the middle of the century. See Rcgenrol-
tcii Systema Hist. Chronol. Ecclesiar. Sla-
vonicar. lib. i., c. 13, p. 71, &c. Schroeckh,
l . c., vol. ii., p. 666, &c. Tr.]

<fe6) [The seventeen Belgian provinces,



composing the Netherlands, were a part of
the hereditary dominions of Charles V.,
which he governed by his viceroys. Here,
from the 14th century, various religious re
formers had appeared, as Gerhard Groot,
John Wcssclius, Thomas a Kcmpis, John
of Goch, and Cornelius Grapheus. Here
also arose the famous Erasmus. The wri
tings of Luther were early and eagerly read
by the Netherlanders. The Catholics were
alarmed ; and through their instigation, the
government introduced the Inquisition in the
year 1522, and kept up a hot persecution ot
the Reformed for a long course of years. It
was computed, that in these provinces, du
ring the reign of Charles V., not less than
50,000 persons lost their lives, in conse
quence of their defection from the church ol
Rome. Yet the number of the Reformed
continually increased ; and when at length,
seven of these provinces revolted, ani be
came an independent state, they adopted thfl
Protestant religion. See Gerdes, Hist.
Evang. renovati, torn. iii.,p. l,&c. Schro*
eckh, 1. c., vol. ii., p. 348, &c.-~ 2Y.J



HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 51



CHAPTER III.

HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION, FROM THE PRESENTATION OF THE AUGSBUR(i
CONFESSION [1530], TILL THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE WAR OF SMALCALD

[1546].

$ 1. The Augsburg Confession presented to the Emperor. <J 2. Its Character. 3. Con
futation of it. 4. Deliberations for settling the Religious Controversies. 5. Re
sult of the Diet of Augsburg. 6. The League of Smalcald. 7. The Peace of
Nuremberg. 8, 9. The Council. 10. Commotion of the Anabaptists. 11. Re
volt of Great Britain from the Pontiff. <$ 12. Character of this Reformation. 13. Re
newed Attempts at Compromise. The Conference at Worms. The Diet of Ilatisbon.
$ 14. Preparations for War.

1. CHARLES V. made his entry into Augsburg on the 15th of June
[1530], and on the 20th of the same month the diet was opened. As the
members had agreed that the religious affairs should be despatched before
discussing the subject of a Turkish war, the Protestant members present,
received permission from the emperor to exhibit a summary view of the
religion they professed, in the session of the princes on the 25th of June.
Accordingly in the palace of the bishop of Augsburg, that confession of
faith, which from the place where it was exhibited was called the Augs
burg Confession, was read in German, by Christian Bayer the chancellor
of Saxony. There was not one of the princes that did not listen to it
with eager attention ; and some of them, who before did not correctly un
derstand the religious views of Luther, expressed approbation of the purity
and innocence of the doctrines. John elector of Saxony, and four princes
of the empire, George marquis of Brandenburg, Ernest duke of Luneburg,
Philip landgrave of Hesse, and Wolfgang prince of Anhalt, with the two
imperial cities, Nuremberg and Reutlingen, subscribed their names to the
copies [the one Latin the other German] delivered after the reading to the
emperor, in testimony of the accordance of the doctrines there expressed
with their own views.(l)

2. As the Augsburg Confession was adopted as a public standard of
faith, by the whole body of [Lutheran] Protestants, no one of them should
be ignorant of its character and contents. The style is Philip Melanc-

(1) [A history of this diet, in a large folio the Augsburg Confession, Frankf. on Mayne,
volume, by George Ccelestine, [a Lutheran], 1783, &c., 2 vols. 8vo. The original sub-
was published at Frankfort on the Oder, in scribers to the confession are mentioned in
1577. Histories of the Augsburg Confes- the text. Before the diet rose, the cities,
sion, were composed by David Chytraus, Kempten, Heilbronn, Windsheim, and Weis-
and by others ; and especially in the 18th senburg, also subscribed ; and afterwards,
century, by Ern. Salomon Cyprian, and by many more. It was immediately printed,
August. Salig, in the German language, and soon spread all over Europe, and was
Salig s work is prolix, and is more properly translated into various foreign languages.
a history of the reformation, than a history It thus became of great service to the Prot-
of the Augsburg Confession. Cyprian s estant cause ; for it was a very able docu-
history is more concise and dense, and is ment, and was drawn up in a most judicious
corroborated with well-selected documents, manner. See Schrocckfi s Kirchengesch.
It therefore deserves to pass to a third edi- seit der Reform., vol. i., p. 445, &c. TV.]
tion. [G. G. Webber s critical History of



