V. The sentiments of LUTHER were received CENT

XVI.

saries of

tron, of

with applause by the greatest part of Germany, SECT. I. which had long groaned under the avarice of the pontifs, and the extortions of their tax-gatherers, The adverand had murmured grievously against the various Luther and stratagems that were daily put in practice, with the pa the most frontless impudence, to fleece the rich, Tazel and to grind the faces of the poor. But the votaries of Rome were filled with horror, when they were informed of the opinions propagated by the Saxon reformer; more especially the Dominicans, who looked upon their order as insulted and attacked in the person of TETZEL. The alarm of controversy was therefore sounded, and TETZEL himself appeared immediately in the field against LUTHER, whose sentiments he pretended to refute in two academical discourses, which he pronounced on occasion of his promotion to the degree of doctor in divinity. In the year following (1518) two famous Dominicans, SYLVESTER DE PRIERIO and HOGSTRAT, the former a native of Italy, and the latter a German, rose up also against the adventurous reformer, and attacked him at Cologn with the utmost vehemence and ardour. Their example was soon followed by another formidable champion, na ned ECKIUS, a celebrated professor of divinity at Ingolstadt, and one of the most zealous supporters of the Dominican order. LUTHER stood firm against these united adversaries, and was neither vanquished by their arguments, nor daunted by their talents and reputation; but answered their objections and refuted their reasonings with the greatest strength of evidence, and a becoming spirit of resolution and perseverance. At the same time, however, he addressed himself by letters, written in the most submissive and respectful terms, to the Roman pontif and to several of the bishops, shewing them the uprightness of his intentions, as

XVI.

SECT.

A confer

ence is held

Augsburg.

CENT well as the justice of his cause, and declaring his I. readiness to change his sentiments, as soon as he should see them fairly proved to be erroneous. VI. At first. LEO X. beheld this controversy between with indifference and contempt; but, being inLuther and formed by the emperor MAXIMILIAN 1. not only ajetan at of its importance, but also of the fatal divisions it was likely to produce in Germany, he summoned LUTHER to appear before him at Rome, and there to plead the cause which he had undertaken to maintain: This papal summons was superseded by FREDERICK the Wise, elector of Saxony, who pretended, that the cause of LUTHER belonged to the jurisdiction of a German tribunal, and that it was to be decided by the ecclesiastical laws of the empire. The pontif yielded to the remonstrances of this prudent and magnanimous prince, and ordered LUTHER to justify his intentions and doctrines before cardinal CAJETAN, who was, at this time, legate at the diet of Augsburg. In this first step the court of Rome gave a specimen of that temerity and imprudence with which all its negociations, in this weighty affair, were afterwards conducted. For, instead of reconciling, nothing could tend more to inflame matters than the choice of CAJETAN, a Dominican, and, consequently, the declared enemy of LUTHER, and friend of TETZEL, as judge and arbitrator in this nice and perilous controversy.

The issue

ference.

VII. LUTHER, however, repaired to Augsburg, of this con- in the month of October 1518, and conferred, at three different meetings, with CAJETAN himself [q], concerning the points in debate. But had he even been disposed to yield to the court of Rome, this imperious legate was, of all others, the most improper to encourage him in the execution

[9] There is a large account of this cardinal given by Quetif and Echard, Scriptor. Ordin. Prædicator, tom. ii. p. 14..

XVL

cution of such a purpose. The high spirit ofCENT LUTHER was not to be tamed by the arrogant dic-sc. I. tates of mere authority; such, however, were the only methods of persuasion employed by the haughty cardinal. He, in an overbearing tone, desired LUTHER to renounce his opinions, without even attempting to prove them erroneous, and insisted, with importunity, on his confessing humbly his fault, and submitting respectfully to the judgment of the Roman pontif []. The Saxon reformer could not think of yielding to terms so unreasonable in themselves and so despotically proposed; so that the conferences were absolutely without effect. For LUTHER, finding his adversary and judge inaccessible to reason and argument, left Augsburg all of a sudden, after having appealed from the present decisions of the pontif to those which he should pronounce, when better informed; and, in this step, he seemed yet to respect the dignity and authority of the bishop of Rome [s]. But LEO X. on the other hand let loose the reins to ambition and despotism, and carried things to the utmost extremity; for, in the month of November, this same year, he published a special edict, commanding his spiritual subjects D 3

to

[r] The imperious and imprudent manner in which Cajetan behaved towards Luther was highly disapproved of even at the court of Rome, as appears, among other testimonies, from Paulo Sarpi's History of the Council of Trent, book I. p. 22. The conduct of Cajetan is defended by Echard, in his Scriptor. Ord. Prædicator. tom. ii. p. 15. but with little prudence, and less argument. The truth of the matter is, that the court of Rome, and its unthinking sovereign, were not less culpable than Cajetan in the whole of this transaction. Since they might easily foresee, that a Dominican legate was of all others the most unlikely to treat Luther with moderation and impartiality, and consequently the most improper to reconcile matters.

