Lower Saxony and forced them of Meckelburg Lunenburg Anbalt and Mansfeld to pay it Another part of his and the Bishop's Forces having beat Albert and taken Schweinfurt as I have said they Treated Rotenburg an Imperial City and the County of Henneburg very severely and seemed resolved that if they did not contribute to the Expences of this War which they pretend did belong to all they would levy it by Force but by the Interposition of others this difference was Composed and no Force was made use of About this time Charles Duke of Savoy who as I have related above was stript of the greatest part of his Territories died leaving as his Heir Philibert his Son who had served many Years as a Soldier undr the Emperor Ferdinand King of the Romans published an Edict commanding his Subjects not to change any thing in the Celebration of the Sacrament of the Eucharist and that according to the old Custom they that received the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper should content themselves with one of the Spectes the Bread only But the Princes the Nobility and Cities having often before Petitioned him in this Business did now by a Letter very humbly desire that according to Christ's Command and Institution and the custom of the ancient Church which they backed also with many Reasons they might be allowed the partaking of the whole and entire Eucharist The King answering this Letter the twenty third of June from Vienna said he did not in the least suppose when he published that Edict that it should be made by them the Subject of a Dispute and Cavil For said he my only design was that the People in my Dominions should remain in the ancient and true Religion and in the Obedience of the Catholick Church out of the Communion of which none can be Saved and that they might receive this most excellent Sacrament according to the Laws and Customs of the Church and that they might not be perverted from that duty they owe both to the Civil Magistrate and the Church either by the perverse Opinions of some Men or by a certain over great Curiosity or Pride He said this was the only intention and design of that Edict and that he had not in it commanded any new thing but had required only the continuance of an ancient Institution which has been brought down to me from hand to hand by my Ancestors the Emperors Kings and Dukes of Austria and which has to this Day been diligently observed by me as becomes a Christian Prince and which I have heretofore frequently commanded my Subjects to continue in And therefore I did not in the least suspect that you would attempt any thing against the tenor of this Edict who so earnestly contend that in all other things no change may be made and that you may enjoy your Laws and Rights without Violation For certainly this is a new thing and of late taken up by you upon some Opinion which you argue so largely for as if it befitted you to judge of my Commands who am your principal and highest Magistrate and as if that ought of right to be allowed you which some of you of late years have of their own Authority privately assumed to themselves and usurped contrary to the Canons of the Church and against my Will. But then it being as you say a grave and difficult question as you your selves aver I will think further of it and in due time I will return such an answer to it as shall shew that I am very much concern'd for the Salvation of my People But in the mean time I expect all manner of submission from you and that you should not in the least act any thing contrary to my Edict To this Letter the States made a reply in Writing also to this Effect What we have so often said most serene Prince concerning the Command of our Saviour we now again repeat for he instituted his Supper in clear and perspicuous Words that it might be received by all in the self same manner as he prescribed And it is not lawful for any mortal Man to change or alter his Institution and Prescription This was also the ancient custom of the Church and that which is now used crept in by insensible degrees as we can demonstrate For the Council of Constance confesseth that it was so instituted by Christ Seeing therefore this pertains to the Salvation of our Souls certainly neither Curiosity nor Pride have put us upon it And upon this very score we the rather hope that you will direct your future deliberation by the Commands of Christ and his Apostles and the practice of the ancient Church and in no wise oppress our Consciences which just request we make to your Majesty by all that is sacred by the Glory of God and by the Salvation of our Souls We acknowledge that by the Will of God you are our Supream Magistrate and we do this with the utmost willingness and we say that there is nothing which you may not or ought not to expect from us but in this one thing we desire you would spare us In the Diocess of Wurtzburg in Franconia there is a Monastery called Nenstadt the Abbot of which John Frisius falling into the suspicion of Lutheranism was cited the fifth day of May to appear within six days after at Wurtzburg and answer to such things as should be then enquired of him The Interrogatories then administred to him were Whether it be lawful to Swear Whether a Man is bound by his Vow Whether it be lawful to make a Vow of Poverty Chastity and Obedience Whether such Vows oblige Whether Matrimony or Celibacy doth best become the Ministers of the Church Whether there is one true and Apostolical Church Whether she is perpetually governed as the Spouse of Christ by the Holy-Ghost Whether she does always decree what is true and Salutary Whether the Church is to be deserted for the Vices and Errors of some Men in it Whether she upon the account of the Head the Vicar of Christ may rightly be called the Roman-Church Whether all the Books of both Testaments which the Canon has are lawful and true Whether the Sacred Scriptures are to be interpreted according to the Sentence of the Holy Fathers the Doctors of the Church and the Councils or according to that of Luther and such others Whether besides the sacred Scriptures there be not need of other Traditions such as those of the Apostles and others of the same Nature Whether the same Faith Authority and Obedience is due to these Traditions which is due to the sacred Scriptures Whether the civil Magistrate is to be obeyed in Politick or Civil Affairs and the Ecclesiastick in Sacred or Holy things Whether the Sacraments of the Church are Seven Whether Children are to be Baptized Whether Baptism ought to be administred in the Latin Tongue Whether Salt Oil Water Characters and Exorcisms ought to be made use of in
never been Guilty either of Treason or Treachery and remitting him his Fine of Seven hundred thousand Crowns and these Letters he ordered to be entered upon Record both in Paris and other places This was done the twelfth of March. The King being at this time in the Castle of Vincennes near to Paris News was brought to him in the night time of a sudden Tumult as if the Enemy out of the Emperor's Territories was about to make an Irruption into the Country of Vermandois in Picardie Wherefore the Princes who were present at Court were instantly dispatched thither to wit the Dukes of Vendosuce Guise Aumale Nivern and many others with a great number of Gentlemen but when they came there all was â—ush'd no Man living stirring Now some said that this was a Rumour purposely raised to perswade the People that the Emperor sought for a War which the King would not seem to be Author of though he had already fully resolved it as shall be said hereafter For as much as the State of Germany was such as hath been before related Aid was voted and an Army ordered to be levied which being augmented and reinforced by King Ferdinand's Forces might be able to make Head against the Turk and recover what had been lost Joachim Elector of Brandenburg was by common Consent and the Will of the Emperor made Generalissimo who immediately leaving Spire prepared himself for the Expedition For this War there was a Poll raised all over Germany and Leave granted to Magistrates to impose a Tax on their People upon this Account It was also resolved that Assistance should be craved from the Switzers and other Kings especially the King of Denmark and the Italians Moreover a Decree was made that all should live in Peace within the Confines of the Empire and not attempt any Stirs or Commotions And so the Diet was dissolved on the Eleventh of April About the same time a great Quarrel broke out in Saxony betwixt the Prince Elector and Duke Maurice who now succeeded to his Father Henry lately deceased The Dispute was about their Limits and a certain Town though Duke Maurice also plainly espoused the Interest of Pflug who was recommended to him by his Relations The Matter was in all probability like to have come to a Civil War for both mustered their Men but by the Mediation of the Lantgrave it was accommodated This was the beginning of a Rancour betwixt them which encreasing afterwards with the time gave a sad Blow to Germany as shall be said hereafter And many indeed wondered at Duke Maurice that he should have hatched such violent and fierce Designs against him to whom both he and his Father owed in a manner all their Fortune Some of his Counsellors were thought to have contributed not a little thereunto who being very familiar with Prince George had no great Kindness neither for the Religion nor the Elector The War being now resolved upon and all preparing for the Expedition Luther published a little Book in the vulgar Tongue being a Military or Camp-Sermon Let us trace the Matter a little farther back In his younger Years he had amongst other things written That to war against the Turk was down-right fighting against God who smote us by him as with a Scourge This Tenet of his was with the rest condemned by Leo X. and his other Adversaries also cried that he disswaded People from making War against the Turk Wherefore afterwards either of his own Head or being put upon it by others he undertook the handling of that Subject and in the Year 1528. published a little Book which he dedicated to Philip the Lantgrave giving the Reason of his Position and why he wrote so at that time For in those Times of Darkness saith he no Man instructed People aright concerning the civil Magistrate whence he derived his Power or what his Duty was Most People and some learned Men also looked upon that Office as Profane and dangerous to the Conscience too Nay Kings and Princes themselves were so much perswaded of this by the Priests and Monks that they sought to themselves new Means of Salvation whereof this was the chief and main Prop That they should not only hear Masses but also settle large Fonds for having them said to the Worlds End For seeing they thought that the Life they lead was not very acceptable to God they sought to better their Condition by those Assistances The Princes who then lived can testity the Truth of this for not to mention others when I published a Book concerning the Magistrate Prince Frederick was much rejoiced therewith and hugg'd it as his Delight because it gave him some Light as to his own State and Condition The Pope alone and his Ministers reigned every where and was a kind of God upon Earth But the Magistrate lay neglected and grovelling in Darkness wholly ignorant of that noble Testimony and Promise which he had from God. The Pope would needs be esteemed a Christian and in the mean time he incited People to War against the Turks Then arose a Controversy betwixt us for I made it my whole Business to prove what was the Duty of a Christian Man and because I had not then as yet wrote any thing of the civil Function the Papists cried I flattered the Magistrate Now again that I have commented on that Subject they give out that it is Seditious when nevertheless no Man perhaps since the Age of the Apostles if you only except St. Austin hath treated that matter more clearly or fully Amongst other things which I taught then I explained that saying of Christ's Of giving thy Coat with thy Cloak and of suffering Injuries which place the Pope and all his School had wholly depraved affirming it most erroneously to be a Concord but not Precept When therefore they took to themselves the Name of Christians and that too above all others and nevertheless would suffer no Injury but must fight against the Turk I opposed it and following that saying of our Saviour made it out that a Christian ought not to resist Evil but suffer all patiently And then it was that I published that Position which Leo amongst others condemned and I did it the rather that I might detect the Knavery and Cheats of the Court of Rome for the Popes were not in earnest about the War but made use of it as a Colour and Pretext whenever they had a mind to squeeze Money from Germany Wherefore they damned that Position of mine not because it disswaded from the War but because it barricadoed the Way by which our Money and Wealth was carried to Rome Again I did not approve it then neither that they continually edg'd on our Princes to War when in the mean time there was no Reformation of Life and Manners to be seen among us But chiefly that they called that War a Christian War as if we fought against the Turks for being the Enemies of
thereon according to Scripture But they not satisfying his Desire and finding none that were proper for instructing the People he sent for Martin Bucer from Strasburg one whom both John Gropper had always highly commended to him and he himself also throughly understood by the Conferences he had had with him Accordingly he came in the Month of December the Year before and by the Command of the Prince began in the beginning of this Year to preach at Bonn a Town upon the Rhine five Miles above Cologne On the Fifteenth of March after the Bishop held a new Convention of States at Born and proposed to them to consider of a Reformation of the Church But seeing the Clergy had sent no Deputies to this Convention the rest of the States desired the Archbishop to chuse Men proper for that Affair according to his own Judgment Therefore it was committed to the Care of Bucer to draw up the Heads of the Christian Doctrine and that all things might be done more exactly the Archbishop intreated the Elector of Saxony to associate Philip Melancthon with him When these Two and John Pistorius sent by the Lantgrave had finished the Work the Archbishop sent it to the Clergy of the Cathedral Church who are all descended of Noble Families requiring them to examine carefully the Doctrines contained in that Book And then he called another Convention of States to meet on the Two and twentieth of June after where he laid before them the Book of Reformation desiring that every State might commissionate some to peruse the Book with those that he should appoint that at length some tolerable and pious Reconciliation might be established But the Clergy we mentioned obstinately urged that Bucer chiefly and some other Preachers lately appointed might be turned out And then desired time to consider of the Book but refused to consult with the rest The Archbishop though he well perceived their Design in interposing this Delay yet that they might have no Cause of Complaining granted them time to deliberate But that as to the removing of Bucer and his Colleagues as they demanded he did not refuse it provided any Man could convict them either of erroneous Doctrine or of bad Life and Conversation which he several times gave them Liberty to prove against them being ready to present them to be tried before any lawful Judge Whilst Matters stood thus they prepared a contrary Book which they called Antididagma and in the Preface thereof after a great deal of Railing against the Lutherans they professed in plain Terms That they had rather live under the Turk than under a Magistrate that would embrace and defend that Reformation Gropper as they say was the Author and Contriver of that Book For though he had been very familiar with Bucer Two Years before at the Diet of Ratisbone though after his return Home from thence he had exceedingly commended him not only to the Archbishop but to all Men also and in all Places and though he had sent him many and most loving Letters yet when Matters were brought to this pass he fell totally off from his Friendship and forsaking the Archbishop to whom he was obliged for all his Fortune struck in with the Adversaries The same also did Bernard Hagey the Chancellor who were both enriched with fat Benefices The Divines of Cologne did violently oppugne Bucer and loaded him with most grievous Reproaches He on the contrary desired a friendly Debate and professed in all Assemblies that he would maintain this Doctrine against them Melancthon also wrote a little Book at that time in his Defence and having exhorted them to Modesty and the Study of the Truth he shewed them what horrid Errors they defended Duke Maurice of Saxony made some Laws at this time to be observed throughout his Territories and in his Preface before them he exhorts the Doctors and Ministers of the Church to be diligent in doing their Duty preaching the Gospel in purity and to be a shining Light to their Flock by the Examples of a virtuous Life that they exhort Men to Prayer and mutual Love and Charity sharply rebuke Vice and with the consent of the Magistrate Excommunicate incorrigible Offenders till they be brought to Repentance and that they present such to the Magistrate as will not be reformed that way neither In the next place because Youth is in a manner the seminary both of Church and State he Founded Three publick Schools at Meisen Mersburg and Port and in each place he appoints a certain number of Free Scholars whom he finds in Victuals and Apparel and pays their Masters Yearly Salaries employing for that purpose the Revenues of those Religious Houses wherein Monks and the like had lived before To the Students he allows Six Years to remain there and be taught Out of the same Revenues he also gave an Augmentation to the University of Leipsick of Two thousands Florins a Year and some Measures of Wheat In like manner he prohibited Begging and for Relief of poor Families allotted Money to be yearly consigned in certain places Moreover against Uncleanness he enacted That such as deflowered Virgins and did not marry them though they procured them to be married to others should nevertheless be committed to Prison but Adulterers he commanded to be put to Death That Noblemen and Gentlemen who married the Women whom they had enjoyed before Marriage should be thus punished That the Children whom they had by them before their Marriage could not succeed to any Lands or Inheritances which they held of him in Fee. The Emperor in the mean time arrived at Genoa from Spain by Sea and writing from thence May the Twenty Sixth to the Elector of Saxony the Lantgrave and Confederates he entreats them That now seeing the publick Peace was sufficiently secured by his Edicts and that there would be a Reformation of the Imperial Chamber very speedily that they would not refuse to contribute Assistance against the Turk who had not only made extraordinary Preparations but was also upon his March as he had certain Intelligence both by Messengers and Letters He had received an Account of all that pass'd in the Diet from Naves who went unto him And at the same time he appointed a Diet of the Empire to meet at Spire the last Day of November From Genoa he went to an Interview of the Pope at Busseto a Town upon the River Tava betwixt Piacenza and Cremona There again he demands of him as he had done before by Letters That he would declare the French King an Enemy but he made Answer That that would not be expedient for the publick State of Christendom and persisted therein The Pope had lately bestowed upon his Son Petro Aloisio Parma and Piacenza which upon an Exchange he had obtained from the College of Cardinals And because those Two Cities had formerly belonged to the Dukes of Milan he desired of the Emperor
intervals though he did not see them that they should presently fly for their lives And at the same instant two of those who had betaken themselves to Mus come and having got notice of the Enemies approach advise the Minister of the Church and the rest of those few Guards that as we said were left with the Women to be gone having shewed them a steep way through the Wood by which they might escape all danger in their flight Hardly were these gone when the raging Soldiers came in shouting and making a heavy noise and with drawn Swords preparing for the butchâ—ry However at that time they forbear to kill but having committed many insolencies and robbed the poor things of all their Money and Provisions they carry them away Prisoners They had purposed to have used them more basely but a Captain of Horse prevented it who by chance coming in threatned them and commanded them to march streight to Meinier so that they proceeded no farther but leaving the Women there who were about five hundred in number they carry off the Cattel and Booty In the mean time Meinier came to Merindole and finding it forsaken by the Inhabitants â—he plunders and sets it on fire which was ushered in by a very cruel action for having found there one single Youth he commands him to be tied to an Olive-tree and there shot to death He marches next to Cabriere and begins to batter the Town but by the mediation of Captain Poulain he perswades the Towns people upon promise of indempnity to open the Gates which being done and the Soldiers let in after a little pause all were put to the Sword without respect to Age or Sex. Many fled to the Church others to other places and some into the Wine-Cellar of the Castle but being halled out into a Meadow and stript naked they were all put to the Sword not only the Men but also the Women and many of these with Child too Meinier also shuts up about forty Women in a Barn full of Hay and Straw and then sets it on fire and after that the poor creatures having attempted but in vain to smother the fire with their Cloaths which for that end they had pull'd off betook themselves to the great Window at which the Hay is commonly pitched up into the Barn with a purpose to leap down from thence they were kept in with Pikes and Spears so that all of them perished in the flames and this happened the twentieth of April Meinier after this sends part of his Forces to besiege the Town of Coste but when they were just upon their march those were found who as we said a little before had fled into the Wine-Cellar of the Castle a noise being thereupon raised as if there had been some ambush laid the Soldiers are recalled who put every Man of them to the Sword. The number of the slain as well in the Town as abroad in the Fields amounted to Eight hundred The young Infants which survived the fury were for the most part rebaptized by the Enemy Affairs thus dispatched at Cabriere the Forces are sent to Coste The Lord of that Town had transacted before-hand with the Inhabitants that they should carry their Arms into the Castle and in four places make breaches in their Walls which if they did he promises them that he would use his interest which he knew could easily prevail with Meinier that they should receive no damage Being over-perswaded they obey and he departs with a purpose seemingly to treat and intercede for them but he was not gone far before the Soldiers met him who nevertheless proceeded in their march and attacked the place At first onset they did but little but next day they more briskly renew the assault and having burnt all the Suburbs about they easily become Masters of the place and the rather that the Night before most had deserted the Town and fled having got down over the Walls by Ropes After the victorious had put all that stood in their way to Fire and Sword they run into a Garden adjoyning the Castle and there satiate their Lust upon the Women and young Girls promiscuously who in great fear and consternation had fled thither and for a Day and Night's time that they kept them shut up there so inhumanly and barbarously they used them that the big belly'd Women and younger Girls shortly after died of it In the mean time the Merindolanes and many others who wandered with them over the Woods and Rocks being taken were either sent to the Galleys or put to death and many also were starved Not far also from the Town of Mus we mentioned before some five and twenty Men had got into a Cave and kept lurking there but being betrayed all of them were either smothered with smoak or burnt so that no kind of cruelty was omitted Some however that had escaped this butchery got to Geneva and the places thereabouts Now when the News of this was brought into Germany many were highly offended thereat and the Swizers who are not of the Popish Religion interceded with the French King that he would be merciful to those who had fled their Countrey But the King made them answer that he had just cause for what he had done and that what he did within his own Territories and how he punished the guilty concerned them no more to know than it did him what was done amongst them The Year before the Waldenses had sent the King a Confession of their Faith in Writing thereby to clear their innocence And the Heads of their Doctrine are Of God the Father Creator of all things Of the Son the Mediator and Advocate for Mankind Of the Holy Ghost the Comforter and Teacher of Truth Of the Church which they say is the Congregation of all the Elect and has Jesus Christ for the Head. Of the Ministers of the Church who they say are to be turned out if they perform not their Duty Of the Magistrate whom they confess to be God's Minister for protecting the Good and punishing the Bad that not only Honour but also Tribute and Custom is due to them according to the example of Christ who himself payed Custom Of Baptism which they say is an external and invisible Sign which represents to us both the renewing of the Spirit and the mortification of the Members Of the Lord's Supper which they say is a giving of thanks and commemoration of the benefits received by Christ. Of Matrimony which being a holy thing and instituted by God they think ought not to be denyed to any Of Good Works which they teach are to be done and practised as the Holy Scriptures declare Of false Doctrines which because they lead us away from the true Worship they say ought to be avoided In short they alledge the Old and New Testament for the Rule of their Faith and profess to believe all that is contained in the
the Lawful Succession is transmitted without any interruption The Cardinal of Lorraine had design'd in the former Reign to make a Speech in the Name of the three Estates which was then not opposed but now the Commons would not suffer it because contrary to the Ancient Usage And for that they had some things to object against the Cardinal himself Jean l' Ange an Advocate of the Parliament of Bourdeaux spoke for the Commons and remarked three great Faults in the Clergy Ignorance Covetousness and Excessive Luxury which had given Being to the new Errors and Scandal to the People That the Preaching of the Word of God which was the chief cause of the instituting Bishops was totally neglected and they thought it a shameful thing and beneath their Dignity And by their Example the Curates had learned to neglect their Duty too and had ordered the Mass to be sung by Illiterate and Unworthy Stipendaries That the excessive Pomp and Avarice of the Clergy who pretended by it to promote the Glory of God had raised an Envy and an hatred of them in the Minds of the People And therefore he desired that a Council might be assembled by the order of the King to remedy these Mischiefs After him James de Silty Comte de Roquefort made a Bold and an Elegant Oration in the Name of the Nobility and taxed the Clergy for invading the Rights and oppressing the People under Pretence of the Jurisdictions granted them by the Ancient Kings of France That therefore the King ought in the first place to take care to reform the Clergy and assign good Pensions to those that Preached the Word of God as had been done by many of his Ancestors which he named Jean Quintin le Bourguinon made a long tedious Speech in the behalf of the Clergy to shew I. That the Assembly of the three Estates were instituted for the providing for the Sacred Discipline II. That the King might understand the Complaints of his People and provide for the Necessities of his Kingdom by their Advice and not for the Reformation of the Church Which could not Err and which neither hath nor ever shall have the least Spot or Wrinkle but shall ever be Beautiful But then he ingenuously confest That the Sacred Discipline was very much declined from its Ancient Simplicity That therefore the Revivers of the the Ancient Heresies were not to be heard and all that had Meetings separate from the Catholicks were to be esteemed Favourers of Sectaries and to be punished Therefore he desired the King to compel all his Subjects within his Dominions to Live and Believe according to the Form prescribed by the Church That the Insolence of the Sectaries was no longer to be endured who despising the Authority of the Ancients and the Doctrine received by the Church would be thought alone to understand and imbrace the Gospel That this was the next step to a Rebellion and that they would shortly shake off the Yoak of the Civil Magistrate and with the same Boldness fight against their Prince that they now imployed against the Church if Care were not speedily taken He desired that all Commerce between them and the Catholicks might be forbidden and that they might be treated like Enemies and that those who were gone out of the Kingdom on the account of Religion might be banished That it was the King's Duty to draw the Civil Sword and put all those to Death who were infected with Heresie to defend the Clergy and restore the Elections of Bishops to the Chapters the want of which had caused great Damages to the Church That it had been observed That the very Year the Pope granted the King the Nomination of Bishops this Schism began and has ever since spread it self for in the 1517 Luther Zuinglius and Oecolampadius set up and Calvin followed them This Speech incensed the whole Assembly against him and especially the Protestants who published so many Libels and Satyrs against him that he soon after died of Shame and Grief He was no ill Man but was a better Decretalist than a Divine and had never well thought whether a Reformation were needfull or no But then it ought also to have been considered that he did not speak his own Single judgment but had his matter prescribed him by the Clergy for whom he spoke After some days the King Signified to the Bishops that they should prepare themselves for the Council which was now recall'd at Trent and the Judges and Prefects were commanded to discharge all that were Imprison'd for Religion only and leave all that were suspected the free injoyment of their Estates and Goods And it was made Capital to reproach or injure one the other on the Account of Religion After which the Assemly was Prorogued to the Month of May of the next Year There was in Piedmont a Valley called by the Name of Perosia and St. Martin Inhabited by about 15000 Souls whose Ancestors about 400 Years since had upon the Preaching of Waldus Speronus and Arnaldus made a defection from the Church of Rome and had at times been severely treated for it by the French under whom they had been but by the last Treaty were assigned to the Duke of Savoy This People about the Year 1555 had imbraced the Reformation and had suffered it to be publickly preached tho it was forbidden by the Council at Turin which the Year following sent one of its own Members to inquire after the Offenders and to punish them to whom the Inhabitants of this Valley delivered the Confesson of their Faith Declaring that they profess'd the Doctrin contained in the Old and New Testament and comprehended in the Apostles Creed and admitted the Sacraments Instituted by Christ the IV first Councils viz. those of Nice Constantinople Ephesus and Chalcedon and the Ten Commandments c. That they believed the Supreme civil Magistrates were Instituted by God and they were to be obeyed and that who soever resisted them fought against God. They said they had received this Doctrin from their Ancestors and that if they were in any error they were ready to receive instruction from the Word of God and would presently renounce any heretical or erroneous Doctrin which should be so shewen to them Thereupon a Solemn Dispute was in shew appointed concerning the Sacrifice of the Mass Auricular Confession Tradition Prayers and Oblations for the Dead and the Ceremonies of the Church and her Censures all which were rejected by them they alledging that they were humane Inventions and contrary to the Word of God. This Confession was sent by the Duke of Savoy to the King of France who about a year after return'd Answer That he had caused it to be Examin'd by his learned Divines who had all condemn'd it as Erroneous and contrary to true Religion and therefore the King commanded them to reject this Confession and to Submit to the Holy Church of Rome and if they did not do so their
he mentioned was a Parisian Divine of great Reputation who wrote several things he was present at the Council of Constance and wrote much in Praise of that Decree which subjects the Pope to a Council saying That it deserved to be hung up in all Churches and publick Places for perpetual Memory for that they were most pernicious Flatterers who introduced that Tyranny into the Church as if the Pope ought not to obey a Council nor be judged by it as if a Council received all its Authority and Dignity from him as if it could not be called without his Permission and as if he were not obliged by any Laws nor to be called to an account for his Doings that these monstrous Words were utterly to be avoided which were repugnant to the Laws common Equity and natural Reason for that all the Power of the Church was in a Council that it was lawful to Appeal from him to it and that they who asked Whether the Pope or a Council was the greater did just as if they should demand Whether the whole were greater than a part since a Council had Power of Making Judging and Deposing the Pope and had given a late Instance of it at Constance for seeing some seemed to doubt of that and attributed a little too much to the Pope that Question had been decided before Pope John XXIII was degraded These things and much more to the same purpose Gerson writes and was therefore now rejected by Cajetane He dyed in the Year 1429. But the Doctors of the University of Paris were of the same Opinion confining that vast Usurpation of the Popes within these very Limits so that some Months before Luther published any thing of Indulgences they appealed from Pope Leo X to a Council because of his abrogating the Pragmatick Sanction which was very useful to the Students and Scholars of France and opened a way also to Honour and Preferment After Luther was gone Cardinal Cajetane wrote to Duke Frederick October 25 That Luther had come to Ausburg but had not spoken with him 'till he had obtained a Safe Conduct from the Emperour and that he wondred very much That they put so little Confidence in him that after much Discourse he had admonished the Man To come over and retract and that though he had been somewhat obstinate yet he had come to Terms of Reconciliation with Stupitz and some others so that both the Dignity of the Roman Church and his own Reputation were saved But that when there had been a good Foundation of the Matter laid Stupitz first and then Luther had departed privately which happened quite contrary to his Expectation That he pretended indeed as if all he had done was only for Disputation sake and to discover the Truth but that in his Sermons to the People he positively asserted all which was not to be suffered since his Doctrin was both different from that of the Church of Rome and very pernicious also as might be affirmed for a certain Truth He therefore advises him That he would consult his own Honour and Conscience and either send Luther to Rome or banish him his Country that such a Pestilent Business could not long subsist nor was it to be doubted but a Sentence would pass at Rome and that he himself as in Duty bound had acquainted the Pope with the whole Matter and the crafty Trick that had been plaid him That he prayed him not to give credit to those who seemed to favour Luther's Writings and that he would not cast such a Blemish and Stain upon his most Noble Family as he had often promised he would not Duke Frederick on the eighth of December answered this Letter which was delivered unto him November 19. to the Effect following That he had promised to take Care That Luther should come to Ausburg which being fulfilled he could do no more That he on the other Hand had past his Word That he would in a friendly manner dismiss Luther but that in the mean Time he would have had him to retract without hearing his Arguments and Plea or he having been fairly tryed seemed very strange unto him for that there were a great many Learned and Good men not only within his Territories but in other Places also who were far from condemning his Opinion And that they who withstood him were moved to it through Covetousness and Malice because he had spoiled their Trade and lessened their Profits That if it had been plainly made appear that he had erred he had so great regard to the Glory of God and the Peace of his own Conscience as of his own accord he would have long ago discharged the Duty of a Christian Magistrate That what he told him then of continuing the Process against Luther at Rome was a thing he did not so much as dream of and that what he also demanded of him that he should either make him appear at Rome or banish him his Country he could not do it First because his Errour was not as yet demonstrated and then because it would be a great loss to the University of Wittemberg founded by himself which being famous for many Learned and Studious Men had a great esteem for Luther for his Merits and the good Services he hath done there That he had sent him his Letter to read and that he had protested as he had often done before That he was ready to maintain his Opinion by Disputation in any unsuspected Place and hearken to the Judgments of others who could better inform him or else to answer in Writing That indeed it seemed Reasonable That he should be allowed to do so which he also desired might be done that it might at length appear both why he was to be accounted an Heretick and also what he himself was to follow for as he could not wittingly and willingly approve any Errour or withdraw himself from the Obedience of the Church of Rome so neither would he condemn Luther before his Errour and Crime were detected Duke Frederick had sent Luther Cajetane's Letter as we said just now Luther therefore presently made Answer to the Prince That he had been advised by his Friends not to appear before the Legate till he had obtained a Safe Conduct from the Emperour that he would have had him retract what he had written concerning Indulgences and of the Necessity of Faith in going to the Sacraments That for the former indeed he was not much concerned but that he should deny the other he could not do it he said Since the Stress of our Salvation rested upon it That the Texts of Scripture were depraved and wrested by the Papists He also gave a Relation of every Days Proceedings and how Cardinal Cajetane at length fell to Threatnings That in Reality he desired nothing more than to be convinced wherein he had erred that he would willingly submit to better Information That if they would not be at so much Pains for so mean and
