the Lord, do not by any means agree with each other, as
their publications prove." Apud Scultet. ann. 1528.

366 HISTORY OF THE. REFORMATION. [CH. XXXI.
sides, the dispute was rendered more obscure and compli
cated by the new question which had grown out of it.
Pressed by the argument, that the body of Christ, which
was at the right hand of the Father, could not at the
same time be present in the Eucharist, Luther was driven
to the absolute assertion of its ubiquity ; and the admis
sion followed, that, even before its ascension,* it was both
in heaven and earth and pervaded every portion of space.
This remarkable position was one of those paradoxes,
which, if not at once consigned to ridicule and contempt
as beneath the grave consideration of reason, gave birth
to interminable wrangling. And since the Swiss divines
undertook to confute it seriously, and as the age of scho
lasticism was not yet gone by, it was argued with a per
version of intellect, which sharpened, as it is wont to do,
the bitterness of animosity. For our understandings and
feelings are thus far in communication and sympathy ;
the latter are more apt to inflame, when the reason is
occupied on any mean and unworthy subject; and the
higher and the nobler the matter in controversy, the
better chance there is of calm and amicable argu
ment. In this matter there can be no question that the greater
share of blame rests with Luther and his party ; for
if the first attack upon the opinion ofthe consubstantialists
proceeded from the Swiss, the first personal aggression
was made by the others. Luther's followers took their
tone from their master, and he transferred to the present
controversy all that vehemence of unmeasured vitupera
tion, which he had found so successful in his papal war
fare. There was no discrimination in his vehemence.

* In his Book (published in 1527) "Quod Verba Christi adhuc firma
stent contra, &c." Scultet. ann. 1527, p. 89.

CH. XXXI.J luther's correspondence. 367
The contest of the moment, whether with Zwingle or
Erasmus, or Eck, roused all his energies ,and put the
whole machinery of his soul in motion. And while thus
altogether engrossed, whether by the supposed import
ance of the point in dispute, or by impatience of opposi
tion, or by passion for victory, he made no distinction
between his opponents, nor much regarded auy one of
their principles or opinions, except that against which he
was contending. And this appears not even so much
from his public treatises, fierce and slanderous as they
often are, as from the examination of his private corre
spondence. A few extracts will suffice to show the spirit, with
which he was inwardly animated towards his fellow-re
formers, during the earlier part of this controversy. On
Jan. 20, 1526, he addressed Nicholas Hausman as follows:
" I have written to Duke George with good hope; I have
been deceived, and my humility has been thrown away.
But I shall not answer. I am not moved by his false
hood and invective. Is it hard to bear with him, when
I am compelled to bear with the children of my own
womb — my Absaloms, who resist me with all their
fury — I mean those Sacramentomagistse, in comparison
with whose madness the Papists themselves are mild
opponents ? Thus it is that Satan assails me through
their means. But Christ lives. Theobald Billican,
preacher of Nordlingen, is now writing against Zwingle,
Carlostadt and (Ecolampadius. God raises up his own
remnant against these new heretics. ... I would write
against them myself if I had leisure."
On the 13th of the September following, after an
nouncing the approaching end of the world, and the
presence of the last day on the very threshold of the
universe, he proceeded : " I am provoked by CEcolam-

368 history of the reformation. [ch. xxxi.
padius. ... I grieve from my heart that so great a man
should be involved by frivolous and utterly worthless
arguments in that sacrilegious sect. May the Lord have
mercy on him ! " Exactly a year afterwards he wrote to
John Secerius, a printer at Basle : " This is what I have
always said, that those heretics, the Sacramentaries,
hold Christ in ridicule, and that they have never yet
thought or taught anything seriously. No man of piety
so seeks the glory of God as to be ignorant when Christ
is blasphemed, or to think it a light matter." On Nov.
10, to Justus Jonas, while suffering under great bodily
and mental affliction : " How I wish, again and again
wish, that Erasmus and the Sacramentaries could for
one quarter of an hour only experience the present
misery of my heart ; with what certainty could I pro
nounce that they would be converted, sincerely con
verted, and healed!" On the 7th of March, 1528, he
wrote to one Gabriel Zwilling in no very charitable
spirit : " The disputation at Beme is finished ; nothing is
done, but that the mass is abolished, and the boys in
the streets sing that they have got rid of their baked
god. That same Zwingle there has been escorted up
and down by a thousand people, a glorious conqueror
and lord, whose end will be perdition and confusion,
and that soon too, so we pray only with diligence ! "
And a few days afterwards he complained to Wenceslaus
Link of Zwingle's " asinine " ignorance of all, even
natural, dialectics, and the consequent impossibility of
confuting him. Lastly, on the 28th of July in the same
year, he addressed to Nicolas GerbeUius a furious attack
on the Sacramentaries, not even sparing the " iniquity "
of Bucer, which he concluded as follows : " But let us
have done with the vipers; and may Christ preserve
you, whose fate it is to dwell among those wild beasts,

CH. XXXI.J LUTHER AGAINST ZWINGLE. 369
vipers, lionesses, leopards, in scarcely less peril than
Daniel himself when he dwelt in the den of lions."*
Lest these reproaches — which, unjust and calumnious
as most of them are, are not without some little alloy
of piety — should appear to have been wholly unpro
voked, it is proper to show that Luther likewise com
plained of violence which had been offered by his oppo
nents, and by which he excused his own.
In the May of 1527 he sent to Stiefel a copy of his
book " Against the Fanatics" (Libellus Antischwerme-
rius), with the following remarks : " By the grace of
God, many are by this book confirmed in the sound
faith. ... I am now expecting the furious reply of our
adversaries; . . for Zwingle has addressed to me a sort of
' Exegesis,' with a letter in his own hand, full of pride
and temerity. There is no sort of wickedness or cruelty
of which he does not condemn me, so that even the
papists themselves, my enemies, do not so lacerate me as
these our friends, who without us and before us were
absolutely nothing, who dared not so much as open their
lips, and now, inflated by the victory which we have
gained, make their assault upon us. This it is to be
* Leo X., in the midst of his greedy court, was formerly the Daniel
of Luther. Now the cardinals were forgotten, and their places in the
den occupied by CEcolampadius and Zwingle. The letters from which
the above quotations are made are respectively numbered 774, 819, 899,
914, 959, 1019, in De Witte's edition.
The Sacramentaries of course claimed the advantage in the exercise of
Christian forbearance. Capito thus wrote to the preacher of Hesse on
October 4, 1526: — " We have the advantage not only in our cause, but
also in piety and charity. Praise be to Christ and God, not to ourselves !
The moderation of Zwingle and CEcolampadius is from their nature and
ofthe spirit, and therefore it is perpetual. Luther's ardour is that ofthe
perishable flesh, with which he is not yet well acquainted." — Apud
Scultet., Ann. 1526, p. 51.
VOL. II. 2 B

370 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXXI.
grateful ! This it is to deserve well of men ! However,
I do now at length understand how it is, that the world
is fixed in malignity, and that Satan is the prince of the
world. Hitherto I thought that these were mere words,
but now I see that it is matter of fact, and that the devil
does really reign upon earth."

