was to continue no longer than either till a general Council was conven'd or till the next Imperial Diet the Elector mov'd King Ferdinand that this last Clause might be omitted He also desir'd that those who profess'd the same Religion with other Protestants might enjoy the same Priviledges though they were not comprehended in the Treaty at Nuremburg and that no Prosecutions might be issu'd out against them To this Ferdinand reply'd that he could make no new Provision in this case without the Emperor's consent The Elector of Saxony reply'd that it was very hard since their Adversaries might recede from the Pacification when they pleas'd that himself and his Allies should be barr'd this Liberty The Security which was given them in the Treaty did not design without doubt to keep them in suspence and in the dark without being able so much as to know what they were to hope for or expect Besides as soon as ever a Proclamation for a Diet came out it would be look'd upon as a Signal to break the Peace and be like beating a Charge for new Disturbances from whence great Inconveniences would follow And he must add that if those of the same Religion with himself could not enjoy the benefit of the Pacification and happen'd to be proscrib'd or otherways aggreived it would be very uneasie to him and the rest of his Allies to connive at these things and desert their Friends in their Distress But the Elector gain'd nothing more of his Point by this Remonstrance only one of Ferdinand's chief Ministers reply'd that it was a long time yet before the Empire was to meet unless some great and unexpected occasion should happen and when there shall be a necessity for the holding of a Diet the present affair shall be setled by his Electoral Highness's and the Lantgrave's advice Upon this the Elector press'd this Request no farther But when he desir'd the Treaty might be ratify'd Ferdinand answer'd that he had not omitted to Command the Chamber to desist the last year pursuant to the Articles at Cadan But they told him that there were several Causes purely Secular and Civil intermixt with those that were Sacred now these were perfectly under their Jurisdiction for they did not relate to Faith and Religion but to Estates and yearly Revenues To this the Elector of Saxony reply'd that these mix'd Causes were the only reason which made them so earnest for a Pacification for though they did concern Mens Goods and Estates yet they were grounded upon Religion His Majesty may likewise be inform'd by the Princes of the Mediation the Elector of Mentz and the Palsgrave that these sort of Disputes were mention'd at the Treaty As for other Causes in which their Creed and their Consciences are only concern'd the Chamber never had any thing to do with those neither was there any necessity that himself and his Confederates should desire the Emperor to check the Judges upon such an account as this Besides long before the Pacification at Cadan the Chamber pretended that the fore-mention'd Causes were only Secular and therefore among other things there was a particular Provision made at Cadan that his Majesty should interpose his Authority to restrain that Court. After the Matter was thus discours'd at last the King yielded and promis'd to undertake that none of those Causes which his Highness and his Confederates at the Treaty at Nuremburg counted Religious should be try'd before the Chamber The French Embassadors Speech which I mention'd was answer'd by the Protestants as followeth Notwithstanding there goes various Reports concerning those Executions in France yet because his Excellency says those who suffer'd were contriving an Insurrection they could not blame the King's Proceedings since they did not tolerate such sort of Persons in their own Dominions But in regard all people have not every where the same Opinions of the establish'd Doctrins and Rites they entreat his Majesty that this Severity may not fall upon all Persons without distinction but that those may be spar'd who having laid open the Errors and Corruptions of the Times had reform'd their Creed into the same purity the Scriptures taught it and held to that Confession which themselves had made at Ausburg For it cannot be deny'd that many false and wicked Opinions have broke in upon the Church which are now very confidently maintain'd by ignorant and malitious Men upon Principles of Covetousness and Ambition Now it 's their way and they are Masters of it to forge Accusations against innocent and religious Persons that so they may exasperate Princes into rigour And since Kings and Princes are more peculiarly oblig'd to promote the Honour of God to purge the Church from Error and to check unreasonable Cruelty they earnestly beseech his most Christian Majesty that he would lay out his principal Endeavours upon so good a Work. If he pleases to do this they shall be assur'd that he hath a real regard for them which they hope may prove auspicious both to themselves and the Church What his Majesty discours'd concerning the ancient and constant Friendship between the French Kings and the Princes of Germany was wonderfully entertaining to them And they would make it their business that this Intimacy and good Correspondence might be continu'd for the future And whereas his Excellency offers to excuse the King from some Imputations they are very inclinable to gratifie him in this Point and acquiesce in his Apology desiring above all things that God would vouchsafe a general Peace to Christendom and Protect the Germans in their Liberties which were formerly gain'd at the expence of so much Blood. Now though that which his Excellency mention'd concerning an Accommodation in Religion belongs to an argument too large to be dispatch'd in a few words yet so prudent a Person as the King may easily perceive that the separation is wholly owing to the obstinacy of their Adversaries who have condemn'd all the reform'd Doctrin in a most violent manner They have desir'd nothing more for these many years than that the whole Cause might be argued before a lawful Council but the Pope and his Dependents have oppos'd this Overture with all the rigour imaginable 'T is true Clement the Seventh propos'd a Council under certain Conditions but then they were such as made it sufficiently apparent that he could not endure that Matters should be freely debated And this Pope though he promises a Council yet he will not suffer the Form and Method of it be disputed before-hand and besides he will have it conven'd out of the Territories of the Empire From whence it 's easie to conclude that there is foul play and deceit at the bottom and that nothing else is intended but to get the true Religion suppress'd by the Authority of a Council And since the calling of the Church together does not belong only to the Bishop of Rome but Kings and Princes are equally concern'd in it They beseech his Majesty to interpose so
almost the same minute went and made Luther a visit who lay very ill of the Stone which disrespect the Embassador might see if he pleas'd out of his own Lodgings Before the Bishop of Aix went upon his Employ Vergerius by the Popes Command acquainted him with the State of Germany and how he was to make his Court and salute every Person The fourth day after being the last of February the Protestants gave in their answer to Eldo That they did not question but that the Emperor would stand to the Pacification which he had engag'd himself to do several times both in his publick and private Letters but the Chamber of Spire and himself also in his Speech had advanced such an Interpretation which would not only render that Treaty less intelligible but perfectly void it and make it insignificant For the drift of his Discourse is to prove that only those Matters and Disputes are to be referr'd to Religion which are comprehended in the Edict at Wormes and in some other Decrees of the Empire and not those which are risen since and concern private Persons though they were expresly mention'd at Nuremburgh to the Princes of the Mediation but the Design of this Treaty was quite different from what his Excellency pretends For notwithstanding by the Instigation of Pope Leo the 10th the Emperor happen'd to publish his Edict at Wormes at a time when the true Faith was understood but by a very few yet afterwards that Edict as far as it related to them was suspended by several Decrees of the Empire more particularly in the Diet at Spire about eleven years since where it was agreed That the whole Controversie should be referr'd to a Council with the addition of this remarkable Clause that in the mean time all Magistrates in their respective Jurisdictions should discharge their Office in such a manner as they might be able to give a good account of their actions to God and the Emperor from whence it plainly appears that the foremention'd Edict was laid asleep so that they had no occasion to insist upon a new suspension of it at Nuremburgh For why were all Debates remitted to a lawful Council if the Edict of Wormes was always to be in force or if their Religion had always been accounted condemned But there was a wide difference between the Matter of that Edict and the Pacification at Nuremburgh for the former consider'd nothing but matter of Fact and was design'd for Prosecution the question at that time being only Whether the Edict was violated or not If a breach was prov'd then it 's likely the Chamber if the Decree of the Diet at Spire had not interpos'd might have exercis'd their Jurisdiction as in a secular affair But those things which were the occasion of that Convention and Treaty at Nuremburgh relate to Faith and Religion which beside other Proofs appears plainly from the Emperor's Letters Patents For though the Chamber had no Authority to try any Causes of this nature before yet to prevent Disturbance there was a more comprehensive Provision sign'd at Nuremburgh to make them forbear Besides it appears from the very words of the Emperor's Letters Patents that not only those Disputes which relate to matters of meer Religion were comprehended in the Treaty at Nuremburgh but all others also which are occasioned by the Change of Rites and Ceremonies and arise from Causes of a resembling nature Farther all Agreements are to be interpreted with respect to the circumstances of the thing which was the ground of the Controversie Now from the time of the Decree at Spire till the Treaty at Nuremburgh they do not remember that any of their Partty have been prosecuted or have had the least Disturbance given them by any particular Courts under the Emperor or Princes It 's true the Chamber had usurp'd an Authority in these Matters and commenc'd a Suit against some Persons for changing Religion together with the Rites and Ceremonies as also concerning Property and Estate And when there was a misunderstanding about these things they made express mention of them to the Princes of the Mediation Therefore that Treaty is to be understood to extend not only to those Points which result from the Edict of Wormes but to those also which were controverted at the very time of the Convention For otherwise what made them labour and trouble themselves at the rate they had done why were they at such Expences to remove a Grievance which was already mortifi'd by a solemn Decree of the Empire and from which they had no reason to apprehend the least inconvenience But being afraid the Chamber would occasion a Disorder in the State by commencing of Suits they agreed to a Cessation which can relate to no other Debates but those which were then the Principal Subject of the Controversie and explain'd to the Princes of the Mediation as such And whereas he alledgeth that the Emperor did not know under what Classis those Disputes were to be rang'd this seemeth improbable because that Convention was order'd on purpose to take up those Differences which unless they had been accommodated it was thought some publick Disturbances would have immediately follow'd Neither indeed it is credible that the Princes of the Mediation omitted the sending the Emperor an account of these things or that his Majesty if he disapprov'd any part of them should dissemble his dislike That the Emperor may allow this Liberty for the preservation of Peace is beyond all question and that the Peace cannot continue unless these Terms are granted they have lately prov'd And since by the Laws of the Empire no Man may take away his Neighbours Property therefore they explain'd themselves upon this Point to the Princes of the Mediation at Nuremburgh and declar'd That if the Chamber gave them any trouble for seizing upon the Fortunes of their Monks and Priests who had rejected the Doctrin and Worship of the true Religion they would look upon it as a Force and an Injury And whereas his Excellency thinks it unjust for them not to allow the Chamber to determine the nature of the Cause Whether it is Religious or Secular adding likewise That the more Reasons they had to support their Resolution the more publick they ought to make them They said they had given a sufficient Answer to this Objection before and thought it would have been urg'd no more upon them For though they are not afraid to make their Defence in open Court nay they are very desirous the whole Cause might be tried before equal Judges yet they could not depart from that Order which the Emperor had made in the present Case by which they were not remitted to the Judgment of the Chamber but all Process was stopp'd by his Imperial Prohibition with this Proviso That if any Person acted to the contrary his Majesty or his Embassador was to be acquainted with it As touching the Chamber it was easie for them to answer why they could not admit
consult with him in what manner they might put in execution their Commission and that afterwards when they understood that it was not possible for them themselves to have access into all places that stood in need of their help they had been necessitated to employ others This Indulgence or Indult of the Popes as they call it the Emperour presently sent to all the German Bishops admonishing them severally to use gentle and mild ways and to try all Courses by fair Language Exhortation and Entreaty before they should come to Threats and Excommunication Wherefore the Archbishop of Mentz writing amongst others to the Landgraves Governours and Counsellors and having said much of his own Pastoral Care and of the Emperour's earnest Concern for the Publick requires them to shew the Pope's Indulgence to the Ministers of the Church and command them to obey it The thing being proposed to the Preachers their answer was That their Doctrine agreed with the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles and that though their Lives and Conversation did not suit with their Profession yet they acknowledged no Error in their Doctrine and that therefore they stood not in need of an Indulgence from the Pope that they had preferred Marriage before an unchast single Life according to the Word of God and that they would not forsake their Wives and Children whom Christ himself commanded us to love cherish and provide for That in administring the Sacrament under both kinds in their Churches they therein followed the command of Christ and the custom of the Primitive Church and that there was no reason to admit of any Alteration therein In the Month of May Peter Martyr and the Divines of Oxford disputed publickly concerning the Lords Supper and the Presence of Christs Body in the Sacrament Martyr proposed these Points to be defended That the substance of the Bread and Wine was not changed and That the Body and Bloud of Christ was not Carnally or Corporally in the Bread and Wine but sacramentally united to them Afterward there was a Book of this published wherein the presidents of the Dispute who were appointed by the King give no obscure intimation that Martyr had the better on 't in that Debate On the Tenth day of June the Queen of France was crowned at St. Denis as the custom is the Ceremony being performed by the Cardinals of Bulloigne Guise Chastillion Vendosme and Bourbon for all the rest were at Rome Six days after the King made a most splendid and magnificent Entry into Paris the chief Town of the Kingdom where he had not been seen publickly since the death of his Father and two days after the Queen During his abode there some were put to death for Lutheranisme and as it is said he himself was a Spectator of the Execution Afterwards July the Fourth he made a solemn Procession and Prayers in the Churches and next day after published a Printed Proclamation declaring the causes of it to have been That he might give God thanks for the many Blessings he had bestowed upon him that he might pray to God for the safety and preservation of himself his Wife and Children and of the whole Kingdom and Commonwealth as also for the Souls of good Men departed especially for the Kings of France his Progenitors and the late King his Father after whose Example he was resolved to take upon himself the protection and defence of the Catholick Religion the Authority and Liberty of the Apostolick See and of the Ministers of the Church that amongst others this was also a chief cause that it might publickly appear how much he detested those who contrary to the command of Christ contrary to the Traditions of the Apostles and the consent of all Antiquity deny the presence of the Body and Bloud of Christ who take away all force and efficacy from Baptism Penance good Works and the Sacraments who professedly despise the Authority and Hierarchial Order of the Church who reject the Worship and Adoration of Saints and Relicks Moreover that by that solemn Procession and Supplication he might make known what his Judgment and Inclinations were to wit that according to the Example of his Forefathers and in a certain Hereditary Imitation he so thought and believed as the Catholick Church the Apostles Creed the first Council of Nice and many other Councils of the Fathers enjoyned as also that he was fully resolved to root out of all his Territories those Heresies which were long ago condemned but now again partly revived and partly contrived by Luther Carolostadius Zuinglius Oecolampadius Melanchton Bucer Calvin and such other monstrous and pestilent Arch-Hereticks and severely to punish such as deserved it This Writing set forth in the Vulgar Tongue he sent all over France commanding it to be published to the People and accordingly publick Processions and Prayers to be made in all places A little while after he caused Monsieur de Vervius to be beheaded for surrendring the Castle and Town of Bulloigne as was mentioned in the Fifteenth Book and confined to perpetual Prison his Father in Law d' Abigny a very ancient Man who had been Governour of all the Bolonese and one of the four Mareschals of France For many Months now he had solicited the Switzers to renew with him the League they had made with his Father and though the Emperour by Messengers and Letters did what they could to dissuade them from it yet they judging it more for their Interest consented and first the Catholick Cantons with the Rhinwalders and Wallisserlanders and afterwards also those of Basil and Schafhawsen to the great astonishment of many because of those Edicts and Punishments we spoke of For it was the general opinion that no League nor Society ought to be made with him who so cruelly persecuted the Reformed Religion and by name condemned their Churches and Doctors But the Cantons of Bern and Zurick following the counsel of Zuinglius as may be seen in the third and sixth Book refused to enter into that League We took notice before of the Convocation at Leipsick But now that some talked and complained that Popery was again stealing in upon them Duke Maurice in his Letters addressed to his Governours July the Fourth tells them that he was informed many partly out of a too solicitous jealousie and partly through the suggestions of others were apprehensive that the old Errours might be by degrees introduced again that some of the Ministers of the Church and other busie and restless spirits that delighted in changed were not altogether free from fomenting of that Calumny that by several Declarations he had formerly made publick what his Purpose and Resolution was which now because of the Slanderous Reports raised he again repeated thereby to convince all that his Religion was dear unto him that therefore he required those who either out of a fond credulity or through the suggestions of others were
Grief of his Heart he daily heard many and grievous Complaints of Luther a profligate Wretch who forgetting his own Order and Profession acted many things sawcily and with great Confidence against the Church of God bragging That being supported by the Favour and Protection of the Prince he stood in awe of the Authority of no Man That he made no doubt but that was falsey given out by him but that nevertheless he was willing to write these few things unto his Highness and to advise him That being always mindful of the Splendour and Dignity of himself and his Ancestors he would not only avoid giving any Offence but even all Suspicion of offending That he knew for a certain That Luther taught most impious and Heretical Doctrines which both he and the Master of his Palace had carefully observed and marked down That that was the Reason why he had both Cited him to Appear and also sent his Instructions to Cardinal Cajetane his Legat as to what further he would have done in the Matter and that seeing this was an Affair of Religion and that it properly belonged to the Church of Rome to enquire into the Faith and Belief of all Men he exhorted and charged his Highness That being thereunto required by his Legate he would use his best Endeavours to have Luther delivered up into his Hands which would be both acceptable Service to God and very Honourable to himself and Family that if upon Tryal he were found Innocent at Rome he should return Home Safe and Sound but that if he proved Guilty then would his Highness be Blameless in no longer protecting a Criminal and that he himself was so mercifully inclined as that neither he would oppress an Innocent Man nor deny a Penitent his Pardon And thus he left no Way unessayed that he might undo Luther The same Year also he wrote to Gabriel Venize the Provincial of the Augustine Fryers exhorting him That by the Authority of his Charge he would put a stop to Luther a Fryer of his Order who attempted Innovations and taught new Doctrins in Germany and solicitously ply him both by Letters and Learned Agents But that Expedition was to be used in the Matter for so it would not be difficult to quench the Flame newly broken out since things in their Infancy and Commencement could not resist Attempts that were any thing brisk but should it be deferred till the Evil had gathered Strength it was to be feared that the Conflagration might afterwards carry all before it for that it was a Contagion that spread more and more daily so that nothing seemed more to be feared than Delay That therefore he should set about the Affair with all Pains Diligence and Industry seeing he had Authority over him When Luther perceived that he was cited to appear at Rome he was very solicitous to have his Cause tryed before Competent and Unsuspected Judges in some Place of Germany secure from Violence But when that could not be obtained the University of Wittemberg sent a Letter to Pope Leo dated September 25 wherein they gave Luther an ample Testimony both of a Pious Life and Learning that seeing he was for some Positions proposed Cited to Rome and could not being a Sickly Man without endangering his Life make an Appearance they prayed his Holiness not to think otherwise of him than of an Honest Man that he had only for Disputation sake offered some things to be argued which were misinterpreted and highly exaggerated by his Adversaries that for their parts they would not suffer any thing to be asserted in Opposition to the Church and that at Luther's Request they could not but give him this Testimony which they earnestly entreated his Holiness to give Credit to With this Letter they sent another to Charles Miltitz a German and Bedchamber Man to Pope Leo Wherein they represent to him That Luther was undeservedly exposed to the Anger and Hatred of the Pope insomuch that being Cited to appear at Rome he could not as yet obtain That his Cause might be tryed somewhere in Germany That for their own Parts they were so zealous not only for Religion but also for the Holy Church of Rome That if Luther were guilty of any Impious Crime or Errour they would not bear with him But that he was a Man so Learned of so upright a Life and Conversation and had deserved so well of the whole University that as Affairs stood they could not but stand by him That Duke Frederick also so Religious and Prudent a Prince would not so long have suffered him to go unpunished if he had not thought him to be a good Man That therefore he would use his Interest and Familiarity he had with the Pope that Impartial Judges might he assigned him not at Rome but in Germany That they did not doubt but that he would act as became a Christian and Divine and make it appear that he did not Wantonly and without a Cause hunt after an Occasion of Contention That they begged this the more earnestly of him in that they had the greater Hopes that he who was himself a German would not in so just a Cause be wanting to a Country-Man who was born down by Calumnies and in danger of his Life Besides the Intercession of these Friends Frederick Prince Elector spoke also to Cardinal Cajetane at Ausburg and so far prevailed that Luther being excused from going to Rome should plead his Cause before the Emperour at Ausburg Being come thither in the Month of October it was three Days before he was admitted to the Speech of Cajetane for they to whom Duke Frederick who upon dissolution of the Diet was gone Home had recommended him forbad him to go to him before he had obtained a Safe Conduct from the Emperour Maximilian but that being at length granted he came and the Cardinal having civilly received him told him That he would not enter into any Dispute with him but end the Controversie amicably and at the same Time proposed to him two Commands in Name of the Pope First That he would repent what he had done and retract the Errours which he had published And next That for the Future he would abstain from such Writings as disturbed the Peace and Tranquility of the Church Luther makes Answer That he was not Conscious to himself of any Errour and desires That if he had erred it might be proved against him With that Cajetane objects That in his Theses he had affirmed That the Merits of our Saviour Christ were not the Treasure of Indulgences which Opinion was repugnant to the Decretal of Pope Clement VI. Again That it was necessary that they who come to receive the Sacrament should have a firm Belief that their Sins were forgiven them Luther replies That that was not so telling him withal That he had read the Pope's Decree and gave his Judgment of it but mention being made of S. Thomas he said The Authority of