to these joyned themselves the Embassadors of Maximilian the Emperor and of Lewis XII King of France who were also embarqued in the same Design The time when this Council was called was the Nineteenth of May in the Year of our Lord 1511 that so the first Session might begin on the First of September next ensuing The Cause they alledg'd to justifie this their Proceeding was That the Pope had broken his Oath for that although so many years of his Pontificate were already elapsed yet he had not given them any the least hopes of his having any Inclination to call a Council and that because they had very great and heinous Crimes to lay to his charge they could not any longer neglect the care of the Church which was a Duty imcumbent on them as Members of the sacred College Their intent really was to depose him from the Popedom which he had obtained by Bribery and other such honest arts and means as all Persons make use of who aspire to the Infallible Chair And because they could no way safely convey this their Remonstrance to him they caused it to be publickly affixed at Regio Modena and Parma which were all three Towns belonging to St. Peter's Patrimony and they added a Citation to him to appear Personally at a certain day therein mentioned Julius having received Information of all this returned this Answer on the Eighteenth of July That before he came to be Pope he longed for nothing more than the calling a general Council as was very well known to several Kings and to the whole College of Cardinals and that purely upon this account he lost the Favour of Alexander VI. That he continued still of the same mind but that the state of Italy had been so unsetled for several years last past and was left so by his Predecessor Alexander That it was altogether impossible to have formed a Council while things continued in that distracted condition After this he shews them that their Summons was void in it self by reason of the shortness of the time limited in it and the inconveniency of the place for that Pisa had suffered so much in the late Wars that it was now nothing almost but an heap of Ruins and that the Country round about it was all wasted and desolate nor could there be any safe passage thither because of the daily Hostilities committed between the Florentines and those of Senese To this he adds in the last place That they had no legal Power of issuing out any such Summons and that the Reasons given by them for so doing were altogether false and groundless Therefore under pain of the severest Censures he forbids all Persons to yield any Obedience to them At the same time he by a Bull subscribed by One and twenty Cardinals called a Council to meet the next year which should commence on the Nineteenth of April and be held in the Lateran Church in Rome For this they say has always been one of the Papal Artifices that whensoever upon any Pretext they took occasion for some secret motives to decline the holding of a Council though called by never so lawful an Authority at the same time to Summon another to meet in such a place in which they could with the greatest ease influence all the Proceedings in it After this he admonishes the Confederate Cardinals to desist in time and return to Rome and accept of the Pardon now offer'd them But they continuing still refractory on the Twenty fourth of October he Excommunicates them all and those three that we mentioned before in particular by name as Hereticks Schismaticks and Traytors to the Apostolick See and sends Copies of this Bull to Maximilian the Emperor and several other Princes And because there were divers Bishops of France who adhered firmly to the Cardinals interests he Excommunicates them also unless they return to their Duty and make their Purgation within a prefixed time On the other side the Cardinals having several times in vain cited the Pope to come and appear before them there in Council by a Decree made in the Eighth Session suspended him from all Civil and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and commanded all Christians for the future to renounce his Authority and acknowledge him no longer for St. Peter's Successor This was in the Year of our Lord 1512 on the Twenty first of April But you must take notice that although the Council were removed from Pisa to Milan yet it still kept its old Name and was called the Pisane Council At this time there was a very famous Civilian at Pavia whose Name was Philip Decius he having espoused the Cardinals Cause published a Book in Defence of their Proceedings against the Pope A little after this Maximilian strikes up a League with Julius and Ferdinand King of Spain and so leaves the Cardinals in the Church to shift for themselves and sends Matthew Langus Bishop of Gurk to Rome to sit as his Proxy in the Council that was holden there and him Julius immediately promoted to the Dignity of the Purple But Lewis II King of France who was truer to his Engagements and had lately routed the Popes Forces near Ravenna could not escape the thunders of the Vatican his Subjects were absolved from their Allegiance his Kingdom put under an Interdict and an Invasion of it was now no less than meritorious But after the end of the Fifth Session on the Twenty first of February in the Year of our Lord 1513 Pope Julius dies and Leo X is chosen by the Conclave to succeed him He immediately after his Inaguration proceeds to compleat what his Predecessor had begun and because the state of Affairs in Europe was now a little more calm than at any time during the former Pontificate a great many Kings and Princes sent their Embassadors to Rome to assist at this Lateran Council The Cardinals also whom Julius had Excommunicated having since his Death nothing to give any colour to their continuing in their Obstinacy made their humble Submission and Suit to be indemnified for what was past and being received into Favour by Leo were restored to their former Dignities and Preferments as Leo himself declares in an Epistle wrote by him to Maximilian The Council broke up on the Twelfth of March in the Year of our Lord 1516 there having been seven Sessions since the Death of Julius for there were but twelve in all the whole four years that this Council lasted from its first Convention to its Dissolution The chief Transactions in it were these The Praises of Julius and Leo were the Subjects of those luscious Panegyricks with which the Auditory were almost daily entertained There were some Motions made in order to the engaging in a War against the Turks and concerning the Reformation of the Church And also there was a Debate about the Immortality of the Soul which began to admit of a Dispute now in
the Disciples of Mahomet and who with his prophane and poysonous breath thought at once to blast and overturn the whole Disciplin of the Church who bewails the Punishments inflicted on Hereticks and in short who strove to turn all things topsie-turvie and is arrived at that degree of pride and madness as to despise the Authority both of Popes and Councils and has the confidence to prefer before them all his own single Judgment That he therefore had shewed himself a true Son of the Church in that he had nothing to do with that pernicious Rascal nor embraced any of his erroneous Opinions but in all things imitated the Vertues of his Fore-fathers That this made so many grave and understanding Men outvie each other in his Commendations And that he could not but think himself bound to return his most hearty Thanks to God who had bestowed on him so many rich endowments of Mind He says he had long borne with Luther's Sauciness and Temerity hoping he would in time grow ashamed of his Folly but now when he saw him deaf to all his Admonitions and that he was only hardned by the gentleness which he used towards him he was forc'd at last as in a desperate Disease to have recourse to a desperate Remedy to prevent if possible the farther spreading of the Contagion That having summoned therefor the Conclave and had the Advice of several learned Men in the matter after much serious deliberation he had signed the Decree being guided by that holy Spirit whose aids can never be wanting to an Infallible Church In it were recited some of his Tenets which were picked from among a great many more part of which were downright Heretical others directly contrary to the Precepts of the Gospel and some were destructive of Morality and even common Honesty it self and were such as by degrees would debauch Men into all manner of Wickedness That he had sent him a Copy of this Bull to let him see what monstrous Errors that Agent of Hell did maintain But now his Request to him was That he would admonish him not to persist in his Pride and Obstinacy but publickly and solemnly to recant all his former Writings which if he refused to do within a prefixed day then to take care to have him seized and committed to Prison by this means he would wipe off the Reproach of his own House and of Germany too and get himself immortal Honour by putting a timely stop to that flame which would else not have ended but in the ruin of his Country and it would be a Service also very acceptable even to God himself The Bull it self was very long and was published on the Fifteenth of June the substance of it was this After a Quotation of some Texts of Scripture which were applied to his present purpose his Holiness Pope Leo having called upon Christ St. Peter and St. Paul and the rest of that glorified Society to avert those dangers which at this time threatned the Church complains that there was now started up a Doctrin which not only revived all those Opinions which had been formerly condemned as Heretical but also contained in it several new Errours never before broached in the World and such as would justle out all sense of God and Religion That he was troubled that this Heresie should have its rise in Germany a Country always very Loyal to the Church of Rome and which to uphold the Dignity of that See had fought even to the last drop of Blood and never refused to undertake any the most difficult Enterprizes That it was yet fresh in memory with what Heroick Spirits and with what Zeal they maintained the Catholick Cause against the Bohemians and the Followers of Husse That some of their Universities had lately given Instances of a Vertue and Courage equal to what inspired the first Planters of Christianity But because he was Christ's Vicar here on Earth and the Care of the Universal Church was committed to him he could no longer neglect the discharge of his Duty After this he repeats Luther's Tenets which he says were repugnant to that Christian Love and Reverence which all Men owe to the Church of Rome That he had therefore summoned together the whole College of Cardinals and several other learned Men who after a long Debate all declared That these Points ought to be rejected as derogating from the Authority of Councils Fathers and even the Church it self Therefore with their advice and consent he condemns this whole summ of Doctrins and by virtue of his Supremacy commands all Persons under the severest Penalties to yield Obedience to this his Decree by renouncing those Opinions which are censured in it and he enjoyns all Magistrates especially those of Germany to use their endeavours to hinder the farther progress and growth of this Heresie He orders also Luther's Books to be every where brought forth and burnt Then he relates how Lovingly and Fatherly he had dealt with him in hopes to reclaim his by those gentle methods how he had admonish'd him by his Legates and cited him to come and make his Purgation at Rome not only granting him a safe Conduct but promising to furnish him with all Necessaries for his Journey but that he slighting this Summons had appealed from him to a General Council contrary to the Decrees of Pope Pius and Julius II by which it is enacted That whosoever shall make any such Appeal shall from that time be adjudged an Heretick and be obnoxious to the same Punishments That therefore it was in his power to have prosecuted him at first with the utmost rigour of the Law but that out of meer pity he had forborn so long if perhaps as the Prodigal Son his Calamities might bring him to a sense of his Errours and he would at last be willing to return into the bosom of the Chuâ—ch That he had still the same tender Affections towards him and that he most passionately intreated him and all his Followers that they would cease to disturb the Peace of Christendom and if they yield to this his request he promises to shew them all the kindness imaginable In the mean time he forbids Luther to Preach and prefixes Threescore days within which time he should amend burn his own Books and publickly Recant If he did not he condemns him as an Heretick and orders him to be punish'd according to Law he Excommunicates him and commands all Persons to avoid his Company under the like Penalty ordering this Decree to be read in all Churches upon certain days As to what he says of Pius and Julius the matter stands thus In the Year of our Lord 1359 Pius II on account of the War with the Turks holds a Council at Mantua and there among others makes a Decree That no Person should Appeal from the Pope to a Council because he said there could be no Power on Earth Superior to that of Christ's Vicar Therefore he
sufficiently weiged the greatness of the Matter and the troubles that this Doctrin hath occasion'd Nay truly I am exceedingly rejoyced to see that the Doctrin I profess hath given occasion to these Troubles and Offences for Christ himself tells us That it is the property of the Gospel to raise grievous Strife and Contentions where-ever it is taught and that among those very Persons too who are most closely linked together by the Bonds of Nature and Blood. It ought seriously then to be consider'd and maturely thought on most Noble Patriots what is fit to be decreed and care had lest by condemning the Doctrin which by the Blessing of God is now offered unto you you yourselves be the cause of the greatest Calamities to Germany Regard should likewise be had that the Government which the young Emperour who here presides hath lately taken upon him be not reckoned inauspicious and fatal by Posterity through any bad Act or Precedent that may entail its Inconveniences upon them For it may be proved by many places of Scripture that Governments have then been in greatest danger when the Affairs of the Publick were managed only by Human Prudence and mere Secular Councils Nevertheless I design not by what I say most Illustrious and Prudent Princes to prescribe or point out to you what you are to do but only to declare the Duty which I shall always be ready to perform to Germany our native Country which ought to be dearer unto us than our very Lives After all I most earnestly beseech you to take me into your Protection and to defend me against the Violence of mine Enemies When he had made an end of Speaking Eckius looking upon him with a stern Countenance You answer not to the Purpose said he nor is it your part to call again into question or doubt of what hath been heretofore determined by the Authority of Councils It is a plain and easie Answer that is demanded of you Do you approve and will you defend your Writings To which Luther made answer Since it is your Command said he most mighty Emperour and most Illustrious Princes that I should give a plain Answer I 'le obey and this therefore is my Answer That unless I be convinced by Testimonies of Holy Scripture and evident Reason I cannot retract any thing of what I have written or taught for I will never do that which may wound my own Conscience neither do I believe the Pope of Rome and Councils alone nor admit of their Authority for they have often erred and contradicted one another and may still err and be deceived The Princes having considered this Answer Eckius again told him You answer said he Luther somewhat more irreverently than becomes you and not sufficiently to the purpose neither when you make a distinction among your Books But if you would retract those which contain a great part of your Errours the Emperour would not suffer any Injury to be done to such others as are Orthodox and right You despise the Decrees of the Council of Constance where many Germans famous both for Learning and Virtue were present and revive Errours that were condemned therein requiring to be convinced by Holy Scripture you do not well and are very far out of the way for what the Church hath once condemned is not to be brought under Dispute again nor must every private Person be allowed to demand a Reason for every thing for should that once be granted that he who opposes and contradicts the Church and Councils must be convinced by Texts of Scripture there would never be any end of Controversies For that Reason therefore the Emperour expects to hear from you in plain Terms What you will do with your Books I beseech you said Luther that by your leave I may preserve a Sound and upright Conscience I have answered plainly and have nothing else to say for unless my Adversaries convince me of my Errour by true Arguments taken from Scripture it is impossible I can be quiet in mind Nay I can demonstrate that they have erred very often and grosly too and for me to recede from the Scripture which is both clear and cannot err would be an Act of greatest Impiety Eckius muttered something to the contrary That it could not be proved that ever a General Council had erred But Luther declared That he could and would prove it and so the matter concluded at that time Next Day the Emperour wrote to the Princes assembled in Council That his Predecessors had professed the Christian Religion and always obeyed the Church of Rome So that since Luther opposed the same and persisted obstinately in his Opinion his Duty required that following the Steps of his Ancestors he should both defend the Christian Religion and also succour the Church of Rome That therefore he would put Luther and his Adherents to the Ban of the Empire and make use of other proper Remedies for the extinguishing that Fire However that he would make good the Safe-Conduct he had granted him and that he might return Home with Safety This Letter of the Emperours was long and much debated in the Assembly of the Princes and some there were as it was reported who following the Decree and Pattern of the Council of Constance thought that the Publick Faith was not to be observed to him But Lewis the Elector Palatine and others also were said to have vigourously withstood that Resolution affirming That such a thing would lye as an eternal Stain and Disgrace upon Germany Wherefore most were of Opinion that not only the Publick Faith and Promise should be kept to him but also that he should not be rashly condemned because it was a Matter of great moment whatever should be decreed by the Emperour whom at that Age they perceived to be incited and exasperated against Luther by the Agents and Ministers of Rome Some Days after the Bishop of Treves appointed Luther to come to him the 24 of April There were present at that Congress Joachim Elector of Brandenburg George Duke of Saxony the Bishop of Ausburg and some other great Men And when Luther came conducted by the Emperour's Herald and was introduced by the Bishop's Chaplain Vey a Lawer of Baden spake to him to this Purpose These noble Princes have sent for you Martin Luther said he not to enter into any Dispute but to treat friendly with you and to admonish you privately of those Things which seem chiefly to concern your self for they have obtained leave from the Emperour to do so And in the first place as to Councils it is possible that at some Times they have decreed things different but never contrary and granting they had err'd yet their Authority is not therefore so fallen that it should be lawful for every Private Man to trample upon it Your Books if Care be not taken will be the cause of great Troubles and many interpret that which you have published of
Christian Liberty according to their own Inclinations and Affections that with greater licentiousness they may do what they please This Age is far more Corrupt than former Ages have been and therefore requires that Men should act more circumspectly also There are some of your Works that cannot be condemned but it is to be feared That the Devil hath set you upon it in the mean time to publish others inconsistent with Religion and Piety that so all your Books might be promiscuously condemned together For those which you have published last are a sufficient Proof that the Tree is to be known by the Fruit and not by the Blossom You are not ignorant how carefully the Scripture warns us to beware of the Devil by Day and of the Arrow that flyeth by Night that Enemy of Mankind ceaseth not to lay Snares for us and under a fair Pretext many times entraps us and misleads us into Error You ought to think therefore both of your own Salvation and other Mens too and consider if it be fitting that those whom Christ by his own Death hath redeemed from everlasting Death should by your Fault Books and Sermons be seduced from the Church and so perish again from the Church I say whose Dignity all Men ought reverently to acknowledge For in Human Affairs there is nothing better than the Observation of the Laws and as no State nor Government can subsist without Laws so also unless we religiously maintain the most Holy Decrees of our Fore-fathers nothing will be more troublesome than the State of the Church which of all others ought to be the most calm and setled These Noble and Virtuous Princes here present out of the singular Love and Affection they bear to the Publick and particularly also for your own well-fare have thought fit to admonish you of these things for without doubt if you obstinately persist in your Opinions and yield in nothing the Emperour as he hath plainly enough already intimated his Resolution will banish you the Empire and not suffer you to have any footing within the Bounds of Germany so that it concerns you seriously to reflect upon your own Condition To these things Luther made Answer For the Care and Concern ye have for me most Noble Princes I give you most hearty Thanks And indeed for such Illustrious Persons to vouchsafe to take this Pains and Trouble for so mean a Man as I is an Act of extraordinary Condescension But now as to Councils I am far from finding Fault with all yet cannot but blame that of Constance and have very just Cause so to do Huss defined the Church to be the Congregation of God's Elect and both this Doctrin and that saying of his That he believed the Holy Church were condemned by the Prelates of that Council who themselves deserved rather to have been condemned For what he said was Orthodox and Christian I will therefore suffer any thing yea sooner lose my Life than forsake the clear Rule of the Word of God for we must obey God rather than Men And as to the Scandal which is objected unto me I neither can nor ought to be accountable for it for there is a great Difference betwixt the Scandals of Charity and those of Faith the first consisting in Life and Manners which by all means are to be avoided whilst the other arising from the Word of God are not at all to be regarded for Truth and the Will of our Heavenly Father ought not to be dissembled though the whole World should be offended thereat The Scripture calleth Christ himself a Work of Offence and that equally belongs to all who preach the Gospel I know we ought to obey the Laws and Magistrates I have always taught the People so and my Writings bear witness how much I ascribe to the Dignity of the Laws But again as to Ecclesiastical Decrees the Reason is quite different for if the Word of God were purely taught if the Bishops and Pastors of the Church discharged their Duty as Christ and his Apostles have enjoyned them there would be no need of laying that hard and intolerable Yoke of Human Laws upon the Minds and Consciences of Men I am not ignorant neither that the Scripture admonishes us not to trust our own Judgment which is a true saying and I shall be willing to comply with it and not to do any thing obstinately provided only I may have Leave to profess the Doctrin of the Gospel Having so said he was ordered to withdraw and after some Consultation Vey among other things began to exhort him to submit his Books to the Sentence of the Emperour and Princes Why not said he I will never seem to decline the Judgment of the Emperour and States of the Empire nor of no mans else provided they take for their Guide the Scripture and Word of God which speaketh so plainly for me that unless I be thereby convicted of Errour I cannot change my Opinion For S. Paul commandeth us Not to believe even an Angel coming from Heaven if he should preach another Doctrin Wherefore I humbly beg of you That you would intercede for me with the Emperour that I may be suffered to live with a good Conscience and if I can but obtain that I shall be ready to do any thing Then said the Elector of Brandenburg to him Is this your meaning then That you will not submit unless you be convinced by Holy Scripture It is Sir answered Luther or else by most evident Reasons Wherefore when the Council was broke up the Archbishop of Treves called him to him and in presence of some of his Domesticks made Eckius the Lawyer again admonish him but he having pleaded much for the Roman Papacy could gain no ground upon him and so no more was done at that Time. The next day after the Elector of Treves plyed him again urging him to submit without Condition to the Judgment of the Emperour and Princes but that was in vain In the Afternoon again some who were sent for to the Lodgings of the Elector of Treves put it to him That he would submit at least to the next General Council To this he agreed provided the Controversie should be managed according to the Rule of Holy Scripture Afterwards the Eelctor of Treves had a Conference with him in private all the Company being removed and asked his Judgment How that grievous and dangerous Evil could be remedied The best Counsel that could be given said he was that which Gamaliel gave the Scribes and Pharisees Not to fight against God. In fine when the Bishop could not prevail he courteously dismissed him promising to take care That he should have a Safe-Conduct for returning Home Not long after Eckius the Lawyer came to him by Order of the Bishop and told him Since said he you have rejected the Admonitions of the Emperour and Princes the Emperour will henceforth do what he ought in Duty And now he commands you immediately to
out weighed all other Reasons whatsoever so that so soon as he came to know it he had returned without farther Deliberation for that nothing was so dear unto him as the Salvation of his People But that if the thing could have been done by Letters he could easily have dispenced with his absence from Wittemberg That lastly he was very apprehensive of and did in a manner foresee a dreadful Tempest like to fall upon Germany which so securely slighted the present Mercy of God That many indeed did very zealously embrace the true Religion but exceedingly disgraced it by their Lives and Manners turning that liberty which ought to be of the Spirit into a licentiousness of doing whatever they pleased That others again made it their whole study and endeavours by any means to suppress the sound Doctrin and these together tended directly to the stirring up of Seditions That the Tyranny of the Churchmen was now weakned which was all that he proposed to himself at first but that since the Magistrate despised so great a gift of God his Divine Majesty would punish that ingratitude and contempt of his Word and by sending one Judgment upon the heels of another utterly destroy all as he had done Jerusalem of old That now it was his duty and the duty of all others whom God had any ways enabled to use their utmost diligence in Teaching and Exhorting and that though perhaps they might take all that pains in vain nay and be laugh'd at too by many yet they ought not therefore to desist because their labour was pleasing to God. That in short whatever the Decree of the Diet of Norimberg might prove to be they would set no limits to the Counsel and Will of God That he had besides other causes for his return which were of less moment But that as to this which he had alledged the asserting and vindicating of the Gospel it was of so great weight and consequence as to make him contemn all human counsel and to look up only to God That therefore he prayed his Highness not to be offended that he was come back again without his Call or Command That he as their Prince had Power over the Bodies and Fortunes of his People but that Christ bore Rule over their Souls and that since the Care of these was committed to him from above and that it was Christ's work wholly he supposed his Highness could incur no danger upon the account of his return Now as to the Troubles which he said were raised in his Church in his absence the matter was this While Luther was out of the way Andrew Carolostadius who hath been mentioned before preached a different Doctrin and stirred up the People in a tumultuary manner to cast the Images out of the Churches This being the chief cause why Luther was recalled by his Friends So soon as he came back he condemned that Action of Carolostadius shewing that that was not the way they ought to have proceeded in but that Images were first to have been removed out of the mind and the People taught that by Faith alone we pleased God and that Images availed nothing That if they had been in this manner removed and the Minds of People rightly informed there would have been no more danger of any hurt from them and they would have fallen of themselves That he was not indeed against the removing of Images but that it ought to have been done by the Authority of the Magistrate and not by the Rabble and promiscuous Multitude At this time there sprang up a secret Sect of some People that talked of Conferences they had with God who had commanded them to destroy all the Wicked and to begin a new World wherein the Godly and Innocent only should live and have Dominion These clandestinly spread their Doctrins in that part of Saxony chiefly which lyes upon the River Saal and as Luther affirms Carolostadius also favoured their Opinion but when borne down by the Authority of Luther he could not bring to pass what he intended at Wittemberg he forsook his Station and went over to them Thomas Muncer was one of this Herd who afterwards raised a Popular Insurrection against the Magistrate in Thuringe and Franconia of which in its proper place Luther being now informed that in the publick Assemblies of the Bohemians there were some who urged the Re-establishment of the Authority of the Pope and Church of Rome without which there could be no end of Controversies and Debates wrote unto them in the latter end of July to this Effect That the Name of Bohemians had been some time very odious unto him so long as he had been ignorant that the Pope was Antichrist But that now since God had restored the Light of the Gospel to the World he was of a far different Opinion and had declared as much in his Books so that at present the Pope and his Party were more incensed against him than against them That his Adversaries had many times given it out That he had removed into Bohemia which he oftentimes wishes to have done but that lest they should have aspersed his Progress and called it a Flight he had altered his Resolution That as matters stood now there was great Hopes That the Germans and Bohemians might Profess the Doctrin of the Gospel and the same Religion That it was not without Reason that many were grieved to see them so divided into Sects among themselves But that if they should again make Defection to Popery Sects would not only not be removed but even be increased and more diffused for that Sects abounded no where more than among the Romanists and that the Franciscans alone were an Instance of this who in many things differed among themselves and yet all lived under the Patronage and Protection of the Church of Rome That his Kingdom was in some manner maintained and supported by the Dissentions of Men which was the Reason also that made him set Princes together by the Ears and afford continual Matter of Quarrelling and contention That therefore they should have special Care lest whilst they endeavour to crush those smaller Sects they fall not into far greater such as the Popish which were altogether incurable and from which Germany had been lately delivered That there was no better way of removing Inconveniences than for the Pastors of the Church to preach the pure Word of God in Sincerity That if they could not retain the weak and giddy People in their Duty and hinder their desertion they should at least endeavour to make them stedfast in receiving the Lord's Supper in both kinds and in preserving a Veneration for the Memory of John Huss and Jerome of Prague for that the Pope would labour chiefly to deprive them of these two Things wherefore if any of them should relent and give up both to the Tyrant it would be ill done of them But that though all Bohemia should Apostatize yet he would
celebrate and commend the Doctrin of Huss to all Posterity That therefore he prayed and exhorted them to persevere in that way which they had hitherto defended with the loss of much Blood and with highest Resolution and not cast a Reproach upon the flourishing Gospel by their Defection That although all things were not established among them as they ought to be yet God would not be wanting in time to raise up some Faithful Servant of his who would reform what was amiss provided they continued constant and utterly rejected the Uncleanness and Impiety of the Romish Papacy Now as to the Bohemians the case standeth thus after the death of John Huss whom we mentioned before the people were divided into three Sects the first of those who own the Pope of Rome to be Head of the Church and the Vicar of Christ The second those who receive the Sacrament in both kinds and in celebrating Mass read some things in the vulgar tongue but in all other matters differ not from the Papists The third are those who are called Picards or Beghardi these call the Pope of Rome and all his Party Antichrist and that Whore that is described in the Revelations They admit of nothing but the Bible they chuse their own Priests and Bishops deny no man marriage perform no Offices for the Dead and have but very few Holy Daies and Ceremonies Luther afterwards published a Book against the Order of Bishops falsly so called and in the Preface taking to himself the name of Minister or Preacher at Wittemberg he saith That it was no wonder to him nor indeed contrary to expectation if for that title he should be scoffed and laughed at by them from whom he had met with violence in far more weighty concerns That they had nothing but Tyranny and Oppression to stop his mouth with and that when he was ready to justifie his Doctrin by Argument and Reason they did but slight and reject him But that on the other hand when they themselves were put to it to prove the truth of their Doctrin they stopt their ears That it was a great shame and reproach that so many of them who besides many other splendid and magnificent Titles they bore professed themselves Masters of the whole Scripture being so often challenged by him alone durst not joyn issue and come to a fair tryal with him about the matter that therefore since they behaved themselves haughtily towards him he was resolved to yield to them in nothing and had taken to himself that name of Minister or Preacher as not doubting but that he might with far better conscience arrogate to himself that Title than they could the Name of Bishops That the Doctrin which he professed was not his but Christs so that they needed not to put any trust in violence or oppression thinking thereby to daunt him for that the more hatred and rage they vented against him the more resolutely was he resolv'd to proceed in spight of all their fury and madness That though they should even cut his Throat yet his Doctrin would prove immortal That Christ lived and reigned for ever who would in his own due time put a stop to their outragios and bloody Desings That by the Emperors Edict and the Bull of the Pope his name was lately taken from him and that charactar of the Great Beast wholly blotted out Which he was so far from taking ill that he heartily thanked God for delivering him out of the dark dungeon of so many filthy Errors and false Doctrins and enlightning him with the true Knowledge of his Word That since it was so then and that God had committed to him the Office of Preaching the Gospel it was but reasonable that he should take to himself a Title when false Teachers gloried so much in such gawdy Names That therefore he would not for the future submit his Writings to their Censure that he had condescended too much at Wormes But that now he was so certain of his Doctrin that he would not submit it to the Judgment no not of an Angel but by the Evidence thereof would judge not only himself and them all but even Angels also That they who rejected this Doctrin could not attain to Salvation nor Life Eternal because it proceeded not from Man but from the Eternal God That if it pleased God to bless him with longer Life he would use his utmost Diligence that the Gospel should be preached to all people That they indeed sought after their own Ease and Quietness and to lead an Idle and Voluptuous Life being mightily troubled at the Disturbance of the State but that he would make it his Business that they should not enjoy that Peace which they so earnestly coveted and that though he might be killed by them yet that would not ease them of Troubles and Disquiet and that what way soever they might deal with him yet God would never cease to prosecute them 'till he either utterly destroyed them or made them humbly to confess their Fault and beg pardon of the invincible Lord of Hosts That he heartily wished they might repent and submit to sound Counsel in time but if that could not be obtained he bad them everlasting Defiance and was resolved never to be reconciled with them That whereas some also made his freedom of Speech a Crime as if by libelling and scribling he designed to raise Stirs and Commotions they did him a great deal of Wrong since that he could make it out by several Texts of Scripture and many Instances that it was necessary to take this Course when the Governours of the Church were unlearned impious and obstinate and would neither do their Duty themselves nor suffer others to do it for them who were both able and willing to set about it Mention hath been made before of the Dyet of Norimberg Hither Lewis King of Hungary and the Peers of that Kingdom sent also Ambassadours who made sad Complaint of the Cruelty of the Turk and begged strong and lasting Aids against him Pope Adrian sent thither a Legate also but before he came into Germany October 5 one of the Popes Bed-Chamber-Men delivered a Brief from his Holiness to Duke Frederick wherein he tells him That it had been acceptable News to him to hear of the Dyet of Norimberg but that he had been overjoyed to understand that he was resolved to be there in Person for that there was great Hopes that some things might be enacted there that would tend to the Honour and Welfare both of Church and State That for that Reason also he had with the Advice and Consent of the College of Cardinals resolved to send a Legate into Germany but that whilst his Legate was preparing for his Journey he had thought fit to send before the Bearer whom he had charged to wait upon his Highness for whom he had always had a very great esteem and acquaint him with the Care and sincere Intentions he had
