CENT. votes, at the diet of Cologn, in the year 1531, was XVI. contested by the same princes as contrary to the fundamental laws of the empire. SECT. I. The peace VII. In this troubled state of affairs many proof Nurem- jects of reconciliation were proposed; and, after berg. various negociations, a treaty of peace was con A council expected in cluded at Nuremberg, in the year 1532, between the emperor and the protestant princes, on the following conditions; that the latter should furnish a subsidy for carrying on the war against the Turk, and acknowledge Ferdinand lawful king of the Romans; and that the emperor, on his part, should abrogate and annul the edicts of Worms and Augsburg, and allow the Lutherans the free and unmolested exercise of their religious doctrine and discipline, until a rule of faith was fixed, either in the free general council that was to be assembled in the space of six months, or in a diet of the empire. The apprehension of an approaching rupture was scarcely removed by this agreement, when John, elector of Saxony, died, and was succeeded by his son John Frederick, a prince of invincible fortitude and magnanimity, whose reign was little better than a continued scene of disappointments and calamities. VIII. The religious truce, concluded at Nuvain. "remburg, inspired with new vigour and resolution all the friends of the reformation. It gave strength to the feeble, and perseverance to the bold. Encouraged by it, those who had been hitherto only secret enemies to the Roman pontiff, spurned now his yoke publicly, and refused to submit to his imperious jurisdiction. This appears from the various cities and provinces in Germany, which, about this time, boldly enlisted themselves under the religious standards of Luther. On the other hand, as all hope of terminating the religious debates that divided Europe was founded in the meeting of the general council, which had been so solemnly promised, the emperor renewed his CENT. earnest request to Clement VII. that he would XVI. hasten an event that was expected and desired SECT. I. with so much impatience. The pontiff, whom the history of past councils filled with the most uneasy and discouraging apprehensions, endeavoured to retard what he could not, with any decency, absolutely refuse [i]. He formed innumerable pretexts to put off the evil day; and his whole conduct evidently shewed, that he was more desirous of having these religious differences decided by the force of arms, than by the power of argument. He indeed, in the year 1533, made a proposal, by his legate, to assemble a council at Mantua, Placentia, or Bologna; but the protestants refused their consent to the nomination of an Italian council, and insisted, that a controversy, which had its rise in the heart of Germany, should be decided within the limits of the empire. The pope, by his usual artifices, eluded his own promise, disappointed their expectations, and was cut off by death, in the year 1534, in the midst of his stratagems [k]. IX. His successor Paul III. seemed to shew less reluctance to the assembling a general council, and appeared even disposed to comply with the desires of the emperor in that respect. Accordingly, in the year 1535, he expressed his inclination to convoke one at Mantua; and, the year H 3 [] Besides the fear of seeing his authority diminished by a general council, another reason engaged Clement VII. to avoid an assembly of that nature; for being conscious of the illegitimacy of his birth, as Frao Paulo observes, he had ground to fear that the Colonnas, or his other enemies, might plead this circumstance before the council, as a reason for his exclusion from the pontificate; since it might be well questioned whether a bastard could be a pope, though it is known, from many instances, that a profligale may. [k] See an ample account of every thing relative to this council, in Fra. Paulo's History of the council of Trent, book I. CENT. SECT. I. year following, actually sent circular letters for XVI. that purpose through all the kingdoms and states under his jurisdiction [7]. The protestants, on the other hand, fully persuaded, that, in such a council [m], all things would be carried by the votaries of Rome, and nothing concluded but what should be agreeable to the sentiments and ambition of the pontiff, assembled at Smalcald in the year 1537. And there they protested solemnly against such a partial and corrupt council as that which was convoked by Paul III. but, at the same time, had a new summary of their doctrine drawn up by Luther, in order to present it to the assembled bishops, if it was required of them. This summary, which was distinguished by the title of the Articles of Smalcald, is generally joined with the creeds and confessions of the Lutheran church. New out rages com baptists. X. During these transactions, two remarkable mitted by events happened, of which the one was most dethe Ana- trimental to the cause of religion in general, to that of the Reformation in particular, and produced, in Germany, civil tumults and commotions of the most horrid kind; while the other was more salutary