CHAP. remedy was not fitted to the malady, which increased daily." 1 II. The Turkish The Pope disgusted. After this pacification the protestants, in testimony of their gratitude to the emperor, exerted themselves with extraordinary zeal to support him in the war against the Turks; and, the other states vying with them, such an army was raised as Germany had seldom seen. Charles, putting himself, for the first time, at the head of his troops, marched in person against Solyman. Each of them, however, dreading the power and good fortune of the other, they conducted themselves with such caution that no advantage could be gained on either side, and the campaign afforded no memorable event. At its close Solyman marched back to Constantinople: and it is remarked, that for Charles, "in his first essay in arms, to have opposed such a leader was no small honour; to have obliged him to retreat, merited very considerable praise." This, however, belongs to secular history. Immediately after the retreat of the Turks, the emperor, impatient to revisit Spain, set out for Italy, on his way thither; and again met the pope at Bologna, being seriously intent upon procuring such a general council as might satisfy the Germans. The whole of Charles's conduct, however, from the opening of the diet of Augsburg, had given no satisfaction to the pope. Clement "was touched," Father Paul observes, "with an inward grief of mind, discovering that, though Charles had received his counsel, by availing himself of his authority and threatening violence, yet he had not proceeded as advocate of the church of Rome,3 1 F. Paul, 56. 2 Robertson, iii. 59. 3 The office which he had engaged to sustain at his coronation. unto whom it belongeth not to take knowledge of the cause, but to be a mere executor of the pope's decrees; whereunto it was quite contrary to have received the Confessions, and caused them to be read, and to have instituted a conference to settle the differences. He complained beyond measure, that some points were agreed unto, and especially that Charles had consented to the abolition of some rites; thinking that the pope's authority was violated, when things of so great moment were treated of without his privity....But the promising of a council, which he so much abhorred, pressed him above all; in which, though honourable mention was made of his authority, yet to prescribe six months to call it, and a year (more) to begin it, was to meddle with that which was proper to the pope, and to make the emperor the principal, and the pope his minister. By the observation of these beginnings he concluded, that there was little hope in the affairs of Germany, and that it behoved him to think of a preventive, that the disease might not pass to other parts of the body of the church. Because, however, that which was past could not be undone, he thought it not wisdom to shew that it was done against his will; but to make himself the author of it, that he might receive a less blow in his reputation. Therefore he gave an account of what had passed to all kings and princes, despatching his letters on the first of December, (1530,) all of the same tenour." In these letters he avowed himself convinced, that no remedy remained but a general and free council, in which therefore he invited them to assist in person or by their ambassadors. "Yet few were deceived: for it was not hard to discover, that to desire princes to send A. D. 1532. CHAP. II. Observation of F. Paul. ambassadors to a council, whereof neither time, nor place, nor manner was resolved on, was but the affectation of zeal and despatch, not the reality." 1 If the proceedings at Augsburg were so displeasing to the pope, much more so must have been the emperor's subsequent measures of conciliation and concession to the protestants, and his more solemn engagement entered into to procure a council. In fact the mind of Clement was now alienated from the emperor, and he henceforward courted the alliance of the king of France; who flattered his vanity, and pursued his own designs, by allowing his second son Henry to marry one of the pope's family, the celebrated Catharine de Medicis.2 While Charles's conduct was thus regarded at Rome as a portentous deviation from the duty of a good son of the church, such as gave cause to fear a sudden revenge from heaven," it was differently thought of by more impartial persons. They commended his piety and wisdom in endeavouring to unite all parties against the Turk, the common enemy of Christendom; and remarked, "That the maxim, so renowned at Rome, 'That it was more meet to persecute heretics than infidels,' was well fitted for the pope's dominion, but not to the general benefit of the Christian world." The 1 F. Paul, 54, 55. ? For all the contemporary secular transactions, the reader cannot do better than consult Robertson's Hist. of Charles V. In 1532, Cranmer (afterwards archbishop of Canterbury,) came on an embassy to the elector of Saxony: but his mission related chiefly to secular affairs; and, as it was at a time when the pacification was nearly arranged, it had no important result. Seck. iii. 40. 41.-"He resided for some time at the imperial court, as English minister, at this period.” Soame's Engl. Ref. i. 339–354. observation of Father Paul here is remarkable: "The times following have taught, and will teach perpetually, that the emperor's resolution was conformable to the laws of God and man. For the case was, whether every Christian country ought to be governed according to its own necessity and profit, or whether it was a slave to one only city, to advance the interests of which all others should spend themselves, and become desolate." 1 A. D. 1532. proposed With respect to the council, the pope still The continued to affect great zeal for it, so much Council. so as to send a nuncio, with an ambassador from the emperor, into Germany, to make arrangements preparatory to it with the protestants; but he would never agree to hold it on any other terms, than those "which he knew would not be accepted:"2 such as, that it should be called by the authority of the pope alone; that it should be held in Italy-where it would be under his control; and that the protestants should bind themselves to submit to its decisions, even before it was settled by what rule they were to be formed-whether by that of scripture alone, or by human in common with divine authority; and that none should have votes but those to whom the papal usages allowed them. In short, he would agree to no council at all, but what should be guided by his own will.-The cardinals more openly urged that none was necessary; for "a council," said they, "could not choose but approve what Leo X. had determined, except it would become a conventicle, or unlawful assembly, as all those were which had separated themselves from the doctrine and obedience of the pope.' 1 F. Paul. 59, 60. · 2 ? F. Paul, 57. Sleid. 162-166. 3 F. Paul. 58. 3 CHAP. II. Death of Oct. 11, 1531: We now turn to a different class of subjects, more edifying, and on that account more interesting, to the pious mind; though the interest excited must, with respect to some of them, be tinged with regret. The church of Christ was about this time deprived of three eminent persons, who had rendered the greatest services to the reformation. Some notice of the latter end of each cannot fail to be acceptable, though two of them belonged not immediately to that branch of the church, of which we profess, at present, to detail the history. The first of these was Zuinglius, the Swiss Zuinglius: reformer. He, as is well known, lost his life in a battle fought between the troops of Zurich and Berne, on the one side, and those of the Roman catholic cantons, on the other. Zuinglius's accompanying the troops, not as an officer, but as a pastor or chaplain, was in conformity with the custom of his country, and the call expressly made upon him by the senate. He had disapproved the proceedings of his countrymen which led to the conflict; so much so as to have proposed to quit Zurich; and he seems to have gone out with the army, in some hope of effecting a reconciliation between the parties: but the engagement was brought on suddenly, and the reformed suffered a defeat. Thrice he was thrown down, and as often re arms. 1 "It is no new thing among the Swiss for the principal pastors to go out with the troops to battle, and that even in Our brother did not go forth as a military leader, but as a good citizen and assiduous pastor, willing to die with his people....Nor did he go out voluntarily: he wished to remain at home for a time; but the senate would not consent to it." Ecolampadius, 8 Nov. 1531, in Ecolamp. and Zuingl. Epist. Basil. 1536. |