grievous and scandalous Crimes That they nevertheless who were satisfied with the Punishment enjoyned by the Canon Law were much to be recommended for that Moderation but that they who clapt up in Prison and in Chains Rack'd Tormented and put Priests to Death for contracting Marriage or forsaking their Order were greatly to be detested Wherefore he besought the Princes that seeing their Adversaries did not obey the Decree they had made but boldly and licentiously opposed it they would also pardon those who through frailty of Nature that they might not wound their own Consciences or run into manifest Sin should not exactly observe that last Clause of the same for that it was very unreasonable that their potent Adversaries should have liberty to violate those things which they ought and might most easily observe and that other poor Men should be punished for transgressing a Law which it was not in their power to observe since all had not the Gift of Continence and that Vows of Chastity were not only foolish but contrary also to good Manners and honest living Afterwards he published a Book at the desire of some about the Ordaining of Ministers and dedicated it to the Magistrates of Prague to which he annexed a Treatise wherein he proved that the Church had the Right and Power of judging all Doctrins and of appointing Ministers In the first place he defined the Church to be where-ever the purity of the Gospel was taught but that Bishops and such other Prelates were Images and Heads without Brains that none of them did their duty in any Nation or among any People and especially in Germany Not long after he wrote about avoiding the Doctrins of Men affirming nevertheless in the Preface to his Book that he did not at all justifie those who boldly despised all Human Laws and Traditions and in the mean time did nothing that belonged to the duty of a true Christian Afterwards he prescribed a Form how Mass and the Communion should be celebrated in the Church of Wittemberg saying That hitherto he had proceeded leisurely because of the infirmity of many and being satisfied only with Doctrin had made it his aim to root out Errours and pernicious Opinions of Mens minds But that now when many were confirmed it was time not to suffer ungodly Rites and Ceremonies any longer in the Church but that the purity of Doctrin should be accompanied with sincerity of Worship without Hypocrisie or Superstition To this Piece he subjoyned another Treatise concerning decent and pious Ceremonies to be observed in the Church and another of the Abomination of Private Mass which they call the Canon in the Preface to which he mentions how that in his Books and Sermons having often exhorted Men to the Abrogation of the Popish Mass he had been therefore called Seditious but that it was an injury done unto him for that he had never taught the People publickly to abolish false Worship by their own authority nor had he indeed allowed that to the Magistrate unless the Rulers of the Church should obstinately maintain Errours and because that was a horrid Profanation of the Lord's Supper as the more learned now acknowledged he had therefore been at the pains to write that Piece that the People might also understand and that they might avoid those usual Sacrifices of the Mass as they would the Devil himself and to confirm what he said he set down the whole Canon of the Mass and shewed it to be full of Blasphemies against God. Among the other learmed Men of Germany that favoured Luther Vlrick Hutton a Nobleman of Franconia was one who about the latter end of August this year died in the Territory of Zurich There are some Pieces of his extant which shew him to have been a Man of an excellent and sharp Wit. In the former Book we mentioned how Luther answered Henry King of England which when the King had read he wrote to the Princes of the House of Saxony Duke Frederick his Brother John and to his Cousin George and having made a heavy complaint of Luther he represented to them the great dangers that his Doctrin was like to bring upon them and all Germany and that they were not to be slighted and neglected for that the prodigious success of the Turks whose Cruelty spread now so far owed its Rise to one or two profligate Wretches and that the neighbouring Bohemia was a warning unto them how much it concerned them to prevent an Evil in the beginning He also admonished them not to suffer Luther to publish the New Testament in the Vulgar Tongue for that his Artifices were now so well known that there was no doubt to be made but that by a bad Translation he would corrupt and pervert the purest Orignals To that Letter Duke George wrote a very kind Answer bitterly inveighing against Luther also whose Books he said as the most pernicious of Enemies he had prohibited in all his Territories for that ever since he had allowed him to Dispute at Leipsick he well perceived what he would come to at last That it heartily grieved him also that he had writ so bitterly against his Majesty which Libel he had prohibited to be Sold or Read within his Dominion having punished the Bookseller who first brought the Copy of it into his Country In the former Diet of Norimberg besides Matters of Religion the Princes took also into deliberation how they might settle Peace and establish Judicatures what Punishments were to be inflicted on those who obeyed not the Laws of the Empire and how they might raise present and constant Aids against the Turk But as to these two last Points nothing could be concluded wherefore they were put off to another time and Diet And because some things were enacted in that Diet which the Cities of the Empire perceived would redound to their prejudice they all sent Embassadors upon that account to the Emperor in Spain These arriving at Valladolid August the Sixth and having Audience three days after the Emperor gave them a very Gracious and Princely Answer within a few days but withal told them That the Pope had complained to him by Letters of Strasburg Norimber and Ausburg as if they favoured the Doctrin of Luther That he expected better things of them but that however he could not pass it by in silence that they might have a care to obey his and the Pope's Edicts which he was consident they would do They justified themselves assuring his Majesty that their Cities were no ways wanting in readiness to fulfil his Will and Pleasure In the mean time September the Thirteenth Pope Adrian dies to whom succeeded Clement VII of the Family of Medices Of all the Switzers none but the People of Zurich followed the Doctrin of Zuinglius most of the other Cantons vexed and murmured at it And therefore in a Convention of States held for that purpose at Berne there were some who grievously accused Zuinglius and to
them during Life that no Man might have cause to complain That the Ornaments of Churches belonged not to the true Worship of God but that God was exceeding well pleased when the Necessities of the Poor were relieved That Christ commanded the Rich Young Man in the Gospel Not to hang up his Wealth in Churches for a shew but to sell all his Goods and give unto the Poor That they did not despise but highly esteemed the Order of Priesthood when Priests did their Duty and taught the People aright but for the rest of the Rabble that did no publick Good but rather Harm if by little and little they were diminished without giving Scandal and their Possessions converted to pious Uses they made no doubt but that it would be very acceptable Service to God That it was to be questioned Whether their Singing and Prayers were pleasing to God or not for that most of them understood not what they said and besides were hired to do it That what tacit and Auricular Confession which muttered over Sins was good for they would not undertake to determine but that they reckoned the other whereby true Penitents confessed their Sins to Christ their Mediator to be not only profitable but necessary also to Consciences troubled and born down under the Pressure of Sin That that usual way of Satisfaction which was very gainful to the Priests was both Erroneous and Impious that this was truly to Repent and make Satisfaction when men reformed their Lives That the Orders of Monks was a Human Invention and no Ordinance of Gods That they highly Reverenced and Honoured the Sacraments which had God for their Author and would not suffer any Man to despise them but that they were to be used according to the Word of God and Divine Institution and the Lord's Supper not so to be applyed as if it were an Oblation or Sacrifice That if the Clergy who lately sent Deputies to complain could prove that they had molested them or that they were guilty of any Errour they did not refuse to make them Satisfaction But if otherwise that it seemed reasonable to them that they should be enjoyned to do their Duty that 's to say Teach the Truth and to abstain from standering of others that they had been extreamly glad to hear from them that they were desirous to be delivered from the Rapine Extortions and immoderate Power of the Pope and his Dependents but that there was no better way of accomplishing that than to follow in all things the Word of God for that so long as their Laws and Decrees should be in force there was no Deliverance to be expected but that the preaching of the Word of God was the only means to shake all their Power and Dignity That they were sensible enough of the great Force and Efficacy of the Gospel and of the Truth and because they distrusted their own Strength therefore they had recourse to Kings and Princes for Aid That if in this Particular the Assistance of Scripture was to be made use of the thing it self required That the same should be also done in other matters and that all things whereby God was offended should be abolished that for the Reformation of all these Abuses they would freely bestow not only their Labour and Counsils but their Estates and Fortunes also for that it was a thing which ought to have been done long since That therefore they prayed them to take in good part what they had said and seriously reflect upon the same that for their parts they desired nothing more earnestly than that all might live in Peace That in like manmer they would do nothing contrary to the Articles and Conditions of the League but that in this Cause which concerned their Eternal Salvation they could not do otherwise than they did unless they were convinced of their Errour That therefore as they had lately so again they earnestly desired them if they thought their Doctrin to be repugnant to Holy Scripture that they would make it so appear to them within a certain time to wit before the End of May for till then they would expect an Answer from them and from the Bishops and from the University of Basil In the mean time the Bishop of Constance having held a Synod made Answer to those of Zurick in a little Book composed for that purpose wherein he treats of Idols and graven Images what they were of old how the Jews and Gentiles worshipped them why the Church received Images and Pictures what time they were first introduced wherein the Idols of the Jews and Gentiles differed from the Images of Christians and concludes that when the Scripture speaks of putting away graven Images it was only to be understood of the Idols of the Jews and Genttiles and that therefore the Images received by the Christian Church were still to be retained In the next place he handled the Mass and alledging many testimonies of Popes and Councils endeavours to prove it to be an Oblation and Sacrifice This Book which was pretty long he sent to the Senate about the beginning of June and seriously exhorted them not to suffer Images to be removed the Mass abolished nor the people to be any otherwise taught He caused the Book to be afterwards Printed and sent it about and among others to the Canons of Zurick giving for his Reasons that though it had been written for the private use of the Senate who craved it of him yet because he had heard that questions and animosities did arise in other places also upon the same account he was willing to make but one business of it and to consult the interest of the rest also that therefore he advised them to follow the received custom of the Church and not to be persuaded by any mans Reasons to the contrary The Senate replied to this August the eighteenth that they had carefully read the Book over and over again and were extremely glad that he had published it for that so it would appear which of the two maintained the better Cause Then they tell what was the opinion of their Doctors and Learned men and confute his Arguments by Scripture But before they wrote back unto him the Senate had already commanded that all Images both within the City and in all other places also within their Jurisdiction should be pulled down and burnt but all without tumult This was done on the fifteenth of June and some months after the Canons treated and came to a composition with the Senate who both together agreed upon a way how the goods and revenues of the College should be disposed of The Emperor sent John Haunart to the Diet of Norimberg before mentioned to complain that the Decree of Wormes which was made with their unanimous advice and consent had been to the great prejudice of Germany infringed and to command that it should be carefully observed for the future To which the Princes Answered That they would observe
laboured the Land bred up Cattel and many ways got Estates by the favour of the Magistrate under whose Protection they were That what they alledged moreover that they were not allowed to have the Doctrin of the Gospel preached among them that was no just cause neither of Rising in Rebellion That when Peter smote with the Sword Christ sharply rebuked him for it That if any Princes did persecute the true Religion yet ought they rather to submit and suffer Punishments than resist by force of Arms That they pretended Religion and the Gospel but in reality intended nothing but Robbery Rapine and such like villanous Crimes And that they were the greater Villiains in that they impudently cloaked their wicked and bloody Designs under so specious a Title for that they aimed at nothing less than to seize other Mens Goods and Estates destroy all Magistrates force others Mens Wives and Children and to have free liberty to commit all sorts of Crimes And that seeing they committed such horrid Abominations under a veil of Purity and Sanctity it was not to be doubted but God would revenge that Blasphemy That therefore they ought to fight valiantly against them as against notorious Robbers in defence of the publick Peace their own private Fortunes and Estates Wives and Children That the cause of the War was most just and that they would never have taken up Arms if they had not known it to be acceptable Service to God who put the Sword into the hands of Magistrates not that they should Rob others but defend their Subjects from unjust Force Robbery and Oppression This Speech being made they charged the Enemy and first played upon them with their great Guns but the poor Wretches stood like Men amazed and out of their senses neither defending themselves nor flying for it but singing that Dutch Song wherein the Assistance of the Holy Ghost is implored for most of them trusting to Muncer's Promises expected Aid from Heaven After the great Guns were discharged when they began to break into their Camp and put all they met to the Sword then at length they fled towards Franckhausen but some of them betook themselves to the other side of the Hill and for a short time made Head against a few Horse and skirmished with them in an adjoyning Valley killing one or two of them For when the Enemy was every where put to flight the Horse dispersed themselves to follow the pursuit where-ever they saw any running for it But having lost some of their Men as has been said Anger and Revenge made them more eager in pursuing so that they killed about five thousand of the Fugitives Presently after the Battel Franckhausen was taken and therein about Three hundred seized and put to death Muncer had fled into the Town and hid himself in a House not far from the Gate whither a Gentleman accidentally came and his Servant going up to view the House found a Man lying abed in a Garret Having asked who he was if he had fled from the Fight and if he was one of the Rebels he denied and said he had been a long while sick of a Fever and Ague His Purse by chance lay by the Bed which the other snatched up that he might take what was in it and having opened it he found therein a Letter written by Albert Count Mansfield to Muncer wherein he admonished him to desist from his Enterprize and not inflame the Common People into a Rebellion After he had read it he asked him if the Letter were directed to him but he denying the other offered him violence whereupon he begg'd quarter and confessed himself to be Muncer Being therefore taken he was carried Prisoner to George Duke of Saxony and the Langrave who asked him why he had so seduced poor miserable Men To which he answer'd That he had done nothing but his Duty and that the Magistrates who could not endure the Preaching of the Gospel were in that manner to be curbed The Langrave replied and proveâ— by Texts of Scripture that Magistrates were to be honoured That all Sedition and Rebellion was prohibited by God and that it was not lawful for Christians to revenge Wrongs by their own private Authority To that he was silent and crying out for pain upon the Rack George Duke of Saxony told him Thou art now said he in pain Muncer but consider on the other hand the slaughter of those poor Wretches who being basely abused by thee have perished to day At which bursting out in laughter he said They would have it so Being afterwards carried to Heldrunghen a Town in the Dominion of Mansfield and there severely tortured he confessed his Design and discovered many of his Accomplices in the Conspiracy The Princes going from Heldrunghen to Mulhausen put a great many of the Rebels to death and among the rest Phifer whom we named before Hither also Muncer was shortly after brought into the Camp who in those streights was mightily dejected and troubled in mind and could not rehearse the Articles of his Creed as is usually done on such occasions but as Henry Duke of Brunswick said it before him However when he was about to die he openly acknowledged his Error and Crime and being invironed with Soldiers exhorted the Princes to shew more Mercy to poor Men which would be a means to prevent the like danger for the future advising them likewise diligently to peruse the Chronicles and Books of Kings that are contained in the Scriptures Having made an end of his Speech his Head was struck off and for an Example set upon a Pole in the open Fields When Muncer as we said before being banished Saxony wandred up and down and that there was a report that he intended to go to Mulhausen Luther being informed of this wrote to the Senate seriously admonishing them not to receive him That he was a seditious Person and designed nothing but Robbery and Violence That it was known what he had attempted at Alstet and Zwikaw That he had Spies and Emissaries who every where crept into the Congregations of Men That they could not be prevailed with so much as to come to a fair Tryal That their Doctrin was not only Seditious but Frivolous also Silly and full of Nonsence which they should therefore carefully avoid for that the cheat of it would shortly be discovered That if they thought it not fit to do so they would at last delay for some time until they might learn what they were to think of them That he gave them that Advice as one who was their Friend and concerned for their Welfare but that if they slighted it and fell afterwards into any calamity he would not be blamed for it who had given them such fair and timely warning That the Senate would do well to ask him who had given him Commission and Power to Preach and from whence he had his Call And that if he named God for his Author that then
they should bid him shew some evident Sign of his Call but that if he could not produce any such thing he should be rejected for that it was God's usual method when he would alter the accustomed and received way to declare his Will by some Sign When the Divisions and Dissensions of Germany seemed to tend to Troubles and Commotions and the Boors had not as yet risen in Arms Luther published a Book wherein he advised all Men to abstain from Sedition for that although some terrible Judgment seemed to threaten the Clergy yet he did not think that any at all or at least such a Calamity would overspread all their Jurisdiction or overturn their Power for that it was a far different Judgment which hung over their Heads and as the Prophet Daniel and after him St. Paul foretold no human force but the coming of our Saviour Christ and the Spirit of God must crush their tyranny That his Opinion was grounded on this which was the cause also that he never greatly withstood them who attempted the matter by force of Arms being assured that they laboured in vain That also though some perhaps of the Clergy might be killed yet that havock was not to reach all That they did indeed now quake and run to and fro and he heartily wished that they might quake more and more if so they might repent of their Sins but that the Wrath of God was kindled and they were troubled at the danger their Lives and Fortunes were in but never thought how they might make their Peace with God nay rather did securely slight such plain Admonitions and in a manner laugh at the denunciation of the Wrath of the Almighty And although they had no great cause to be afraid of Arms yet since the present state of Affairs required Counsel he would freely declare his Judgment And in the first place That it was the Magistrates Duty to endeavor that the People should not suffer any Prejudice through the fault of others and to take care that Religion should not be corrupted by false Doctrins That that was their Duty and that all the Power wherewith God had endowed them should be employed for the Glory of God and the Welfare of the People but that since they acted far otherwise letting and hindring one another and some of them also maintaining erroneous Doctrin they would not escape unpunished That it was not his purpose that the Papists should be suppressed by force of Arms but that the Magistrates should oblige them to their Duty and therein exercise their Power and Prerogative so as neither by lenity nor connivance to confirm their boldness and perversness That as to the Mobile and ignorant Common People they were to be seriously admonished not to stir unless commanded by the Magistrate for all that labour would be in vain and God himself would be the Avenger seeing so great Wickedness was not to be expiated by so slight a Punishment for that Princes acted so slowly and remisly that they suffered so great Indignities and were not moved by those manifest Injuries and Shams of the Clergy God permitted it should be so that he alone might avenge his own Quarrel and pour out all his Wrath upon them That though a Tumult or Insurrection might also break forth and that God should rest satisfied with so easie a punishment yet all that way of acting was not only discommendable but unprofitable also for that in Seditions and Tumults all Reason was banished and most commonly the Innocent were the greatest Sufferers That no Man neither who raised Stirs and Tumults could be excused how just a Cause soever he might have for a Popular Sedition once growing to a Head good and honest Men must necessarily perish with the wicked and bad Men ought then to fix their eyes upon the Magistrate and so long as he stir not nothing was to be attempted privately for that all Sedition was repugnant to the Command of God who hath ordered all the Controversies of private Men to be legally determined But that when Sedition was nothing else but a private Revenge no Man could doubt but that God disapproved and abhorred it That the Sedition and Rebellion which seemed now impendent was raised by the Devil the Enemy of Mankind who not being able to endure the Light of the Truth raised up Stirs by Men that professed the Gospel that so he might bring into hatred and contempt the true Doctrin which for some years had been by the blessing of God restored as if that proceeded not from God which seemed to have given occasion to so many Evils That the very same thing was already confidently objected by the Adversaries but that their Judgments were not to be valued and for his part he utterly despised them That he had never spoken or written any thing which might blow the coals of Sedition That by those who now asked what was to be done then and how long were those Indignities to be suffered while the Magistrate connived at the same This method was to be observed first That they should acknowledge their Sins whereat God being offended had suffered that Tyranny of the Clergy to continue so long and spread so far That this cruel and impious Dominion was the reward of our Wickedness and Crimes from which if we would be delivered we must by reforming our Lives make our Peace with God That in the next place with hearty and sincere Prayers Divine Aid was to be implored against the Popish Kingdom after the Example of David who often prayed God to break the Pride and Power of the wicked That lastly the Doctrin of the Gospel should be preached and the Juggles and Impostures of the Popes made manifest to Christians that their Errors being detected and the Truth known Men might slight and wholly contemn whatever should proceed from them That this was the readiest way to lessen their Power That nothing was to be done by force of Arms for commonly they got strength by Wars but that by comparing the Pope with Christ and his Doctrin with the Gospel it would at length appear how great a Difference there was betwixt the Light of the Sun and Darkness and how great a Blessing God had bestowed upon us in opening to us a way to the Knowledge of him and in removing all Letts and Impediments out of it that then would all their Might and Reputation fall and come to nought as might appear by his own Example who had given a greater Blow to the Popish Monarchy than any armed Force could ever have done That therefore there was no other Sedition or Rebellion to be wished for Since that the preaching of the Gospel now revived by Christ himself was powerful and smart enough to overturn all Popery That they were to fix their Eyes and Thoughts on this That it was not his own Work he was about for no Human Strength nor Wit was sufficient for that and that the progress it had already
abide within his Territories But after the suppression of that popular Insurrection when in all Places many were dragg'd to Execution Carolostadius being in great Straits wrote a Book wherein he took a great deal of Pains to justifie himself against those who reckoned him among the Authors of the Rebellion affirming it to be an Injury done unto him and writing to Luther he earnestly prayed him That he would both publish that Book and also defend his Cause lest an innocent Man as he was might be in danger of losing Life and Goods without being heard Luther published a Letter to this purpose That though Carolostadius differed very much in Opinion from him yet because in his straits he betook himself to him rather than to others who had stirred him up against him he would not disappoint his Hope and Confidence especially since that was properly the Duty of a Christian He therefore desired the Magistrates and all in General That seeing he both denyed the Crime that was laid to his charge and refused not to come to a fair Tryal and submit to Judgment the same might be granted him as being most consonant to Equity and Justice Afterwards Carolostadius sent another little Book to Luther wherein he protested That what he had written concerning the Lord's Supper was not to define or determine any thing but rather by way of Argument and Disputation to sift out the Truth Luther admits of the Excuse yet admonishes Men That seeing he himself confessed he doubted and defined nothing positively to beware of his Opinion Or if they themselves perhaps doubted to suspend their Judgment so long till it should appear what they might safely follow For that in matters of Faith we ought not to waver and doubt but to acquire such a certain and steddy Knowledge as rather to suffer a thousand Deaths than to forsake our Opinion Much about this time Luther married a Nun whereby his Adversaries were excited to load him with more Reproaches for now he was down-right mad they cried and had sold himself a Slave to the Devil At the very same time Vlrich Zuinglius Minister of the Church at Zurich who almost in all other things agreed with Luther dissented from him also about the Lord's Supper For Luther understood these Words of Christ This is my Body literally and properly admitting no Figurative Interpretation and affirming the Body and Blood of Christ to be really in the Bread and Wine and to be so received and eaten by Believers But Zuinglius maintained it was a Figure that many such were to be found in Scripture and the former Words he so expounded This signifies my Body With him agreed John Oecolampadius Minister of the Church at Basil and he so interprets them This is the Sign of my Body The matter was contentiously debated on both sides and much was written upon the Subject The Saxons imbraced the Opinion of Luther and the Switzers that of Zuinglius others come after who explained the Words in another manner but all agree in this Opinion That the Body and Blood of Christ are taken Spiritually not Corporally with the Heart not with the Mouth This debate lasted three Years and more but at length a Conference was procured at Marpurg chiefly by means of the Landgrave as shall be said in its proper place The Dyet also which at this time was held at Ausburg because very few resorted to it by reason of the Popular Insurrection beforementioned was dissolved and all matters put off till the first of May the Year following against which time Ferdinand gave Hopes That the Emperour his Brother would be there in person from Spain and Spire was appointed to be the place of the Dyet It was decreed though among other things That the Magistrates should take special care That the Preachers did interpret and expound God's Word to the People according to the Sense of Doctors approved by the Christian Church and that they should not preach Seditious Doctrin but so that God's Name might be glorified and the People live in Peace and Quietness Whilst Francis King of France was Prisoner in Spain his Mother Aloisia had the Administration of the Government who to keep in with the Pope acquainted him among other things How zealously she stood affected towards the Church of Rome Whereupon Pope Clement VII writing to the Parliament of Paris told them How he understood from her That the Contagion of Wicked Heresies began also to infect France and they had wisely and providently chosen some persons to enquire into and punish those who laboured to oppose the Faith and Ancient Religion That he also by his Authority approved the Commissioners whom they had chosen for that in so great and grievous a Disorder of Affairs raised by the Malice of Satan and the Rage and Impiety of his Ministers every one ought to bestir themselves to preserve and maintain the common Safety of all Men since that Rage and Madness tended not only to the Subversion of Religion but also to the confounding of all Principality Nobility Law and Order That for his part he spared no Care Labour nor Pains that he might remedy the Evil And that they also whose Virtue and Prudence was every where celebrated should make it their chief Business that not only the true Faith but also the Welfare of the Kingdom and their own Dignity should be secured against Domestick Dangers and Calamities which that pernicious and pestilent Heresie carried with it into all places That they needed not indeed to be exhorted having already given Proofs of their own Wisdom But that nevertheless in discharge of his own Duty and as a token of his Favour and Good-will he had been willing to make this Address unto them for that he was exceeding well pleased with what they had already done and exhorted them That for the future they would with the like Zeal and Virtue bestir themselves for the Glory of God and the Welfare of the whole Kingdom that by so doing they would render most acceptable Service to God and merit the Praises and Applause of Men and that therein they might expect all sort of Assistance from him This Brief dated at Rome May the twentieth was delivered to the Parliament at Paris on the seventeenth Day of June During the absence also of the Captive King the Divines of Paris so persecuted James le Fevre d'Estaples who hath published many Books both in Philosophy and Divinity that he was fain to leave France and flie into another Country The King being informed of this by the means chiefly of his Sister Margaret who had a kindness for Le Fevre because of his Probity and Virtue wrote to the Parliament of Paris That he heard that there was a Process brought before them against James le Fevre and some other Learned Men at the Instigation of the Divines who particularly hated le Fevre for that before his Expedition out of France he had been
at present and the rather that he was informed his Highness was not the Author of the Book written against him but that it was the work of some busie and crafty Sophisters And here taking occasion to speak of the Cardinal of York he calls him The Plague of England He heard also he said to his great satisfaction that His Highness disliked that sort of naughty Men and applied his mind to the knowledge of the Truth Wherefore he prayed him to pardon what he had done and consider that he himself being a Mortal Man ought not to entertain Immortal Enmity That if he pleased to lay his Commands upon him he would make a publick acknowledgment of his fault and wrote another Book in Praise of his Princely Vertues Then he intreats his Highness not to listen to the Suggestions of Slanders who called him a Heretick since the summ of his Doctrin was this That we must be saved by Faith in Christ who bore the punishment of our Sins in his own Body who having died and risen again for us reigns for ever with his Father which was the Doctrin of all the Prophets and Apostles That having laid this for a Foundation he taught the Duties of Charity what we ought to do for one another how we ought to obey the Magistrate and suit our whole Life to the Profession of the Gospel That if there was any Error or Impiety in that Doctrin why did not the Adversaries make it out Why did they condemn and excommunicate him before he was heard and convicted That therefore he wrote against the Pope of Rome and his Adherents because they taught contrary to Christ and his Apostles for their own Gain and Profit that they might rule and domineer over all others and wallow in Luxury and Pleasures for that all their Thoughts and Actions tended only to this scope which was so notoriously known also that they themselves could not deny it But would they mend their Manners and not lead such a lazy and sensual life to the prejudice and loss of other Men the difference might easily be brought to an end That since a great many Princes and free Cities of Germany approved his Doctrin and thankfully acknowledged God's Blessing in it he earnestly wished His Highness might he reckoned one of that number But that the Emperor and some others made themselves his Enemies it was no new thing That David had prophesied many Ages since That Kings and People should conspire against the Lord and his anointed and cast off his Laws That for his own part when he considered such places of Scripture he wondered to see that any Prince favoured the Doctrin of the Gospel Last of all he humbly desired that His Highness would be pleased to give him a gracious Answer Not long after he wrote also to George Duke of Saxony That it was God's usual way at first to correct Men sharply and severely but afterwards tenderly to embrace and cherish them That he struck the Jews with fear and terror when he delivered the Law by Moses but afterwards sent them glad Tydings by the Preaching of the Gospel That he himself also having followed that method had dealt a little too roughly with some and with him among the rest but that in the mean while he had written some things full of Fruit and Consolation whence it might be easily perceived that he took all that pains out of no ill-will to any but that he might do good to all That he was informed however that his Grace did not at all relent in the anger and offence which he had conceived against him but was more and more exasperated daily which was the reason why now he wrote unto him That he earnestly begg'd of him he would desist from opposing his Doctrin not truly for his own sake who had nothing to lose but his Life but chiefly for his sake whose Salvation lay at stake for seeing he was certainly persuaded that his Doctrin agreed with the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles he was therefore very much concerned for his Grace who so bitterly hated and persecuted him He admonished him also not to regard the meanness of his Person for that the business was not his but the work of the Almighty God and though all Men should storm and rage yet that Doctrin would abide for ever and that therefore he was the more grieved when he saw him so incensed and offended thereat That he could not forsake this his Station but seeing he was willing to gratifie him in any thing else he humbly begg'd his Pardon for that he had said some things too sharply against him That he on other hand would pray God to forgive his Grace for his Contempt and Persecution of the Gospel and made no doubt but that his Prayers would be heard provided he would leave off in time and not endeavour to put out that Light which by God's Blessing now shone in the World for that if he went on in that way of Cruelty he would implore the assistance of God against him and then he would understand too late what it was to withstand the Majesty of Heaven That he had a firm and undoubted confidence in God's Promises and knew that his Prayer was more powerful than all the Arts and Snares of the Devil and that he always had his Refuge to it as to a most strong Castle and Rock of Defence The King of England having received Luther's Letter we mentioned before returned him a sharp Answer upbraiding him with Levity and Inconstancy He also owned his Book which he said had been very well liked of by many good and learned Men That it was no strange thing to him that he should revile the Reverend Father the Cardinal of York since he stood not in awe to reproach both Saints and Men That the Cardinal's Services were very useful both to him and the whole Kingdom also And that as he had loved him very well before he would now entertain a far greater Kindness for him since he was calumniated and accused by him That among other useful Services his Eminence did also this good office that he was zealous and diligent in preventing the Leprosie and Contagion of his Heresie from infecting any part of his Dominions Afterwards he reproaches him for his Incestuous Marriage than which no fouler Crime could be committed This Cardinal was one Thomas Woolsey a Man of mean Birth but in high Favour with the King of England Duke George of Saxony also made such an Answer to Luther as it might easily appear how much he hated him When the French Embassadors that were sent to Spain to treat of Peace among whom was Margaret the King 's own Sister a Widow could effect nothing Aloisia the Queen Mother who had the Regency of the Kingdom for her own Security prevailed with King Henry to enter into Alliance and Amity with her and this was concluded about the latter end of August The chief
