XVI. IV. This temporary rule of faith and discipline, C EN T. though it was extremely favourable to the inter-sc. I. ests and pretensions of the court of Rome, had yet The trou rise. the fate to which schemes of reconciliation are often be to exposed; it pleased neither of the contending par- which this ties, but was equally offensive to the followers of edict gave LUTHER, and to the Roman pontif. It was, however, promulgated with solemnity by the emperor, at the diet of Augsburg; and the elector of Mentz, without even deigning to ask the opinions of the assembled princes and states, rose with an air of authority, and, as if he had been commissioned to represent the whole diet, gave a formal and public approbation to this famous Interim. Thus were many princes of the empire, whose silence though it proceeded from want of courage, was interpreted as the mark of a tacit consent engaged against their will to receive this book as a body of ecclesiastical law. The greatest part of those, who had the resolution to dispute the authority of this Imperial Creed, were obliged to submit to it by the force of arms, and hence arose deplorable scenes of violence and bloodshed, *which involved the empire in the greatest calamities. MAURICE, elector of Saxony, who, for some time, had held a neutral conduct, and neither declared himself for those who rejected, nor for those who had adopted the rule in question, assembled, in the year 1548, the Saxon nobility and clergy, with MELANCTHON at the head of the latter, and, in several conferences held at Leipsic and other places, took counsel concerning what was to be done 12 duce the greatest disorder and confusion, in case the future council should think proper to enjoin celibacy on the clergy, and declare, as it did in effect, their marriage unchristian and unlawful. [a] See Jo. Erdm. Bieckii Triplex Interim, published in Svo at Leipsic, in the year 1721.-Luc. Osiander Centuria XVI. Histor. Eccles. lib. ii. cap. cap. lxviii. p. 425.-For an account of the authors and editions of the book called Interim, see Die Danische Biblioth. part V. p. 1. & part VI. p. 185. SECT. I. CENT done in this critical affair. The deliberations, on XVI. this occasion, were long and tedious, and their result was 'ambiguous; for MELANCTHON, whose opinion was respected as a law by the reformed doctors, fearing the emperor on the one hand, and attentive to the sentiments of his sovereign on the other, pronounced a sort of a reconciling sentence, which, he hoped, would be offensive to no party. He gave it as his opinion, that the whole of the book called Interim could not, by any means, be adopted by the friends of the Reformation; but he declared, at the same time, that he saw no reason, why this book might not be approved, adopted, and received, as an authoritative rule, in things that did not relate to the essential points of religion, in things that might be considered as accessory or indifferent [b]. This decision, instead of pacifying matters, produced, on the contrary, new divisions, and formed a schism among the followers of LUTHER, of which farther mention shall be made hereafter, in the History of the Church established by that reformer. I shall only observe, that this schism placed the cause of the Reformation in the most perilous and critical circumstances, and might have contributed either to ruin it entirely, or to retard considerably its progress, had the pope and the emperor been dexterous enough to make the proper use of these divisions, and to seize the favourable occasion that was presented to them, of turning the force The project of the protestants against themselves. of a council at Trent renewed. V. Amidst these contests PAUL III. departed this life in the year 1549, and was succeeded, the year following, by JULIUS III. who, yielding to the * [6] By things indifferent, Melanchon understood particularly the rites and ceremonies of the popish worship, which, superstitious as they were, that reformer, yielding to the softness and flexibility of his natural temper, treated with a singular and .excessive indulgence upon this occasion. XVI. er. the repeated and importunate solicitations of the C E N T. emperor, consented to the assembling a council, at Trent. Accordingly, in the diet of Augsburg, which was again held under the canon of an inperial army, CHARLES laid this matter before the states and princes of the empire. The greatest part of the princes gave their consent to the convocation of this council, to which also MAURICE, elector of Saxony, submitted upon certain conditions [c]. The emperor then concluded the diet in the year 1551, desiring the assembled princes and states to prepare all things for the approaching council, and promising that he would use his most zealous endeavours towards the promoting moderation and harmony, impartiality and charity, in the deliberations and transactions of that assembly. Upon the breaking up of the diet, the protestants took the steps they judged most prudent to prepare themselves for what was to hap-" pen. The Saxons employed the pen of