his presence That generally all his Friends had advised him to appeal from him to the Pope That he would not indeed have done it of his own accord as not thinking it to be very necessary but that he could not but respect their Admonitions and the rather that he beleived Duke Frederick inclined more to have that Appeal made than that he should rashly and unadvisedly make any Retractation The Appeal was conceived in Words much to this effect That the Question about Indulgences which had been variously handled by many was never clearly determined and that about such dubious Questions it was lawful especially for Divines to dispute that he had also done so at that time when some Preachers not only Wrote and Taught rashly and unadvifedly but also used strange ways and Tricks to draw Money from the People and that he did it not as affirming any thing positively but only that he might discover the Truth that he had in like manner submitted the whole Debate to the Determination of the Learned and also of Pope Leo but that these Men had devised many Calumnies against him abused him grievously to the Pope and at length prevailed so far that the Cause was committed to the Bishop of Ascoli and Silvester Prierias that by them he had been cited to appear at Rome but that because both of them were suspected and one of them unfit to judge in such a Matter Again because no Man doubted of the unavoidable Danger he would have been exposed to if he had gone to Rome and that he had been commanded by his own Magistrate not to go Upon these Considerations and in such an Apprehension also which might affect the Stoutest and most resolute Man he had prayed Frederick Elector of Saxony That he would procure his Cause to be Tryed by some fit and competent Persons in a Place secure from Violence in Germany that so the Pope had referr'd the whole Matter to his Legate Cardinal Cajetane which doubtless was brought about by the Instigation of his Adversaries who knew the Mind and Intentions of the Cardinal And though the Legate himself might have justly been Suspected yet he had obeyed That the Cardinal had at first Meeting commanded him instantly to retract what he had written to which he then made Answer That he would give an account of what he had done either in a Personal Disputation or by Writing and refer the whole Matter not only to Universities but also to the Decision of the Church of Rome but that the Legate being wrought upon by none of these Things had still enjoyned him a Retractation and when he could not extort it had threatned severe Punishments both to him and others also that were of his Opinion That since then he found himself lyable to such unjust Prejudications he Appealed from the Pope not rightly informed in the Cause to the Pope to be better informed and that he publickly protested Now that Decretal of Pope Clement which hath been mentioned is extant in that Part of the Canon-Law which they call the Extravagants There Pope Clement reduces that Time they call the Jubilee from an hundred Years as it was appointed by Boniface VIII to fifty and speaking of the Blessing of our Saviour Christ affirms That one Drop of the Blood of Christ was sufficient for the Redemption of all Mankind but that seeing he shed so much Blood that there was no sound Part left in his Body nothing more Lamentable to be seen he had left all that was over and above as a vast Treasure for the use of the Church and commanded S. Peter who keeps the Keys of Heaven's Gates and after him his Successors to distribute that Treasure like good Stewards amongst Men who were truly Penitent and confessed their Sins pardoning the Temporal Punishment that was due unto them for their Trespasses Besides he says That the Merits of the Virgin Mary and all the Saints were put into the same Treasure so that there was an inexhaustible Stock for Indulgences This was the Decretal then upon which Cajetane grounded the Efficacy and Validity of Indulgences But Luther affirmed That there was nothing committed to S. Peter and his Successours but the Keys and Ministry of the Word whereby Christ impowers them to declare to Penitent Believers who trust in him the Remission of their Sins that that was the true and genuine Sense of the Scripture That if that was the Meaning of Pope Clement's Decretal he liked it but if not he could not approve the same That what moreover it said of the Merits of Saints was wholly repugnant to Scripture for that the best of Men were so far from doing more that they could not do what they ought and that we were not saved by their Merits but only by the Mercy of God since it ought to be our daily Prayer That God would pardon our Sins and Trespasses and not enter into Judgment with us lest we should be condemned As to what Cajetane alledged of the Pope's Power the Case is this It was decreed in the fourth and fifth Sessions of the Council of Constance That the Pope himself should be subject to the Decrees of a Council The same was also renewed and again Decreed in the third and eighteenth Sessions of the Council of Basil But Eugenius IV refusing to go to that of Basil though he had been often warned and cited to come declared it null and appointed another to meet at Ferrara whither also came John Paleologue the last Emperour of the Greeks save one with Joseph Patriarch of Constantinople and a great many Bishops and that was in the Year 1438. From Ferrara afterwards they all removed to Florence and there a Decree past with consent of the Greeks That the Church of Rome was the Chief of all Churches and the Pope of Rome the Successor of Peter the Prince of the Apostles the true Vicar of Christ the Head of the Universal Church the Father and Teacher of all Christians and that full Power was given to him from Christ of Feeding and Governing the Catholick Church This Decree Cajetane now insisted upon when he preferred the Pope before a Council Nay and six Years before also when he was not as yet Cardinal but only General of the Dominicans he made a Speech in the Second Session of the Council of Lateran of which more hereafter and having spoken many things against some Cardinals who had made a Separation he had a glance by the by at the Councils of Constance and Basil because the Fathers at that time had taken upon them Power and Authority over the Pope that therefore it was well done by Eugenius when he curbed that Faction and suffered not his Power to be diminished Pope Julius II in whose Favour this Speech was made commanded it afterwards to be entred amongst the Acts and Records of the Council though Cajetane obtained not the Cardinals Cap before the Pontificat of Pope Leo. Gerson whom
celebrate and commend the Doctrin of Huss to all Posterity That therefore he prayed and exhorted them to persevere in that way which they had hitherto defended with the loss of much Blood and with highest Resolution and not cast a Reproach upon the flourishing Gospel by their Defection That although all things were not established among them as they ought to be yet God would not be wanting in time to raise up some Faithful Servant of his who would reform what was amiss provided they continued constant and utterly rejected the Uncleanness and Impiety of the Romish Papacy Now as to the Bohemians the case standeth thus after the death of John Huss whom we mentioned before the people were divided into three Sects the first of those who own the Pope of Rome to be Head of the Church and the Vicar of Christ The second those who receive the Sacrament in both kinds and in celebrating Mass read some things in the vulgar tongue but in all other matters differ not from the Papists The third are those who are called Picards or Beghardi these call the Pope of Rome and all his Party Antichrist and that Whore that is described in the Revelations They admit of nothing but the Bible they chuse their own Priests and Bishops deny no man marriage perform no Offices for the Dead and have but very few Holy Daies and Ceremonies Luther afterwards published a Book against the Order of Bishops falsly so called and in the Preface taking to himself the name of Minister or Preacher at Wittemberg he saith That it was no wonder to him nor indeed contrary to expectation if for that title he should be scoffed and laughed at by them from whom he had met with violence in far more weighty concerns That they had nothing but Tyranny and Oppression to stop his mouth with and that when he was ready to justifie his Doctrin by Argument and Reason they did but slight and reject him But that on the other hand when they themselves were put to it to prove the truth of their Doctrin they stopt their ears That it was a great shame and reproach that so many of them who besides many other splendid and magnificent Titles they bore professed themselves Masters of the whole Scripture being so often challenged by him alone durst not joyn issue and come to a fair tryal with him about the matter that therefore since they behaved themselves haughtily towards him he was resolved to yield to them in nothing and had taken to himself that name of Minister or Preacher as not doubting but that he might with far better conscience arrogate to himself that Title than they could the Name of Bishops That the Doctrin which he professed was not his but Christs so that they needed not to put any trust in violence or oppression thinking thereby to daunt him for that the more hatred and rage they vented against him the more resolutely was he resolv'd to proceed in spight of all their fury and madness That though they should even cut his Throat yet his Doctrin would prove immortal That Christ lived and reigned for ever who would in his own due time put a stop to their outragios and bloody Desings That by the Emperors Edict and the Bull of the Pope his name was lately taken from him and that charactar of the Great Beast wholly blotted out Which he was so far from taking ill that he heartily thanked God for delivering him out of the dark dungeon of so many filthy Errors and false Doctrins and enlightning him with the true Knowledge of his Word That since it was so then and that God had committed to him the Office of Preaching the Gospel it was but reasonable that he should take to himself a Title when false Teachers gloried so much in such gawdy Names That therefore he would not for the future submit his Writings to their Censure that he had condescended too much at Wormes But that now he was so certain of his Doctrin that he would not submit it to the Judgment no not of an Angel but by the Evidence thereof would judge not only himself and them all but even Angels also That they who rejected this Doctrin could not attain to Salvation nor Life Eternal because it proceeded not from Man but from the Eternal God That if it pleased God to bless him with longer Life he would use his utmost Diligence that the Gospel should be preached to all people That they indeed sought after their own Ease and Quietness and to lead an Idle and Voluptuous Life being mightily troubled at the Disturbance of the State but that he would make it his Business that they should not enjoy that Peace which they so earnestly coveted and that though he might be killed by them yet that would not ease them of Troubles and Disquiet and that what way soever they might deal with him yet God would never cease to prosecute them 'till he either utterly destroyed them or made them humbly to confess their Fault and beg pardon of the invincible Lord of Hosts That he heartily wished they might repent and submit to sound Counsel in time but if that could not be obtained he bad them everlasting Defiance and was resolved never to be reconciled with them That whereas some also made his freedom of Speech a Crime as if by libelling and scribling he designed to raise Stirs and Commotions they did him a great deal of Wrong since that he could make it out by several Texts of Scripture and many Instances that it was necessary to take this Course when the Governours of the Church were unlearned impious and obstinate and would neither do their Duty themselves nor suffer others to do it for them who were both able and willing to set about it Mention hath been made before of the Dyet of Norimberg Hither Lewis King of Hungary and the Peers of that Kingdom sent also Ambassadours who made sad Complaint of the Cruelty of the Turk and begged strong and lasting Aids against him Pope Adrian sent thither a Legate also but before he came into Germany October 5 one of the Popes Bed-Chamber-Men delivered a Brief from his Holiness to Duke Frederick wherein he tells him That it had been acceptable News to him to hear of the Dyet of Norimberg but that he had been overjoyed to understand that he was resolved to be there in Person for that there was great Hopes that some things might be enacted there that would tend to the Honour and Welfare both of Church and State That for that Reason also he had with the Advice and Consent of the College of Cardinals resolved to send a Legate into Germany but that whilst his Legate was preparing for his Journey he had thought fit to send before the Bearer whom he had charged to wait upon his Highness for whom he had always had a very great esteem and acquaint him with the Care and sincere Intentions he had