BOOK IV. CENTURY XVI. SEC. I. CHAP. III.



thon s ; which is as much as to say, it was drawn up in polished, perspiou.
ous language, well adapted to the subject. The contents or matter, it is
certain, was supplied principally by Luther ; who was at Coburg, a town
not far from Augsburg, at the time of the diet ; and who examined and ap
proved the form and style which Melancthon gave to it. It was comprised
in twenty-eight articles ; of which twenty-one stated distinctly, the reli
gious faith of those that had receded from the church of Rome ; and the
other seven recounted the errors or abuses as they were called, on account
of which they had separated from the Romish community. (2)



(2) [The articles in this Confession, or as
it might be called Apology, are of very une
qual length. Some are in the form of an
swers to slanders against the Lutherans ;
others are short essays ; most of them in
clude proofs or argumentation ; and sever
al of them are followed by renunciations of
the opposite tenets held by heretics ancient
or modern. As few American readers have
access to this celebrated creed, the following
summary of its contents is here subjoined.

Art. 1st treats of God and the Trinity;
in accordance with the Nicene Creed.

Art. 2d affirms that all men, since the fall,
are born with sin ; that is, destitute of faith
and the fear of God, and with corrupt pro
pensities ; for which hereditary sin they are
exposed to eternal death, until they are re
generated by baptism and the Holy Spirit.
It rejects the Pelagian doctrine, and denies
man s ability to obtain justification by his
own works.

Art. 3d treats of the person and mediation
of Christ ; in accordance with the Apostles
Creed.

Art 4th asserts justification to be, solely,
on the ground of Christ s righteousness im
puted to the believer, and not on the ground
of his personal righteousness ; agreeably to
Rom., ch. iii., iv.

Art. 5th asserts, that the word, preaching,
and the sacraments, are the medium through
which God imparts the Holy Spirit to whom
he will ; in consequence of which, they be
lieve unto righteousness. It rejects the doc
trine of the Anabaptists, that men can obtain
the Holy Spirit by their own efforts, and
without the means above stated.

Art. 6th asserts, that true faith always
produces good works ; which every man is
bound to perform, yet must not rely upon
them for salvation.

Art. 7th affirms the existence of a holy
catholic church, consisting of all the faithful ;
and which is known, not by a uniformity in
ceremonies, but by the efficacious preaching
of the word, and the administration of the
sacraments in their purity.

Art. 8th asserts, that the Christian church,
though composed of saints, yet has hypocrites



in it ; and that the efficacy of the sacraments
is not destroyed by hypocrisy in the admin
istrators.

Art. 9th asserts, that baptism is necessary,
and is a means of grace ; and that infanta
are to be baptized.

Art. 10th asserts, that the real body and
blood of Christ are truly present in the eu-
charist, under the elements of the bread and
wine, and are distributed and received.

Art. llth retains private confession of
sins to the pastors, and absolution by them ;
but denies the necessity of a particular enu
meration of all sins.

Art. 12th maintains, that those who sin
after baptism, if they repent, should always be
restored by the church : that repentance con
sists in sorrow and regret for sin and reliance
on Christ for pardon, and is productive o
good works. It denies sinless perfection in
this life, the Novatian error of refusing ab
solution to the penitent, and all dependance
on our own satisfactions for sin.

Art. 13th asserts, that the sacraments are
not merely significant signs, but are tokens
and evidence of God s gracious disposition
towards us, calculated to awaken and
strengthen our faith, and requiring faith to
a worthy receiving of them.

Art. 14th asserts, that no one should
preach publicly, and administer the sacra
ments, unless duly called.

Art. 15th. Rites of human institution,
so far as they are not sinful, and tend to
peace and good order in the church, (as cer
tain feasts, fasts, &c.), are to be observed.
But all human institutions, designed to ap
pease God, are contrary to the Gospel.

Art. 16th. Civil government is ordained
of God; and Christians may lawfully hold
offices, civil and military, and may pursue
the various occupations of citizens : contra
ry to the views of the Anabaptists, and
such as deem all worldly business inconsis
tent with a truly religious life.

Art. 17th asserts, that, at the last day,
Christ will come, will raise the dead, and
will adjudge the believing and elect to eter
nal life, and wicked men and devils to hell
and eternal torment. It reier.is the An



HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION.



