L U T 
■naftic life to that of fouls redeemed by the death of Chrift. 
He did more ; lie married one of thefe fame nuns, Catha¬ 
rine a Boria, who was of a noble family. This ltep was 
far from meeting with the approbation of his friends ; 
and his enemies took occafion from it to be profufe in 
their cenfures, and in their calumnious mifreprefentations. 
Indeed, Luther himfelf was fenfible of the impreffion 
which it had made to his diftdvantage, as appears from 
his declaration in one of his letters, that “it had made 
him fo defpicable, that he hoped his humiliation would re¬ 
joice the angels, and vex the devils.” But, if he was at 
ffrft fo much affected by this circumftance as to need the 
confolation of MelanCthon, he foon recovered his felf- 
polTefGon; and, being fatisfied with the motives of his 
conduct, bore the cenfures of his friends, and the re¬ 
proaches of his adverfaries, with his ufual fortitude. Of 
thofe motives the reader may meet with a particular ac¬ 
count in Bayle, under the article Catharine de Bore; 
where they may alfo find fome amufing anecdotes relative 
to Luther’s wedding, the eftimation in which he held his 
wife, and his fubfequent behaviour in the conjugal con¬ 
nection. 
In the year 1523, two of the followers of Luther were 
burnt at BrulTels, and thefe were the firft who fuffered 
martyrdom for his caufe; and about the fame time that 
this tragical event was perpetrated, he wrote a confolatory 
letter to three noble ladies at Mil'nia, who were baniflied 
from the duke of Saxony’s court at Friburg for reading 
his books. 
About this period Luther loll by death his friend, and 
the fall friend of the reformation, Frederic eleCtor of Sax¬ 
ony; but the blow was lefs fenfibly felt, as he was fuc- 
ceeded by his brother John, a more avowed and zealous, 
though 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 rettoring peace in the church, and 
of fo reconciling the contending parties, as to prevent a 
reparation either in point of ecclefiaftical jurildidlion or 
religious communion ; hence, though rather favourable to 
the innovations of Luther, he took no pains to introduce 
any change into the churches of his own dominions, 
nor to fubjeCt them to his jurifdietion. But his fuccefior 
afled in quite a different manner. Fully fatisfied of the 
truth of Luther’s co&rine, and perluaded that it mult 
lofe ground and foon be fupprefied if the defpotic autho¬ 
rity of the Roman pontiff remained undifputed and en¬ 
tire, he, without hefitation or delay, alfumed to himfelf 
the fupremacy in ecclefiaftical matters, and eftablilhed a 
church in his dominions, totally different from the church 
of Rome, in doCtrine, difeipline, and government. He 
alfo ordered a body of laws, relating to the form of eccle¬ 
fiaftical government, the method of public worlhip, the 
rank, offices, and revenues, of the priefthood, and other 
matters of that nature, to be drawn up by Luther and Me- 
lanClhon, which he afterwards promulgated throughout 
his dominions. No fooner had the elector taken this de- 
cifive and undifguifed line of conduct, than the reli¬ 
gious differences between the German princes, which had 
hitherto kept within the bounds of moderation, broke 
out into a violent and lading flame. By the patrons of 
popery evident intimations were given of their intention 
to make war upon the Lutheran party, and to compel 
them by force to renounce the doCtrines of the reforma¬ 
tion ; and this defign would certainly have been put into 
execution, had not the troubles of Europe difconcerted 
their meafures. The Lutherans, on the other hand, be¬ 
gan to deliberate concerning the moll effectual means of 
defending themfelves againlt fuperftition armed with vio¬ 
lence ; and formed the plan of a confederacy for that pru¬ 
dent purpofe. 