They who know him familiarly much Extol him and if we consider his Father Philip and Grandfather Maximilian we cannot doubt of the truth of what they say He is but Young indeed but however of years fit enough for Business and Action He will also make use of his Grandfathers Counsellors and some select Princes of Germany I told you before its true that it will be very inconvenient for the Publick if he happen to be long absent from Germany But that shall be provided against by Articles and Conditions made with him beforehand Besides seeing he himself hath large Territories in Germany he must needs come now and then to visit them The Turk must be driven out of Hungary the French of Italy the Church is to be setled and reformed And when I reflect on these things I 'm the less moved at those inconveniences which his absence threatens for the natural Briskness and Activity of his Temper the Love of his Country nay and the Necessity of his Affairs will oblige him now and then to return to us When the Archbishop and Elector of Mentz had made an end of s peaking he prayed the rest to speak their Opinions And his Collegues having spoken in few words put it to the Electoral Archbishop of Treves to speak next for he was had in great Reputation upon account of his Industry and Experience He therefore having in a short Preamble taken notice of a certain Prophet who had foretold that Maximilian should be the last German Emperour Now said he things seem to me almost to tend that way since the Archbishop of Mentz who hath indeed said many things prudently is wholly for having the Government of the Empire conferred upon a Stranger Yet I much wonder that he should prefer the King of Spain before the French King. I am really grieved at the condition and state of Germany for if we walked in the steps of our Fore-fathers we should not stand in need of Foreign Protection but now that we invite in Strangers what do we do but purchase to our selves Servitude but setting aside this Complaint I shall follow the same Order that the Elector of Mentz hath done and shall speak first of our Law and Oath The Reason of the making that Law in my Opinion was Lest if a Stranger should be chosen who had no fixed Residence in Germany the Dignity of the Empire might be by degrees transferred to Foreigners Now if this be the Sense and Meaning of that Law a Spaniard can no more be chosen than a French-Man but if Charles may be chosen because he hath Provinces within the Pale of the Empire the same must hold also in Francis who possesses both Lumbardy and the Kingdom of Arles which are both Parts of our Republick of the two then proposed let us see which is most eligible The Truth is at that Time when France was joyned to Germany which was in the Age of the Franks our Empire was in a most flourishing condition and I am not a little delighted with the Remembrance of those Times as often as I fall upon reading the Histories and Transactions of past Ages Now the very same occasion is again offered unto us which I think ought not to be slighted Foreign Nations also are of the same Opinion the Pope Venetians and all the Princes and States of Italy For the French Nation derives its Original from us uses almost the same Laws and Customs and is very loving and kind to our Countrymen besides its commodiousness for us and Italy because of vicinity If any Troubles arise Armies will presently be in readiness and French Money to pay them And if the Turk invade either Hungary or Italy as I am fully persuaded he will Asia being now in Peace what can be more desired than to have so flourishing an Emperour near us backed by the Forces of both Nations Now though the Spaniards be accounted good Soldiers yet what great Action did they ever atchieve in Italy without the Help of the Germans Besides seeing they are at a very great Distance from us we cannot expect any timely Assistance from them and though they might be willing yet could they not do us any great good for since Spain is exhausted by Colonies and Fleets they constantly send abroad it cannot spare any great Armies from home To this it may be added That we shall have the French for fellow Soldiers and Companions of all our Labours whereas if any thing succeed well with us the Spaniards will take to themselves all the Glory enjoy the Fruits of our Victories and have the Government of our Provinces but no more of this Comparison I now come to the Election If the French King be pitched upon there will be no cause of War in Italy for he hath Milan already and we shall persuade him not to attack Naples the same also will he do with the Netherlands provided they 'll be quiet Now why we should be so much concerned for the Netherlands I see no reason They have indeed been our Neighbours for a long time but they have no League nor Alliance with us and neither think themselves obliged by the Laws of the Empire nor contribute any thing to publick Taxes no more than the English or Scots Since the French King then is very powerful peaceably enjoys Lombardy and is provided of all things necessary He 'll undertake far greater and more glorious Actions I mean a Turkish War and will employ all his force in beating off the Enemy from Hungary and Italy that so he may secure the state of Germany But if he prefer Charles of Spain before him good God! what Commotions will we raise in Italy He will attempt the recovery of Milan occasion a lasting War and while a most lovely Country is thus harass'd the Turks will bend all their force against Hungary Who pray shall resist these Who can fit out a competent Army These are things to be carefully considered and not slightly pass'd over Now it is uncertain what may be the issue of an Italian War For if the French King get the better on 't he will attempt Naples and it is possible that at his instigation the Pope may annul our Election and every one is sensible how great Troubles that may occasion On the other hand if Charles of Spain be advanced we are not to expect that Italy will be restored unto us The Spaniards once in possession will retain it for ever Nor that only but it would be no easie matter neither to get this our Empire out of their hands again What have they not suffered that they might preserve Naples which all Men know how they came by By no means then are they to be called into Italy Let me now say a little of both Kings I make no doubt but Charles is a Prince of a gentle and modest disposition for so many do commend him But since he is but as yet a Youth what Judgment can be
sufficiently weiged the greatness of the Matter and the troubles that this Doctrin hath occasion'd Nay truly I am exceedingly rejoyced to see that the Doctrin I profess hath given occasion to these Troubles and Offences for Christ himself tells us That it is the property of the Gospel to raise grievous Strife and Contentions where-ever it is taught and that among those very Persons too who are most closely linked together by the Bonds of Nature and Blood. It ought seriously then to be consider'd and maturely thought on most Noble Patriots what is fit to be decreed and care had lest by condemning the Doctrin which by the Blessing of God is now offered unto you you yourselves be the cause of the greatest Calamities to Germany Regard should likewise be had that the Government which the young Emperour who here presides hath lately taken upon him be not reckoned inauspicious and fatal by Posterity through any bad Act or Precedent that may entail its Inconveniences upon them For it may be proved by many places of Scripture that Governments have then been in greatest danger when the Affairs of the Publick were managed only by Human Prudence and mere Secular Councils Nevertheless I design not by what I say most Illustrious and Prudent Princes to prescribe or point out to you what you are to do but only to declare the Duty which I shall always be ready to perform to Germany our native Country which ought to be dearer unto us than our very Lives After all I most earnestly beseech you to take me into your Protection and to defend me against the Violence of mine Enemies When he had made an end of Speaking Eckius looking upon him with a stern Countenance You answer not to the Purpose said he nor is it your part to call again into question or doubt of what hath been heretofore determined by the Authority of Councils It is a plain and easie Answer that is demanded of you Do you approve and will you defend your Writings To which Luther made answer Since it is your Command said he most mighty Emperour and most Illustrious Princes that I should give a plain Answer I 'le obey and this therefore is my Answer That unless I be convinced by Testimonies of Holy Scripture and evident Reason I cannot retract any thing of what I have written or taught for I will never do that which may wound my own Conscience neither do I believe the Pope of Rome and Councils alone nor admit of their Authority for they have often erred and contradicted one another and may still err and be deceived The Princes having considered this Answer Eckius again told him You answer said he Luther somewhat more irreverently than becomes you and not sufficiently to the purpose neither when you make a distinction among your Books But if you would retract those which contain a great part of your Errours the Emperour would not suffer any Injury to be done to such others as are Orthodox and right You despise the Decrees of the Council of Constance where many Germans famous both for Learning and Virtue were present and revive Errours that were condemned therein requiring to be convinced by Holy Scripture you do not well and are very far out of the way for what the Church hath once condemned is not to be brought under Dispute again nor must every private Person be allowed to demand a Reason for every thing for should that once be granted that he who opposes and contradicts the Church and Councils must be convinced by Texts of Scripture there would never be any end of Controversies For that Reason therefore the Emperour expects to hear from you in plain Terms What you will do with your Books I beseech you said Luther that by your leave I may preserve a Sound and upright Conscience I have answered plainly and have nothing else to say for unless my Adversaries convince me of my Errour by true Arguments taken from Scripture it is impossible I can be quiet in mind Nay I can demonstrate that they have erred very often and grosly too and for me to recede from the Scripture which is both clear and cannot err would be an Act of greatest Impiety Eckius muttered something to the contrary That it could not be proved that ever a General Council had erred But Luther declared That he could and would prove it and so the matter concluded at that time Next Day the Emperour wrote to the Princes assembled in Council That his Predecessors had professed the Christian Religion and always obeyed the Church of Rome So that since Luther opposed the same and persisted obstinately in his Opinion his Duty required that following the Steps of his Ancestors he should both defend the Christian Religion and also succour the Church of Rome That therefore he would put Luther and his Adherents to the Ban of the Empire and make use of other proper Remedies for the extinguishing that Fire However that he would make good the Safe-Conduct he had granted him and that he might return Home with Safety This Letter of the Emperours was long and much debated in the Assembly of the Princes and some there were as it was reported who following the Decree and Pattern of the Council of Constance thought that the Publick Faith was not to be observed to him But Lewis the Elector Palatine and others also were said to have vigourously withstood that Resolution affirming That such a thing would lye as an eternal Stain and Disgrace upon Germany Wherefore most were of Opinion that not only the Publick Faith and Promise should be kept to him but also that he should not be rashly condemned because it was a Matter of great moment whatever should be decreed by the Emperour whom at that Age they perceived to be incited and exasperated against Luther by the Agents and Ministers of Rome Some Days after the Bishop of Treves appointed Luther to come to him the 24 of April There were present at that Congress Joachim Elector of Brandenburg George Duke of Saxony the Bishop of Ausburg and some other great Men And when Luther came conducted by the Emperour's Herald and was introduced by the Bishop's Chaplain Vey a Lawer of Baden spake to him to this Purpose These noble Princes have sent for you Martin Luther said he not to enter into any Dispute but to treat friendly with you and to admonish you privately of those Things which seem chiefly to concern your self for they have obtained leave from the Emperour to do so And in the first place as to Councils it is possible that at some Times they have decreed things different but never contrary and granting they had err'd yet their Authority is not therefore so fallen that it should be lawful for every Private Man to trample upon it Your Books if Care be not taken will be the cause of great Troubles and many interpret that which you have published of
depart allowing you one and twenty Days to return home in He will also inviolably observe the Safe-Conduct he gave you but charges you not to teach the People by Word nor Writing as you are upon your Way homeward Being thus dismissed he gave Glory to God and April 26 departed being conducted by the same Herald who brought him before He wrote to the Emperor upon the Road and after he had in few words resum'd all that had past he begg'd of His Imperial Majesty That since he had been alwaies hitherto and still was willing to submit to Conditions of Peace and Agreement and desired no more but that the Controversie might be determined by any impartial Judge according to the Authority of holy Scripture he would be pleased to Protect him against the violence and fury of his adversaries That 't was not his private Cause but the publick Concern of the whole World and especially of Germany whose safety and welfare he preferr'd before his own life To the same purpose also he wrote to the rest of the Princes and States and that whensoever it should seem good to the Emperor and them he would come upon safe conduct whithersoever they pleased and debate his cause before impartial and unsuspected Judges Whereas in this work there is frequent mention made of Huss the Council of Constance and the Bohemians I 'll give the Reader a short account of the whole matter In the year of our Lord 1393 there was one John Wickliff in England who wrote many things against the Roman Papacy which were afterwards carried into Bohemia At that time there was a famous University in Prague and therein slourished John Huss a Divine by profession This man Preach'd up Wickliffs Doctrin as holy and saving and dispersed it far and near But being accused of this he was cited to appear before Pope Alexander V. he by his Proctors alledged causes why he could not come And King Wenceslaus also interceded for him desiring the Pope to send Legats into Bohemia to try the matter there but that could not be obtained Huss being therefore condemned for an Heretick published a Book wherein he appealed from the Pope to Christ as Judge The Church of Rome at that time was in a very troublesom State. For the Cardinals being divided into factions had chosen three Anti-Popes Gregory XII Benet XIII and John XXIII which highly displeased other Kings as well as the Emperor Sigismund who having solicited Pope John he at length called the Council of Constance Now Sigismund who was the Brother of King Wenceslaus called John Huss thither and in October 1414 sent him a safe conduct in due form Whereupon Huss being accompanied by some persons of quality came to Constance on the third of November but three weeks after being called to a private Conference with the Pope and Cardinals he was detained prisoner The Emperor Sigismund was absent then and being inform'd of the matter was highly displeased and came thither But the Papists urging that Faith was not to be kept with Hereticks he not only remitted the offence though the Bohemians importun'd him to the contrary and demanded performance of the safe conduct but was also the first that spake bitterly against him In fine on the sixth of July following the Council condemn'd him as an Heretick and Seditious Person and ordered the Books he had written to be burnt Being thus condemn'd he was delivered over to the Emperor and burnt his ashes being afterwards cast into the Rhine that no relick of him might remain After him Jerome of Prague his Disciple and Hearer was put to Death in the same manner In this Council besides the Emperour were the Ambassadours of many Kings three Electoral Princes of the Empire Lewis Prince Palatine Rodulph Duke of Saxony and Frederick Marquess of Brandenburg and a vast number of the other Princes three Patriarchs of Aquileia Antioch and Constantinople eight and twenty Cardinals an hundred and fifty five Bishops very many Divines and Lawyers Italians Germans French English Hungarians and Polonians The Doctrin of Wickliff was here also condemned and a Decree made that his Body should be taken up and burnt in England It was besides Decreed that none but Priests should receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper in both kinds and that all others should be content with one kind which had been impugned by Huss A Law was also made that Faith should not be kept with Hereticks or persons suspected of Heresie though they should come under the Emperours Safe-Conduct to be tryed in Council Lastly the three Popes were degraded and by common Consent Martin V chosen When the News of the Execution of Huss and Jerome was brought into Bohemia it occasioned a terrible Commotion and afterwards a very cruel and bloody War under the Conduct of John Zischa so that Sigismond was forced to beg the Assistanc of the Empire but the greatest Cruelty was exercised against the Priests in hatred to the Pope whom they Cursed whose Dominion they shook off and embraced the Doctrin of Huss adoring his Memory Much about this Time the Divines of Paris condemned Luther's Books and out of that which is entitled Of the Captivity of Babylon and some others also they gathered certain Heads as of the Sacraments the Canons of the Church the Equality of Works Vows Contrition Absolution Satisfaction Purgatory Free-Will the immunity of the Clergy Councils the Punishments of Hereticks Philosophy School-Divinity and many more of the like sort admonishing the Reader and all who professed the Name of Christ to beware of such pernicious Doctrins For that it was the Custom of Hereticks to propose specious Matters at first which sinking once down into the Mind could hardly ever be got out again but that under those alluring Words present Poyson lay hid Then they reckoned up in Order the Hereticks of the several Ages and among these Wickliff John Huss and last of all Luther whom they mightily blamed as an arrogant and rash Man that he should imagine himself alone to know more than all others contemn the Judgments of all the Holy Fathers and Interpreters of all Councils and Schools and that he should reject the Custom and Consent of the Church observed for so many Ages as if it were credible That Christ would have left all that while his only Spouse to wander in so great Darkness of Errour but that it was the usual way with Hereticks to wrest Scripture to their own Sense Having then reckoned up some Books written by him they shew what Hereticks Luther imitated in such and such Opinions and that seeing it properly belonged to their Office and Profession to stifle springing Heresies as much as lay in their Power they had therefore diligently perused his Books that they might direct all Men how to have a Care of them and that after much Reading of his Writings they found that his Doctrin was pernicious deserving to be burnt and that
grew greater and greater daily wherefore they desired that the Princes would regulate that according to Equity and the Rule of the Gospel and lay no more Burthens upon them than what had been accustomed of old That it was their Desire also That they who helds Lands Goods and Possessions by the Favour and Grant of the Prince and Magistrate should not be charged higher for them than had been covenanted at first That in like manner since some of them paid yearly Taxes and Impositions more than their Estates could bear it was but reasonable that the Princes should therein remit somewhat that they who laboured the Land might have some Profit at least for their Pains and not be reduced to Poverty That in Money-Fines they designed also greater Equity That new Laws were daily made and Money often extorted from them not for reforming them but for Favour Hatred or some other by-End That they therefore demanded That Penalties might be inflicted according to the Form and Manner anciently prescribed and not according to the particular Affections of Men That some also took in Lands and Meadows which were Common that they would have all things of that Nature laid open again unless any private Man should purchase the same Lastly That whereas upon the Death of a Tenant it was a Custom That his Wife and Childred should pay somewhat for a Heriot that that was a most unreasonable thing and therefore they would have the Magistrate wholly to abolish it To this their Publick Declaration Luther to whom they had appealed made Answer and turning his Discourse to them It is true said he and I confess That Princes who admit not of the Preaching of the Gospel who many ways burthen and oppress the People justly deserve that God should cast them down from the Throne for they have no excuse to make for themselves And though this be true yet must you take heed that you bring with you a pure and unblameable Conscience otherwise you will cast away both Body and Soul Nor ought you to consider how great your own Strength is and how much your Adversaries are to be blamed but how Just and Lawful the Cause is which you defend Consider therefore diligently and believe not what all Men preach for Satan hath under Pretence of the Gospel at this time raised up many Seditions and Bloody Preachers For my part I will give you true and sincere Counsel and it is your Duty to listen to good Advice when it is given you Neither am I moved at the Calumnies and Reproaches of Men if I can save but some from the Wrath and Vengeance of God I mind not the rest of the Rabble but as they despise me I fear not them But to the purpose You take to your selves indeed the name of God and call your selves a Congregation of Christian People giving it out That you will in all things follow the Law which God hath set before you But without doubt you know that the Name of God is not to be taken rashly and in vain for God threatens a Punishment which is due to you also if you go not about this Business in the right way He that drowned the whole World by the Flood and destroyed Sodom with Fire and Brimstone can easily sweep you away also what Power soever you may have now it may easily be proved that in your Actions you take the Name of God in vain So that it is not hard to conjecture what the end will be for he deceiveth not that saith They who take the Sword shall perish by the Sword That is They who boldly take to themselves the power of Correction whereas nevertheless S. Paul commandeth all Men in general to obey the Magistrate with fear and reverence What will you answer to this who pretend to follow the Rule of God's Word and notwithstanding take the Sword and resist the Magistrate whom God hath appointed Is not that to take the Name of God in vain But you 'll say The Magistrate behaves himself so that he is altogether Intolerable for he deprives us both of the Doctrin of the Gospel and in all things else oppresses us to the highest degree Grant it be so yet you are not therefore to raise Stirs and Commotions for it is not every Man's part to curb Malefactors but that belongeth to him who hath the Right and Power of the Sword as the Scripture plainly teaches Again it is evident not only from positive Laws but even from the Law of Nature That no Man ought to be Judge in his own Cause for we are all corrupt and blinded with Self-love Nor can it be denyed but that this Tumult and Sedition of yours is a Private Revenge for you take upon you to be Judge in your own Cause and also to revenge the Injuries that you fancy to be done to you by your own Authority which is a thing repugnant to the Laws of God of Nature and common Equity And seeing it is so you have no Colour of Reason or Justice whereby you can defend your Fact or if you have any Command from God to do as you do the same must be proved by you by some signal Miracle But it is verified in you what Christ saith you clearly see the faults of other men but perceive not the wickedness and injustice of your own cause The Magistrate acts unjustly but more unjustly you who in Contempt of God's Command invade the Jurisdiction of another who leave nothing for the Magistrate to do for what remaineth when you have taken from him his Power and Authority I appeal to your selves He that taketh from any Man a considerable part of his Goods but leaveth him some and he that taketh away both Goods and Life what think you which of the two is the more Cruel The Magistrate takes from you your Possessions it is unjust But you take from him his Jurisdiction wherein consists all his Fortune both as to Body and Estate you are therefore more Criminal than the Magistrate But say you we attempt not their Lives nor Fortunes believe that who will I do not He that taketh from a Man the chief thing he hath will not stand in aw to take the rest also which dependeth thereon But be it as you say Let them enjoy their Estates and Lives in Safety yet what you have already done exceedeth all Bounds when depriving them of all Power and Authority you your selves will be Lords and Masters Consider with your selves I pray in case your Enterprize should succeed there would be no Judicature no Magistrate at all and every private Man might use his Neighbour after his own Will and Pleasure and what is there then to be expected but mutual Murders and Robberies for no sooner will one Man think himself wronged by another but presently he 'll essay to revenge himself as he thinks best Now if this be in it self unjust and not to be suffered in any person how much less ought it
the Right and Liberty of the Empire and of the Statute of the Emperour Charles IV And that therefore he did not ratifie nor approve that Proceeding When all met at Smalcalde they drew up the Draught of a League not Offensive but altogether for their own Defence This was immediately signed by the Princes as also by Albert and Gebard Counts of Mansfield the Cities of Magdeburg and Bremen but Strasburg Vlm Constance Lindaw Memmingen Kempen Hailbrun Ruteling Bibrach and Isne engaged only so far as that they would acquaint their Principles therewith and give the rest a positive Answer within six Weeks what they intended to do It was agreed upon to write to George Marquess of Brandenburg and the City of Norimberg because their Deputies had no Commission to act in that affair It was likewise decreed That Ambassadours should be sent to sollicit the King of Denmark and the Dukes of Pomerania and Mecklenburg as also the Cities of Hamburg Embden Northeime Frankford Brunswick Gottingen Minden Hannover Hildesheim Lubeck Stetin and other Maritime Cities When the Pope understood what the Issue of this Imperial Dyet was he wrote among others to the King of Poland That he had fully hoped the Presence and Authority of the Emperour would either have quite crushed or at least quieted Luther's Heresie That he had been put into this Hope from the very first time the Emperour came into Italy which had been the chief Cause why he went to Bolonia that he might spur him on though he was forward enough of himself For if that had succeeded it would have secured Religion and the Salvation of a great many who were in great Danger through that Heresie and then ways might have been found out for resisting the Fury of the Turks But now that he understood by Letters both from the Emperour and his own Legate that they were so far from being reclaimed they were more and more hardened he who sat at the Helm to steer the Ship of S. Peter in so tempestuous a time and bore the greatest share of all the Care and Trouble having consulted with the Cardinals could not think of any safer Remedy than that which his Predecessors had had recourse unto to wit a General Council That therefore he gave him warning that when this Design should be accomplished he would either be present himself or by his Ambassadours promote so Holy a Cause for that so soon as possibly he could he would call a Council to meet in some convenient Place in Italy This Brief was dated December 1. The Confederate Princes we named wrote to the Emperour from Smalcalde December 24 That they heard and it was commonly reported That he had a Design to have his Brother Ferdinand chosen King of the Romans a Dignity which he solicitously courted and canvassed for That it was a thing now known to all Men what Power and Right the Princes Electors had in that affair by virtue of the Statute of the Emperour Charles IV when upon the Death of the Emperour another was to be chosen in the Name of the whole Body of the Empire That nevertheless his Majesty being alive and in Health and no such case having as yet happened the Princes Electors had been summoned by the Archbishop of Mentz to meet at Cologne towards the latter end of this Month quite contrary to the Proscript of the Law and the Custom of the Empire That they likewise heard That at his Request the rest of the Electors were also to be there that Ferdinand's Suit and Pretention might be carried by way of Anticipation and Compact so that this being the Report that went far and near they thought good to represent a few things unto his Majesty and that though they had rather abstain from this kind of Discourse yet for the Love they bore to him and the Liberty of their Country handed down to them from their Ancestors and then in consideration that in this Decrepit Age of the World many things were surreptitiously and craftily brought to pass they could not otherwise chuse but do it That in the first place then his Majesty knew how seriously and solemnly and by what express Words and Articles he had bound and obliged himself to the Empire How he had promised by Oath to observe the Caroline Constitution on which the Liberty of the Empire chiefly depended how he had stipulated neither to act any thing himself contrary thereunto nor suffer others to do it which were Compacts and Promises that could not be violated broken nor changed unless with the Advice and Consent of all the States But that now if whilst he was alive a King of the Romans should be chosen and that his own Brother too who canvassed and made suit for it he himself could not but see that it was plainly contrary to Law contrary to the Right and Liberty of the Empire and contrary to his Compact and Stipulation and the Faith and Promise whereby he bound himself to the State Nay and how convenient and uneasie it must also be both to himself and the whole Empire when at the self same time there would be two Lords and Masters to be obeyed And that seeing they would take it very ill if they themselves should either be upbraided with the Breach of Faith and Promise or with Baseness in not defending the Rights and Liberty of the Government therefore they most earnestly besought his Majesty to impute this their Letter to the love they bore to him and their native Country and the present state of the Times That he would reflect upon things past and according to Duty interpose his Authority for preventing the Election of any new King weighing seriously with himself what Evils and Inconveniences might follow thereupon unless a Remedy were applyed in time That they would write of these things to the rest of the Electors also and were in good Hopes they would do what was expedient for the Commonwealth and endeavour to prevent any Rupture or Division among the States That in fine they were ready to serve his Majesty and do for him to the utmost of their Power Afterwards the Duke of Saxony wrote by himself to the rest of the Princes his Collegues That since he was cited by the Archbishop of Mentz to appear at Cologne he had therefore sent thither his Son and some Counsellors that in his Name they might propound and act what should be thought needful That he believed they had heard already part of his Thoughts from them and should hear the rest on December 29 That however he prayed them to desist from their Purpose and consider with him What Prejudices and Inconveniencies that Action would bring with it both to themselves and to their Posterity also through the Violation of the Rights Dignity and Liberty of the Empire That it was his Desire also That in those things which his Son and Counsellors might treat of with them they would so behave themselves as