that considering the greatness of the danger they would do what otherwise they were in duty obliged to do When the Ambassadors had read this Answer as it was given them they having an Appeal ready presented it to Alexander Schueisse in presence of Witnesses as is usual but he at first refused to take it however at length he received the same and carried it to the Emperour but returning the same day in the Afternoon after some other discourse told that the Emperour confined them to their Lodgings commanding them not to stir out of doors not to write home to their Principals nor to send any of their Servants abroad till further Orders upon pain of forfeiture of Life and Goods Whilst this was doing Michael Caden was accidentally abroad and being immediately advertised of the matter by a Servant wrote an account of all that had past to the Senate of Norimberg taking care that his Letters should be conveighed with all speed for he was not obliged as his Colleagues were At length October the Thirtieth having followed the Court to Parma as they had been ordered Nicholas Granvel who then supplied the place of Mercurine that lay sick told them there That though the Emperour was displeased at the Appeal that was brought unto him yet he gave them leave to return home but commanded Caden to stay upon pain of death And this was the cause of it The Landgrave had given him upon his departure a Book finely bound and gilt containing the Summary of the Christian Doctrin to be presented to the Emperour and he taking occasion as the Emperour was going to Mass gave it him who presently put it into the hands of a Spanish Bishop that he might know what it was The Bishop fell accidentally upon that place where Christ admonishes his Apostles not to affect Rule and Dominion for that suited not with their Profession since it was the Kings of the Gentiles who exercised that power The Author amongst other things had handled that place shewing what was the Duty of the Ministers of the Church But he having superficially read it made a report to the Emperour That the little Book aimed at the taking away of the Power of the Sword from Christian Magistrates and allowing it only to Heathens who were strangers to the Christian Religion for this cause therefore he was detained Granvel told him further that it was the Emperour's pleasure that he should deliver the same Book to the Pope But when upon making an Apology for himself he received no Answer to his mind and from Granvel's discourse perceived the danger he was in he secretly hired Horses and posting first to Ferara and then to Venice returned home The Senate of Norimberg having received Caden's Letter which we mentioned before presently gave notice thereof to the Duke of Saxony the Landgrave and their Associates October the twenty fourth who having consulted about the matter resolved to hold a Convention at Smalcalde about the latter end of November Thither came at the day appointed the Elector of Saxony and his Son John Frederick Ernest and Francis Dukes of Lunenburg Philip the Landgrave the Deputies of George Marquess of Brandenburg and of the Cities also of Strasburg Vlm Norimberg Hailbrun Ruteling Constance Memmingen Kempen and Lindau About the same time the Ambassadour's returned from Italy and having made a report of their Embassy to the effect above related it was thought fit to treat first of all of Religion the Heads whereof had been lately proposed Wherefore the Deputies of Strasburg and Vlm are desired to tell what their Judgment was in the matter and they make Answer to the same effect as they had lately done That at that time when a League was first proposed no mention had been made of that Affair and yet it was only then moved how mutual aid and assistance should be given in case any of them should be molested or in danger upon account of Religion That it might be plainly enough perceived what their Adversaries had in their thoughts and what designs they were hatching That some of the Heads of Doctrin proposed might be controverted and that if Learned men did not agree about these it was to be feared that some division might thereupon ensue which would be very seasonable and advantageous to their Adversaries That it was therefore their Opinion that all their Deliberations should be directed to the making of a League which was the thing proposed at first The Duke of Saxony and with him the Brothers of Lunenburg and the Deputies of Brandenburg got the Deputies of Norimberg to deal with them that they might assent But the Landgrave taking a middle course was for an Accommodation betwixt the Two. When this could not do the Deputies of the rest of the Cities are also called to whom it was represented that if in all things they approved that Doctrin they would treat of entring into a League with them They make answer That they had no Commission as to that and urge the first thing that had been proposed At length they depart with this Resolution That they who would profess and receive this Doctrin should meet at Norimberg in January following to consult what was to be done for the future In the mean time the City of Strasburg that they might secure themselves against all Force and unjust Violence made a League with those of Zurich Berne and Basil who were both their Neighbours and agreed best with them in Doctrin after this manner If those Cities we named should be attacked and molested upon account of Religion they shall mutually aid and assist one another with as many Forces as the matter shall require yet so that for every thousand Foot the City of Strasburg shall pay two thousand Crowns a Month by way of Subsidy On the other hand if the Switzers be attacked the Strasburgers shall send no Forces but shall during the War disburst three thousand Crowns a Month Moreover That if the Enemies of the one be found within the Jurisdiction of the other they shall not be spared but be treated according to the Law of Arms. That if they be attacked all at one and the same time then they shall defend themselves severally at their own charges That Strasburg shall at a convenient time whilst they are in peace send ten thousand weight of Gun-powder to Zurich and as many Bushels of Wheat to Basil but not to be touched unless in time of War and Want and then to be distributed amongst the Town 's People at reasonable rates However if they come to the aid of Strasburg they may make use of as much of the Powder as shall be needful but in time of a common War pay half price for it This League was made for Fifteen Years and concluded the Fifth day of January When this came to the knowledge of the Council of the Empire whereof Frederick Prince Palatine was then President about the latter
been any need of his counsel Now that he might in his absence contribute what he could to the Publick Good he wrote a Book to the Bishops and other Prelates in that Dyet laying before them the state of the Church under the Roman Papacy how it had been overspread with thick Darkness Impious Doctrin and Foul Errours and admonishing them of their Duty in most weighty and serious Words he upbraids them with Cruelty and Bloody-mindedness Moreover he exhorts them not to let slip the Occasion of healing the Evil alledging That since his Doctrin agreed with the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles all counsels taken against God would be in vain Whilst the Emperour and Papists were thus venting their Rage and Threats against the Protestants Melanchthon was very much dejected and disconsolate not indeed for his own sake but Posterities and those who were to come after and wholly gave himself over to Grief Sighing and Tears But when this came to Luther's Knowledge he endeavoured to Comfort and Chear him up by several Letters and seeing this was not the Work of Man but of God Almighty he advises him to lay aside all Thoughtfulness and Anxiety and cast the whole Burthen of it upon him And why said he do you in this manner Afflict and Torment your self If God gave his own Son for us why do we Doubt and Fear why are we cast down and dismayed Is Satan stronger than he Will he who has bestowed so great a Blessing upon us forsake us in smaller Matters Why are we afraid of the World which Christ hath overcome If we maintain a bad Cause why do we not change our Mind If it be Just and Holy why do we distrust God's Promises Certainly the Devil can take nothing from us but our Life but Christ liveth and reigneth for ever who taketh upon him the Defence and Protection of the Truth he will not cease to be with us until the consummation of all things If he be not with us pray where is he to be found If we be not of the Church do you think that the Pope and the rest of our Adversaries are Sinners we are 't is true and that in many things yet Christ is not therefore a Lyer whose Cause we maintain Let Kings and the Nations fret and rage as much as they please he that dwelleth in Heaven shall hold them in Derision God hath hitherto without our Counsel governed and protected this Cause he also will henceforward bring it to the desired end What you write of the Laws and Traditions of Men may easily be answered For it is not lawful for any Man to appoint or chuse a new Work as the Worship of God since both the first Commandment and all the Prophets condemn such Works They may indeed be a bodily Exercise but if they come once to be worshiped they become Idolatrous As for any Reconciliation it is in vain hoped for for neither can we depose the Pope nor can the True Religion be safe so long as Popery continues That ye give the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in Both kinds and yield not to the Adversaries in that who will have it to be indifferent you do well for it is not in our Power to appoint or tolerate any thing in the Church which cannot be defended by the Word of God. We condemn the whole Church cry they But we say That the Church was unwillingly surprised and oppressed by the Tyranny of a divided and half-Sacrament and is therefore to be excused in the same manner as the whole Synagogue was to be excused when being captive in Babylon it observed not the Law and other Rites of Moses for it was hindered by Force that it could not Take special heed that ye grant not too great a Jurisdiction to Bishops lest more Trouble ensue thereupon hereafter For my part I dislike all this Treaty about accommodating the Difference in Religion for it is all Labour in vain unless the Pope would utterly abolish his Kingdom If they condemn our Doctrin why do we seek for an Uniformity if they approve it why are the Ancient Errours retained but they openly condemn it All they do then is but Sham and Dissimulation They take a great deal of Pains as it appears about Ceremonies But let them first restore the Doctrin of Faith and Works Let them suffer the Church to have Ministers that will perform the necessary Duties They require that Monks may be again put into possession but let them on the other hand give us back so many Innocent and Pious Men whom they have slain let them restore so many Souls lost by Impious and Erroneous Doctrin let them restore those great Revenues got by Fraud and Knavery let them in short restore the Glory of God dishonoured by so many Reproaches When once they have made Satisfaction as to these things then will we reason the case with them who has the best right to the Goods of the Church Since the chief and almost sole difference betwixt Luther and some others was about the Lord's Supper as we have said before and that that exceedingly rejoyced the Papists as it grieved the others Bucer with the consent of the Elector of Saxony and his own Magistrates went from Ausburg to Luther to attempt a Reconciliation and had a very fair Answer from him insomuch that he made a Progress from thence to Zuinglius and the Switzers that he might essay to unite them more closely in Mind and Opinion This then being the state of Affairs and all things tending to Stirs and Troubles the Landgrave concluded a League for six Years with the Cities of Zurich Basil and Strasburg That if any Violence should be offered upon the account of Religion they should mutually aid and assist one another And this League was made in the Month of November At the same time the Emperour wrote to the Elector of Saxony commanding him to come to Cologne by the 21 day of December about difficult and weighty Affairs â—elating to the Publick The same Day he received this Letter which was November 28 he had a Messenger with Letters from the Archbishop of Mentz the design whereof was to acquaint him That the Emperour had desired of him that he would assemble the Princes Electors about the election of a King of the Romans and therefore he cited him to be present at Cologne December 29. This thing being known the Duke of Saxony forthwith dispatched Letters to the Landgrave and the rest of the Protestant Princes and Cities praying them to meet at Smalcalde December 22 but in the mean time he sent away in all haste his Son John Frederick with some of his Counsellors to Cologne that they might be present at the Day appointed by the Emperour To them he gave Orders to represent That the Citation of the Archbishop of Mentz was not legally made and that this same creation of a King of the Romans was a signal Violation of
form the minds of Men that the Magistrate himself might clearly understand his station and condition of life to be highly acceptable to God and the People on the other part might be sensible that Honour and Obedience to the Magistrate was required from them by the Law of God who would not hold him guiltless who should offer Contempt to the Power ordained by Him. Besides since they themselves by the Divine bounty are appointed Governors over others what a madness must it be for them to tolerate such a Doctrine as would let loose the reigns upon the necks of Men dissolve their Obedience and arm the People against themselves What their present sense is of the Governors of the Church they have manifestly declar'd in the foresaid Writing viz. That they are convinc'd of the legality of administring Ecclesiastical Affairs and that the Ministry of the Word or the Power of the Keys is entertain'd by them with the greatest Veneration And now since they understand themselves to be loaded with these and such like Imputations and being sensible how much it would be for the Publick Interest that they who are Princes of so great prudence and authority should have a right and regular understanding of the Cause they were therefore willing for the better clearing of themselves to acquaint them throughly with these things in writing and humbly to intreat them that they would not give Credit to those Calumnies nor entertain any sinister opinion of them but that they would keep themselves unprejudic'd till they have an opportunity given them publickly to clear themselves which is the thing they most earnestly desire They likewise beseech them to use their Interest with the Emperor that since the greatness of the Cause and the good of the whole Church requires it he would convene a free and religious Council in Germany as soon as may be and that he would not determine too severely against them till the matter was legally debated and decided For that hitherto they had always faithfully discharg'd their Duty to the Empire and that 't is neither out of covetousness nor petulancy but for the Glory of God and in Obedience to his Commands that they now make Profession of this Doctrine for which they are call'd in question And this 't is that gives them the greater hopes that their Requests will not be rejected by them For it must needs highly redound to their Honour if by their Authority and Interposition they could so bring it about that these Controversies might not be decided by the Sword but that a right Judgment might be made of things that so these Distempers might be healed and the Churches reconcil'd and no violence offer'd to the Consciences of Men. Lastly they should esteem it a very signal Favour if they would let them understand by Letters their Pleasure in this Affair In the month of February the Elector of Saxony summon'd all his Allies to make their Appearance at Smalcalde on the 29th day of March there to concert about making a Defence against any Hostile attempt that might be made These were those Princes and Cities we before mention'd but the Duke of Saxony being himself ill sent thither his Son John Frederick In the former Convention it was agreed upon to solicite Frederick King of Denmark together with the Saxon and Martime Cities concerning the League Therefore now at their second meeting that Transaction is reported together with what Answer each of them did make The Dane reply'd That truly the Doctrine of the Gospel was very dear unto him but that he had in his Kingdom many Bishops who were very powerful as well in Wealth as in their dependencies and conjunction with the Nobility and therefore it would not be safe for him to enter into the League as King but however he refus'd not to do it in right of those his Provinces which held of the Empire Henry of Mecklenburg excus'd himself upon the account that his Embassadors had subscrib'd the Augustane Decree however he promis'd that he would not be their Enemy Bernin Prince of Pomerania said That he was not at all averse but that the chief management of affairs was yet wholly in the hands of his elder Brother The Lubeckers did not decline it but said it ought to be consider'd that they had been at vast Expences in the War and if Christiern King of Denmark who was driven from his Kingdom should attempt any thing they desired to know what Assistance they might expect from them The Lunenburgers declar'd That they would do whatever should seem good to Ernestus their Prince The next things that fell under their deliberation were the procuring of Votes for the speedy raising of Forces the Contribution of mony for the keeping up those Forces the choice of Commanders and the admitting those into the League which were willing to come in the appointment likewise of Proctors and Advocates who might answer for them in Court if any Suit should arise in the Exchequer either by the Command of the Emperor or the Solicitation of others To this branch of the defence George Duke of Brandenburg together with the Cities of Nuremburg Camin and Heilsburg do make themselves Parties though the League it self they refus'd It was farther decreed That all notorious Enormities should be severely punish'd in each of their Dominions But before they enter'd into the League not only the Lawyers but Divines also were admitted into the Consult It had indeed been always the Doctrine of Luther That Magistrates ought not to be resisted and upon this Subject there was a Book of his Extant But when the Learned in the Law had in this Consult declar'd That Resistance is sometimes permitted by the Laws and had shewn that the present State of affairs was such as the Laws in relation to that case do particularly mention Luther ingenuously confess'd that indeed he had been ignorant of this Legality But now since the Gospel according to his constant Doctrine does not militate against nor abolish political Laws and since things might so fall out in these perilous and difficult times that not only the Law it self but also necessity of Conscience might call upon them to Arm he therefore pronounces that they may justly make a League in their own defence if either the Emperor himself or any body else in his Name should make War upon them He likewise publishes a Writing wherein he expresses how obstinate the Papists had been in the Diet of Auspurg and then strictly charges all Men not to yield Obedience to those Magistrates that should command their assistance in such a War. And having ript up the many grievous Errors of the Popish Doctrines he tells them that whoever list themselves on that side do take up Arms in defence of those Errors and this he saies is highly wicked and sinful Having therefore shewn them how much the minds of Men were in these daies enlightned by the knowledge of the Gospel he exhorts them to
with those who entertain different Opinions about the Lord's Supper and Baptism from what is contain'd in the Writing set forth at Auspurg They shall not draw over to them or give Protection to the Subjects of other States upon the score of Religion But if there be any whose condition is such that they may lawfully go whither they will these having first giv'n notice to their Governors may Travail if they please and be entertain'd they shall not send out any Preachers to teach without their Dominions unless the Magistrate of such a place where a Convention is held shall desire or permit it But if he refuses it they shall then have liberty to do it privately at home But whenever they are present at a Diet of the Empire or do send out Forces against the Turks they may then make use of their own Teachers and receive the Supper of our Lord according to the Institution of Christ That all Reproaches be forborn however the Ministers of the Church may as they are in duty bound rebuke Vice and Error and shew which is the right way provided they do it with temper and moderation That those of their Religion be not excluded from the Imperial Chamber That Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction stand where it does but that the Bishops may not bring those into danger or trouble who make profession of this Doctrin That those Ordinances which have been made but are not yet put in execution concerning Religion Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Ceremonies and the Goods of the Church be suspended till the time of a Council That the Goods of the Church be made use of and enjoy'd by them who are in possession of those places to which those Goods do properly belong and that nothing be taken by violence from any Man but that the annual Revenues be dispos'd of to those places which have formerly receiv'd them till such time as a Council shall decree otherwise That in political Affairs every Man perform his duty that all Men endeavour the good of the Publick and exercise acts of mutual kindness and fidelity to one-another Though both sides stood thus at a distance from one another without any probability of a nearer Conjunction yet the Arbitrators thought fit to proceed in the Treaty and therefore for the convenience of dispatching a more speedy account of all things to the Emperor they appoint another Meeting to be held at Nuremburg upon the third of June Now though the main Controversie could not here be made up yet by reason of the Turks Interruption into Germany the Emperor finding himself obliged to draw his whole Strength together from all parts ratify'd a general Peace to all Germany and did by his Edict command that no Disturbance should be giv'n to any Man upon the account of Religion till such time as a Council should sit and if no Council should be held then till such time as the States of the Empire should find out some expedient to salve these Differences To those that shall disobey this Edict he threatens a very severe punishment and declares that he will use all his Endeavours that a Council may be call'd within six months and begin it's Session the year following But if this cannot be brought about then the whole matter shall be brought to an Issue in a Diet of the Empire He therefore Commands that all judicial Actions commenc'd upon the score of Religion be suspended and that no Process be hereafter carry'd on against the Protestants or if there be that all such Process become null and void The Protestants on the other side who were then seven Princes and 24 Cities do make him a tender of their utmost Obedience and Devoir and promise their Assistance against the Turks This Scheme of a Peace was by the Arbitrators drawn up on the 23th of July and the Emperor to whom they had address'd by Letters and Messengers gave it his Confirmation on the second of August and ratify'd it afterwards by a publick Edict commanding the Imperial Chamber and his other Judges to be obedient to it Whilst these things are transacting the Emperor as we said before is holding a Diet at Ratisbon where among other things he declares that he had some time since sent an Embassy to the Pope and the Colledge of Cardinals about calling a Council to which he has likewise received an Answer which he communicated to the King of France whose judgment it is that a Council is necessary But as to what the Pope has writ back concerning the manner but more especially the place of holding the Council there arises very great difficulty nor can they as yet come to any Resolution about it But because these differences about Religion do daily increase from which there is great danger fear'd he will therefore endeavour to prevail with the Pope to call a Council to some convenient place within the time appointed and he hopes that he will not be wanting either to his own Duty or the Publick Good. But if this cannot be effected then he will endeavour to find out some remedy in another Diet of the Empire which he will call for that purpose It was decreed in the Diet at Auspurg that a Reform should be made in the Court of the Imperial Chamber To which purpose the Emperor adds two Commissioners in his own Name and moreover delegates the Elector of Mentz and the Prince Palatine together with the Bishop of Spiers John Simmerius the Palatine William Bishop of Strasburg and Philip Marquess of Baden The Embassadors of all which Princes having met together at Spiers on the first day of March do Enact certain Laws which partly affect the Judges partly the Advocates and partly the Litigants A Copy of this Reform they present to the Emperor with which having first consulted his Friends he declares himself to be well pleas'd having first made some small additions to it This year which was the Tenth of his Exile Christiern King of Denmark having got together a Navy had some hopes of recovering his Losses but being taken at Sea he was committed to Custody and about the same time his Son died being a young Man and educated by the Emperor his Uncle In a former Book we took notice how the Emperor had rescinded the Contract that was made between Albertus Duke of Prussia and Sigismund King of Poland but Albert persisting in his purpose was about this time proscrib'd by the Imperial Chamber at the Suit of Walter Cronberg Which thing when the King of Poland understood he set forth in this Diet by his Embassador how Prussia had been anciently under the Command and Patronage of his Kingdom and therefore desires that this Proscription may be totally revers'd But Cronberg on the third of June did in a long Harangue declare that Prussia was a dependency of the Empire and did not at all belong to the King of Poland For though their Ancestors being overcome in battel had been forc'd to
Almighty who will undoubtedly Vindicate his own Cause and Religion However if things shall come to that pass that the Pope must have his mind in this business which they can hardly believe they will yet consider what is further to be done And if they happen to be cited and see that they can do any thing for the Glory of God they will then make their appearance if they may but have convenient Security giv'n them upon the Publick Faith. Or else they will send thither their Embassadors who shall publickly propound whatever the necessity and reason of their Cause requires This however shall be the condition that the present Propositions of the Pope shall not be accepted of nor any such Council allow'd as is contrary to the Decrees of the Empire For they cannot see how this Project of the Pope has the least tendency to advance a lasting Peace either to the Church or State nor does it become him to act after this Rate if he intends to discharge the Duty of a faithful Pastor which obliges him to advise Men for the best and to dispense unto them the wholsome Food of sound Doctrin Now since these things are so they earnestly desire them to deliver in this their Answer to the Emperor and the Pope hoping that the Emperor whom with all Reverence they acknowledge to be the Supream Magistrate constituted by God will not receive it with any Resentment but will use his Interest that â—uch a Council may be call'd as is agreeable to the Decrees of the Empire and that the whole Controversie may be discuss'd by pious and unsuspected Men. For it will without doubt very much redound both to his Glory and Advantage if he shall imploy all his Power and Authority towards the propagating of sound Doctrin and not to strengthen the cruel hands of those Men who have been for many years committing Outrage upon innocent Men only for their honest profession of such a Doctrin as is most agreeable to the Gospel Now for what remains they tender the Emperor their Service in all things and shall yield him a ready Compliance in all his other Affairs There was then with King Ferdinand Vergerius the Pope's Legate who has been mention'd in the former Book And because the Bishop of Rhegium was both ancient and infirm Clement had giv'n Orders to Vergerius to take upon him the Embassy if any difficulty should arise and that he should be sure to keep always in his View what the Pope's design and intentions were in relation to a Council He must therefore keep himself very close to his Orders and the foremention'd Proposals and not recede one hairs breadth from them But must take care not to run the Pope into streights and bring him under a necessity of holding a Council though he be never so hardly press'd by King Ferdinand himself THE HISTORY OF THE Reformation of the Church BOOKS IX The CONTENTS George Duke of Saxony his Malicious Artifice to discover the Protestants related He complains of Luther to his Cozen German the Elector of Saxony Pope Clement marrieth his Niece at Marseilles to Henry Duke of Orleans Son to the French King. The Duke of Wirtenburgh is outed of his Dominions Henry King of England is divorced from his Queen and denieth the Pope's Supremacy The misfortune of the Franciscans at Orleans described The Duke of Wirtenburg has his Country recovered for him by the Lantgrave A Peace concluded between Ferdinand and the Elector of Saxony The Articles of it explained Paul Farnese is chosen Pope upon the death of Clement A new Persecution in France occasioned by the fixing of Papers in several places containing Disputes about Religion A great many are burned upon this account The French King excuseth his Severity to the Germans The Emperor takes the Town of Tunis and the Castle Gulette Sir Thomas More and the Bishop of Rochester are beheaded in England Pope Paul intimates a Council at Mantua by his Nuncio Vergerius The Protestants also who were now convened at Smalcalde after they had debated the Point write an Answer to Vergerius The French King sends his Embassador Langey to this Convention who presseth them to enter into a League and toucheth upon a great many Heads to which the Protestants return an Answer The King of England also dispatcheth an Embassy thither to put them in mind what Consequences may reasonably be expected from the Council The League made at Smalcalde is renewed and strengthened by the addition of a great many Princes and Cities WHen they had given the Embassadors this Answer they made these following Decrees First That a Committee of Divines and Lawyers should be chosen to draw up a Scheme of those Points which they were to insist upon at the Council in relation to Form and Debate 2ly That their Answer to the Pope should be published and imparted to foreign Princes and States 3ly They decreed to dispatch away their Agents to the Judges of the Chamber of Spire who hath prosecuted some Persons upon the account of their Religion contrary to the Emperors Edict Which Prosecutions if they were not ceas'd the Protestants resolved to demurr to the Jurisdiction of their Court. 4ly That an Embassy should be sent to the Elector of Mentz and the Palsgrave who were Princes of the Mediation and an account of all their Proceedings transmitted afterwards in writing to the Emperor I have already mentioned in several places that George Duke of Saxony had a particular hatred to Luther's Person as well as a general aversion to his Doctrin Now this Prince understanding that many of his Subjects maintained that the Lords Supper was to be received according to our Saviour's Command ordered the Parochial Clergy that those who came to them at Easter and confessed themselves conformably to the ancient Custom and received the Eucharist according to the Canons of the Church of Rome should have Tickets given them which they were to deliver into the Senate that so the Roman Catholicks and the Lutherans might be distinguish'd This scrutiny discovered seventy Persons at Leipsick the Capital Town of that Country without Tickets These Persons had consulted Luther before what they should do who wrote them word that those who were justly perswaded that the Communion was to be received in both kinds should do nothing against their Conscience but rather run the hazard of losing their Lives This advice kept them constant to their Opinion so that when they were summoned to appear before their Prince and had almost two months time allowed to consider they could not be prevail'd upon to alter their Resolution though they were singly dealt withal in private but rather chose to be banish'd the Town which was executed accordingly Luther in the Letter which I spoke of called the Duke of Saxony The Devil's Apostle This Language made a great Noise and Disturbance and the Duke immediately complained against him in a Letter to the Elector his Cozen German that he had
for their Emploiment And here we cannot but take notice that there are a great many Abuses in the bestowing of Benefices and Ecclesiastical Dignities especially of those which were intended to make a Provision for the Salvation of the People For in such Cases the Advantage of the Incumbent is chiefly considered without taking any Care of the Flock Therefore when any Office of this Nature especially the Episcopal is conferred there ought to be good Assurance given of the Vertue and Capacity of the Persons chosen that they may be able and willing to govern their Churches themselves as they are in Duty obliged And for this Reason an Italian ought not to be preferred in Spain or great Britain nor a Spaniard or Englishman in Italy There is likewise a great deal of Deceit used in Resignations for the Incumbents when they resign to another have a Custom of reserving a Rentcharge and sometimes the whole Revenue to themselves Now no Rentcharge ought to be reserved except for the Relief of the Poor and such other pious Uses for the Profits are annexed to the Benefice and should no more be separated from it than the Body from the Soul. So that he who hath that ought to enjoy the Revenues belonging to it and make a discreet Use of it as far as his Occasions shall require spending the Overplus in those Instances of Charity before mentioned Notwithstanding when the Pope thinks it convenient it shall still remain in his Power to lay such an Incumbrance as this upon the beneficed Person and oblige him to pay a yearly Pension to some poor Body especially an Ecclesiastick that he may live more decently and commodiously by such a Provision It is therefore a manifest Corruption for the Incumbent to reserve the whole Profits or for a Pension to be secured to those who have no need The Practice of Permutation is also very faulty and managed altogether for Advantage and notwithstanding it is against Law to bequeath a Benefice by Will yet Men of Parts have found out a cunning Contrivance to evade the Law Their Way is to part with their Preferments to another but with this Condition That it shall be lawfull for them to re-enter upon the full Profits and Jurisdiction Hence it comes to pass that one Man bears the Name of a Bishop who has no Power or Authority in his Character and another who hath all the Episcopal Right and Jurisdiction in the Diocess wanteth the Title of his Office Now what is this less than a Bequest and making another Man ones Heir It 's the same sort of Fault for Bishops to desire Coadjutors especially since they often make use of Persons much worse qualified for Government than themselves Pope Clement reinforced that ancient Canon which forbids the Children of Priests to possess their Fathers Benefices but this Canon is likewise dispensed with though such Practices are very disobliging and unexemplary For it cannot be denied but that the greatest part of the Peoples Disgust proceedeth from their observing the Church Revenues to be thus misemployed and converted to private Uses Hitherto indeed most Men have had some Hopes to see this Disorder rectified but now they dispair of receiving any Satisfaction which makes them both think and speak very hardly of us And here we may range that other Contrivance to dispose of the next Avoidance of a Benefice which certainly makes Men apt to wish for and expect the Death of another besides those who are possibly more deserving are barred from Preferment this way and an Occasion is likewise given to many Contentions and Disputes But what shall we say of those Benefices which because they could not be lodged in one Person were commonly called incompetible By which Word our Predecessors gave us to understand That they were not to be conferred upon any one Man But here also the ancient Discipline is extinct and one Person is allowed to hold several Bishopricks together which in our Opinion ought by all Means to be rectified To this Classis of Faults we may add those which they call Unions where several Benefices are souldered into Joints and Members to make up a Body of Preferment But what is this but mocking and ridiculing of the Canons There is another Abuse likewise which has gained upon us very much by Custom and that is the bestowing Bishopricks upon Cardinals and sometimes several upon one Person Now this is such an Irregularity as we believe carries a great Weight in it and ought more especially to be reformed for the Office of a Cardinal and Bishop are distinct and inconsistent with the same Person Cardinals were made on purpose that they might constantly attend your Holiness and assist you in the Government of the Universal Church But the Duty of Bishops is to feed the Flock which God hath committed to their Charge which cannot be done without being resident among them no more than a Shepherd can take care of his Sheep at a Distance Besides this Practice does us great Mischief in the Example for with what Confidence with what Face can we pretend to correct those Vices in others which are most apparent and notorious in our own Society Neither let them imagine that their Quality gives them a greater Liberty than other Men They should rather consider that Reservedness and Moderation is more particularly required of them because they ought to be exemplary in their Lives to others For we are not to imitate the Pharisees who made Laws without any Regard to keep them but to follow our Saviour his Example who was mighty both in Word and Deed. We are likewise to consider that such a Liberty as this hath an ill effect upon their Consultations for a Man is neither fit to give nor take good Advice when his Mind is prepossessed with Ambition and Covetousness To this we may add that many of the Cardinals run after Princes Courts to get Bishopricks which makes them obnoxious and servile so that they dare not speak their Minds freely upon Occasion Now it were to be wished this Custom were broken and that the Cardinals were provided some other way with a decent Support for themselves and their Families In which Appointment an Equality ought to be observed and all their yearly Revenues brought to the same Value Which Expedient is easily made practicable if we would but disengage our selves from Secular Interest and conform to the Pattern our Saviour hath set us And when these Corruptions are removed and the Church furnished with Pastors of sufficient Ability there must be particular Care taken that the Bishops and those of a resembling Function may be obliged to live among their People for they are as it were the Churches Husbands For what more deplorable Sight can there be than to see the Churches almost every where destitute the Flocks abandoned by their own Shepherds and left in the Hands of Mercenaries Those therefore who desert their People ought to be severely punished Neither should they
