of the holy Roman church. He declared that his only intention, in the writings he had com. posed, was to brand with infamy those emissaries who abused his authority, and employed protection as a mask to cover their abominable and impious frauds. It is true, indeed, that amidst those weak submissions which the impartial demands of historical truth oblige us to relate, there was, properly speaking, no retraction of his former tenets, nor the smallest degree of respect shown to the infamous traffick of indulgences. Nevertheless, the pretended majesty of the Roman church, and the authority of the Roman pontiff, were treated by Luther in this transaction, and in his letter to Leo, in a manner that could not naturally have been expected from a man who had already appealed from the pope to a general council. Had the pope been so prudent as to accept the submission of Luther, he would have al most nipped in the bud the cause of the reformation, or would, at least, have considera bly retarded its growth and progress. When he had gained over the head, the members would, with greater facility, have been reduced to obedience. But the flaming and excessive zeal of some inconsiderate bigots renewed (happily for the truth) the divisions, which were so near being healed, and, by animating both Luther and his followers to inspect more closely the enormities that prevailed in the papal hierarchy, promoted the principles, and augmented the spirit, which ultimately produced the blessed* reformation. he would either oblige Luther to renounce * Luther was so affected by the agonies of despair under which Tetzel laboured, that he wrote to him a pathetic letter of consolation, which, however, produced no effect. His infamy was perpetuated by a picture placed in the church of Pirna, in which he is represented sitting on an ass and selling indulgences. This letter was dated the 13th of March, 1519, about two months after that conference. VOL. II.-3 X. One of the circumstances that contributed principally, at least by its consequences, to render the embassy of Miltitz ineffectual for the restoration of peace, was a famous controversy of an incidental nature that was carried on at Leipsic, for some weeks successively, in 1519. Eckius, the celebrated theologian, happened to differ widely from Carlostadt, the colleague and companion of Luther, in his sentiments concerning free will. The result of this variety in opinion was easy to be foreseen. The military genius of our ancestors had so far infected the schools of learning, that differences in points of religion and literature, when they grew to a certain degree of warmth and animosity, were decided, like the quarrels of valiant knights, by a single combat. Some famous university was pitched upon as the field of battle, while the rector and professors * ference with Miltitz, the incomparable work of See, for an ample account of Luther's conSeckendorff, entitled Commentar. Histor. Apologet. de Lutheranismo, sive de Reformatione Religionis, &c. in which the facts relating to Luther and the Reformation are deduced from the most valuable and authentic manuscripts and records, contained in the library of Saxe-Gotha, and in other learned and princely collections: and in which the frauds and falsehoods of Maimbourg's History of Lutheranism are fully detected and refuted.-As to Miltitz, his fate was unhappy. His moderation (which nothing but the blind zeal of some furious monks could have prevented from being eminently serviceable to the cause of Rome) was represented by Eckius, as something worse than indifference about the success of his commission; and, after several marks of neglect received from the pontiff, he had the misfortune to lose his life in passing the Rhine, at Mentz. †These disputes commenced on the 27th of June and ended on the 15th of July. beheld the contest, and proclaimed the victory. Eckius, therefore, in compliance with the spirit of this fighting age, challenged Carlostadt, and even Luther himself, against whom he had already drawn his pen, to try the force of his theological arms. The challenge was accepted, the day appointed, and the three champions, appeared in the field. The first conflict was between Carlostadt and Eckius, respecting the powers and freedom of the human will; it was carried on in the castle of Pleissenburg, before a numerous and splendid auditory, and was followed by a dispute between Luther and Eckius concerning the authority and supremacy of the Roman pontiff. This latter controversy, which the present situation of affairs rendered singularly nice and critical, was left undecided. Huffman, at that time rector of the university of Leipsic, and who had been also appointed judge of the arguments alleged on both sides, refused to declare to whom the victory belonged, so that the decision of the case was referred to the universities of Paris and Erfurt. In the mean time, one of the immediate effects of this dispute was a visible increase of the bitterness and enmity which Eckius had conceived against Luther; for from this very period he breathed nothing but fury against the reformer,‡ whom he marked out as a victim to his vengeance, without considering, that the measures he took for the destruction of Luther, must have a most pernicious influence upon the cause of the pontiff, by fomenting the present divisions, and thus contributing to the progress of the refornation, as was really the case.