MELANCTHON, and the Wurtemberghers that of BREDTIUS, to draw up confessions of their faith, that were to be laid before the new council. Besides the ambassadors of the duke of Wurtemberg, several doctors of that city repaired to Trent. The Saxon divines, with MELANCTHON at their head, 1 3 set [c] MAURICE (who was desirous of regaining the esteem of the protestants of Saxony, which he had lost by his perfidious behaviour to the late elector JOHN FREDERICK, his benefactor and friend) gave his consent to the re-establishing the council of Trent, upon the following conditions: 15, That the points of doctrine, which had been already decided there, should be re-examined, and discussed anew: 2dly, That this examination should be made in presence of the protestant divines, or their deputies. 3dly, That the Saxon protestants should have a liberty of enting, as well as of deliberating, in the council and 4thly, That the pope should not pretend to preside in that assembly, either in person or by his legates. This declaration of MAURICE was read in the diet, and his deputies insisted upon its being entered into the registers, which the archbishop of Mentz, however, obstinately refused. CEN T. set out also for that place, but proceeded in their XVI., journey no further than Nuremberg. They had SECT. I. received secret orders to stop there; for MAU Maurice disconcerts peror. RICE had no intention of submitting to the emperor's views; on the contrary, he hoped to reduce that prince to a compliance with his own projects. He therefore yielded in appearance, that he might carry his point, and thus command in reality. VI. The real views of CHARLES V. amidst the the schemes divisions and troubles of Germany (which he foof the en-mented by negociations that carried the outward aspect of a reconciling spirit), will appear evidently to such as consider attentively the nature of the times, and compare the transactions of this prince, the one with the other. Relying on the extent of his power, and the success that frequently accom-. panied his enterprizes, with a degree of confidence that was highly imprudent, CHARLES proposed to turn these religious commotions and dissensions to the confirmation and increase of his dominions in Germany, and by sowing the seeds of discord among the princes of the empire, to weaken their power, and thereby the more easily to encroach upon their rights and privileges. On the other hand, ardently desirous of reducing within narrower limits the jurisdiction and dominion of the Roman pontifs, that they might not set bounds to his ambition, nor prevent the execution of his aspiring views, he flattered himself that this would be the natural effect of the approaching council. He was confirmed in this pleasing hope, by reflecting on what had happened in the councils of Constance and of Basil, in which the lust of papal ambition had been opposed with spirit, and restrained within certain limits. He also persuaded himself, that, by the dexterity of his agents, and the number of the Spanish and German bishops that were devoted to his interests, he should be able to influence and direct the deliberations of the XVI. the approaching council in such a manner, as to CENT. make its decisions answer his expectations, ands CT. I. contribute effectually to the accomplishment of his views. Such were the specious dreams of ambition that filled the imagination of this restless prince; but his views and projects were disconcerted by that same MAURICE of Saxony, who had been one of the principal instruments of that violence and oppression which he had exercised against the protestant princes, and of the injury he had done to the protestant cause. tween the rice of Sax VII. The most considerable princes, not only a war kin of Germany, but even of all Europe, had, for a dled belong time, addressed to the emperor their united emperor entreaties for the deliverance of PHILIP, landgrave and Mauof Hesse, and JOHN FREDERICK, elector of Saxony, ony. from their confinement; and MAURICE had solicited, with peculiar warmth and assiduity, the liberty of the former, who was his father-in-law. But all these solicitations produced no effect. MAURICE, perceiving at length that he was duped by the emperor, and also convinced that this ambitious monarch was forming insidious designs upon the liberties of Germany, and the jurisdiction of its princes, entered, with the utmost secrecy and expedition, into an alliance with the king of France and several of the German princes, for the maintenance of the rights and liberties of the empire. Encouraged by this respectable confederacy, the active Saxon marched a powerful army against the emperor in the year 1552; and that with such astonishing valour and rapidity, that he surprised CHARLES at Inspruk, where he lay with a handful of troops in the utmost security, and without the least apprehension of danger. This sudden and unforeseen event alarmed and dejected the emperor to such a degree, that he was willing to make peace on almost any conditions; and consequently, in a little time after this, he not |