I. CHAP. the sixteenth century. Unbounded gratitude, indeed, do we owe to Almighty God for the favourable circumstances in which we are placed; and to the illustrious men also who were his instruments in bringing about so blessed a revolution. At the same time we must not too confidently rely on the continuance of such a state of repose and prosperity. Still the spirit of the world is hostile to that which is of God; and it may again shew itself to be so beyond our expectations. It behoves us "while we have the light to walk in the light, that we may be the children of the light-lest darkness come upon us:" and still to remember that, "if we love father, or mother, or our own lives more than Christ," we are not and "cannot be his disciples." The principles which were advanced in the interviews between the protestants and the more dignified of their opponents, particularly the emperor himself, may also deserve our remark. They are such as are still urged, though now generally in a more covert manner, against those who exhibit the singularity' which ever belongs, more or less, to "the power of godliness," in this fallen world. "The protestants were few in number-an inconsiderable party : -they ought to submit to the majority, and follow the same religion with the emperor and the rest of the princes.-Their's was a novel doctrine: they introduced a singular kind of religion, disagreeing with the practice of all the kings of the earth. If they were right, all others were wrong-and even their own ancestors all heretics! Their assurance could not be sufficiently wondered at.-The emperor had regard to conscience as well as they, and would maintain the ancient religion." It is somewhat amusing to hear the gravity with which these arguments are urged; while all appeals to the authority of scripture are considered as superseded by them. Luther subsequently made remarks on some of them, which may deserve here to be transcribed. In his lectures on Isaiah, on c. xix. 11, How say ye, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? he says: "This was the first argument of the ungodly against the righteous, and it will be the last: Would you, standing alone, condemn so ancient a church? Are Are you alone possessed of wisdom? and, were our ancestors blind?' With these two things, the reputation of wisdom, and the boast of antiquity, their minds are inflated. The Diatribe of Erasmus, for instance, amounts to nothing but what is here written-I am the son of the ancient."Again, on c. xxviii. 21, 22—the rejection of the Jews: " They assail us with this argument, 'Do you think that you, so few in number, are the church, in preference to us, who are numerous, powerful, and possessed of official right? We simply answer, as Paul did to the Jews, However many and great you be, if ye believe not in Christ, and place not your trust in his righteousness, we regard you not. You are not the church by virtue of your filling ecclesiastical offices. It is written that the abomination may stand in the holy place, and that antichrist shall sit in the temple of God. The church is known by faith in Christ, and not by office and numbers." 1 Finally, It is probably to be regarded as a matter of congratulation, that all the attempts to effect the proposed accommodation between the 1 Seck. iii. 81. A. D. 1530. CHAP. 1. parties failed. Had this been effected, it must have been by concessions which would have proved eventually, if not immediately, dangerous to the protestant cause. Luther well observes concerning them: " If mutual concessions are made, they will take our's largely, more largely, most largely, and make their own sparingly, more sparingly, most sparingly.": Seckendorf seems also with good reason jealous of leaving the Roman catholic prelates in possession of that full jurisdiction, which Melancthon, and even Luther, would have conceded to them. It might have been kept in check while such men as the first reformers presided over the protestant societies, but, when they were removed, and less powerful and less watchful pastors succeeded, it might have gone far towards carrying things gradually back to their former state.2 Here too the finger of providence is probably to be acknowledged and adored. But we turn now to the means by which it pleased that gracious providence still to screen the reformation, and for many years longer to frustrate the effect of the decree of Augsburg, as it had done that of the edict of Worms. 1 "Large, largius, largissime... stricte, strictius, strictissime." Ep. to Melanc. in Melch. Adam. vita Luth. 68. 2 Seck. ii. 176, 196, 212, 213. CHAPTER II. FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG TO THE PACIFICATION OF NUREMBERG. THE decree of the diet of Augsburg, so formally promulgated, after long and full deliberation, and bearing so severe a character, supported moreover by a combination of the catholic princes, in which even Charles himself concurred, naturally excited the most serious apprehensions of all the members of the protestant body: and they accordingly proceeded to form such plans, and adopt such measures, as appeared most likely to avert its effects, and protect them against the rising storm. to the Dec. 1530. Luther, sensible how greatly the minds of Luther's the German people could be agitated on the Admonition occasion, and how much those, in particular, who Germans, favoured his cause, might need both encouragement and counsel, with his wonted promptitude and vigour, published, before the close of the year, his "Warning to his beloved Countrymen." In this work he complains loudly of the inexorable spirit of his adversaries, especially the ecclesiastics, "whom, in the late diet, no submissions, no entreaties, no considerations whatever could soften; and whom, therefore, he concludes that God had given up to be hardened. Their threats, however, he is confident, would be vain and impotent. They were 1 Robertson iii. 51. Seck. ii. 200, iii. 11. CHAP. II. even in danger of raising popular seditions 1 The Hussites, Milner iv. 279. (259.) |