LUTHER. 



fonal refleiftions. To foftcn the anger of Luther, he fays in 

 his preface, " Tliat lie ought not to take it ill that he dif- 

 fents from his opinic>nsin particular points, as he had allowed 

 himfilf the liberty of differing from the judgment of popes, 

 univerfities, and doftors in the church.'' It was fome time 

 before Luther took up his pen in defence of his own pofi- 

 tions, but his anfv. er was extremely fevere : he accufed his 

 opponent of " being carclefs about religion, and little folici- 

 tous what became of it, provided the world continued in 

 peace, and that hiS notions were rather philofophical than 

 diftated by ChrilHan truth." Luther was next engaged in a 

 controvorfy with Car'oftadt, refpefling the eucharift. 

 Though Luther had renounced the doftrine of " tranfub- 

 ftantiation," according to which the bread and wine were 

 changed by confecration into the body and blood ot Chrill, 

 yet he thought that the partakers of the Lord's fupper re- 

 ceived in fome myftical way, with bread and wine, the real 

 body and blood of Chrift. This dtiftrine obtained the name 

 of •' confubftantiation." Carloftadt, who, as we have feen, 

 was the difciple of Luther, maintained that the body of 

 Chrift was not aftually prefcnt, but that the bread and wine 

 were no more than external figns, or fymbnls, defigned 

 to excite in the minds of Chriftians the remembrance of the 

 fufferings and death of Chrift, and of the benefits which 

 arife from them. This opinion was univerfally embraced by all 

 the friends of the reformation in Switzerland, and by a con- 

 fiderable number of its votaries in Germany, but it was the 

 commencement of a controverfy that was carried on with 

 much bitternefs, which, notwithftanding the endeavours that 

 were ufed to reconcile the contending parties, terminated 

 at length in a fatal divifion between thofe who had embarked 

 together in the facred caufe of religion and liberty, and 

 which contributed to retard the progrefs of the reformation. 



In the month of Oftober 1524, Luther threw off the 

 monaft:ic habit, which, though not premeditated and de- 

 figned, was regarded as a very proper introduftion to a ftep 

 which he took the following year, viz. his marriage to Ca- 

 tharine, the perfon already referred to, who had eloped 

 from the nunnery of Nimptchen. This meafure expofed 

 him to much obloquy from his own friends, as well as from 

 the Catholics. He was even aihamed of it himfelf, and 

 acknowledged that it had made him fo defpicable, that he 

 hoped his humiliation would give joy to angels, and be the 

 fource of vexation to devils. MelaufthoH, found him fo much 

 afflifted with his pad condud, that he wiote fome letters of 

 confoldtion to him. It was not, it was faid, fo much the 

 marriage, as the circumftances of the time, and the precipi- 

 tation with which it was done, that occafioned the cenfures 

 paffed upon Luther. He married fuddenly, and at a time 

 when Germany was groaning under the miferies of a war 

 which had been occafioned by the introduftion of the new 

 doftrines, and which will be noticed under the article Re- 

 FOR.MATlON. Luthcr foon recovered from the ftate of 

 abafement into which he had for a feafon fallen, and then af- 

 fumed his former air of intrepidity, and boldly fupported 

 what he had done. " I took," faid he, " a wife, in obedi- 

 ence to my father's commands, and haftened the confumma- 

 tion, to prevent impediments, and flop the tongues of flan- 

 derers." 