ch. xxxn.j 371

CHAPTER XXXII.
SACRAMENTARIAN CONTROVERSY.— CONFERENCE OF
MARBURG.
Second diet of Spires — the Landgrave of Hesse summons a conference at
Marburg — reply of Luther — confirmed by his private correspondence
— the proposal of the Saxons that papists should be the arbiters — the
shame of this rests in part with Luther — remarks — another proposal,
that Zwingle should not be invited — apprehensions of Melancthon
— zeal of Bucer — his address to Zwingle — meeting of the parties
at Marburg — the previous and private discussions — public disputa
tion — Luther suggests many other points of difference, which are
removed — then comes the dispute on the bodily presence — Luther's
declaration — assuming the whole question — in conclusion, both claim
the victory^ — citations from the fathers — offers of fraternal amity made
by the Swiss, and refiised by the Lutherans — the formula of concord —
possibly prepared by Bucer — the Swiss despise verbal cavils, and
sign the Articles — including every point except the Eucharist — the
sort of Christian charity acknowledged by the Lutherans — farther
discussions broken off by a pestilence — the moderation of the Swiss
misrepresented by Luther — his shouts of victory — Pallavicino —
Melancthon's account — Luther's affirmation — firmness of the Swiss —
evidence of Justus Jonas — Zwingle denies having made any conces
sion — Bucer defends the moderation of his party — effect of the dis
putation on Catholics and Anabaptists — Zwingle's sarcasm on Luther
— remarks — both parties claim the Landgrave of Hesse — Zwingle's
sermon on providence — address to the Landgrave — policy of the latter
—conversion of Lambert- — Luther's letter to Probst — his principles at
Marburg much the same as Campeggio's at Augsburg — his vanity —
obscurity of his tenet — a middle tenet — he first appeals to the vulgar
— loss of reputation and influence.
Such was the condition of this controversy — such the
points in dispute, and the feelings of the disputants —
when it first emerged into general notice, and came into
contact with politics. This occurred, as we have already
2 B 2

372 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXXII.
observed, at the second Diet of Spires. The papal theo
logians, after watching with malicious satisfaction the
growth of the intestine dissension, thought that the
time was at length arrived to profit by it. Had the
opinions of the Saxon divines alone been consulted, they
might have done so; but the persuasions of human
policy, coincident in this case with the dictates of
Christian charity, overruled the blind intemperance of
the synod of Wittemberg. Still only half the purpose
was accomplished. The actual schism was for the time
prevented, but the discord was not composed, nor was
union, nor even the appearance of union, restored.
During the negociations, which occupied the spring and
summer of 1529, the Landgrave's pacific exertions were
perpetually thwarted, through the pertinacity of those
theologians in rejecting their opponents from their com
munion, and through the influence which they possessed
over the councils of the Elector.
The Landgrave then determined to bring about a con
ference between the chiefs of the parties. Whether it
was, that he believed their difference to be altogether
imaginary, or at the utmost verbal and unimportant ; or
that he entertained some doubts himself as to the truth
of the Saxon doctrine ; or that he expected, from per
sonal intercourse between men of learning and piety —
embarked in the same cause, impelled by the same prin
ciples and interests, and involved in the same dangers,
whose points of variance were as nothing compared with
the many and mighty subjects on which they agreed —
if not a perfect harmony of opinion, at least a spirit
of mutual concession and apparent reconciliation; or
whether matters, in their present state, were hastening
so manifestly towards a rupture, that he thought no
mischief at least could follow from the attenipt, he sum
moned the principal divines of Saxony, Switzerland, and

CH. XXXII.J THE SUMMONS TO MARBURG. 373
Strasburg, to meet together at Marburg in the autumn
of 1529.
Zwingle had not much hope from the proposed delibe
rations, but he accepted without difficulty the overture
of the Landgrave. Bucer was much more sanguine.
But Luther, from the beginning, proclaimed his strong
reluctance ; yet he too at length yielded, and expressed
his assent in the following terms : —
" I have received your commands to go to Marburg
to a disputation with CEcolampadius and his party about
the Sacramentarian difference, for the purpose of peace
and unity. Though I have very faint expectation of such
unity, yet as I cannot too highly commend your zeal
and care thereon, so will I not refuse to undertake a
hopeless, and to us perhaps a dangerous office ; for I
will leave no foundation for our adversaries to say that
they were better inclined to concord than myself. ....
I know very well that I shall make no unworthy con
cession to them. I cannot — while I am so perfectly
assured that they are in error, since they are themselves
uncertain of their own meaning. I have sufficiently
explored all their ground in this matter, and they have
very well ascertained my ground. Therefore it is my
humble prayer that your highness will well consider
whether this conference is likely to produce more fruit
or hurt ; since it is certain that, unless they yield, we
shall separate without profit, and shall have met in vain."
The same opinions were commonly expressed in his
private correspondence: " The Landgrave has summoned
us to Marburg, on Michaelmas day, with the design of
establishing concord between us and the Sacramentaries.
Philip and I, after many refusals, have been at length
compelled, by his importunity (improbitate), to promise
to appear there; but I know not yet whether it will
come to anything. We have no hope of advantage, but

374 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXXII.
suspect treachery from every quarter. The object is,
that they may go away and claim the victory : just as
in the age of Arianism, such synods invariably did more
harm than good, allowing the Arians to boast, and dis
seminate their opinions. . . . But that youth of Hesse is
restless and boiling with projects."*
Thus Luther wrote to Brisman on the 2nd of August.
On the 29th of the same month he addressed much the
same expressions to Brentz, but with this important
addition : That the promise of attendance on the part of
Melancthon and himself was only made on the condi
tion that " some honest papists should be present at the
conference, as witnesses against those future Thrasos
and vain-glorious saints."t This disclosure exhibits the
Saxon divines in a new character — not only as receding
from the principles of the Reformation and shrinking
from the consummation of their own work, but even as
falling back upon their old enemies and seeking refiige
among them. But indeed, during the last three years,
they had written so much and so violently against the
Swiss, so little against the papists, as to give a pretext
for the assertion of Erasmus, that the work of the
insurgents was already broken in pieces, and that the
Lutherans were eagerly returning to the bosom of the
church. Of the above proposal, historians commonly ascribe
the shame to Melancthon, because, as we shall presently
* No. 1138. In the following letter to Brentius (No. 1149), he calls
the Landgrave, " Juvenis iste Macedo Hassiacus;" and in the familiar
correspondence of the Saxon reformers of those days, we find Philip of
Hesse very commonly designated merely Macedo.
t " Nos promisimus adesse, si alios quoque atque adeo honestos
papistas advocaret, ceu testes contra futuros istos Thrasones et gloriosos
sanctos." In the same letter he advised Brentz, though summoned,
not to attend.

CH. XXXII.J PROPOSAL OF THE SAXON DIVINES. 375
see, he was made the instrument of urging it most
strongly upon the princes; but the cited words of Luther
may convince us that he had his full share in it, and, if
we may judge from the bitterness of his expressions, no
reluctant share. The probabihty rather is, that the
project was his own, though he committed to his obse
quious friend the office of propounding it. Howbeit,
Philip of Hesse was much too honest an antipapist to
give it any countenance : the Swiss, under any circum
stances, could not possibly have submitted to it. It fell
to the ground accordingly, leaving to its Saxon patrons
the everlasting disgrace of having suggested it, without
the advantage which they might have gained by its
adoption. It was not yet endurable, that the Reformers
should consent to refer their intestine disputes to a
Roman Catholic tribunal ; that they should call in their
unrelenting foe, not only as the exulting witness of their
broils, but as the very prop and arbiter of their doctrines.
Had this proposal proceeded from any Thersites in the
camp, it had still been base and discreditable. That it
was authorised, if not suggested, by the father of the
Reformation, the denouncer of Antichrist, the composer
of the " Babylonish Captivity," argues an instability
which, in an ordinary mind, would have been merely
contemptible; but which, when found in a vigorous,
daring, and even noble character, makes us pause
awhile to mourn, in self-distrust and humility, over the
incalculable inconsistency of our common nature. The
failings of every-day characters belong only to them
selves, but the delinquencies of the great are a loss to all
mankind. They rob us of our self-respect and confi
dence, they chill our higher and more generous aspira
tions, and make us despair of the capabilities of our
species. This counsel was pressed upon the young Prince