the Emperor and King Ferdinand with whom he had concluded an Agreement some few Years since would be disobliged which would make him run a great Hazard in his whole Fortune Duke Vlrich gave his Majesty Thanks for his Caution and told him That he was wronged in this Relation and believed the Dukes of Bavaria were the Authors of this Calumny who had falsly spread such a Report as this of him in Germany therefore he desires his Majesty that he would not give any Credit to it for neither himself nor any of his Allies intended to raise any Disturbance or do any Act of Hostility unless they were forced to it in their own Defence and he did not question but that they when they heard of it would purge themselves As soon therefore as the Protestants at Francfort had received an Account of this Complaint from the Duke the Elector of Saxony and the Lantgrave wrote an Answer to the French King in the Name of all the Confederates dated April the Nineteenth in which they acquaint him That they understood by the Duke of Wirtemberg what Reports had been made to his Majesty concerning them but all these Accusations were nothing but Calumnies raised by Enmity and Ill-Will for they were not about making any Preparations for War but were very desirous of Peace as the Princes of the Mediation could testify For though they had received several Provocations though a confederate Town of theirs had been proscribed and a League claped up by some of the other Party to back their unjust Decrees notwithstanding their Adversaries had raised Forces and given them extraordinary Pay who were now making hostile Depredations in the Territories of their Allies yet they were contented to sit still all this while without the least Motion towards an Opposition for the Love they had for their Country made them willing to forgive all manner of Injuries for the Sake of the Commonwealth But their Adversaries were of a violent and implacable Temper and would not harken to any moderate Proposals nor submit the Differences between them to a legal Determination but were wholly bent to fill the Empire with the Blood and Slaughter of its own Subjects And seeing the Case stands thus they entreat his Majesty not to believe any false Suggestions but endeavour to promote the Interest of the Church by Religious and defensible Methods for the Protection of Truth and Innocence is a Duty peculiarly incumbent upon Kings As for their standing up in the Defense of Religion it was only to discharge their Conscience and not out of any sinister and secular Design neither did they question but that their Doctrine was agreeable to the Word of God which they had not the Liberty to depart from upon any Consideration whatever Upon the Twenty Fourth of April at the breaking up of the Diet George Duke of Saxony departed this Life leaving no Issue behind him for his Two Sons were already deceased without Children one of which was married to Elizabeth the Lantgrave's Sister and the other to a Daughter of the House of Mansfield George therefore made his Brother Henry and his Sons Morice and Augustus his Heirs by Will upon Condition That they should not make any Alteration in the State of Religion If this Condition was Unperformed then he bequeaths all his Dominions to the Emperor and King Ferdinand till his Brother or his Nephews or the next of the male Line of the Blood should fulfil what was enjoined Now after he was grown old and had but an ill Health he acquainted the Nobilility and Commonalty with his Will and desired them That they would ratify it and swear to stand by the Contents But they being affraid that this would occasion a War in the Family prayed him to send to his Brother Henry and treat with him about it for they did not question but that he would agree that no Change should be made in Religion Upon this Ambassadors are sent who besides several other Arguments to perswade him insisted principally That there was a great deal of Money in the Exchequer abundance of rich Furniture and Plate all which would be his own provided he complied with his Brother To which he made this remarkable Answer immediately Truly says he your Ambassy puts me in mind of that Passage in the new Testament where the Devil promised our Saviour all the Kingdoms of the World upon Condition he would fall down and worship him Do you think that any Temptation of Riches has such an ascendant over me as to make me forsake a Religion which I know to be pure and Orthodox I assure you you are much mistaken in your Expectations Now having received this Answer and had their Audience of Leave without effecting any part of their Negotiation It so happen'd That George their Master was dead before they returned Home which when his Brother Henry understood he immediately went to Dresâ—en and to the other great Towns and made the People swear Allegiance to him which they were the more inclinable to do because he was supported with the Interest of the League at Smalcald The Elector of Saxony also who knew how George's Will stood and what his designs were as soon as he heard of his Death made haste Home that he might be ready to assist Henry if need were This was a very considerable Addition to the Protestant Interest and a great and unexpected disappointment of the Roman Catholick Princes who were extreamly troubled at it especially the Elector of Mentz and Henry Duke of Brunswick as I shall have occasion to mention afterwards Thus George had an Heir and Successor quite contrary to his Inclinations and Luther whom he hated above all Men living was invited to Leipsick by the New Prince where he preached several Sermons and began to enter upon a Reformation This Year in May a Comet was seen and just about the same time Isabella the Emperor Charles's Wife died the French King as soon as he heard of it solemnized her Funeral at Paris according to the usual Ceremony among Princes I have already mentioned the Council of Vicenza which the Pope had Prorogued till Easter this Year but the Company not appearing at the time upon the Tenth of June he published another Bull in which he did not Prorogue it to a certain day but suspended it during the pleasure of the Conclave and himself Some few Months since the King of England published another Paper concerning the Council of Vicenza shewing how the Pope abus'd the World for his laying the Fault upon the Duke of Mantua is a ridiculous Excuse For if he hath so great a Power as he pretends why does he not force him to his Pleasure If he cannot do this why does he summon people upon uncertainties to a place which he hath not the command of And now though he hath pitched upon Vicenza for the same purpose yet there is no question but so wise a State as that of
Protestants because of their Religion The End of the Twelfth Book THE HISTORY OF THE Reformation of the Church BOOK XIII The CONTENTS The Protestants make Answer to the Emperor's Demands and by many Arguments prove that they aim more at Piety and Religion in their Actions than at appropriating to themselves Church-lands and Possessions They also refute the Arguments of the King of England The Emperor having punished the City of Ghent orders a Meeting of the Protestants who answer his Letters The Pope sends his Legate Farnese the same who went with the Emperor from Paris to the Netherlands He makes a long invective Speech against the Protestants In the mean time the French King makes a League with the Duke of Cleve to whom he gives his Sisters Daughter in Marriage At this time the Pope was making War against the People of Perusia The King of England turns away Ann the Sister of the Duke of Cleve Some Points of Religion are accommodated in the Assembly of Haguenaw The rest are repriev'd to the Convention at Wormes appointed by King Ferdinand whither Granvell came and made a Speech Campeggio the Pope Legate came after who also makes a Speech The Conference is broken off and all the Negotiation put off till the Diet of Ratisbone Luther makes a smart Answer to the Book of Henry Duke of Brunswick wherein Mention is made of the dear Pall which the Pope of Rome sells The Treaty commences at Ratisbone The Emperor passes over into Barbary Granvell presents the Book called the Interim to the Conferrers The Duke of Cleve marries the King of Navarr's Daughter TO these things the Protestants April the Eleventh make Answer and in the first place say they we return our hearty Thanks to the Heer Granvell who hath always advised the Emperor to Moderation in this Affair a Virtue which deserves the highest Commendation And we pray God to confirm him in this so laudable a Resolution for what can be more glorious than to allay publick Grievances by prudent and moderate Counsels without Slaughter and Bloodshed Now we pray all Men in general not to think that we delight in the Clashings and Dissensions of Churches that we propose to our selves any private Advantage or that it is out of Frowardness that we have separated from other Nations contrary to the inveterate Custom of many Ages It was not out of Wantonness Rashness or Unadvisedness that we have exposed our selves to the implacable Hatred of our Adversaries that we have undergone so much Trouble and Toil so great Charges and Losses and the continual Dangers of so many Years No but when Division in Doctrine broke out in the Church which hath happened oftner than once of old we could not in Conscience resist the Truth for the Favour of Men and far less approve the Actions of those who with great Cruelty persecute the Innocent Nay on the contrary for so many weighty Reasons for such true and holy Causes we are constrained to oppose them and separate from them For it is manifestly known that they defend gross and intolerable Errors not only in Word but by Violence and Force of Arms Now it is the Duty of the Magistrate to protect his Subjects from unjust Force And because we hear that we lie under Suspicion as if we only minded our own Profit and Advantage and not the Glory of God nor Reformation of the Church we beseech the Heer Granvell that he would justify us in that Matter to the Emperor We are sensible enough of the Calumnies of that Nature which are dispersed far and near by our Adversaries with intent to bring our Persons and the true Religion we profess into contempt and hatred But in the Emperors honourable Council whom God hath placed in so eminent a Sphere Truth only should be enquired into and regarded and all false Informations discountenanced For the Reason why they hunt about for Pretexts to load us with that Aspersion and publickly traduce us is because they maintain a weak and unjust Cause because they see their own Errors blamed and condemned by all Men and cannot withstand the pure Light of the Gospel But it suits ill with the Character and Duty of Bishops so to urge and importune the Emperor about Lands and Revenues as if the Christian Religion stood or fell with them when in the mean time they take not the least Notice of those many and enormous Errors and Vices which they themselves cannot dissemble It ought indeed to be their first care to see Religion and the purer Doctrine preserved in their Churches But now their Thoughts are wholly taken up how they may defend their Wealth and Power their Luxury and Splendor They know well enough that the Contest is not about Church-lands and Possessions they themselves know that these are not the things we aim at but they use that as a Cloak and Veil to cover their own wicked Counsels in resisting the Truth that they may inflame the Minds of Kings and Princes to the Destruction of this Religion For no Man of our Profession hath invaded any part of Church Possessions within the Territories and Dominion of another nor deprived any Bishop of ought that was his but the Bishops themselves have slighted their Jurisdiction when the Profits thereof began to fall and indeed they know not how to administer the same Again The Colleges of the Canons Regular still enjoy all they had but they on the other hand have appropriated to themselves the Revenues of many of our Churches and discharge their People from paying us any yearly Rent And whereas they were wont formerly to allow somewhat of their yearly Revenues to the Ministers of the Church and Schoolmasters they are now so far from contributing anything that way that the Cities are necessitated to be at all the Charges And it is not like that these Cities which both lie under heavy Burthens and are exposed to great Dangers do espouse and maintain this Cause meerly for Covetousness sake But our Enemies especially such of them as hunt after Church Preferments maliciously accuse us so to the Emperor We could heartily wish that the Emperor were rightly informed of the present State of Monasteries why monastick Institutions have been change and how these Goods are employed partly for maintaining the Ministers of the Church and Teachers of the People and partly for other pious Uses We would the Emperor also understood how our Adversaries hook in to themselves all Profits and rob and spoil not only Monasteries but other Churches also so that within their Precincts many Churches are wholly slighted and the People degenerate into Paganism But before we speak any more of that Matter we beseech Granvell that in his own excellent Judgment he would weigh these things with himself For grant we might from hence reap some Advantage yet it may easily be imagined that the Controversie proceeds not from this but from a far different and more considerable Cause and that for
so small a Matter we would not expose our selves to so bitter Hatred to so much Labour Care and Danger Besides waving all Dangers if the daily Charges we are at in maintaining this Cause were compared with the Rents of these Monasteries it will soon appear how far the one comes short of the other and yet these Charges we have now born above Fifteen Years whilst our Dangers daily encrease with our Expences Let any Man also but consider the restless Endeavours and implacable Hatred of our Adversaries and then what Prince in the World can be thought so silly and inconsiderate as to put his whole Fortune to the risk for Goods of so small a value Wherefore we humbly beseech the Emperor not to entertain any such Suspicion of us for we preferr his Friendship and the publick Peace before all worldly Enjoyments Those of our Adversaries in like manner who are acquainted with the State of our Dominions and Affairs without doubt entertain no such Suspicion of us for they know that the least part of these Revenues accrue to us Now the chief and only Cause why with so much Burthen and Danger we profess this Doctrine is because God requires it of us that we should profess the Name and Gospel of his Son For he commands us to fly from all false and idolatrous Worship and by no means to approve the Cruelty of those who persecute the true Religion Now will we speak of the Possessions of Monasteries Answer the Complaints of our Adversaries and give the Reason why the Houses and Rents of Monks and Friars are converted into another Use When the Light of the Gospel began to shine in Germany and the Vices and Errors of Men were detected and condemned many and especially the more learned of their own Accord forsook that Pharisaical kind of Life and some of them that they might prosecute their Studies and follow some other honest Course of Life demanded some Allowance in Money Now this Change happening not only amongst us but also in the Monasteries of our Adversaries in all places where Monks and Friars remained we appointed good Men to inspect and censure false Doctrine and Worship For those also who chose rather to stay than to remove we provided necessary Sustenance and took particular Care that the Aged and Sick should want for nothing there being still some of these Monasteries within our Territories It was a Duty incumbent upon us indeed as Magistrates when once we knew the Truth to abolish false Religion and to take care that these Revenues should not be dissipated especially when the Monks in all places fell away and some of them had thoughts of appropriating the same to their own private Uses Besides there were none to be found in Monasteries fit to labour the Land or to mind domestick Affairs So then their State was changed for we thought it not fit to send for Monks and Friars from other places to put in their room least that might disturb our Churches and therefore we converted good part of their Revenues to pious Uses for maintenance of the Ministers of the Church free Schools and those that are afflicted with Poverty or Sickness And upon these Accounts the Revenues of Monasteries are somewhat impared but what is over and above is kept to be distributed amongst Priests whose Living are too small and poor young Scholars For the state of the Time is such now that by all means Ways ought to be thought on for educating Youth who may prove hereafter fit Instruments to serve both in Church and State. What more remains of these Goods we are ready to assign them to pious and publick Uses according to the Determination of a lawful Council when such shall be or of an Assembly of the Empire For to this Use ought the Goods of the Church to be applied as both the Holy Scripture and the Ancient Canons and Councils do testify Which being so we reciprocally do desire That our Adversaries will suffer those Goods to be applied to the like Uses For now in most Cities the Stipends of the Ministers of Parishes are either none at all or at least very inconsiderable and yet in the mean time the Bishops and other Prelates who enjoy these Possessions discharge no Office neither in Churches nor Schools Wherefore to the great Prejudice of the State publick Schools run daily more and more into Decay Therefore as we said before some Remedy must be found to heal this Wound God made Mankind and appointed Magistrates for that end that in such Assemblies Men should learn the true Knowledge of himself And therefore it is the part of Kings and Princes to take care that so necessary Duties should be performed We for our parts are ready to give Security that within our Territories these Possessions shall be applied to a right and lawful Use provided our Adversaries do the same and that 's but reason since we see idle and debauched Men that are of no use but indeed a Burthen to the State squandering away those Revenues in Luxury and Riot And would to God the Emperor knew all of our Adversaries how that in those places within their Territories where our Churches have yearly Revenues they receive them and keep them for their own Use And when we demand what belongs to us and give them mutually Leave to receive the Rents of their Churches within our Bounds they reject the Offer and are therein supported by the Imperial Chamber However it is a common Proverb That Equality is the Nurse of Peace and if they laid to Heart the Peace and Tranquility of Germany they would not certainly act in the manner they do But the Truth is they spare not their own Churches imposing and demanding new Dues of them And because they banish learned Preachers out of their Countries many Parishes are destitute and solitary and the Church Revenues squandered away Again they so exhaust the Monasteries that in some places it is a Proverb amongst the Monks That there is nothing at all left to them but the Bells to Ring and the Choire to Sing in which gives occasion to Licentiousness and threatens Religion sometime or other with a fatal blow It would be really very acceptable to us if the Emperor would examine the whole matter and dilligently inquire Where it is that the Ministers of the Church are most civilly and kindly used Schools best ordered the Functions and Ministry of the Church most decently performed whether in our Territories or amongst our Adversaries If the Emperor would give himself this trouble we needed not make any Apology to justifie and defend the matter of Fact for the thing it self would speak in our behalf and move him to set about a true Reformation of the Church But now that Cruelty is practised that harmless Priests are put to Death and that there are no limits set to Severity it will come to pass that fit Men being removed out of the way gross Barbarity will ensue and
January where all should be present Afterwards Granvell himself came to Wormes accompanied by the Bishop of Arras his Son and some Spanish Divines Muscosa Malvenda and Carobello where having produced his Commission and the Emperor's Instructions in the Assembly he made a Speech on the Five and Twentieth Day of November And excusing the Emperor and King Ferdinand that they could not be present he enlarged upon the paternal Care and Affection that the Emperor had for the publick who desired nothing more earnestly than that long and inveterate Dissension might be removed which was very pernicious both to Church and State That he made no doubt but they themselves were sensible of the present Calamity and thought it necessary that there should be a Reformation in the Church That nothing therefore would more concern them in Duty than to prevent the spreading of this Evil by their sound and pious Counsels For that as when a Fire broke out in a City it is the Inhabitants part to quench it even so were they now to do that Peace and Concord might be re-established That moreover they should ponder with themselves and set before their Eyes what an Inundation of Evils had by this Dissension broke in upon Germany For that not to mention the Blood and Slaughter Religion was banished Charity quite exstinguished in the Hearts and Minds of Men all the Beauty and Ornament of the ancient Catholick Church defaced and that in short the Eloquence of no Mans Tongue was able to express the greatness and extent of the misery That Germany had heretofore flourished in Zeal for Religion and in all kinds of Vertue but that now it was sadly degenerated and looked upon as the Head and Source of all the Disorders of Christendom That unless then a Remedy were applied to this Distemper all things would grow worse and worse and run to ruine And that as the Emperor had appointed this Conference for examining the Truth and advancing the Glory of God so were they to bring along with them no ambitious nor covetous Minds but pious and moderate Dispositions and look up only to Christ who now with out-stretched Arms desired the same of all of them That that was also the chief desire and wish of the Pope the most August Emperor and King Ferdinand that therefore he adjured them by the Death and Sufferings of Christ and all that was Holy and Sacred that they would mend and make whole again the seamless Coat of our Lord which was rent and torn all over being therein mindful of the Name of Christians which they took upon them in their Holy Baptism and being mindful also of the renowned Province of Germany their common and native Country For that unless they would be reconciled all the Evils that might afterwards ensue from that Obstinacy and Frowardness of Mind would be imputed to them but and if they managed that weighty Affair with Soberness and Modesty they would do God most acceptable Service and extreamly oblige the Emperor who would make it his Endeavours that the whole matter should be accomplished in the next Diet of the Empire After the Death of the Vayvode the Guardians and other Nobles sent Ambassadors to the Grand Seignior and recommended the Child to his Protection The Turk promised to defend him and sent him Presents King Ferdinand also understanding this sent Jerome a Laski who some Years before had Revolted from the Vayvode from Haguenaw to Constantinople as a fit person to make the Turk his Friend Returning afterwards Home he thought it best to begin a War before the Queen Dowager and the Guardians of the Child should be in a readiness Which being known at Constantinople Solyman committed Alaski to Prison as most privy to Ferdinand's Designs and at the same time sent Aid which being hindered by the Winter Weather came a little too late Next Day after Granvell had spoken they began to treat of Clerks and Notaries and on each Side Two were chosen carefully to take Notes of all that pass'd and keep them The Protestants appointed on their part Caspar Cruciger and Wolfgang Musculus both Divines On the Eighth of December after Thomas Campeggio Bishop of Feltri the Popes Legate made a Speech and having promised some things concerning Peace which Christ so much recommended to us and lamented also the Condition of Germany some Popes said he and especially Paul III. had already essayed all Means to have delivered it from this Calamity and had therefore called a Council lately at Vicenza But that when after some Months Expectation none came to it it had been of necessity put off to another time That now the Emperor the eldest and most obedient Son of the Church the Protector also and Advocate of the same had appointed this Conference as a certain preparatory Prelude to the Proceedings of the future Diet at Ratisbone And that with his Will and Consent and by Command of the Pope he was come thither and earnestly intreated them that they would direct all their Counsels to Unity and Concord For that the Pope would do any thing in order thereunto that he could with Safety to Religion The Presidents and Moderators of the Assembly made this Law at first That the Acts of the Conference should not be communicated to any Man unless he were appointed to be one of the Number and that they should not be made publick neither before a full Report of all were made to the Emperor Then they required the Protestants to produce in Writing those Heads of Doctrine which they were fully resolved to stick to There was a long Debate betwixt them about these things as also concerning the Form of the Oath the Number of the Coâ—â—ocutors and the way of giving their Voices For when the Catholicks perceived that the Deputies of the Elector Palatine the Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Cleve favoured the Protestants they were afraid they should be out-voted and therefore purposely drove off the Time from Day to Day until they should have other Orders from the Emperor as shall be said hereafter So then on the Second of January they propounded new and strange Conditions as that Two Divines should be chosen out of the whole Number to reason about the Question proposed That their Arguments and Discourse being taken by the Clerks should be carried to the Presidents That the lesser Number should not be obliged to follow the Opinion of the greater unless the Emperor and States of the Empire decreed it should be so That the Clerks should not write down all the Discourse of the Conferrers but only their bare Opinions whether reconciled or controverted And that nevertheless the Decree of Ausburg and the like should still continue in Force On the contrary The Protestants demanded that since on both sides there were Twenty two appointed for the Conference every one might have Leave to speak their Minds And that not only the bare Opinions but also
the Opinions of all made a new Proposition and recapitulating what had been represented before that the Cause could not be finally determined then that there was present Danger threatned from the Turk in more Places than one and that much Time was already spent told them That he would referr the Matter wholly to the Council which both the Legate had put him in certain Hopes of and he himself would sollicite the Pope about He also promised to return into Germany and desired the Protestants that in the mean time they would not attempt any thing more than what had been agreed upon by the Divines Next he advised the Bishops and other Prelates to take such Courses in rectifying the Abuses of their several Churches as might prepare the Way for a publick Reformation All generally praised the Emperor's good Intentions and were of Opinion that the Pope's Legate also should seriously enjoin the Bishops to purge and reform their Churches The Protestants promised to behave themselves both as to the reconciled Doctrines and every thing else according to their Duty desiring that other Princes might have free Leave to propound those Doctrines in their own Churches also We have already told you that Eckius was sick both of the Book produced by the Emperor and of the Collocutors also When therefore after the Conference it was returned to the Emperor as has been mentioned and the Matter brought into Debate in the Assembly of the Princes He being ill of a Fever sent a Letter to the Princes to this effect That he had never liked that insipid Book wherein he found so many Errors and therefore ought not to be admitted for that the Use and Custom of the Fathers was therein slighted and the Phrase and Cant of Melancthon to be found in it all over That he had not seen the Book as it was corrected by his Collegues and afterwards delivered back to the Emperor but that only some of the Lutheran Doctrines had been read over to him as he lay sick That far less had he approved that Writing which was presented to the Emperor with the Book nor indeed had he ever seen it When this came to the Knowledge of Julius Pflug and John Gropper who thought their Reputation therein concerned they prayed the Presidents and Auditors of the Conference as being Witnesses of all the Proceedings that they would do them right and defend their good Name against the Calumnies of Eckius These inform the Emperor of the Matter who afterwards in a publick Paper gave a fair and honourable Character of both declaring that they had acted as it became good and honest Men. The Cause of Religion we told you before was referred to a general or provincial Council of Germany But when this came to the Knowledge of Contarini he sent a Letter to all the States dated the Twenty sixth of July desiring that the last might be dashed out and cancelled for that Controversies about Religion ought not to be determined by such Councils but that they belonged to the Decision of the universal Church That whatsoever also was determined privately by any one Nation in Matters of that nature was void and of no effect That so they would much gratify the Pope the Head of the Church and Council if they would omit that whereas it would be very troublesom unto him if they did otherwise for that it would give Occasion to more and far greater Scandals as well in other Provinces as chiefly in Germany And that this was the thing he had to acquaint them with from the Pope and in discharge of his own Duty The Princes made Answer the same Day That it lay in the Pope's Power to prevent any Scandals or Troubles upon that Account by calling of a Council which had now for so many Years been promised That if he did not call it and that speedily too the State of Germany was such that there was an absolute Necessity of taking some other Course to make up the Breaches of the Publick which could not subsist longer with Safety in so inveterate a Dissention That therefore they earnestly desired the Pope would apply some Remedy and that he himself according to his Prudence and Candor would promote the Matter The Protestant Divines also in a long Writing refute the Letter of Contarini proving it to belong to every particular Province to establish the true Religion and Worship of God. These Things done the Emperor made a Decree and caused it to be read on the Eight and twentieth of July wherein he referrs the Conference of the Doctors and the whole Affair to a Council to an Assembly either of all Germany or of the States of the Empire In his Progress into Italy he promises to intercede earnestly with the Pope for a Council and that if neither a general nor national Council could be obtained he assured them of an imperial Diet to be called within Eighteen Months for settling the Differences about Religion and that he would use his Endeavours to perswade the Pope to send a Legate to it The Protestants he commanded not to attempt any new thing besides the Articles accommodated and the Bishops also to reform the Vices and Abuses of their Churches There were other Heads in the Decree as Of not demolishing Religious Houses Of not misapplying Church Revenues Of not tampering with one another to make them change their Religion and Of the Jurisdiction and Members of the Imperial Chamber But the Protestants being somewhat dissatisfied with these things the Emperor in a private Paper told them separately what his Intentions therein were That he prescribed no Rule to them in the Points not as yet reconciled That he would not indeed have Religious Houses demolished but that the Monks and Friars should be brought to a pious Reformation That Church-men should in all Places be allowed to enjoy their yearly Revenues without any Respect to the Diversity of Religion That no Person of another Jurisdiction should be allured over to their Religion and much less be defended upon that account but that still they might admit of any Person who should willingly come over unto them Moreover that for Peace and Quietness Sake he suspended the Decree of Ausburg as far as it concerned Religion and all Processes that were doubtful whether they related to Religion or not in like manner all Proscriptions and namely that of Goslar until the Matter should be determined in some Council or Diet That no Man should be excluded from the Imperial Chamber for differing in Religion but that Justice should be indifferently administred to all When they had obtained this Grant from the Emperor under Hand and Seal they promised Assistance against the Turk of whose Approach there was fresh News daily brought besides there were Ambassadors come both from Hungary and Austria who earnestly begged for Aid wherefore there was a present Supply of Germans sent into Hungary under the Command of
Christ which nevertheless suits neither with the Doctrine nor Name of Christ Not with his Doctrine because he forbids us to resist Evil or to revenge a Wrong nor with his Name neither because in so great Armies there is hardly perhaps Five true Christians to be found most of them being worse than the Turks themselves whilst in the mean time all take to themselves that Name which indeed is an Affront and Injury done to Christ when his Name is in this manner defamed and vilified and would be far more if the Pope and Bishops carried Arms also and marched out into the Field with the rest For since it is their peculiar Office to resist the Devil by the Word of God and Prayer it is very undecent that they should leave that Station and make use of Sword and Pistol that ought to be the Care of the civil Magistrate and the Offices are distinct But it is now long since the Popes invented those things though they be forbid to do it by the Laws and Canons of our Ancestors How unsuccessful have Wars hitherto been for wrongfully arrogating the Name of Christ the thing it self makes it manifest since Rhodes and the best part of Hungary being now lost we have the Turk at our very Doors And how unlucky it is to have the Confederacy of Papists in a War may be seen by the Battle of Varna and the Overthrow of King Ladislaus who was perswaded by Cardinal Julian to engage the Enemy It may be seen also by the late Overthrow received Two Years since when King Lowis miserably perished Having made this Preface he came to the Matter it self saying That God was in the first to be reconciled and enjoining the Ministers of the Church to exhort Men to Repentance Afterwards he lays open the Religion and Impiety of the Turks and says That it properly belongs to the Emperor to make War against them not for Revenge Vain-glory or Profit but out of Duty that he may defend his Subjects from Injury That the Emperor was not to be excited to this War neither as being the Head of Christendom Protector of the Church and Defender of the Faith since these were false and vain-glorious Titles and injurious to Christ who alone defends his own Church And that the Injury was the greater in that most part of Kings and Princes were sworn Enemies to the true Religion That therefore the Turk was to be fought against and resisted not because he is of different Religion but because he Robs and Spoils carries on a most unjust War and brings along with him the Examples of a most foul and shameful Life Then comparing both together he affirms that the Roman Papacy is no better than Turcism and that as the Turk by his Alcoran so the Pope by his Decretals hath extinguished the Light of the Gospel That what he does by open Force the Pope does the same by his Curse and Excommunication That both lay a Reproach upon Marriage and are punished saith he for the Contempt of the Law of God which institutes Matrimony when being wholly rejected of God they burn in filthy Lusts and most flagitiously invert the Order of Nature Lastly speaking of the Power of the Turks he advises them not to be secure but war circumspectly as knowing that they had to do with the cruelest of Enemies These and the like Points of Doctrine were the Subject of that Book we mentioned But now when at the Perswasion of the Emperor and King Ferdinand the States of the Empire had decreed a War against the Turk he published another Treatise a Military-Sermon as I said that the Ministers of the Church who followed the Camp as is common might have some Form set before them of Teaching and Exhorting The first thing then saith he is that Men understand what they are to think of the Turk For the Scripture prophesieth of Two cruel Tyrants who are to lay wast and plague the Christian World before the last Day of Judgment the one by false Doctrine of whom Daniel and after him St. Paul speaks and this is the Pope of Rome And the other by Force and Arms to wit the Turk of whom Daniel speaks in his Seventh Chapter Let those therefore who will be Christians put on Resolution and expect no Peace no quiet Life for the future for that time of Trouble and Misery which he foretold is now come But let us comfort our selves with the Hopes of Christ's coming and our future Deliverance which will appear presently after these Afflictions and let us know for a certain that all the Rage and Malice of the Devil is fully poured out upon us by the Turk for no Tyrant hitherto ever raged as he doth Then he expounds the Seventh Chapter of Daniel about the Four Beasts coming out of the Sea and proves the Turkish Empire to be signified thereby For this is that little Horn says he which sprang up amongst those Ten Horns of the Fourth Beast And though it be grown to a great bigness yet it can never reach to the Power of the Roman Empire for the Prophet there describes only Four Empires which were to succeed in order that the last of them was the Roman Monarchy Therefore there shall never be another that can compare with the Roman in greatness And because Daniel assigns it only Three Horns which it is to pluck out from among those Ten its Force and Power will not proceed much farther For those Three Horns are long since pluck'd off being Greece Asia and Aegypt which three vast Provinces of the Empire the Turk now possesses and is by the Prophet confined within those Limits so that it is to be hoped that he 'll not hereafter make himself Master of any other Province of the Empire But now that he makes a Bustle in Hungary and is ready to invade Germany it is the last Act of the Tragedy He may possibly indeed get some Footing in those Provinces but it is not to be thought that he can peaceably enjoy them as he doth Asia Greece and Aegypt for the Prophecy is manifest and plain After this he handleth all the other parts inviteth all chiefly to Repentance and readily to obey the Magistrate who calls for their Service in this War against the Turk exhorting them not only to venture their Fortunes but even their Lives and Persons upon that account he uses also many Arguments to comfort the Slaves who were already under the Power of the Turks or might be taken by them thereafter and admonishes them to have a special Care they be not allured by that specious and painted Religion of the Turks For that he was told many Christians of their own accord made Defection to that Religion because it had a kind of shew of Probity and Holiness That they should patiently bear their Bondage and faithfully serve their Masters though Wicked and Profane not running away from them nor putting Hand on themselves through Impatience for the