it was once over That Letter which I mention'd the Emperor to have wrote in July was answer'd by the Protestants upon the 9th of September In which they acquaint him that his writing so courteously and frankly was matter of great pleasure and satisfaction to them For notwithstanding they did believe he would make good his Promises yet both because they had heard several Reports of his being displeas'd and because the Imperial-Chamber and other Courts of Justice had practis'd many ways against them without any regard to the Peace they had some reason to be a little doubtful and solicitous but now since he had declar'd his Mind in such an open obliging manner they did not in the least question but that he would perform every thing to the full and take away all occasions of Calumny from ill dispos'd minds which they for their parts should likewise endeavour to do and not give any farther credit to those who went about to possess them with other thoughts of his Majesty and in all other things they would take care to do that which became their Duty And notwithstanding the News of the Council which the Pope has summon'd to Mantua upon the 23th of May following is publickly known and call'd at his Majesties Solicitation as the Bull intimates which is so obcurely drawn that they cannot collect what the Conditions or Form of the Council will be yet since they have always earnestly desir'd there might be a free and religious Council conven'd in Germany since this Request of theirs was made a Decree both in the Imperial Diets and at the Pacification at Nuremburgh and since they had expresly and largely insisted upon this Point before his Majesty's and Pope Clement's Embassadors about three years agon they were entirely confident that he would manage this Affair in a legal unexceptionable way This month the Pope publish'd another Bull in which he professeth that in the mean time while the Council was convening it was his intention to reform the holy City of Rome the Head of all the Christian World and the Mistress of Doctrin Manners and Discipline that he would make a clear riddance of all her Vices and Uncleanliness that his own House being first put into order he might the more easily cleanse the rest Now the weakness of Humane Nature being such that it was impossible for him to dispatch this Affair wholly by himself and at the same time to manage other Concerns relating to the Commonwealth of Christendom therefore he had chosen a certain number of Cardinals whom God Almighty had made his Assistants and Coparteners in the Offices and Care of his Station to perform this necessary and profitable Work viz. the Cardinals of Ostia St. Severino Ginuccio Simoneta together with the Bishop of Cassano Nusco and Aix To these Commissioners all Persons are commanded to be Obedient under severe Penalties In October the Emperor set Sail from Genoa and return'd into Spain And soon after the French King came to Paris and upon the first of January married his eldest Daughter Magdalene to James the First King of Scotland who came into France the last Autumn Much about the same time Laurence de Medices treacherously murther'd Alexander de Medices Duke of Florence his Kinsman and near Relation after he had drawn him into his House in the night under pretence that he would help him to the enjoyment of a Noble Matron and Neighbour of his who was the most remarkable Lady of the whole Town for the reputation of her Beauty and Chastity After he was taken off the Government fell into the hands of Cosmus de Medices who afterwards with the Emperor's leave married Eleonora Daughter of Peter of Toledo Vice-Roy of Naples Upon the sixth of January the French King came into the Court where the Parliament of Paris was held which he us'd to do but seldom and in a very full Assembly made a very sharp Complaint of the Emperor and gave his Reasons why the Provinces of Flanders and Artois which the Emperor and his Ancestors held as Homagers under the French Kings ought to be recover'd to the Crown of France The Speech was made by Capel the King's Advocate who called him Charles of Austria instead of Emperor In the mean time the Cantons of Zurick Bern Basil and the Strasburgers Intercede with the French King for those who were Imprison'd for their Religion and desir'd him that he would recall those whom he had banish'd Now the King had given those who were in Exile leave to return and those in Prison their Liberty with this Proviso That they would abjure the Crimes charged upon them before the Bishops or their Vicars and give Security for their Behaviour for the future But this Condition the Switzers Ambassadors desired might be wholly remitted something of the rigour of which was relax'd at their instance however the King did not give them satisfaction in the answer which he sent them Feb. 24. by Anne Momorency Lord High Steward of his Houshold whom they suspected to have perswaded the King to be less king in this Point than otherwise he would have been The Embassadors made their Interest by the Queen of Navar who was the King's Sister a most incomparable Lady and very well affected to the true Religion In the mean time the King was making his Levies and in the beginning of March leads his Army into Artois and besiegeth the Town and Castle of Hesdin which was very well fortifi'd and within a month it was surrendred to him About this time Reginald Poole an Englishman lately made a Cardinal and of a very Noble Family was sent from the Pope to the King in Quality of Nuncio The occasion of his coming was suppos'd to be the forming of some new Design against the King of England When the King of Scotland married the French King's Daughter the Pope sent him a fine Sword of great value and tried to whet him up against the King of England Now the Popes have a custom upon Christmas-Eve to Consecrate as they call it a great many things with a certain Form of Ceremonies and amongst the rest a Sword which as a mark of Friendship and Respect they either deliver themselves or send to any Person they have a mind to Sixtus quartus is said to be the beginner of this Custom as their Book of Ceremonies hath it Afterwards Poole wrote a Book which he call'd A Defence of Ecclesiastical Vnity He addresseth himself in it to King Henry and reprimands him very sharply for making himself Head of the Church For that Office he told him belonged to none but the Pope of Rome who is the Vicar of Christ and the Successor of Peter whom Christ constituted Prince of the Apostles For it was he alone who answered That Christ was the Son of God. Upon this Apostle as upon a Rock Christ builded his Church It was for his Faith that Christ prayed That when he was converted
they began to treat of a Marriage and though the Parents at that time were not altogether for it and that the Young Lady was more averse not so much of her own Judgment or that she slighted the Person of the Man as through the Whispers and Tattles of some who despised Germany as a wild and rude Country in respect of the Pleasantness and Deliciousness of France yet being over-ruled by the King's Authority who look'd on that affinity as very advantageous to him they yielded Wherefore on the Fifteenth of June the Marriage was solemnized the King leading the Bride his Neece to Church The Cardinal of Tournon said Mass and the King gave a most magnificent Wedding Feast whereat were present the Pope's Nuncio the Ambassadors of England Portugal Venice and Saxony for the Emperor's Ambassador had excused himself Some Days after the Duke of Cleve returned home leaving his Young Wife in France whom her Mother would have to be with her until she were grown up to maturity Before the Duke of Cleve came into France the King ordered the Admiral whom we mentioned before to be set at Liberty to go Home and then in the Month of May to come to his Majesty who most graciously received him and restored him to his former Honour and Dignity raised him as it were from Death to Life and by a new and unprecedented Example annulled the Sentence pass'd against him by the Select and Chief Judges of the Kingdom partly in spight of the Constable as it was believed and partly at the intercession of Madam d'Estampes who had contracted a new Relation by Affinity with the Admiral Wherefore the Constable Montmorency who loved not the Admiral his equal and was fallen much in the King's Favour because of the Emperor's Passage through France as hath been said being besides altogether slighted and despised at Court went Home and in an uncertain Condition led a private Life whereas before he had had the King wholly to himself The End of the Thirteenth Book THE HISTORY OF THE Reformation of the Church BOOK XIV The CONTENTS In the Conference of Ratisbone they treat of reforming the Ecclesiastical State and Means are proposed for accomplishing of that Diverse Opinions and Answers are here related Eckius loathing the Book offered by the Protestants accuses his Collegues Vpon the Report of the Approach of the Turk the Emperor commands the Conference to be put off till the meeting of the Council Fregoso and Rink the Ambassadors sent from the French King to the Turk are taken and slain and therefore the Bastard Son of Maximilian is arrested at Lyons and committed to Prison The Turk makes his Entry into Buda The Emperor comes to Algiers The Plague rages in Germany Austria sorely afflicted The Peers of Austria desire Leave to profess and exercise the Protestant Religion and are eluded by King Ferdinand The Christians being worsted in Hungary the Emperor calls a Diet of the States of the Empire to meet at Spire where Oliver the French King's Ambassador made a long Speech The King of England cuts off his Queens Head and marries a Sixth Wife Morono the Pope's Legate being sent to Spire declares the calling of a Council at Trent Luther publishes a little Book a Military or Camp-Sermon wherein he compares the Papacy with the Turks War breaking out again betwixt the Emperor and French King. Longueville and Martin van Rossem invade Brabant Perpignon is besieged Edicts against the Lutherans are published at Paris Farel preacheth at Metz. Locusts overspread Germany and Italy An Imperial Diet held at Nurimberg Poiet apprehended in the Night time and committed to Prison Otho Prince Palatine embraces the Protestant Religion THE Conference commenced about the end of April as we said before But Eckius grew impatient and morose for he was sick of the Book disliked his Collegues and not long after fell into a Fever so that he could not be present However his Associates went and consulted him about all Matters Some Places of the Book indeed were by common Consent corrected in the Conference and some others they could not agree upon as about the Church and the Power thereof the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ the Confession of Sins Satisfaction the Unity and Order of the Ministers of the Church Saints the Mass the Sacrament to be received in both Kinds and the single Life of the Clergy So the Book as it was corrected was delivered to the Emperor and therewith the Sentiments of the Protestant Divines in Writing concerning the controverted Points of Doctrine now mentioned this was on the last Day of May. The Emperor commended their Zeal and took it kindly entreating them to shew the like Diligence and good Inclination if at any time after the Case did so require On the Eighth of June after he made a Report of what was done and how far they had proceeded in the Session of the Princes and States That the Conferrers had carefully handled the Matter and reconciled many weighty Points of Doctrine and that the Protestant Divines had declared their Thoughts touching the rest which were not as yet accommodated Then he shewed them both the Writings desiring they would take them speedily into Consideration give their Judgment of the same and think of a way how both Church and State might be reformed That for his part he would not omit anything that might contribute thereunto and doubted not but that the Pope's Legate inclined that way too The Senate of Princes consists for most part of Bishops and therefore they who were for rejecting the Book offered by the Emperor and all proceeding by Conference carried it by majority of Voices and gave their Resolution accordingly in Writing though in Terms somewhat too harsh But seeing the Electors and some other Princes who tendered the Wellfare of the Publick did not consent to it there was another Writing drawn up and on the Second of July presented to the Emperor whom therein they advised that as Advocate and Defender of the Church he would communicate the whole Affair to the Pope's Legate according to the Decree of Haguenaw but particularly those Heads which the Conferrers had agreed upon that they might be carefully weighed if there were any thing to be found in them in Sense or Words inconsistent either with the Doctrine of Holy Interpreters or the Custom and Practice of the Church That in the next place what was said more obscurely might be explained and that he himself would be pleased afterwards to acquaint the States with his Thoughts and Resolution as to the whole and to deal with the Protestants that they would suffer themselves to be instructed in the remaining Points in Controversie or if that could not be obtained that then a General or National Council of Germany should be called to determine all Matters in debate Among the States there were some who made it their Business to obstruct the Reformation of Religion
the Opinions of all made a new Proposition and recapitulating what had been represented before that the Cause could not be finally determined then that there was present Danger threatned from the Turk in more Places than one and that much Time was already spent told them That he would referr the Matter wholly to the Council which both the Legate had put him in certain Hopes of and he himself would sollicite the Pope about He also promised to return into Germany and desired the Protestants that in the mean time they would not attempt any thing more than what had been agreed upon by the Divines Next he advised the Bishops and other Prelates to take such Courses in rectifying the Abuses of their several Churches as might prepare the Way for a publick Reformation All generally praised the Emperor's good Intentions and were of Opinion that the Pope's Legate also should seriously enjoin the Bishops to purge and reform their Churches The Protestants promised to behave themselves both as to the reconciled Doctrines and every thing else according to their Duty desiring that other Princes might have free Leave to propound those Doctrines in their own Churches also We have already told you that Eckius was sick both of the Book produced by the Emperor and of the Collocutors also When therefore after the Conference it was returned to the Emperor as has been mentioned and the Matter brought into Debate in the Assembly of the Princes He being ill of a Fever sent a Letter to the Princes to this effect That he had never liked that insipid Book wherein he found so many Errors and therefore ought not to be admitted for that the Use and Custom of the Fathers was therein slighted and the Phrase and Cant of Melancthon to be found in it all over That he had not seen the Book as it was corrected by his Collegues and afterwards delivered back to the Emperor but that only some of the Lutheran Doctrines had been read over to him as he lay sick That far less had he approved that Writing which was presented to the Emperor with the Book nor indeed had he ever seen it When this came to the Knowledge of Julius Pflug and John Gropper who thought their Reputation therein concerned they prayed the Presidents and Auditors of the Conference as being Witnesses of all the Proceedings that they would do them right and defend their good Name against the Calumnies of Eckius These inform the Emperor of the Matter who afterwards in a publick Paper gave a fair and honourable Character of both declaring that they had acted as it became good and honest Men. The Cause of Religion we told you before was referred to a general or provincial Council of Germany But when this came to the Knowledge of Contarini he sent a Letter to all the States dated the Twenty sixth of July desiring that the last might be dashed out and cancelled for that Controversies about Religion ought not to be determined by such Councils but that they belonged to the Decision of the universal Church That whatsoever also was determined privately by any one