376 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXXII.
Frederic John as early as May 14, in a letter generally
ascribed to Melancthon,* and written after deliberate
consultation with Luther. The pretexts advanced for it
were these : That otherwise the Catholics would regard
the conference as a conspiracy ; and the Zwinglians, in
the absence of any neutral party, would surely claim the
victory. Now, as to the first of these, it should have
been very indifferent to a sincere anti-Romanist what
opinion the enemy might form of his deliberations ; since
he might be well assured, that every combination, in fur
therance of the interests of his cause and in opposition
to ecclesiastical despotism, would be denounced as a con
spiracy ; and the better it might be calculated to gain
those ends, the more fiercely denounced. As to the
second : the Catholics, as Luther well knew, were not
neutral in that quarrel. Their opinion was separated
from his by a mere shadow of greater or lesser mystery,
the real bodily presence and oral manducation being
equally admitted by both ; while that of the Zwinglians
was in manifest opposition to both — so that the papal
arbiters could not avoid deciding in his favour. Besides,
his oft-repeated apprehension of the future boasts and
arrogated triumphs of his opponents betrays a weakness,
not perhaps amounting to distrust in his cause or in
himself, yet ill according with that certain assurance
of the truth of his doctrine, which he was so fond of
vaunting and which amounted, as he declared, to actual
knowledge.! * The style of this letter would rather prove it to be Luther's ; and
Miiller, wiihout hesitation, pronounces him the author of it: so does
Gerdesius, Hist. Evang. Renov., Ann. 1529, § 84. Scultetus attributes
it to Melancthon.
t " Ich berrhe darauff, dass ichs mit den Strassburgen nicht halten
will mein lebenlang ; und weiss dass Zwingel und seine gesellen unrecht
vom Sacrament schreiben." Thus he wrote in a letter to the Elector. —
Apud Gerdes., Ann. 1529, § 84.

CH. XXXII.J PROPOSAL OF THE SAXONS. 377
Should we suppose, as some imagine, that the pro
posal of a condition, which could not possibly be accepted,
was a mere artifice to stifle the conference, still it was a
disreputable device, and for a purpose unworthy of its
authors ;* for free discussion was the very life and
essence of the Reformation : it was the element in which
it first breathed, and in which alone it could hope for
maturity. It afforded too the only means of eliciting
and testing that truth which was so continually on the
lips of the Reformers, and was their only professed pur
suit. In whatsoever light we may regard that pro
ceeding of the two Saxon chiefs, and with whatsoever
disposition to excuse it, still it is impossible, without
degrading the character of history, to compromise the
just expressions of our reprobation.
Another proposition, in a similar spirit, was suggested
in the same letter — that among the divines to be sum
moned from Switzerland to the controversy, Zwingle
should not be one. This was of course equally inadmis
sible ; and it is only worth recording, as it proves the
fear which he had inspired into his antagonists by his
controversial powers, his boldness and his constancy.
But it appears too, that Melancthon was terrified, not
only by the force of his arguments, but by the plausibi
lity of his doctrine ; insomuch, that he was suspicious of
any familiar intercourse between Philip and the Sacra-
* Another little plot with this object is imputed to them, seemingly
with truth. As it was not tbought expedient that the Landgrave should
be made acquainted with Luther's dread of the conference, lest it should
confirm his inclination towards Zwingle, he wrote, though with a very
bad grace, to express his consent. But at the same time Melancthon
wrote to exhort Prince John Frederick, that he would influence the
Elector to refuse permission to himself to attend the conference ; and
this, it was thought, would have justified Luther in withdrawing his
promise; but this scheme too fell to the ground.— See Beausobre, Hist.
Reform., lib. vii. p. 114.

378 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXXII
mentarian doctors. " It is not desirable that the Land
grave should have much communication with the Zwin
glians, lest he should take to them too much. For their
argument is of such a nature, that men of a certain
acuteness, such as he unquestionably is, are the first to
be caught by it ; for theirs being an intelligible opinion,
reason is easily brought to favour it, especially if men of
learning subscribe to it, and give it a colour by scrip
tural testimonies, — as indeed we do now perceive many
of eminent erudition ranging themselves on the side of
Zwingle." This was perfectly true. Four years of ac
tive controversy had transferred many intelligent disci
ples from the camp of Luther to that of Zwingle. The
most numerous converts were to be found in the impe
rial cities ; most of which, while they were also inclined
to bolder measures of reform in ceremonies and observ
ances than Luther would sanction, adopted the more an-
tipapistical doctrine on the Eucharist. But with all
this before his eyes, was it not strange that a man of
leaming and piety and caution bordering on timidity,
who admitted how attractive to reason was the opinion
he opposed, should yet persist in opposing it, year after
year, with such heedless and merciless obstinacy, as to
disclaim the brotherhood of its supporters, also learned,
pious and powerful, to consent to their proscription, and
to consign them without remorse, as Luther advised at
Spires and as Melancthon acted at Augsburg, to the
fury of the common destroyer ?
The same diligence, which Luther had employed to
prevent this conference, had been exerted by Bucer to
give effect to it. Scandalised by dissensions, which were
continually objected to him by the papists as a conclusive
argument against the general cause, he snatched at any
expedient which gave a hope of composing them. In
his assumed character of mediator, he addressed his ex-

CH. XXXII.J ZWINGLE. 379
hortations to both parties. He drew up a confession of
faith in terms so guarded, and veiled the point of dif
ference with such nice ambiguity, as to leave, in his
opinion, no space or pretext for further disunion ; adopt
ing in this matter the expressions of the fathers, as those
best calculated at once to reconcile the disputants, and to
recommend their doctrine to universal respect. Then,
fearing lest the Disputation should descend through Lu
ther's intemperance to a mere theological broil, he urged
on Zwingle the necessity of fraternal forbearance.
" Luther, most respectable Zwingle, is all fury. Do
you, I beseech you, be all mildness, and manage him as
you would a deranged brother, leading him to truth by
fair language. This demeanour is demanded of you, both
by the cause which you support, and by the favourable
decision which you may thus obtain for it. There are
princes and others of piety and consideration who are
desirous of this conference. The project would altogether
fail if we too were opposed to it." Such warnings were
not impertinent to either party, and to Zwingle there
was some hope that they might not be addressed in
vain ; for though his mind was bold and independent,
his temper was not violent, and his principles in regard
to such differences removed him far from bigotry. It
was thus, for instance, that he wrote to a friend at Con
stance on this same subject : " Let us do the work of
God strenuously, and we shall find that friendship may
be exercised and confirmed thereby. ... If there be any
difference between us, let us contend with courteousness
and within the bounds of friendship ; not after the fa
shion of Wittemberg (Wittember-gice), where all is
vapour, and menace and tyranny ; but with good nature
and such simple weapons of innocence as children use."
The senate of Zurich made great difficulties in per
mitting his departure from the city : but when they at

380 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXXII.
last consented, he set out on the 5th of September, and
was joined on his journey by CEcolampadius from Basle,
and Bucer, Hedio, and Sturm,* from Strasburg. The
Saxon divines arrived at Marburg soon after them. All
were courteously received by the Landgrave, and enter
tained in the castle at his own table. (Ecolampadius
and Bucer visited Luther on the afternoon of his arrival.
The former was welcomed with friendly and becoming
conversation^ — the latter with a goodnatured rebuke,f
probably as being the principal mover of this unpro
mising and much deprecated assembly.
The Landgrave, to whom belonged the entire direction
of the Disputation, not ignorant how many bitter taunts
had already been interchanged between the chiefs of the
parties, resolved to commit them, in the first instance, in
a private interview, so that any misunderstandings might
be corrected, and any calumnies wiped away, and a more
friendly feeling created, before they should proceed to
the ordeal of a public exhibition. He determined, be
sides, and with the same discretion, not yet to confront
Luther and Zwingle. Accordingly, he directed Luther
to confer with CEcolampadius, and Melancthon with
Zwingle, for the common purpose of removing all obsta
cles to reconciliation by a dispassionate comparison of
their doctrines and discussion of their differences. They
met on Friday, October 1, and continued in deliberation,
the former for three hours, the latter for twice that time.
It was supposed by the Swiss that the argument would
* James Sturm, a citizen of Strasburg, became, through his high re
putation for truth and integrity, as well as talents, a frequent and influ
ential actor in the negotiations of that time. He was intimately connected
with the historian Sleidan, to whom he furnished many valuable mate
rials, and whose work he revised shortly before his death.
t " Cum CEcolampadio quidem Lutherus in atrio arcis perquam
amice et modeste collocutus est. A Bucero autem salutatus, subridens
aliquantulum respondit: Tu es nequam et nebulo." — Scult. Ann. 1529.