form the minds of Men that the Magistrate himself might clearly understand his station and condition of life to be highly acceptable to God and the People on the other part might be sensible that Honour and Obedience to the Magistrate was required from them by the Law of God who would not hold him guiltless who should offer Contempt to the Power ordained by Him. Besides since they themselves by the Divine bounty are appointed Governors over others what a madness must it be for them to tolerate such a Doctrine as would let loose the reigns upon the necks of Men dissolve their Obedience and arm the People against themselves What their present sense is of the Governors of the Church they have manifestly declar'd in the foresaid Writing viz. That they are convinc'd of the legality of administring Ecclesiastical Affairs and that the Ministry of the Word or the Power of the Keys is entertain'd by them with the greatest Veneration And now since they understand themselves to be loaded with these and such like Imputations and being sensible how much it would be for the Publick Interest that they who are Princes of so great prudence and authority should have a right and regular understanding of the Cause they were therefore willing for the better clearing of themselves to acquaint them throughly with these things in writing and humbly to intreat them that they would not give Credit to those Calumnies nor entertain any sinister opinion of them but that they would keep themselves unprejudic'd till they have an opportunity given them publickly to clear themselves which is the thing they most earnestly desire They likewise beseech them to use their Interest with the Emperor that since the greatness of the Cause and the good of the whole Church requires it he would convene a free and religious Council in Germany as soon as may be and that he would not determine too severely against them till the matter was legally debated and decided For that hitherto they had always faithfully discharg'd their Duty to the Empire and that 't is neither out of covetousness nor petulancy but for the Glory of God and in Obedience to his Commands that they now make Profession of this Doctrine for which they are call'd in question And this 't is that gives them the greater hopes that their Requests will not be rejected by them For it must needs highly redound to their Honour if by their Authority and Interposition they could so bring it about that these Controversies might not be decided by the Sword but that a right Judgment might be made of things that so these Distempers might be healed and the Churches reconcil'd and no violence offer'd to the Consciences of Men. Lastly they should esteem it a very signal Favour if they would let them understand by Letters their Pleasure in this Affair In the month of February the Elector of Saxony summon'd all his Allies to make their Appearance at Smalcalde on the 29th day of March there to concert about making a Defence against any Hostile attempt that might be made These were those Princes and Cities we before mention'd but the Duke of Saxony being himself ill sent thither his Son John Frederick In the former Convention it was agreed upon to solicite Frederick King of Denmark together with the Saxon and Martime Cities concerning the League Therefore now at their second meeting that Transaction is reported together with what Answer each of them did make The Dane reply'd That truly the Doctrine of the Gospel was very dear unto him but that he had in his Kingdom many Bishops who were very powerful as well in Wealth as in their dependencies and conjunction with the Nobility and therefore it would not be safe for him to enter into the League as King but however he refus'd not to do it in right of those his Provinces which held of the Empire Henry of Mecklenburg excus'd himself upon the account that his Embassadors had subscrib'd the Augustane Decree however he promis'd that he would not be their Enemy Bernin Prince of Pomerania said That he was not at all averse but that the chief management of affairs was yet wholly in the hands of his elder Brother The Lubeckers did not decline it but said it ought to be consider'd that they had been at vast Expences in the War and if Christiern King of Denmark who was driven from his Kingdom should attempt any thing they desired to know what Assistance they might expect from them The Lunenburgers declar'd That they would do whatever should seem good to Ernestus their Prince The next things that fell under their deliberation were the procuring of Votes for the speedy raising of Forces the Contribution of mony for the keeping up those Forces the choice of Commanders and the admitting those into the League which were willing to come in the appointment likewise of Proctors and Advocates who might answer for them in Court if any Suit should arise in the Exchequer either by the Command of the Emperor or the Solicitation of others To this branch of the defence George Duke of Brandenburg together with the Cities of Nuremburg Camin and Heilsburg do make themselves Parties though the League it self they refus'd It was farther decreed That all notorious Enormities should be severely punish'd in each of their Dominions But before they enter'd into the League not only the Lawyers but Divines also were admitted into the Consult It had indeed been always the Doctrine of Luther That Magistrates ought not to be resisted and upon this Subject there was a Book of his Extant But when the Learned in the Law had in this Consult declar'd That Resistance is sometimes permitted by the Laws and had shewn that the present State of affairs was such as the Laws in relation to that case do particularly mention Luther ingenuously confess'd that indeed he had been ignorant of this Legality But now since the Gospel according to his constant Doctrine does not militate against nor abolish political Laws and since things might so fall out in these perilous and difficult times that not only the Law it self but also necessity of Conscience might call upon them to Arm he therefore pronounces that they may justly make a League in their own defence if either the Emperor himself or any body else in his Name should make War upon them He likewise publishes a Writing wherein he expresses how obstinate the Papists had been in the Diet of Auspurg and then strictly charges all Men not to yield Obedience to those Magistrates that should command their assistance in such a War. And having ript up the many grievous Errors of the Popish Doctrines he tells them that whoever list themselves on that side do take up Arms in defence of those Errors and this he saies is highly wicked and sinful Having therefore shewn them how much the minds of Men were in these daies enlightned by the knowledge of the Gospel he exhorts them to
of any thing that is acted contrary to the Customs and Liberty of the Empire and therefore cannot confer upon him the Title of King of the Romans But the Duke of Saxony adds this in his Letters to the Emperor That if the matter be carry'd on in a legal way he will not shew himself unlike his Ancestors Concerning the admittance of the Helvetians into the League which the Cities very much desire the Duke gives in this Answer by his Embassadors that he cannot enter into any Society with them because they entertain a different Opinion concerning the Lord's Supper He is not indeed ignorant of how great consequence their Accession would be upon the account of their Strength and Power but this is what he least of all regards lest the event thereof should prove as dismal as is recorded in Scripture to have faln upon them who for the strengthning of themselves had recourse to any sort of unlawful Assistances During this Assembly there were Letters brought from the Duke of Saxony and the Lantgrave to the Embassadors of the other Princes and Cities the Contents of which were to this effect That the Emperor had permitted the Bishop of Mentz and Lewis the Prince Palatine to be Mediators of a Peace who by their Letters had desir'd that they likewise on their parts would give them the same permission and that then they would appoint a day for a Meeting After some deliberation the Embassadors do return their consent and then the Lantgrave and the Duke of Saxony make the Mediators this Answer That they are not against the Expedient provided the Exchequer will be quiet in the mean time this therefore being obtain'd of the Emperor they appoint the 30th of August for the day of Meeting The Cities which had their Embassadors in this Convention were these Strasburg Vlm Lubesk Nuremburg Constance Rutelingen Memmingen Lindaw Bibrach Isenach Kempen Hailbrun Magdeburg Bremen Brunswick and Gottingen Wigand Bishop of Bamburg had some years before made a Complaint to his Associates of the Schwaben Confederacy against George Duke of Brandenburg the substance of which was this That he had disturb'd him in his Ecclesiastical Rights that he had very much sunk his Customs that he had converted the Revenues of the Church to other uses and forc'd the Priests into this Novel and false Religion or else ejected them for their non-compliance All which things are not only a Violation of the Pope's and Emperor's Edicts but also of common Equity and the Laws of the Country and since he highly suffers by them he desires that they would either by their Interest and Authority reduce him to his Duty or else afford him such Assistance as they are oblig'd to by the League whereby he may be inabled for the time to come to defend his own and recover what he had lost But when after various Disputes a day was appointed for the hearing of this Cause at Nordlingen the Embassadors of the Protestants at the Brandenburger's entreaty came thither in the month of July With the Bishop of Bamburg were the Bishops of Auspurg Wurtzburg and Aichstadt as his Assistants and Counsellors The Plaintiff puts in his Charge wherein he sets forth how great Injury and Damage he had sustain'd and withal declares that notwithstanding the Associates of the League had under a penalty commanded the Defendant to desist from his Undertaking and to restore the Plaintiff to his own yet nothing as yet had been effected He therefore prays that he may be proceeded against according to the Prescript of the League The Defendant on the other side demurs to that part of the Charge which properly belongs to Religion and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Appeals from their Edicts and Decrees to a Council But they after some days intermission reply that they very much wonder he should put in such an Appeal as this because it is unusual and against the Prescript of the League which takes care that the Plaintiff and Defendant shall be both concluded by the Determination of select Judges That in this they had all agreed to defend the Ecclesiastical Liberties and therefore the Cognizance of this Cause does properly belong to them And since He himself had hitherto without any exception acknowledged their Jurisdiction with what reason could he now reject it As for a Council they are not by any means to be superseded by that nor ought the Preference to be giv'n unto it in this matter for these reasons therefore they do not accept his Appeal but proceed to confirm their former Edicts and if he will not yield Obedience they declare that they must proceed against him according to the Stipulation The Defendant on the contrary protests that he will stick to his Appeal in what relates to the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction nor will he take any notice of their Sentence This Cause was managed by the Duke of Brandenburg both in his own Name and upon the account of his Nephew Albert Son to his Brother Casimire whose Guardian he was In the mean time the Emperor appoints a Diet of the Empire to convene at Spiers upon the Sixth of September for the composing of Religious Differences But upon the 21th of August there came to the Duke of Saxony the Counts of Nassaw and the Count de Newenar Men of great Reputation for their Vertue and being permitted by the Emperor to treat of a Reconciliation they to that end lay down five Propositions relating to the Supper of our Lord Ecclesiastical Rites the Goods of the Church Assistance against the Turk and the Election of King Ferdinand But when it appear'd from their Discourse that the Emperor lay under a perswasion as if the Duke was a Favourer both of Zuinglius his Doctrin and of the Anabaptists His answer was That 't is sufficiently known from the Augustine Confession what kind of Doctrin it is which he professes and which the Ministers within his Dominions do Preach in the Churches That 't is farther plain that while he was at the Diet of Auspurg he had held no Correspondence with those who are reputed Zuinglians nor yet afterwards till they had giv'n him an explication of their Opinion That he still continues in the same mind and shall by the Grace of God till his last breath persist in that Doctrin of which he made profession at Auspurg he therefore prays that as to that point they will vindicate him to the Emperor They tell him that as for their parts they were before very well satisfied of his Innocence and will therefore do him justice to the Emperor to whom they doubt not but this will prove very pleasing and acceptable News As to the other Propositions they were pleas'd to refer them to the next Imperial Diet. However they intreated him that he would either come himself in Person to that Diet or at least send thither his Son. His Answer was that truly he was desirous in all things to oblige the Emperor
of any Bargain Gift Reward or Promise Now the reason that the two Brothers of Bavaria were inserted in the number is this They among the rest had oppos'd the Election of King Ferdinand and having communicated their Counsels with the Duke of Saxony the Lantgrave and the King of France they enter'd into the League for the defence of the Liberties of Germany And the King of France had deposited 100000 Crowns in the hands of the two Brothers that they might be in a readiness when occasion would serve The Mediating Princes upon the 20th of April return an Answer to those things which we have recited That 't is for the sake of Peace and Concord that they negotiate this Affair nor could they think that such things as these would have been propounded by them Now that a King of the Romans should be chosen whilst the Emperor is in being they have many weighty Reasons to urge which reasons have been formerly made use of to John Frederick who was then his Fathers Embassador and should now if the matter so requir'd be more copiously explain'd But since they are not alone concern'd in this business but likewise the Emperor the King and the other Princes their Colleagues they will not debate this Point any longer but leave it undecided that so they may come with greater ease to the accommodating of other things as the occasion of this Assembly does require However if it be expected that they should give them and their Allies a reason for what they do they will not decline the trial and they question not but they shall back their Cause with such Proofs as will not admit of any Exception But now if an account of these things should be brought to the Emperor they are very much afraid that they will be so far from taking any place there that they will rather prove an occasion of interrupting at least this Pacifick Treaty if not of wholly taking it away To the end therefore that a Truce and Reconciliation may be brought about as well in relation to the matter of Religion as to that of the Election and that there may not be a separation between those two Points they earnestly intreat the two Princes of Saxony the Father and Son that they will have some regard to themselves in this Affair and depart from their Resolution For then they have reason to hope that both the Emperor and King will abundantly take care that this Election shall never be prejudicial either to them or their Heirs Nay they doubt not but they will lay aside all Resentment and afford their Favour to them all especially to the Duke of Saxony in promoting that business which he now solicits and ev'n in the Cause of Religion as far as 't is possible to be done For they are very much afraid that he cannot be prevail'd with to grant them a Peace as to matters of Religion whilst the Point of Election remains undecided As for their parts 't is out of Love and Friendship that they give this advice and do intreat them so to accept it and that they would so manage themselves that they at length may see that this their Intercession was not without it's weight nor their Diligence imploy'd to no purpose Four days after John Frederick the Prince made them this return viz. That he had not expected from them such an Answer as this for in that they had among other things affirm'd That 't was for the Safety and Dignity of the Empire that a King of the Romans should be created he is under a necessity of giving an Answer to this as well in the Name of his Father as the other Associates whose perswasion it is that this Election is irregular and not at all for the Welfare of the Empire Now since they sustain the Character of Arbitrators he greatly hop'd that they would not have defended this Cause but have propounded it as a doubtful and controverted Point For as to the other things mentioned by them they do not properly belong to Arbitrators but ought to be referr'd to such a time when they may fall under a common deliberation Indeed when at Cologne the Emperor desir'd that his Brother Ferdinand should be admitted into a Partnership of the Empire there were some Reasons offer'd for the doing of it but they were not of such weight that for their sakes the Caroline Law together with the Rights and Liberty of the Empire should be violated that at the same time He together with the rest of his Father's Embassadors gave in their Reasons by way of Answer why it ought not to be done He therefore now again repeats what he said before that if the Emperor would not admit of these their Propositions then the Cause may come to be discuss'd in a fair Trial that so the reasons of their Descent may be known Now since 't is their part to act equally and impartially he did imagine that being Arbitrators in other matters they would likewise in this Controversie find out some honest Expedient which might be for the advantage of the Empire but since nothing of this is done he will not urge them any further As for his Father and his Confederates they will undoubtedly make it evident without injuring any Man how great a Breach this is upon the Laws and Liberty of the Empire and that they are not to be blamed if any inconvenience arises from thence He hopes likewise that since these things concern the Honour and Safety of the Empire the Emperor will not take it unkindly Among the other Propositions the first which belongs to that head in which the Zuinglians are concern'd has this tendency viz. to hinder the Princes from confederating with a number of Cities and so indeed the Umpires did in their debate explain it That if the Zuinglians would confess and forsake their Error then they should be included in the Peace but if otherwise then they were to be deserted no assistance to be afforded them nor any League to be made with them But last year at Smalcalde there happen'd to be a good understanding between the Protestants for when those of Strasburg together with some Cities of Schwaben had made a fuller explication of their Doctrin about the Lord's Supper which before had only been propounded in the Diet at Auspurg this their Interpretation was accepted of by the Saxons Being therefore now unanimous they all of them return the same Answer to the former Propositions and agree at last to lay down these conditions of Agreement That they who have exhibited a Confession of their Doctrin and an Apology for the same at Auspurg as likewise those who hereafter shall receive the same Doctrin shall keep themselves within those bounds and shall make no further Innovations till such time as a Council shall sit which has so often been promis'd and agreed upon that they shall not joyn themselves as to the Doctrinal part
For what danger can there be in Germany where all the Princes and Cities acknowledge the Emperor's Authority where the Towns are so well Govern'd that Strangers are secur'd from all Affronts and us'd with all the Civility imaginable As for his saying that those who came to the Council should have as much satisfaction of the Pope in their safe Conduct as was customary to receive and in his Power to give They said they did not well understand the meaning of this Period especially when they reflected upon the Practises of the last Age Christendom they were sure had need of a free and religious Council and to such an one they had formerly appeal'd But now since he declares the Form and Method is not to be stated before-hand and gives broad hints as if the setling of this Point belonged to the Pope they cannot imagine that there is likely to be any liberty there Two years since Clement the Seventh made them a Promise of a Council but clog'd it with ensnaring Conditions And now the main Point that is the setling the Freedom of the Council and the Form and Method of Voting is partly omitted out of design and partly given up to the Pope wherein he affirms to have a Right to intimate Councils and preside in them Now the Pope who hath condemn'd their Religion so often is no less than a down-right Adversary but if he who is an Adversary is allow'd to be a Judge too then the Council can never be free To put it into a right Form there ought to be certain unexceptionable Persons chosen out of the whole Company with the consent of the Emperor and other Kings and Princes and the Controversie refer'd to this Committee to be examin'd and determin'd by them according to the Rule of God's Word For Councils are not the Pope's Court only but others also in publick and elevated stations in a Christian-Commonwealth have an Interest in them For it 's easie to demonstrate both from the Scriptures and the practise of the Primitive Church that formerly Princes and other Persons of Quality were concern'd in the Debates of Councils But to prefer the Pope's Power to the Authority of the Universal Church is an unreasonable and tyrannical Assertion The Emperor therefore and the rest of the States are oblig'd to insist upon their Priviledge in Councils and make choice of proper Persons especially in the present case where the Corruptions of the Bishops of Rome their false Doctrin and unlawful Worship is oppos'd for this is no more than what the Canon-Law it self alloweth And since all Christendom both Church and State are concern'd in this Affair it behoveth the Emperor and other Princes to take care that the Controversie may be fairly determined Formerly several Bishops have been condemn'd by their own Diocess and so have Popes by the Emperor and the Church for persisting in their Errors But at this time of day there was a warm Contest about a great many weighty Points which the Pope does not maintain only by force of Argument but by ungodly and sanguinary Bulls and punishes those with the utmost severity who refuse to obey him Therefore since He is an Adversary and a Party in the Cause depending the universal Church the Emperor and other Princes ought in all Justice to interpose their Authority and prescribe the Laws of Disputation and Voting They now therefore repeat the same request they have always made that the Controversie may be managed without design and a just liberty reserv'd for defence for this is both equitable in its self and likewise agreeable to the Holy Scriptures and the proceedings of the ancient Church If the Differences between them are examined with this Order and Integrity they will assist the Council as far as lies in their Power and have great hopes that Truth will be discover'd this way the Glory of our Saviour promoted and the Church re-establish'd in her former Tranquility But if things are otherwise carry'd there is no question but much greater Disturbances will follow In short they would never omit any opportunity to serve the common Interest of Christendom and as they could not depart from the true Religion so in all other cases they would make it their business to promote an Accommodation The French King who was now resolv'd to march an Army into Italy sent William Bellay Seigneur of Langey Embassador to this Convention at Smalcade This Gentleman had his Audience upon the 19th of December And first he excuses the King in reference to the late Severities 'T is true he had punish'd some of his own Subjects but this was no manner of reflection upon them though some ill dispos'd Persons did not stick to say that by executing those Criminals he had as it were condemn'd their Perswasion before-hand But he desires that they would not take any notice of such extravagant Calumnies but examine the whole matter impartially For there was a great many in Germany who were utterly averse to their Opinion and some others did not altogether approve it nay themselves who are now agreed were not always of the same mind His Majesty is very glad that they are come to an uniformity in Doctrin at the last Neither does he question but that their Modesty and Candour is such that they will not offer to prescribe to any Body nor force people into their Religion against their wills His Majesty uses to speak very kindly and obligingly of them and owns that they have determin'd some things most primitively but wishes there had been more temper shewn in other cases For though he is sensible that Negligence Superstition and a long succession of Ages have given occasion to the bringing of several insignificant and needless Ceremonies into the Church yet he does not understand why they should all be abolish'd upon this account without distinction or publick Authority For Ceremonies add both strength and grandeur to Religion and the Contemners of them have always been punish'd with great severity And since they have joyn'd so unanimously in the suppression of the Boars Insurrection since they restrain and chastise the Anabaptists since they are unwilling to be thought to do any thing without a cause why are they not so kind as to entertain the same opinion of a Prince who is their Friend why do they not suppose that He had very pressing Reasons and absolute necessity to punish those Subjects of his though possibly some of them were none of the greatest Malectors what their Crimes were is not proper to relate in this place For oftentimes it is not convenient to assign the reason publickly why things are done and Punishments are sometimes abated sometimes more rigorously executed according to the nature of the Times Now his Majesty who hath so large a Dominion to Govern is oblig'd to have a regard to the future as well as the present and was to take care that his Clemency did not encourage a great many others to grow wicked
For though he was bred and born to nothing but Gentleness and good Nature yet he was constrain'd for some time to put a force upon his Temper and act disagreeably to his Inclinations And as he was willing to hear Men discourse upon any Subject so he could not choose but be displeas'd with those who attempt any rash Alterations without consulting their Superiors whose right it is to Determine Besides those whom he had done Justice upon were of a quite different Perswasion from them Now as to their Religion the King is of opinion that whatever they have done in that was agreed by common consent but how justifiable their Tenents were he should not examine For in cases of that difficulty he was not willing to pretend to be a better Judge than others but believed there were some things to be approved and disapproved in both Communions For the nature of Man is such that if he is once allow'd to pronounce upon his own Sentiments he is in danger of falling into Error and Mistake Afterwards he endeavours to gain their good opinion more directly and confutes those Persons who say that the Germans ought to take care how they hold any Correspondence with foreign Embassadors maintaining that there was great disadvantage and slavery at the bottom of this advice For no State is so well fortify'd in it self as to be able to subsist and flourish for any considerable time without the Friendship and Alliance of its Neighbours Now there hath been a very ancient and intimate Correspondence between the Kings of France and the Princes of the Empire for both Nations are descended from the same Original and by reason of their situation and nearness they may be both a Guard and an Ornament to each other Therefore his Majesty is very much troubled when he hears of any Misunderstandings among the Germans and endeavours to his Power to make up the Breach And has often been afraid lest this disagreement in Religion should have some unfortunate consequence And since he now understands they have form'd an Association to defend their Priviledges and Honour not excluding those of a different Perswasion he hath great hopes that this Expedient will open a way for the reconciling of Opinions Being therefore acquainted with these Occurrences he was willing to send his Embassador to let them know his sense in the Case Now in regard the present State of Affairs is such that a free and general Council cannot be conven'd as yet The King thinks it most proper that all the Germans should meet in the mean time and by joynt consent pitch upon some Method for an Accommodation which may easily be effected provided things are not manag'd with obstinacy and Men do not account it a discredit to change their opinions upon Conviction and to yield to better Information If they proceed in this manner his Majesty will joyn with them and assist them in this Undertaking For the present Pope himself confess'd when the Case was moved to him by the King that Humane Traditions are not to be so rigidly insisted on but that they may be set aside when the exigency of the Times and the Peace of Christendom require it and declar'd that if the Controversie was regularly and fairly debated he would yield a great many things in compliance with the present Conjuncture and to promote a general Agreement Now if they are desirous that some learned French Divines should be present at this Conference or if they please to send any of their own Clergy into France upon this account his Majesty will be extreamly satisfy'd with it and leaves it wholly to themselves to do as they think convenient In fine he desires them that they would live amicably together and fortifie their Interest by keeping up a good Correspondence among themselves for this besides other advantages would contribute to the peace of their Country And as for his Majesty he would not assist their Enemies either with Supplies or Advice as long as they continued the same affection to him which they had hitherto shew'd In the beginning of this Book I observ'd that the Judges of the Chamber of Spire prosecuted the Protestants contrary to the Emperor's Edict The case was this These Judges were most of them Roman Catholicks and being address'd to for Justice by the Ecclesiasticks after the Emperor was return'd into Italy from the War in Austria who complain'd of the Protestants They order'd a Suit to be commenc'd against them And though the Protestants put in their Exceptions and alledg'd that the Cause was of an Ecclesiastical nature and consequently included in the Emperor's Edict who has barr'd all Process relating to Religion yet they over-rul'd these Allegations and went on in their way The Protestants therefore wrote into Italy to the Emperor complaining how they were disturb'd and procure another Mandate from him Upon this the Judges send the Emperor word that they were at a loss how to act and how to obey his Majesties Commands For the Parties often contested the nature of the Causes whether they belonged to Religion or not therefore they desire to know his Majesties Pleasure in this Case The Emperor answers their Request and gives them Authority to determine whether the Causes which come before them relate to Religion or not Being thus fortify'd they proceed briskly not only interposing in mixt Causes but in those which were purely Spiritual for besides Restitution to the Ecclesiasticks they command the Mass and all the Ceremonies and Worship of the Roman Church to be set up again Now while these things were doing it happen'd that the Elector of Saxony had occasion to go to Cadan to King Ferdinand about some other business where he complain'd how himself and his Confederates were us'd and after they had agreed those other Points which I have mention'd Ferdinand confirm'd the Imperial Edict and commanded the Pacification to be observ'd and order'd the Chamber to forbear all Prosecutions But they took no notice of this Order The Protestants therefore solemnly protested against the Jurisdiction of their Court assigning the Reasons they had to look upon them as Adversaries and refer the Dispute to Henry of Megelburg Robert Duke of Bavaria Christiern Duke of Holstein George Duke of Wirtemburg to the Senate of Auspurg and Wormes or to any other indifferent Arbitrators to determine whether the grounds of their Recusation were reasonable or not For things were come to that pass that their Council durst not speak out nor plead their Cause home for fear of disobliging the Court and coming into trouble But the Judges set aside this Recusation and declar'd it null and void as being contrary to the Laws and Customs of the Empire Afterwards the Elector of Saxony came to Vienna to King Ferdinand as hath been already related where he got a new Order against the Chamber but all to no purpose as shall be shewn in its place And because the Pacification granted by the Emperor
