History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume II Part 34

A deep impression had been produced on the heads of the empire. Luther had observed this, and it had increased his courage. The servants of the pope were angry at John Eck for not having oftener interrupted the guilty monk. Several princes and n.o.bles were gained to a cause which was maintained with such conviction. In some, it is true, the impression was evanescent, but, on the other hand, several who till then had concealed their sentiments, henceforth displayed great courage.

[Sidenote: DUKE ERICK'S GLa.s.s OF BEER.]

Luther had returned to his hotel, and was reposing from the fatigue of the severe service in which he had been engaged. Spalatin and other friends were around him, and all were giving thanks to G.o.d. While they were conversing, a valet entered, bearing a silver vase full of Eimbeck beer. "My master," said he, presenting it to Luther, "begs you to refresh yourself with this draught of beer." "What prince is it,"

asked Luther, "who so graciously remembers me?" It was old Duke Erick of Brunswick. The Reformer was touched by the offering thus made him by so powerful a prince; one, too, belonging to the papal party. "His highness," continued the valet, "was pleased to taste the draught before sending it to you." Luther, being thirsty, poured out the duke's beer, and after drinking it, said, "As Duke Erick has this day remembered me, so may the Lord Jesus Christ remember him in the day of his final combat."[535] The present was in itself of little value, but Luther, wis.h.i.+ng to show his grat.i.tude to a prince who had thought of him at such a moment, gave him what he had--a prayer. The valet returned with the message to his master. The old duke, in his last moments, remembered the words, and addressing a young page, Francis de Kramm, who was standing at his bedside, said to him, "Take the gospel and read it to me." The child read the words of Christ, and the soul of the dying man was refreshed. "_Whosoever_," says the Saviour, "_shall give to one of you a cup of cold water in my name, because you are my disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward_."

[535] Also gidencke seiner unser Herr Christus in seinem letzten Kampff. (Seck. p. 354.)

The valet of the Duke of Brunswick was no sooner gone than a message from the Elector of Saxony ordered Spalatin to come to him instantly.

Frederick had come to the Diet full of disquietude. He thought that, in presence of the emperor, Luther's courage might give way, and he had accordingly been deeply moved by the Reformer's firmness. He was proud of having taken such a man under his protection. When the chaplain arrived, the table was covered, and the Elector was going to sit down to supper with his Court--the valets having already brought in the vase for was.h.i.+ng the hands. The Elector seeing Spalatin enter, immediately beckoned him to follow, and when alone with him in his bedchamber, said to him, with deep emotion, "Oh! how well father Luther spoke before the emperor and all the states of the empire! My only fear was, that he would be too bold."[536] Frederick then formed a resolution to protect the doctor in future with greater courage.

[536] O wie schon hat Pater Martinus geredet. (Ibid., p. 355.)

[Sidenote: MESSAGE FROM THE EMPEROR.]

Aleander saw the impression which Luther had produced. There was no time, therefore, to be lost. The young emperor must be induced to act vigorously. The moment was favourable, for there was immediate prospect of war with France. Leo X, wis.h.i.+ng to enlarge his states, and caring little for the peace of Christendom, caused two treaties to be secretly negotiated, at the same time, the one with Charles against Francis, and the other with Francis against Charles.[537] By the former he stipulated with the emperor for Parma, Placenza, and Ferrara; by the latter, he stipulated with the king for a part of the kingdom of Naples, of which Charles was thus to be deprived. Charles felt the importance of gaining over Leo, in order that he might have him as an ally against his rival of France. Luther was an easy price to pay for the friends.h.i.+p of the mighty pontiff.

[537] Guicciardini, p. 175. Dumont Corp. Dipl. t. iv, p. 96. Dicesi del papa Leone, che quando l'aveva fatto lega con alcuno, prima soleva dir che pero non si dovea restar de tratar c.u.m lo altro principe opposto. It is said of Leo X, that after entering into league with any one, he was wont to say there was no occasion to cease treating with princes on the opposite side. (Suriano, Venetian Amba.s.sador at Rome, M.S. Archives of Venice.)