§ This controversy turned upon liberty, considered not in a philosophical, but in a theological sense. It was rather a dispute concerning power than concerning liberty. Carlostadt maintained, that, since the fall of man, our natural liberty is not strong enough to conduct us to what is good, without the intervention of divine grace. Eckius asserted, on the contrary, that our natural liberty co-operates with divine grace, and that it is in the power of man to consent to the divine impulse, or to resist it. The former attributed all to God; the latter divided the merit of virtue between God and the creature. The modern Lutherans have almost universally abandoned the sentiments of Carlostadt. †There is an ample account of this dispute at Leipsic, given by Loscherus, in his Acta et Documenta Reformationis. This was one proof that the issue of the controversy was not in his favour. The victor, in any combat, is generally too full of satisfaction and self-complacency, to feel the emotions of fury and vengeance, which seldom arise but from disappointment and defeat. There is even an insolent kind of clemency that arises from an eminent and palpable superiority. This indeed Eckius had no opportunity of exercising.-Luther demonstrated, in this confer. ence, that the church of Rome, in the earlier ages, had never been acknowledged as superior to other churches; and he combated the pretensions of that church and its bishop, from the testimony of Scripture, the authority of the fathers, and the best ecclesiastical historians, and even from the decrees of the council of Nice; while all the arguments of Eckius were derived from the spurious and insipid Decretals, which were scarcely of 400 years' standing. See Seckendorff's History of Lutheranism. It may be observed here, that, before Luther's attack upon the store-house of indulgences, Eckius was his intimate friend. The latter must certainly have been uncommonly unworthy, since even the mild and gentie Melancthon represents him as an inhuman persecutor, a sophist, and a knave, who maintained doctrines contrary to his belief, and against his conscience. See the learned Dr. XI. Among the spectators of this ecclesiastical combat, was Philip Melancthon, at that time professor of Greek at Wittenberg, who had not yet been involved in these divisions, (for the mildness of his temper, and his elegant taste for polite literature, rendered him averse from disputes of this nature,) though he was the intimate friend of Luther, and approved his design of delivering the pure and primitive science of heology from the darkness and subtlety of scholastic jargon.* As this eminent man was one of those whom the dispute with Eckius convinced of the excellence of Luther's cause; as he was, moreover, one of the illustrious and respectable instruments of the Reformation; it may not be improper to give some account of the talents and virtues that rendered his name immortal. His greatest enemies have borne testimony to his merit. They have been forced to acknowledge, that the annals of antiquity exhibit very few worthies that may be compared with him, whether we consider the extent of his knowledge in things human and divine, the fertility and elegance of his genius, the facility and quickness of his comprehension, or the uninterrupted industry that attended his learned and theological labours. He rendered to philosophy and the liberal arts the same eminent service that Luther had done to religion, by purging them from the dross with which they had been corrupted, and by recommending them, in a powerful and persuasive manner, to the study of the Germans. He had the rare talent of discerning truth in its most intricate connexions and combinations, of comprehending at once the most abstract notions, and expressing them with the utmost ease and perspicuity. And he applied this happy talent in religious disquisitions with such unparalleled success, that it may safely be affirmed, that the cause of true Christianity derived from the learning and genius of Melancthon more signal advantages, and a more effectual support, than it received from the other doctors of the age. His love of peace any of and concord, which partly arose from the sweetness of his natural temper, made him desire with ardour that a reformation might be effected without producing a schism in the church, and that the external communion of the contending parties might be preserved uninterrupted and entire. This spirit of mildness and charity, carried perhaps too far, led him sometimes to make concessions that were neither consistent with prudence, nor advantageous to the cause in which he was engaged. It is however certain, that he gave no quarter to those more dangerous and momentous ermaintained on the contrary that their extirparors that reigned in the church of Rome, but tion was essentially necessary, in order to the restoration of true religion. In the natural complexion of this great man there was something soft, timid, and yielding. Hence originated a certain diffidence of himself, that not only made him examine things with the