to come into their League and be stiled the Patron and Defender of it That the common opinion of the Pope's Supremacy should be for ever disown'd If there was War made upon either of them upon the score of Religion or for any other reason then the Aggressor was to have no assistance The King should pay an hundred thousand Crowns towards the defence of the League the moyety of which Sum the Confederates may lay out whenever their occasions shall require it but shall be oblig'd to defray the rest of the Charge out of their own Contributions And if the War happens to be of any long continuance and the Forces of the Enemy make it necessary the King shall assist them with two hundred thousand Crowns since when things come to that extremity they have oblig'd themselves not only to spend their Fortunes but their Lives too This latter sum should be manag'd the same way with the former and not be turn'd to any other use than their own Defence and when the War was ended the remainder should be return'd The Embassadors should write the King their Master an account of these Articles and when they understood his Resolution they should acquaint the Elector of Saxony and the Lantgrave with it to the end that afterwards an Embassy in the Name of all the Confederates might be sent to him As soon as the Embassadors had sent away these Proposals to the King they remove to Wittemburgh where they spent the rest of the Winter during which time they argu'd with the Town-Divines concerning the Doctrins then controverted The main of their Disputation was about the Celibacy of the Clergy the Lord's Supper the Popish-Mass and the Vows of the Religious particularly they desir'd the Divines would give their Approbation of the King's Divorce but they answer'd That the Scripture would not allow them to do this when the other offer'd several Arguments to perswade them particularly that Pope Clement had been of different Opinions in this matter and had declar'd his Sentiments in a private Conference with the French King The Divines reply'd That if the case stood thus the King had great cause to do what he did but when they were urg'd to say he had most just cause they refus'd it As soon as the Embassadors had receiv'd the King's Letters out of England in which he explain'd his mind upon the Point they acquaint the Elector with it And upon the 12th day of March at Wittemburgh whither the Duke was then come they enlarge themselves very much upon the King 's good Inclinations to the Cause and that he was satisfi'd with most of the Articles if some few things were amended in them and notwithstanding all things were quiet in England and the King had no reason to fear any Person for if there were formerly any grounds for such apprehensions they were now remov'd by the death of his Wife which was divorc'd yet to recover and settle the true Doctrin if the Alliance went on he was not unwilling to furnish them with that Sum of Mony which they desir'd and intended to discourse this Point farther by word of mouth with their Embassadors As for the Honour which they offer'd him of being Defender and Patron of their League he acknowledg'd their kindness and return'd them many thanks for it and though he was sensible what an invidious and disobliging Title this was yet for the sake of the Common Good he would not decline it provided the first and the second Article were accommodated For unless there was an agreement in Doctrin between them he was of opinion that this Undertaking would not be consistent with his Honour That he was extreamly desirous that the Learned of his own and their Dominions might be brought to a Uniformity of Opinion And since he saw this could not be done unless some Points of Doctrin in their Confession and Apology were first qualifi'd in a private Conference therefore he earnestly desir'd they would send their Embassadors to him and among the rest some one eminently Learned with power to debate and determine the whole Doctrin and Ceremonies And in regard he has been so liberal in his concessions he desires by way of return First If any one makes War upon him that they would supply him for four Months either with five hundred Horse or ten Ships well equipped Secondly That they would procure him at his own charge two thousand Horse and five thousand Foot. Lastly That they themselves would publickly approve the Opinion of the Divines of Wittemburgh concerning the Divorce and defend it in the Council which was to be call'd The Elector of Saxony answer'd That this Affair concern'd all the Allies and therefore he must consult them soon after they all agree to meet at Frankford upon the twenty fourth of April both about this and other business When they came thither they answer'd the Embassadors that notwithstanding some were just then receiv'd into the League and others upon the account of their distance from home had no power to determine because they could not report the matter to their Principals yet they would take care that the Embassy to the King should be setled and regulated in this Meeting and that those who were not empowred to conclude any thing now should declare their mind to the Elector of Saxony and the Lantgrave within a Month which should be immediately communicated to their Excellencies at what place they should please to appoint neither did they question but that this part of their Allies would approve the Embassy and be willing to be concluded by the Majority Afterwards they drew up the Commission of their Embassadors who were to go for England in which among other things it was provided that when they were arriv'd and came to Treat about the League they should in every point they agreed to expresly except the Empire and Emperor to whom they were bound to be subject both by their Oaths and Allegiance James Sturmius was design'd to represent the Cities in this Embassy The Divines were Melancthon Bucer and George Draco At this Meeting there were admitted into the League Vlrick Duke of Wirtemburgh Bernin and Philip his Brother Dukes of Pomeren George and Joachim his Brother Earls of Anhalt as also Ausburgh Frank furt Campodune Hamburgh and Hannover Other things were likewise debated relating to the League the method of their defence and the proceedings of the Imperial Chamber They also decreed to send some Persons to wait upon the Emperor with an Answer in writing to his Letter which was dated at Naples which I mention'd in the former Book I have frequently related already how violently averse George Duke of Saxony was to Luther's Doctrin Now this being the occasion of a great many Disputes between him and his Uncle the Elector of Saxony the Father of this present Elector at last the matter was thus compromis'd That there should be no misunderstanding between them upon the account
State and how much it will be expos'd to Misunderstandings and Tumults of the truth of this Allegation the Emperor's Edict which was then publish'd is a sufficient proof It was never their intention to plead in bar to the Jurisdiction of the Chamber in any Causes but those of Religion and they believ'd that Court could not prove the contrary upon them But they were very much troubl'd to hear from his Excellency that the Emperor had given the Chamber Authority to determine the quality of the Cause for they did believe all those Causes to be of a religious Nature and they were really such which could not be decided till the Extent of the word Religion was defin'd in a lawful Council which thing both by Letter and their Embassadors they had several times acquainted the Emperor and King Ferdinand with For this Dispute concerning the meaning and latitude of Religion is a preliminary Question and ought to be setled by the Council before other matters which relate to it are determin'd And in regard Benefices ought to be bestowed in consideration of Merit and Function They said they could not allow that those in their Dominions who were of a different Religion from themselves should enjoy the Revenues of the Church to which they had no manner of right because they were either unwilling to discharge their Office or wanted abilities to do it and since Conscience is more than ordinarily concern'd in the present case the usual Pleas of Law founded upon the right of Possession or Restitution ought not to be urg'd Moreover when the Treaty of Nuremburgh was on foot they particularly mention'd all those Suits and Difference which were then depending in the Chamber and in other Courts and represented them under the notion of Ecclesiastical Causes to the Princes of the Mediation who promis'd that they would endeavour to perswade the Emperor that they should be all exempted from the Jurisdiction of the Courts which was also promis'd by King Ferdinand at the Convention at Cadan besides it 's plain from that Clause in the Emperor's Edict which stops all Prosecutions of this nature that the Chamber of Spire has no Authority to determine the Quality of Causes And to say nothing more severe they could not choose but observe that the apparent Inclination of that Court to give Judgment against them had made a great many Persons much bolder and more contentious than they had formerly been which they were able to prove more than one way For when those of their Party moved that Court in any Cause their Suit was not only rejected but they were sent away with reproachful Language And lately the Hamburghers were commanded by them not only to restore the Clergy of their City their Goods and Estates but also to return them their old Religion and Jurisdiction back again and because they could not do this with a good Conscience they were amerced in a great Sum of Mony and therefore there needs no more Instances to let the Emperor understand what the Design of that Court is for if any Cause relates to Religion this certainly does But if the Judges are allowed to proceed in this manner the Truce serves to no purpose If the Rites and Ceremonies which were abolish'd may be lawfully restor'd by such Methods as these there will be no need of Council and yet the Emperor is pleas'd to grant that all Differences of this nature ought to be determin'd there and since their Exceptions against the Proceedings of the Court were not consider'd they were forc'd to decline the Jurisdiction of it As concerning the Persons of the Chamber there was not above one or two of the whole Bench of their Religion what Provision was made at Ratisbone for this Affair was well known it being apparent that those who were most violent against the Reformed were most acceptable to the Chamber nay a man may plainly discover how they stand affected by observing the air of their Countenances when they are trying of Causes and therefore they hope his Imperial Majesty will send them a positive Order to desist As for the Penalty which his Excellency mention'd was decreed at Ratisbone against Mal-administration that was no advantage to them Indeed if the Cause had related to Property and secular Affairs they might have had a compensation this way but matters of Religion were too weighty to be satisfied with Costs and Damages However if the Emperor is of opinion that they have intermix'd any civil Causes in their request they are willing this matter should be tried provided there may be a stop put to the Proceedings of the Chamber in the mean time Now as concerning those who came over to their Religion since the Pacification of Nuremburgh they confess'd that some few years since the Princes of the Mediation did insist at Schweenfurt that no more might be admitted into their Association which Proposition they then rejected and afterwards at the Convention at Nuremburgh they persisted in the same Opinion As to what his Excellency objects in reference to the Promises and Articles by which several of the States had engag'd themselves not to make any alteration in Religion To this the parties answer That some of them promis'd nothing others in private Treaties reserv'd this Liberty for themselves a third sort it 's true did engage themselves but it was upon the assurance which the Emperor gave them that a Council should be intimated within six Months and opened the year after But since this Assembly was delayed beyond their expectation and God had been pleas'd to give them a fuller apprehension of the true Religion they could not defer so good a Work any longer but thought it their Duty to make an open profession of that Doctrin which they were assur'd had both Truth and Piety to recommend it This the Canon-Law it self would justifie them in for from thence they had learn'd that if any Person had sworn to do a wicked Action this Oath did not oblige Besides as their Adversaries would not refuse any one who offer'd himself for a Convert so neither did they think it lawful to bar any person from coming over to themselves Therefore their earnest request to the Emperor was That the Judges might be check'd and that not only themselves but those who joyn'd them afterwards might be comprehended in the Peace For if matters should be otherwise carried and any violence should be offer'd they could not desert those they were allied to both by Vertue of their League and Religion This had been already declar'd to King Ferdinand at Vienna and that with a great deal of reason for the Cause of these later Confederates no less than their own belongs to the Cognizance of the Council But if the Judges of the Chamber will fore-stall the Hearing and hale in the business of the Council to their Court this is no less than down-right Force and Injustice against which by the Laws of Nature they are bound to defend themselves
Nuremburgh Hall and Hailbrun but being not Confederates they did not concern themselves in the other points When the Protestants had deliver'd themselves to this effect Eldo return'd them an Answer ex tempore where after he had enlarged himself again upon the Emperor's kind Inclinations towards them and concerning the French King his conspiring with the Turk to ruine Christendom he came to the business of the Chamber That no Man was to be prosecuted there for any thing relating to Religion he granted was undeniable But then the Pinch of the Controversie was what matters ought to be comprehended under this notion and what not for those Causes which they call'd Religious others believ'd to be of a civil and secular nature and it was very unjust in them to be unwilling to have the Point argu'd and not to hear the reasons and defence of the other side It 's possible they might mention some Causes to the Princes of the Mediation at Nuremburgh and threw them into the Classis of Religion but then the Emperor did not receive them as such because he did not perfectly understand under what denomination they were to pass Nay possibly those very Princes had not then any exact knowledge of the nature of the Causes nor have at present but only as they are inform'd by those who are concerned in the Dispute who will be sure to say nothing to their own disadvantage Now it 's agreeable to the Municipal Laws to Equity and the holy Scriptures that in all Disputes both Parties should have a sufficient Hearing and that no Sentence should be pronounced upon the Information of one side though the Allegations should be never so true Therefore the Emperor in referring this Debate to the Imperial Chamber had done nothing but what became a Person in his place His Majesty being of opinion that if the Reasons of the Protestants Proceedings were so weighty as they pretended they ought to be brought into view and made publick This was the way to clear the Controversie about the Preliminary Points and to satisfie all Parties what Causes were to be referr'd to the Council and what not And also whether those who had lost their Goods and Estates were to have Restitution made them neither did the Emperor believe the Judges would do any thing in this matter contrary to their Duty and solemn Obligations of this they had given his Majesty an assurance in their Letters intimating that they had not in the least concern'd themselves with any Causes relating to Religion which account they also wrote to himself and added particularly concerning the Hamburgers that all the while the Suit was depending between them and their Ecclesiasticks they did not so much as make the least mention of Religion but when Judgment was given against them and was ready to be executed then they began to insist upon it besides the Judges are willing to give an account of their Proceedings which ought to content them especially since he so lately acquainted them that the Emperor intends to give them Satisfaction as soon as he is assur'd that the Chamber has done them any Injury For his Majesty resolves not only to make good the Damages they have sustain'd but all Causes which appear to have been illegally decided shall be heard over again and all unjust Verdicts set aside and revers'd and for his part he declares he cannot apprehend what the Emperor can or ought to do more than this And whereas they alledge that those who refuse to be of their Religion ought not to be repossess'd of their Estates he does not see any manner of Equity in that Plea for we are not to pronounce in these cases till both Parties have had a Hearing in a legal way For they could not be ignorant that no Law gives any Man the liberty to rob another for the sake of Religion or upon any other account therefore he could not admire this method of proceeding let the Practisers of it be who they would Now to prevent such arbitrary and unaccountable Courses as these there was a Treaty concluded at Nuremburgh upon certain conditions and afterwards by the Emperor's Edict there was a general Peace setled and proclaim'd through the whole Empire And to speak truth it was his opinion that the business of Religion might be much more easily accommodated if they did not graspe so eagerly at the Temporalties Now these secular Advantages ought not to be so highly valu'd in the present Affair especially considering the Gospel prescribes us other Measures and teaches us to set our thoughts and inclinations upon other designs Their saying that either the dispute of the Hamburgers related to Religion or none can was very surprizing to him when there are a great many other Causes which the Chamber hath a right to take Cognizance of both by the Constitution of the Laws and by Vertue of that Edict which the Emperor set forth at Wormes but his Majesty out of a singular kindness to them had order'd the Process of them all to be stopped And since the Emperor will do nothing contrary to what he hath agreed to and expects the same exactness from them he desires they would give him a Categorical answer to this question As to their personal Objections against the Chamber he lately told them those Judges were chosen out of the heart of Germany and though there were very few of the Bench of their Perswasion yet it was not probable Justice would be less impartially administred upon that account because the Judges had no power to act Arbitrarily but were tied up to Rule and bound by Oath to give Sentence according to the Laws and Customs of the Empire which method was constantly observ'd when he was one of their number But let this matter be as it will if they have offended they will be sure to be punish'd neither does he pretend to justifie or excuse them indeed they did not desire he should but are willing to submit their whole Proceedings to Examination Now concerning those who came into their League and Religion afterwards he had lately acquainted them that the Emperor had yet receiv'd no certain account of that matter and his Majesty conceiv'd that those who were not expresly comprehended in the Pacification at Nuremburgh were bound to observe the precedent Laws of the Empire and wait for the determination of the Council And whereas they say that some of their late Confederates made no promises at all some reserv'd themselves a liberty in this point by private Treaties and others thought they did engage it was upon an assurance that a Council would be call'd in a short time whatever the truth of these Allegations may be he does not intend to examine at present but yet as to those who pretend a private Agreement he dares adventure to give them an answer on the Emperors's behalf if they can produce an Instance of any such thing For he could not believe that the Emperor had ever
Frederick Count Furstemberg In this Diet the Emperor on the Third of July made a heavy Complaint to all the States assembled of William Duke of Cleve for his seizing of Guelderland and at the same time presented unto them a Book which asserted his Right to that Province telling them that he had summoned him to appear there but that he had taken a Journey a quite contrary way meaning thereby into France as we said before There were Ambassadors from Cleve there present who excused their Prince and as they insisted in proving his Title the Emperor arose and departed On the One and twentieth of July all the Princes and States waited on the Emperor to make Intercession for the Duke of Cleve desiring that he might be taken into the Protection of the Empire and the Controversy referred to a friendly Arbitration wherein they promised their best Endeavours But that if the Matter could not be accommodated they humbly besought him to prosecute his Right by Law Whereunto the Emperor sent this Answer by John Naves That whereas in this Diet which was called for the sake of the Publick that Differences might be removed and Peace setled in Germany much time had been spent and to his great Trouble and Prejudice to his other Affairs nothing could be concluded because of the clashing of Opinions he wondered very much to find them so unanimous in this Cause alone which was properly his own And so he dismissed them not without Displeasure The Day following Raymond the French King's Ambassador made a long Speech wherein he reckoned up at large the Reasons why his Master had driven out of his Country Charles Duke of Savoy who some days before had accused the French King thereof before the Emperor and States During this Diet the French King sent Caesar Fregoso a Genoese and Anthony Rink a banished Spaniard Ambassadors to the Grand Seignior who falling down the River of Po on their Way to Venice were about the First of July taken and slain William de Bellay of Langey a Man of singular Sagacity and Industry was then the French King's Lieutenant in Piedmont who having Intelligence of the Fact immediately acquainted the King therewith and July the Fifth wrote also from Turin to Alfonso Davalo Marquess of Pescara Governor of Milan for the Emperor that he would procure the Releasement of the King's Ambassadors who were made Prisoners as it was manifestly known by his Men for that otherwise the Truce made Three Years before by the Intercession of the Pope would be broken Now he desired that they might be set at Liberty either because at first he knew not or else pretended not to know what was become of them The Marquess to clear himself from Suspicion made as if he knew nothing at all of the Matter and to purge himself sent Count Francisco Ladronio Ambassador to the King. Du Bellay wrote another Letter to Pescara on the Eleventh of July wherein he briskly told him I would not doubt said he to speak of Religious Matters in a general Council of the whole World and that as pertinently too as ever your Kinsman and Friend Thomas Aquinas of old did provided I knew as much in Divinity as some of your familiar Friends know of this Murther For you must know that Indico Alfonso's Grandfather by the Father side the Son of Rodorigo as Spaniard married a vast rich Fortune of the Family of Aquinas And this Alfonso was Cousin-Germain to Ferdinando Davalo of Pescara a most excellent Soldier and Commander From de Linieres a Town in Berry the King on the Twentieth of July wrote an Answer to Alfonso telling him that he should have Respect to his Honour and Reputation and that he could not slight the Injury done to his Ambassadors if they were not restored to Liberty Many Letters pass'd betwixt du Bellay and the Marquess about that Matter but nothing else was done the Marquess protesting that after diligent Enquiry he could not discover any thing and persisting therein the King complained also to the Emperor of the Injury by his Ambassador at Ratisbone where having receiv'd an Answer not to his Mind he gave sufficient Intimation that it would prove the Cause of a War. George of Austria the natural Son of Maximilian the Emperor and Archbishop of Valentia happened at that time to be upon his Return from Spain into the Low-Countries who coming to Lyons was apprehended and committed to Prison to revenge what had been done to Fregoso and Rink Much about this time Francis the Son of Anthony Duke of Lorrain married Christian the Daughter of Christiern King of Denmark Dowager of Milan The French King was vexed at this and the more that the Year before the Duke of Lorrain's Daughter was married to Renat Prince of Orange who was wholly at the Emperor's Devotion At the same time that the Emperor held the Diet at Ratisbone King Ferdinand besieged Buda wherein was the Widow of the Vayvode John with her young Son Stephen Now the Guardians of the Child and the Nobles of the Kingdom had craved Assistance from the Turks so that the Turk sent a General with Forces who in the Month of July came to Buda whither he himself came also not long after with the rest of the Army By this means King Ferdinand's Army consisting of Germans Moravians and Bohemians were forced to raise the Siege received a great Overthrow and lost Pest a Town overagainst Buda those that remained saving themselves as well as they could by Flight About the end of August the Grand Seignior sent Presents to the Child Stephen Vests of Cloth of Gold with some stately Horses acquainting his Mother at the same time that he had a desire to see the Boy and that she should send him out to him to the Camp. She being much terrified hereat but finding no other Course to be taken and that the Nobles advised her to it sent out the poor Babe with his Nurse and a great Train of Nobility to accompany him The Turk received them very courteously but afterwards caused a Proposal to be made to the Queen's Counsellors that they would deliver up Buda to him for that they were not able to defend it against the Enemy and for him to come back again with an Army when occasion required would be both troublesom and chargeable and that therefore it would be far better to let him have the keeping of the place whilst they being afraid of their own danger had not a word to say he presently gave orders to the Aga of the Janizaries to sieze the Town and the Child was not sent back to his Mother before the thing was done Being then Masters of the Town and all the Citizens disarmed they demanded also the Castle where the Queen then was In the mean time the Turk sent Messengers to com◠〈◊〉 her and bid her be of good Courage and withal made over Transilvania to her and her Son.