in its consequences and effects, and struck at the very root of the papal authority and dominion. The former of these events was a new [] This council was summoned by Paul III. to assemble at Mantua, on the 23d of May, 1537, by a bull issued out the 2d of June of the preceding year. Several obstacles prevented its meeting. Frederick, duke of Mantua, was not much inclined to receive at once so many guests, and some of them turbulent ones, into the place of his residence. [m] That is, in a council assembled by the authority of the pope alone, and that also in Italy; two circumstances that must have greatly contributed to give Paul III. an undue influence in that assembly. The protestants maintained, that the emperor and the other Christian princes of Europe had a right to be authoritatively concerned in calling a general council; and that so much the more, as the Roman pontiff was evidently one of the parties in the present debate. XVI. SECT. I. a new sedition, kindled by a fanatical and outrage- CENT. ous mob of the anabaptists; and the latter, the rupture between Henry VIII. king of England, and the Roman pontiff, whose jurisdiction and spiritual supremacy were publicly renounced by that rough and resolute monarch. In the year 1533, there came to Munster, a city in Westphalia, a certain number of anabaptists, who surpassed the rest of that fanatical tribe in the extravagance of their proceedings, the frenzy of their disordered brains, and the madness of their pretensions and projects. They gave themselves out for the messengers of heaven, invested with a divine commission to lay the foundations of a new government, a holy and spiritual empire, and to destroy and overturn all temporal rule and authority, all human and political institutions. Having turned all things into confusion and uproar in the city of Munster by this seditious and extravagant declaration, they began to erect a new republic [n], conformable to their absurd and chimerical notions of religion, and committed the administration of it to John Bockholt, a taylor by profession, and a native of Leyden. Their reign, however, was of a short duration; for, in the year 1535, the city was besieged, and taken by the bishop of Munster, assisted by other German princes; this fanatical king and his wrong-headed associates were put to death in the most terrible and ignominious manner, and the new hierarchy destroyed with its furious and extravagant founders. This disorderly and outrageous conduct of an handful of anabaptists, drew upon the whole body heavy marks of displeasure from the greatest part of the European princes. The severest laws were enacted against them for the second time, in consequence of which the innocent and the guilty H 4 were [n] This fanatical establishment they distinguished by the title of the New Jerusalem. CENT. were involved in the same terrible fate, and proXVI. digious numbers devoted to death in the most dreadful forms [o]. SECT. I. Great Britain re nounces the XI. The pillars of papal despotism were at this time shaken in England, by an event, which, at spiritual ju- first, did not seem to promise such important conrisdiction sequences. Henry VIII. a prince who in vices and supre- and in abilities was surpassed by none who swaythe Roman ed the sceptre in this age, and who, in the be macy of pontiff. ginning of these religious troubles, had opposed the doctrine and views of Luther with the utmost vehemence, was the principal agent in this great revolution [p]. Bound in the chains of matrimony to Catharine of Arragon, aunt to Charles V. but, at the same time, captivated by the charms of an illustrious virgin, whose name was Anna Boleyn, he ardently desired to be divorced from the former, that he might render lawful his passion for the latter [q]. For this purpose, he addressed himself [o] Hermanni Hammelmanni Historia Eccles.renati Evangelii per inferiorum Saxoniam et Westphal. part. II. p. 1196. opp.De Printz Specimen Historic Anabapt. c. x, xi, xii. p. 94. This sect was, in process of time, considerably reformed by the ministry of two Frieslanders, Ubbo and Mennon, who purified it from the enthusiastic, seditious, and atrocious principles of its first founders, as will be seen in the progress of this history. [p] Among the various portraits that have been given by historians of Henry VIII. there is none that equals the masterly one drawn by Mr. Hume, in his History of England, under the house of Tudor. This great painter, whose colouring, in other subjects, is sometimes more artful than accurate, has catched from nature the striking lines of Henry's motley character, and thrown them into a composition, in which they appear with the greatest truth, set out with all the powers of. expression. [9] From Dr. Mosheim's manner of expressing himself, an uninformed reader might be led to conclude, that the charms of Anna Boleyn were the only motive that engaged Henry to dissolve his marriage with Catharine. But this represen tation of the matter is not accurate. The king had entertained scruples concerning the legitimacy of his marriage, before his acquaintance |