greatJortin's Life of Erasmus, vol. ii. p. 713; also Vitus account of the death of Eckius in Seckendorff, lib. iii. p. 468. *See Melancthon's letter concerning the confer ence at Leipsic, in Loscherus' Acta et Document Reforinationis, tom. iii. * est attention and care, before he resolved upon || the people, but also gave, in 1519, a signal any measure, but also filled him with uneasy proof of his courage, by opposing, with the apprehensions where there was no danger, and greatest resolution and success, the ministry of made him fear even things that, in reality, a certain Italian monk, named Bernardine could never happen. And yet, on the other Samson, who was carrying on, in Switzerland, hand, when the hour of real danger approached, the impious traffick of indulgences with the when things bore a formidable aspect, and the same impudence that Tetzel had done in Gercause of religion was in imminent peril, then many. This was the first remarkable event this timorous man was at once converted into that prepared the way for the reformation an intrepid hero, looked danger in the face among the Helvetic cantons. In process of with unshaken constancy, and opposed his ad- time, Zuingle pursued with steadiness and reversaries with invincible fortitude. All this solution the design that he had begun with shows, that the force of truth and the power of such courage and success; and some other principle had diminished the weaknesses and learned men, educated in Germany, acting defects of Melancthon's natural character, with zeal as his colleagues, succeeded so far without entirely removing them. Had his for- in removing the credulity of a deluded people, titude been more uniform and steady, his de- that the pope's supremacy was rejected and sire of reconciling all interests and pleasing all denied in the greatest part of Switzerland. It parties less vehement and excessive, his tri-is indeed to be observed, that he did not alumph over the superstitions imbibed in his infancy more complete,* he must deservedly have been considered as one of the greatest among men.t XII. While the credit and authority of the pontiff were thus upon the decline in Germany, they received a mortal wound in Switzerland from Ulric Zuingle, a canon of Zurich, whose extensive learning and uncommon sagacity were accompanied with the most heroic intrepidity and resolution.‡ It must even be acknowledged,§ that this eminent man had perceived some rays of the truth before Luther came to an open rupture with the church of Rome. He was, however, afterwards still farther animated by the example, and instructed by the writings of the Saxon reformer; and thus his zeal for the good cause acquired new strength and vigour; for he not only explained the sacred writings in his public discourses to By this, no doubt, Dr. Mosheim means the credulity this great man discovered with respect to prodigies and dreams, and his having been somewhat addicted to the pretended science of astrology. See Schelhornii Amœnit. Hist. Eccles. et Lit. vol. ii. p. 609. † We have a life of Melancthon, written by Joachim Camerarius; but a more accurate account of this illustrious reformer, composed by a prudent, impartial, and well-informed biographer, as also a complete collection of his works, would be an inestimable present to the republic of letters. The translator has added, to the portrait of Zuingle, the quality of heroic intrepidity, because it was a predominant and remarkable part of the character of this illustrious reformer, whose learning and fortitude, tempered by the greatest moderation, rendered him, perhaps beyond comparison, the brightest ornament of the protestant cause. Our learned historian does not seem to acknowledge this with pleasure, as the Germans and Swiss contend for the honour of having given the first overtures toward the reformation. If, how ever, truth has obliged him to make this acknowledgment, he has accompanied it with some modifications which are more artful than accurate. He says, that Zuingle "had perceived some rays of the truth before Luther came to an open rupture," &c. to make us imagine that Luther might have seen the truth long before that rupture happened, and consequently as soon as Zuingle. But it is well known, that the latter, from his early years, had been shocked at several of the superstitious practices of the church of Rome; that, so early as the year 1516,* he had begun to explain the Scriptures to the people, *Ruchart, Hist. de la Reformation en Suisse, Zuinglii op. tom. i. p. 7. Nouveau Diction. vol. iv. p. 866. Durand, Hist. du xvi. Siecle, tom. ii. p. 8, &c. Jurieu, Apologie pour les Reformateurs, &c. partie i. P 119. || ways use the same methods of conversion that were employed by Luther; nor, upon particu lar occasions, did he discountenance the use of violent measures against such as adhered with obstinacy to the superstitions of their ancestors. He is also said to have attributed, to the civil magistrate, such an extensive power in ecclesiastical affairs, as is quite inconsistent with the essence and genius of religion. But, upon the whole, even envy itself must acknow ledge, that his intentions were upright, and his designs worthy of high approbation. XIII. In the mean time, the religious dissensions