that the War against him hitherto hath been so unsuccessful the Reason was plain For first He was informed of the Difference in Religion of the publick and private Janglings of the States of the Temper of Affairs and of what was done and acted in the Empire upon all Occasions by the French King to whom these things were carried In the next place because he was sure of Aid and Assistance from the French King as it was by Letters and Witnesses made out in the last Diet and hath been since verified in effect and though it would have been Advantageous to the Publick to have instantly withstood those Enterprises of France and nipp'd them in the Bud that they might not spread farther yet he was pleased with the Answer they made as to that particular in the last Diet of Nurimberg That however since he animated and excited the common and most cruel Enemy of Christendom against the Publick it was his Expectation that they would look upon the War which he was obliged to make against them no otherwise than if it were undertaken against the Turk himself And that they would not only condemn his Actions and Counsels but also give him their Assistance that being delivered from a Domestick Enemy he might be able to employ all his Force against the Turk That moreover he heard to his Trouble that the Aids which were decreed in former Diets were not given as they ought to have been and much too late for the Necessities of the Publick For that since his Brother King Ferdinand had placed all his Hopes in them who was not able to do much himself as being exhausted by the Charges of the former Years the Turk had this last Year taken from us other Towns and Castles which Misfortune might certainly have been prevented if the Aids that were decreed had been seasonably furnished That since that was the State of Affairs then and that it was the main Design of the Turk that Hungary as the Rampart being subdued and many Ways made open into Germany he might over-run it since the thing it self required it that the Hungarians should be relieved least being destitute of Succours they might be forced to submit to the Turkish Yoke and of Friends to become Enemies it was his Desire that in a Matter of so great Importance they would take it into Consideration how to raise present and lasting Aids not only for a defensive but offensive War also that so they might preserve their Wives Children and Country from utter Ruin and Destruction That in the mean time as to those things which have hitherto been a great Hindrance to all publick Actions he desired as much as in him lay to apply a Remedy That in the matter of Religion they themselves were sensible what Labour and Pains he had been at for many Years past and lately also at Ratisbone but that seeing Differences could not there be accommodated the whole Affair had been referred to a Council and other Diets And then that the Pope at his Sollicitation had called a Council wherein he had resolved to have been present himself if the French King had not made War against him That what had been done in the mean while they had learn'd without doubt from his Deputies But now that the same Difference still remained and was very pernicious to the Publick he put it to themselves to consider on it what way chiefly it might be removed and ended and to represent to him what they themselves thought best to be done in the Matter That he had also taken care already and would omit nothing for the future That the Judicature of the Imperial Chamber the Ground-Work and Stay of publick Peace might be lawfully constituted The same Day King Ferdinand's Ambassadors made a long Narration of the Turkish Invasions and demanded Assistance Presently after the Elector of Saxony the Lantgrave and their Confederates addressing their Speech to the Emperor You know say they most Victorious Emperor that from the very beginning we professed that in this most Honourable Assembly we would declare the Ground of our defending our selves by Arms against Henry Duke of Brunswick and we are still in the same Mind and Resolution not doubting but that after a full hearing of the Matter it will clearly appear to you that we had just and weighty Causes which necessarily obliged us to undertake that defensive War and that he ought not to sit here and consult with the Princes But since we perceive he thrusts himself into this Assembly without our Approbation and Consent all that we can and may lawfully do that the publick deliberations may not be hindred or retarded is that we protest we neither own nor acknowledge him for a Prince of the Empire and that his Presence shall be no ways prejudicial to our Right Whereunto the Duke of Brunswick immediately made Answer by the Mouth of his Chancellor The Elector of Saxony saith he the Lantgrave and their Confederates in defiance to all Law both of God and Man contrary to the Constitutions of the Empire and the publick Faith and Peace have by force of Arms and the highest Injustice robbed me of my Country for which they stand indicted before the Imperial Chamber so that they can have no place in the Diet of the Empire and if any had they have now lost it by that Crime and deserve that all Men should avoid their Company But if I must needs sit with them in Publick Consultations I protest that I consent not that they should have this place and that it shall be no prejudice nor derogation to my Cause The Protestants were then for having read their Plea containing the whole matter of Fact and the Reasons of what they had done in Writing least his Accusation might appear to be true or make an impression upon the Minds of those that heard it But the Emperor ordered Frederick Prince Palatine and Naves to desire them to deferr it till another time because the Day was far spent promising to assign them a Day for a Hearing to which they acquiesced And because the Lantgrave happened then to 〈◊〉 next to the Duke of Brunswick John Prince Palatine arose and to prevent any Quarrel sate himself down in the middle betwixt them having first protested that the same should be no prejudice to him nor his Family and this was thought to have been done by the Emperor's Advice The Day before the Duke of Saxony and Lantgrave had prayed Frederick Prince Palatine and Naves that they would procure the Emperor's Order for Brunswick not to appear in the publick Session But that could not be obtained the Emperor alledging that he could not be excluded till the Causes of it were first known The French King might easily imagine that the Emperor would make a sad complaint of him to the Princes of the Empire he therefore resolved to send a most splendid Ambassy to them in the Persons of Cardinal John du Bellay
what I have now declared to you And therefore I trust you will not be wanting to me on your parts that both their sauciness may be curbed and that you may recover your ancient Dignity If you do so you may expect from me all good will and kindness and of this I shall make a more ample Declaration if you send me any Embassadour to that purpose The Emperour wrote also to the Duke of Wirtemberg to the same effect and the very same day the Letters were written Granvell and Naves sent for the Deputies of the Cities I mentioned and having discoursed them severally much to the same purpose told them that this War was not designed against the free Cities but against some Rebels who were guilty of High Treason had contemned the Emperour's Authority invaded the Estates and Possessions of some Princes and Bishops and who if occasion did offer would not spare the free Cities neither That therefore they advised them to be true and faithful to the Emperour and not assist his Enemies that the Emperour might have no cause to be offended with them to whom he wished well that they should with all expedition acquaint their Principals with these things and exhort them to continue in their duty and that the Emperour would himself write and send Embassadours unto them The same day a Decree pass'd at Trent that a Divinity Lecturer should be established in the Abbeyes and Monasteries of Canons Regular and Monks and that some Benefice should be annexed as a Stipend to the Office but that no man be admitted to that place but he whose learning good life and conversation the Bishop or Abbot is assured of and because the preaching of the Gospel is no less necessary than the reading of Divinity the Bishops and all other Guides of the Church are enjoyned to teach the People or if any lawful impediment hinder them that they substitute another in their place Pastors and Curates are likewise commanded that every Lord's-day at least they instruct the People in those things that are necessary to Salvation exhort them to Vertue and deter them from Vice A Penalty is appointed for those that neglect their duty and the Bishops are admonished to be diligent in examining what Doctrines are taught and that if perhaps Heresies or erroneous Opinions be broached they take a course according to Law to prevent the danger of them Then a Decree is made touching Original Sin all the guilt whereof they say is washed away by Baptism That in those who are baptised there remains indeed a disposition to sin or concupiscence and that though St. Paul call that sometimes sin yet he does it not as if it were really and properly sin but because it inclines men to sinning But that the Virgin Mary is not to be comprehended in the Decree and that as to that particular what Sixtus IV. heretofore defined is to be observed And to conclude the nine and twentieth of July is appointed to be the day for the next Session Now Sixtus IV. in the thirteenth Year of his Pontificate made a Decree whereby he excommunicates as Hereticks those who teach that the Virgin Mary was conceived in Original Sin and that the Festival of her Conception appointed by the Church of Rome was not to be observed which Decree is extant in the Extravagants of the Canon Law. In this Session of the Council the French Embassadour Peter Danes made a Speech wherein having extolled the Merits and Zeal of the Kings of France towards the Church of Rome from Clouis the first Christians King and downwards he enlarged in the Praises of King Francis who being descended of such Ancestors was inferiour to none of them in dutifulness to that See having entertained a constant friendship with Leo Adrian Clement and now with Paul III. And in all this tempest and agitation of Religion suffered no alterations within his Dominions because he would have the decision of the whole matter referred to the Church for though he was naturally a most gracious and merciful Prince yet had he inflicted most severe Punishments upon those who through private rashness had presumed to disturb the state of the Church by which strict care and animadversion he had gained this point that now he could put all France into their hands in a peaceful and quiet state For in it there was no strange nor new Doctrines nor any thing but what had been introduced and setled by ancient custom and discipline and since it had been always his opinion that there was nothing more beneficial to the Publick than that the Pope of Rome as Successour of St. Peter should be Head of the Church to whom all others should submit and refer themselves he had always been careful that none should impeach his Supremacy And that though he had been many times sollicited by large offers to do other ways and follow the example of another who had done so yet nothing could ever shake him in his resolutions but that so soon as he had heard that some Fathers were met to celebrate the Council which was lately called he had presently ordered some of his select Bishops to repair hither and that when the Decrees made in some Sessions were brought into France he had dispatched hither him and his Colleagues to declare his will and pleasure unto them First then That it was his desire that once for all they would establish what ought to be followed and believed by all men in general in matters of Religion In the next place That they would prescribe to all Church-men a most strict and austere Rule of Life and Manners assuring them that whatever they decreed in those matters should by the King's command be punctually observed all over France That moreover because the Kings of France had merited very much of the Church of Rome they would not suffer any alteration or diminution to be made in those Rights and Priviledges which the Kings of France had constantly enjoyed from the time of Louis the Debonnair the Son of Charlemaigne Lastly That they would confirm all the Rights Priviledges and Immunities of the Gallican Church the protection whereof was transmitted to him from his Predecessors June the twenty-fourth Lazarus Schuendi came from the Emperour to Strasbourg with the Letters we mentioned a little before and other more ample Instructions having met the rest we named on his way But the Senate having dismissed him not long after writ back to the Emperour acquainting his Majesty that the reason why they did not presently give their answer to Lazarus was because of the difficulty of the Matters proposed which concerned not them alone but others also that what his Majesty was pleased to say of his good Intentions towards Germany they gave him their most humble thanks praying him to continue in the same mind and not to listen to those who would incite him to a Civil War that it was a
to their demerits July the tenth the Elector Palatine sent this Answer of the Emperour 's which he had received the day before to the Duke of Saxony the Landgrave and Duke of Wirtemberg and laying before them the danger that hung over Germany especially from strangers if the War should rise to any height He besought them to condescend and grant what possibly they could for though the countenance of Affairs looked very sad and dismal yet it was his opinion that if they would submit to the Emperour and comply with him in some things it would be a very fair way towards an Accommodation That he understood the Emperour might be appeased if they would first beg his Pardon for their Offences next if what had been done amiss by any of them were reformed and lastly if that they possessed any thing of other mens they would refer it to the Emperour or any body else that might be judged proper to determine the matter wherein if he could do them any service he promised to use all his endeavours In the mean time the Duke of Saxony and the Landgrave who were much surprized and alarmed at this so sudden and unexpected a revolution especially seeing the Emperour had gone lately from Spire in a most friendly manner having got certain Advice how all things went with great diligence raise Forces themselves and write to their Confederates to do the like and not to suffer themselves to be taken off by the crafty Councels of some Having met also to consult about their Affairs they wrote to the Emperour to this effect We have learnt from our Deputies say they whom at your Command Most Gracious Soveraign we sent to Ratisbonne that when those of our Profession and League had heard of the Preparations that were making for War they made their earnest Address to your Majesty That you would take care that Germany should not suffer and though you made such an Answer then that we might have very justly entertained some suspitious upon it yet still we were in good hopes that the War was not designed against us nor any other State of the Empire because that being by your Majesty summoned to come to that Diet we sent Deputies thither with full and ample Commissions who both consulted about your Demands and freely gave their opinions so that we did not apprehend there was the least cause given of displeasure Besides Sir your Answer given then has no relation to what is past but only to the future whilst you declare your resolution to settle the Commonwealth and by vertue of your Authority to punish those that are refractory and disobedient wherefore we had no reason in the World to think that before you made known your Demands and received our Answer you were preparing for War but when by several conjectures especially your Letters to some Princes and free Towns and the Speeches of Granvell and Naves we came at length to know that your design was to punish some disobedient Princes and that it was the general report that the whole stress of the War was intended against us it grieved and troubled us very much as it ought indeed and therefore we thought fit to write to your Majesty in our own justification And in the first place Sir we can truly affirm that we and our Confederates have always born the publick Burdens imposed upon us more than others when some were even exempted besides we used our endeavours that you should obtain the Supplies which you demanded in the last Diet of Spire and contributed to them our selves and now that after all these offices performed we should be accused of disobedience we cannot but be much grieved and troubled at it We could have wished and indeed it was but reason that we had been accused first and brought to a Hearing before it should have come to a War and our Accusation have been made publick for so we might easily have cleared our Innocence and refuted the Calumnies of those who have in this manner informed you against us It is well known how kindly you treated both of us lately at Spire and five Years since at Ratisbonne so that no Rebellion or base Practice can be objected unto us We insist not upon this that at your Request we put the Dutchy of Brunswick under Sequestration a year ago and thereby run a great risk of our Lives and Fortunes nor are you neither ignorant Sir when you were Created Emperour at Franckfort how you bound your self to the Empire what you promised by your solemn Oath and how the Laws of the Empire are to have their effect against those that are accused of the Crimes which you object to us but now that without a Hearing you are preparing to use open force against us we will refer that to God and when we come to understand what it is you accuse us of shall so answer that all men may know that we are wronged and make it appear that you at the instigation of the Roman Antichrist and of the impious Council of Trent have undertaken this War for the oppression of the Gospel and of the Liberty of Germany and for no other Cause whatsoever The condition of our Affairs does require that we should represent this unto you and so you are to take it For it would have been far more agreeable to us to have pleased you by all the Testimonies of sincere Duty and Affection July the seventh the Emperour by Letters acquaints the Archbishop of Cologne That for the welfare of Germany that is that the Publick Peace Right and Justice the Dignity of his own Character and the Liberty of the Empire might be recovered all which some seditious People had almost already overturned and unless they were restrained would certainly do so he was forced to take Arms that he might reduce them to their Duty And because he was told that they made it their whole Business to allure the Archbishop and others into their Confederacy he commanded him in the first place that he should make Proclamation throughout his whole Province and use his endeavours that no Subject of his served in these Wars unless under the Emperour himself or his Commanders who should for that effect shew authentick Commissions In the next place That if any were already gone into the Wars he should forthwith recal them and command them to live at home expecting the Emperour's Pleasure That he should severely punish those that did not obey and so behave himself that the Emperour might perceive that he loved the Peace and Quiet of Germany but that if he did otherwise he threatned him with great Dangers and the loss of all he had So soon as the Archbishop received these Letters he published them in all places and commanded that they should be obeyed ordering Publick Prayers also to be said in all Churches That God would avert the Judgment that was hanging over Germany About the same time the
produced Now had we acted with the same severity against the Duke of Brunswick as the Emperour does now against us though innocent there would have been no War at all But because he attacked us who are obnoxious and exposed to great hatred upon account of the Gospel and our Religion all his Trespasses were connived at Nor is the Emperour ignorant that we both put the Province we had taken under Sequestration and offered our selves to submit to the Verdict of Arbitrators appointed by his Majesty concerning the Defence we undertook against him If he had followed this course and had not in contempt of the Emperour's Edicts rejected the Sequestration and raised new Stirs but come to a fair Trial at Law with us all would have gone in the right way For if being cast we had not submitted to the Sentence then would the Emperour have had a good and lawful Cause of putting the Laws in execution against us whereas for what now he does he has none Nay more since the time Duke Henry and his Son were made Prisoners the Emperour never demanded any thing of us upon that account We are not then to be accused of Undutifulness Now if it be laid to our charge That we hinder the Course of Justice it is the greatest wrong can be done to us for since for many years past none were admitted to be Judges and Assessors in the Imperial Chamber but the sworn Enemies of our Religion that these slighting all Transactions and Agreements gave Sentence against us and our Confederates in Causes of Religion that in Civil Causes also they would do us no Justice we did no more but what we might lawfully do in refusing them as suspect and our Enemies offering withal to give more ample Reasons for our declining them before Judges chosen for that purpose Nothing then can be objected to us as to that Besides it was decreed at Spire two years since That the Chamber should be equally constituted and it cannot be imputed to us and our Associates that it is not done It is known also to the Emperour that in the Diet at Worms last year none did more oppose that Decree of his than those very Princes who would seem to be most dutiful and obedient for that very Reason That because they are our Adversaries they might be our Judges We are moreover informed That it is laid to our charge as a Crime that we endeavour to bring over some of the Nobility to our Party But it is strange that we should be blamed for that it being manifest from the Records of the Empire that it was the Practice of our Forefathers to associate to themselves not only the Nobility but the Bishops also And grant there were any fault in that is it therefore lawful without a fair Trial to make War against us Now though the Emperour be excepted in that Herediatary League which is betwixt the Houses of Saxony Brandenbourg and Hesse yet it is still so to be understood provided he abuse not his Power and Authority Let Albert and John Marquesses of Brandenbourg who have engaged in the Emperour's Service against us seriously consider then what they do and remember the Oath they are tied by We have thought fit to make this known to them and to those also who being our Vassals serve under them in this War. Nor will it excuse them to pretend that it is the Emperour's Design only to punish some Princes for their Disobedience since they themselves know that no such thing can justly be objected to us But if the Emperour had laid any Crime to our charge as in reason he ought to have done and we could not have justified our selves there would have been no necessity then of using such Artifices or of solliciting our Confederates to a Defection seeing if the Crime had been proved most part would have forsaken us of their own accord and few would have ventured a Risque with us in a bad Cause Furthermore when two years since we with others concluded to assist the Emperour against the French King he then promised That so soon as that War was ended he would march into Hungary in Person against the Turk But now when the Turks as it is reported by many do with vast Armies make Incursions into Hungary and the adjacent Countries and have besides strong Garrisons in Buda and Pest the poor Wretches of that Country are left as a Prey to the cruel and harbarous Enemy and no care taken of them that the Blood of those who profess the Name of Christ may in the mean time with more ease be shed in Germany This being so we are in good hopes that most Men will pity and commiserate our Condition and not joyn with our Enemies who have no other intent than to stifle the Light of the Gospel amongst us as we see it is in all other Places of their Dominions and to bring us under the worst kind of Bondage and Slavery but that they will acccept of moderate Pay with us rather than serve in the Armies of the Antichrist of Rome and his Adherents whose chief Endeavours are that even with the Ruine and Destruction of Germany they may again establish their impious and impure Doctrine And since now we are forced after we have earnestly begg'd for Peace and are convicted of no Crime to defend our selves against unjust Violence we trust that God Almighty will side with Truth against Falshood and in this his own Cause be our Chief Leader and Standard-bearer against the wicked Contrivances of the Pope For to him alone we wholly commit our Cause praying his Divine Majesty that he would confound the Devices of blood-thirsty Men and more and more promote his own Honour and Glory The same day they write to John Marquess of Brandenbourg wishing him as being one of the Protestant League which might be proved by his own Letters and then as an ancient Confederate of theirs also upon a particular account not to take Arms against them but to act and demean himself according to the Articles and Covenants of the League for that otherwise they would divulge the Matter and publickly accuse him of transgressing his Duty To which he made answer That he denied not but that he served the Emperour since he had given him assurance that his Design was not against the Religion That he was indeed of the Smalcaldick League but in so far only as concerned the Augustane Confession That as to the private League the Emperour was expresly therein excepted which being so that they had no reason to find fault with him for his Service nor to accuse him of having done any thing contrary to his Honour and Obligation Having received that Answer they publish a Manifesto and amongst other things refute what he had said of the Augustane Confession proving by his own Letters that he was bound to assist them and the Confederates if Matters should come to that pass although it
only we but all those also who profess the Reformed Religion are in danger and that the great Design in hand is wholly to re-establish Popery Let all men judge then of the fairness of their Proceedings when in the late Diet at Ratisbonne they endeavoured to perswade and solemnly averred that they would use only lawful and peaceful Remedies for healing the breaches of Religion Lately said the Landgrave he told me at Spire That he was not engaged in any League with the Pope the same also said Granvell This then is that Fatherly Affection that Zeal for and Love of Peace whereof they so much brag and so often Was ever the like heard that they should endeavour to perswade Princes of one thing and in the mean time resolve the quite contrary We are sensible enough of the Duty of the Princes to the Emperour and what on the other hand he is engaged to perform as we stand obliged to him so is he mutually to us Now that he Proscribes and Outlaws us without a fair hearing and endeavours to turn us out of all he therein dissolves the Obligation in Law whereby the Lord or Superiour is mutually bound to his Tenant or Vassal That he objects to us the Crime of Rebellion it is a meer sham also and he himself knows that he does us wrong in that For not long since said the Landgrave he gave me Thanks at Spire that I had used my utmost diligence to compose the Differences about Religion Now whereas he says that I prepared for War and exacted Money of some States I do not indeed deny it and weighty reasons I had too for making Preparations But it is publickly known that by the mediation of Louis the Elector Palatine and of Richard Archbishop of Traves that whole matter was husht nay he himself acquainted me by his Letters that though he had been highly displeased with me for what I had done yet because I had laid down Arms he required no more besides when sixteen years ago he spoke to me of the same Affair at Ausbourg I justified my self so well in presence of King Ferdinand Frederick Prince Palatine and some others that he was satisfied therewith he cannot then make that any part of his present quarrel That I assisted Ulrick Duke of Wirtemberg at the intercession of the Duke of Saxony and George Archbishop of Mentz that matter was also taken up and I received again into favour which transaction he himself ratified and afterward at Ratisbonne fully pardoned me upon his Royal Word He now also speaks of the War of Brunswick but the cause of that we made manifest by a publick Declaration and two years since gave a fuller account of the same in a most frequent Diet of the Empire where he was present Duke Henry did indeed answer then but the Emperour refused to hear our Replies Now the reason why he did not bring the Tryal to a full issue and with the Advice of the rest of the Princes give Sentence therein at that time was forsooth because demanding then Supplies against the French and Turks he purposely put a stop to the Suit and ordered a Sequestration wherein we also condescended to him at Wormes though we were not obliged and it was agreed on both hands that Frederick Prince Palatine and his Cousin John Prince Palatine of Simmeren should hold and govern the Province which we had taken until the Cause should be brought to a final decision according to Law this being done he past his Word to us that the Duke of Brunswick should likewise comply and by Letters strictly enjoyned him to do so but he slighting the Orders raised War against us and therein was made Prisoner as appears by a Declaration published by me and Duke Maurice In this War then we did nothing undutifully nothing contrary to Law and appeal to impartial Judgment But from that very thing it will easily appear what his Intentions are as to our Religion For though Duke Henry most sawcily despised his Orders and when he heard of the Sequestration reviled him in very reproachful Language yet because he is an implacable Enemy to our Religion he was never called to any Account for it Where he saith That we have brought some under subjection to us it is far otherwise and has been answered by us several times before But that may be truly said of him who hath reduced some Provinces and Bishopricks of the Empire under his Jurisdiction and against this War hath had in many places Meetings of Nobles that he might to our destruction engage them to himself This we acknowledge indeed That we have received some into our Protection upon account that if they should incur any danger for professing the Gospel we might stand by and defend them and that we look upon to be our duty since God commands us to help the afflicted Now for many Years past and at this time especially none stand more in need of Help and Protection than they who are reckoned Lutherans In other things that related not to Religion we never gave them any Countenance but always exhorted them to give the Magistrate his due He objects to us also That we disswaded others from repairing to the Diet but that is very impertinent since on the first of April last we sent Orders to our Deputies who met at Wormes when he was going to Ratisbonne That waving all other Business they should repair to that Diet and that we either came in Person or sent our Deputies to all the other Diets of the Empire What he saith of the Imperial Chamber and the interruption of Justice hath been many times refuted already He moreover brings an Instance of the Heathen Magistrates to shew That it is not lawful to resist him Whereas we have not only done our Duty but more also than either we ought or our Forefathers were accustomed to do to our own great loss and prejudice and that upon that account he hath not the least cause of complaint it will appear by what shall be said hereafter A certain Embassadour lately sent to him from the French King hapned occasionally to speak of this War telling him That he undertook a Matter of very great concern That he would do well to consider with himself how powerful Germany was and how dangerous the Attempt That if one or two perhaps had offended a Course might be taken to accommodate the Matter without a War. Whereunto he is said to have made this Answer That there was no need of an Accommodation That he would subdue Germany or put all to the risque for that the Strength thereof was not so very great that he needed to be afraid of it That it was now above twenty years since he had laid down his Measures for accomplishing that Design That in several Wars they had given him frequent Supplies and lately too against the King his own Master That they had been at great Charges in several Diets That they had lost