The day after Luther's appearance, he caused a message to be read to the Diet, which he had written in French, with his own hand.[538]

"Sprung," said he, "from the Christian emperors of Germany, from the Catholic kings of Spain, the archdukes of Austria, and the dukes of Burgundy, who are all ill.u.s.trious as defenders of the Roman faith, it is my firm purpose to follow the example of my ancestors. A single monk, led astray by his own folly, sets himself up in opposition to the faith of Christendom. I will sacrifice my dominions, my power, my friends, my treasure, my body, my blood, my mind, and my life, to stay this impiety.[539] I mean to send back the Augustin, Luther, forbidding him to cause the least tumult among the people; thereafter I will proceed against him and his adherents as against declared heretics, by excommunication. and interdict, and all means proper for their destruction.[540] I call upon the members of the states to conduct themselves like faithful Christians."

[538] Autographum in linguae Burgundica, ab ipsomet exaratum.

(Cochlus, 32.)

[539] "Regna, thesauros, amicos, corpus, sanguinem, vitam, spiritumque profundere." (Pallavicini, i, p. 118.)

[540] Und andern Wegen sie zu vertilgen. (L. Op. (L.) xvii, p. 581.)

[Sidenote: PROPOSAL TO VIOLATE THE SAFE-CONDUCT.]

This address did not please every body. Charles, young and impa.s.sioned, had not observed the ordinary forms; he ought previously to have asked the opinion of the Diet. Two extreme views were immediately declared. The creatures of the pope, the Elector of Brandenburg, and several ecclesiastical princes, demanded that no regard should be paid to the safe-conduct which had been given to Luther.[541] "The Rhine," said they, "must receive his ashes, as a century ago it received the ashes of John Huss." Charles, if we may believe a historian, afterwards bitterly repented that he had not followed this dastardly counsel. "I confess," said he, towards the close of his life, "that I committed a great fault in allowing Luther to live. That heretic having offended a greater master than I, even G.o.d himself, I was not obliged to keep my promise to him. I might, nay, I ought to have forgotten my word, and avenged the insult which he offered to G.o.d; because I did not put him to death, the heresy has not ceased to gain strength. His death would have strangled it in the cradle."[542]

[541] Da.s.s Luthero das sichere Geleit nicht mochte gehalten werden.

(Seckend. p. 357.)

[542] Sandoval Hist. de Carlos V, quoted in Llorente, History of the Inquisition, ii, p. 57. According to Llorente, the idea that Charles, toward the close of his life, inclined to evangelical opinions, is a mere invention of Protestants and the enemies of Philip II. This question forms a historical problem which the numerous quotations of Llorente appear unhappily to solve in conformity to his view.

This horrible proposition filled the Elector and all Luther's friends with terror. "The execution of John Huss," said the Elector Palatine, "brought too many calamities on Germany to allow such a scaffold to be erected a second time." "The princes of Germany," exclaimed George of Saxony, himself the irreconcilable enemy of Luther, "will not allow a safe-conduct to be violated. This first Diet, held by our new emperor, will not incur the guilt of an act so disgraceful. Such perfidy accords not with old German integrity." The princes of Bavaria, also devoted to the Church of Rome, joined in this protestation. The death scene which Luther's friends had already before their eyes appeared to be withdrawn.

[Sidenote: ALEANDER'S PROPOSAL NEGATIVED.]

The rumour of these debates, which lasted for two days, spread over the town. Parties grew warm. Some gentlemen, partisans of reform, began to speak strongly against the treachery demanded by Aleander.

"The emperor," said they, "is a young man whom the papists and bishops lead at pleasure by their flattery."[543] Pallavicini makes mention of four hundred n.o.bles who were ready to maintain Luther's safe-conduct with the sword. On Sat.u.r.day morning placards were found posted up on the houses and public places, some against Luther and others in his favour. One of them merely contained the energetic words of Ecclesiastes, "_Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child!_"

Seckingen, it was said, had a.s.sembled at some leagues from Worms, behind the impregnable ramparts of his fortress, a large body of knights and soldiers, and only waited the issue of the affair that he might know how to act. The popular enthusiasm, not only in Worms, but also in the most distant towns of the empire,[544] the intrepidity of the knights, the attachment of several princes to the Reformer, all must have made Charles and the Diet comprehend that the step demanded by the Romans might compromise the supreme authority, excite revolts, and even shake the empire.[545] It was only a simple monk that they proposed to burn; but the princes and partisans of Rome, taken all together, had neither power nor courage enough to do it. Doubtless, also, Charles V, their young emperor, had still a fear of perjury.