Nation in Matters of that nature was void and of no effect That so they would much gratify the Pope the Head of the Church and Council if they would omit that whereas it would be very troublesom unto him if they did otherwise for that it would give Occasion to more and far greater Scandals as well in other Provinces as chiefly in Germany And that this was the thing he had to acquaint them with from the Pope and in discharge of his own Duty The Princes made Answer the same Day That it lay in the Pope's Power to prevent any Scandals or Troubles upon that Account by calling of a Council which had now for so many Years been promised That if he did not call it and that speedily too the State of Germany was such that there was an absolute Necessity of taking some other Course to make up the Breaches of the Publick which could not subsist longer with Safety in so inveterate a Dissention That therefore they earnestly desired the Pope would apply some Remedy and that he himself according to his Prudence and Candor would promote the Matter The Protestant Divines also in a long Writing refute the Letter of Contarini proving it to belong to every particular Province to establish the true Religion and Worship of God. These Things done the Emperor made a Decree and caused it to be read on the Eight and twentieth of July wherein he referrs the Conference of the Doctors and the whole Affair to a Council to an Assembly either of all Germany or of the States of the Empire In his Progress into Italy he promises to intercede earnestly with the Pope for a Council and that if neither a general nor national Council could be obtained he assured them of an imperial Diet to be called within Eighteen Months for settling the Differences about Religion and that he would use his Endeavours to perswade the Pope to send a Legate to it The Protestants he commanded not to attempt any new thing besides the Articles accommodated and the Bishops also to reform the Vices and Abuses of their Churches There were other Heads in the Decree as Of not demolishing Religious Houses Of not misapplying Church Revenues Of not tampering with one another to make them change their Religion and Of the Jurisdiction and Members of the Imperial Chamber But the Protestants being somewhat dissatisfied with these things the Emperor in a private Paper told them separately what his Intentions therein were That he prescribed no Rule to them in the Points not as yet reconciled That he would not indeed have Religious Houses demolished but that the Monks and Friars should be brought to a pious Reformation That Church-men should in all Places be allowed to enjoy their yearly Revenues without any Respect to the Diversity of Religion That no Person of another Jurisdiction should be allured over to their Religion and much less be defended upon that account but that still they might admit of any Person who should willingly come over unto them Moreover that for Peace and Quietness Sake he suspended the Decree of Ausburg as far as it concerned Religion and all Processes that were doubtful whether they related to Religion or not in like manner all Proscriptions and namely that of Goslar until the Matter should be determined in some Council or Diet That no Man should be excluded from the Imperial Chamber for differing in Religion but that Justice should be indifferently administred to all When they had obtained this Grant from the Emperor under Hand and Seal they promised Assistance against the Turk of whose Approach there was fresh News daily brought besides there were Ambassadors come both from Hungary and Austria who earnestly begged for Aid wherefore there was a present Supply of Germans sent into Hungary under the Command of
and Consternation and were very like to have taken Antwerp and Lovain but wanting Ammunition and other things necessary for the Artillery they could not batter the places however where-ever they went they ravaged and plundered all and having extorted a great deal of Money forced their way through and in the Month of August joined Charles Duke of Orleans the King's Son who was then making War in the Dutchy of Luxemburg There were Four hundred Horse in this Service sent by the King of Denmark And besides Damvilliers Virton and Yvoix Luxemberg the Chief City of the Province was taken by the French. The King himself carried on the War on the other side and besieged Perpignan a Town of Roussillon by the Pyrenean Hills He also ordered William of Langey to act in Piedmont whilst the Duke of Vendosme invaded Artois and Flanders So that he attacked the Enemy in Five several places at once but many thought it would have been better to have fallen into any one Province with his whole Army as it proved to be true in the end for both Perpignan was attempted in vain and the Duke of Orleans being returned Home the Imperialists recovered all almost except Yvoix Upon this occasion Antwerp began to be Fortified having been a place of easie access before When the King was about to make War he sent back Paulain to the Turk to entreat him that he would send him a Fleet into Provence But Paulain arriving too late Solyman put it off till the Year following In the Heat of this War the King published Edicts against the Lutherans And the Parliament of Paris charged all Printers and Booksellers under great Penalties that they should not print publish nor sell any Books that were condemned or suspected and Calvin's Institutions by Name Afterwards at the request of the Inquisitor they made a Decree on the Seventh of July that the People should be admonished from the Pulpit to be Obedient to the Church and if they knew any Lutheran or any one that thought amiss of Religion they should present him for that it was a work very acceptable to God. But the Curats and Ministers of the Church had a Form prescribed to them which they were to follow in examining and making their Enquiry For they were enjoined to put the Question to the Informers If they knew any that said there was no Purgatory That so soon as a Man was dead he was either damned or saved That Man is not justified by keeping the Commands of God That God only was to be Prayed unto and not the Saints That the Worshipping of Images was Idolatry That the Saints did not work Miracles That the Ceremonies of the Church profited nothing That the Canons of the Church obliged no Man That it was necessary for all Men indifferently to understand the Gospel That all Men ought to read the Scripture in the vulgar Tongue That it was an Idle thing for common People to pray to God in Latin That the Priest did not forgive Sins by the Sacrament of Penance but that he was only the Minster who declared God's Mercy in pardoning of Sins That the Church could not oblige any Man under pain of mortal Sin Or that it was lawful to eat Flesh at all times This Form of Inquisition was given and enjoined to Priests privately But there was an Edict published whereby all were commanded to inform against and accuse those who neglected the Rites and Constitutions of the Church who had Heretical Books themselves or gave them to others to read or willingly dropp'd them in the Streets that so they might be dispersed who kept private Meetings in Houses or Gardens and framed designs contrary to the Constitutions of the Church and those who received such Men into their Houses and Gardens They that were privy to any such thing were commanded under pain of Excommunication to present all within Six Days to the Doctors of Divinity chosen by the Inquisitor to wit Henry Gervase Nicholas Clerk Peter Richard Robert Buccine John Benot Francis Picard and John Morine Booksellers also were charged within Six Days to bring all the suspected Books and Manuscripts they had to the aforesaid Doctors which if they did not no excuse was to be admitted afterwards The same Day that Edict was proclaimed publick Processions and Prayers were made in all Churches of Paris for the safety of the Kingdom and preservation of Religion and the Relicks of St. Gennevieve their tutelary Saint were carried about and much about the same time some were burnt for Religion There was one Francis de Landre Curat of St. Croix in Paris who preached the pure Word of God to the People at that time and did not say Mass because he drank no Wine but whether out of natural antipathy or design I know not The Sorbonn Doctors conceived a great Hatred against this Man and having employed some Emissaries to take Notes of his Sermon they propounded to him these Heads of Doctrine to know his Judgment of them That the Sacrifice of the Mass is instituted by Christ and is propitiatory both for the Living and the Dead That Saints are to be prayed unto that they may be Advocates and Intercessors for us with Christ That the Substance of the Bread and Wine is changed by Consecration That none but Priests can Consecrate the Bread and Wine and alone have right to the Sacrament in both Kinds That monastick Vows are to be kept That by the Sacraments of Confirmation and Unction the Holy Ghost is received That by Fasting Prayer and good Works Souls are delivered out of Purgatory That the Constitutions of the Church concerning Fasting and choice of Meats bind the Conscience That the Pope is Head of the Church whom all are bound to obey by divine Right That many things are to be believed and necessarily received which are not expressed in Scripture That the pains of Purgatory are remitted by the Pope's Indulgences That Priests though they be vitious and sinful consecrate the Body of the Lord That all mortal Sins are to be confessed to the Priest and Absolution to be received from him That Man has free will whereby he may do good or evil And rise again from Sin by Repentance That the pardon of Sins is obtained not by Faith alone but by Charity and true Repentance That the Church and Councils lawfully called cannot erre and that they are to be obeyed And that it belongs to the Church to Interpret and Expound the Scripture if any Controversie arise about the Meaning of it These Articles they required him to approve under hand and Seal Some Days after he gave them a general Answer that whatever the Holy Catholick Church taught as to these things was Pious and Holy. But not satisfied with that Answer they attempted greater Matters against him as you shall know hereafter At this time also two Dominican Friars preached the Gospel at Metz and seeing the Priests began to shew their dislike
Lower Saxony and forced them of Meckelburg Lunenburg Anbalt and Mansfeld to pay it Another part of his and the Bishop's Forces having beat Albert and taken Schweinfurt as I have said they Treated Rotenburg an Imperial City and the County of Henneburg very severely and seemed resolved that if they did not contribute to the Expences of this War which they pretend did belong to all they would levy it by Force but by the Interposition of others this difference was Composed and no Force was made use of About this time Charles Duke of Savoy who as I have related above was stript of the greatest part of his Territories died leaving as his Heir Philibert his Son who had served many Years as a Soldier undr the Emperor Ferdinand King of the Romans published an Edict commanding his Subjects not to change any thing in the Celebration of the Sacrament of the Eucharist and that according to the old Custom they that received the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper should content themselves with one of the Spectes the Bread only But the Princes the Nobility and Cities having often before Petitioned him in this Business did now by a Letter very humbly desire that according to Christ's Command and Institution and the custom of the ancient Church which they backed also with many Reasons they might be allowed the partaking of the whole and entire Eucharist The King answering this Letter the twenty third of June from Vienna said he did not in the least suppose when he published that Edict that it should be made by them the Subject of a Dispute and Cavil For said he my only design was that the People in my Dominions should remain in the ancient and true Religion and in the Obedience of the Catholick Church out of the Communion of which none can be Saved and that they might receive this most excellent Sacrament according to the Laws and Customs of the Church and that they might not be perverted from that duty they owe both to the Civil Magistrate and the Church either by the perverse Opinions of some Men or by a certain over great Curiosity or Pride He said this was the only intention and design of that Edict and that he had not in it commanded any new thing but had required only the continuance of an ancient Institution which has been brought down to me from hand to hand by my Ancestors the Emperors Kings and Dukes of Austria and which has to this Day been diligently observed by me as becomes a Christian Prince and which I have heretofore frequently commanded my Subjects to continue in And therefore I did not in the least suspect that you would attempt any thing against the tenor of this Edict who so earnestly contend that in all other things no change may be made and that you may enjoy your Laws and Rights without Violation For certainly this is a new thing and of late taken up by you upon some Opinion which you argue so largely for as if it befitted you to judge of my Commands who am your principal and highest Magistrate and as if that ought of right to be allowed you which some of you of late years have of their own Authority privately assumed to themselves and usurped contrary to the Canons of the Church and against my Will. But then it being as you say a grave and difficult question as you your selves aver I will think further of it and in due time I will return such an answer to it as shall shew that I am very much concern'd for the Salvation of my People But in the mean time I expect all manner of submission from you and that you should not in the least act any thing contrary to my Edict To this Letter the States made a reply in Writing also to this Effect What we have so often said most serene Prince concerning the Command of our Saviour we now again repeat for he instituted his Supper in clear and perspicuous Words that it might be received by all in the self same manner as he prescribed And it is not lawful for any mortal Man to change or alter his Institution and Prescription This was also the ancient custom of the Church and that which is now used crept in by insensible degrees as we can demonstrate For the Council of Constance confesseth that it was so instituted by Christ Seeing therefore this pertains to the Salvation of our Souls certainly neither Curiosity nor Pride have put us upon it And upon this very score we the rather hope that you will direct your future deliberation by the Commands of Christ and his Apostles and the practice of the ancient Church and in no wise oppress our Consciences which just request we make to your Majesty by all that is sacred by the Glory of God and by the Salvation of our Souls We acknowledge that by the Will of God you are our Supream Magistrate and we do this with the utmost willingness and we say that there is nothing which you may not or ought not to expect from us but in this one thing we desire you would spare us In the Diocess of Wurtzburg in Franconia there is a Monastery called Nenstadt the Abbot of which John Frisius falling into the suspicion of Lutheranism was cited the fifth day of May to appear within six days after at Wurtzburg and answer to such things as should be then enquired of him The Interrogatories then administred to him were Whether it be lawful to Swear Whether a Man is bound by his Vow Whether it be lawful to make a Vow of Poverty Chastity and Obedience Whether such Vows oblige Whether Matrimony or Celibacy doth best become the Ministers of the Church Whether there is one true and Apostolical Church Whether she is perpetually governed as the Spouse of Christ by the Holy-Ghost Whether she does always decree what is true and Salutary Whether the Church is to be deserted for the Vices and Errors of some Men in it Whether she upon the account of the Head the Vicar of Christ may rightly be called the Roman-Church Whether all the Books of both Testaments which the Canon has are lawful and true Whether the Sacred Scriptures are to be interpreted according to the Sentence of the Holy Fathers the Doctors of the Church and the Councils or according to that of Luther and such others Whether besides the sacred Scriptures there be not need of other Traditions such as those of the Apostles and others of the same Nature Whether the same Faith Authority and Obedience is due to these Traditions which is due to the sacred Scriptures Whether the civil Magistrate is to be obeyed in Politick or Civil Affairs and the Ecclesiastick in Sacred or Holy things Whether the Sacraments of the Church are Seven Whether Children are to be Baptized Whether Baptism ought to be administred in the Latin Tongue Whether Salt Oil Water Characters and Exorcisms ought to be made use of in