in Germany increased, instead of diminishing; for, while Miltitz was treating with Luther in such a mild and prudent manner as offered the fairest prospect of an approaching accommodation, Eckius, inflamed with resentment and fury on account of his defeat, repaired with the utmost precipitation to Rome, to bold reformer. There, entering into a league accomplish, as he imagined, the ruin of the with the Dominicans, who were still in high credit at the papal court, and more especially with their two zealous patrons, De Priero and Caietan, he earnestly entreated Leo to level the thunder of his anathemas at the head of the delinquent, and to exclude him from the communion of the church. The Dominicans, desirous of revenging the affront which, in their opinion, their whole order had received by Luther's treatment of their brother Tetzel and and to censure, though with great prudence and moderation, the errors of a corrupt church; and that he had very noble and extensive ideas of a general reformation, at the very time that Luther retained almost the whole system of popery, indulgences excepted. Luther proceeded very slowly to exempt himself from those prejudices of education, which Zuingle, by the force of an adventurous genius, and an uncommon degree of knowledge and penetration, easily shook off. This again is inaccurate. It appears from the preceding note, and from the most authentic re cords, that Zuingle had explained the Scriptures to the people, and called in question the authority and supremacy of the pope, before the name of Luther was known in Switzerland. Besides, instead of receiving instruction from the German reformer, he was much his superior in learning, capacity, and judgment, and was much fitter to be his master than his disciple, as the four volumes in folio which we have of his works abundantly testify. † See Jo. Henr. Hottingeri Hist. Eccles. Helvet tom. ii. lib. vi.-Ruchart, Histoire de la Reformation en Suisse, tom i. liv i.-Gerdes Histor. Renovat Evangelii, tom. it. their patron Caietan, seconded the furious ef- || appearance of reason or common sense, be afforts of Eckius; and the pontiff, overcome by terwards forcibly and authoritatively excluded the importunity of these pernicious counsel- from it. It is not improbable, that Luther lors, imprudently issued* a bull on the 15th of was directed, in this critical measure, by perJune, 1520, in which forty-one pretended he- sons well skilled in the law, who are generally resies, extracted from the writings of Luther, dexterous in furnishing a perplexed client with were solemnly condemned, his works ordered nice distinctions and plausible evasions. Be to be publicly burned, and in which he was that as it may, he separated himself only from again summoned, on pain of excommunica- the church of Rome, which considers the pope tion, to confess and retract his pretended er- as infallible, and not from the church considerrors within the space of sixty days, and to ed in a more extensive sense; for he submitted throw himself upon the clemency of the pon- to the decision of the universal church, when that decision should be given in a general council lawfully assembled. When this judicious distinction is considered, it will not appear at all surprising, that many, even of the Roman Catholics, who weighed matters with a certain degree of impartiality and wisdom, and were zealous for the maintenance of the liberties of Germany, justified this bold resolution of Luther.* In less than a month after he had taken this noble and important step, a second tiff. January, 1521, by which he was expelled from the communion of the church, for having insulted the majesty and disowned the supremacy of the pope.t XIV. As soon as the account of this rash sentence was communicated to Luther, he thought it was high time to consult both his present defence and his future security; and the first step he took for this purpose, was the renewal of his appeal from the sentence of the pontiff, to the more respectable decision of a general council. But as he foresaw that this appeal would be treated with contempt, and that, when the time prescribed for his recanta-bull was issued against him, on the 6th of tion should have elapsed, the thunder of excommunication would be levelled at his devoted head, he judged it prudent to withdraw himself voluntarily from the communion of the church of Rome, before he was obliged to leave XV. Such iniquitous laws, enacted aga nst it by force; and thus to render this new bull of the person and doctrine of Luther, produced ejection a blow in the air, an exercise of au- an effect different from what was expected by thority without any object to act upon. At the imperious pontiff. Instead of intimidating the same time, he resolved to execute this wise this bold reformer, they led him to form the determination in a public manner, that his vo- project of founding a church upon principles luntary retreat from the communion of a cor- opposite to those of Rome, and to establish, in rupt and superstitious church might be univer- it, a system of doctrine and ecclesiastical dissally known, before the lordly pontiff had pre- cipline agreeable to the spirit and precepts of pared his ghostly thunder. With this view, the Gospel