This would seem indicated by an expression, which, if some historians speak true, he uttered on this occasion: "Were fidelity and good faith banished from the whole world, they ought to find an asylum in the hearts of princes." It is said he forgot this when on the brink of the grave. But there were other motives which might have had their influence on the emperor. The Florentine Vettori, a friend of Leo X and of Machiaveli, affirms, that Charles spared Luther only that he might keep the pope in check.[546]

[543] Eum esse puerum, qui nutu et blanditiis Papistarum et Episcoporum trahatur quocunque velint. (Cochlus, p. 33.)

[544] Verum etiam in longinquis Germaniae civitatibus, motus et murmura plebium. (Ibid., p. 33.)

[545] Es ware ein Aufruhr dauraus worden, says Luther.

[546] "Carlo si excus di non poter procedere piu oltre, rispetto al salvocondotto, ma la verita fu che conoscendo che il Papa temeva molto di questa doctrina di Luthero, lo volle tenere con questo freno."

Charles pretended that he could not go farther from regard to the safe-conduct; but the truth was that, knowing the pope was much afraid of this doctrine, he wished to hold him with this bridle. (Vettori, Istoria d'Italia M.S. Biblioth. Corsini at Rome, extracted by Ranke.)

[Sidenote: THE ELECTOR'S FEARS.]

On the Sat.u.r.day's sitting, the violent counsels of Aleander were negatived. There was a feeling in favour of Luther, and a wish to save the simple-hearted man whose confidence in G.o.d was so affecting; but there was a wish also to save the Church. The Diet shuddered equally at the consequences which would result from the triumph and from the destruction of the Reformer. Proposals of conciliation were heard, and it was suggested that a new attempt should be made with the doctor of Wittemberg. The archbishop-elector of Mentz himself, the young and extravagant Albert, more devout than courageous, says Pallavicini,[547]

had taken alarm on seeing the interest which the people and the n.o.bility showed in the Saxon monk. His chaplain, Capito, who, during his residence at Bale, had been intimate with the evangelical priest of Zurich, named Zuinglius, the intrepid defender of the truth, of whom we have already had occasion to speak, had also, doubtless, represented to Albert the righteousness of the Reformer's cause. The worldly archbishop had one of those returns to Christian sentiment which his life occasionally exhibits, and agreed to go to the emperor and ask him to allow one last attempt. But Charles flatly refused. On Monday (22nd April) the princes met in a body to renew the solicitations of Albert. "I will not depart from what I have decreed,"

replied the emperor. I will not commission any person to go officially to Luther. "But," added he, to the great scandal of Aleander, "I give this man three days to reflect; during this time any one may, as an individual, give him suitable advice."[548] This was all that was asked. The Reformer, thought they, elevated by the solemnity of his public appearance, will yield in a more friendly conference, and perhaps be saved from the abyss into which he is ready to fall.

[547] Qui pio magis animo erat quam forti. (Pallavicini, p. 118.) Who was more of a devout than of a strong mind.

[548] Quibus privatim exhortari hominem possent. (Pallav. i, p. 119.)

The Elector of Saxony knew the contrary; accordingly he was in great fear. "If it were in my power," wrote he next day to his brother, Duke John, "I would be ready to support Luther. You could not believe to what a degree I am attacked by the partisans of Rome. If I could tell you all, you would hear very strange things.[549] They are bent on his ruin, and however slight interest any one shows for his person, he is immediately decried as a heretic. May G.o.d, who forsakes not the righteous cause, bring all to a good end!" Frederick, without showing the strong affection which he felt for the Reformer, contented himself with not losing sight of any of his movements.

[549] Wunde h.o.r.en werden. (Seckend. 365.)

It was not so with men of all ranks then in Worms. Many fearlessly gave full vent to their sympathy. From the Friday, a crowd of princes, counts, barons, knights, gentlemen, ecclesiastics, laics, and common people surrounded the hotel where the Reformer lodged; they came in and went out, and could not see enough of him.[550] He was become _the man_ in Germany. Even those who doubted not that he was in error were touched by the n.o.bleness of soul which had led him to sacrifice his life at the bidding of his conscience. With several of the personages present at Worms, and forming the flower of the nation, Luther had occasionally conversations full of that salt with which his sayings were always seasoned. None left him without feeling animated with a generous enthusiasm for the truth. George Vogler, the private secretary of the margrave Casimir of Brandenburg, writing to a friend, says, "What things I should have to tell you! What conversations full of piety and kindness Luther has had with myself and others! How winning that man is!"[551]

[550] Und konnten nicht satt werden ihn zu sehenr. (L. Op. xvii, p.