might severely punish so great a Negligence both by publick and private Calamities That Luther's way was not unlike to the Sect of Mahomet which allows Men to marry several Wives and afterwards to put them away by which Law that villanous Juggler bewitched Men and drew the greatest part of the World over to his Religion That Luther did not indeed expresly allow that but that he absolved all those who had made to God Vows of Chastity from the obligation of the Law exhorted them to Marriage and let loose the Reins to Men's Lusts that so he might allure more People into that Association and Confederacy which he was hatching to the Ruine of Christendom and particularly of Germany That therefore it was their Parts punctually to put into execution the Sentences of the Pope and Emperour that they might avenge the Glory of God wipe off the Reproach that stuck to their Country and remove from themselves an infectious Pestilence That nevertheless such of them as should retract and return into the right way might be pardoned and received again into Favour but that they who obstinately maintained their Errors ought to be punished with the utmost severity that the rest being terrified by such an Example might learn to persevere in the true Faith and Religion That if it should be objected by some That Luther was condemned before he had been heard and that it was Reasonable that he should be tryed before he suffered such men reasoned amiss for that Christ himself had laid down a Rule of Faith and Religion whose Authority we ought to submit unto and not dispute about Articles of Faith nor enquire into the Reasons of this or that Precept That he was to be heard indeed when he was examined Whether in his Sermons he had said so or so or whether he had published this or that Book but that he ought not to be admitted to defend those things which he had broached concerning the Faith and Sacraments for here the Custom and Doctrin of the Church was to be observed and not to be deviated from And since most of his Opinions were already condemned by the Authority of Councils no regard ought to be had unto them That there could not be a greater Injury done to Ecclesiastical Assemblies than to cavil at or reject their Decrees nor could there be any End of Controversies if what Learned and Wise Men had after long and serious Deliberation determined should by every Private Person be questioned and examined That all Societies of Men had certain and fixed Laws which they were bound to observe how much more then ought not that to be done when any thing is established by Publick Authority in the Church That seeing then these Men did not only reject but even burn the Decrees of the Councils and Fathers they ought certainly to be punished as Disturbers of the Publick Peace That in the mean time it was not to be dissembled nor past over in Silence that God who is the Revenger of all Iniquity did in this manner afflict his Church for the Sins of the People but chiefly of the Rulers and Ministers of the Church since the Scripture saith That the iniquity of the people proceeded from the priests For that in Truth for these many Years past the Sins of Rome had been manifold and grievous and that even from the Head down to the inferior Clergy that Evil and Contagion had been propagated that no Man did his Duty all had gone astray and that none were free from Guilt no not one So that all Glory was to be given unto God alone from whom Pardon and Remission was humbly to be implored That since things were then in such a State he would take care That the Court of Rome which perhaps had given occasion to so great Evils should first of all be strictly reformed that so the Cure might begin at the Root and Cause of the Distemper which he thought himself the more obliged to do in that it was most earnestly desired by most Men That for his own part he was against his Will and with Reluctancy promoted to the Chair and would have been far better pleased with a Private Life But that being moved by the Fear of God and present State of Affairs he could not at length decline that burthensome Care That indeed no desire of Dominion and Rule had been a Motive to him to accept of that Charge but only that he might have an Opportunity of consulting and doing what he could for the Publick Good and Welfare of Christendom Now that he did not instantly reform the Vices and Abuses which he plainly saw the Reason was because the Disease which he designed to cure was very inveterate and Complicate also so that he must proceed gently and by degrees lest by attempting too sudden and speedy a Cure he should increase the Distemper For that all sudden Changes were dangerous and it was an old Proverb That he who blowed his Nose too hard would squeeze out Blood. This Writing Luther translated afterwards into High Dutch and illustrated with Marginal Notes wherein he observes That what the Pope said of Proceeding in the Reformation gradually and by little and little ought so to be understood as that for the space of every Step an interval of some Ages ought to be allowed However it was said That his Holiness had but little Thanks from the Cardinals for that he so plainly acknowledged the Corruptions of the Court of Rome Although this be reported to be a common Fetch of the Popes when they would delay or break the Measures of calling a Council or bringing Matters to a Hearing to make fair and large Promises that they may have time to ingratiate themselves with Kings and Princes till an Opportunity offer of Deciding the matter by the Sword for by Promises they raise Hopes and Expectations in Mens Minds and in the mean time take Measures for retaining their Power and Dignity which they know to be indangered by General Councils In the mean time whilst the Legate proceeded in this manner the Princes complained That the Compacts and Agreements which they had heretofore made with the Popes were many ways violated at Rome The Pope being acquainted with this by Letters from his Legate ordered him to tell them That he could not help what had been done by his Predecessors But that he had ever been even whilst he was a Private Man much displeased with that usual way of Proceeding of the Court of Rome and that he had already resolved of himself though no Application had been made to him about it to reform all these things and not to suffer any Man to be wronged far less them whom for Countrys sakehe desired chiefly to gratfie That as to what they demanded That all Law-Suits commenced at Rome might be remitted to Germany he told them That most of the Judges and Advocates had left the City because of the Plague but that so soon as they
grievous and scandalous Crimes That they nevertheless who were satisfied with the Punishment enjoyned by the Canon Law were much to be recommended for that Moderation but that they who clapt up in Prison and in Chains Rack'd Tormented and put Priests to Death for contracting Marriage or forsaking their Order were greatly to be detested Wherefore he besought the Princes that seeing their Adversaries did not obey the Decree they had made but boldly and licentiously opposed it they would also pardon those who through frailty of Nature that they might not wound their own Consciences or run into manifest Sin should not exactly observe that last Clause of the same for that it was very unreasonable that their potent Adversaries should have liberty to violate those things which they ought and might most easily observe and that other poor Men should be punished for transgressing a Law which it was not in their power to observe since all had not the Gift of Continence and that Vows of Chastity were not only foolish but contrary also to good Manners and honest living Afterwards he published a Book at the desire of some about the Ordaining of Ministers and dedicated it to the Magistrates of Prague to which he annexed a Treatise wherein he proved that the Church had the Right and Power of judging all Doctrins and of appointing Ministers In the first place he defined the Church to be where-ever the purity of the Gospel was taught but that Bishops and such other Prelates were Images and Heads without Brains that none of them did their duty in any Nation or among any People and especially in Germany Not long after he wrote about avoiding the Doctrins of Men affirming nevertheless in the Preface to his Book that he did not at all justifie those who boldly despised all Human Laws and Traditions and in the mean time did nothing that belonged to the duty of a true Christian Afterwards he prescribed a Form how Mass and the Communion should be celebrated in the Church of Wittemberg saying That hitherto he had proceeded leisurely because of the infirmity of many and being satisfied only with Doctrin had made it his aim to root out Errours and pernicious Opinions of Mens minds But that now when many were confirmed it was time not to suffer ungodly Rites and Ceremonies any longer in the Church but that the purity of Doctrin should be accompanied with sincerity of Worship without Hypocrisie or Superstition To this Piece he subjoyned another Treatise concerning decent and pious Ceremonies to be observed in the Church and another of the Abomination of Private Mass which they call the Canon in the Preface to which he mentions how that in his Books and Sermons having often exhorted Men to the Abrogation of the Popish Mass he had been therefore called Seditious but that it was an injury done unto him for that he had never taught the People publickly to abolish false Worship by their own authority nor had he indeed allowed that to the Magistrate unless the Rulers of the Church should obstinately maintain Errours and because that was a horrid Profanation of the Lord's Supper as the more learned now acknowledged he had therefore been at the pains to write that Piece that the People might also understand and that they might avoid those usual Sacrifices of the Mass as they would the Devil himself and to confirm what he said he set down the whole Canon of the Mass and shewed it to be full of Blasphemies against God. Among the other learmed Men of Germany that favoured Luther Vlrick Hutton a Nobleman of Franconia was one who about the latter end of August this year died in the Territory of Zurich There are some Pieces of his extant which shew him to have been a Man of an excellent and sharp Wit. In the former Book we mentioned how Luther answered Henry King of England which when the King had read he wrote to the Princes of the House of Saxony Duke Frederick his Brother John and to his Cousin George and having made a heavy complaint of Luther he represented to them the great dangers that his Doctrin was like to bring upon them and all Germany and that they were not to be slighted and neglected for that the prodigious success of the Turks whose Cruelty spread now so far owed its Rise to one or two profligate Wretches and that the neighbouring Bohemia was a warning unto them how much it concerned them to prevent an Evil in the beginning He also admonished them not to suffer Luther to publish the New Testament in the Vulgar Tongue for that his Artifices were now so well known that there was no doubt to be made but that by a bad Translation he would corrupt and pervert the purest Orignals To that Letter Duke George wrote a very kind Answer bitterly inveighing against Luther also whose Books he said as the most pernicious of Enemies he had prohibited in all his Territories for that ever since he had allowed him to Dispute at Leipsick he well perceived what he would come to at last That it heartily grieved him also that he had writ so bitterly against his Majesty which Libel he had prohibited to be Sold or Read within his Dominion having punished the Bookseller who first brought the Copy of it into his Country In the former Diet of Norimberg besides Matters of Religion the Princes took also into deliberation how they might settle Peace and establish Judicatures what Punishments were to be inflicted on those who obeyed not the Laws of the Empire and how they might raise present and constant Aids against the Turk But as to these two last Points nothing could be concluded wherefore they were put off to another time and Diet And because some things were enacted in that Diet which the Cities of the Empire perceived would redound to their prejudice they all sent Embassadors upon that account to the Emperor in Spain These arriving at Valladolid August the Sixth and having Audience three days after the Emperor gave them a very Gracious and Princely Answer within a few days but withal told them That the Pope had complained to him by Letters of Strasburg Norimber and Ausburg as if they favoured the Doctrin of Luther That he expected better things of them but that however he could not pass it by in silence that they might have a care to obey his and the Pope's Edicts which he was consident they would do They justified themselves assuring his Majesty that their Cities were no ways wanting in readiness to fulfil his Will and Pleasure In the mean time September the Thirteenth Pope Adrian dies to whom succeeded Clement VII of the Family of Medices Of all the Switzers none but the People of Zurich followed the Doctrin of Zuinglius most of the other Cantons vexed and murmured at it And therefore in a Convention of States held for that purpose at Berne there were some who grievously accused Zuinglius and to