consonant to Right That for his own part there was nothing but what he was willing to do for the sake of Germany and in that he could appeal to the Emperour 's own Testimony That he had omitted nothing which belonged to the Office of a good Shepherd and most loving Father That he saw indeed what it was that the Emperour King Ferdinand and the States of the Empire demanded but that still he thought they desired it so as that it might consist with the Good and Peace of all other Nations and the Liberty of the Church When Mendoza perceived that the Pope took that Assembly at Bolonia for a Council he resolved to have protested against it upon the spot but the Dean of the Sacred Colledge and some Cardinals interposing he was perswaded to send that Answer to the Emperour wait for Instructions from him and to put off the Protestation until the 20th day When Mendoza then wrote an account of the whole matter to the Emperour the Pope also on the first of January writes an Answer to the Letter of the German Bishops which we mentioned before wherein having commended them for their Piety he tells them That they had good and lawful cause to be concerned for the Publick amidst those Stirs of heretical and seditious men for that he himself was extreamly affected thereat and that because it was a matter which concerned his Pastoral Office it was continually in his thoughts how to find a Remedy for it That for that reason also so soon as he was promoted to the Pontificate he had betaken himself to the Refuge which they themselves mentioned and of his own accord had called a Council first at Mantua and then at Vicenza but seeing that proved unsuccessful he had pitched upon Trent a Town on the very Borders of Germany whither they might come without danger and that a War breaking forth about the same time which hindered free access to the place though his Legates had been already sent thither he was necessarily obliged to defer the matter till another opportunity which happening by the Peace that was afterwards made he had again called the Council and acquainted all Princes and States therewith by Letters That though a year and more had intervened betwixt that time and the last War yet none of them came to it nor indeed excepting one or two sent their Deputies neither for though perhaps because of the danger of neighbouring Hereticks it was not fit they should have come so far and left their own charges at home nevertheless they might have been present by their Proxies as he himself had dispensed with him in his Bulls That a great number of Bishops and other Prelates came to Trent not only from Italy but from more distant Provinces also and that by their unanimous and harmonious consent Decrees had past there as well concerning Religion as Discipline wherein a great part of those wicked Doctrines that are maintained by the Hereticks of these times are refuted and condemned which was to him indeed matter of great joy and gave him cause not to dislike that place wherein sate an Assembly so useful to the Christian World Now that it was removed from thence it was done without his knowledge and the news thereof brought to him before he suspected any such thing but that there was no doubt that the Council had power to do so and that therefore he did believe they had a lawful cause for doing it unless he were sure of the contrary and that thought some few had left the Council yet it was not therefore divided for what the greater part did was to be considered That moreover it was not translated into a Town which was either too far distant from Trent or unsafe and inconvenient for that the interval was not too great and then it was a place highly commended both for the wholsomness of the Air and also for plenty of all Provisions and good Accommodation and Lodging That that City as being under the Jurisdiction of the Church ought not to seem the more unsafe to Germany which had received long ago not only the Christian Faith and Religion from the Church but many other Monuments also of Bounty and Liberality That besides it was to be considered that the Neighbouring Princes and People were under the Emperour's Jurisdiction That though this was the case yet he was not much concerned in what place chiefly the Council should be held but that if any other place were chosen by the common consent of the Fathers he should not oppose it provided the Fathers might have their freedom and be under no constraint there That the reason that was urged why they desired and wished them to return to Trent was that the Germans might come to the Council more willingly That he commended indeed this desire and endeavour of theirs nor doubted he but that for their parts they were not very anxious about the place but that they might know by the Letter of the Fathers at Bolonia what sort of Obstacles they were that lay in the way That the reason why he was so slow in answering them was that not long after he had received their Letter the Cardinal of Trent came to him from the Emperour and that seeing the Demands which both he and the Embassadour Mendoza made to him jump'd exactly with their Letter he did not think fit to answer them till he had first answered the Emperour That since they had treated that Affair with him not only privately but also publickly and often in the Consistory of the Cardinals he had by an Express sent and consulted the Fathers assembled at Bolonia and afterwards communicated their Answer to Mendoza when the Cardinal of Trent was gone a Copy of which Answer he now sent them that they might see what was first to be done before there could be any thought of returning That therefore he prayed them to have regard to the Peace of the Church and come to Bolonia with the rest either in Person or send their Proxies thither to continue the Council or if the place should not seem so fit that they should there debate the matter with the rest of the Fathers That now in the close of their Letter they hinted that it was to be feared lest if he neglected his duty other courses would be taken he was not at all moved thereat seeing he had omitted no duty in that Station and Dignity wherein God Almighty had placed him as in a Watch-Tower to take care of the whole Flock but especially of those who had gone astray from the rest That seeing nothing was wanting to him then and that it was publickly known how much he tendered the Welfare of Germany he was the less apprehensive of any Accident but rested satisfied in the Conscience of his own Integrity and honest Endeavours That as for themselves and the Emperour of whose Constancy and Sincerity there was no doubt to be made he thought
Cardinals therewith and in name of the whole Empire to demand the continuation of the Council at Trent He ordered Mendoza also to do the same but the Pope took time to consider of it and having thought fit to consult you about the matter obtained from you a dubious crafty and captious Answer Besides he answers the Emperour oddly and shews sufficiently by his tergiversation that he is little concerned for the Publick for the cause of the removal ought to have been proved by credible Witnesses The Emperour King Ferdinand and the Princes by Letters and most ample Embassies declared what the mind of the States was concerning the Council but the Pope believed and preferred the Report of some mean and base People before the Testimony of all these How many tedious and irksome Journeys hath the Emperour made upon the account of the Council What Charges and Expences hath he been at And must all these be lost For most weighty and necessary causes was the Council both called and begun at Trent the Emperour and Germans demanding it and all other Christian Princes consenting thereunto so that unless the publick Authority of all States intervene it cannot be translated to another place for indeed there was no cause for the Translation only something invented for an excuse as some slight Feaver and badness of Air forsooth and for that purpose some Physicians were suborned but chiefly Serving-Maids and Cooks Now what a trifling cause that was the thing it self and the event declared You say that you went away without the Pope's knowledge and advice but the Letter he wrote to you and the Answer he gave the Emperour imply the quite contrary Certainly you ought not to have departed nor changed the place but with consent of the Emperour to whom it belongs to protect all Councils but you posted away in so much haste that ye rejected the Opinion of those who said that the Emperour and Pope ought first to be consulted Now if you must needs have been removing ye ought to have observed at least the Decrees of the Holy Councils and remained within the bounds of Germany that the Germans for whose cause chiefly the Council was called might safely come to it but now ye have chosen Bolonia a Town seated in the heart of Italy and under the Jurisdiction of the Church of Rome whither it is certain the Germans will not come and therefore have you chosen it that to the great prejudice and disgrace of Christendom the Council may be either dissolved or managed at your pleasure The Emperour therefore requireth and that most earnestly that you return to that place which pleased all before especially since all things are now safe and quiet and no more cause of any fear remains But if this you refuse I do here in the name and by command of the Emperour protest against this Translation of the Council as frivolous and unlawful and that all that has been done or shall be done therein is of no force nor effect I also publickly declare That that Answer of yours is silly and full of Lyes and that the prejudice and inconveniences which hereafter shall ensue to the Publick are not to be imputed to the Emperour but to you affirming withal that you have no Power nor Authority to remove the Council And because you neglect the publick Welfare the Emperour as Protector of the Church will take the care of that upon himself in so far as it is lawful for him by Law and the Canons of Holy Church When he had read over that Protestation he delivered a written Copy of it and desired it to be entered upon Record With that the Cardinal de Monte having highly commended the pious intentions of the Fathers called God to witness that they had wrong done them saying They were ready to suffer death rather than that such a practice should be brought into the Church that the Civil Magistrate might call or controul a Council when and how he pleased That the Emperour was indeed a Son of the Church but not the Lord and Master That he and his Colleagues were the Legates of the Apostolick See and did not refuse even then to render first to God and then to the Pope an account of their Commission That after all within a few days they should have an Answer to their Protestation Much about the same time Mendoza having received Instructions from the Emperour made a Protestantion to the same effect at Rome before the Pope and Colledge of Cardinals and in presence of all the Forreign Embassadours whom according to his Instructions he had invited to be Witnesses of it THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION OF THE CHURCH BOOK XX. THE CONTENTS In the beginning it is hotly disputed whether Prussia belong to the King of Poland or rather to the Empire The Pope makes a large Answer to the Harangue that Mendoza made before The Emperour being informed of that and seeing but very little hopes of a Council causes the Book which is called the Interim to be made The Protector of England in a very long Letter to the Scots counsels them to Peace and demands their Queen Vogelsberg is beheaded The Emperour invests Duke Maurice in the Electorship which he had bestowed upon him in the Camp before Wittemberg Bucer refuses to subscribe to the Interim The Pope also publishes a Censure of it which many of the Electors and Princes also did and many refuse it though it was published by the Emperour The Duke of Saxony though a Prisoner with great magnanimity rejects it The Landgrave by Letters which were published from the Emperours Court seems to approve it that he may obtain his freedom Whil'st the Mass is abolished in England by Act of Parliament the free Towns of Germany are solicited to accept of the Interim and especially Strasburg which is pressed by Threats to do it WE have shewn in the former Books that Marquess Albert of Brandenburg did Homage to the King of Poland and altered the Government of Prussia for which he was Outlaw'd by the Imperial Chamber As also that the King of Poland had several times solicited the Emperour and rest of the States in the Publick Diets to reverse that Outlawry because he was his Vassal and under his Protection But since to this day nothing could be obtained and that by this Victory of the Emperours some greater danger seemed to be threatned the King of Poland sends an Embassy to this Diet whereof the chief was Stanislaus Alaski He in the month of January delivered to the Emperour and Colledge of the Princes a Speech in Writing whereof the substance was That the Cause of Prussia had been some times already debated but because it had been always put off to other Diets he was commanded to open it again that the King was in good hopes because of the civil Answers he had often received from them and of the equity of his Cause they would Consider his Affair yet not as
Reasons of both Parties being heard a Committee out of the whole Diet was chosen to consider of the Matter The Result of their Deliberation was That the Sentence past against Albert should stand good but nevertheless because they saw that it would prove a most difficult Business to put it in execution they refer the whole Matter to the Emperour Some time after King Sigismund died at a great Age after he had Reigned Two and fourty years Casimire as has been said was his Father He had three Brothers of whom Ladislaus was King of Hungary and Bohemia the Father of King Louis and Anne John Albert and Alexander having successively Reigned after their Father Casimire died without Children and left the Government to their youngest Brother Sigismund to whom succeeded his Son of the same Name and Son in Law to Ferdinand King of the Romans It has been said in the former Book that Mendoza protested against the Council at Rome To that the Pope having called a Consistory of Cardinals February the first made this Answer When you told Us said he my Lord Ambassador that you had Orders from the Emperour to protest against the Council you struck us all with great grief But when afterwards we diligently considered your Commission we took heart again and first I will say somewhat to the cause of our Grief And it is because that kind of protesting is a thing of bad Example made use of chiefly by those who have either wholly shaken off their Obedience or have begun to waver in it Wherefore it grieved me exceedingly who have always born a Fatherly Love towards the Emperor and as it becomes the Pastor of the Church studied Peace and Concord And it grieved both me and the Colledge of Cardinals the more that at this time it was the thing we least expected since the Emperour when he made War against his and the Churches Enemies had Aid and Assistance from me And though my Lord Ambassador you seem to make but small account of this yet it ought to be reckoned as a singular favour For the Aid I sent was very great so as it even exceeded the reach of the Apostolical Chamber and came besides in a most seasonable time What could have been less expected then than that after a Victory and lately obtained too the Emperour should render unto me such fruits of his Faith and Benevolence Such I say as that the end of the War should be the beginning of protesting against me I have now found by Experience what the Prophet complaineth of That I looked for good Grapes but found none but sower Grapes From my entrance into the Popedom I have with much care cherished the Emperour as a most noble Plant that some time or other I might reap a most plentiful Vintage but this attempt of his hath made me almost despair of any fruit You have heard the cause of our Grief now you shall know what it is that hath given us Comfort You have used that Authority which you think has been given you of protesting against me and this sacred Colledge in a manner as was neither Honourable to us nor becoming the Character of the Emperour But in your Letters of Instructions there is not one word which shews it to have been the Emperours will that you should have acted so I say not one word that you may the better understand me that gives you power to do so The Emperour indeed Commands his Agents at Bolonia that they should so protest before our Legats there who changed the place of the Council and when you found that that was done there you would needs use the same form of Protestation here with us but in that you have transgressed the bounds of your Commission If my Lord Ambassadour you were not sensible of that before take now Admonition and acknowledge it For the Emperour's Orders are not that you should protest against us but that you should do it in this our Consistory against the Legats who were the Authors of the Translation Wherefore the Emperour in that did the Duty of a most modest Prince who confined himself within those limits and would have that Protestation to be made before me whom he knew to be the only lawful Judge of the whole Matter Had I indeed refused to take cognisance of the Affair then would he have had a cause of Protestation but you taking another course than you ought to have done made no application to me that I should examine the Matter but made use of a certain Prejudice demanding that I should annul the Decree made for translating the Council and enjoyn the greatest part of the Fathers to give place to a few who remained at Trent And what could more enervate all the Authority of the Council than that Had it not been much more reasonable that if the small number which is at Trent had had any cause of Complaint against the rest who are at Bolonia they should have brought it before me I would not then truly have rejected their demands nor would I neither now reject them Since then it is certain that your way of acting is not consonant to the Emperours Intentions we have cause to thank God who thus disposes his Mind and Purposes we have cause to Congratulate and you also to Rejoyce in your Princes behalf And though by what we have said the foundation of your Plea and Proceeding is wholly overturned so that there is no need of making Answer to your Protestation nevertheless that I may not by my silence seem to acknowledge the truth of your Accusations and thereby offend many especially the weaker sort I will refute them severally And in the first place therefore You seem to have proposed this Scope to your self that you may expose me as negligent a Shuffler and Starter of Delays to baffle the sitting of the Council and make the Emperour appear on the other hand to be a vigilant and active Prince sollicitous for the publick good and wholly bent upon the sitting of the Council Truly I do not nor ought I envy the Emperours Praises and had you stopt there and gone no farther I should have nothing to answer but because you so extol him as to depress me so celebrate his Praises as to render me in some sort Contemptible whilst you say that he urged not only me but my Predecessors Popes of Rome to call a Council the Thing it self requires that I should answer you as to these things Wherefore if it has been always the Emperours mind and desire that a Council should be held I have ever been of the same mind as well as he And besides as I am older than he so also have I wished for this sooner than he which the most eminent Cardinals who were then of this Colledge can testifie When I was made Pope I persevered in the same mind and upon the very least occasion that offered I called a Council first at Mantua and
footsteps Nevertheless we beseech Your Majesty on the other hand to consider that since every one must render an account of his Actions to God we have just cause to be concerned for our Salvation and to take care that we do nothing contrary to our Conscience Which was the reason also we were in good hopes that having given Audience to our Divines Your Majesty would have moderated the Decree But since now you refer us to the Council where you say matters shall be handled according to the holy Scriptures we admit of the condition and that we may not seem to be contentious or obstinate we are not against it but that the Bishop may by men of his own Order officiate in some of our Churches according to the formulary you have prescribed We shall transact with him about the Churches and shall neither offer any disturbance nor hinder the Citizens from repairing to them but it shall be free to every one to follow what Religion they please and that seemeth rightest to them Yet still on this condition that we on the other hand may be allowed some Churches wherein the Word of God may be purely taught and the Sacraments administred as is fitting and in the vulgar Tongue We shall also take care that the People live orderly and that nothing be done undecently Besides we shall command Holy days and Fast days to be observed and that no Flesh be eaten on days prohibited nor shall we suffer that in Sermons or any other way the least cause of Offence be given And because this Doctrine hath now for many years taken such deep rooting in men's Minds that without wounding their Consciences it cannot be so suddenly taken away And then Sir since in the manner we have declared Your Majesties Decree will be received amongst us we beseech Your Majesty from the very bottom of our Hearts that you would be pleased to condescend to our humble Supplications and suffer us to enjoy our Religion until the sitting of the Council This will be an Office most acceptable to God and most conducible to the Peace of our City and whole Province When the Emperour had heard this Letter and also what James Sturmey after his eloquent way had more largely said to the same purpose and by the mouth of Selden made ample protestations of his affection and good intentions towards Germany at length after a long Parly he thus dismisses them that they should accord with their Bishop but on this condition That if they did not agree they should stand to his Arbitration When the Emperour was come into the Low Countries he kept the Duke of Saxony with him but the Landgrave he sent to Oudenard a Town of Flanders And upon the borders of Brabant he dismissed all the Forces that he had brought thither from Ausburg We mentioned before that the States of the Empire had referred it to the Emperour to constitute the Judicature of the Imperial Chamber The first day of October then according as it had been enacted it began and three Advocates were turned out upon suspicion of Lutheranism and all the rest are cautioned amongst other things that they continue in the Doctrine of the Catholick Church or be turned out of place There Henry Duke of Brunswick commenced a suit against the confederate Protestants for the past War wherein he was overthrown He had conditioned nay and sworn too when he was let go out of Prison that he would not attempt any such thing but he fell off from that Agreement and not only he but also the Elector of Mentz the Master of Prussia the Counts of Nassaw and Solmes brought their Actions against the Landgrave The Men of Constance lately outlawed being reduced to great streights and seeing no way how to save themselves fly to the last refuge and surrender themselves for ever to the House of Austria King Ferdinand then takes them into his Protection and presently sent a Noble Man to be their Governour who on the fifteenth of October proposed these Conditions unto them That from henceforth they acknowledge King Ferdinand and his Heirs for their lawful Lords that they perform all Fealty and Obedience unto them at no time fall-off from their Allegiance and not enter into any League with others That they absolutely obey all Decrees to be made by King Ferdinand and his Governours concerning Religion and all things else That they faithfully and truly serve King Ferdinand and his Heirs and obey his Commands as the rest of his Subjects do and then they swear to these Conditions Two days after the Governour calls a Council and demands of them what Money they had in their Treasury and that an Inventory be made of all their Artillery and Ammunition He also commands that no Towns-man wear a long Sword that none presume to come near the Works of the Town nor the Guard-house that the Names of those who during the War gave the City intelligence of their danger be given in that the Goods of those who are absent and of those who have removed to other places be inventoried and detained That all publick Writings be produced and some who are skilful in the Affair give an account what every one of them concerns Afterwards all the Ministers of the Churches are commanded to leave the Town within eight days In this Month Augustus Brother to Maurice Duke of Saxony Brother to Maurice Duke of Saxony married the Lady Ann Daughter to Christian King of Denmark It was agreed upon in the Contract of Marriage that Duke Maurice should settle no Estate of Inheritance upon him out of the Lands of Duke Frederick but out of his own Paternal Inheritance At that time there was a great Insurrection through Guienne about the gabel of Salt and the Customs The chief City of the Country is Bourdeaux a large and populous Sea-port Town which sometimes belonged to the English They were the very chief in the Rebellion and killed the King's Governour This being then a thing of most dangerous consequence the French King sent thither under the Command of the Constable and Duke of Aumale one and thirty Companies of Foot of which one and twenty were Germans and a small Body of Horse The Bourdeaux-men hearing of this make their Application to the Constable offering him free entry into their Town with his Soldiers but pray him not to suffer the Germans to enter His answer was That they were not to give Rules to him that the Germans were in the King's Service as well as the rest that he would do what he thought fit and if they did not open the Gates he had Keys to unlock them So then he entred the Town October the nineteenth and having drawn up his Men in several Posts he first commands the Citizens to bring out all their Arms and carry them to the Castle which took up two days time The third day they began to enquire from house
