AUGSBURG. 



101 



Augsburg, polemical, executed a task so agreeable to his natu- 



' i ' ral disposition with great moderation and address. 



The creed which he composed was read publicly in 

 the city-hall of Augsburg, before the diet, and the 

 catholic and protestant divines. Some of the former 

 were appointed to examine it : they brought in their 

 animadversions. A dispute ensued between them 

 and Melancthon, seconded by some of his coadjutors ; 

 but though he softened some articles, made conces- 

 sions with regard to others, and put the least objec- 

 tionable sense upon all ; though Charles V. laboured 

 with great earntstness to reconcile the contending 

 parties ; so many marks of distinction were now esta- 

 blished, and such insuperable barriers placed between 

 the two churches, that all hopes of bringing about 

 a coalition were utterly desperate, ( See Seckendoiff, 

 lib. xi. p. 159, &c. ) It was not merely the Ro- 

 man Catholic party, however, to whom the proceed- 

 ings of the diet of Augsburg, and the confession of 

 faith given in by Melancthon, gave offence. A very 

 numerous body of the Protestants themselves disap- 

 proved of the whole transaction, and separated, not 

 only from the Catholic church for ever, but also 

 from the Lutheran. They assumed the denomina- 

 tion of Evangelical Reformed, and are still known by 

 that title, and constitute nearly one-third of the Pro- 

 testants of all Germany. 



The religious affairs of the empire remained in 

 great confusion for twenty-five years after the disso- 

 lution of the diet of Augsburg, in 151)0. Ferdinand 

 of Austria, brother of Charles V., and to whom the 

 emperor had procured the dignity of king of the 

 Romans, sincerely wishing an accommodation with 

 the Protestants, called together a new diet at Augs- 

 burg in 1555, and contrived to establish something 

 like a religious peace in Germany. A recess was 

 framed on the 25th of September 1555, approved 

 of, and published with the usual formalities. It con- 

 tained, among other articles, the following, which 

 we give as a specimen of the ne plus ultra of the reli- 

 gious toleration of the age. " Such princes and 

 cities as have declared their approbation of the con- 

 fession of Augsburg, in 1530, shall be permitted to 

 profess the doctrine, and exercice the worship, which 

 it authorises, without interruption or molestation 

 from the emperor, the king of the Romans, or any 

 power or person whatsoever. The Protestants, on 

 their part, shall give no disquiet to the princes and 

 states who adhere to the tenets and rites of the 

 church of Rome. For the future, no attempts shall 

 be made towards terminating religious differences, 

 but by the gentle and pacific methods of persuasion 

 and conference. The popish ecclesiastics shall claim 

 no spiritual jurisdiction in such states as receive the 

 confession of Augsburg. Such as seized the reve- 

 nues or benefices of the church, previous to the trea- 

 ty of Passau, shall retain possession of them, and be 

 liable to no prosecution in the imperial chamber on 

 that account. The supreme civil power in every 

 state shall have right to establish what form of doc- 

 trine and worship it shall deem proper ; and if any of 

 its subjects refuse to conform to these, shall permit 

 them to remove with all their effects whithersoever 

 they shall please. If any prelate or ecclesiastic shall 

 hereafter abandon the Romish religion, he shall in- 



stantly relinquish his diocese, or benefice, and it shall Augilnm*. 



be lawful for those in whom the right of" nomination ' *~ J 



is vested, to proceed immediately to an election, as 

 if the office were vacant by death or translation, and 

 to appoint a successor of undoubted attachment to 

 the ancient system." 



Such are the capital articles in the famous recess 

 of Augsburg in 1555, which was the basis of reli- 

 gious peace in Germany, and the bond of union 

 among its various states, the sentiments of which are 

 so extremely different with respect to points the most 

 interesting and important. In our age and nation, to 

 which the idea of toleration is familiar, and its bene- 

 ficial effects well known, it may seem strange, that a 

 method of terminating their dissensions, so suitable 

 to the mild and charitable spirit of the Christian re- 

 ligion, did not sooner occur to the contending par- 

 ties. But this expedient, however salutary, was so 

 repugnant to the sentiments and practice of Chris- 

 tians during many ages, that it did not lie obvious to 

 discovery. It was towards the close of the seven- 

 teenth century, before toleration, under its pre- 

 sent form, was admitted into the republic of the 

 United Provinces, and from thence introduced into 

 England. Long experience of the calamities flowing 

 from mutual persecution, the influence of free go- 

 vernment, the light and humanity acquired by the 

 progress of science, together with the prudence and 

 authority of the civil magistrate, were all requisite in 

 order to establish a regulation so opposite to the ideas 

 which all the different sects had adopted, from mis- 

 taken conceptions concerning the nature of religion, 

 and the rights of truth, or which all of them had de- 

 rived from the maxims of the church of Rome. 



The recess of Augsburg, it is evident, was found- 

 ed on no such liberal and enlarged sentiments con- 

 cerning freedom of religious inquiry, or the nature of 

 toleration. It was nothing more than a scheme of 

 pacification, which political considerations alone had 

 suggested to the contending parties, and regard for 

 their mutual tranquillity and safety had rendered ne- 

 cessary. Of this there can be no stronger proof 

 than an article in the recess itself, by which the be- 

 nefits of the pacification are declared to extend only 

 to the Catholics on the one side, and to such as ad- 

 hered to the confession of Augsburg, in 1530, on the 

 other. The followers of Zuinglius and Calvin re- 

 mained, in consequence of that exclusion, without 

 any protection from the rigour of the laws denounced, 

 against heretics. Nor did they obtain any legal se- 

 curity until the treaty of Westphalia in 1648, near a 

 century after this period, provided, that they should 

 be admitted to enjoy, in as ample a manner as the 

 Lutherans, all the advantages and protection which 

 the recess of Augsburg affords. 



The philanthropist cannot help regretting the mi- 

 serable figure which human reason and human pas- 

 sions have made in every age, in a field where the 

 first ought to have displayed its noblest engines, and 

 tjie list to have been either absolutely subdued, or at 

 least kept under decent controul, namely, the field 

 of Christian controversy. In it, the bilis theologicus 

 has tainted every feature of the countenance, and 

 poisoned every feeling of the heart. Although not 

 always armed with the scymitar of the Arabian im-- 