of the taking of Rome having made a League with the King of England he sent a puissant Army into Italy under the command of Lautrech a Gascoin for the relief of the Pope He being come into Lombardy and joyned by the Venetians took first Alexandria and then Pavia partly by composition and partly by assault where the Soldiers enraged that their King should have been taken there having made great slaughter of the Towns-people plundered it July the twenty seventh Charles Duke of Bourbonne who had been lately killed at the taking of Rome was condemned of High Treason by the Parliament of Paris his name and memory declared infamous his arms torn and his goods and lands forfeited Anthony du Prat the Chancellour pronounced the Sentence Bourbonne bore a mortal hatred to the French King and being about to besiege Marseilles as we mentined in the Fourth Book he wrote to the Cardinal of York among other things that he would spare neither pains nor perils in assisting King Henry for the recovery of the Right and Title he had to France For above two hundred years the English have laid claim to the whole Kingdom of France but especially to Normandy Gascony and Guienne By these Letters therefore Bourbonne oblique stirred up the King of England to prosecute his Right there and they coming after into the hands of the French King incensed him far more against the Duke There was at that time in Bavaria one Leonard Cesar a Professor of the Gospel who being apprehended by orders from the Bishop of Passaw maintained these points of Doctrin That man was Justified by Faith alone That there was but two Sacraments Baptism and the Lords Supper That the Mass was not a Sacrifice and availed not the Quick and the Dead That the Confession of sins was a counsel and not a precept That Christ alone made Satisfaction for us That the Vow of Chastity was not obligatory That the Scripture did not speak of Purgatory That there was no distinction of Days That the Dead were no Intercessors and that in spiritual and divine matters Man had no Free-will When he was brought to Tryal he would have spoken more fully of all these Points to the People but was not suffered Eckius was one of those that tryed him and all spoke in Latin that the People might not understand save only the Prisoner who discoursed in Dutch but could not get them to do the same At length he was condemned for a Heretick and being delivered over to the Temporal Magistrate William Duke of Bavaria under whose Jurisdiction he lived August 16 he was burnt for the Bishop did not pronounce Sentence of Death against him lest he might pollute holy things and become irregular by having a Hand in his Blood. Ferdinand who had been the Emperour's Deputy in Germany after the Death of King Lewis being chosen King of Bohemia and standing in competition with the Vaivode of Transilvania for the Crown of Hungary which occasioned a War. Philip Marquess of Baden who was substituted unto him called a Dyet in the Emperour's Name to be held at Ratisbonne in the beginning of March following whither the States should repair to consult of Religion and the Turkish War. You heard before of the Disputation of Baden but since the Acts of the Dispute and Conference were not communicated to those of Berne the most noted and powerful Canton of all the Switzers though they had desired it and that the Differences about Religion increased all the Ministers not agreeing among themselves in Doctrin they appointed another Disputation to be had within their own City December 17 whereof they made publick Intimation and called thereunto the Bishops of Constance Basil Sitien and Lausenne warning them to come in person and bring their Divines with them else they threatned them with the loss of all the Lands and Possessions they had within their Territories afterwards they made a List of the Clergy-Mâ—n of their Jurisdiction and appointed the Scriptures of the Old and News Testament to be the only Rule and to have the sole Authority in all the Debates giving likewise a Safe-Conduct to all that pleased to come This Order they also made That all things should be carried on modestly without railing or reproach and that every Man should freely speak his Mind and so distinctly that what they said might be taken by Clerks they also ordained That what should be agreed upon and determined in that Conference should be of Force and have its course through all their Dominions And that all might know what they were to dispute about and come the better prepared they published Theses to the number of ten which their Ministers Francis Colb and Berthold Holler offered to maintain and prove by Scripture And these were That the true Church whereof Christ is the only Head springs from the Word of God perseveres therein and will not hear the Voice of another That this same Church made no Laws besides God's Word That therefore the Traditions of Men who bear the name of the Church no farther oblige us than as they are consonant to the Word of God That Christ alone made Satisfaction for the Sins of the whole World That therefore if any Many say There is any other way of Salvation or of expiating of Sins he denies Christ That it cannot be proved by Scripture That the Body and Blood of Christ are really and Corporally received That the Rite of the Mass wherein Christ is offered up to his Heavenly Father for the Quick and the Dead is repugnant to Scripture and a Reproach to that Sacrifice which Christ made for us That Christ alone is to be prayed unto as the Mediator and Advocate for us with God the Father That it is not to be found in Holy Scripture that there is any place where Souls are purged after this Life That therefore the Prayers and all the Ceremonies and Anniversary Offices which are performed for the Dead Tapers Lamps and the like are of no use at all That it is contrary to Holy Scripture that any Image or Picture should be proposed to be worshiped That therefore if they be placed in Churches for that end they are to be removed That Marriage is forbidden to no Order of Men but that for avoiding of Fornication the Scripture permits all to marry And that since all Whoremongers are by Testimony of Scripture really separated from the Communion of the Church impure and unchast Celibacy is least of all becoming the Order of Priesthood When those of Berne had written concerning these things to all the Cantons exhorting them to send their learned Men and to give Safe-Conduct to all others who pleased to come The Cantons of Lucerne Vri Switz Vnderwald Zug Glaris Friburg and Solothurne answered by a long Letter seriously exhorting them That they would desist from their Enterprize putting them in mind of their League and Association and of the Disputation of Baden whereof they themselves
their Sect over a great part of Germany Luther and almost all their learned Men crying out upon their Extravagance The Magistrates punishing and watching with that care that it was almost impossible for them to meet in any considerable numbers at last they possess'd themselves of the City before mentioned and in regard it was very well fortified made it the place of their Residence which happen'd thus Not far from the City of Munster there is a Church dedicated to St. Maurice in which in the year 1532 Bernard Rotman preached the reformed Religion and had a considerable Audience from the Town and when the Citizens had thoughts of bringing him in thither the Papists to prevent their design give him a moderate sum of mony that he might go and exercise his Faculties somewhere else Away goes he and travelling to some places where he thought he could better improve and advantage himself returns again after a few months But they being disgusted at his coming back endeavour to keep him from Preaching but to no purpose for he was followed with the applause of the People Soon after some of the principal Citizens receive him into the Town and because he was barred the Churches they make him a Pulpit abroad in the Porch and his Congregation encreasing daily they require the Papists to open him the Church otherwise they would break it open by force Not long after by the advice of a Committee of the People he sends Letters into the Neighbour-hood of Hassia which belongs to the Lantgrave and desires that they would send him some religious and learned Men to assist him in sowing the Seed of the Gospel Accordingly there are two sent him from Marpurg When they came thither six of the reform'd enter into consultation how they may clear the Town of Popery as soon as may be that the Gospel may be Preached with the greater success For the effecting of which they judged this following Expedient the most proper viz. To set down the Errors of the Church of Rome in writing which when they had digested into thirty Heads they delivered them to the Senate adding that they were ready to submit to the utmost severity if they did not demonstrate from the Holy Scriptures that all these propositions were repugnant to the Word of God. The Senate orders the Papists to attend the Court and reads over all the objected Errors to them and because they had always pretended that their Doctrin was unexceptionable and founded on Divine Revelation The Preachers on the other side denying this and offering to make good their Assertions under the highest Penalties The Court therefore asks them if they would confute the Objections of their Adversaries by the Scriptures Being thus called upon and perceiving that the Senate were earnest to have the matter brought to an Issue They answer in short That they had nothing to say for themselves and that it was only Ignorance and Opinion which made them hitherto maintain their Doctrin as Orthodox and Good. Thereupon in regard they were convicted of Error and false Doctrin had nothing to alledge in their defence and had made an acknowledgement of their Wickedness the Senate commands them to forbear Preaching for the future and to resign their Pulpits in all the Churches to the new Teachers who had discovered their Impostures Afterwards by the order of the Senate and People every Man has a Church assigned him to preach in which was very unkindly taken by the Papists especially by those who belonged to the Principal Cathedral Church being most of them Gentlemen These Persons when they could do nothing else go angry away and apply themselves to the Bishop of the City where after consultation they resolve to possess themselves of all the Avenues and Passes that no Provision might be carried into the Town A little after they had blocked up all the ways the Bishop and those before mentioned come to Telget to take further advice which is a little Town about a Mile distant from the City From thence they dispatch a Messenger to the Senate with Letters importing that they should desist from what they were about and put things into their former order otherwise they must be treated as Enemies The Bishops name was Francis Count Waldeck His immediate Predecessor was Ferdinand own Brother to the Arch-Bishop of Cologn But he not long before either because he had not his Health there or because he foresaw some Disturbance went off and resigned up his Station contenting himself with a private Life in his own Country The Citizens of Munster upon Deliberation detain the Messenger and upon Christmas-Eve Eve about nine hundred of them marching out in the night surprize the Village and take it and having secured the Gates that none might escape they seize upon all that were in it The Bishop by chance went away the day before They immediately bring the Prisoners into the City amongst these there were some Papists of great Quality with some others of the inferior Nobility The Senate asks them what their intentions were and whether they still designed to hinder the Preaching of the Gospel They very frankly answer that they would endeavour to make that Doctrin flourish Upon this a Treaty is concluded a Copy of which was sent to the Lantgrave by the Senate withal desiring him that for the sake of Religion and the Common-wealth he would assist in this Affair The Lantgrave sends several of his Subjects with a Commission by whose mediation they concluded a farther Treaty to this effect That forgetting all former Disgusts they should be heartily reconciled to one another and live peaceably on both sides That the Gospel should be Preached in six of their Churches That all impiety and superstition in Religion should be suppressed That nothing should be altered in the principal Church or Cathedral nor the Citizens pretend to any Authority there This Pacification was signed by the Lantgrave by the Bishop and his Tenants and Dependents and also by the Nobility and Commonalty upon the 14th day of February in the year 1533. When things were accommodated in this manner there comes to Munster a Dutch Botcher one John of Leyden a violent Anabaptist This Man at first privately asks some of the Doctors of the reformed Religion into whose familiarity he had insinuated himself Whether they thought the Baptism of Infants warrantable Upon their affirming it was John who was a great Zealot for the contrary Opinion began to deride and contemn them Which thing being understood Bernard Rotman whom we mentioned before exhorts the People at an Assembly to betake themselves to prayer that they might be enabled to maintain their Doctrin in its Purity and defend it from the Corruptions of the Fanaticks especially from the Anabaptists who had now privately crept in amongst them and mixed themselves in their Congregations whose Opinion if it should prevail not only the State but likewise Religion would be in a miserable condition