Therein the Emperour made a Decree And because says he this sad difference about Religion can no way better be remedied than by a free and holy General Council Again because in the former Dyet the States submitted to the Council and still persist in the same purpose that shall be firm and stable What I also then promised shall be performed and I 'le make it my chief care that all things be rightly done and in order Now seeing this Bull of his Holiness extends to all the Provinces of Christendom I do suppose that all Kings and Higher Powers being mindful of their Duty will obey it and promote so Pious a Work to the utmost of their power Whatsoever is proper for me also to do as Protector of the Church and Defender of Councils I shall be ready to perform and will give safe Conduct to all that shall repair to the Council and to their Representatives whether they have changed their Religion or not that they may safely be there propound whatsoever they may think expedient for the quiet of their Consciences and return home again when they please Moreover I will endeavour that all matters be debated and determined in a holy and Christian manner without passion or interest according to the holy Scriptures and the Doctrine of the Fathers that all Errours and false Doctrines being removed both Church and State may be reformed It is my design also to remain within or at least near the confines of the Empire and to protect the Council that it may have the wished for issue that the fruit of it may extend to all People and that it may chiefly be an healing Council to Germany Wherefore I require and exhort all the Princes and States but especially the Churchmen and those who have changed their Religion and have embraced the Augustane Confession that according to the Popes Bull they come thither ready prepared that they may have no pretext afterward to complain that they have been supplanted by too much haste or not admitted fully to plead their own Cause For as I said they shall have safe Conduct and I will procure that they have a competent hearing Furthermore because the States have given several Reasons why the Decrees about Religion made in the former Dyet of Ausburg are not observed I take to my self the care of that and will know of them severally what the Impediment is Let every one then make it their business to have their Case fairly stated It was also Decreed that Commissioners from the Electors and the six other Princes should meet at Norimberg by the first of April to consult how the Money that was taken out of the publick Treasury for the Magdeburg-War should be refunded that what they determined as to that particular should be as valid as if it were Enacted in a full Dyet And since that War concerned the common Welfare of all Germany power was granted to the several Magistrates to impose Taxes upon their People for that end Again if any Subject of the Empire or Foreigner should assist the Magdeburgers the Emperour in that case promised also to be at the Charges As to Jurisdiction and Ecclesiastical Possessions the Emperour said he would take care that they who applied themselves to him should have right done them so that every one might recover their own The supplies against the Turk which had been promised King Ferdinand in the former Dyet were now decreed to him though somewhat unwillingly Lastly because the Winter before Mansfield and Heideck had levied Soldiers for the assistance of the Magdeburgers as hath been said it was enacted by the Emperour That if for the future Soldiers did muster together in any part of Germany the next adjoyning Princes and States should forthwith unite their Forces and quell them and so quench the flame before it should grow to an head About the same time Henry King of France received into his protection Octavio Farnese who being both privately a mortal Enemy to Ferrante Gonzaga Governour of Milan for the Emperour because of his Fathers Murder and doubting also because of the Neighbourhood of Piacenza which was in the Emperours hands that he was not able with his own Forces to secure Parma sought for Aid elsewhere and put a French Garison into the Town This exceedingly vexed the Emperour and much more Pope Julius as will appear hereafter The Emperour pronounced Sentence now against the Landgrave for the County or Lordship of Dietz and he was condemned for Contumacy that he did not Answer But he again alledged that it was not in his power to Answer since he had not the liberty to Discourse with his Counsellors being observed and over-heard by his Keepers for since the discovery of his late design to make his escape no Man was permitted to go to him nor talk with him but in presence of a Witness On the penult of February Bucer died at Cambridge and was honourably buried being celebrated by the Epitaphs of the Learned among whom were two Brothers Young Noblemen of the House of Suffolk whose Mother had all along before and in time of his Sickness been extreamly kind to Bucer a Lady very zealous for the Reformed Religion About this time the Bishop of Strasburg wrote to the Senate complaining heavily of their Preachers that they did inflame the People and expose the Clergy to great dangers and therefore he desires that these things may be reformed or that otherwise he would consider what was to be done March the Tenth King Ferdinand and his Son Maximilian parted from Ausburg for till then they had been Treating with the Emperour and his Sister Queen Mary The Deputies of Bremen also depart at length without any success in their Negotiation There were no great matters acted at this time at Magdeburg only frequent sallyings out and light Skirmishes And when the Elbe was out the Besieged made Boats and up and down the River brought in Provisions to the Town Many Prodigies were at that time seen in Saxony and amongst the rest three Suns and as many Moons sometimes of a pale and sometimes of a bloudy colour The Magdeburgers sent Volrate and John of Mansfield the Sons of Count Albert to solicite Aid from the Maritime Cities but all in vain The Enemy then built Castles upon the Elbe above and below the Town and having posted Vessels on both sides well manned hindered the Towns Men from venturing out by Water There happened many Conflicts also when the Besiegers attempted to carry off the Cattle which the Besieged turned out daily to graze about the Town On the Eighth of April the Pope published a Bull wherein he grievously accuses Octavio Farnese and when said he I conferred upon him Parma and the chief Ministery he promised faithfully neither to espouse the party of any Prince nor without my consent to put a Foreign Garison into Parma And when he seemed to be inclining to new
a Dalmatian Bishop of Waradin Cardinal He was a Man of great Authority in Hungary and commonly called Monk because he was of the Order of Paul the first Hermit It has been declared before that the French Ambassador was ordered to attend on the eleventh of October to receive his answer provided the King owned the Council but he came not and nevertheless in name of the Council a Letter to the King was published And first they tell him that for many Reasons they had expected every thing that was good and great at his hands but that upon the coming of his Ambassdor and reading of his Letter it was a great Grief to them to find themselves frustrated of their hopes and that nevertheless since they were not conscious to themselves of any wrong they had done nor of any cause of offence that they had given they had not as yet wholly laid aside the hopes they formerly conceived of him that the Opinion he entertained then as if the Council had been called for the particular interest and advantage of some few ought least of all to take place in that so great an Assembly That the Causes of calling the Council were published not only by the present Pope but also by his Predecessor Paul III. to wit that Heresies might be rooted out that Discipline might be reformed and that the Peace of the Church might be restored Was not that manifest enough Could there any thing be done more Piously or Christianly That Heresies did now spread not only over Germany but in some manner over all Provinces that the Council would apply a Remedy to this great evil that this was the ground and this also the end of all their Deliberations and that all they did aimed only at that that therefore he would suffer the Bishops within his Dominions to come and assist in carrying on so holy a Work that he had no cause to fear but that they should have liberty to speak freely what they thought that with much patience and attention his Ambassador had been lately heard though his Message had not been so very pleasant and that since a private person had been heard with so much mildness and favour why should any Man believe that that would be denied to publick persons and Men of such Dignity too That notwithstanding though he should not send one single person yet both the Authority and Dignity of the Council would subsist as being both lawfully called at first and for just Causes now again restored but that as to what he intimated of using Remedies such as his Ancestors had made use of they did not think that he would ever proceed so far as to revive those things which have heretofore been abolished to the great advantage of the Kings of France And that seeing God had blessed him with so many benefits and favours they could not but hope that he would not do any thing whereby he might seem unthankful to God or to holy Mother Church That he should only look back upon his Progenitors upon his own Title of Most Christian King and in a word upon his Father King Francis who honoured the former Council by the Ambassadors and most learned Bishops whom he sent to it that he should imitate that late and domestick Example and sacrifice private Offences to the publick Good. The Emperour and Pope had exhorted the Switzers to come to the Council but it was in vain And the Pope as we said before made use of the Ministery of Jerom Francâ— his Nuncio there to bring that about But the French King sent Instructions to the Ambassador La Morliere who resided in those places that he should endeavour to persuade them all not to send any person to it La Morliere finding that to be a difficult task sent for Vergerio an expert Man in those Affairs to come to him from amongst the Grisons who supplied him with Arguments and a little after published a Book against repairing to the Council La Moliere thus provided came to the Convention at Baden and there alledging his Reasons he persuaded not only those who long before had shaken off Popery but also all the other Cantons to what he desired of them so that none came from them to Trent From the Grisons came by Orders from the Pope Thomas Plant Bishop of Coyre but when the Grisons understood from Vergerio what the Pope was driving at that is by his means to recover his Authority over them he was recalled The Spaniards who Quartered here and there in the Country of Wirtemburg were about this time called out by the Emperour and sent into Italy because of the War of Parma By their departure the whole Province was relieved from a very heavy Bondage under which it had groaned for almost five whole years only the Castle of Achsperg the Emperour still retained with a Garison of Germans in it About the same time also Henry Hasen at the Emperour's Command went over Schwabia and in all places changed the State of the Government putting in new Senators as had been done three years before at Ausburg He turned out also all Preachers and School-masters as had been done lately at Ausburg unless they would obey the Decree about Religion That Duke Maurice and the Duke of Wirtemberg had ordered the Heads of Doctrine to be drawn up which should afterwards be exhibited and that the Senate of Strasburg joyned with them also in that design it hath been said before The Duke of Wirtemburg therefore sent two Ambassadors John Theodorick Plenninger and John Heclin with Instructions publickly to produce that written Confession of Doctrine and to acquaint the Council That Divines would come to treat of it more at large and to defend the same provided they might have a safe Conduct granted them according to the form of that of Basil So soon as they arrived at Trent which was about the later end of October they waited upon Count Montfort shew him their Commission and Credential Letters and acquainted him that they had some things to pâ—opose in Council in their Princes Name His Discourse seemed to insinuate that it behoved them to apply themselves to the Pope's Legate But they perceiving that if they should have any Communication with him it would be construed as if they owned him to have the chief Right and Authority in judging which would be a prejudice and great disadvantage to their Cause did not go to him but gave their Prince an account of what they had done and expected new Orders from him how to behave themselves In the mean time the Divines were employed after their usual manner in examining and discussing the Points we mentioned of Penance and Extream Unction November the third Count Heideck came from Duke Maurice to Magdeburg and having called out the Officers of the Garison to a Castle hard by the City he fully concluded a Peace and thereupon drew up and signed Articles wherein
to his intended departure it could not be granted him That the Emperour had commanded them to suffer no Man to depart After a long Discourse when he told him That he had no more to do that what now remained would be managed by the Divines who had a Commission for that in Writing He bid him go to Count Monfort and shew him the Commission and then civilly dismissed him wishing him a good Journy home When Count Monfort had seen the Commission he could have wished he said that his Affairs would have permitted him to stay longer but that since his occasion so required he could not be against his going and so very kindly dismissed him Next day when he was just ready to set out upon his Journy the Ambassadours sending for him Poictieres told him That though they had the day before condescended to his departure yet having considered better on 't and consulted together they could not give him leave to depart That Matters were now brought to such a maturity that the fruit of the time spent was to be expected And the Actions to be begun again That if the Legate had not been somewhat indisposed something might have been determined that very day That therefore he must needs stay For if he should depart at that juncture of time the Fathers would be offended who knew that he had been there for some Months past That it was the Emperours command also that no Man should withdraw But that if he had Orders from his Principals to be gone he should shew the Letters whereby he was recalled that they might excuse themselves to the Emperour To which he made answer That he did not go because he was recalled by the Senate but because his own Affairs required it And then having told them some Reasons he declared That if it were not for these he would not have stirred one foot from thence That not only the Authority of the Senate who wished that he might tarry longer but the dignity also of their Character who desired it of him and the cause it self which he was very fond of might justly prevail with him to do so That by the coming of the Divines he could be much better spared now especially since all that remained was only to admit them to a hearing That the Ambassadours of Wirtemburg who lately arrived were also present with the Divines and that the cause was common as had been lately declared That if the Matter should be handled seriously and without intermission the Senate perhaps would substitute another in his place for that he had given them by the last Post notice of his coming away To this replied Ambassadour Poictieres that he would stay at least so long till the Action were begun again which would be very speedily And that if the Legate Crescentio recovered not they would endeavour that his Collegues should manage the Matter in his place When he perceived that excuses and entreaties would not prevail he betook himself to his last remedy which he had purposely reserved till then and told them That both he and all the rest of the Augustane Confession had leave granted them by the safe Conduct to depart whensoever they pleased Then at length said Don Francisco de Toledo they had so indeed and that they neither would nor could hinder him from going But that they could do no otherwise than to signifie to him the Emperours Commands and what it was they themselves desired So then having recommended the Publick Cause and the Divines to their Cares he took leave of their Excellencies and departed At that time the Fathers disagreed among themselves nor did they all look one way For the Spaniards Neapolitans Sicilians and all that were on the Emperours side but chiefly the Spaniards and with them the Ambassadours urged hard that the Actions of the Council might be continued But the Pope's Creatures suspecting that the Spaniards had a design to attempt the Reformation of the Court of Rome desired to see some impediments started that might prevent it And because of the Civil Broils the Chief German Bishops were already gone they looked for the same occasion and the rather that they had intelligence daily by Letters that Duke Maurice and the Confederates were already in Arms. The King of France also had employed the Cardinal of Tournon who bestirred himself actively in negotiating a Peace with the Pope And if that took effect since the French King was then in War with the Emperour no Man doubted but for his sake also the Council would be dissolved The Ambassadours of the Emperour therefore who saw and dreaded all these thing made it their whole business to bring about what they most desired by means of the Protestant Ambassadours About the later end of March a certain Franciscan Fryer preaching upon St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans before a numerous Auditory took occasion now and then to rail bitterly against Luther and his Followers and went so far as to say That they who had never had the knowledge of Christ and yet lived an honest Moral Life might be saved That this was the true meaning of the Apostle in the second Chapter of the Romans upon which he preached Some of the Protestant Divines having been present and heard this they all consulted together and wrote a Letter to the Emperours Ambassadours on the last day of March declaring that the cause of their coming was that they might illustrate and defend the Confession of Doctrine exhibited And that it was a grievance to them that nothing was done in Council whose Decrees already made contained hardly any thing else but bitter Censures and Execrations of the Doctrines they professed That a Franciscan Frier t'other day had not only said many absurd things openly which were contrary to the sense of the Church and Ancient Doctors but had also belched out many reproaches against their Doctrine and Churches And that although some said that he did these things against the will of the Fathers yet they saw how well his Sermon took with the Hearers That if that were the only cause why they were called to come thither that they might be made a spectacle and laughing-stock to others and be forced daily to hear their Doctrine reproached and railed at there was no necessity that they should have made the Journy and that all these things might have been done in Writing That therefore it was their earnest suit to them that by virtue of their Character and Authority they would procure not only that they might at length know what the Father 's found fault with in the Confession exhibited but that they also might be publickly heard as to all the Points of it The Ambassadours graciously received the Letter professing that they were glad to find an occasion offered of urging the Council to action so that if the Legate Crescentio did refuse they might put it home to his Collegues and the rest of the Fathers The Frier
enrich himself that for some years past he had served the Emperor and King Ferdinand in their Wars to the great prejudice of his Estate without any other prospect or design but the purchasing of Honour and Reputation by his Services that fair and ample conditions had been several times offered him also but he had rejected them that he might espouse this War for the Liberty and ancient Dignity of his Country That if perhaps in this War the overgrown Power and Authority of the Clergy which is prohibited in holy Scripture should chance to be weakened and impaired he was not to be blamed for that since to say the Truth the chief Bishops of the Empire had been the cause of all these Evils that it was not his design though that those religious Houses which were founded chiefly for the use of the Nobility and Gentry should be destroyed but that the vices being rooted out and those things reformed which could not be suffered they might continue in their own station nay and flourish too and that he would assist them therein provided they were willing and did not suffer themselves to be perswaded by his Adversaries to the contrary The French King also made publick Declaration that it had been his chief design Religion being once setled that he might do good to the publick but especially to his Friends That therefore immediately after the death of his Father he had restored Scotland to its ancient dignity renewed the league with the Switzers recovered Boloigne brought back the People that had been dispersed up and down into their own Lands and Possessions again and made a Peace and strict Friendship with the King of England But that whilst he was intent upon these things the Emperour by close and clandestine Counsels had contrived many things to his ruin and oftener than once given him a cause of War but that to give some ease and refreshment to the publick and to his own People also in private he had been still and winking at these injuries had wholly applied himself to the settling of his Kingdom that this his quietness had been by his Adversaries interpreted Cowardise and Faint-heartedness afterwards but that in the mean time sad and grievous Complaints had been brought to him from many of the Princes and States of Germany who said that under the specious Pretexts partly of Religion partly of a Turkish War and punishing of Rebellion designs had been carried on to bring them into Bondage and that through cunning and crafty counsels Factions and Divisions were fomented and Germany totally exhausted so that it was no longer to be doubted but that he aimed at an universal Monarchy for himself and the house of Austria that that truly had been a great grief to him not only because of the common origine of both Nations but also of the ancient alliance and friendship which had always remained firm and unviolate so long as the craft and subtlety of the Emperor had given it leave for that if the Government should be changed and Germany lose its liberty he well understood how dangerous and prejudicial that would be unto him that Germany was indeed the Bulwark not only of France but of all Christendom also and that therefore he had many times heartily wished and prayed that both People might have united their strength and put themselves into such a condition as not to need to fear any danger but that since there appeared no hopes of that and that in the mean time many craved his assistance but on different accounts he could see no way how he could succour the Empire so much rent and torn Nevertheless that in this so weighty a deliberation God the just Judge of all had offered him a very fit occasion for that Octavio Farnese Duke of Piacenza and Parma for whom the Emperor and Pope Julius laid Snares had implored help from him and by laying open before him all the injuries received had perswaded him to undertake the Protection of him and the Prince of Mirandula that afterwards came those complaints from the Princes of Germany who desired to enter into league with him as being the only way in their opinion to restore the State that he would not mention those weighty and just causes that the Princes had to take up Arms since they might be understood from their own declarations but yet that any Man might consider with himself whether this insatiable ambition of their Adversaries was not a just ground of grief who having ruined the Wealth of Germany swept all into their own Coffers and Treasury Were not the provinces of Utricht Liege and Cambray sufficient instances thereof And what was also Constance and many other free Cities oppressed That the Burgundians now hovering over the People of Treves Cleve and Wirtemberg had left the Prints of their footsteeps upon their Borders and many ways made havock of the Landgraves Territories that in like manner and for the same purpose the Emperor excluded his Ambassadors from the Diets of the Empire prohibited by publick Edict the Germans from serving foreign Princes in their Wars cut off brave and valiant Soldiers and amongst those Vogelsperg whom he himself to glut his revenge saw executed at Ausburg Was it not a thing of bad example that he should encourage and hire Men to kill those who served in his Wars That it was not certainly to be expressed what Arts their Enemies used for such were by them thrust in and admitted into the Judicature of the Imperial Chamber and Diet of the Empire as might make it their whole business to bring about and accomplish whatever they pleased and that indeed the blame of all the Evils that had happened was to be imputed to those kind of Men but especially the Judges of the Imperial Chamber That for these reasons he could not refuse his assistance to the Germans who desired it that therefore he had made a League with them and not only done so but was resolved also to employ all his force nay his very Person in that war that he did not neither look for any private profit or advantage thereby but that it was only his intent that by asserting the Liberty of Germany delivering John Frederick Duke of Saxony and the Landgrave whom he had detained in a tedious and base Captivity he might purchase to himself Praise and immortal Glory as Flaminius had heretofore done in delivering Greece from bondage nor needed any Man to fear Violence for that since he had undertaken that War for the sake of Liberty he would take care that no Man who did not deserve it should receive any hurt that therefore they might believe the Promise which he faithfully made to them and not give credit to their Adversaries who gave it out that it was his design to afflict and plague the Clergy that he was so far from entertaining such thoughts that he took them all under his protection and defence provided they gave him
served only to render that sinking Ship more despicable and hated for Queen Elizabeth when she heard of it was nothing concerned at it but immediately she recalled Karn's Powers and commanded him to come home And Popery from hence forward fared very ill in England but then our Affairs have been so exactly described by others and are so well known to English Men That I shall here dismiss them and apply my self wholly to the Foreign Affairs Thuanus observes That this Year there was rather no War than a Peace in Scotland for that the whole Kingdom was imbroiled with Rapines and the burning of Towns two of the principal Nobility of Scotland being carried away captive by the English William Keth Son of the Earl Marshal and Patrick Gray An English Fleet also under the Command of Sir John Clare infested the Scotch Shoars and burnt a Place by my Author called Cracoviaca Kirk-wall Main-Land the principal of the Isles of Orkney which he saith was the Seat of the Bishop and the principal or rather only Town in those Islands which he supposeth was severely chastized by Heaven by a Tempest which soon after dispersed the Fleet leaving a part of the English on the Island who were all slain by the Islanders and Natives This Year also the Reformation of Religion was much agitated tho not effected in Scotland Alexander Somervill Archbishop of S. Andrews with the assistance of the rest of the Churchmen condemned one Walter Mills an old Priest to be burnt for Heresie and banished one Paul Mefan hoping thereby to restore their lost Authority and curb the People but it had a quite contrary effect the patient and chearful Martyrdom of Mills incensing the People to that height that they spoke very freely or as my Author has it Licentiously and Seditiously of the Church-men and a Solemn Procession being made on the first day of September in memory of S. Eugenius or S. Gile's at Edenburgh of which he was Patron whose Image was then carried about with great Pomp the People tore it out of the Hands of those that bore it and threw it into the common Drought having first broke off the Head Hands and Feet of this Wooden Saint the Monks and the rest of his Friends fleeing and leaving him to shift for himself The Clergy seeing their Authority thus sinking assembled in a Synod the ninth of November to try if the seting a good Face and pretending great Confidence would retrieve their sinking Cause But they of the Reformed Party on the contrary of all Degrees exhorted one another to persevere in the Truth and not to suffer themselves to be oppressed by a small and weak number of Men For if say they these Men proceed by Legal Courses we shall be too hard for them if they make use of Force we are a Match for them They drew up an Address also to the Queen Regent which they sent unto her by one James Sandelands an Honourable Baron and of great account in it desiring That the Publick Prayers and Administration of the Sacraments might be in the Vulgar Tongue and that the Ministers might be elected by the People The Regent tho' a zealous Catholick yet fearing a Tumult commanded the Priests to say the Prayers in the Scotch Language The same Demands were made by the Nobility of the Synod then assembled at Edinburgh Who replyed That they must abide by the Orders of the Canon-Law and the Decrees of the Council of Trent The Nobility perceiving them thus averse to a Reformation sent one John Aresken of Dundee a learned Man to appease them who with great respect besought them At least to grant the People the use of the publick Prayers in their Mother Tongue The Clergy would nevertheless abate nothing of their former Severity and the Queen regent by their Persuasion soon recalled what had been extorted from her But the Death of Queen Mary of England and the Succession of Queen Elizabeth which happened this Month soon turned the Scales and gave her Cause to repent her too great obstinacy The Learned Spotiswood observes That this Mills was the last Martyr that dyed in Scotland for Religion That Patrick Lermoth Bailiff of the Regality absolutely refused to pass Sentence of Death as a Judge upon him after the Bishop had delivered him up to the Secular Power that in the whole City of S. Andrews a Cord was not to be had for Money so that they were forced to take one of the Cords of the Archbishop's Pavilion to tie him to the Stake It had been good Prudence to have desisted when they saw the whole Body of the People thus bent against them but they were hurried on to their Ruine by a blind Rage The People of Scotland were no less incensed on the other Side and resolved openly to profess the Reformed Religion binding themselves by Promise and Subscription to an Oath That if any should be called in question for matters of Religion at any time hereafter they would take Arms and joyn in defence of their Religion and Brethren against the Tyranny and Persecution of the Bishops The principal Men who joyned in this Bond were Archibald Earl of Argile Alexander Earl of Glencarne James Earl of Morton Archibald Lord of Lorne Sir James Sandelands of Calder John Erskin of Dun and William Maitland of Lethington To this Bond vast numbers throughout the Kingdom subscribed so that they found their numbers were at least equal to those that opposed them A CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION BOOK II. The CONTENTS The Deaths and Characters of Frederick I and Christian II Kings of Denmark Frederick II conquereth Dietmarsh The Affairs of Italy New Bishopricks erected in the Low-Countries King Philip desirous of a Peace with France that he might be at leisure to extirpate Heresie That Design discovered to the Prince of Orange The Diet of Germany Conditions proposed in it by the Protestants for a Council The Emperor confirms the Peace of Passaw The French Ambassadors come to the Dyet The Life and Death of David George a famous Impostor The Treaty of Cambray produces a Peace at last The Peace occasioneth a Persecution in France The King goes to the Parliament of Paris to awe it into a Compliance Yet some retain their Freedom at the Price of their Lives The King's Answer A French Synod held by the Protestant Ministers The Protestant Princes of Germany write to the King of France in the behalf of the Persecuted A Commission issued to Try the suspected Members of Parliament Du Bourg first Tried The sad condition of France during the Persecution Henry II slain The various Characters of that Prince Francis II succeeds him a Lad of Sixteen Years of age The Persecution goes on Slanders against the Protestants Du Bourg Condemn'd Minart a Persecutor Assassinated Du Bourg Executed His Character The rest of the Members of Parliament restored King Philip prepares for Spain He takes Ship at Flushing Arrives in Spain Raiseth