3. The friends of the pontiff present at the diet, drew up a confutation
of the Protestant Confession ; of which, John Faber, afterwards bishop of Vi.



nbaptist notion of a final restoration of dev
ils and the damned ; and also the Jewish
notion of a temporal reign of Christ on the
earth, prior to the resurrection.

Art. 18th asserts, that men have some
free will to live reputably, to choose among
objects which their natural reason can com
prehend ; but that without the gracious aids
of the Holy Spirit, they cannot please God,
nor truly fear him, exercise faith, or over
come their sinful propensities, 1 Cor. ii.

Art. 19th asserts, that God is not the
cause and author of sin ; but that the per
verse wills of ungodly men and devils, are
the sole cause of it.

Art. 20th maintains, that the Reformers
do not discourage good works, though they
inculcate the doctrine of justification by faith
alone ; but only discourage useless works,
as the rosary, worshipping saints, pilgrim
ages, monastic vows, stated fasts, &c. , and
it evinces, at considerable length, from
scripture and the fathers, that a man cannot
be justified by works.

Art. 21st admits, that the saints are to be
respected, and to be imitated as patterns of
piety ; but denies, that they are to be wor
shipped, prayed to, or regarded as media
tors.

Such for substance (say they) is the doc
trine taught in our churches ; and being the
doctrine of the Bible, we cannot but hold to
it. All should embrace it.

The abuses (they say) which have crept
into the church, and which we could not
conscientiously endure, are chiefly the fol
lowing.

Art. 22d. Denying the sacramental cup
to the laity ; contrary to scripture and early
Christian practice.

Art. 23d. Imposing celibacy on the cler
gy ; contrary to reason, and scripture, and
the practice of rtle purer ages, and with
very injurious consequences.

Art. 24th. The Protestants are falsely
taxed with abolishing the mass. They only
purified it ; and discarded the idea of its be
ing a work of merit, an offering for the sins
of the living and the dead, which militates
with the scriptural doctrine that Christ s sac
rifice is the only sin-offering.

Art. 25th. The Protestants had not abol
ished private confession ; for they made it
a necessary preparation for the eucharist.
Yet they did not consider it a sacrament,
nor require a particular enumeration of sins.

Art. 26th censures the multitude of fasts
and other ceremonies of human invention,
arid &3 indue stress laid upon them, as



meritorious acts; thus obscuring the doc
trine of salvation by faith, holding these hu
man prescriptions more sacred than the com
mands of God, and burdening the conscien
ces of men with them.

Art. 27th represents the whole system of
monkery as a great abuse, and exceedingly
injurious to piety.

Art. 28th discriminates between civil and
ecclesiastical power, and allows neither to
infringe upon the other. The spiritual or
episcopal power is limited to preaching, ad
ministering the sacraments, and loosing and
binding sins. If bishops teach contrary to
the scriptures, they are, and must be treat
ed as, false prophets. If allowed to try
causes relating to marriage and tithes, it is
onlv ?s civil officers. They have no legis
lative power over the church ; and they can
bind the conscience, only by showing, that
the gospel enjoins what they inculcate. As
to Sundays and other holy days, and rites
and forms of worship, bishops may and
should appoint such as are convenient and
suitable ; and the people should observe
them, not as divine ordinances, but as
conducive to good order and edification.

Though the Lutherans expressed their
doctrine of consubstantiation in the most in
offensive terms that would be explicit, yet
the Reformed or Zwinglians could not sub
scribe to the Augsburg Confession. Hence
the imperial cities of Strasburg, Constance,
Lindau, and Memmingen, offered a sep
arate confession, called the Confession oj
the four cities, Confessio Tetrapolitana.
It agreed, substantially, with the Augsburg
Confession, except in regard to the corpo~
real presence. They held to a real, yet a
spiritual or sacramental presence ; a pres
ence which the devout soul could feel and
enjoy, but which implied no physical pres
ence of Christ s body. Yet they express
ed themselves in terms which need not have
given offence to the Lutherans. They say :
" All that the evangelists, Paul, and the
holy fathers, have written respecting tho
venerable sacrament of the body and blood
of Christ, our preachers teach, recommend,
and inculcate, with the greatest fidelity.
Hence, with singular earnestness, they con
stantly proclaim that goodness of Christ
towards his followers, whereby, no less now
than at his last supper, te all his sincere dis
ciples as oft as they repeat this supper, he
condescends to give, by the sacraments, his
real body and his real blood, to be truly eat
en and drunken, as the food and drink of
their souls, by wh ;h they are nc urished tc