About the same time there comes Herman Stapred who after he was joyned in Commission with Rotman began to declaim publickly against Infant Baptism His Instructor was Henricus Rollius who a little before had been punished at Vtrecht for Anabaptism This was as it were another step to that new Doctrin which had now gotten such footing that the Anabaptists were talked on all the Town over Though as yet they managed their business privately admitting none to their Consults but those of their own Sect The Ring-leaders of which did not make an open profession of their Tenets for they Preached only anights when other People were asleep then they began to celebrate their Mysteries But their Practices being discovered and most of the Citizens being highly dissatisfied and crying out that it was insufferable that a Novel Doctrin should be spread in such a secret and clandestine way The Senate issues out an Order that the Teachers should depart the Town which they did but return thither by another way pretending they had a command from God to stay there and to carry on the Cause with all the seriousness and application imaginable The Senate was somewhat alarm'd and surprized at this And therefore to prevent greater danger and disturbance both the Anabaptists and the Doctors of the reformed Religion accompanied with some learned Men are commanded to come into the Senate-House Here Rotman discovers his Sentiments which he had hitherto concealed and condemns Pedo-Baptism as impious and execrable But Herman Buscheus especially defended the contrary Opinion before the Senate with such success that there was a publick Decree made to command the Anabaptists to quit the Town forthwith who pretending it was not safe for them to travel through the Bishops Territories the Senate procures them a safe Conduct and likewise furnishes them with Provision for their Journy But they who had resolved long before not to stir retired privately to their Disciples and lie concealed for some time The Senate in the mean time before the other appeared abroad again shut up all the Churches leaving only one open For they were afraid lest the Anabaptists whose numbers encreased daily should sally with their Teachers and throw the Ministers of the Gospel out of the Churches In November following the Lantgrave at the request of the Senate sends them two Persons to instruct the People the one was Theodorick Frabritius the other John Melsinger This last understanding the Publick Disturbances and being somewhat apprehensive of danger returns home But Fabritius very courageously advised the Burgers to be very careful to avoid the Anabaptists Doctrin which Post he maintained till the Anabaptists got the upperhand and banish'd all the other Perswasions from the Town as will appear afterwards and that nothing might be wanting he draws up a Form of Doctrin and Church-Government which was approved by the Senate and People Afterwards by the leave of the Senate Petrus Wirtemius began to Instruct the People but he had not preach'd many Sermons before he was ejected by the Anabaptists at the Instigation of Rottman who now being grown more Insolent challenge Fabritius and the rest to dispute The Senate approving this Method it was propos'd as most convenient that the cause might be tried only by the Holy Scriptures or by Writings of a resembling Nature that some unexceptionable and learned Persons might be chosen as Arbitrators who after a full hearing and consideration of the Arguments of both Sides might pronounce Sentence That their Determination should oblige both Parties this being the way to remove Dissention and to restore the Peace of the Church But to this condition Rottman and his Associates would not agree Now their declining to stand a Trial made them begin to be generally slighted therefore to recover their Reputation they pitch upon another more compendious Method One of them pretending to be Inspir'd runs about the Town and cries out Repent and be rebaptized otherwise the Wrath of God will Overwhelm you Upon this the Rabble began to grow troublesome and tumultuous and all that were rebaptiz'd bawled out the same things and in the same manner which he did A great many ignorant well-meaning People were circumvented and imposed on by those Enthusiasts and obeyed them in every thing for fear of the Wrath of God which they so solemnly denounced Others joyned with them for the security of their Fortunes for the Anabaptists handled their Adversaries very severely and outed them of their Possessions This happen'd about the end of December And now those before-mention'd came out of the places where they absconded and running in a Body to the Market-Place they make a great Out-cry there and order all unrebaptiz'd Persons to be killed for Heathens and Wretches Afterwards they seize upon the Town-Ordnance and the Senate-house and offer Violence to a great many of the Citizens Some of which to Protect themselves and their Friends from Out-rage possess themselves of part of the Town which was naturally fortifi'd and take a great many of the other Party Prisoners This Skirmish with the Anabaptists who kept the Market-Place which they had fortifi'd on all sides continu'd till both Parties gave Hostages and came to a Treaty in which it was agreed That every one should Profess what Religion they pleas'd return to their respective Dwellings and be quiet But Rottman in the mean time and Knipperdoling who was the chief Incendiary though they had approv'd the Accommodation yet they write privately to the Neighbouring Towns and invite those of their own Gang to leave what they had behind and to repair to them as soon as was possible that they should receive ten times as much as they left behind Being encouraged with such large Promises both Men and Women flock in shoals to Munster not questioning the advantage of their Expedition especially those of the poorer sort who did not know how to live at home The Townsmen those especially who were Rich when they saw the City fill'd with Strangers withdraw as conveniently as they can and leave the Anabaptists and the rest of the common People together This was done in February about the time that Bacchus his Solemnity us'd to be kept in the Year 1534. Thus the Forces of the other Party being weaken'd the Anabaptists choose a new Senate all of their own Faction then they fall to making of Consuls to which Dignity Knipperdoling is preferr'd a little after they break into the Church of St. Maurice in the Suburbs and burn it with all the Houses adjoyning then they riâ—le all the other Churches deface and spoil the inside of the Cathedral By and by they scamper all about the Streets in Clusters and first they cry out Repent but soon after Away ye wicked Wretches unless you have a mind to be knock'd on the head and immediately they appear in a Body all armed and whoever was not of their Sect they drive them forthwith out of the Town without any regard to Age or
lately sent an Ambassador to the Pope to intercede for it it would not be difficult to begin the same especially since they themselves in a League lately made had promised upon Oath to use all their Endeavours to procure the calling of a Council That now was the fit time for it when there was a treaty of Peace with France on Foot and many signs of mutual Benevolence appeared so that the Bishops of their Dominions might without danger repair to it That besides it would much conduce to the Peace of their own Minds and Consciences if they referred all things to a Council and not make Decrees in private Conventions which might offend God for that so they would have nothing to answer for That moreover it would be useful also unto them since all the Care being referred to the Council they would have time and leisure to mind other Affairs as they should think fit and to enlarge their League also which would produce this Effect that the Protestants should either submit to the Decree of the Council or be by the Catholick Confederates reduced to Duty and so much for that That now as to the Turk He did earnestly exhort and beseech as he had often done already that the Emperor would make Peace with the King of France for that such a Peace would be so Advantageous to Christendom that without it it was to be doubted whether the Turk would be resisted That he had many times before shown the Benefits of that Peace so that it was not needful now to repeat them that the other States of the Empire might in the mean time be sollicited for aid and that if after the League should be enlarged and the Council Commenced the Protestants might be perswaded upon Security given them to come to the Council it would not be difficult to obtain Assistance also from them against the Turk But that if there was no obtaining of that but upon bad Conditions pernicious to Religion it was to be considered of two Evils which was to be chosen and whether it would be better to offend God by betraying Religion or to want the Subsidies of one Province against the Turk That the Truth was it could not easily be determined which withstood Christ most the Protestants or the Turks for that these exercised their Cruelty only upon the Bodies of Men but that these drew their Souls into eternal Damnation That therefore he thought it most expedient that a Council should be speedily called to Commence this Year and that no Matters of Religion should be handled in any Diets or Assemblies of Germany but that the League should be enlarged were it only for this that thereby the Protestants might be the more invited to concord That Peace was also to be made with the French King and in the mean time Assistance procured on all Hands against the Turkish Power that next Year he might be attacked with all the Force that could be made Cardinal Farnese had joined with him Marcello Cervino Bishop of Necastro to moderate his Councils who in this same Legation was made Cardinal When some Months after this Counsel of Farnese's came abroad John Calvin cloathed it in a short Commentary least any Man should mistake it and therewith it was printed and published About this time the Duke of Cleve now in possession of Gâ—elderland came to the Emperor to make up the difference he had with him but that proved in vain wherefore returning Home he began to join Counsels with the French King who since he had left all Hopes of Recovering Milan the Emperor having offered such Conditions as he little expected he fell quite off from the Emperor's Friendship though covertly complaining that he had been abused insomuch that the Constable who had been his great Favorite before began now to fall into his Disgrace because he had advised him to let the Emperor pass through France and had thereupon filled him with great Hopes Seeing then the King was casting about underhand how he might by any means annoy the Emperor and that the Duke of Cleve was not able alone to stand it out against so powerful a Competitor they began to think of mutual Engagements of Friendship The French King had a Neece Jane the Daughter of his Sister Margaret Queen of Navarr a Young Lady of about Eleven Years of Age the richest Fortune in France and of singular Beauty both of Body and Mind the King designed her in Marriage for the Duke of Cleve and therefore sollicited her Relations and especially the Queen his Sister for their Consent which at length he obtained as shall be said in its proper place At this time the Pope made War against the Perugians who refused to pay an additional Custom imposed by him upon Salt and other Commodities and so reduced the City under his Obedience having for the like Cause driven Asconio Colonna a very powerful Man out of all his Territories Cardinal Farnese finding no likelihood of any Success in the Peace betwixt the Emperor and French King which according to his Instructions he had propos'd and that unknown to him a Day was assigned the Protestants to meet and treat at Haguenaw he departed and about the Fifteenth of May came to Paris where on Whitsunday in the Cathedral Church he invested Anthony Uncle to Madam d'Estampes the King's Darling Cardinal of Mendon by the ceremony of putting a purple Hat lately sent from Rome upon his Head and then having saluted the King in passing he made all speed back again to Rome King Ferdinand afterwards leaving Flanders set out upon his Journey to the Diet at Haguenaw for because of the Plague it could not be kept at Spire The French King also by the Emperor's Advice sent his Ambassador Lazarus Baif to that Diet for both of them disguised their Discontent and as yet gave fair words to one another The King likewise the First Day of June emitted a most severe Edict against the Broachers of the Heresies and false Doctrine of Luther and his Followers which Twelve Days after was proclaimed at Paris and Printed according to Custom Much about this time the King of England struck off the Head of Thomas Cromwell Earl of Essex whom from a very low Degree he had raised to great Honour He also put away his Queen Ann of Cleve and married the Lady Catharine Howard the Duke of Norfolk's Brother 's Daugther Cromwell had advised the King to the Match of Cleve but he falling afterwards in Love with the Lady Howard was thought to have been prevailed with by her to cut off Cromwell whom she look'd upon as her Adversary Besides he was not very acceptable to the Nobility and had fallen into a suspicion of designing the Ruine of the Roman Catholicks In the mean time Henry Duke of Brunswick accused all the Protestants to the Emperor and in particular Henry Duke of Saxony in that contrary to the Will of his