and Rink chanced to be missing That however his Holiness himself who was chosen to be Umpire betwixt them was a Witness of his Willingness to have satisfied him in that Particular That this was the Pretext then he now used for raising new Troubles and Commotions in Christendom though it was long since he intended it That it was well enough known what Fregoso and Rink had by his Orders attempted in Italy and Turkey and what Services they had often done him That they went about to betray Christendom into extream Danger so that they had no right to the Peace of Nice who violated the publick Peace That again they scudded privily through Lombardie with a Train of Banditi's a Crime that 's capital by the Law and Custom of that Country That the Marquess of Pescara was heavily accused by him and yet he had offered to stand a Trial for it but that it was not unknown why he refused that and rejected other Satisfactions also That for his part when he thought he had been satified he passed over into Barbary and sent an Ambassador into France to recommend to him the publick Peace but that at the same time he gave the fairest Promises he was attempting several things against him in Germany Denmark and other places and laid a Design of invading Navarr That afterwards his Ambassadors at the Diet of Spire had made it their whole Business to foment the Difference of Religion promising each Party severally their Masters Frienship and Favour That he had endeavoured to disswade the States of the Empire from the Turkish War sollicited the Grand Seignior sent Forces into Italy caused Martin van Rossem in Brabant and Flanders and the Duke of Orleans in Luxemburg to make War against him before any Denunciation and then bent all the rest of his Forces towards the Frontiers of Spain That this forsooth was the Fruit of his Holiness's Tenderness who had indulged him in so many things and so often exhorted him to Peace That he should also suffer the Archbishop of Valentia to be detained Prisoner by him and several Noble-Men of Spain to be abused and affronted by the French in Avignon was in all Conscience too great a Forbearance That now therefore he must be forced to stand upon his own Defence at a time when he had least Fear of him by reason of his large and most ample Promises when he was preparing for the Turkish War and upon that account to return into Germany That the Injury and Damage was indeed great which he had done within his Territories and he and his Subjects both suffered by it but that he was not so much moved thereat as at the publick Calamity of Christendom for that as to his own private Concerns since he was always shuffling and breaking his Agreements it were far better for him to have open War than to trust to any Truce or Conditions which upon every light Occasion he could break and annul That Peace with him was for the most part a Snare since it was his Course in the mean time to hatch new Counsels pernicious to the Publick cherish and foment Factions and to make it his chief Study to disable him from resisting the Turks by harassing and tiring him out and exhausting him by Charges That this being his own Temper he made it his Care to bread his Children in the same Nature and Discipline That his Ambition and Covetousness was now grown to such a Hight that it could no longer be concealed That as his Ancestors had usurped Provence which belonged to the Empire so now also he held Savoy and part of Piedmont which he so fortified as made it apparent enough he had no mind to restore them That it had been his Design not only to invade Lombardy but Parma and Piacenza too then Luka and Siena and afterward the Patrimony of St. Peter that so he might have a Passage open into Naples and Sicily That there was no Doubt but his Project reached so far and that it might easily be gathered from the Designs and Stratagems he had on Foot in Italy That in short there was no Bounds to be set to his excessive Ambition nor was it ever to be thought that he would stand to any Agreement so long as there remained any thing for others to lose or for him to take For that he was so transported with this Disease and Restlesness of Mind as with a violent Calenture That forgeting all Religion and Piety he had made a League with the Turk and joined not only his Counsels but Fortunes also with the Enemy of Christendom making at this present mighty Braggs that Barbarossa with a Fleet would quickly be upon our Coasts That his Holiness in his own Prudence ought to consider if these were Courses to heal the Divisions of Christendom and begin a Council with That it had always been the Endeavours of the French King that no Council should be held as thinking it would prove prejudicial to his private Affairs Wherefore so soon as he had perceived that he had taken other Measures for composing the Differences about Religion in Germany and had therein Respect only to the Glory of God and the Honour and Dignity of the Church That therefore it was to be imputed to the French King who had always hindered and not to him who had taken so much Labour and Pains about a Council that there was not one sooner call'd That if then his Holiness were disposed to help afflicted Christendom he ought in Duty to declare himself an Enemy to him who was the Author of all the Disorder and Calamity who invited and allured in the Turk against Christendom and who left nothing unattempted whereby he might satiate his Ambition and boundless Revenge For that since the chief Care of Christianity belonged to him by virtue of his Pastoral Office the thing it self required that he should not suffer him to proceed any longer in these disorderly Courses but declare himself his Enemy That if he would do so it would not only be an Act most acceptable to all good Men but would prove of singular Use also for containing all other Kings within the Bounds of Duty For that it was the only Way to have a Council meet Peace restored and the Troubles of Christendom settled wherein if his Holiness did his duty he for his Part would not be wanting The End of the Fourteenth Book THE HISTORY OF THE Reformation of the Church BOOK XV. The CONTENTS The Pope attempts in vain to make Peace betwixt the Emperor and French King. A hot War betwixt England and Scotland The French King suppresses a Sedition at Rochell In the Diet of Nurimberg Granvell in the Emperor's Name demands assistance against the French King who in a very long Manifest answers the Emperor's Letter Langey dieth Francis Landre and de Pensier make a publick Recantation Mention made of Marot by the bye Bucer Preaches at Bonn. The Pope offers to buy the Dutchy of
Savoy to all that he had taken from him That the French King should also keep Hesdin And that the Emperor should use all his Endeavours to procure a Peace betwixt England and France That as to the Duke of Cleve since the King and Queen of Navarre did affirm that their Daughter never consented to that Marriage but on the contrary had protested against it in the solemn and usual manner the French King should within Six Weeks send that Protestation to the Emperor that he might consider what was to be done In this Peace were comprehended the Pope King Ferdinand the Kings of Portugal Poland and Denmark the Venetians and Switzers the Dukes of Savoy Lorrain Florence Ferrara Mantua and Vrbin the States of Genoa Luca and Siena the Princes Electors and States of the Empire that were obedient to the Emperor The Peace being concluded the Emperor dismissed his Forces and returned home from Soissons All Men wondered at this Pacification for the Emperors familiar Friends promised themselves certain Victory before the Emperor took the Field and bragg'd that within a few Months France should be their own or at least the King become Tributary having Three such powerful Enemies against him the Emperor the Empire and the King of England The End of the Fifteenth Book THE HISTORY OF THE Reformation of the Church BOOK XVI The CONTENTS The Pope writes to the Emperour admonishing and expostulating with him sharply threatens his first-begotten Son and the same year promotes a great many new Cardinals A Council is again called The Clergy and Colledge of Cologne once more vigorously withstand their Archbishop Peter Bruly having preached the Reformed Religion at Tournay is therefore burnt alive The Divines of Paris assemble at Melun During the Diet at Wormes wherein many things are handled they of Merindolle and Cabrieres commonly called the Waldeneses are miserably harassed and at length turn'd out of all Though the Pope had called a Council yet he is wholly bent upon a War against the Protestants Luther publishes a little Book wherein he sets him off in his colours Grignian is sent Embassadour to the Protestants that he may perswade them to approve the Council The Emperour cites the Archbishop of Cologne to appear before him A hot War between the Kings of England and France The Duke of Orleans dies A War breaks out betwixt Henry Duke of Brunswick and the Landgrave wherein the latter prevails The Elector Palatine embraces the Reformed Religion Rumour of War against the Protestants is spread abroad A Conference appointed at Ratisbonne about matters of Religion This being broken up a Council is called at Trent and the Sessions begin Luther in the mean time dies IN the heat of War the Pope sends Letters to the Emperour bearing date August 23. acquainting him that he had an account of what nature the Decrees were which he had lately made at Spire but that in discharge of his own Duty and for the love he bore to him he could not dissemble his thoughts concerning them and that the Example of Eli the High-Priest was a warning to him to do so whom God severely punished for his too great indulgence to his Sons That in the same manner since these Decrees tended to the danger of his own Soul and great disturbance of the Church he could not but give him this Admonition First then that he should not leave the uniform practice of the Church nor customs of his Forefathers but carefully observe the same Discipline Method and Rule which Method is that when any Debate happens about Religion the whole Decision ought to be referred to the Church of Rome Whereas he lately in appointing a General and National Council and a Diet of the Empire had had no regard to him who by Divine and Humane Right hath alone power of calling Councils and determining matters of Religion Nor was that all he was to be blamed for but also that he allowed not only private men but even the Asserters of damned Heresies to judge of Religion that he gave judgment concerning Ecclesiastical Possessions and the Controversies that arose about them that he restored to Honours and Dignity such as were out of the Communion of the Church and long ago condemned by his own Edicts without the consent of those who persevered in their ancient Allegiance and Religion Did these things agree with the sacred Laws and Ordinances Nay rather did they not overturn all Discipline and Order That it was his opinion however that these things proceeded not from himself but that ill affected persons out of the hatred they bore to the Church of Rome had counselled and sollicited him to give some signe of his aversion to the same but that it grieved him the more to see that he should be drawn in and perswaded by them in that he clearly perceived the prejudice it carried along with it would be greater both to himself and the Church unless he repented That this his fear also grew greater and greater when he considered who the persons were with whom he had contracted friendship for that as ill company corrupts good manners so also it was very dangerous to make Alliances with wicked and vicious men That he made no doubt but they had used specious pretext to him since there is no counsel so bad but may be varnished over with some plausible colour but that in truth he who searches the Scriptures will meet with many and famous instances of the wrath and vengeance of God against those who had usurped to themselves the Offices of the High-Priest That Adversaries object Negligence to Priests as an odious crime and make use of that as a Spur to incite Princes whilst they exhort them to undertake the care and conduct of Religion a thing indeed that seems fair and laudable but which has no foundation in reason to support it That as in private houses the Master of the Family allotted to every one their several businesses and would not suffer any to set about the work of another lest Order might thereby be disturbed so also in the Church which is the house of God every one had his duty assigned to him which he was to discharge so that it was undecent that Inferiours should take upon them the Offices of Superiours and that that was so much the more to be observed by how much the Church surpasses any other house in greatness and glory That seeing then the chief Office of the Church is by God recommended to Priests it was a great injury in him to act their parts and take upon him their honour That it was known what happened to Uza who put his hand to hold up the Cart wherein the Ark of God was which was tottering and ready to fall That no man but would think he had done right when in the absence of the Levites he lent a hand to support the Cart which was in danger of falling Nevertheless that God's striking of him with a sudden death was
a document to us how careful we ought to be not to invade the Provinces of others That therefore he should take heed lest at the perswasion of those who had always in their mouths the Reformation of the Church he should rashly put his hand to those things which peculiarly belonged to the Priests The like and more grievous also was the end of Dathan Abirom and Core when they disputed the Authority of Moses and his Brother Aaron That Ozias was a renowned King and yet God struck him with Leprosie because he would offer Incense at the Altar thereby avenging upon him the usurpation of another mans Office. That the care of the Churches was indeed an Office most acceptable to God however that it did not belong to him but to the Priests and chiefly to himself to whom God had given the power of binding and loosing Nor was it pertinent what he said that these Laws were not perpetual but temporary and only to continue till the meeting of a Council For though the design might be pious yet by reason of the person it became impious That it was God's part to call bad Priests to an account to whom men ought to refer them and not to attempt any thing besides That God had signally crowned those Princes with honour and blessings who assisted the Head of the Church the See of Rome and who rendered that love and duty which is due to the Priesthood as may be seen in Constantine the Great the Theodosius's Charlemaigne c. but that such as did otherwise were afflicted with most grievous punishments nor did he mean Nero Domitian and others of that stamp who endeavoured to stifle the Church in its infancy but such as withstood her when she was grown up and the Chair of St. Peter setled In which number were Anastasius the first Mauritius Constans the second Philip Leo and many more who being turn'd out and stript of all ended their days in ignominy and disgrace That Henry the Fourth because he had behaved himself unworthily towards him whom he ought to have reverenced as a Father was by his own Son taken and made to suffer for it at Liege That Frederick the Second a grievous Enemy of the Church of Rome was killed by his own Son. That nevertheless Rebels were not always afflicted and punished but did sometimes flourish in wealth and prosperity which came to pass as the Fathers say lest that if all wicked men were punished here it might be thought that God reserved to himself no Tribunal hereafter That there was no sin indeed that went unpunished but that it was the most grievous effect of the wrath of God when they that sin think they may do it freely and that these were in a deplorable and truly wretched condition because they went on continually heaping sin upon sin That in the same manner not only single men but even Countries and Provinces have been punished which either rejected Christ or refused to obey his Vicar That two people especially the Jews to wit and the Greeks confirm'd this clearly to us by their calamities and sufferings of whom the former put to death the Son of God and the latter more than one way slighted his Vicegerent That therefore if God manifested his wrath against them for crimes and attempts of that nature he had much more reason to be afraid if he should design any such thing seeing he sprung from those Emperours who had received as much honour from the Church of Rome as they had conferred upon her That his words however were not so to be taken as if he thought any such thing was intended by him or that he did not most earnestly desire the Controversie might be made up but only that he was concerned and sollicitous for his danger That some Priests of old having referred to Constantine the Great the decision of their Law-suits and Causes he had rejected it and would not undertake to judge those who had power to judge all men that these were the footsteps he should follow That in wishing to see an end made of all Controversies and a Reformation in the Church he did what was extreamly laudable that as to that he prayed him to lend him his assistance to whom God had committed the care and administration of those affairs That he might indeed make himself an Assistant but not the Head and chief Administrator That he was most desirous of a publick Reformation as he had made it oftener than once appear by calling Councils whensoever there was the least glimpse of hope that they could meet and that though hitherto all that he had done that way was in vain yet still he had omitted nothing on his part for effecting the same That he wished to see a Council for the sake of the publick but chiefly of Germany which was rent and torn with various Jars and Divisions but that it grieved him that he should use the counsels of those who had been long ago condemned even by his own Sentence nor did he therefore grieve because he would have them for ever barred from his friendship but because they became more rash and insolent by that Indulgence of his That since there was no way of curing the Evil but one to wit a Council therefore they must betake themselves to that That then he should make way to the calling of it and restore the so-much-desired Peace to the People of Christ or at least restrain all Hostilities in the mean time until the publick safety should be consulted about since Consultation and Debate was to be used rather than Force and Arms which being laid aside all things would succeed as they ought That there was a Council already called a good while ago though because of the Wars it had been put off till a more convenient time That he would use his endeavours with other Princes especially with him with whom he was in War that they should do the like That he should therefore comply with his Admonitions and as he held the place of his first-begotten Son embrace the sound counsels of his Father tred in the foot-steps of his Ancestors not deviating from the right way nor assuming to himself any right or authority in the management and handling of sacred matters that he should exclude all disputations about Religion from the Diets and Assemblies of the Empire and refer them to his Tribunal Nor should he neither meddle with the Revenues of the Church but lay down Arms and bring matters to a peace and accommodation or if there were no other way of obtaining peace that he should submit the whole Controversie and cause of the War to the arbitrement and decision of the Council Lastly that he should wholly rescind and annul what with too much lenity and easiness he had granted to those Rebels and Enemies of the See of Rome for that otherwise he must unless he would be wanting to his own duty be forced to the great detriment of the Church
Apostles Ceeed Lastly They pray the King to give credit to their relation for that if any other report be made of their Belief and Doctrine they offer to prove it false provided they may be heard The King was then engaged in a War and therefore the Matter rested but Peace being made it broke out again and at the instigation of some flamed into this so hainous a cruelty Mention was made before of the Spaniards whom the Emperour had sent into Winter-Quarters in Lorrain These having done a great deal of mischief in those places by orders from the Emperour take the Field in the Month of April and having marched to Strasbourg and passed the Rhine there they advance through Shwabia into Austria to the number of Three thousand Foot. At this time died Louis Duke of Bavaria the Brother of William leaving no Issue behind him for it had been agreed betwixt them that he should not Marry that the Inheritance might not be dismembred Great friendship and familiarity past betwixt him and Henry Duke of Brunswick For as we said they were the chief of the League made against the Protestants and the Duke of Brunswick being driven out of his Countrey fled first to him The Emperour came now to Wormes May the sixteenth and next day Cardinal Farnese I dare not affirm what the cause of this Man's coming was but it was certainly thought that he came to stir up a War against the Lutherans He acted indeed nothing publickly nor in his way from Rome did he pass through the Duke of Wirtemberg's Countrey but resting sometime at Delinghen a Town upon the Danube belonging to the Cardinal of Ausbourg he struck off another way King Ferdinand had written to the Duke of Wirtembourg that for his sake he would give him safe conduct and be civil to him to which the Duke made answer that he had rather indeed he had taken any other way but that nevertheless if he had a mind to pass through his Countrey for his sake he should be welcome But he as we said took another way and came to Wormes the day after the Emperour arrived The Emperour having made Peace with the King of France sollicited also some other Potentates that they would assist at the ensuing Council and taking that occasion his Embassadour whom he sent to the King of Poland declared to him That for many Years now past it had been the Emperour's chief care that all Christians in the World would undertake a common War against the Turk and that now almost all were inclinable to it but that the Controversie about Religion was the only hindrance to the same now that that might be removed and that the desire of the Protestants might be satisfied who still insisted upon a Council after much pains and care the Emperour had now procured a Council to be called at Trent That therefore he besought him that he would send his Embassadours thither who by their presence might honour that solemn Assembly and confirm the Decrees that should be made therein concerning religious matters But that because the Emperour thought that the Protestants who were always obstinate would neither forsake the Confession of Ausbourg nor yet obey the publick Decrees the thing it self required that Kings and Princes should interpose and unless they did obey fall upon them as the disturbers both of Church and State Now seeing he amongst others had the reputation of a Pious and Christian King it was the Emperour's desire that he would both think of the Turkish War and subscribe to the Council of Trent and that if the Protestants returned not to their Duty he would assist him with Council and Force which other Kings had likewise promised to do The King of Poland's answer was That he longed to see that day when Christian Kings and Princes putting an end to all civil and intestine Wars would convert their united Forces against the Turk and that then he should not be the last That as to the Council and Protestants he would do any thing that might conduce to the tranquility of Church and State nor would he be wanting on occasion to assist the Emperour his Friend and Allie in his greatest dangers At that time it was written from Rome That though the Pope had called the Council and sent his Legates already to Trent yet he was so desirous of a Lutheran War that he had promised an assistance of Twelve thousand Foot and Five hundred Horse that Captains and other Officers were also secretly listed by him but when it was represented to him that the Season was too far spent for doing any important Action and that another occasion was to be expected he had presently communicated the same to his Commanders and put them in hopes against the next Year On Whitsun-munday an Italian Franciscan Fryer preached before the Emperour King Ferdinand Cardinal Farnese the Bishop of Ausbourg Granvell c. and in his Sermon digressing to the Lutherans after he had bitterly inveighed against them It is time said he most powerful Emperour that at length you do your Duty too long indeed have you delayed the business ought to have been done long since God has honoured you with great Blessings and made you the Defender of his Church wherefore exert your strength and utterly destroy that pestilent sort of Men. For it is not fit they should longer see the Sun who so defile and confound all things nor must you say it shall be done for now even now I say it ought to be done and no delay interposed How many thousand Souls do you think are in daily danger of eternal damnation through their madness all which unless you apply a Remedy God will require at your hands It is said that Granvell was offended at that alarm either that he counterfeited displeasure or that he perceived it gave the Protestants a warning to be upon their guard Not many days after that Sermon Cardinal Farnese departed secretly in the night-time and made all hast back to Rome Much about the same time was published Luther's Book written in the Vulgar Language with this Title Against the Papacy of Rome constituted by Satan in which Book he first answers the Pope's Brief wherein in a high strain he dehorted the Emperour from medling with the Administration of Religion as we mentioned before then he most amply refutes those places of Scripture which the Pope makes use of for the confirmation of his Supremacy and retorts them upon him He put a Picture before his Book which plainly represented the Subject thereof The Pope sitting in a lofty Chear stretching forth his joyned Hands in solemn pomp but with the Ears of an Ass a great many Devils of various shapes surround him of which some set a triple Crown upon his Head with a Sir-reverence on the top of it others with Ropes let him down into the middle of Hell looking dreadfully underneath others bring Wood and
of Rome and Council he excused his Master's absence offered them his Labour and Services in his Name and withal told them that the distance of Place and difficulty of the Journey was the cause why the Bishops whom the Emperour had ordered to come from Spain were not yet arrived This was done during the Diet of Wormes mentioned above The Cardinals Legates return him answer That though they never questioned the Emperour's Piety yet his Speech had been very acceptable to them and that since the Pope the true Vicar of Christ and Successor of Peter the Prince of the Apostles had with the advice of the Emperour called that Council for curing the publick Evils and especially those of Germany they hoped that the Emperour would take care that nothing should be determined concerning Religion at Wormes but that all things be referred to the Council for that that was a Matter that highly concerned both the peace of his Conscience and his Reputation But that if it should happen otherwise not only the ancient Custom of the Church but the Law of God and Man also would be violated a pernicious Precedent introduced and the Dignity of the Council utterly vilified that as for himself his person and presence was very acceptable unto them However since most part of the Members were late in coming there was nothing done that Year unless that in the Advent which is the time immediately preceding the Birth of Christ some Monks preached to the Fathers according to the usual custome The Pope also in his Bull of Indulgences emitted the Thirteenth of December bewails the Misery of the Times which he affirms to be so great by reason of over-spreading Heresies that all the pains labour and care that possibly he can and does take does not all satisfie himself that therefore he had called a Council that the Wounds of the Church which wicked Hereticks had made might be healed that now seeing the salvation of all men depends upon it and then that the Fathers of the Council assisted by other mens Prayers may be the more acceptable to God He exhorts all and every one that forthwith they betake themselves to Repentance confess their Sins to a Priest three days a Week subdue the Flesh by fasting and the same days be present at Divine Service or if their Health do not allow it that they bestow something on the Poor That the poorer sort say often over their Pater noster and then receive the Sacrament To those that obey he grants Free Pardon and Remission of Sins and commands all Bishops to declare the same to the People The seventh of January after when the number of the Bishops was encreased the Council commenced And when they were all met in the chief Church after Mass the Cardinal-Legates whom we named read a Speech to the Fathers telling them that for three causes the Council was called That Heresies might be rooted out the Discipline of the Church restored and Peace resetled That the blame of the present Calamities ought to be imputed to the Clergy for that no Man did his Duty nor minded God's Husbandry as he ought and that therefore Heresies were sprung up like Briers and that though they themselves had raised no Heresie yet because they had not laboured the Land sowed the good Seed and rooted out the growing Tares they were in the same fault that they should look about them and every one examine his own Conscience whether or not he had done his Duty that certainly all the blame lay at their doors that the Discipline of the Church was neglected That a third Evil was War and that this was a punishment inflicted by God for the neglect of Religion and Discipline that the Church was now afflicted not onely with Turkish and Foreign Arms but also with Domestick and Civil whilest either Kings themselves were at War or they who had made defection from their own Pastors confounded all Order and made havock of the Goods of the Church That they themselves had given occasion to all these Evils when through Avarice and Ambition they had introduced into the World most pernicious Principles of living That therefore God's Judgment was just in smiting them so at this time and that yet the punishment was far less than what they had deserved that happy were they indeed who suffered for Righteousness-sake but that they could pretend to no such thing who deserved a far more heavy Judgment That all and every one then should confess their Faults and study to appease the Wrath of God for that unless they acknowledge them there was no hopes of amendment and then it was in vain to hold a Council and in vain also to implore the Grace and Assistance of the Holy Ghost That it was truly a great Blessing of God that he had given occasion of beginning a Council whereby as Jerusalem of old after a long Captivity so the Church after a long and violent Storm being brought into a safe Harbour might be repaired That Esdras Nehemiah and the rest of the leaders when they were returned home seriously admonished the People of Israel that confessing their own and the sins of their Forefathers they should implore the Mercy of God that the same Example was to be imitated by them that there were men in those days who hindred and laughed at the Jews who were repairing Jerusalem that in this Age also there would not be wanting those that would endeavour and do the same thing and that because they bore the Office of Judges they must have a care not to be swayed by Passions and Affections but to lay aside all hatred and friendship not to determine any thing for the love or favour of man nor flatter the ears or desires of any but to ascribe all Glory and Honour to God alone for that all Ranks and Orders of Men had strayed from the way nor was there any that did good no not one That the eyes of God himself and his Angels were upon this Assembly and that the thoughts of no man's heart could be hid from them That they should then act with sincerity and that those Bishops who were sent by Kings and Princes should indeed obey their Instructions but have in the first place the Fear of God before them and not be biassed either by love or hatred for that since it was for the sake of Peace they were met all Faction and Contention should be banished After this Oration was made the Decree of the Session was next read by John Fonseca a Spaniard Bishop of Castrimarino Therein all that profess the Christian Religion are admonished to reform their Lives to fear God often confess their Sins frequent the Churches and pray for the Publick Peace That Bishops and all other Priests be diligent at their Prayers and every Lord's Day at least say Mass and pray for the Pope the Emperour and the whole State of Christendome that they also fast and
for a certain he understands Religion To which the Emperour again replied To bring in a new Faith and Religion is not to reform an old Nor does he profess said the Landgrave to have embraced any new Religion but to have restored the ancient and true one as it was left unto us by Christ and his Apostles that he hath turned out some and promoted others to Cures in the Church is a Duty belonging to his Charge for if a Minister be either of a scandalous life and conversation or unlearned it is certainly the Bishops part to substitute a fit man in his place there are a great many vacant Churches in the Bishops Lands as I can affirm where for want of Pastors the People are neither taught nor ruled but lead a dissolute and barbarous Life liker to Beasts than Men. That he intercepts some of the Revenues of the Clergy he gives this reason That he had contributed a great deal of Money to the maintaining of the War against the Turk and French now it is the custom of the Empire for Magistrates to lay Taxes upon their Subjects on such occasions and that therefore he was not to be blamed but as it is commonly given out that he does it upon a religious account that is a malicious Aspersion of his Enemies to render him odious Next day the Landgrave Granvell Naves and Masbachen met at the Elector Palatine's Lodgings There Naves begins the discourse repeats somewhat of the Conference the day before with the Emperour declares the reason of their present meeting and shews that when the Emperour out of his earnest desire of peace and concord had appointed a Conference at Ratisbonne the Divines had of themselves broken up and departed To this the Landgrave made answer That he knew nothing as yet of their departure but that they had written to the Elector of Saxony and himself what uneasie Conditions were proposed to them when the Presidents would neither suffer them in the beginning to have Clarks exhibit any Copy of the Proceedings nor to send home any account of them that he did hear also how immodestly the conferring Monks behaved themselves who not only recinded what had been agreed upon before took away all hopes of agreement but also gave scandal and offence by their leud Lives and Conversation that he did not as yet know whether or not his Deputies were therefore gone but that he had not recalled them Next spoke Granvell and having premised some things concerning the Emperour's good intentions and desire of peace he partly excuses what was objected touching the Conditions of the Conference nevertheless that they were forbid to write home what they thought fit to be imparted was a thing he said they had no orders for from the Emperour But the Landgrave having pray'd them to wave those things and come to the matter in hand makes mention of that Decree made two Years before at Spire concerning Peace and the Administration of Justice urging chiefly a Provincial Council of Germany as the fittest means for setling and quieting Religion and because the Italians Spaniards and French differed so much from the Germans in the matter of Doctrine it was his opinion that a General or as they call it an Oecumenical Council would be but of little use but let things happen as they pleased whether a reconciliation could or could not be effected that yet the Decree of Spire ought not to be recinded that the state of Religion was such now in Germany that if any attempted to bear it down by force it would cost many and many a thousand Lives which would redound to the great loss of the Emperour whose Power was mightily encreased by the Forces of Germany and to the no small Joy and Benefit of other Nations and especially the Turks our Enemies The Decree of Spire was suited to the times said Granvell and it was none of the Emperour's fault that it had not its effect but that it was well enough known at whose door it lay In Private and National Councils Vices and Manners only are reformed but not a word of Faith and Religion Now there is nothing but Sects and Divisions when all Men have not the same thoughts in matters of Faith so that to the Debates of this Nature not only the Germans but all other morose Christians also have a just right That most part of Divines are a morose awkward and obstinate sort of Men unfit to dispatch any business that therefore Princes and Great Men ought to be admitted and some middle way found out of according Doctrines nor do you yourselves allow a liberty of Religion since they who differ from you in Opinion are imprisoned and fined Now though the Emperour be above all things desirous of agreement yet he cannot grant any thing that is impious for if all things were left to the disposal of the promiscuous multitude the chief Magistrate himself could no longer be safe It is unwisely done in me said the Landgrave to speak of such weighty Matters in the absence of my Associates However since there is no body here upon the catch I will go on I think that the Decree of Spire was made by the Emperour with a very good intent and since our Adversaries promised then to comply with it they ought not now to retract In the next place because we gave the Emperour good assistance against the French King we hope that what was then granted and confirmed under Hand and Seal is not to be violated Now there is nothing that ought to put a stop to a National Council do we not profess the same Faith that the Apostles that the Nicene Council and Athanasius professed and are not our Divines agreed about the chief Points of Faith There was indeed some dispute amongst them concerning the Lord's Supper but that is now quite hushed there is none but confesses that the Body and Bloud of Christ is really there received There are Anabaptists Davidians and I know not who besides but those are punished by Law there is no need then that foreign Nations should also be present when these things are determined though if they proposed to themselves the knowledge of the truth that were chiefly also to be wished that certain middle Opinions were established and that by Men of Honour and Quality I am not much against it but do not think that it can well be done without Divines However make no doubt but that if the pure Doctrine of the Gospel were preached the Sacrament given in both kinds and Church-men allowed to marry as Paphnutius of old urged in the Council a reconciliation might be accomplished I know no place where men are forced to be of our Religion we do not indeed suffer a variety or diversity of Doctrine in one and the same place but we compel no man nor upon that account deprive any of Life or Goods Now if men of our Religion were suffered to