In the mean time the diet of the empire aflembled at 
Spires, in June 1526, at which Ferdinand, the emperor’s 
brother, prefided ; Charles being fully occupied with the 
troubled ftate of his dominions in Spain and Italy. When 
Vou. XIII. No. 945 ' 
HER. 793 
the ftate of religion came to be confidered in the diet, the 
emperor’s ambafladors ufed their utmoft endeavours to 
obtain a refolution, that all difputes about religion ftiould 
be fupprefled, and the fentence which had been pro¬ 
nounced at Worms againft Luther and his followers put 
into rigorous execution. This was firmly oppofed by the 
greater part of the German princes^ who maintained that 
they could not execute that fentence, nor come to any de¬ 
termination with refpedl to the dodtrines by which it had 
been occafioned, before the whole matter was fubmitted 
to the cognizance of a general council,lawfully aflembled. 
This opinion, after long and warm debates, was adopted 
by a great majority; and at length the whole aflembly 
unanimoufly agreed to prefent a folemn addrefsto the em¬ 
peror, befeeching him to aflemble, without delay, a free 
and general council ; and it was alfo agreed that, in the 
mean time, the princes and ftates of the empire ftiould, in 
their refpeftive dominions, be at liberty to manage eccle¬ 
fiaftical matters in the manner which they ftiould think 
the mod expedient, yet fo as to be able to give an ac¬ 
count of their adminiftration to God and the emperor. 
Nothing could he more favourable to the caufe of Luthe- 
ranifim than this refolution. Several princes, whom the 
fear of perfecution and punilhment had hitherto prevented 
from declaring for the reformation, being now delivered 
from their reltraint, renounced publicly the fuperftition 
of Rome, and introduced among their fubjefts the fame 
form of religious worlhip, and the fame fyltem of dofhine, 
which had been received in Saxony. And in general, all 
the Germans who had before rejected the papal difeipline 
and doCtrine were now employed in bringing their fchemes 
and plans to a certain degree of confiftence, and in adding 
vigour and firmnefs to the glorious caufe in which they 
were engaged. In the mean, time, Luther and his fellow- 
labourers, by their writings, their inftruClions, their ad¬ 
monitions, and counfels, inlpired the timorous with forti¬ 
tude, dilpelled the doubts of the ignorant, fixed the prin¬ 
ciples and refolution of the wavering and inconftant, and 
animated all the friends of the reformation with a fpirit 
fuitable to the importance and grandeur of their under¬ 
taking. 
But this encouraging ftate of things was of no long du¬ 
ration. For the emperor, as foon as he had appealed the 
troubles which had engaged his attention in different parts 
of Europe, directed his view to Germany, and deter¬ 
mined to attempt the recovery of thofe prerogatives which 
his predeceflors had loll; and which were neceffary to the 
promotion of his ambitious fchemes. Nothing, he faw, 
was more effential towards attaining this objeCl, than to 
fupprefs opinions which might form new bonds of confe¬ 
deracy among the princes of the empire, and unite them 
by ties ltronger and more facred than any political con¬ 
nection. Nothing feemed to lead more certainly to the 
accomplifbment of this defign, than to employ zeal for 
the eftablilhed religion, of which he was the natural pro¬ 
testor, as the inftrument of extending his civil authority. 
Accordingly, he appointed a diet of the empire to be held 
at Spires, in March 1529, in order to take into confidera- 
tion the ftate of religion. In that diet the archduke Fer¬ 
dinand prefided ; and, after feveral long debates, had the 
addrefs to procure a majority of voices approving a de¬ 
cree, which revoked the refolution of the former diet of 
Spires, and declared unlawful every change which Ihould 
be introduced into the doCtrine, difeipline, or worlhip, of 
the eftablilhed religion, before the determination of a ge¬ 
neral council was known. This decree was jultly confi¬ 
dered to be iniquitous and intolerable by the eleCtor of 
Saxony, the marquis of Brandenburgh, the landgrave of 
Heffe, the duke of Lunenburgh, the prince of Anhalt, 
together with the deputies of fourteen imperial cities ; 
who, when they found that all their arguments and re- 
monltrances made no impreffion upon Ferdinand, and the 
abettors of the Romilh church, entered their folemn proteji 
againft it, on the 19th of April, 1529, and appealed to 
the emperor and a future council. On that account they 
9 L were 