[] See B. Christ. Frid. Borneri Diss. de Collequio Lutheri eum Cajetano. Leips. 1722, in 4to.-Val. Ern. Loscheri Acta et Documenta Reformat. tom. ii. сар. xi. P. 435. opp. Lutheri, tom. xxiv. p. 409.

XVI.

CEN T. to acknowledge his power of delivering from all the SECT. I. punishments due to sin and trangression of every kind. As soon as LUTHER received information of this inconsiderate and violent measure, he perceived, plainly, that it would be impossible for him to bring the court of Rome to any reasonable terms; he therefore repaired to Wittemburg, and, on the 28th of November, appealed from the pontif to a general council.

The tran

Miltitz.

VIII. In the mean time, the Roman pontif besactions of came sensible of the imprudence he had been guilty of in entrusting CAJETAN with such a commission, and endeavoured to mend the matter by All the employing a man of more candour and impartiareconciliality, and better acquainted with business, in order tion discon- to suppress the rebellion of LUTHER, and to en

projects of

certed in

7519.

gage that reformer to submission and obedience. This new legate was CHARLES MILTITZ, a Saxon knight, who belonged to the court of LEO X. and whose lay character exposed him less to the prejudices that arise from a spirit of party, than if he had been clothed with the splendid purple, or the monastic frock. He was also a person of great prudence, penetration, and dexterity, and every way qualified for the execution of such a nice and critical commission as this was. LEO, therefore, sent him into Saxony to present to FREDERICK the golden consecrated rose (which the pontifs are used to bestow, as a peculiar mark of distinction, on those princes, for whom they have, or think proper to profess, an uncommon friendship and esteem), and to treat with LUTHER, not only about finishing his controversy with TETZEL, but also concerning the methods of bringing about a reconciliation between him and the Court of Rome. Nor, indeed, were the negociations of this prudent minister entirely unsuccessful; for, in his first conference with LUTHER, at Altenburg, in the year 1519, he carried matters so far as to per

suade

XVI. SECT. I.

39 suade him to write a submissive letter to LEO X. CENT. promising to observe a profound silence upon the matters in debate, provided that the same obligation should be imposed upon his adversaries. This same year, in the month of October, MILTITZ had a second conference with LUTHER in the castle of Leibenwerd, and a third the year following, at Lichtenberg [t]. These meetings, which were reciprocally conducted with moderation and decency, gave great hopes of an approaching reconciliation; nor were these hopes ill founded [u]. But the violent proceedings of the enemies of LUTHER, and the arrogant spirit, as well as unaccountable imprudence, of the court of Rome blasted these fair expectations, and kindled anew the flames of discord.

The nature

of the con

titz and

KP [w] IX. It was sufficient barely to mention. the measures taken by CAJETAN to draw LUTHER ferences beanew under the papal yoke; because these mea-tween Milsures were, indeed, nothing more than the wild Luther. suggestions of superstition and tyranny, maintained and avowed with the most frontless impudence. A man, who began by commanding the reformer to renounce his errors, to believe, and that upon the dictates of mere authority, that one drop of Christ's blood, being sufficient to redeem the whole

D 4

[1] See B. CHRIST. FRID. B. The records relating to the embassy of MILTITZ, were first published by ERN. SALOMON CYPRIANUS, in Addic, ad WILH. ERN. TENZELLu Histor, R-forma. tom. i. ii. As also by VAL. ERN. LOSCHERUS, in his Acta Reformat. tom. ii. c. xvi. and tom. iii. cap. ii.

[] In the year 1519, LEO X. wrote to LUTHER in the softest and most pacific terms. From this remarkable letter, (which was published in the year 1742, by LOSCHERUS, in a German work entitled Unschuld Nachrist) it appears, that at the court of Rome they looked upon a reconciliation between LUTHER and the pontif as certain and near at hand,

[w] This whole ninth section is added to Dr MOSHEIM'S work by the translator, who thought that this part of LUTOR'S history deserved to be related in a more circumstantial manner, than it is in the original.