LUTHER. 



recourle to the only expedient left him, to ward off the 

 efFeft of papal ceiifures, by appealing from the pontiff to a 

 general council, which he maintained to be fuperior in 

 authority to the pope. In January 15 19 the emperor died, 

 which rendered it expedient for the court of Rome to fuf- 

 pend any direft proceedings againft Luther ; for by this 

 event, the vicariat of that part of Germany, which is go- 

 verned by Saxon laws, devolved on the eleclor of Saxony, 

 and was executed by him during the interregnum which 

 preceded the eleftion of the emperor Charles V. Under 

 the admini (I ration of this prince, Luther enjoyed tranquil- 

 lity, and his opinions were fuffered to take root, and even 

 to grow up with fome degree of ftrength and firmnefs. 



Leo now hoped he fhould be able to bring back Luther 

 to fubmiffion and obedience, without having recourfe to 

 harfh meafures. He accordingly fixed on Charles Miltitz, 

 a Saxon knight, a perfou endowed with much prudence 

 and dexterity, whom he fent into Saxony, as his legate, to 

 prefent the eleftor with a golden confecrated rofe, as a mark 

 of peculiar dillinftion, and alfo to treat with I^uther about 

 the means of reconciling him to the court of Rome. Mil- 

 titz, by his great addrefs and foothing manners, and his en- 

 comiums on Luther's charafter, produced a confiderable 

 efFeft on his mind, and he made fuch conceflions as proved, 

 that his principles as a reformer were by no means ileadily 

 fixed. He agreed to obferve a profound filence on the 

 fubjeft of indulgences, provided his adverfaries were bound 

 to the fame meafures ; and he WTOte a humble and fub- 

 miflive letter to the pope, acknowledging he had carried his 

 zeal and animofity too far ; and he even confented to publifh 

 a circular letter, exhorting his followers and adherents to 

 reverence and obey the diftates of the Holy Roman church. 



Had the court of Rome been fufficiently prudent, and ac- 

 cepted this fubmiffion of Luther, and prevented its own 

 champions from engaging in the field of controverfy, the 

 caufe of the reformation would have been loft. But the 

 inconfiderate zeal of fome of Luther's opponents, renewed 

 the divifions which were fo nearly healed, and obhged 

 Luther and his followers to examine deeper into the enormi- 

 ties which prevailed in the papal hierarchy, as well as the 

 doftrines of the church. During this year a famous con- 

 troverfy was carried on at Leipfic, on the challenge of 

 Eckius, between himfelf and Carloftadt, concerning the 

 freedom of the will, and at the fame time he urged Luther 

 to enter the lifts with him, on the fubjecl of the pope's au- 

 thority and fupremacy. The challenge was accepted, and 

 on the appointed day the three champions appeared in the 

 field. The aflembly which met to witnefs the combat was 

 numerous and fplendid, and each of the combatants con- 

 dufted himfelf with great fkill and dexterity ; in the courfe 

 of the debate, Luther no doubt was carried farther than he 

 dreamed of going, led on from one argument to another : 

 he at length maintained, that the church of Rome, in the 

 earlier ages, had never been confidered as fuperior to other 

 churches, and combated the pretenfions of that church and its 

 bifhop, from the teftimony of fcripture, the authority of the 

 fathers, and the nioft approved ecclcfiaftical hiftorians, and 

 even from the decrees of the council of Nice, while the beft; 

 arguments of his adverfary were derived from fpurious de- 

 cretals, none of which could boaft of an antiquity equal to 

 that of four centuries. Hoffman, the prefident, refuted to 

 declare on which fide victory had fallen, and the queftion 

 v/as referred to the univerfities of Paris and Erfurt. Eckius 

 clearly faw that the auditors generally declared in favour of 

 tlie arguments made ufe of by his adverfary, and from this 

 moment he breathed fury and revenge againft Luther. The 

 latter had, however, the happinefs to know, that he had 



Vol. XXL 



conyinced the celebrated Philip Mclanfthon, at that time 

 profeffor of the Greek, at the univcrlUy of Vittemburg, of 

 the juftice of his caufe, and he foon aftvr found a vigorous 

 auxiliary in Ulric Zuingle-, a canon of Zurich, in Switzer- 

 land, whofe extenfive learning and uncommon fagacity were 

 accompanied with the utmoft intrepidity ar.d refolution. 