January where all should be present Afterwards Granvell himself came to Wormes accompanied by the Bishop of Arras his Son and some Spanish Divines Muscosa Malvenda and Carobello where having produced his Commission and the Emperor's Instructions in the Assembly he made a Speech on the Five and Twentieth Day of November And excusing the Emperor and King Ferdinand that they could not be present he enlarged upon the paternal Care and Affection that the Emperor had for the publick who desired nothing more earnestly than that long and inveterate Dissension might be removed which was very pernicious both to Church and State That he made no doubt but they themselves were sensible of the present Calamity and thought it necessary that there should be a Reformation in the Church That nothing therefore would more concern them in Duty than to prevent the spreading of this Evil by their sound and pious Counsels For that as when a Fire broke out in a City it is the Inhabitants part to quench it even so were they now to do that Peace and Concord might be re-established That moreover they should ponder with themselves and set before their Eyes what an Inundation of Evils had by this Dissension broke in upon Germany For that not to mention the Blood and Slaughter Religion was banished Charity quite exstinguished in the Hearts and Minds of Men all the Beauty and Ornament of the ancient Catholick Church defaced and that in short the Eloquence of no Mans Tongue was able to express the greatness and extent of the misery That Germany had heretofore flourished in Zeal for Religion and in all kinds of Vertue but that now it was sadly degenerated and looked upon as the Head and Source of all the Disorders of Christendom That unless then a Remedy were applied to this Distemper all things would grow worse and worse and run to ruine And that as the Emperor had appointed this Conference for examining the Truth and advancing the Glory of God so were they to bring along with them no ambitious nor covetous Minds but pious and moderate Dispositions and look up only to Christ who now with out-stretched Arms desired the same of all of them That that was also the chief desire and wish of the Pope the most August Emperor and King Ferdinand that therefore he adjured them by the Death and Sufferings of Christ and all that was Holy and Sacred that they would mend and make whole again the seamless Coat of our Lord which was rent and torn all over being therein mindful of the Name of Christians which they took upon them in their Holy Baptism and being mindful also of the renowned Province of Germany their common and native Country For that unless they would be reconciled all the Evils that might afterwards ensue from that Obstinacy and Frowardness of Mind would be imputed to them but and if they managed that weighty Affair with Soberness and Modesty they would do God most acceptable Service and extreamly oblige the Emperor who would make it his Endeavours that the whole matter should be accomplished in the next Diet of the Empire After the Death of the Vayvode the Guardians and other Nobles sent Ambassadors to the Grand Seignior and recommended the Child to his Protection The Turk promised to defend him and sent him Presents King Ferdinand also understanding this sent Jerome a Laski who some Years before had Revolted from the Vayvode from Haguenaw to Constantinople as a fit person to make the Turk his Friend Returning afterwards Home he thought it best to begin a War before the Queen Dowager and the Guardians of the Child should be in a readiness Which being known at Constantinople Solyman committed Alaski to Prison as most privy to Ferdinand's Designs and at the same time sent Aid which being hindered by the Winter Weather came a little too late Next Day after Granvell had spoken they began to treat of Clerks and Notaries and on each Side Two were chosen carefully to take Notes of all that pass'd and keep them The Protestants appointed on their part Caspar Cruciger and Wolfgang Musculus both Divines On the Eighth of December after Thomas Campeggio Bishop of Feltri the Popes Legate made a Speech and having promised some things concerning Peace which Christ so much recommended to us and lamented also the Condition of Germany some Popes said he and especially Paul III. had already essayed all Means to have delivered it from this Calamity and had therefore called a Council lately at Vicenza But that when after some Months Expectation none came to it it had been of necessity put off to another time That now the Emperor the eldest and most obedient Son of the Church the Protector also and Advocate of the same had appointed this Conference as a certain preparatory Prelude to the Proceedings of the future Diet at Ratisbone And that with his Will and Consent and by Command of the Pope he was come thither and earnestly intreated them that they would direct all their Counsels to Unity and Concord For that the Pope would do any thing in order thereunto that he could with Safety to Religion The Presidents and Moderators of the Assembly made this Law at first That the Acts of the Conference should not be communicated to any Man unless he were appointed to be one of the Number and that they should not be made publick neither before a full Report of all were made to the Emperor Then they required the Protestants to produce in Writing those Heads of Doctrine which they were fully resolved to stick to There was a long Debate betwixt them about these things as also concerning the Form of the Oath the Number of the Coâ—â—ocutors and the way of giving their Voices For when the Catholicks perceived that the Deputies of the Elector Palatine the Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Cleve favoured the Protestants they were afraid they should be out-voted and therefore purposely drove off the Time from Day to Day until they should have other Orders from the Emperor as shall be said hereafter So then on the Second of January they propounded new and strange Conditions as that Two Divines should be chosen out of the whole Number to reason about the Question proposed That their Arguments and Discourse being taken by the Clerks should be carried to the Presidents That the lesser Number should not be obliged to follow the Opinion of the greater unless the Emperor and States of the Empire decreed it should be so That the Clerks should not write down all the Discourse of the Conferrers but only their bare Opinions whether reconciled or controverted And that nevertheless the Decree of Ausburg and the like should still continue in Force On the contrary The Protestants demanded that since on both sides there were Twenty two appointed for the Conference every one might have Leave to speak their Minds And that not only the bare Opinions but also
over us he looks upon himself as God's Scourge and thinks none can escape his Vengeance Since then our Transgressions are most grievous what can we promise our selves or how shall we be able to stand out against him This is certainly the only remedy That all things are in the Hands of God It is God that giveth and taketh away Empires that smiteth and healeth again who invites us to Repentance by offering unto us the knowledge of his Word which he always does before he afflicts So sent he before the Prophet Jonas to the Ninevites and pardoned them when they Repented so was he favourable to Nebuchadnezzar King of Assyria when he followed the Counsel of Daniel We truly know no other Medicine most dread Sovereign than that the Word of God be purely taught and the People stirred up to amendment of Life that in confidence thereof they may withstand the Violence of the Turks for in the true worshipping of God all our safety consists Many Errors have crept into the Church it cannot be denied which being in this our time discovered have occasioned great Dissensions But in the late Diet of the Empire many Points of Religion have been agreed upon and for a certain time Peace given to Religion Besides the Bishops have been enjoined to reform the Abuses of their Churches Now if that accommodation be denied to us and if any one incurr danger for following those Heads of Doctrine which have been accorded it is obvious enough to think how grievous a thing that will be Wherefore we humbly beseech your Majesty to give command that the Gospel may be purely taught especially that Point of Doctrine which relates to Justification to wit That our Sins are pardoned through Christ alone In the next place that Men be exhorted to the practice of Charity and good Works which are as it were the Fruit and Signs of Faith Let them also be made afraid of Sin and accustomed to give God Thanks that through his Mercy we are by Jesus Christ delivered from Sin Death and Hell and made Inheriters of the Kingdom of Heaven In like manner that they who desire it may have the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper given them according to the Custom of the Primitive Church That Injunctions be also laid upon the Bishops that according to the late Decree of the Empire they reform what is amiss in the Church that they appoint able Ministers to instruct the People and not turn out sound Preachers as they have always done hitherto And though because of the inveterate corruption this Reformation cannot be brought about of a sudden yet the pure Administration of Doctrine and the Sacraments ought to take place in Churches because our Salvation dependeth thereupon and it is necessary it should be so that the People who are now ignorant and under no Discipline and has scarcely any tincture of the knowledge of God may be brought again into the right way for there are very many Churches altogether destitute whence it comes to pass that the common sort of People wholly degenerate into Paganism so that with much ado they can be restrained from it which with great grief and sorrow we now mention and therefore we pray your Majesty that in so pious and necessary a Mark you would not be wanting to us And let not your Majesty think that we so importunately beg this that we may thereby have greater Liberty or that we are given to Changes For we acknowledge that our Salvation rests only upon Christ that the knowledge of the Gospel is to be adorned by Holiness of Living and we own our selves to obey and serve you with our Lives and Fortunes Now seeing it is so we humbly pray that we may have the benefit of the Decree lately made and that they who shall follow the form of Doctrine mentioned by us before may not be molested in their Religion for by that means Ministers will be found for the Churches and your People will have greater courage to Fight against that most cruel Enemy who for our Impiety and Ingratitude hath by God's permission hitherto been so often Victorious and hath so many times triumphed over us This Petition was presented in the Name of the Nobility and States of Austria by Four and twenty Noblemen and Ten Cities amongst which was Vienna besides their Neighbours of Stiria and Carniola who therein joined with them To these things King Ferdinand made Answer That he was extreamly grieved for the Calamities they mentioned not doubting but they were the Judgments of God for the Sins and Wickedness of the People and that he had many times enjoined the Ministers of the Church diligently to exhort Men to the Amendment of Life But that it increased his Sorrow to find that his Endeavours had met with so little Fruit which was the Reason why lately before he departed from Lintz he had renewed the same Commands as was well known unto them That he never was against it neither but that the Word of God should be rightly taught according to the Tradition of the Apostles and Interpreters received and approved by the Church That he was still in the same Mind and never to the best of his Knowledge punished any Person for following this Form That at present also he would command the Churchmen that according to the last Decree of the Empire they would endeavour to banish Vice reform their Churches and employ able Doctors to teach the People That they themselves knew how zealously and painfully he had bestirred himself in endeavouring to quiet and compose this Difference about Religion That the same was now his chief Desire and that he had good Hopes that either in a General or National Council of Germany or else in a Diet of the Empire the whole Matter might be determined and brought to a Period and that therefore he promised himself the same thing of them That they would submissively wait for that Reconciliation and without attempting any Change or Innovation follow the Footsteps of their Forefathers walking in the old way of their Religion as well as of their Duty and Obedience and that they should not think the Decree of Ratisbone any way concerned them the Intent whereof was only that the Catholicks should continue in the old Religion and the Protestants in that which they followed at the time of the Accommodation untill the meeting of either of the Two Councils or the Diet of the Empire to be called within eighteen Months That since it was so he could not allow his People to act any thing to the contrary They again petition to the same Purpose but in few Words praying that the pure Worship of God may be established and the true Ministers of the Church brought into no Danger For that otherwise it was in vain for them to expect any Victory or good Success against the Turks A little after this died the Bishop of Naumburg and Julius Pflug whom we mentioned was by
thereon according to Scripture But they not satisfying his Desire and finding none that were proper for instructing the People he sent for Martin Bucer from Strasburg one whom both John Gropper had always highly commended to him and he himself also throughly understood by the Conferences he had had with him Accordingly he came in the Month of December the Year before and by the Command of the Prince began in the beginning of this Year to preach at Bonn a Town upon the Rhine five Miles above Cologne On the Fifteenth of March after the Bishop held a new Convention of States at Born and proposed to them to consider of a Reformation of the Church But seeing the Clergy had sent no Deputies to this Convention the rest of the States desired the Archbishop to chuse Men proper for that Affair according to his own Judgment Therefore it was committed to the Care of Bucer to draw up the Heads of the Christian Doctrine and that all things might be done more exactly the Archbishop intreated the Elector of Saxony to associate Philip Melancthon with him When these Two and John Pistorius sent by the Lantgrave had finished the Work the Archbishop sent it to the Clergy of the Cathedral Church who are all descended of Noble Families requiring them to examine carefully the Doctrines contained in that Book And then he called another Convention of States to meet on the Two and twentieth of June after where he laid before them the Book of Reformation desiring that every State might commissionate some to peruse the Book with those that he should appoint that at length some tolerable and pious Reconciliation might be established But the Clergy we mentioned obstinately urged that Bucer chiefly and some other Preachers lately appointed might be turned out And then desired time to consider of the Book but refused to consult with the rest The Archbishop though he well perceived their Design in interposing this Delay yet that they might have no Cause of Complaining granted them time to deliberate But that as to the removing of Bucer and his Colleagues as they demanded he did not refuse it provided any Man could convict them either of erroneous Doctrine or of bad Life and Conversation which he several times gave them Liberty to prove against them being ready to present them to be tried before any lawful Judge Whilst Matters stood thus they prepared a contrary Book which they called Antididagma and in the Preface thereof after a great deal of Railing against the Lutherans they professed in plain Terms That they had rather live under the Turk than under a Magistrate that would embrace and defend that Reformation Gropper as they say was the Author and Contriver of that Book For though he had been very familiar with Bucer Two Years before at the Diet of Ratisbone though after his return Home from thence he had exceedingly commended him not only to the Archbishop but to all Men also and in all Places and though he had sent him many and most loving Letters yet when Matters were brought to this pass he fell totally off from his Friendship and forsaking the Archbishop to whom he was obliged for all his Fortune struck in with the Adversaries The same also did Bernard Hagey the Chancellor who were both enriched with fat Benefices The Divines of Cologne did violently