CH. XXXII.J THE CONFERENCE AT MARBURG. 381
be confined to the single question — the manner of the
real presence in the Eucharist. But the Saxon divines,
believing, or pretending to believe, that their adversaries
held many other erroneous opinions, very widely en
larged the field of debate. They strictly interrogated
them on the divinity of Christ, on original sin, on bap
tism, and the character of the ministry, on which two
latter points they affected to impute to them the heresies
of the Anabaptists. These suspicions were immediately
repelled. They then proceeded to the question of the
Eucharist ; but there was the real field of difference, and
they separated without making any approach to an un
derstanding. The public disputation was accordingly
appointed for the day following.
It was held in an inner apartment of the castle, in the
presence of the Landgrave and his principal ministers,
political and religious ; of the deputies from Saxony,
Strasburg, Zurich, and Basle ; and of a few leamed fo
reigners, who had permission to attend, for none attended
without permission, and several were consequently ex
cluded. Luther and Melancthon were seated on one
side, Zwingle and CEcolampadius on the opposite. The
rest of the assembly collected round them, as spectators
of the coming scene, and with an attentive expectation,
due as well to the importance of the controversy as to
the reputation of the four most eminent champions of
the Reformation.
The conference was opened by the chancellor of Hesse,
who explained its object, and exhorted the disputants to
a Christian moderation. Then Luther, instead of pro
ceeding at once to the real point of controversy, insisted
on a previous understanding on numerous other articles,
respecting which he still professed to doubt the orthodoxy
of the Swiss. And in addition to those above mentioned,
as having been treated in the private discussions, he pro-

382 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXXII.
posed justification by faith, the power of the keys, con
fession and absolution, purgatory, and others. His
object in persisting in this scrutiny may have been a
latent wish to contend on any other ground than that
prescribed to him, and even some vain hope that the
disputation might exhaust itself on those preliminaries.
It may have been, that he sincerely deemed the strictest
unanimity on every point of doctrine to be absolutely
essential to a brotherly union among Christians ; or it
may have been, that, if the Swiss should profess their
agreement with him on the various matters thus pro
pounded, he might proclaim it as a triumph, and
take credit for his own Christian zeal at the expense
of their inconstancy. The result would seem rather to
indicate this last as his motive ; but however that may
be, the Swiss at once replied, that there was no difference
on any one of those points, of which assertion the works
of Zwingle bore sufficient evidence, and that the proper
subject of their present discussion was the corporal pre
sence. The Landgrave immediately assented to this, so that
Luther was compelled to yield ; and this he did with so
bad a grace as actually to declare, before the deliberation
was so much as opened, before a single argument had
been advanced on either side, that no consideration
should ever induce him to depart from the literal mean
ing of the disputed text, and that he would listen neither
to sense nor to reason, with the " Words of God" before
him. This was at once to assume the entire question in
dispute, to assume his own interpretation of those words,
to sacrifice his own understanding to it, and to demand
the same devotion from his opponents.* And this he
* Yet in a letter to Link, written March 28, 1528, Luther had ven
tured to impute to Zwingle, as has been already mentioned, an asinine
ignorance of the principles even of natural dialectics. " I shall write no

CH. XXXII.J THE CONFERENCE. 383
called a more perfect belief in Holy Writ. Now, doubt
less, where the meaning of Scripture is indisputable, it
only remains for us to believe ; but in this case there
was field enough for controversy, and the proper under
standing of those " four words" was as fair a subject for
argument, as that of any other words in the whole Bible.
So that any claim that Luther made to a higher measure
of faith, through his adherence to his own interpretation,
was only a veil to cover his own perversity — whether
from his own eyes I know not — certainly not from those
of his opponents, who saw clearly through it — but from
those of wavering spectators and bigotted disciples.
This declaration of Luther, coupled with his notorious
inflexibility, must have crushed in the very bud every
hope of a satisfactory termination to the meeting. Ne
vertheless, the Swiss did not decline the argument,
because they had never, probably, counted on his con
version ; though they may have hoped to win the Land
grave and his court, or any impartial hearers, not
perhaps to a public profession of their doctrine, but to
a friendly disposition towards their persons and interests,
and a general resolution not to sacrifice them through
the accident of a single difference, on a question so very
far from clear. It was under such circumstances that
this celebrated debate commenced.
From the various and imperfect, and not altogether
consistent, accounts* which remain of the particulars of
more against those vaniloquous men, because I perceive in them so abso
lute an ignorance of logic, as to make it impossible, even though theirs
were a simple error, to instruct or compel them to the goal of confiitation.
For one can neither teach nor dispute without dialectics, at least natural
dialectics; and Zwingle knows no more about them than an ass."
* The principal are Two Relations of Melancthon, addressed, the longer
to Henry Duke of Saxony, the other to the Elector ; one of Luther ; a
letter of the latter to Justus Jonas ; and that which Bucer published in
the following year in the Preface to his " Explicationes Evangelicae."

384 HISTORY OP THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXXII.
the Disputation, it would not be easy, even were it de
sirable, to trace it with great perspicuity. In the con
duct of theological controversy so much depends on
explanation and illustration; arguments which are so
plausible, when enforced by certain illustrations, often
appear so feeble and inconclusive without them, that it is
quite impossible to do justice to any long process of rea
soning upon such matters by any abridgment, however
faithful. I shall therefore refrain from any such attempt,
only observing that in the defence of his cause Luther
took, as he had declared, his immovable stand upon the
words this is my hody, and threw the burden of the oppo
site proof upon his opponents. And as often as they
removed him from this ground, and engaging him in a
more general argument gained, as they often did, any
partial advantage, so constantly did he retire to his ori
ginal position and entrench himself behind the same
four words.f
The contest lasted through Saturday, October 2, and
Scultetus has compiled an elaborate account, on the comparison of the
MSS. of those of Luther and Melancthon, though he does not give them
his perfect confidence : " Cum existimatum sit non solum Lutherum,
sed etiam Melancthonem in Actorum Colloquii Marburgensis expositione
humani quid passum esse, contuli bona fide MSS. istorum actorum, &c."
—Ann. 1529.
* In the course of a sophistical argument, whether the body of Christ,
which Luther admitted to be in loco, could be in many places at the
sarae time, Zwingle, having entangled him by some subtlety, trium
phantly exclaimed, " ' En, captum te habeo, Luthere.' Ad quae Lutherus :
' Sive sit in loco, sive non, Deo committo. Hoc mihi satis est, hoc est
corpus meum.' ' Oh, oh,' regerit Zwinglius : ' Ipsissima est petitio prin
cipii et rixosa contentio, &c.' " At another time, when the Swiss were
arguing from analogy that the est in that text meant significat, Luther
declared with warmth : " It is not for me to examine whether e.d in
those passages does or does not mean significat : I take my stand on the
words This is my body, and I rest there. The devil shall not drag me
out of that hold. If I allow myself so much as to inquire how that can
be, I renounce faith."