54



BOOK IV. CENTURY XVI. SEC. I. CHAP. Ill



cnna, with the aid of John Eckius and John Cochlaus, is said to have been
the composer. This confutation being likewise read before the diet on tha
3d of August, the emperor required the Protestants to acquiesce in it, and
to abandon their whole cause and controversy. But they declared them
selves not satisfied with this answer of the papal divines ; and wished to
have a copy of it, that they might point out its fallacies. The emperor,
more obedient to the exhortations of the pontiff s legate and his compan
ions, than to the demands of right and of equity, refused their request, and
would not allow the controversy to be protracted by any new writings
about it. Nevertheless the Protestants caused an answer to be drawn up
by Philip Melancthon, to so much of the pontificial confutation as the the
ologians had been able to gather from hearing it read ; and on the 22d
of September they presented it to the emperor, who refused to receive it.
This answer (though afterwards corrected and enlarged by Melancthon,
upon obtaining a copy of the pontifical confutation) is that Apology for
the Augsburg Confession, which was afterwards published in the year 1531,
and which constitutes a part of the symbolical books of the Lutheran
church. (3)

4. Three modes of getting rid of these very troublesome contentions,
remained. One was. to allow those who would not obey the mandates ol
the pontiff, to enjoy their own sentiments on religion, and to worship God

eternal life ; so that he lives and abides in per, he says ; " I believe, that in the holy
them, and they in him." This confession eucharist, or supper of thanksgiving, the



they presented to the emperor, in Latin and
German ; but he would not allow it to be
read in public. Yet when the popish priests
had made out a confutation of it, he called
them before him, to hear that confutation
read ; and then, without allowing discus-



real body of Christ is present, to the eye oj
faith, (fidei contemplatione) ; that is. to those
who thank the Lord for the benefits con
ferred on us in Christ his Son, acknowl
edge that he assumed a real body, truly
suffered in it, and washed away our sins in



fcion, or permitting them to have a copy of his own blood ; and thus the whole that



the confutation, demanded of them submis
sion to the church of Rome. They refu
sed. This confession of the four cities,
which was drawn up by Martin Bucer, and
had been adopted by the senate and people
of Augsburg, was the confession of that
city for a number of years. But afterwards,
the four cities, feeling the necessity of a
union with the Lutherans, lest their popish
enemies should swallow them up, brought
themselves to believe, that the Lutherans
and they differed more in words, than in re
ality ; and therefore they subscribed to the



Christ has done is, as it were, present to
the eye of their faith. But that the body of
Christ, in substance, and reality, or that his
natural body, is present in the supper, and
is received into our mouth, and masticated
by our teeth, as the papists, and some who
look back upon the fleshpots of Egypt, rep
resent, that I not only deny, but unhes
itatingly pronounce an error, and contrary to
the word of God." He subjoins elaborate
proofs, from the scripture, reason, and the
fathers, in support of these views. To thia
confession, Eckius, a Catholic divine repli-



Augsburg confession, and became a part of ed ; and Zwingle, on the 27th of August,



the Lutheran church. See Hospmian s
Historia Sacramentaria, pt. ii., p. 162, &c.
At the same diet, Zwingle presented his
private confession ; which is a long and
elaborate performance. He says ; " Grace
is conferred along -with the sacraments ;
but not by them as the channels ; or in other
words, that the Holy Spirit imparts grace to
the devout communicants, in the ordinance ;
but does not annex the grace to the sacra
ment, so that it may go along vith it, as
watei through a channel, or by a physical
process." And respecting the Lord s sup-



defended himself, in a letter addressed to
the emperor and to the Protestant princes.
See Hospinian, I. c., p. 167, &c. TV.]

