22 CHAP. 1. read, On this occasion Ferdinand was observed to whisper in his brother's ear, and was suspected of making suggestions unfriendly to the protestants; though afterwards, (Seckendorf observes,) when he knew them better, he was more favourably disposed towards them.1 On Saturday, therefore, the twenty fifth of June 25. June, the princes and dignitaries of the empire, with the representatives of such as were personally absent, assembled-none but official characters being admitted; 2 and the protestant princes, and the deputies of the imperial cities of Nuremberg and Reutlingen, with Christian Bayer, the elector's chancellor, and Pontanus presented themselves-Bayer bearing a German, and Pontanus a Latin copy of the confession. The elector and his companions proposed to stand during the reading, but the emperor desired them to take their seats. Bayer and Pontanus therefore came forward into the middle. The emperor wished the Latin copy to be read: but the elector, proposing his request in terms, which would have made it unpopular to reject it, said, “As we are in Germany, I trust your majesty will allow us to speak German; and the emperor assented. Bayer therefore read deliberately, and in so audible a voice as to be heard beyond the hall, in the court below, the whole of the confession and its appendages -which occupied him two hours. When he had finished, both the copies were offered to the imperial secretary, but the emperor himself took the Latin one, and then courteously dismissed the assembly, causing it to be signified to the parties, that he would take the subject into his most serious consideration.3 1 Seck. ii. 169. Hane, Hist. Ref. ii. 9. 3 Seck. ii. 170, et ibi Maimburg. This public reading of a document which asserted and maintained all the great principles A. D. 1530. of protestantism, and openly impugned the Luther's errors, doctrinal and practical, of the church of joy at the Rome, was to Luther, amidst all the discourage- reading. ments and anxieties under which he had to console his friends at Augsburg, a matter of great triumph and devout exultation. He thus writes to the elector the very day on which he had received his highness's letters: "Our adversaries think they have succeeded to admiration, in procuring the preaching to be stopped by an imperial prohibition: but, poor men! they do not perceive, that, by the exhibition of a written confession to the emperor, more is done to make known and propagate our doctrine, than perhaps ten preachers could have effected. Islebius, 2 it is true, and the other divines are silenced: but forth come the elector of Saxony and the other princes and lords, with a written confession of faith in their hands, and preach, with all possible freedom, before his imperial majesty and the whole empire, in the view of all the world, so that they are forced to hear, and can say nothing against it!... Truly Christ is not silent in the diet!... Thus is that accomplished which is written, The word of God is not bound! No: if it is prohibited in pulpits, it shall be heard in the palaces of kings."3 If the public reading of the confession, taken alone, were such a subject of rejoicing, much more might it be so when taken in connexion with the wide extended publication of it, which soon followed, and with its being made to this 1 Which was not, however, it would seem, till the 9th of July. 2 Agricola. 3 Seck. ii. 183. I. CHAP day the doctrinal standard of so large and so respectable a section of the Christian. world. The printing of the confession, or of any thing relating to it, was indeed for the present forbidden; but it was soon translated into numerous languages, and manuscript copies were dispersed in all the courts of Europe. Its effects. But, in fact, the immediate effects of the confession were such as to justify a large portion of the joy and triumph which Luther expressed on the occasion. Mosheim says, "The princes heard it with the deepest attention and recollection of mind: it confirmed some in the principles they had embraced; surprised others; and many, who before this time had little or no idea of the religious sentiments of Luther, were now not only convinced of their innocence, but moreover delighted with their purity and simplicity." In conformity with this description, the manuscript narrative abstracted by Seckendorf, observes, that "many eminently wise and prudent persons pronounced a favourable judgment of what they had heard, and declared they would not have missed hearing it for a great Archbishop deal."3 Father Paul also observes, "It is not of to be omitted that cardinal Matthew Langi, archbishop of Salzburg, told every one," after hearing the confession, "that the reformation of the mass was becoming, the liberty of meats proper, and the demand to be disburdened of so many commandments of men, just: but that Salzburg. 1 Seck. ii. 171. Scultetus (156) says, the emperor himself sent copies to the principal sovereigns of Europe for their opinion and advice respecting it. It was translated into Italian for the pope, who was but a poor Latinist! Melch. Adam. Vit. Lutheri. 68. 2 Mosh. iii. 354. 3 Seck. ii. 203. a poor monk should reform all was not to be endured."—"The archbishop of Salzburg would not have the world reformed by a (poor) monk!" This is Father Paul's marginal notice of the sentiment and a notable instance that sentiment furnishes of the pride and prejudice of the human heart. But "God's thoughts are not our thoughts, neither his ways our ways." "He hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty: and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea and things which are not, to bring to nought things which are: that no flesh should glory in his presence." "The poor monk," or rather Almighty God by his means, did "reform the world; " not only the protestant world, but in a degree the popish world also. And when, almost, was it ever heard, that extensive and thorough reformation proceeded from those in high stations-too generally the very heads of the corrupt system, and owing their greatness to it? A. D. 1530. But of another prelate, Christopher von Sta- Bishop of Augsburg. dion, bishop of Augsburg, we have a much more promising account. After hearing the confession, he is related to have said, "What has been recited is true; pure truth; we cannot deny it."2 And some time after, when he was among the commissioners appointed to bring 1 F. Paul, 52. Luther also refers to this speech in his Warning to the Germans. Seck. iii. 5. It immediately follows in F. Paul, "Cornelius Scoper, the emperor's secretary, said, that, if the protestants had money, they would easily buy of the Italians what religion pleased them best: but that, without gold, it was impossible to make their's shine in the world." 2 Seck. ii. 170. 1. CHAP. about, if possible, an agreement between the parties, the following occurrence took place. "After much dispute, the bishop of Augsburg, the diocesan of the place, and a man of prudence and firmness, rose, and in a pious and solemn discourse, entreated the princes and prelates to guard, with anxious care, against determining any thing contrary to the word of God, and inconsistent with rectitude and justice. It was too true," he said, " and manifest to all men, that the Lutherans, in what they maintained, had hitherto opposed no one article. of the Christian faith: and, this being the case, it became all, who feared God and loved peace, earnestly and frequently to consider, by what means the ancient tranquillity might be restored and preserved." On hearing him utter these sentiments, the archbishop of Salzburg, directing his discourse to him, demanded, "Whence comes this sudden change, and this unexpected sanctity of yours?-for I distinctly remember to have heard from your mouth, other sentiments, and other feelings than these, expressed concerning religion?" The bishop of Augsburg replied: "I do not deny that in the course of my life hitherto I have done many things worthy of censure, and contrary to piety: but present circumstances imperiously require of me to renounce ungodliness and the allurements of sin, and to commence a new life. And, not to dissemble what I think, perhaps your manner of living, my lord of Salzburg, is not much more religious, or more virtuous, than my own: and your proceedings are worse than mine, in proportion as you more obstinately and eagerly excuse your sins, palliate idolatrous abuses, and attempt to defend |