first on the Frontiers of Spain and in Flanders The French held at that time Parma and Piacenza in Italy which Pope Leo was much troubled at But when more lately they had attempted Regio he fell quite off from them and made a League with the Emperour whereof the chief Conditions were That the Dignity of the Church of Rome should be defended That what the French had lately taken from it should be recovered That Francis Sforza who was then a banished Man should be restored to his Inheritance and the Dukedom of Milan Having therefore joyned their Forces under the Command of Prospero Colonna and Ferdinand d'Aval Marquess of Pesoara they recovered Parma and Piacenza from the French took the City of Milan and beat the Enemy quite out of Lombardy after they had been six whole years Masters of it Not long after Pope Leo had the News of this Overthrough he Died not without the Suspicion of Poyson He was the Son of Laurence de Medices and had to his Great-Grandfather Cosmo who raised that Family to its Splendour At Thirteen years of age Leo was made Cardinal by Innocent VIII He lived not above Seven and forty years and had for Successor Adrian VI a Hollander who had been the Emperor's Tutor LEO X. PAPA ANTEA IOANNES MEDICES FLORENTINVS Natus Ao. 1474. XIII An Adolescens Alectus fuit in Ordinem Cardinalium Electus XIo Martij Ano. 1513. Obijt 1o. Decemb 1521. Sedit An. 8 Men. 8. D. 21 While the Emperor spent his time in Germany and the Netherlands there happened great Seditions in Spain Therefore to prevent the growing evil in time having first setled a Council and Supreme Court of Judicature to administer Justice and in his absence to order the Affairs of the Empire he returned into Spain by Sea But before his departure the States of the Empire had met at Norimberg among other things to consult about the Turkish War and the Emperor having emitted a Proclamation towards the end of March enjoyned chiefly the Church-men to pray to God say Masses and make Processions for the Publick Safety and for atoning the Sins of Men. Now the grand result of this Diet was that on the First of May after they granted Aid to King Lewis against the Turk The Emperor upon his return home visited once more the King of England and to secure him for a firm Friend against the French King he promised to pay him yearly an Hundred and Thirty three Thousand Ducats For the French King by Agreement paid so much yearly to the King of England and his Sister Mary Queen Dowager of France so that unless he might be saved harmless the King of England would attempt nothing against him This Treaty was concluded betwixt them June the Thirteenth at Windsor For a greater Confirmation of their Friendship also it was agreed that the Emperor should Marry his own Cousin-german Mary the King of England's Daughter a young Lady then of Seven years of age when she should come to Maturity And that he who failed in performance of this should pay the other Four hundred thousand Crowns In the mean time the French King bends all his Force to the recovery of what he had lost in Italy Of Zuinglius you have heard before Now Hugh Bishop of Constance to whose Spiritual Jurisdiction Zurich belonged addressed himself to the Senate acquainting them with what Complaints he heard of Zuinglius who had started a new kind of Religion But Zuinglius being called before the Senate defended his own Cause and satisfied them Afterwards the Bishop wrote to the College of Canons of whom Zuinglius was one and having said many things of new Teachers who disturbed the Peace of the Church he entreats them to take heed and beware of such And because Pope Leo and then the Emperor had by most severe Bulls and Decrees condemned that Doctrin he admonishes them to obey the same and not to make any Changes or Innovations till they whom it concerned should by common advice and consent determin what was to be done This was in the Month of May. After this Letter had been read in the Convocation Zuinglius against whom it was written wrote an Answer to the Bishop That he knew very well who they were that put him upon these things and advised him not to follow their Counsels for that Truth was invincible and could not be resisted But he wrote a longer Letter afterwards to those whom he supposed to be the Authors of that Epistle After this Zuinglius and some others there joyned with him wrote a Letter to the Bishop wherein they prayed him not to act any thing against the Doctrin of the Gospel nor to suffer any longer that filthy and scandalous life of the Priests but allow them Marriage To the same purpose Zuinglius wrote to all the Switzers and counselled them not to obstruct the course of the Reformed Religion nor any ways molest the Married Priests for that the Devil was the Author of that single Life of theirs That it was a Custom in some of their own Cantons when they received any new Curate to enjoyn him to keep a Concubine lest he should attempt upon the Chastity of other Mens Wives That the Custom was laugh'd at by many but that it was prudently established at that time and in that darkness and depravation of Religion And that what they did then as to Concubines ought now to be put in practice as to lawful Wives Luther in the mean time having absconded as we said for some Months returned to Wittemberg and because he had not been recalled by Duke Frederick fearing that he might take it ill at his hands he wrote to him in the Month of March assuring him that it was out of no Ill-will or Contempt of his Authority that he was returned without his Command That he was sensible enough some would not fail to represent it as a dangerous thing to his Highness in regard that he stood Outlawed and Condemned both by the Pope and Emperor whose Power was not to be slighted That he had indeed seriously reflected on these things before hand but that for three chief Reasons he had been moved to do what he did First That he had been earnestly solicited by several Letters from the Church of Wittemberg to turn and that they were a People whom God had committed to his Charge and therefore could not be neglected That many without doubt spoke bitterly and reproachfully against this Reformation of Religion but that he was certainly convinced that this his Profession was most acceptable unto God That in the next place through the craft and subtilty of the Devil who could not endure this Light of the Gospel many troubles in his absence had been raised in his Church which unless he were there to teach them in Person could not be composed And that that was to him so weighty a Cause that it
out weighed all other Reasons whatsoever so that so soon as he came to know it he had returned without farther Deliberation for that nothing was so dear unto him as the Salvation of his People But that if the thing could have been done by Letters he could easily have dispenced with his absence from Wittemberg That lastly he was very apprehensive of and did in a manner foresee a dreadful Tempest like to fall upon Germany which so securely slighted the present Mercy of God That many indeed did very zealously embrace the true Religion but exceedingly disgraced it by their Lives and Manners turning that liberty which ought to be of the Spirit into a licentiousness of doing whatever they pleased That others again made it their whole study and endeavours by any means to suppress the sound Doctrin and these together tended directly to the stirring up of Seditions That the Tyranny of the Churchmen was now weakned which was all that he proposed to himself at first but that since the Magistrate despised so great a gift of God his Divine Majesty would punish that ingratitude and contempt of his Word and by sending one Judgment upon the heels of another utterly destroy all as he had done Jerusalem of old That now it was his duty and the duty of all others whom God had any ways enabled to use their utmost diligence in Teaching and Exhorting and that though perhaps they might take all that pains in vain nay and be laugh'd at too by many yet they ought not therefore to desist because their labour was pleasing to God. That in short whatever the Decree of the Diet of Norimberg might prove to be they would set no limits to the Counsel and Will of God That he had besides other causes for his return which were of less moment But that as to this which he had alledged the asserting and vindicating of the Gospel it was of so great weight and consequence as to make him contemn all human counsel and to look up only to God That therefore he prayed his Highness not to be offended that he was come back again without his Call or Command That he as their Prince had Power over the Bodies and Fortunes of his People but that Christ bore Rule over their Souls and that since the Care of these was committed to him from above and that it was Christ's work wholly he supposed his Highness could incur no danger upon the account of his return Now as to the Troubles which he said were raised in his Church in his absence the matter was this While Luther was out of the way Andrew Carolostadius who hath been mentioned before preached a different Doctrin and stirred up the People in a tumultuary manner to cast the Images out of the Churches This being the chief cause why Luther was recalled by his Friends So soon as he came back he condemned that Action of Carolostadius shewing that that was not the way they ought to have proceeded in but that Images were first to have been removed out of the mind and the People taught that by Faith alone we pleased God and that Images availed nothing That if they had been in this manner removed and the Minds of People rightly informed there would have been no more danger of any hurt from them and they would have fallen of themselves That he was not indeed against the removing of Images but that it ought to have been done by the Authority of the Magistrate and not by the Rabble and promiscuous Multitude At this time there sprang up a secret Sect of some People that talked of Conferences they had with God who had commanded them to destroy all the Wicked and to begin a new World wherein the Godly and Innocent only should live and have Dominion These clandestinly spread their Doctrins in that part of Saxony chiefly which lyes upon the River Saal and as Luther affirms Carolostadius also favoured their Opinion but when borne down by the Authority of Luther he could not bring to pass what he intended at Wittemberg he forsook his Station and went over to them Thomas Muncer was one of this Herd who afterwards raised a Popular Insurrection against the Magistrate in Thuringe and Franconia of which in its proper place Luther being now informed that in the publick Assemblies of the Bohemians there were some who urged the Re-establishment of the Authority of the Pope and Church of Rome without which there could be no end of Controversies and Debates wrote unto them in the latter end of July to this Effect That the Name of Bohemians had been some time very odious unto him so long as he had been ignorant that the Pope was Antichrist But that now since God had restored the Light of the Gospel to the World he was of a far different Opinion and had declared as much in his Books so that at present the Pope and his Party were more incensed against him than against them That his Adversaries had many times given it out That he had removed into Bohemia which he oftentimes wishes to have done but that lest they should have aspersed his Progress and called it a Flight he had altered his Resolution That as matters stood now there was great Hopes That the Germans and Bohemians might Profess the Doctrin of the Gospel and the same Religion That it was not without Reason that many were grieved to see them so divided into Sects among themselves But that if they should again make Defection to Popery Sects would not only not be removed but even be increased and more diffused for that Sects abounded no where more than among the Romanists and that the Franciscans alone were an Instance of this who in many things differed among themselves and yet all lived under the Patronage and Protection of the Church of Rome That his Kingdom was in some manner maintained and supported by the Dissentions of Men which was the Reason also that made him set Princes together by the Ears and afford continual Matter of Quarrelling and contention That therefore they should have special Care lest whilst they endeavour to crush those smaller Sects they fall not into far greater such as the Popish which were altogether incurable and from which Germany had been lately delivered That there was no better way of removing Inconveniences than for the Pastors of the Church to preach the pure Word of God in Sincerity That if they could not retain the weak and giddy People in their Duty and hinder their desertion they should at least endeavour to make them stedfast in receiving the Lord's Supper in both kinds and in preserving a Veneration for the Memory of John Huss and Jerome of Prague for that the Pope would labour chiefly to deprive them of these two Things wherefore if any of them should relent and give up both to the Tyrant it would be ill done of them But that though all Bohemia should Apostatize yet he would
pleased to enlighten this Age in a particular manner with the Knowledge of his Gospel they were bound to submit to the Discovery which they did not with an Intention of disobliging him or any other Mortal whatever but only that they might go to Heaven and be made Happy for ever For in all other things they had de facto shown themselves obedient to his Majesty and now their Inclinations are still the same as is evident from the last Treaty at Francfort But about a Year since the Secretary of Henry of Brunswick happening to fall into the Lantgrave's Company near Cassell and being detained by him upon a violent Suspicion was the Occasion of discovering some Mens Intrigues whose Business it is to provoke their own Party to take up Arms by perswading them that the Protestants are preparing to begin with them already Now this Report being brought to his Majesty was without question the reason of his suffering the Counter-League to be made And after their Adversaries had concerted this League they fell to raising of Forces which at last themselves were likewise obliged to do in their own Defence insomuch that a great deal of Danger would have followed if the Secretary had not been taken up by chance and unless the Palsgrave and the Elector of Brandenburg had interposed with singular Integrity and Application And now since the Disloyalty and Odium of this Disturbance is laid upon them without any manner of Ground and that they abundantly justified themselves in Print from such Calumnies as these they conceive if his Majesty had been throughly acquainted with the whole Matter he would not have engaged in this new League which is so much talked of at present Therefore they humbly entreat his Majesty not to give any Credit to those Complaints which have been preferr'd against them and if they happen to be accused of any Misdemeanor for the future that he would please to let them know it that they may answer for themselves They also entreat his Majesty to enquire into the Designs and Actions of Henry Duke of Brunswick and to concern himself so far as to secure them from all such Apprehensions for the future And whereas they are represented as if they were not sollicitous about Religion and a just Reformation this is nothing but Aspersion and Untruth for Religion is the main thing which they appear for neither have they ever refused to referr their Cause to a fair Hearing Of this reasonable Proposal they are able to make good proof particularly it appears from the last Treaty at Francfort and from the Lantgrave's Letter to King Ferdinand after that Diet was ended In this Letter his Imperial Majesty was desired to order a Conference of Learned Men. This request they now humbly renew to his Majesty desiring him not to deal any otherwise with them than with those who are affectionately desirous of Unity and Agreement in Religion and of the Welfare of the Empire and are likewise willing to serve his Majesty in every thing as far as Conscience and Equity will give them leave About Four Years ago his Majesty was pleased to declare when he wrote from Italy that he would not make use of Arms and Violence but of Arguments and Truth to compose the Differences in Religion His Majesty had likewise lately expressed himself to the same Sence in his Letters to the Palsgrave and the Elector of Brandenburg in which he gave his Reasons why he could not then attend to the Affairs of Religion this account was extreamly satisfactory to them and their Prayers to God were That he would fortifie his Majesty in this Resolution Now at the late Diet at Francfort there were a great many things agreed upon and a Truce concluded provided his Majesty approved it within Six Months this he had not been pleas'd to do as yet though the half Year had been expired a great while since and besides the Judges of the Chamber gave Sentence against them in Causes which were purely Spiritual and executed the Proscription of Minden perfectly contrary to his own and King Ferdinand's Order Now how prejudicial this is to the Empire his Majesty is certainly very sensible therefore they beseech him that he would interpose his Authority for otherwise the measures for prosecuting the Turkish War cannot be adjusted nor the Conference of Learned Men begun which hath been so often wished for for in order to the right fettlement of the Government a firm and lasting Peace ratified by all the States of the Empire is absolutely necessary This Undertaking will be both very Honourable for his Majesty who hath already gained the Title of a Pacifick Emperor and also mightily for the Interest of all Germany They had their Audience of the Emperor upon the Twenty-fourth of February at Ghent Granvell being present where his Majesty told them He would take some time to consider and then give them an Answer Much about the same time that the Protestants sent an Ambassy to the Emperor they wrote likewise to the French King acquainting him That for some Years last past his Majesty had declared his good Affection to them both in his Letters and by his Ambassadors and had also a right Notion of a Council namely That Controversies in Religion are not to be determined by Blows and Fighting but by Reason and Truth This his Majesty's Inclination and Sence of things was extreamly satisfactory to them because they saw he was in Love with Equity and resolved to protect it And therefore by way of return they have always to their power endeavoured to show their gratitude and respect which makes them believe that he still continues his kind Intentions and Opinion of them Moreover that Friendship and good Understanding which was now between his Majesty and their Emperor was a blessing they were exceeding glad of and congratulated the good Fortune of Christendom upon several accounts but more especially because they hoped it would be remarkably instrumental in reconciling the Differences in the Church Indeed the Death of the Empress has hitherto prevented his Imperial Majesty from executing the Decree which was made the last Year at Francfort But now since both their Majesties are upon such good Terms they conceive the matter may be easily adjusted if he pleaseth to second the Emperor's Endeavours in it and lendeth as it were his helping hand to the Cause which they earnestly desire he would be pleas'd to do that so the Church may have the advantage of those Expedients which were agreed upon at Francfort They confessed they were fully satisfied concerning the Emperor's Intentions and excellent Temper and had also sent an Ambassy to him of which they hoped to be able to give a good account But their Adversaries are almost always contriving one Design or other to hinder these publick Measures from taking effect for the distrust they have of their Cause makes them that they will not endure to have the Merits of it examined in a
Regular way Now the reason why they themselves are so desirous to have the matter Legally debated is not because they are afraid their Adversaries would be too powerful for them in the Field for as they design to hurt no Body so if they are threatned with any Violence they are God be thanked sufficiently prepared to defend themselves and their Right Besides they hope that he upon whose account they Engage will afford them his Assistance and Protection Indeed their Cause is so Honourable and Religious that they ought to maintain it at their utmost Peril But they are very much concerned for the ill Consequences which will happen to the State this way For though they deserve to be corrected by God Almighty yet because a Civil War will occasion a horrible desolation in Germany they desire nothing more earnestly than that the whole difference may be amicably accommodated and that all future Ages may have a remarkable Instance of their good Inclinations and Honesty transmitted to them but their Adversaries are implacably exasperated and will not be brought to any reasonable Terms neither did they foresee any other Issue of this Contest than that it would occasion the strength of the Empire which ought to be employed against the common Enemy the Turk to be perfectly wasted and torn in pieces by the mutual Slaughter of its own Subjects but these Consequences ought not to be charged upon them And whatever the Event may be there will come a time when the other Party will be obliged to admit of those Conditions which they now reject with so much Obstinacy for God will appear in the Vindication of his own Honour Upon the First of March the Ambassadors of the Protestant Princes and Cities came to Smalcald according to appointment There came also several Divines along with them viz. Jonas Pomeran Melancthon Cruciger and Bucer who were required to draw up a Scheme of Doctrine upon which they were to treat with their Adversaries about an Accommodation In this Convention they debated those Points which were left unconcluded at Arnstet as hath been mentioned already In the mean time Dulcius and Burcartus returned from their Ambassy in England and upon the Seventh of March they make a Report of the State of Religion in that Country viz. That the Act of Parliament made the last Year was not Executed very strictly but yet Hugh Latimer and the Bishop of Salisbury who where Imprisoned upon the account of Religion were not yet set at Liberty that Cromwell the first Minister of State endeavoured to mollifie the King and abate the Rigour of his Opinion And the King himself had in private Conversation told them his thoughts upon the Point which were these He conceived the Protestant Divines were not Orthodox in their Doctrine concerning the Marriage of Priests the receiving the Lord's Supper as they call it in both Kinds nor in that concerning private Masses and therefore he desires that they would write to him at large about these and other necessary Points and set down the Reasons of their Opinions and he would take care that some Learned Persons in his Kingdom should give them an Answer that so the way to Truth might be discovered It was likewise the Opinion of Cromwell and of some others that it would be proper for them to send an Honourable Ambassy to the King and Melancthon with the rest for if they could come to a tolerable Agreement in their Doctrine the King would furnish them with a vast Summ of Money towards the supporting the League which he intended to make with them not only in the Case of Religion but for defence in general Indeed his Majesty very much wondered why they confined their Alliance to Religion seeing it was likely they would be invaded upon a quite different account Some few days after the Divines gave in a Writing to the Ambassadors The summ of it was this That they ought not to depart from the Contents of the Ausburg Confession nor of the Apology which was afterwards annex'd to it This Opinion all the Divines who were absent afterwards approved by their Letters to the Convention About this time Henry Duke of Brunswick came to Ghent Upon the Sixteenth of March the Emperor gave the Protestant Ambassadors his Answer by Cornelius Scepperus the Substance was courteous enough but withal so Ambiguously worded that they could not tell whether he would secure them the Pacification or not The Ambassadors therefore with the Emperor's permission withdraw and returning presently after they entreat him that he would command the Chamber to cease their Prosecutions and grant them a Peace The Emperor replied That at present he had nothing more to say to these Requests but he would consider the matter farther This Answer was Reported at Smalcald Ten Days after and upon Easter Munday which was then the Twenty-ninth of March the Princes came thither themselves There was at that time a great Emulation and misunderstanding between Granvell and Eldo which at last occasioned Eldo's being removed from his Place upon which he retired from Court and lived privately For the other having the better Interest charged Eldo with Misdemeanors and rendered him odious because he had been too violent in his Councils and Treaties and had like to have run the Emperor upon a War against his Will when he thought nothing of it Now Granvell giving pretty plain signs of his being desirous to accommodate Matters and to settle a good Correspondence in the Empire invited the Protestants to address to him and at their request disposed the Emperors Inclinations for Peace And immediately after and as it were in his own Name he dispatcheth away Two Ambassadors to Smalcald to mediate an Accommodation viz. Theodorick Manderschitt William Nuenarius Counts Persons of great Sence and Quality though the first of these was seized with a dangerous Distemper and forced to stop by the way There demands were indeed moderate enough but then they intimated that the Emperor was almost assured that Religion was not the Protestants design neither did they heartily desire a Peace but were wholly intent upon enriching themselves with the Revenues of the Church That his Majesty had reason to suspect they were glad to see the Empire embroiled That they were disaffected to him and rather inclinable to side with those who were his open Enemies This Information against them the Emperor received partly by their Adversaries and partly by the French as it 's certainly reported For when the Emperor travelled through France and all things seemed to promise a most intimate Alliance and Endearment they say there were some Letters discovered to him which were written from the Convention at Smalcald to the French King. Some say this was done by the King himself but others lay it upon the Constable who was then the Chief Minister and earnestly desirous to bring the Two Monarchs to a good Understanding and besides not very well affected to the