 The party of reformers now was great in the talents, and 

 illuftrious in the charafters of their leaders, who made, at 

 this period, the utmoll efforts to draw over Erafmus to their ' 

 fide. The reputation and authority of this great fcholar 

 were of the higheft weight in Europe, as well on account 

 of his talents as of his ftrifturcs upon the errors of the 

 church, and upon the ignorance and vices of the clergy. 

 He had fown the feeds which Luther cherifhed and brought 

 to maturity, but was, however, too wary to entangle him- 

 felf fo deeply in the difpute as to lead him into any danger. 

 About this time the univerfitics of Cologne and Louvr.in 

 took part againft Luther, againft whofe decrees he imme- 

 diately wrote with his ufual fpirit and intrepidity. Eckius 

 likevvife repaired to Rome, intent on accomplifhing the 

 ruin of Luther, and he thought he had performed the deed 

 when, by his exertions and influence, pope Leo alTembled 

 the college of cardinals to prepare a fcntence againft him 

 with fuch deliberation, as it was hoped no exception could 

 be taken, either with regard to form or matter. 



On the 13 th of June 1520, the bull was iffued, in which 

 forty-one propofitions, extrafted from Luther's works, 

 were condemned as heretical and fcandalous, and all perfons 

 were forbidden to read his writings on pain of excommuni- 

 cation ; thofe who poffelled any of them were commanded, 

 under fevere penalties, to commit them to the flames. Lu- 

 ther himfelf, if he did not within fixty days publicly recant 

 his errors, and burn his books, was pronounced an obftinate 

 heretic, excommunicated, and delivered unto Satan for the 

 deifruflion of the flefli ; and all fecular princes were re- 

 quired, under pain of incurring the fame cenfurc, to feize 

 his perfon, that he might be punifhed as his crimes fhould 

 be found to merit. Short-fighted priefts, and rafh bigots, 

 contemplated in this fentence the ruin of Luther, and the 

 termination of thofe principles which he had efpoufed ; but 

 it has proved fatal only to the church which uttered it, and 

 to the caufe which it was intended to fupport. When an 

 account of what had happened was brought to Luther, he 

 was neither difconcerted nor intimidated, but calmly con- 

 fulted the moft proper means of prefent defence, and future 

 fecurity. He appealed a fecond time to a general council, 

 and came to the refolution of voluntarily renouncing com- 

 munion with the church of Rome, and in juftification of his 

 own conduct, which he might well expett would be every 

 where, though not by all perfons, condemned, he cxpofed 

 to the world, witho it the leaft difguife or ceremony, the 

 abominable corruptions and delufions of the papal hierarchy; 

 he went ftill farther, and without hcfitation declared, in the 

 moft folemn manner, before the whole world, that the pope 

 was the predicted "man of fin," the anti-chrilt fct forth in 

 the writings of the New Teftament. Being now rtleafed 

 from all obedience to the pope, and fetting himfelf up in 

 oppofition to his power, he declaimed, without fcruple, 

 againft his tyranny, and he exhorted all Chriftian princes to 

 fhake off the ignominious yoke, which had been fo long im- 

 pofed on them, but the weight of which neither they nor 

 their fathers could well bear. He made it the theme of his 

 joy and exultation, that he was marked out as an objetl of 

 ecclcfiaftical indignation, becaufe he had ventured to affcrt 

 and vindicate the liberty of mankind. L\ithi.>- proceeded 

 from words to afts ; Leo had burnt the books of Luther, 

 and he, by way of returning the compliment, afTcmbled all 



j^. O the 