of truth. This, indeed, was the on the 10th of December, 1520, he had a pile only resource left to him; for, to submit to the of wood erected without the walls of the city;|| orders of a cruel and insolent enemy, would and there, in presence of a prodigious mul- have been the greatest degree of imprudence titude of people of all ranks and orders, he imaginable; and to embrace, anew, errors which committed to the flames both the bull that had he had rejected with a just indignation, and been published against him, and the decretals exposed with the clearest evidence, would have and canons relating to the pope's supreme ju- discovered a want of integrity and principle, risdiction. By this he declared to the world, worthy only of the most abandoned profligate. that he was no longer a subject of the pontiff, From this time, therefore, he applied himself and that, consequently, the sentence of ex- to the pursuit of the truth with increased assicommunication against him, which was daily duity and fervour; nor did he only review with expected from Rome, was entirely superfluous attention, and confirm by new arguments, what and insignificant; for the man who publicly he had hitherto taught, but went far beyond commits to the flames the code that contains it, and made vigorous attacks upon the princithe laws of his sovereign, shows thereby that pal fortress of popery, the power and jurisdiche has no longer any respect for his govern- tion of the Roman pontiff, which he overturnment, nor any intention of submitting to his ed from its very foundation. In this noble unauthority; and the man who voluntarily with- dertaking he was seconded by many learned draws himself from a society, cannot, with any || and pious men, in various parts of Europe; by those professors of the university of Witten The wisest and best part of the Roman catholics acknowledge, that Leo was chargeable with the most culpable imprudence in this rash and violent method of proceeding. See a Dissertation of the learned John Frederic Mayer, de Pontificis Leonis X. processum adversus Lutherum improbantibus, which is part of a work published at Hamburg, in 1698, under this singular title: Ecclesia Romana Reformationis Lutheranæ patrona et cliens. There were several wise and thinking persons at this time about the pontiff, who declared openly, without the least ceremony, their disapprobation of the violent counsels of Eckius and the Dominicans, and gave it as their opinion, that it was both prudent and just to wait for the issue of the conferences of Miltitz with Luther, before such forcible measures should be employed. + Of Wittenberg. This judicious distinction has not been sufficiently attended to; and the Romanists, some through artifice, others through ignorance, have confounded the papacy with the catholic church, though they are, in reality, two different things. The papacy, indeed, by the ambitious dexterity of the Roman pontiffs, incorporated itself by degrees into the church; but it was a preposterous supplement, and was really as foreign to its genuine constitution, as a new citadel, erected by a successful usurper, would be to an ancient city. Luther set out and acted upo this distinction; he went out of the citadel, but he intended to remain in the city, and, like a good patriot, hoped to reform its corrupted government. † Both these bulls are to be found in the Bullarium Romanum, and also in the learned Pfaff's Histor Theol. Literar. berg, who had adopted his principles; and in a more especial manner by the celebrated Melancthon; and, as the fame of Luther's wisdom and Melancthon's learning had filled that academy with an incredible number of students, who flocked to it from all parts, this happy circumstance propagated the principles of the Reformation with an amazing rapidity through all the countries of Europe.* tates of right reason, that his opinions were erroneous, and his conduct unlawful. When therefore neither promises nor threats could shake the constancy of this magnanimous reformer, he obtained, indeed, from the emperor, the liberty of returning unmolested to his home: but, after his departure from the diet, he was condemned by the unanimous suffrages both of the emperor and the princes, and was declared an enemy to the holy Roman empire.* Frederic, who saw the storm rising against Luther, used the best precautions to secure him from its violence. For this purpose he sent three or four persons in whom he could confide, to meet him on his return from the diet, in order to conduct him to a place of safety. These emissaries, disguised by masks, executed their commission with the utmost secrecy and success. Meeting with Luther near Eisenach, they seized him, and carried him into the castle of Wartenberg; nor, as some have imagin out the knowledge of his imperial majesty. In this retreat, which he called his Patmos, the reformer lay concealed for ten months, and employed this involuntary leisure in compositions that were afterwards very useful to the world.