CH. XXXII.J THE DISPUTATION. 385
the following day. Then CEcolampadius, perceiving
how vain was every attempt to draw him from his hold
— observing, too, that the feelings of both parties were
growing gradually warmer, and not with charity, pro
posed to terminate the controversy. On this Luther,
assuming the tone of conqueror, addressed to his an
tagonists a sort of insulting exhortation to concord —
by which he meant the adoption of his doctrines, stand
ing, as he asserted, on the manifest Word of God. But
they protested before the whole audience, that he had not
defended his opinion by the Word of God ; that his
error was clearly demonstrated ; and that the truth
of the question had been abundantly proved both by
Holy Writ and by the testimonies of the most ancient
fathers. Two among those fathers, whom CEcolampadius espe
cially alleged as the supporters of his opinion, were Ful-
gentius and Augustine. Luther reluctantly admitted
this, at the same time declaring that all the rest were on
his own side. On this, the other requested him to men
tion so much as one, and pledged himself to confute the
assertion. (Ecolampadius was more deeply versed in
that lore than either Luther or Melancthon. His chal
lenge was not accepted ; and though Melancthon left in
the possession of the Landgrave a copious collection of
such extracts from those ancient writers as he judged most
favourable to the Saxon doctrine, they were not presented
at the conference, nor subjected to the formidable scrutiny
of the Swiss divines.*
* The relations of Scultetus and Hospinian are at seeming variance in
this particular with that of Melancthon, but not, as Beausobre has ob
served, really so. After mentioning the challenge of CEcolampadius,
Melancthon says : " We opposed to these passages of Augustine and Ful-
gentius a multitude of other passages from the Fathers, which we showed
to the Landgrave, and which prove that the true body and the true blood
VOL. II. 2 c

386 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXXII.
As it was now clear that the debates of the theologians
could not possibly end in unanimity, the Landgrave and
the other mediators endeavoured at least to establish an
understanding of mutual toleration and amity. The
Swiss and Strasburgers assented to this proposal. It
was in perfect accordance with their principles. " When
soever (said Zwingle on a subsequent occasion) there is
an agreement on the essentials of religion, any diversity
of opinion as to the rest ought never to break the bond
of peace and charity." That the same was the spirit of
Bucer was proved, not only by the expressions of his lips,
but by his unremitted exertions to accomplish that very
purpose. Accordingly, the Zwinglian party entered at
once into the wishes of the Landgrave. They advanced
the offer of Christian brotherhood to the Lutherans; and
in soliciting the same from them, they engaged to prove
from Holy Writ, that the difference which separated them
was not essential, nor sufficient to interrupt their com
munion. The question, by the repeated arguments which had
been employed on it, was, in fact, reduced to this:
whether the body of Christ, existing without extension or
distinct parts, were really present, or not, in the elements
at the Lord's table. On every other particular of the
Christian law the opponents were agreed. Respecting
the nature of the old covenant and of the new, the
necessity of faith, the means of everlasting salvation
there was no point of discord, when the Swiss proposed
are present in the Lord's Supper." This is so expressed, as to leave it
doubtful, whether those counter-passages were exhibited in the presence
of the enemy, or not. According to the above-named historians, they were
not. It is agreed that Melancthon took little part in the disputation,
which was conducted entirely by Luther, and that one ofhis few interpo
sitions was, for the purpose of accusing his opponents of advancing " im
pertinent and ridiculous" arguments.

CH. XXXII.J INTOLERANCE OF LUTHER. 387
to their fellow-reformers, not any compromise of the dis
puted doctrine, but only the mutual exercise of fraternal
charity. The Lutherans refused the offer. They refused it with
harshness. "We spoke to them on this matter (so
Melancthon wrote to the Elector) with some severity
(durius) that it seemed strange to us, with what conscience
they could hold us for brothers, whom they thought in
error on a point of doctrine* — how they could endure,
that in their assemblies our doctrine should be taught
along with theirs — which must be permitted on both
sides, unless we proceeded to mutual excommunication."
.... This conclusion was dictated by so narrow a spirit,
as to be scarcely reconcileable with that bold and ma
jestic intellectual operation, which gave birth to the Re
formation. It appears scarcely possible that a mind so
capacious and exalted, as was exhibited by Luther in
some of his earliest acts, should have degenerated so soon
into such undisguised bigotry. Are we to ascribe this to
religious enthusiasm ? Doubtless his feelings were ex
tremely powerful ; yet we generally observe, on all great
occasions, that they were subject to his reason ; and his
reason, though it permitted him to utter occasional para
doxes and other hasty and indefensible propositions, was
seldom deliberately wrong and seldom persisted in error.
Yet in this instance he not only persevered in blind sub
mission to what he chose to call faith, so far as almost to
reject the application of reason to the question in dispute ;
but he carried his adherence to his own notion, and his
hostihty to the opposite, to the very borders of persecu
tion. If it was really a religious feeling which led him
* Similarly in a postscript to Luther's letter to J. Agricola of Oct. 12.
"Vide eorum stultitiam cum damnent nos, cupiant tamen a nobis fratres
haberi. Nos noluimus iis in hac re assentire."
2c2

388 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXXII.
to this extremity, we can only sigh over the infirmity of a
lofty mind ; and it may have been even thus. But his
conduct has been more commonly ascribed to the opera
tion of more vulgar motives — a rival's jealousy of the
talents and reputation of Zwingle, and a tyrant's wrath
at any opposition to his own spiritual supremacy over
those, whom he called his children, and whom he wished
to rule as slaves.
However, though communion was not re-established
between them ; though they did not consent to that sort
of amity which would have been the basis of active co
operation, yet they did not part on terms of open enmity.
The Swiss persisted in their advances ; Zwingle himself
declared before the Landgrave, with tears in his eyes,
that there were none with whom he would so willingly
be united, as the divines of Wittemberg ;* and Luther at
* Zwingle's words, as cited by Luther in a letter to James Probst or
Pravest, preacher of Bremen, written June 1, 1530 (No. 1217), but not
published till twenty years afterwards, were — " Es sind keine leute auf
erden, mit denen ich lieber wolt eins seyn, denn mit den Wittenbergen."
" Summo studio egerunt," continued Luther, " ut nobiscum viderentur
Concordes, ita ut hanc vocem nunquam ex me possent ferre: Vos habetis
alium spiritum quum -nos. Ardebant toti quoties hoc audiebant. Tandem
id concessimus, ut fratres quidem non essent, sed tamen charitate, quae
etiam hosti debetur, nostra non spoliarentur." The same is implied in a
letter of October 4, to Nicolas Gerbelius (No. 1154) — "Nos sane cum
•nostra satis fortiter defenderimus, illi, multa de suis cedentes, uno isto
articulo de Sacramento Altaris pertinaces, dimissi sunt in pace. Quod
fecimus, ne nimis mungendo sanguinem eliceremus. Charitatem et
pacem etiam hostibus debemus. Sane denunciatum est iis, nisi et hoc
articulo resipiscant, charitate quidem nostra posse eos uti, sed in fratrum
et Christi membrorum numero a nobis censeri non posse. Utinam et
ilie reliquus scrupulus per Christum tandem tollatur." Again, in a letter
to J. Agricola, of the 12th of October : " In fine rogarunt ut saltem fra
tres eos agnoscere vellemus ; idque Princeps valde urgebat — sed non
potuit iis concedi. Dedimus tamen manus pacis et charitatis, ut interim
quiescant aspera scripta et verba, et quisque suam sententiam doceat
absque invectiva, sed non absque defensione et confiitatione."