(3) [Melancthon composed the Apology
in Latin : but afterwards, Justus Jonas
translated it into German, in which language
it was published in the first collection of all
the symbolical books of the Lutheran church,
Dresden, 1580, fol. 21-134. The Augs
burg Confession in German, immediately
precedes it, fol. 3-20. See J. G. Walch i
Tntroductio in Libros symbolicos, lib. i.,
cap. 4, p. 409, &c. T r .}



HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION 5fi

as they saw fit ; without allowing the public tranquillity to be thereby de
stroyed. Another was, to compel them by force of arms, to cease from
dissenting from the Romish church, and make them return to the spurned
friendship of the Roman prelate. A third was, to attempt an honourable
and equitable compromise, by each party s relinquishing some portion of
what it considered as its just claims. The first method was accordant
with reason and justice, and would meet the wishes of the wise and good ;
but it was totally repugnant to the arrogant claims of the pontiff, and to
thje ignorance of the age, which abhorred all liberty of opinion concerning
religion. The second accorded with the customs and views of the age,
and with the violent counsels of the Romish court ; but it was abhorrent
to the prudence, the moderation and the equity, both of the emperor, and of
all good men. The third therefore was adopted, and met the approbation
of all who were solicitous for the good of the empire ; nor did the sover
eign pontiff himself seem to be wholly averse from it. Hence various
consultations were held, between select individuals of both parties ; and
every means was adopted, that seemed calculated to allay mutual hatred,
and bring discordant minds to harmonize. But the parties were too wide
apart in their first principles, for any thing to be effected. In these dis
cussions, the character of Philip Melancthon, whom, as the principal doc
tor among the Protestants, the adherents to the pontiff took special pains
to conciliate, very clearly appeared. He seemed easy of access, and
ready to make concessions when his opposers dealt in compliments and
promises ; but when they would terrify him by threats and denunciations,
he seemed quite another man, bold, courageous, and regardless of life and
fortune. For in" this great man, a mild and tender spirit was united with
the strictest fidelity and an invincible attachment to what he regarded as
the truth.

5. This mode of settling the religious controversies having been tried
for a sufficient length of time, (4) it was concluded to resort to the method
so repugnant to reason and to the principles of Christianity, but which the
perverseness of the times recommended. Accordingly on the 19th of No
vember, a severe decree was passed by command and authority of the em
peror, in the absence of the two leaders of the Protestants, the landgrave
of Hesse and the elector of Saxony ; in which there was nothing that could
solace the Protestants, except an equivocal and deceptive promise of a
council to be called within six months by order of the pontiff. For the
dignity and excellence of the old religion were extolled extravagantly ;
new force was added to the edict of Worms, against Luther and his fol
lowers ; the religious reformations, entered upon in one place and another
were severely censured ; and the princes and the cities that had become
alienated from the pontiff, were admonished to return to their duty within
some months, unless they wished to incur the vengeance of the emperor,
as the patron and protector of the church. (5)

6. On learning the sad issue of the diet, the elector of Saxony and his
associates, in the year 1530 and the year following, assembled at Smal-
cald and afterwards at Frankfort, and formed a league among themselves,

(4) [The conferences continued, with re- (5) See, in addition to the authors before
peated changes of the delegates, from the mentioned, Jo. Joach. Mutter s Historic de
second day of August, till the end of the Protestation und Appellation der Evangel-
month. tr.\ ischen Stande, book iii., ch. 48, p. 997.



56



BOOK IV. CENTURY XVI. SEC. I. CHAP. III.



for their mutual protection against the evils which the edict of Ajgsburg
portended, but excluding all offensive operations against any one. (6)
They also took measures to bring the kings of France, England, and Den
mark, as well as other princes and states, into the confederacy. (7) When
things began to wear this warlike aspect, the electors of Mayence and the
Palatinate interposed as mediators between the parties. And the emper
or Charles V., for various reasons, was very anxious for peace. For the
Protestants would not afford their aid to a Turkish war, which the emper
or exceedingly needed ; and they also contended, that Ferdinand the
emperor s brother, who had been created king of the Romans by the ma-
jor part of the princes in the diet of Cologne, A.D. 1531, had been elect.
ed contrary to the laws of the empire.

7. After various consultations therefore, in the year 1532, a peace
was concluded at Nuremberg between the emperor and the Protestants on



(6) [The first meeting of the Protestants
subsequently to the diet, was held at Smal-
cald on the 22d of December, 1530. But
it was found, that many of the representa
tives of cities had received no instruction,
in regard lo a confederacy ; and that many
oilier r.ir.ies were to be invited to join them.
As the emperor had entered into a coalition
with the Catholic states, against them, they
assembled again, in the following year on
the 29th of March, to form a closer union
for their mutual defence. The landgrave of
Hesse took great pains to have the Swiss
included in the confederacy. But the elec
tor of Saxony, who was guided by Luther,
absolutely refused to admit them. And in