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A26149 An answer to some considerations on the spirit of Martin Luther and the original of the Reformation lately printed at Oxford. Atterbury, Francis, 1662-1732. 1687 (1687) Wing A4146; ESTC R4960 53,756 88

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Church of Rome for the Catholic Church and is too trite a subject to be here insisted on But Truth and Holyness Error and Vice have a necessary Connexion §. 59. What then Luther we have prov'd an holy man and therefore this do's not touch us in the sense he would have it Yet truth and holyness Error and Vice are not it seem's so necessarily link'd together but that a Teacher of something false may bring forth the fruits of a good life and contrary the Teacher of Truth the fruits of a bad for these are his words in this very paragraph So that Necessary and Contingent are the same in this man's Logic. Agen he proves that where more corrupt Doctrines are §. 60. believ'd and taught there for the general are more corrupt lives Agreed but are Luther's Doctrines of such a stamp Indeed in his gross way of delivering 'em they may have such an appearance The 4 main heads are he says 1. The §. 61. Nullity and Antichristianism of the former Clergy and the non-obligation of their Laws But I have made out from the Smalcald Articles that Luther held no nullity in this case tho' in points fundamental he allow'd not the Authority of councils as depending merely on revelation for them yet in things indifferent I have shew'd that he was as willing to be concluded by their sanctions as any man 2. The inutility of works pennance mortifications c. This is all a slander he decry'd not the use but the merit of them 3. The servitude of Man's will and inability to do good even in the regenerate Ls. Doctrine of free will is when fairly expounded the same with the Church of Englands as such we own it and shall defend it 4. The sole sufficiency of Faith in us for our Iustification We have told him that Luther held good works as necessary to Salvation as any Papist of 'em all tho' he did not think they were the cause of justification That they follow'd upon it as heat attends the light of the Sun he own'd but then as heat do's not enlighten however close join'd with that which do's so neither do they justify If then ' t was out of these three latter points that a great dissoluteness of Life Covetousness Oppression c. grew 't is to be hop'd the crimes imputed are but a fiction and that the Reform'd are not so bad as they are represented since those three points when truly stated have a quite different air we see from what he has bestow'd upon ' em The Parragraph referr'd to I 'me sure proves no such thing § 7. there are two or three expressions from Erasmus Calvin and Musculus which represent some of the Reform'd as worse then while they were Papists And will he take the advantage of this so far as to say that the Reformation do's of it self make men worse If he will 't is plain he 's resolv'd to make all the spiteful inferences he can without troubling himself whether they are just or no. He proceeds to reflect on the many Sects that sprung § 62. up after the Reformation But a late Apologetical Vindicator of the Church of England has so fully clear'd this objection that the most partial must be satisfy'd I can add nothing to what that worthy Author has done and shall therefore spare my self the trouble of transcribing I shall only take notice of something the Considerer relates on this occasion By reason of these Sects he says following the Reformation so close at the heels c Lr. often foretold that the true Religion should not long continue after his death He bring 's not a Letter from Lr. to confirm this report which is an evident sign that he cannot for upon lesser occasions he do's not spare his Latin Indeed Luther was so far from any diffidence of this nature that his Adversaries have blam'd him for a too great presumption on t'other side particularly Bellarmin in his 12th Note urges against him a prophecy of his that in two years the Papal Kingdome should be destroy'd Tho' this too be a falsity and was broach'd by Cochleus a venemous writer and one so careless of truth or falshood that Sanders himself is not more But my Author has a great knack at Remarks i' the end of this Paragraph he makes another about our refining in the points of Controversy and coming nearer and nearer still to the Church of Rome Now let any man compare Bellarmin's bold truths with the softnings of the Bishop of Condom and the Representer and then tell me on which side this imputation lyes 'T will appear I believe upon this search that Old Popery and New Popery agree no more then the two styles We are come now to the last stage of the Pamphlet §. 63. where we may see how much art is requisite to manage circumstances well Nothing is less obnoxious to censure then the story of Ls. death when intirely told Yet as passages are here pick'd out and wrested it makes no good appearance This we have the more reason to take ill of him because he there quotes Iustus Ionas his account the most authentic extant and yet takes but a single circumstance from him in the whole relation The truth is no other account bear's any credit with us This was compil'd by Eye-witnesses Ionas Caelius and Aurifaber who solemnly invoke God to witness that they have related all things with exact fidelity and who indeed durst not have done otherwise since Count Mansfeld and several other persons of Quality were present also and could have confuted 'em had they been faulty in any thing Sleidan has contracted the story from them and in his words I shall give it you Vide marg a Prius quam Islebium perveniret quod erat sub exitum Januarii valetudine utebatur tenuiori sed tamen causam agebat propter quam erat vocatus aliquoties in templo docebat percepta quoque caena Domini 17. vero die Februarii coepit aegrotare gravius ex pectore Erant cum eo filii tres Joannes Martinus Paulus alii quidam familiares in his etiam Justus Jonas Ecclesiae Hallensis Minister quanquam erat imbecillus prandit tamen cum reliquis atque coenavit inter coenandum variis de rebus locutus hoc etiam inter caetera rogavit Num in illa sempiterna vita simus alter alterum recognituri cumque illi ex ipso averent scire quid inquit accidit Adamo c. A coena quum divertisset precandi causa sicuti consuevit coepit augeri dolor pectoris Ibi monitu quorundam usus est cornu monocerotis ex vino post in minori lectulo hypocausti per unam alteram horam suaviter dormit Cum evigilasset in cubiculum ingreditur ad quietem iterum se componit salutatis amicis qui aderant orate inquit Deum ut Evangelii doctrinam nobis conservet