CH. XXXII.J RESULT OF THE DISPUTATION. 389
last SO far relented as to grant them, not that brother
hood, which in his mind could only co-exist with a doc
trinal unanimity, but "that charity which was due even
to an enemy." These were his own words, written a few
months after this event ; but the understanding, at which
they at length arrived, was thus officially expressed at
the conclusion of a formal act of the conference : " Each
party shall declare a Christian affection towards the
other, as far as the conscience of either shall permit."
In the execution of this article, it was much to be feared,
from the demonstrations of conscience hitherto made,
that this exercise of Christian affection would not be
quite reciprocal. At any rate the Landgrave was de
feated in his principal object. He designed to lay the
foundation of a political confederacy. He desired that
the parties should conclude some sort of compact, such
as would justify them in acting thenceforward in con
cert against the Roman church, and presenting, whatever
secret jealousies might still remain, an organised array
and unbroken front.
This project was indeed thwarted by the intractable
conscience* of Luther. Yet as many questions had been
discussed on which there was no difference, it was
thought expedient to draw up a " Formula of Concord,"
so far as that concord went, and submit it to the rati
fication of both. In fact Bucer, on the conclusion of
the debates, in a learned and pacific discourse, invited
the attention of the assembly from the one matter of dis
sension to the many and essential subjects of agreement.
It may have been Bucer, too, who prepared the articles
of the formula. At least the Swiss divines had no share
in their composition. The terms, in which some of them
were expressed, appeared objectionable both to CEcolam
padius and Zwingle ; and though they were in part
* " Conscientise necessitate."

390 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXXII.
amended according to their suggestions, some matter for
verbal cavil still remained, had they been disposed for
such controversy. But in a subject, wherein the pros
perity, perhaps the safety, of the great Evangelical com
monwealth was concerned, they deemed it beneath their
own characters, beneath the majesty of the sacred cause
committed to them, to allow any hope of union to be
closed, so far as they were concerned, by any insignificant
difference. And in this spirit, rather than in perfect ap
probation of the creed presented to them, they subscribed
to it, on the evening of October the third.
It consisted of fourteen articles. It treated of the
doctrine of the Trinity, of the Incarnation, Resurrection,
and Ascension of Christ ; His Passover and merits ; of
original sin, as redeemed only through faith in Christ ; of
justification by faith ; of the nature of the sacrament of
baptism as appointed by God for the effecting and sealing
this faith ; of the utility of free confession ; of the legiti
macy of civil government ; of the celibacy of the clergy,
and other points. The fourteenth was expressed in the
following terms : " We all believe and think, concerning
the Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ, that it should be
used in both kinds according to its institution ; that the
mass is not a work, by which any one can obtain grace
for any other, either dead or alive ; that the Sacrament
of the altar is the Sacrament of the true body and blood
of Jesus Christ ; and that the spiritual manducation of
this body and blood is essentially necessary to every
Christian. In the same manner we agree concerning
the use of the Sacrament, that, like the word, it is given
and ordained of God to excite weak consciences to faitii
and love through the Holy Spirit." Then followed the
clause above cited.
The facility, with which the Zwinglians acceded to
these articles, encouraged some of their opponents to ex^

CH. XXXII.J DISSOLUTION OF THE CONFERENCE. 391
pect from them the last concession ; and arrangements
were made for still further discussion on the morrow,
when a contagious malady, then little known in Ger
many and therefore the more terrible, the sweating
sickness, suddenly visited the city and dispersed the as
sembly. It is not however probable that any advantage
would have followed from prolonging the conference.
It was by this time manifest that Luther was fixed in the
resolution — the same with which the Pope met the
Lutherans at Augsburg on the following year — to yield
nothing. The only chance of further agreement was by
absolute concession on the part of his opponents. And
it was not probable, that a man so honest and so firm as
Zwingle, after a debate satisfactory to himself and cer
tainly favourable to his cause, should cast away his
advantage, and abandon to the mere authority of an im
perious rival the only question in dispute.
The moderation of the Swiss, and their sincere desire
for peace, were not appreciated by their antagonists.
The object of the Lutherans was rather a party triumph,
than a general advantage to the cause. They rather
considered how they should elevate themselves and their
own peculiar doctrine, than how they should advance
the general interests of the Gospel. This was shoAvn in
the previous apprehension, more than once expressed by
Luther, lest the victory should be claimed by his oppo
nents. He determined that the conference should be,
not a peaceful investigation of truth, between friends
and for a common purpose, but a stubborn combat, in
which his own credit must at any rate be maintained.
Accordingly, no sooner were the disputants separated,
than loud and arrogant pceans were sung, not by the
Helvetian disputants, but by himself* The report im-
* Thus he wrote to J. Agricola on the 12th of October: — "Ultra
modum omnes pacem humiliter rogarunt. Cuncta objecta confiitavi. . . .

392 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [cH. XXXII
mediately flew through every part of Germany, dissemi
nated by the letters of his disciples, that the Zwinglians
had recanted all their errors, that on the Eucharist alone
excepted ; that they were prepared to retract even that,
had they not been deterred by the fear of the vulgar ;
and that they had produced no argument against the
tenet of Luther, except their own inability to believe it
(non possumus hoc credere).
Melancthon, in an account of this affair which he
wrote to the Elector, so far confirmed these statements
as to assign as the only motive for the perseverance of
his opponents, " That they had advanced too far to re
tract easily, but that there was yet reason to hope for
their perfect submission, if the negociation should be
undertaken by some sovereign authority, and conducted
with address." Luther hiraself repeated this assertion,
and did not fear to confirm it with an oath.* " If I am
In summa homines sunt inepti et imperiti ad disputandum. Tametsi
sentiebant sua nihil concludere, nolebant tamen credere in hac una parte
de praesentia corporis Christi — idque metu et pudore magis quam
malitia. In caeteris omnibus cesserunt." Again, to W. Link, Oct. 28:
" Satis et plusquam satis se humiliarunt et fraternitatem nostram ambie-
runt. D. Nicolas Amsdorf mirum quam exultet et jactet verbum Dei,
quod illi ambierunt fraternitatem nostram, nee obtinuerint. Scilicet quod
illi, qui nos idololatras, camivoras, Thyestas, et impanati et esculenti Dei
cultores, Capernaitas condemnarint, nunc ultro talium fraternitatem
ambiunt, nee tamen digni habentur ut obtineant."
* Towards the conclusion of his letter to Jacob Probst of Bremen,
which contains the following passage : — " Cum victi essent in Ccena
Dominica, noluerunt revocare hunc articulum, etiamsi viderent se non
subsistere. Metuebant enim plebem suam, ad quam non licuisset re-
verti." The following are some of the remarks made on this conference
by the honest papist, Pallavicino : — " Bencht; Zuinglio, cupido di quest'
unione e men duro che 1' altro, se lasciasse espugnare in assai articoli,
6 a sentire come Lutero, 6 a parlare come Lutero, non pote impetrare
niuno dalla superbia dell' emulo. La principal dissenzione rimase. . . .
Anzi renduti insolenti i Luterani dalla prieghevolezza usata da Zuinglio
cantarono palme e trionphi del loro Capitano. Onde anche i Zuingliani