581.)

[551] Wie eine holdselige Person er ist. (Meuzel Magaz. i, p. 207.)

[Sidenote: VISIT FROM THE LANDGRAVE OF HESSE.]

One day a young prince of seventeen came prancing into the court of the hotel: it was Philip, who had been reigning for two years in Hesse. The young landgrave was of an active and enterprising character, of a wisdom beyond his years, a martial spirit, and an impetuous temper, seldom allowing himself to be guided by any ideas but his own. Struck with Luther's addresses he wished to have a nearer view of him. "As yet, however," says Luther, in relating his visit, "he was not for me."[552] He dismounted, and without any other formality, came up into the Reformer's room, and addressing him, said, "Well, dear doctor, how goes it?" "Gracious lord," replied Luther, "I hope it will go well." "From what I learn," resumed the landgrave laughing, "you teach, doctor, that a wife may quit her husband, and take another, when the former is found to be too old!" The people of the imperial court had told this story to the landgrave. The enemies of the truth never fail to circulate fabulous accounts of the lessons of Christian teachers--"No, my lord," replied Luther gravely, "let your highness not speak so, if you please." Thereupon the prince briskly held out his hand to the doctor, shook his cordially, and said, "Dear doctor, if you are in the right, may G.o.d a.s.sist you." On this he left the room, again mounted his horse and rode off. This was the first interview between these two men, who were afterwards to stand at the head of the Reformation, and to defend it, the one with the sword of the word, and the other with the sword of kings.

[552] War noch nicht auf meiner Seite. (L. Op. xvii, p. 589.)

It was the Archbishop of Treves, Richard de Greifenklau, who, with permission of Charles V, had undertaken the office of mediator.

Richard, who was on an intimate footing with the Elector of Saxony, and a good Roman Catholic, was desirous to arrange this difficult affair, and thereby at once do a service to his friend and to the Church. On Monday evening, (22nd April,) just as Luther was going to sit down to table, a messenger of the archbishop came to say, that the prelate wished to see him the day after to-morrow (Wednesday), at six o'clock in the morning.

CHAP. X.

Conference with the Archbishop of Treves--Wehe's advice to Luther--Luther's Replies--Private Conversation--Visit of Cochlus--Supper at the Archbishop's--Attempt on the Hotel of Rhodes--A Council proposed--Last interview between Luther and the Archbishop--Visit to a sick friend--Luther ordered to quit Worms.

[Sidenote: CONFERENCE WITH THE ARCHBISHOP OF TREVES.]

That day the chaplain and the imperial herald, Sturm, were both at Luther's before six o'clock in the morning. Aleander had caused Cochlus to be called at four. The nuncio had not been slow in discovering in the man who had been presented to him by Capito, a devoted servant of Rome, on whom he could calculate as on himself. Not being able to be present at this interview, Aleander wished to have a subst.i.tute at it. "Be present at the Archbishop's of Treves," said he to the Dean of Frankfort. "Do not enter into discussion with Luther, but content yourself with paying the closest attention to every thing that is said, so as to be able to bring me back a faithful report."[553] The Reformer on arriving with some friends at the house of the archbishop, found him surrounded by the margrave, Joachim of Brandenburg and Augsburg, several n.o.bles, deputies from free towns, lawyers, and theologians, among whom were Cochlus and Jerome Wehe, chancellor of Baden. The latter, an able lawyer, wished a reformation in manners and discipline. He went even further. "The Word of G.o.d,"

said he, "which has so long been hid under the bushel, must reappear in all its l.u.s.tre."[554] This conciliatory individual was entrusted with the conference. Turning kindly towards Luther, he said to him, "We did not make you come in order to dispute with you, but in order to give you brotherly advice. You know how carefully the Scripture requireth us to guard against the flying arrow, and the devil that walketh at noon-day. This enemy of the human race has instigated you to publish things contrary to religion. Think of your own safety, and that of the empire. Take care that those whom Jesus Christ has ransomed by his own death, from death eternal, be not seduced by you and perish for ever.... Do not set yourself up against holy councils.