of England In order to this let us take the prescrib'd method and put our selves in the same posture Consid. p. 2. now as we should have been in had we liv'd at the first appearance of Luther And since the Properties of the Evil Spirit are reducible to Two 1. Fleshly Lusts. 2. Contention and Disobedience as One who●…e knowledge in this case we shall not question has inform'd us let us see whether after our most impartial researches we in those circumstances could have fix'd either of these blots upon him 1. As to Fleshly Lusts there is no one action through the whole course of Luther's life that can possibly come under that Character but only his Match with Bora. Now this hapned not till 1525 and in 1517 Luther had begun to Reform so that should I put my self into that posture the Considerer desires yet here would be nothing for my observation to lay hold of for above eight years together Fleshly Lusts therefore could have given me no prejudice against Luther's Doctrine when it first appear'd since his very Adversaries do not till long after that time charge 'em upon him Yes but we pag. 20. are told that he preach'd against the Vow of Continence long before he married Now tho' it be something improper to call preaching an Act of Fleshly Lust and give me that to try his Doctrine by which is indeed a piece of the Doctrine it self yet neither did Luther let fall a syllable against these Vows for several years after his first setting out So that had I liv'd in the dawn of the Reformation and made all those Observations I am desir'd to do I can as yet see no reason why I should not have been Luther's Proselyte And thus much will serve to free Luther from Incontinence as far as the method propos'd reaches the Breach of Vow and Marriage it self shall be more largely discours'd of in their proper places 2. The other Head of the Charge is Contention and Disobedience And here again I am invited to consider whether Luther was not in an high manner guilty of these and if so whether a wise man that had liv'd in those days could have had any reason to follow so unruly a Guide Now the Question here is not whether Luther disobey'd for that 's confest but when and in what manner he did it For if upon enquiry it be found that for near three years together he treated his Adversaries with all mildness and paid a just deference to his Superiors if he threw not off their Authority while there was any hope left of doing things in a regular way and mingled no gall in his expressions till after all the venemous mouths in Europe had been open'd upon him how can he with any colour of reason be term'd contentious or disobedient And that this was his case any impartial man that reads the joint accounts of Sleidan Soave Melancthon and Melchior Adamus must needs acknowledg 'T is a known story that he first stood up against the gross abuse of pecuniary Pardons he propos'd his sentiments about it in a mild Scholastic way and invited all that should think themselves strong enough to a fair disputation This Challenge was not thought fit to be accepted of but Thecel the ●…preader of the Pardons answered him an easier way by branding him with Heresy and denouncing Anathemas against him from all the Pulpits in Saxony a Melch. Ad. Vit. ●…uth This did not heat him he went on calmly representing the case in a letter to the Arch-Bishop of Mentz b It begins thus Pardon me Reverend in Christ if I the meanest of men have the boldness to approach your highness with a Letter c. Luth. Op. T. 1. p. 92. and afterwards in two more to the Bishop of Brandenburg in whose Dioceses the scene lay all written with so deep an humility that one would say the impressions he took from his Vow of Obedience were then strong upon him c Tom. 1 Op. p. 9●… Edit Wittenb 1582. I am well content says he I had rather obey than even if I could to do miracles a Melch. Ad. Vit. ●…uth This submissive way of representing things he continu'd afterwards in several Letters to the Pope though he knew Leo had form'd a design against his Life d Sleid. Com. L. 2. ad An. 1519. and taken Fryar Hogostrat's advice to confute his Doctrine by fire and faggot e Soave p. 2. Ed. Lond. 1620. Upon the Legat's summons he submitted himself to an Examination and appear'd before him and tho' Cajetan us'd him very coursly in the Conference f Id. p. 8. yet no unbecoming word came from him g See the Account of this Conf. in 1. Tom. Op. At last when for along time he had employd all the most inoffensive methods and instead of the Redress he expected from Rome found his Books burnt there himself condemn'd without an hearing and his Adversaries Eckius and Prierias supported in all the Ribaldry of Language that their passions could suggest he then and not 'till then first chang'd his note and put on a greater freedom of Expression Before this time he strove with no man but in the spirit of meekness and threw off no Authorities that he had engag'd himself to obey a Hear an Enemy consess it In ipsis hujus Tragaediae initiis visus est Lutherus etiam plerisque viris grauibus eruditis non p●…ssimo zelo moveri plan●…que nihil spectare aliud quam Eccle●… Refo●…matioonem Surius Comment ad Ann. 1517. But the Pope had now declar'd his judgment by a fresh Bull and own'd the Cause so he was forc'd to de●…line his censure and appeal to a Council Thus are the earliest actions of Luther in no wise chargeable with contumacy and I believe that part of the first Volume of his Works which contains whatever he wrote in his two leading Years will tho' sifted by an Enemy hardly afford throughout one single indecency I might here again very justly drop this Answer for since the drift of his book is already evacuated what Consid. p. 2. need I pursue him thro' all it's particulars He advis'd me to put my self in the same posture I should have been in had I liv'd at Luther's FIRST APPEARANCE I have done so and find that this first appearance of his has nothing hideous or frightful in it the Posture he put me in has prov'd flatly against his design for it represent's Luther under the Image of an holy and humble person with nothing of Fleshly Lust or disobedience about him But because I find the bulk of his book employ'd upon the latter passages of Luther's life I am tempted to think that by first appearance he might mean last appearance and shall therefore after I have desir'd him to consider to what trouble his odd way of expression has put me follow him even in that sense too confronting his Accusations Paragraph