CH. XXXII.J DISSOLUTION OF THE CONFERENCE. 393
a preacher of Christ, ay, if there is such a thing as
truth, this which I speak is true." He is guiltless of the
perjury. Doubtless he believed, in the vanity of his
heart, that his antagonists were thus humbled and
prostrate before him ; but this only proves the more the
nature of his own spirit — that he mistook moderation
for timidity, a Christian temper for abject weakness, a
disposition to make some verbal concessions, in fur
therance of a great cause, for indifference to a Scriptural
verity. For it could not be truly said, that in the whole course
of the Eucharistical argument the slightest symptom of
vacillation had been shown by the Swiss. So far from
it, that their courage only rose as the contest advanced,
and the severest blows that were dealt by Zwingle were
the last ; and if other evidence were necessary to prove
their firmness, there is that of Justus Jonas, who was
present, who was a most jealous Lutheran, and who ex
pressly declared the contrary, in a passage of conclu
sive authority : — " At length, our enemies pugnaciously
(mordicus) persisting in their errour, and we defending
with no less zeal the cause of truth, we separated ; and I
doubt whether any agreement on the Sacrament can
now be made between us. To-day (the 4th of October)
the Prince, by means of his councillors and learned men,
is seeking expedients for some sort of coalition ; but on
the matter of the Sacrament no reconciliation will ever
be patched up, no concord will ever be brought to pass."'""
irritati vantavano lo stesso del loro maestro sopra Lutero. ... La razione
vera per la quale in questo sol punto non trovarono temperamento di
concordia fii, perche in esso la preterita lor controversia era da materia
troppo intesa dal popolo ; ne si potea velar con oscuri voci, come quella
del peccato originale, e perche niuno de' Eresiarchi voile eeder al' aUro,
e perder 1' estimazione coi suoi. . . ." — Libro vii.
* The letter was addressed to William Reiffenstein, councillor of Stol
berg. Justus Jonas continues : " I shall now say a few words concerning

394 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXXII.
Zwingle indignantly denied that he had made any
sort of retractation, and appealed to his published works,
as containing the sense at least of all the doctrines to
which he subscribed at Marburg. To some expressions
he perhaps objected, and to others he attached a slightly
different meaning from that affixed to them by the
Lutherans ; but the belief of both, on all those important
questions which were the subject of the preliminary dis
cussions, was substantially the same : and thus, when in
the following year he sent his confession to the Diet of
Augsburg, it was found in general agreement with that
of the Protestants on all important questions, except tliat
of the Eucharist.
Bucer, on his part, in a preface to his " Enarrationes
Evangelicse," published a laboured apology for the mode
ration of his friends. He declared that the request of
fraternal union was founded on community of opinion
between the parties, since both were agreed that it was
the spiritual manducation which saved the souls of the
communicants, while the oral had rather the opposite
tendency, unless accompanied by the spiritual : so that,
the essential inquiry being that concerning the means of
salvation, there was in this case no essential difference.
And he added, with great good sense, that no union of
Churches could ever be permanent, unless some latitude
of conscience were left to individual members ; only care
the disposition and talents of each of the chief disputants. Zwino-le is
somewhat rude and forward (arrogantulus) in his manners ; CEcolam
padius is remarkable for a mild and obliging disposition; Hedio is
equally distinguished by humanity and liberality; but Bucer has the
cunning of a fox, which he wishes to be mistaken for sagacity and pru
dence. They are all men of unquestionable leaming, and in compari
son with them the Catholics are not worthy to be accounted adversaries ¦
but Zwingle's erudition seems to have been acquired against the grain,
and in spite of the muses." Compare these candid admissions with the
vulgar slanders of Luther.

CH. XXXII.J DISSOLUTION OF THE CONFERENCE. 395
should be taken, that the foundation be firmly fixed in
the doctrine of justification by faith, and a lively love
towards one's neighbour. He then proceeded to show
that the boasted concessions were not in fact any con
cession, and that the Act of Concord was signed after a
private verbal explanation of the meaning of some par
ticular passages. In like manner, CEcolampadius, in a
letter to Berthold Haller (January 18, 1530), entered
into discussion of the various articles, and justified his
departure from the strict letter of his doctrine as no more
than the sacrifice of expression for the sake of a substan
tial good, while he condemned the spirit in which Luther,
by his unexpected inquisition into subjects unconnected
with the object of the conference, had multiplied, as it
were purposely, the aliments of discord.
If the Saxon divines had thus in some measure over
reached their antagonists, and even confirmed, by their
triumphant clamours, some wavering friends, the publi
cation of the Articles of Concord produced more lasting
advantage to the other party. The Sacramentaries had
been so studiously confounded, by Luther and his fol
lowers, with the Anabaptists and other seditious fanatics,
that many really believed them to hold extravagant
and even dangerous opinions. Those prejudices were
now removed ; and it was discovered, both by Anabaptists
and Catholics,* that they bore a much closer resemblance
to their Lutheran calumniators than the last were willing
to allow, or the Papists to believe ; for to these no spec
tacle was so grateful as the intestine quarrels of the in
surgents, and the more ample the matter for such broils,
the greater their exultation. Yet, in religious matters,
a single point of difference is often as effectual as many
* CEcolampadius, in the above letter, says : " Nihil inexpectatum
nuncias, narrans quod cum Papista cum Catabaptista ex coUoquio nostro
offenduntur — immo glorlantur nos victos."

396 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXXII.
in causing and perpetuating dissension; and the ani
mosities of those, who are separated by a mere line, may
be as fierce and lasting as the feuds which are fed from
a thousand sources.
Though the Lutherans were somewhat more clamor
ous in their claims of victory, it is not to be supposed
that Zwingle admitted their pretensions, or suppressed
his own. This appears from some private letters, which
he wrote soon after the conference, and of which the
contents were not probably kept so secret as he pro
fessed to wish. In one of these he employed a bitter
sarcasm against his antagonist : " The truth," he said,
" has so manifestly triumphed, that if ever man was
beaten it is Luther. This good besides has come of this
affair : we have proved our agreement with him so
clearly, on almost all the dogmas of Christianity, that
the papists can no longer venture to hope that he will
return to their party." Thus it was a ground of boast
with Zwingle, that after long contending with the papists,
if not under the banners, at least after the example, of the
Saxon Reformer, he had so far outstripped him in courage
or in honesty, as to have rescued him from the suspicion
of treachery, and compromised him to a continuance of
the conflict. It is not, however, that there was any
danger lest Luther should desert the cause. His letters
from Coburg, during the diet of Augsburg, abundantly
prove his constancy; but thus much is clear, that,
through the violence which he had lately displayed
against the Sacramentarian party, and the nearer ap
proximation of his doctrine to that of the church, an
impression at that moment gained some prevalence, that
he would have availed himself of any plausible pretext
to return to his original communion.*
* Luther may have heard of that insinuation of Zwingle's when
he wrote his letter to Jacob Probst, which began in the following

CH. XXXII.J ZWINGLE TO THE LANDGRAVE. 397
As both parties thus claimed the victory, so each was
desirous to believe, or to have it believed, that the Land
grave was on his side. Justus Jonas, on the one hand,
circulated a report that that prince had declared his
adhesion to the literal interpretation, and his distrust
in the subtle reasonings of man. Zwingle, on the other,
in a letter to Vadianus, expressly asserted that Philip,
together with his whole court, had embraced his doc
trine. In the following August he dedicated to that
prince a sermon " On Providence," preached before
him at Marburg, and published at his desire; and
addressed him as the only prince who had discovered,
that infallibility belonged to God alone, and that affairs
were not all to be regulated at the pleasure of any indi
vidual. " You alone, not ignorant how the ministers of religion
may be influenced by envy and hatred, or rather let me
say error and vanity, are careful to prevent a body of
disciples, who imitate the very defects of their master,
from exciting open war between the churches. You
alone are impressed with the principle that, when parties
are agreed on the essentials of religion, a few differences
oh the rest ought not to interrupt their concord. You
alone, however convinced and certain you are respecting
that matter which others controvert with neither much
courteousness nor much leaming, profess, with a sort of
holy dissimulation, that you fluctuate and are in doubt,
to the end that, by associating with those in error, you
terms : — " Quod Sacramentarii jactant me Marpurgi victum, faciunt more
suo. Sunt enim non solum mendaces, sed ipsum mendacium, fucus et
simulatio ; quod testatur Carolostadius et Cinglius ipsis factis et verbis
suis. Vides enim hos Marpurgi revocasse in articulis positis ea quae
de Baptismo, Sacramentorum usu, similiter extemo verbo, et alia quae
hactenus editis libris pestilenter docuerunt. Nos nihil revocamus."