† This sentence, which was dated the 8th of XVI. Not long after the commencement of these divisions, Maximilian I. had resigned his breath; and his grandson, Charles I. of Spain and V. of Austria, had succeeded him in the empire in 1519. Leo seized this new occasion of venting and executing his vengeance, by putting the new emperor in mind of his character as 'advocate and defender of the church,' and demanding the exemplary punishment of Luther, who had rebelled against its sacred laws and institutions. On the other hand, Frederic the Wise employed his credit with Charles to prevent the publication of any un-ed upon probable grounds, was this done withjust edict against this reformer, and to have his cause. tried by the canons of the Germanic church, and the laws of the empire. This request was so much the more likely to be granted, as Charles was under much greater obligations to Frederic than to any other of the German princes; for it was chiefly by his zealous and important services that he had been raised to the empire, in opposition to the pretensions of such a formidable rival as Francis I. king of France. The emperor was sensible of his obligations to the worthy elector, and was disposed to satisfy his demands. That, however, he might do this without displeasing the Roman pontiff, he resolved that Luther should be called before the council which was to be assembled at Worms in 1521, and that his cause should be there publicly heard, before any definitive sentence should be pronounced against him. It may highest disapprobation by all wise and thinking perperhaps appear strange, and even inconsistent sons, 1st, because Luther had been condemned withwith the laws of the church, that a cause of a out being heard, at Rome, by the college of cardireligious nature should be examined and de-nals, and afterwards at Worms, where, without any discussion or refutation of his doctrine, he was only cided in the public diet. But it must be con- despotically ordered to abandon and renounce it; sidered that these diets, in which the arch-2dly, because Charles V., as emperor, had not a right bishops, bishops, and even some abbots, had to give an authoritative sentence against the doctrine of Luther, or to take for granted the infallitheir places, as well as the princes of the empire, were not only political assemblies, but also provincial councils for Germany, to whose jurisdiction, by the canon law, such causes as that of Luther properly belonged. XVII. Luther, therefore, appeared at Worms, secured against the violence of his enemies by a safe-conduct from the emperor, and, on the 17th of April, pleaded his cause before that grand assembly with the utmost resolution and presence of mind. Menaces and entreaties were alternately employed to conquer the firmness of his purpose, to engage him to renounce the propositions he had hitherto maintained, and to bend him to a submission to the Roman pontiff. But he opposed all these attempts with a noble obstinacy, and peremptorily declared that he would never abandon his opinions, or change his conduct, unless he should be convinced by the word of God, or the dic May, 1521, was excessively severe; and Charles, whether through sincere zeal or political cunning, showed himself in this affair an ardent abettor of the papal authority; for in this edict the pope is declared the only true judge of the controversy, in which he was evidently a party concerned; Luther is declared a member cut off from the church, a schismatic, a notorious and obstinate heretic; the severest punishments are denounced against those who shall receive, entertain, maintain, or counte nance him, either by acts of hospitality, by conver sation or writing; and all his disciples, adherents, and followers, are involved in the same condemna tion. This edict was, however, received with the ity of the Roman pontiff, before these matters were discussed and decided by a general council. and, 3dly, because a considerable number of the German princes, who were immediately interested in this affair, such as the electors of Cologne, Saxony, and the Palatinate, and other sovereign princes, had neither been present at the diet, nor examined and approved the edict; and, therefore, at best, it could house of Austria, and to such of the princes as had only have force in the territories belonging to the given their consent to its publication. But, after all, this edict produced scarcely any effect, not only for the reasons now mentioned, but also because Charles, whose presence, authority, and zeal, were necessary to render it respectable, was involved in other af fairs of a civil nature which he had more at heart. Obliged to pass successively into Flanders, England, to form new alliances against his great enemy and and Spain, to quell the seditions of his subjects, and rival Francis, he lost sight of the edict, while it was treated with the highest indignation or the utmost contempt by all who had any regard for the liberties of the empire and the rights of the Germanic church. This precaution of the humane and excellent elector being put in execution, on the 3d of May, There is a particular account of the rapid pro-five days before the solemn publication of the edict gress of the reformation in Germany, given by the learned Daniel Gordes, professor at Groningen, in his Historia renova'i Evangelii. of Worms, the pope missed his blow; and the adver saries of Luther became doubly odious to the people of Germany, who, unacquainted with the scheme of |