live quietly and allowed their Churches apart in your Dominions I should be content for my own part to allow the same liberty to those of your Perswasion throughout all my Territories but because you will by no means grant that we also are willing that there should be an equality in those matters what then I said before of the Decree of Spire and a Council of Germany I say again that I look upon it as the best course that can be taken There is no man living a greater lover of Religion than the Emperour said Granvell nor will he for fear or favour of the Pope step the least out of the way of Equity and Justice nay he hath also observed the Decree of Spire notwithstanding the other Party and the Pope too were highly offended thereat for which reason also the Hier Naves and I lie under envy and ill will enough But now in a National Council I cannot see who is like to be the Judge for all men do not understand the Scripture in the same sence and because there seems to be but little hopes in a Conference other ways certainly are to be thought on some Points are setled indeed already but again many are still under controversie and then Bucer gives a larger interpretation to the Points adjusted than the thing it self will bear Now if men go on at that rate it may be easily judged what state Germany will be reduced to You tell very acceptable News said the Landgrave when you say that the Emperour is not at all influenced by the Pope and would to God he might bring the Pope to know his duty Heretofore the Bishops of Rome honoured the Emperour as their chief Magistrate but now Emperours are bound to them by an Oath of Obedience In all Controversies the Word of God ought chiefly to be the Judge which is not obscure provided the mind of man would submit to it For it lays Sin open before us invites us to Repentance and Amendment of Life and offers to us Christ who took away the Sins of the World in whose Name also we are to pray to God the Father that he would bestow his holy Spirit upon us This is the Faith and Doctrine which hath always continued in the Church as the Lord's Prayer the Apostles Creed and several Hymns and Songs about the Benefits of Christ that are used in Churches do sufficiently demonstrate Nor is it to be minded here what the Opinion of the greatest part is but what is true For when at Jerusalem most of the Apostles and Disciples would have had the Gentiles to whom the Gospel was preached circumcised Peter only and Paul James and Barnabas were of a contrary opinion and having convinced the rest of their error abolished that yoke of the Law at which time the greatest part of the Assembly was over-ruled by and yielded to the judgment of a few that were in the right We do not indeed give Rules to other People but heartily wish that the Germans at least might agree amongst themselves I should not truly be against the finding out and laying down of some middle ways but so that the Decree of Spire should still be in force in so far as concerns the Peace and the Administration of Justice Now in other things it is to be considered what may lawfully according to the Word of God be established and what not But I wish the Prince Elector my Kinsman and Friend who has been present at several Diets and knows what has pass'd would now be pleased to speak what he thinks fit to the purpose Then he having spoken somewhat as to the Emperour 's good intentions declared his opinion to be that the Conference at Ratisbonne was well begun and that if it were renewed and the Points already agreed upon brought no more under debate he thought matters might be brought to a tolerable accommodation The Emperour answered Granvell is very much for an accommodation as hath been oftener than once said before for he-knows that unless that can be accomplished the Publick must needs suffer and though the Emperour reap not the least profit from the Empire and be besides indisposed in health yet for the sake of Germany he hath undertaken this Progress He entertains no secret Designs with the French King or any else nor is he come to ask Supplies but to do all the publick good he can The Kings of England and France are both raising Forces which is a thing much to be suspected besides the death of the Emperour's Daughter-in-law hath cut him out work enough to do in Spain Nevertheless he hath laid aside the care of all these things that he may repair to the Diet but if none of the Princes meet there what can he do alone He is much called upon and implored to interpose his authority and reform things and yet no body comes to the place appointed for publick deliberation It would do very well then my Lords speaking to the Elector Palatine and Landgrave if you who make the chiefest Figure amongst the rest would go thither and be present at the Diet. Though perhaps said the Landgrave the Emperour have no great Revenues from the Empire yet is it to be reckoned nothing that he hath aid and assistance given him against the Turk the King of France and others that the Dignity of the Empire procures him great Authority with all other Kings that he can always levy Forces and raise vast Armies in Germany which is not allowed to others Our Adversaries are more clamorous than we and yet acquiesce not to safe and sound Councils On our parts we have approved the Decree of Spire and demanded that the Points which five Years since were agreed upon at Ratisbonne should be confirmed and entred upon record and admitted also all the just and reasonable Conditions of the last Conference they on the contrary have accepted none of these things nor will they condescend to any terms nay and at Wormes they openly protested against the Conference Now for my own part it is not possible that I should go to Ratisbonne the Charges will be so great Besides there is a difference depending betwixt the Elector of Saxony and Duke Maurice which as it is referred to me because it could not be taken up by Commissioners appointed on both sides it is of great concern to be adjusted nevertheless I shall send Deputies with ample Instructions to the Diet. The Conference thus breaking up some hours after Naves came back to the Landgrave to assure him that the Emperour was pleased with that days Conference he again pressed him that he would come to Ratisbonne in person and asked him if he was willing to wait upon the Emperour again towards the Evening He declined not the proposal and so soon as he was come the Emperour gave him thanks by the mouth of Naves first for his coming thither and then because he perceived that the
generous Answer immediately departed and because of the Saxon-War went to Nordlingen Whilst the Duke of Wirtemberg performed this Ceremony of Submission there was a vast Crowd of People got together who being told of it before flocked thither to see the Shew In those three Places we named before of the Dutchy of Wirtemberg the Emperour had already placed Garrisons and chiefly Spaniards THE HISTORY OF THE Reformation of the Church BOOK XIX The CONTENTS The Seventh Session of the Council of Trent is held When the City of Strasbourg had captitulated and made Peace with the Emperour he orders his Army to advance Shortly after the Death of the King of England Francis King of France dies The Fathers that were at Trent go to Bolonia The Duke of Saxony is taken in Battel and though he was condemned to die yet with undaunted Courage he professed the Reformed Religion Wirtemberg being surrendred the University is dissolved Duke Maurice and the Elector of Brandenburg earnestly intercede for the Landgrave who being come to wait on the Emperour is detained Prisoner King Ferdinand by Letters to those of Prague appoints a Convention of States A great Commotion raised at Naples because of the Spanish Inquisition as they call it Henry King of France is Crowned and the Solemnity of the Coronation described The Emperour by Proclamation puts the City of Magdenburg to the Ban of the Empire He sollicits the Suitzers to enter into a new League A Diet is held at Ausburg Petro Aloisio the Pope's Son is assassinated in his own House The English overcome the Scots in a great Battel The Protestant Electors are prevailed with and the Free Towns terrified A Contention ariseth about the Imprisonment of the Landgrave Means are used for recalling the Fathers to Trent but they who had removed to Bolonia firmly persist in their Opinion and Resolution so that there is nothing but Confusion in the Council of Trent THE Seventh Session of the Council of Trent was held the third day of March. In it were condemned all who maintain either that the Sacraments of the Church were fewer than Seven or that they were not all instituted by Christ who deny that one is of more Dignity than another who affirm that they are only outward Signs of Grace or Righteousness received by Christ who deny that they confer Grace who hold that no spiritual and indelible Character or Mark is by Baptism Confirmation and Orders stamped upon the Soul and that all have like power to administer them or that the usual Ceremonies of the Church may be omitted or altered in the Administration of the same who say that the Doctrine of the Church of Rome the Mother and Mistress of all others concerning Baptism is not sincere That Vows made after Baptism are of no force and derogate from the Faith they have professed who assert That Confirmation is but an idle Ceremony and was no more in ancient Times but an Instruction of Youth who deny the Virtue and Influence of the Holy Ghost to be conferred in Confirmation and who assign the Office of Confirmation not to Bishops solely but indifferently also to any Priest Then they make Decrees concerning Ecclesiastical Benefices That Bishops and other Rulers of the Church be lawfully begotten of due Age and conspicuous for Good Manners and Learning That no Man of what Quality he be do by any Title whatsoever possess more than one Bishoprick and that such as have Pluralities keep which of them they please and resign the others within a Year That those who have the Cure of Souls reside upon the Place and substitute no others to officiate for them unless for a time and so as that they have made appear to their Bishop that they had a lawful cause of Absence which is to be allowed of by him who is to take care that the People be not neglected that the Faults of Priests be punished and what is amiss amongst them reformed And then the one and twentieth of April is appointed for the Day of the next Session King Ferdinand being at Dresden with Duke Maurice on the eighth day of March writes to the Bohemians acquainting them That Duke John Frederick was resolved to invade them That therefore they should be upon their Guard and obey Sebastian Weittemull whom he had appointed to be his Vicegerent in his absence The Deputies of Strasbourg who as we told you went to Ulm being come back with the Conditions prescribed by the Emperour which the Senate did not dislike are sent back again to transact and make a final Conclusion Setting out upon their Journey then they find the Emperour at Nordlingen taken ill of the Gout and having March the one and twentieth made their Submission are received into Favour They had pretty tolerable Conditions for the Emperour put no Garrison upon them was satisfied with Thirty thousand Florins and did not exact above twelve Pieces of Ordnance of them The Elector of Brandenburg in the mean time bestirred himself affectionately in behalf of the Landgrave and applied himself also to King Ferdinand But very hard Conditions were proposed which were these That he approve without exception all the future Decrees of the Diet of the Empire That he give one of his Sons in Hostage That he dismiss Duke Henry of Brunswick and his Son and submit to the Emperour's Decision as to the Difference betwixt them That he send the Emperour a Supply of some Troops of Horse and eight Companies of Foot against the Elector of Saxony and the Confederates and that he pay them for six Months That he submit himself to the Emperour and openly confess his Crimes But he rejected the Conditions and acquainted his Friends by Letters That unless they were mitigated he had rather seeing he could not in Honour condescend to them undergo the worst of Fortunes The day the Emperour transacted with the Strasburgers he parted from Nordlingen to go to Norimberg And next day upon the Road having dispatched Letters to the States of Duke Maurice he tells them That forasmuch as that Outlaw John Frederick flying to his own Home had not only regained what the Prince Elector Maurice had by his Orders taken from him but those Places also which King Ferdinand his Brother possessed in that Country as Dependents on Bohemia he was now upon the march to come and repress his Boldness Wherefore he charged them in the first place that they should take care that in those Places through which he was to march with his Army nothing might be wanting that was necessary and that the Soldiers might be kindly used In the next place That they should despise the Threats of John Frederick and shew all Love and Duty to their Prince as they had hitherto done since the main Design of the present War was to daunt his insolent Fierceness and to settle Peace and Quietness amongst them The very same day he wrote to the Council and Magistrates
this Sacrifice wherein we commemorate the Death of Christ the memory of the Saints is to be celebrated that they may intercede with God the Father for us and help us by their Merits That we must also remember the Dead and pray to God for them In the next place it is enjoyned that all the antient Ceremonies which are commonly used in Baptism Exorcism Abrenunciation Confession of Faith and Chrism be retained and that nothing be changed neither in the Ceremonies used at Mass That in every Town and every Church two Masses a day at least be said but in Country Parishes and Villages one especially on Holy-days That nothing at all be altered in the Canon of the Mass and that all the rest be observed according to antient command but that if any thing have crept in which may give occasion to Superstition it be taken away That Vestments Ornaments Vessels Crosses Altars Candles and Images be still kept as certain Monuments That the usual Prayers and that holy singing of Psalms be not taken away and where they are taken away that they be restored That the Obsequies and Funerals of the Dead be performed after the manner of the antient Church and that the Saints Holy-Days and those others also wherein Prayers are appointed to be said be observed That on Easter Eve and Whitsunday Eve the Water in the Font be Consecrated That for subduing Lusts and exhorting the Mind to the duties of Piety on certain days men abstain from eating of Flesh and fast That lastly though it were to be wished that there might be found many Ministers of the Church who would live chastly nevertheless since many up and down have Wives whom they would not turn away And that that cannot without great troubles now be altered a Decree of Council concerning that be expected That the same course be held with those who receive the Sacrament in both kinds yet so still as that they censure not those who do otherwis for that the whole Body and Blood of Christ is contained under either kind After this manner the Book was indeed published as you shall hear hereafter but it was not so compiled at first For it was often Reviewed and Corrected as has been said and the Copy which was shew'd to Bucer was somewhat foster After it had been for a long time then tossed to and again amongst the States privately it was also sent to Rome For though all the Points of Popery in a manner were established in it yet because some things were granted to their Adversaries it was thought fit first to consult the Pope about it His Holiness afterward sent the Emperour by Cardinal Sfondrato some Animadversions thereupon which were these That a Priest in Orders should marry a Wife and still execute his Priestly Office was never heard of That the Custom of receiving the Sacrament in both kinds was abrogated and in those two things no man had power to dispense but the Pope and Council That the Followers of the Old Religion were not to be astricted to these Positions but that if there were any Lutherans that would forsake their new Opinions they were not to be rejected That the singing of Psalms ought to be restored in all places that on Holy-days the Commemoration of the Patron of every Church was to be Celebrated That they who are now or shall hereafter be Priests must abstain from Marriage That a speedy restitution must be made of Church-goods and Jurisdictions for seeing the Robbery and Invasion was manifest the usual forms of Process were not to be observed but as in a self-evident Case it was to be done by an high Hand and Imperial Authority This Censure being interposed the Electors of Mentz Treves and Cologne to whom it was communicated answer the Emperour in the very same manner urge chiefly Restitution and conclude it to be absolutely necessary if the Christian Religion ought to be preserved and recovered again in those places where it was abolished and that peace also could no other ways be setled That therefore care was to be taken in the first place that Churches and Religious Houses should be compleatly restored And that because the Usurpation and Robbery was manifest it was to be done brevi manu that the Worship of God might with all expedition be restored Finally they prayed his Majesty to take these things in good part and defend the Members of the Church by his Power and Protection But the other three Electors were not of that Opinion chiefly the Prince Palatine and Duke Maurice However they had both very good cause not to stand too stifly to it with the Emperour The rest of the Princes who were for the most part Bishops answered in the same manner as the Elector of Mentz and his Colleagues had done and as for the free Towns no great account was made of them Wherefore on the fifteenth of May the Emperour called all the States before him and having premised a few Things of his Love and Affection towards Germany I have found by manifest and clear Arguments said he and the thing it self speaks it that no Peace can be had nor Justice done before an end be made of that Controversie about Religion which now for many years hath caused various Quarrels and Animosities much Hatred Dissension and War in the Empire This hath been the cause why in frequent Dyets and by several Conferences I often sought for a Cure But in the mean time the Contagion not only over-spread all Germany but infected also other Christian People so that no presenter remedy could be thought on than the calling of a General Council This at your earnest solicitation I procured after much ado to be called at Trent and in like manner advised you at the opening of this Dyet that you would submit to the Authority thereof and leave it to my care in the mean time to find out some pious Expedient whereby Germany might live in peace and indeed your compliance therein and confidence in me was then and is still very acceptable unto me Being then wholly intent upon so necessary a Design and having demanded your Opinions to my great grief and sorrow I found that difference in Religion had not only been the cause all our past Evils but unless prevented would be so also for the future And therefore I thought it not good to leave things in that troublesome state until a Decree should be past in Council but to bring them to some moderation and the rather for that new Sects did here and there spring up Whilst I was pondering these things some Persons of eminent Rank and Quality Friends to Peace and Lovers of the Publick presented to me their thoughts of Religion drawn up in writing and promised to observe them Now so soon as that Writing was put into my Hands I referred it to some good and learned Divines to peruse it diligently and examine the Contents thereof When they had consider'd it they
Emperour not to be offended with me for my refusal That I retain the Doctrine of the Augustane Confession I do it for the Salvation of my Soul and slighting all worldly things it is now my whole study how after this painful and miserable Life is ended I may be made partaker of the Blessed Joys of Life Everlasting It is reported to the Emperour by some as I hear that it is not Religion I regard in what I do but vain-glory and I know not what other by-end Good now what worldly thing is it that could be more desirable to me especially being of a gross and unweildly Body than my liberty than to return to my Wife and Children than quiet and rest at home I call God to witness now and will do then when he shall call us to an account for all we have done in the Flesh that I had no other thing before my Eyes than that in serving and worshipping of him truly I might attain to the enjoyment of the Inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven And it is my hearty desire to the Emperour that he would think and believe so of me In every thing else I have always been and ever shall be ready to serve him and will discharge the Duty and Fidelity I promised him as it becomes an honest Man and one of my quality After all I beseech him that he would pardon all my offences and free me at length from this tedious Captivity that I may not of all Princes be the first who may be said to have lived and died his Prisoner When they saw that he persisted firm and immoveable in his Resolution they began to use him a little more harshly all holy Books were taken from him and he was enjoyned to abstain from Flesh on days forbidden The Preacher also whom till now the Emperour had suffered to be with him finding himself in imminent danger privately slipt away in disguise Letters were then published and these out of the Imperial Court too which the Landgrave was said to have written to the Emperour In these Letters he says that he had sent Orders to his Wife and Counsellors that they should fulfil the rest of the Conditions and satisfie those who had any cause of Grievance because of the past War Then that he had read the Book that was written about Religion and though there were some things in it which he did not throughly understand and could not prove from the holy Scriptures yet because they were backed by Antiquity and the Authority of the holy Fathers he would not be wiser than they but had approved the Writing and would also take care that it should be observed by his Subjects After that he offers him his faithful service whether he should have War with the Turk Pope other Kings or the Switzers or else if he pleased to make use of him in Germany But prayed him for Christs and all his Saints sake that he would forget his Offences and give him his Liberty That now he had been a whole year Prisoner wherein he had endured punishment enough and was redacted to great hardships Moreover that for greater security he would give his two Sons Hostages until he should be fully satisfied and that he would readily submit to what he pleased to enjoyn him Nevertheless all these Prayers did not prevail for he was by his Spanish Keepers carried about from place to place at every turn first from Donawert to Wordlingen then to Hailbrun and last to Hall in Swabia Whil'st the Emperour is busied in carrying on these Exploits in Germany the Mass is by Act of Parliament abolished in England and not long after Stephen Bishop of Winchester is apprehended for maintaining that the Laws made during the nonage of the King were of no force He had been confined to his House the year before but being lately enlarged when it was thought he had changed his Opinion he made a Sermon before the King and his Nobles wherein having told them his mind plainly he is committed to Prison The Emperour caused the Form of Reformation as they called it to be read over to the Churchmen June the Fourteenth These were the Heads of it Of Ordination of the Duties of Ecclesiastical Orders of Monasteries of Schools of Hospitals of the Dispensation of Gods Word of the Administration of the Sacraments of the Ceremonies of the Mass of Ecclesiastical Ceremonies of the Discipline of the Clergy and People of the Pluralities of Benefices of Visitation of Synods and of Excommunication The Matters therein enjoyned amongst others are chiefly these That they who sue for Holy Orders be diligently Examined as to their Faith Manners and Learning especially as to the Heresies most in vogue at that time and if they believe as the Roman Catholick and Apostolick Church believes The Inquisition into Manners is commanded to be made according to the Pattern set down by Paul in the third Chapter of the first Apostle to Timothy but that which St. Paul amongst other things advises That a Minister of the Church be the Husband of one Wife who rules his own House well and has obedient Children is left out That no Man be admitted to the Office of a Bishop unless he be a Priest or promise to take the rest of Orders with the first opportunity That Bishops take care of their own Flocks feeding them with sound Doctrine and the Sacraments That they now and then visit their Churches and be careful that the other Ministers do their Duty lest the Wolves break in among the Flock That the Monastick Life be again established in those places where it has been discontinued That nothing be taught in Schools but what agrees with Catholick Doctrine That the Latine Tongue be retained in the Administration of the Sacraments and Ceremonies lest they should fall into contempt if the People understood the Language That that which is commonly called the Canon of the Mass remain entire and be pronounced with a low Voice that the dignity of those dreadful Mysteries may be kept up That nothing be changed in the usual Ceremonies That Salt Water Hearbs the Paschal Lamb New Fruits also Churches Chalices Altars Copes Vestments and Vessels be Consecrated by Prayer against the Snares of the Devil and Charms That Wax Tapers also be lighted and Incense offered in Churches That Prayers also be made in Churches and Chapels dedicated to Saints That the Clergy live Temperately and Soberly and avoid Fornication That they put away their Concubines or be punished That the Civil Magistrate assist the Bishops in reforming Discipline and Manners and preserving entire the Liberties of the Church That Diocesan Synods be brought into use again and held twice a year and that in them the Manners and Vices of every one be enquired into That those who cannot otherwise be reformed be Excommunicated That all Men do avoid their Speech and Company And that they be not admitted again to Communion before they
apprehensive of a change to lay aside all their fear and give credit to his Letters and Testimony And that as for such who went about to spread such Reports they were not to expect to go unpunished if they persisted to do so Moreover that by his Order some Heads were abstracted out of the Decree lately made at Leipsick which he would have to be taught that therefore they should enquire and learn whether the Ministers did follow that form in the Churches or openly condemned it in their Sermons However it were that they should give him notice of it that if any doubts were started the Divines of Wittemberg and Leipsick were to be consulted and that he commanded these things to be declared unto the People At this time died the Landgraves Wife and Duke Maurice's Mother in Law being heart-broken with sorrow and care for her Husbands Imprisonment and many other Calamities she had suffered There happened now a Popular Insurrection in England upon a double account the one was for enclosing of Lands for it was a Vulgar Grievance that the Nobility and Gentry had taken in and Emparked a great deal of Land which had formerly been Common and made Parks thereof for Deer the other Pretext was Religion for though the Devonshire-men were also against new Enclosures yet their chief Quarrel was for the alteration made in Religion and therefore they demanded that the six Articles made by King Henry the Eight which we mentioned in the Twelfth Book might be restored Since then they were up in Arms a thing of no small danger and would not listen to any Admonition or Advice the King and Council much against their Wills were obliged to send Forces against them that routed and killed some thousands of them The French King who exceedingly longed to recover Boloigne again laid hold on this occasion and partly by Storm and partly by Surrender took some Castles and Forts along the Sea shoar betwixt Boloigne and Calais whereby he reduced the Garison of Boloigne to great difficulties and streights The Nobility of England highly resented this Accident and because the whole Government was in the hands of the Protector the Kings Uncle all the blame was laid upon him that he had not in time provided the Places with Necessaries This Accusation and Envy increasing daily more and more the Protector by the joynt consent of the Peers was in the beginning of October apprehended at Windsor where the King then was and sent to the Tower of London The Nobles afterward by a publick Printed Proclamation signed with all their Hands declare to the People the causes of it and charge him with bad Administration of the Government And the Ringleader of them in this attempt was John Earl of Warwick Whil'st the French King is thus employed against the English the Emperour goes with his Son through Flanders Haynault and Artois making the People of those Provinces swear Allegiance to him and then both return to Antwerp about the Thirteenth of September There the Emperours Son was received in a most magnificent manner not only by the Towns people but also by the Foreign Merchants Spanish Italian German and English and being afterwards accompanied by his Aunt the Regent he visited the other Provinces also and received Homage from them We mentioned before how the Senate of Strasburg had sent a Deputy to the Emperour for adjusting the Controversy that they had with their Bishop wherefore with the Emperours leave Arbitrators were chosen on both sides to take up the matter These met in the Month of October and after a long debate the Senate allowed the Bishop three Churches that according to the Decree lately made he might therein have the Exercise of his Religion and took all the Clergy into their Care and Protection The Bishop on the other hand grants the Senate the College of St. Thomas for a publick School and all the rest of the Churches The Clergy also was to pay a yearly Tribute and some Money to the Senate and were exempted from all other Charged and Duties The Emperour as we said before prosecuted those of Magdeburg with Edicts and Proclamations and solicited the States of Saxony for Aid Most part did not refuse provided all the other States not only of Saxony but of the Empire also did the same But the Lubeckers and Luneburghers at that time having obtained leave from the Emperours Deputies went to Magdeburg with a design to make their peace but it was in vain No Man indeed attempted any open Hostility against them but being outlawed they were in continual dangers and durst not stir abroad out of the City without risking their Lives and Fortunes for it was lawful for all Men to fall foul on them The Senate therefore having in a publick Declaration complained before only of the Injury and Violence received from their Neighbours do now emit a Manifesto directed to all in general but chiefly to those that lived next to them complaining that Calumnies and false Reports went abroad of them as if they behaved themselves stubbornly and arrogantly towards the Emperour and Empire slighting Peace and publishing reproachful Papers but that therein they were wronged That they owned Charles the Emperour for their chief Magistrate and had by publick Proclamation charged all their People not to presume to utter any the least undutiful Expression of his Majesty or of any of the States that they had given no other cause of offence but that they professed the Gospel of Christ and that all the rest were but Calumnies forged by their Enemies That it was not unknown to them who had been present but in some few Assemblies how desirous they had been of peace for that they not only understood but had tasted the sweetness and comfort of it and on the contrary the miseries and calamities that attended War that it would be also a great grief and trouble to them if for their sake their Neighbours should be exposed to danger or receive any prejudice that moreover they confessed that it was neither lawful for them nor in their power obstinately to stand it out against the Emperour and Empire but that being necessitated to defend themselves from injury they had demolished some Houses and seized some Castles small Towns and Villages in time of War not indeed with a design to appropriate them to themselves but that they might not fall into the hands of Strangers nor would they refuse to deliver them up provided their Neighbours would live quietly That there were two main Reasons why they could not obtain a Peace first because they retained the pure Doctrine of the Gospel and rejected the Idol of Popery and then because the other Conditions proposed were not only heavy but intolerable to them and altogether such as could not be performed for that to betray their Liberty which had been granted them by the Emperour Otho the Great the first of that Name and
Albert give him for a Co-adjutor they not only not-approved it but also refused to give him his Name and Title though they had been often called upon to do so And when after the death of Albert he succeeded they would neither acknowledge him for their Bishop nor do homage to him persisting in that obstinacy so long as he lived though many Great Men often interceded Now their design in so doing was that they themselves might invade the chief Government as may easily appear to any that will consider their actions And though in the Declaration they published with a design to raise Commotions they endeavour to persuade the People that they are faultless and innocent and that they suffer only for Truth 's sake and Religion yet it is quite otherwise For neither have they been any ways letted in their Religion though they seized our Churches Who bore with them patiently because they promised to answer for what they had done in a lawful Council But they not satisfied therewith combined into a Confederation and League which was not lawful for them to do without the consent of us and the Archbishop acording to Compacts made and would force us to be of their Religion From whence it is apparent enough that it was not Religion but Church-Lands they wanted and that they acted so that they might cloak their Rebellion and Perfidie with some honest pretext Many things have they seditiously done against the Emperour and States of the Empire nor can all be reckoned up only we 'll touch at those things which properly concern us And in the first place about four years since in prejudice of their Faith and Engagements whereby they stood bound to us they gave us open defiance and having invaded our Houses and Possessions banished us and committed some of our number to prison where some are still detained and others died More than that they razed our Houses to the very ground reduced under their own Power Towns Lands and Governments which belonged to our Jurisdiction and having fortified their Town that they might the more safely rebel they imposed a Monthly Assessment and other burdens upon the People Churches and Religious Houses they partly demolished and partly defaced converted the Bells taken out of the Steeples into great Guns dug up the dead Bodies not only of Priests and Monks but also of the Nobility and Gentry and with them filled up their Works and Ramparts Statues Altars and the Monuments of the Dead they took and built into their Walls Out of the Churches that remained entire they drove all Religious Worship They plundered the Churches of all their Ornaments and Jewels and of all the Writings and Records they found therein driving the Priests and other Officers of the Church with Fists and Clubs out of God's house and from his very Altars In several places they have imposed new Customs and Duties quite contrary to the usage of the Country Nay more in a tumultuary manner they broke down the Monument and Sepulcher of our Founder the Emperour Otho the Great And these are all Domestick Villanies But not herewith contented they broke into the Bishoprick of Halberstadt and there ransacking the Monastery of Hamersleber drove the Priests from the Altars where they were officiating of whom they wounded some and killed others and profaning all things Sacred they trampled under foot the Consecrated Hoste Afterwards having put themselves into the Habit of Monks and so acted many scornful and outragious parts they returned home loaded with spoils and booty But without any cause they broke down a Bank or Dike which cost a vast charge in making and was very useful in those places burning and breaking down the Bridges that no body might pass that way They lay in wait also for our lives and do so still so that without danger we can neither live at home nor be abroad with our Friends And if they suspected any to have entertained us in their Houses they set upon them in the night time robbed them of their Goods and carried away many Gentlemen Prisoners some of whom they rackt and tortured Many Ladies also and young Virgins they stript of all their Apparel and Ornaments and put them in fear of their Lives nor did they refrain their hands from young Children neither In short hardly do we think that any such Example of cruelty can be shewn amongst the Turks and if an estimate were taken of what they have made of our Goods and of the damage they have done it would be found to amount to the value of at least eight hundred thousand Florins Not to mention in the mean time the reproachful railings they have used and the scandalous and defamatory Libels and Pictures they have set forth in contempt and scorn of the Emperour and States of the Empire nor the injuries that for almost twenty seven whole years past we have suffered from them For they have thrown Stones and kennel-Dirt at us set upon us in the Streets with horrid clamour and noise chased and hunted us from place to place many times set fire to our Houses and Doors in the night time with Stones broke our Glass Windows and in short used all the insolencies against us that they could devise It is but four years since that we having met in our College at the desire of the Consuls they required of us first that we would profess the same Religion that they did And then that for the preparations of War we should in a Weeks time pay them down twenty thousand Florins Afterwards they entred the Church whither the Citizens came flocking in great numbers and there in a tumultuary manner cast out the Priests shut the Church Doors and demanded of the inferiour sort of Priests a great sum of Money which they not being able to pay they chased them out of the Town and banished them After the self-same manner also they treated the other Church-men seizing into their hands all their Lands Goods and Possessions Wherein they have transgressed not only the Laws of God and Man but also their own Promises and Compacts For we are their Magistrates and it is to us chiefly they owe their Wealth and Fortunes But when George Duke of Meckleburg took lately into his service the Forces that had served both in the besieging and defending of Brunswick to the number of above three thousand Men and without our knowledge made an inrode into the Country about Magdeburg and Halberstadt They truly with a great deal of arrogance came out of the Town with intent first to drive out the Enemy and then to turn all the force of their Arms against us that they might utterly destroy us For they had two Tuns full of Halters and had hired Executioners with their Swords that they might hang up some and behead all the rest But through God's Blessing it fell out quite otherwise For though they were about eight thousand strong yet they were overthrown and above two