About this period Luther loft by death his friend, and 

 the fall friend of the reformation, Frederic, eleftor of 

 Saxony ; but the blow was lefs fenfibly felt, as he was fuc- 

 ceeded by his brother John, a more avowed and zealous, 

 but lefs able, patron of Luther and his doftrines. Frederic 

 had been a kind of mediator between the Roman pontiff and 

 the reformers of Wittemburg, and had always entertained 

 the hope of refloring peace in the church, and of fo recon- 



ciling the contending parties, as to prevent a feparatiou 

 either in point of ecclefiaftical jurifdiflion ' r r ligious com- 

 munion : hence, though rather favour:ibie to the innovations 

 of Luther, he took no pains to introduce any change into 

 the churches of his own dominions, nor to fubjeft them to 

 his jurifdiftion. But his fucceffor aflcd very difiercntly : he 

 ordered a body of laws relating to the firm of ecclefiailical 

 government, the method of public worfhip, the rank, of- 

 fices, and revenues ot the priellhood, and other matti rs of 

 that nature, to be drawn up by Luther snd Mclandlhon, 

 which he afterwards promulgated throughout his dominions. 

 The example of this prince was followed by all the other 

 princes and ftates of Germany, who renounced the papal 

 fupremacy and jurifdiflion. The Lutherans were now 

 threatened with a grievous perfeciition, which the public 

 troubles of Europe only prevented from being carried into 

 execution : they, on the other hand, were not negligent in 

 taking etfeftual meafures for defending themfelvcs againll 

 the fuperflition and violence of their adverfaries, and formed 

 the plan of a confederacy for that prudent purpofe. 



In June 1526, a diet of the empire was held at Spires, at 

 which Ferdinand, the emperor's brother, prefided ; Charles 

 being fully occupied with the troubles in Spain and Italy. 

 When the Hate of religion came before the allembly, the em- 

 peror's ambaffadors ufed their utii oft endeavours to obtain a 

 refolution, that all difputes about religion ftiould be fup- 

 prefTed, and that the fentence which had been pronounced 

 at Worms againft Luther and his followers (hould be put 

 into rigorous execution ; but it was agreed, that they could 

 not execute that fentence, nor come to any determination 

 with refpedt to the dodlrines by which it had been occa- 

 fioned, before the whole matter was fubmittcd to the cogni- 

 zance of a general council, lawfully affembled. An addrefs 

 to the emperor was unanimoufly agreed on, befecchmg him 

 to affemble, without delay, a free and general council ; and 

 it was alfo refolved, that, in the mean time, the princes and 

 ftates of the empire fhould, in their refpeftive dominions, be 

 at liberty to manage ecclefiaftical matters in the manner 

 which they fhould think expedient ; yet fo as to be able to 

 give an account of their adminiftration to God and the em- 

 peror. This was a refolution the moft favourable to the 

 caufe of Lutheranifm ; and feveral potentates, whom the 

 dread of perfecution had hitherto prevented from declaring 

 for the reformation, being now delivered from their reftraint, 

 renounced pubhcly the fuperftition of Rome, and intro- 

 duced among them the fame form of religious worfhip, and 

 the fame fyftem of doftrine, which had been received in 

 Saxsny. Luther and his fellow-labourers, in the mean 

 time, by their writings, their inftruftions, their admoni- 

 tions, and counfels, were carrying on their great caufe with 

 a fpirit fuitable to the importance and greatnefs of their un- 

 dertaking. But this encouraging ftate of affairs was not of 

 long duration : the emperor began to take meafures for the 

 recovery of thofe prerogatives which had been fnatched from 

 his predeceflbrs, and which were necefiary to the promotion 

 of his ambitious fchemes. For this purpofe, he regarded it 

 as neceffary to fupprefs opinions, which might form new 

 bonds of confederacy among the princes of the empire, and 

 unite them by ties ilronger and more facred than any poli- 

 tical connedlion. He accordingly refolved to employ all 

 the means in his power for the full eftabhtlimcnt of the reli- 

 gion, of which he was regarded the natural proteftor ; con- 

 fidering this as the inftrument by which he could extend his 

 civil authority. He appointed, for this purpofe, a diet of 

 the empire to be held at Spires, in the fpring of 1529, for 

 the exprefs purpofe of taking into confideration the Hate of 

 religion. In that diet the archduke Ferdmand prefided, 



and 