398 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXXII.
may employ the influence of friendship and kindness to
bring them to the truth."
Whatever the doctrine of the Landgrave may have
been, these expressions reveal at least his policy. By the
observance of a discreet neutrality, he believed that he
might at length succeed, not perhaps in removing the
difference, but in calming the passions of the opponents,
and uniting them as brothers and confederates in support
of the same great principles, and in furtherance of the
same interests.
Meanwhile it is not questioned that the Zwinglians
gained one respectable convert. Lambert, the principal
theologian of Hesse, who was the hero of the conference
of Homberg, and who has been mentioned with honour
in the history of the Swiss Reformation, had constantly
professed the Lutheran doctrine of the Eucharist. A few
months after the disputation of Marburg he died ; and
from a confession, which he left behind him, it was clear
that he had adopted the opposite opinion.
In the manner of conducting this debate, the praise
of greater temper and courtesy is due to the Swiss.
Luther himself, in numerous letters, makes mention of
their moderation and obsequiousness ; but the value
which he set on those qualities appears from a short
passage in his letter to Probst : " They demeaned them
selves towards us with incredible humility and humanity,
but all designedly, that they might seduce us into a false
concord. Oh the craft of Satan ! But Christ is wiser,
and He hath preserved us ! " A peaceful and concilia
tory spirit, in a religious argument, between fellow
Christians and fellow reformers, was, in Luther's eyes, a
device and temptation of the devil ! It is then no matter
of surprise that he drew from the forbearance of his
antagonists only fresh fuel for his own arrogance. But

CH. XXXII.J LUTHER. 399
he did not foresee that, within twelve months from that
moment, his own adherents would be subjected to the
same insults from an enemy still more imperious than
himself — that Melancthon would bend at Augsburg
with a flexibility to which Zwingle could never have
condescended — and that the papal hierarchy, doubtless
mistaking that lowliness for a Satanic stratagem, would
reject and repudiate his submissions.
The parallel is faithful. Luther was the Pope of
Marburg. By general acclamation the chief of the
evangelical party, he assumed the character of a despot ;
and to sustain that part, in spiritual matters, it is neces
sary to create the prejudice of infallibility. If he once
yielded any point of doctrine — if he once admitted that
he had fallen into any error— the illusion would cease,
and with it the authority which was founded on it. It
was thus at least with the multitude. He was obliged,
by the very position which he believed he occupied, or
which he wished to occupy, to defend in the loftiest tone
every tenet that he had once proclaimed to the people.
Under the Roman Church all had been managed by
authority: that removed, some other for the moment
must be established in its place, and Luther assumed to
be the substitute. Accordingly, he engaged in the
combat with the same sort of determination which
Campeggio brought with him to Augsburg ; and had
he possessed, like the other, the support of the secular
power, he would not perhaps have altogether refrained
from the use of it.
In regard to the peculiar tenet of Luther, it appears
indeed to me to involve at least as deep a mystery as
that of the Roman Church. The assertion " that the
real substance of the Lord's body and blood was in the
bread and wine, together with that previous substance
which was bread and wine only," removed little of the

400 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXXII.
difficulty of transubstantiation, while it created another
of no very explicable nature — namely, that the same
substance is at the same time of two different and dis
similar kinds. This dogma required assuredly no scanty
exercise of faith : besides it was new. Whether the
positive invention of it may be ascribed to Luther or
not — and I am inclined to think that it may — it had no
known existence in the mind of any man at the time
when he propounded it. Was it not then somewhat
imperious in any one to prescribe ' it, as an essential
article of faith, to the whole body of reformers, with the
authority of a master — and in him especially, who had so
lately emancipated them from a very, similar authority,
who had addressed them so eloquently on the " Liberty
of a Christian," who had restored ^hem to the freedom
of individual judgment, who had taaght them that in
religious matters conscience was 'the only infallible
director, and that nq earthly power had the right of
interference with its decisions ?
His intemperance too, in this controversy, belonged
more to his own character than to the particular subject
in dispute. His was a sort of middle doctrine; and
being placed, as he thought, between the two extremes,
it seemed to promise some moderation in its defenders.
It receded from the change of substance, yet so as
to preserve the real corporal presence. It eluded the
astounding assertion :* that the substance of the Bread is
become the substance of the Flesh : by advancing in its
place : that the substance of the Flesh is united with the
substance of the Bread, the latter remaining unchanged.
This tenet derogated, as the papists believed., from the
* Of course I am aware of the metaphysical argument, or rather
hypothesis, by which learned Roman Catholic divines explain away the
great difficulty in their doctrine. I only speak of it here as it is under
stood by the great mass of Christians of all persuasions.

CH. XXXII.J LUTHER. 401
divinity of the Eucharistical elements. The Zwinglians,
on their part, were astonished that the Reformer, who
had ventured to make one step beyond the prescribed
limits, should be so tremblingly reluctant to advance ;
and in fact distinguished very little between the opinion
which he had adopted and that which he had forsaken :
while Luther dealt his blows on either side, as suited
the purpose of the moment, and condemned, with the
same indignation, the superstition of the one party and
the faithless obduracy of the other.
It is also objected to Luther, that it was he who first
made the people parties in the dispute ; that the Swiss
would have continued to conduct it, as they began, in
the Latin language, but that he and his adherents first
issued their publications in German. Doubtless it had
been more discreet, had both consented to argue ami
cably, and to veil 'a friendly difference in the obscurity
of a learned tongue. But Luther never regarded the
difference in that light ; and as in his combats with the
church he. had made some of his most successful ad
dresses to the uneducated classes, and as this was one of
the foundations on which his whole work rested, and the
principal instrument of its progress, so in the present case
he naturally pursued the same course and appealed to
the same tribunal. And, as the vulgar prejudice would
probably declare in favour of the greater mystery, or at
least of the more celebrated name, he may thus have
served his cause. At any rate, he was consistent in this
proceeding ; nor can we censure it altogether, however
we may regret that a more expansive charity did not
conduct him to broader views and a wiser policy.
Upon the whole, he lost both influence and reputation
by that controversy. By his imperious tone and elabo
rate sophistry he weakened the affection and respect of
a large body of intelligent admirers. Many now began
VOL. II. 2 D

402 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [CH. XXXII.
to entertain a less exalted opinion of his talents, as well
as of his candour. Instead of the self-devotion and
magnanimity which had thrown such a lustre over his
earlier struggles, a vain-glorious arrogance seemed to be
master of his spirit; and for the indulgence of this
ignoble passion, the mantle, which might have wrapped
Germany and Switzerland in one continuous fold, was
rent asunder. He was no longer the genius of the
Reformation. Descending from that magnificent posi
tion, whence he had given light to the whole evangelical
community, he was now become little more than the
chief of a party, then indeed the more conspicuous and
powerful section of the reformers, but destined in after
times to undergo reverses and defections, which have con
fined the appellation of Lutheran to an inconsiderable
proportion of the Protestant world.

END OF VOL. II.

London : Printed by William Clowes and Sons, Sliimforii StiTot.

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