also preached no more after that pretending Sickness April the first Duke Maurice and his Associates besieged Ausburg and three days after took iâ— by surrender as shall be related in the following Book April the fifth the Ambassadours of Wirtemberg being sent for came to the House of Don Francisco de Toledo taking with them as they had been enjoyned two Divines Brentius and John Marbach of Strasburg The Ambassadour Poictieres spoke and told them first That the Ambassadours had been very zealous in pursuing the common concern but then that because of the Sickness of the Legate Crescentio neither his Collegues nor the Fathers would act any thing in his absence Lastly that it was not their fault if no progress were made and that they would not omit any thing for the future that might contribute to the furthering of business and of this he made a protestation The others having consulted together made answer That they were very sensible of their Zeal and the diligence they had used but that they had expected something else and a more certain Answer to their Demands to have been communicated to those that sent them But that now since the matter was so they were to take the next course With that the Ambassadours replied That he did not intend by what he said nor was he to be so understood as if there remained no more hopes of acting That it was well done in them and according to Duty to acquaint their Magistrates with the whole state of Affairs Nor did he doubt but that when they should come to hear of all they would both wonder at this delay and cessation and take it ill But that however he pray'd them patiently to bear the tediousness of a few days more That in the mean time they would endeavour that they should have a plain and positive answer To which they made answer That for their sakes they were very willing to do so Next day Messengers and Letters came post haste with the news of Ausburg's being taken and that the Princes were marching streight towards the Alpes to possess themselves of the Passes and stop all the ways Whereupon the Militia was raised all over the Country of Tirol and Soldiers listed with Orders to Muster at Inspruck All the German Bishops were now gone none remained but the Proxies of the Bishops of Spire and Munster when this news was brought the Italian Bishops presently fled for it carrying their Goods by Water down the River Adige So that the Wirtemberg Ambassadours started thereat and seeing that the Council broke up of their own accord they went to the Emperours Ambassadours and acquainted them that they also and the Divines were resolved to return home They seemed much against it at first and told them That until they knew the Emperours pleasure therein they could not consent to it But when they could not prevail they desired to have the reasons of their departure given them in Writing that they might excuse themselves to the Emperour and the Fathers The Ambassadour Poictieres put the question also that if after they were gone the Fathers did proceed to action what would the Divines say To which the Ambassadours having consulted with the Divines said That they would answer it and so April the eighth in the Morning they delivered to them the Writing they required Therein they declared when the Confession of Divines was exhibited wherefore the Divines came How they had in vain solicited till then to have had answer to their demands How to that very day there had been no hopes of any future action That now also a War was broken out so that not only the German Bishops but the Italians also went away and that all the States were so involved in troubles that there was nothing to be expected at present That they did not think it prudent neither to make any progress in the absence of the Roman Bishops That if hereafter that Affair happened to be duely and orderly treated they supposed their Prince would not be wanting That it was the Opinion of the Divines that many Decrees had been made both in this and in the former Council which could not but be found fault with if they were brought under a lawful Examination That if the Fathers should now proceed it was credible that the same course would be taken That nevertheless if perhaps either the Decrees already made should be corrected or that such things should afterwards be decreed as were agreeable to the holy Scriptures they made no doubt but they would be embraced with most willing and obedient Minds That that would be most acceptable to them as had been demonstrated in some places of the Confession exhibited Which Writing they both judged to be pious and would be ready to explain it more fully when occasion called for it That therefore they prayed them to take their departure in good part That they had liberty indeed granted them by the safe conduct to depart thence whensoever they pleased and were not obliged to give any Man a reason for their so doing but that the many civilities they had received from them obliged them not to baulk that small Duty such as it was So then they took their leave and departed in the Afternoon and a few hours after they met upon the rode the Cardinal of Trent coming post from Brixen to his own City who being informed That they belonged to Wirtemberg asked who was Brentius and spoke to him most courteously We said before that the Fathers did nor all look one way The Spanish Bishops indeed seemed the most active and diligent of all Some of the Germans also pretended that there was great need of Reformation But this was the mind of those who all entertained the best thoughts that Ecclesiastical Discipline and Manners should be reformed That Luxury Ambition and Examples of impure and dishonest Lives should be removed that every one should mind his own Cure and that no single person should enjoy more Livings than one Besides they had it in their thoughts as it should seem to confine the Popes Power within certain bounds and not allow his Court so much Authority and Jurisdiction over all Provinces These and some other things they comprehended under the name of Reformation and acknowledging that they belonged properly unto them and required amendment But as to Doctrine they neither owned themselves guilty of any Error nor would they allow that a Council could err and believed that their Adversaries would be at length forced to come over and obey the Council as appeared plainly enough from the French Kings Letter and the form of the safe Conduct It confirmed them in this Hope and Opinion that they thought there were not many Professors of that Doctrine remaining the most part being either dead or banished as it has been said of Schwabia It was the common talk there too that within a few Months all Matters relating to Doctrine would be
those conditions of Peace which they had so sollicitously sought out and Collected especially since the chief of them had been approved at Lintz which Treaty they had proposed to themselves as a Pattern to be followed as also since those things which properly belonged to his Dignity and Character had been purposely referred to a Diet of the Empire that there they might be handled more conveniently and with greater Moderation The same day this was done Duke Maurice departed and when on the eleventh of July he was come to the Confederates who then encamped at Mergetheins he told them what had been done and that King Ferdinand was gone to the Emperor in great haste so that he believed he would speedily send Commissioners with a full and definite Answer However that in this doubtful state of Affairs they might not be idle and because in Franckfurt there was an Imperial Garrison of seventeen hundred Foot and a thousand Horse under the Command of Conrad Hanstein so that Hesse that bordered upon it was in no small danger it was resolved that they should march thither Having then burnt and plundered and done a great deal of damage to Wolffgang Master of Prussia in whose Countrey they then were they marched through the Arch-Bishop of Mentz his Territories and on the Seventeenth of July came before Franckfurt But immediately upon that the Princes Intercessors and the Ambassadors sent their Agents after Duke Maurice to the Camp to sweeten things and promote the Peace In that Siege George Duke of Meckleburg having joyned Duke Maurice the same who first of all made War against the Magdeburgers was shot with a Cannon-Bullet So soon as the Siege was laid down before Franckfurt the Confederate Princes demanded a great many great Guns from the Elector Palatine which once and again he denied them But when he could not do otherwise and they threatned to come and fetch them with an Army he gave them Eight of the best he had with all their Equipage King Ferdinand at the prefixed day returning to Passaw declared to the Mediators the Emperor's Will and Pleasure as to the several Points to wit that as to publick Matters of the Empire which Duke Maurice had proposed as we said before they should not be handled by some few Commissioners apart but by the whole Body of the Empire met in a Diet. Again That the Cause of Religion should rest till the next Diet of the Empire And that what should be thought fit to be done in that particular for the future by all the States in that Diet should be ratified and confirmed The Emperor also July the eleventh gave this Answer to the Mediators last Letter That as they had by their Letter so King Ferdinand his Brother had also very earnestly dealt with him that he would accept of the Conditions and thus he would willingly indeed have gratified both of them but that there were many Causes that hindred him which he had declared unto his Brother for he could not approve and ratifie all indifferently Now that some had underservedly fallen into calamity through the occasion of these Troubles no man living was more sorry for it than he that yet their Sufferings were not to be imputed to their confidence and relying upon him since he had put no man into such hopes as he might securely trust to For that though when the Stirs did first break out he had written to some of the chief Princes that they would endeavour to prevent that growing Evil promising them his best concurrence yet it was not his mind to approve of every thing that might be propounded That it seemed indeed reasonable to him that such things as concerned the Empire in general should be referred to the publick Diets thereof wherein if any just complaint should be by any man brought against him he would not be wanting to that Duty which hitherto he had never neglected That since no Demand of that Nature had ever been presented to him as yet which nevertheless ought to have been done before any War had been attempted he could not divine what would be demanded of him and much less give Instructions to his Ambassadors whom he sent to Passaw what they should answer to every Head which for the dignity of his Person and Character he thought it not fit to do personally That if therefore he approved not all things which some perhaps endeavoured to perswade them to do no man ought to censure him for that but that they who were the Mediators ought rather to encline and exhort them to reasonable and moderate Conditions especially since they were sensible that hardly at last and not before he was forced to it by necessity he had taken up Arms which he intended not to make use of now neither if he might chuse and if they could hit upon an equitable and proper Expedient for Peace That since the Case was so he was very confident that they would shew all Duty and Allegiance to him who was their chief Magistrate rather than listen to those who contrary to Duty had made a League with his Enemies and raised Stirs and Commotions That he was not ignorant of the Evils and Calamities that did impend when both Armies should be ready to joyn in Battel and that he was very much moved at the Damages sustained by the State but especially by the innocent People wherefore he did now as at all times before set his mind on Peace and would not refuse any reasonable Overture but that he was not at all to be charged with this That whilst he was deliberating about the Conditions sent to him at two several times some of the States had sustained wrongs for that the Truce was to have lasted all the time of the Treaty That Marquess Albert during the same time damnified several sorts of People he was not to answer for it since from the very beginning he had been against the Treaty That neither had he ever made any delay in answering and if they had continued still on the same sort as they proposed at first but altered since he could have answered much sooner and more distinctly too nay if they had not swerved from the Treaty of Lintz which they themselves mentioned all things might have been longe're now accommodated That since they were sensible then how he stood affected towards the Publick he instantly required them that together with his Brother King Ferdinand unto whom he had discovered all his mind they would induce them to reasonable Conditions and therein have respect both to the Safety and Dignity of the Empire That he for his part was resolved to use the same Lenity and peaceable Ways in time to come as utterly abhorring all Civil War But that if Peace could not be had on these Terms he expected from them all the Fruits of Allegiance that they were obliged to render unto him King Ferdinand made Answer also in the Emperor's Name to
for that the present state of his own Provinces required his Presence because the Turks seemed to be preparing for some new Enterprises against them and threatned high though he was then in Treaty with them and because nothing could to any good purpose be debated and determined if the Electors were not present in Person he thought it was the best way to prorogue the Diet to another time and that in this Convention a Decree should be made to this Purpose Because by reason of the absence of the Princes no Decree can now be made We are pleased to deferr all the further Transactions to another Convention of the States which shall be holden at Ratisbon about the beginning of March in the next Year and then the Princes shall be present in Person that they together with the Emperor or King of the Romans may determine and fix those things which have been now debated or which shall then come under Deliberation And that in the mean time the Pacification of Passaw shall remain in its full force and whereas that contains a Resolution first That in a Diet of the Empire of Germany should be considered whether the differences of Religion might be ended by a general National Council or by a Conference and lastly That this question should be determined by the common advice of all the States and by the ordinary Authority of the Emperor Therefore he who loved Peace and Agreement was resolved to exhibit in the next Convention a Writing concerning the way of determining those things which were now in Controversie That there should be nothing of Fraud in it and that what was offered should only aim at the appeasing the present Offences and the mitigating their mutual Exasperations and give them means of considering with the greater certainty whether the way he should then propose could put an end to the differences or whether it would be necessary to seek out another Therefore he desired they would approve this Prorogation and that they would in Person attend at the next Diet as he had given them an Example who for the sake of the Commonwealth had in this been so many Months absent from his own Provinces That he had chosen Ratisbon because by reason of the impending Dangers which he feared from the Turks he could not conveniently go further than that City from his own Bounds That therefore they should assure him what their Intentions were that he might be certain the thing should not be any longer delayed that so the better part of that time too might not be spent in a vain Expectation as has often happened already These Demands being made the greatest part of the Princes were of Opinion that they should not part till the Peace were confirmed for that all Germany was in great Expectation this would now be done and that seeing they were now nearer an Agreement than at any time before therefore they desired to see this dispatched before his Departure that so in the next Diet they might proceed to the business of the Turks and the other affairs of the Empire with the greater Expedition As to what concern'd the Book he mentioned some of them said what happened about seven years since to a former Book written and published concerning Religion would certainly be the Fate of this For that they could well remember the Reproaches it met with and whereas it was proposed and by a Law established by the Emperor only for Peace sake it became the occasion of very great Offences and Contentions when Ferdinand about the Twenty fifth of August had received this Answer from the Deputies the thirty first of the same Month he gave in an Answer to the Papers delivered him by both the Parties in which he shews what was his own Opinion and especially as to what concerned the Bishops that is that if any of them changed his Religion he should immediately be removed from the Administration of his Bishoprick and be deprived of the Revenues belonging to it and he very largely exhorted the Protestants to yield their Consent to this For said he this Condition takes nothing from you but only takes Care that if any Bishop deserts his Order and falls from the ancient Religion the Benefices or Diocesses shall nevertheless continue in the same state they were at first Instituted which in it self is agreeable to the Law the Statutes of the Empire and the Pacification of Passaw which last in express terms saith That all those who follow the ancient Religion shall not be disturbed whether they be Laymen or Ecclesiasticks in their Religion Ceremonies Goods Possessions Rights or Privileges but they shall quietly use and enjoy all these without the interruption of any Person whatsoever That I do not see saith he why this condition should be refused which tends directly to the same end that is that they may quietly enjoy what is their own which it is certain they cannot do if they part with this Security for then it will follow that those who have deserted the ancient Religion and yet will retain the Administration and the Possession of the Revenues will thereby hinder the Colleges or Chapters from dealing with them according to their Laws and another inconvenience will follow upon it which is that there will be no great affection between their Bishop and them Seeing therefore it is fit that according to the Laws of their Institution fit Persons should govern and administer the Diocesses and that if they act contrary to the Laws and make a â—efection from their Order that then their Colleges should remove them from their Places and take Care that this Defection may hurt only one Man therefore surely this Demand ought not to be denied And therefore I do with great earnestness exhort you that you would not persist any longer in this Refusal For amongst other things you are to consider they do not prescribe to you after what manner and form you shall act in those Bishopricks Colleges Chapters or Benefices which are all ready in your Possession nor how you shall treat the Ministers of your Church who shall violate your Laws and neglect their Duties For as it would be very troublesome and grievous to you if they should desire that such of your Ministers who have deserted your Religion and do make it their Business to oppose it should yet be retained by you So it must be much more grievous to them if theirs must still retain the Administration of their Diocesses and the possession of their Revenues who have cast off their Religion and oppose it for what can be expected from hence but Suits Offences and Contentiens So that the very Foundations of the thing we are seeking in this Treaty Peace shall be hereby rained and entirely destroyed The eighth day after the Protestants replied that it was not their intention to prescribe a Rule to the Ecclesiasticks and much less that the Revenues of the Bishopricks should be dissipated or that the
a Vindication of himself wherein he denied the matter charged upon him and thereupon the Author of this Calumny being discovered he was deservedly executed And I hope this here will have the same event and that God who is the just Avenger of such ill Practices will discover the Authors of this pernitious Invention In the mean time I offer up my Prayers to God That he would give them a better mind and disappoint their wicked Counsels that they may not prevail to the Destruction of our Country For seeing this slander is of the same nature with the former it may easily be concluded the Authors of this had the same Design with the former or rather that it was made by it that what was discover'd and prevented then may now have its effect Now the main design of this Calumniator is to create a belief that the Pope and the Emperour have resolved to rescind the Decree made for the Peace of Religion by a War and that the King of England and the Bishops of Germany are to lend their assistances to it Now I say this feigned and false Invention is designed for the exasperating the minds of Men that their Prejudices and Disaffections being increased a Civil War may be stirr'd up amongst us to overwhelm our Country with the Blood of its Inhabitants And although I do not doubt but the Emperour and the othe Princes who are injur'd by this Seditious and Infamous Libel will take care to defend themselves and to right their own Cause yet at the same time I believe it is a part of my own Duty to clear the Reputation of our Supreme Magistrate And I protest whil'st I was at Rome in my presence or to my knowledge there was not one word spoken concerning the Peace of Religion and therefore it is very falsly laid to the Pope's charge that his main design is to persuade the Emperour and other Kings to destroy that Decree by Force and Arms I say this is false and can never be proved and by consequence what is charged upon the Emperour is false too for seeing there has been no Treaty between them how can a War be agreed and the recovering the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and the Conquest of Germany be resolv'd on This Slander pretends That the Truce is made between the Emperour and the King of France to the intent that the Souldiers which are disbanded on both sides may be employ'd in in this War Now the causes of that Truce are sufficiently set forth in the printed Copies of the Treaty and the Souldiers which were thereupon disbanded are not entertain'd by any Prince except what Forces King Ferdinand has order'd to be levy'd and sent into Hungary against the Turk and some few which have been taken into Pay by the Bishops of Ausburg Norimburg Bamberg and Wurtsburg that they may not be taken altogether unprovided So that all this Invention as it relates to the Pope the Emperour and the Bishops is false in all its parts Now as to what concerns my self I have hitherto followed the Ancient True and Catholick Religion as becomes a German pursuing the footsteps of my Ancestors and continuing in the Communion of that Church in which I had my Education as I have already declared by a Letter I sent to the last Diet and by my Deputies which I sent thither and I intend by the blessing of God to continue in this Opinion nor will I do any thing which is contrary to Honesty and my Duty and yet after all I desire to live peaceably with all men And whereas I am said to have entred into a secret Treaty with the Pope the Emperour the King of England some Princes of the Empire and some private persons to stir up a War this is most false and that also which concerns the Elector Palotine and the Duke of Wirtemberg and the Marquess of Brandenburg is most false and can never be proved and those who spread such Reports of me by Word or Writing are Slanderers and the Enemies of our Country That which relates to the Elector Palatine stands thus The Office and Dignity I enjoy requires me to endeavour the preservation of the Rights of my Bishoprick and that I should preserve the People committed to my Charge in the Ancient and Catholick Religion being therefore inform'd that Otto Henry Elector Palatine endeavorued to gain over to his Religion some Towns that were in my Diocess and that he had placed Preachers in them I could not but take this ill and I had just cause given me to defend my self against him by a Suit at Law and thereupon I being absent my Councel by my Order commenced a Suit against him in the Chamber of Spire where it is still depending nor have I in any thing else so much as in Word hurt or injur'd his Honour so far have I been from designing any thing against his Countries and if it had lain in my power to have served him his Countries or People I would not have omitted it and for this I believe his People would be my Witnesses because they know I have kept my Faith to them and have assisted them sometimes when they were in great distresses To which I may add That I have ever had particular affection for the Palatine Family and I have ever been ready to do it all the good I could nor is that Disposition at all changed in me and I have the same kindness for Christopher Duke of Wirtemberg who is a Good Wise Politick Prince and a great lover of Peace upon the account of these rare qualities I have had a great propension for him ever since I first knew him and have study'd to make this appear in my actions But then as to the driving Him or the Elector Palatine out of their Countries it never entred into my thoughts and if I had known of any Design which had tended to the damage of their Reputations or Estates I should certainly have been very much grieved and have done what was in my power to prevent it I have hitherto so behav'd my self at all times that I believe no man can find any thing in my actions which is contrary to my Profession and for the future I will ever carry my self so that I will raise a greater belief than I now have in the minds of men out of an hope that as I have given no just cause of offence to them so they at last will be prevail'd upon to remunerate me with an equal degree of kindness And as to the Case of Albert Marquess of Brandenburg he himself knows how greatly I am concern'd for his misfortunes for what is it which I have not done and tried in order to restore the Peace of the Empire and to put a stop to that Quarrel In truth I took so much pains and care in that Affair that tho' I aim'd at the Publick Good by it yet at last I was suspected by some as one that favoured his Interest
troubled Israel Then Anna du Bourg beginning with a Discourse of the Eternal Providence of God to which all things are subject when he came to the Question proposed said There were many Sins and Crimes committed by Men which the Laws had already forbidden and yet the Gallows and Tortures which were imployed had not been able to prevent the frequent Perjuries Adulteries profuse Lusts and Profane Oaths which were not only connived at but cherished On the contrary every Day new punishments are invented against a sort of Men who could never yet be convicted of any wicked Attempt for how can they injure the Prince who never name him but in their Prayers for him Are they accused of breaking our Laws perverting the Allegiance of our Cities or Provinces No the greatest Tortures could never extort a Confession that they so much as thought of any such thing Are they not accused of Sedition only because they have by the Candle of Scripture discovered the shameful and encreasing Villanies and corruptions of the Roman Power which they desire may be reformed Christopher Harlay and Peter Seguier the two Presidents said with great Modesty that the Court had hitherto justly and rightly discharged its Duty in this Particular and that it would still do the same without changing to the Glory of God and therefore neither the King nor People of France would have cause to repent the trusting to it Christopher de Thou with great freedom reflected on the King's Attorney and Advocates for presuming to defame the Proceedings of that Court and indangering its Authority Renatus Baillet desired the Judgments which were blamed might be re-examined and more maturely considered Minart having made a short Preface to soften the Envy which had been raised against them only added That he thought the King's Edicts were to be observed After these Maistre the President made a sharp Harangue against the Sectaries instancing in the Severities which Philip the August is said to have employed against the Albingenses 600 of which he burnt in one day and in the Waldenses which were massacred with Fire and Smoak partly in their Houses and partly in the Dens and Caves they had fled to The King having obliquely reproached the Court for entring upon this Debate without his Order added He now clearly saw what he had heard before That there were some among them who despised both his Authority and the Popes That this was the fault of but a few but it was dishonourable to the whole body of them but only they that were guilty should suffer the Punishment And therefore he exhorted the rest to go on in their Duty The Reflections of la Faur and du Bourg who mentioned the Story of Ahab and the frequent Adulteries exaseperated the King more than the rest and therefore he commanded Montmorancy to apprehend them who again ordered Gabriel de Montgomery a Captain of the Guard to take them and carry them to the Bastile Afterwards Paul de Foix Anthony Fumee Eustace de la Porte were also taken into Custody but la Ferriere du Val and Viole were concealed by their Friends and escaped this Storm Men censured these Proceedings as they stood affected but the Wiser were much disgusted That the King should be so far imposed on by others as to come personally into his Court to subvert those Laws he ought to have protected That he should make use of Threats and Imprisonments saying That this was a clear Instance that he was subject to the Passions of others and who could think but these things were the foreunners of great Changes The Ministers of the Reformed Religion notwithstanding held a Synod at S. German June 28 one Morelle being President in which they setled the order of their Synods the Authority of the Presidents the taking away the Supremacy in the Church the election of Ministers and their Office and Duty Deacons and Presbyters Censures the Degrees of Consanguinity and Affinity of contracting and dissolving Marriages which yet were only temporary Decrees to be varied as future Synods should think fit but to oblige particular Persons till so altered About the same time came Embassadours from the Protestant Princes of Germany with Letters to the King subscribed by Frederick Cout Palatine of the Rhine Augustus Duke of Saxony Joachim Elector of Brandenburg Christopher Duke of Wirtimberg and Wolfang Count of Weldentz In which they represent to the King How much they were afflicted to see so many Pious Quiet and Holy Men who professed the same Religion Imprisoned Spoiled Banished and put to Death as Seditious Persons in France That they thought themselves bound by Christian Charity and the Alliance which was between them and France to beseech him well to consider this Affair which concerned the Name of God and the Salvation of so many Souls that he ought to free himself from Prejudice and imploy great Judgment and Reason in it They assured him they were no less solicitous for the Glory of God and the Salvation of their Subjects than he and upon the Differences of Religion had maturely considered how they might be composed That they had found by degrees and insensibly through Avarice and Ambition many Corruptions had crept into the Church which were dishonourable to the Majesty of God and Scandalous to Men and that they ought to be reformed by the Testimonies of the Holy Scriptures the Decrees of the Primitive Church and the Writings of the most Ancient Fathers That the Corruptions and Disorders of the Court and Church of Rome had long since been complained of in France by W. Parisiensis John Gerson Nicholas Clemangius and Wisellius of Groeningen the Restorer of the University of Paris under Lewis XI and other Divines That King Francis his Father of Blessed Memory was convinced of this and had wisely endeavoured to put an end to the Differences of Religion and to reform the Discipline of the Church That now France was not involved in War abroad they besought him the Difference of Religion might by his Authority and Conduct be quietly ended That this might easily be effected if the King would but appoint Learned and Peaceable Men who should examin their Confession of Faith without Partiality or Prejudice by the Holy Scripture and the Ancient Fathers That in the interim he should suspend all Legal Severities discharge the Imprisoned recal the Banished restore their Estates to those that had been ruin'd This they said would be acceptable and pleasing to God Honourable to the King Profitable to France and very Grateful to them The King entertained the Embassadors kindly and having read the Letter said he would suddenly send them a satisfactory Answer but by that time they were arrived at the Borders of France the Fire their coming seem'd to have abated raged more horribly than ever June 19. a Commission was issued to Jean de Saint Andre the President and Promoter of these Troubles Jo. James de Memme Master of the Requests Lewis Gayaut
to deal more severely with him than either his custom nature or inclination led him to do But that he would by no means let it be thought that he had neglected his duty having always before his eyes that instance of divine severity against Eli the High-Priest That hitherto he had indeed used the clemency of a Father but that if he obtained nothing now by that means he must needs take another course That he would therefore consider what it became him to do and whether it would conduce more to his own honour and interest to assist his old age in recovering the peace of the Church or to favour those rather who aimed at nothing else but the rending of her into pieces It was thought that the Pope was put upon it by the French King on whom he relyed to write in this manner to the Emperour for it is credible that that King had put odious interpretations and constructions upon the English League that he might whet the edge of the Pope Hence that insinuation in the Letter mentioned before of contracting friendship with ill men for both of them are wont by Letters and Embassadours sollicitously to court the friendship of the King of England especially in time of War and severally strive which can make himself most acceptable unto him About this time Stephen Bishop of Winchester published a very reproachful and bitter Book against Bucer wherein amongst other things he defended the single life This year the Pope created Cardinals Christopher Madruce Bishop of Trent Otho Truchses Bishop of Ausburg Germans George d'Armagnac James Annebaud Kinsman to the Admiral of France French-men Francis Mendoza Bartholomew de la Cueva Spaniards and that to gratifie the Emperour Ferdinand and King of France About the same time also he again summons the Council which had been hindered by the Wars to meet on the 15th of March of the following year and because the Emperour and French King were now at peace he makes a great shew of gladness beginning his Bull of Indiction of the Council with that place of Scripture Rejoyce O Jerusalem At this time also Luther's Book about the Lords Supper came abroad wherein he renews the old Controversie and falls foul upon Zuinglius and his Adherents but it was afterwards answered by those of Zurich and that smartly too We mentioned before how vigorously the Clergy and Colledge of Cologne had resisted the Archbishop in his intended Reformation But he still persisting in the same by Deputies and Letters again sent to him they repeat their former sute telling him That they had earnestly desired two things of him some time ago First that he would desist from his purpose and expect the Decree of the Council and then that he would discharge all new Preachers but that he proceeded and would not condescend to their Supplications which must needs prove very prejudicial to the whole Province That therefore they again besought him by all that was sacred that being mindful of his own Duty and the obligation that lay upon him to the Church of Cologne the Pope of Rome and the Emperour he would remove those Preachers and defer the whole matter until it should come to a publick hearing That unless he did do so they must implore the protection of higher Powers and take such courses as might discharge their Consciences and avert the anger of God. That they were unwilling to proceed so far but that if he persisted they must of necessity do so When by this means they could not prevail neither October the ninth they meet in the chief Church of Cologne and there read over a Writing containing amongst other things what was acted at Wormes three and twenty years before when Luther with consent of all the Princes was condemned by the Emperour what had been done at Ausbourg Ratisbonne and what was lately decreed at Spire That since Archbishop Hermon had taken a new course and setting light by all these things had sent for Bucer an Apostate Monk twice polluted by incestuous Marriages and an Assertor of the Sacramentarian Doctrine whom he employed in the Ministry as he every-where also appointed lewd and profligate Wretches to be new Teachers of the people That by the same hands a new Model of Reformation had been drawn up and published by command of the Prince That they had indeed vigorously protested against all these Innovations and often but in vain besought the Archbishop that he would expect the meeting of the Council or at least delay till the Diet of the Empire That now the Province being in a deplorable condition and all things tending to confusion without any hopes of condescension on his part they were necessitated to betake themselves to the last Remedy and to appeal to the Pope and to the Emperour the chief Advocate and Protector of the Church of God and to commit themselves and all their concerns to their protection George of Brunswick the Brother of Duke Henry and Provost of the Colledge presided in that Assembly When this came to the knowledge of the Archbishop by a publick Writing he denied that they had any cause for an Appeal that he had done nothing but what was his duty and therefore that he rejected the Appeal hoping that they would let it fall of themselves but if not that he would proceed in those things that concerned the glory of God and the Reformation of the Church In another writing afterwards he refutes their Accusations alledging That he had no private Engagement neither with Luther nor Bucer but that he looked upon their Doctrine as being consonant to Scripture to be truly Apostolical and worthy to be embraced by all That Luther was indeed condemned by the Church of Rome but in a violent tyrannical manner without being heard That he knew nothing of that Edict of Wormes whereby they affirm that Luther was condemned before it was printed and published That whereas then they affirm it to be made with consent of the Princes that did not at all concern him to whom nothing of the matter was ever communicated That he never liked that Decree of Ausbourg concerning Religion And that when some Princes promised the Emperour great matters at that time and offered their lives and fortunes for maintenance of the Popish Religion he sent Orders to his Deputies that they should promise no such thing nay that in express terms they should declare the contrary But that they acted not according to their Orders and that the cause of their silence was known to some who now held the chief Rank amongst his Adversaries Which being so he was no ways obliged by that Edict and that though he might have been sometimes obliged yet upon discovery of the truth he was no longer bound seeing no Covenant or Oath that derogates from the honour of God can have any force or obligation That the Decree of Ratisbonne not only permitted but also enjoyned him and some other