oppugne Bucer and loaded him with most grievous Reproaches He on the contrary desired a friendly Debate and professed in all Assemblies that he would maintain this Doctrine against them Melancthon also wrote a little Book at that time in his Defence and having exhorted them to Modesty and the Study of the Truth he shewed them what horrid Errors they defended Duke Maurice of Saxony made some Laws at this time to be observed throughout his Territories and in his Preface before them he exhorts the Doctors and Ministers of the Church to be diligent in doing their Duty preaching the Gospel in purity and to be a shining Light to their Flock by the Examples of a virtuous Life that they exhort Men to Prayer and mutual Love and Charity sharply rebuke Vice and with the consent of the Magistrate Excommunicate incorrigible Offenders till they be brought to Repentance and that they present such to the Magistrate as will not be reformed that way neither In the next place because Youth is in a manner the seminary both of Church and State he Founded Three publick Schools at Meisen Mersburg and Port and in each place he appoints a certain number of Free Scholars whom he finds in Victuals and Apparel and pays their Masters Yearly Salaries employing for that purpose the Revenues of those Religious Houses wherein Monks and the like had lived before To the Students he allows Six Years to remain there and be taught Out of the same Revenues he also gave an Augmentation to the University of Leipsick of Two thousands Florins a Year and some Measures of Wheat In like manner he prohibited Begging and for Relief of poor Families allotted Money to be yearly consigned in certain places Moreover against Uncleanness he enacted That such as deflowered Virgins and did not marry them though they procured them to be married to others should nevertheless be committed to Prison but Adulterers he commanded to be put to Death That Noblemen and Gentlemen who married the Women whom they had enjoyed before Marriage should be thus punished That the Children whom they had by them before their Marriage could not succeed to any Lands or Inheritances which they held of him in Fee. The Emperor in the mean time arrived at Genoa from Spain by Sea and writing from thence May the Twenty Sixth to the Elector of Saxony the Lantgrave and Confederates he entreats them That now seeing the publick Peace was sufficiently secured by his Edicts and that there would be a Reformation of the Imperial Chamber very speedily that they would not refuse to contribute Assistance against the Turk who had not only made extraordinary Preparations but was also upon his March as he had certain Intelligence both by Messengers and Letters He had received an Account of all that pass'd in the Diet from Naves who went unto him And at the same time he appointed a Diet of the Empire to meet at Spire the last Day of November From Genoa he went to an Interview of the Pope at Busseto a Town upon the River Tava betwixt Piacenza and Cremona There again he demands of him as he had done before by Letters That he would declare the French King an Enemy but he made Answer That that would not be expedient for the publick State of Christendom and persisted therein The Pope had lately bestowed upon his Son Petro Aloisio Parma and Piacenza which upon an Exchange he had obtained from the College of Cardinals And because those Two Cities had formerly belonged to the Dukes of Milan he desired of the Emperor
a document to us how careful we ought to be not to invade the Provinces of others That therefore he should take heed lest at the perswasion of those who had always in their mouths the Reformation of the Church he should rashly put his hand to those things which peculiarly belonged to the Priests The like and more grievous also was the end of Dathan Abirom and Core when they disputed the Authority of Moses and his Brother Aaron That Ozias was a renowned King and yet God struck him with Leprosie because he would offer Incense at the Altar thereby avenging upon him the usurpation of another mans Office. That the care of the Churches was indeed an Office most acceptable to God however that it did not belong to him but to the Priests and chiefly to himself to whom God had given the power of binding and loosing Nor was it pertinent what he said that these Laws were not perpetual but temporary and only to continue till the meeting of a Council For though the design might be pious yet by reason of the person it became impious That it was God's part to call bad Priests to an account to whom men ought to refer them and not to attempt any thing besides That God had signally crowned those Princes with honour and blessings who assisted the Head of the Church the See of Rome and who rendered that love and duty which is due to the Priesthood as may be seen in Constantine the Great the Theodosius's Charlemaigne c. but that such as did otherwise were afflicted with most grievous punishments nor did he mean Nero Domitian and others of that stamp who endeavoured to stifle the Church in its infancy but such as withstood her when she was grown up and the Chair of St. Peter setled In which number were Anastasius the first Mauritius Constans the second Philip Leo and many more who being turn'd out and stript of all ended their days in ignominy and disgrace That Henry the Fourth because he had behaved himself unworthily towards him whom he ought to have reverenced as a Father was by his own Son taken and made to suffer for it at Liege That Frederick the Second a grievous Enemy of the Church of Rome was killed by his own Son. That nevertheless Rebels were not always afflicted and punished but did sometimes flourish in wealth and prosperity which came to pass as the Fathers say lest that if all wicked men were punished here it might be thought that God reserved to himself no Tribunal hereafter That there was no sin indeed that went unpunished but that it was the most grievous effect of the wrath of God when they that sin think they may do it freely and that these were in a deplorable and truly wretched condition because they went on continually heaping sin upon sin That in the same manner not only single men but even Countries and Provinces have been punished which either rejected Christ or refused to obey his Vicar That two people especially the Jews to wit and the Greeks confirm'd this clearly to us by their calamities and sufferings of whom the former put to death the Son of God and the latter more than one way slighted his Vicegerent That therefore if God manifested his wrath against them for crimes and attempts of that nature he had much more reason to be afraid if he should design any such thing seeing he sprung from those Emperours who had received as much honour from the Church of Rome as they had conferred upon her That his words however were not so to be taken as if he thought any such thing was intended by him or that he did not most earnestly desire the Controversie might be made up but only that he was concerned and sollicitous for his danger That some Priests of old having referred to Constantine the Great the decision of their Law-suits and Causes he had rejected it and would not undertake to judge those who had power to judge all men that these were the footsteps he should follow That in wishing to see an end made of all Controversies and a Reformation in the Church he did what was extreamly laudable that as to that he prayed him to lend him his assistance to whom God had committed the care and administration of those affairs That he might indeed make himself an Assistant but not the Head and chief Administrator That he was most desirous of a publick Reformation as he had made it oftener than once appear by calling Councils whensoever there was the least glimpse of hope that they could meet and that though hitherto all that he had done that way was in vain yet still he had omitted nothing on his part for effecting the same That he wished to see a Council for the sake of the publick but chiefly of Germany which was rent and torn with various Jars and Divisions but that it grieved him that he should use the counsels of those who had been long ago condemned even by his own Sentence nor did he therefore grieve because he would have them for ever barred from his friendship but because they became more rash and insolent by that Indulgence of his That since there was no way of curing the Evil but one to wit a Council therefore they must betake themselves to that That then he should make way to the calling of it and restore the so-much-desired Peace to the People of Christ or at least restrain all Hostilities in the mean time until the publick safety should be consulted about since Consultation and Debate was to be used rather than Force and Arms which being laid aside all things would succeed as they ought That there was a Council already called a good while ago though because of the Wars it had been put off till a more convenient time That he would use his endeavours with other Princes especially with him with whom he was in War that they should do the like That he should therefore comply with his Admonitions and as he held the place of his first-begotten Son embrace the sound counsels of his Father tred in the foot-steps of his Ancestors not deviating from the right way nor assuming to himself any right or authority in the management and handling of sacred matters that he should exclude all disputations about Religion from the Diets and Assemblies of the Empire and refer them to his Tribunal Nor should he neither meddle with the Revenues of the Church but lay down Arms and bring matters to a peace and accommodation or if there were no other way of obtaining peace that he should submit the whole Controversie and cause of the War to the arbitrement and decision of the Council Lastly that he should wholly rescind and annul what with too much lenity and easiness he had granted to those Rebels and Enemies of the See of Rome for that otherwise he must unless he would be wanting to his own duty be forced to the great detriment of the Church
they would do nothing rashly That yet it was not in his power to hinder but that other things might be done and new designs hatched against the Authority of the See of Rome seeing when Christ himself the Architect laid the foundation of that Church he foretold Storms and Tempests to come but that he did not at all fear that such Attempts would prove successful or that any gust of Wind could overturn the Fabrick built by Christ because it stood upon a most firm Rock That that had been oftener than once attempted by others heretofore but that their designs being disappointed God had made an example of them visible to all men as both ancient and modern Histories made appear That if there were any then at present who were not moved nor terrified by the Calamities and Judgments of others which they had before their eyes he heartily pitied their condition and chiefly for the Miseries that were hanging over their heads But to conclude that he earnestly exhorted and required them to persevere in that Religion and Fidelity which they had always professed and not suffer those Councils which were consistent with the Dignity of the Church to have any place in their Assemblies The Pope and Synods of Bolonia persisting then in their resolution the Emperour's Ambassadours Francisco de Vargas and Martino Velasco who had been purposely sent to Bolonia having desired Audience of the Council January the 16th came into the Session There were at that time present the Cardinal de Monte and about forty Bishops and other Prelates Then de Vargas read the Credentials granted by the Emperour to him and his Colleague whereby he empowered them to act and so was about to speak but the Cardinal de Monte interrupting told him That in those Credentials the Emperour called them not the Council but the Convention at Bolonia And though said he this Congregation be not obliged to hear any Speech from you inasmuch as the Commission exhibited does not relate to this holy Council yet that no man may have any cause to complain we do not refuse to hear you but upon this condition that it be without Prejudice to us or advantage to you and that it may be lawful for us still to continue the Council and proceed to sentence against those who are contumacious and refractory and to inflict such punishments upon them as are appointed by the Canons of the Church After that de Vargas the Emperour's Embassador protests that it may be entered into the publick Act that he was hindered from speaking first and then goes on in this manner Since you have seen said he the Emperour 's Credential Letters I 'll now tell you what our Instructions are We come hither before you to treat of a matter of greatest importance and not only we but all Christendom also with earnest Prayers do beg and beseech you that you would do therein what is reasonable for all men are of opinion that if you too obstinately persist in a Resolution which you have too rashly once undertaken it will prove very fatal to the Publick but that if you desist and comply with the Emperour all will be well and that this may be understood by all men we will trace the matter a little more backwards for so it will plainly appear both how foully you 'll erre if you change not your mind and also how laudably the Emperour stands affected towards the publick Concern of Christendom and herein we shall not speak one word of our own heads but stick close to the Orders we have received Here the Cardinal de Monte again interrupting him I am here said he President of this Sacred Council the Legate of Paul III. Successor to St. Peter and the Vicar of Christ upon Earth and here are these most holy Fathers to proceed in the Couneil lawfully translated from Trent to the Glory of God and Salvation of Mankind Wherefore we beseech the Emperour that he would change his Resolution and herein assist us by restraining the Disturbers of the Council for he is not ignorant that they who hinder or obstruct Holy Councils whoever they be are liable to the severest Penalties imposed by the Canons but happen what will and whatsoever terrours are threatened yet will we not abandon the Honour and Dignity of the Church and Council nor our own neither When de Vargas had then openly read their Commission his Colleague Velasco read the Protestation It began with an account How the Emperour being earnestly pressed by the Germans had often importuned Pope Leo Adrian Clement and lastly Paul III to call a Council How that Paul III. had called one first at Mantua then at Nicenza and lastly when it could not be had in those places at Trent with consent of the Emperour and the rest of the States because it was a place very commodious for the Italians Spaniards French and Germans and not destitute of Provisions and other Necessaries That when this place was then chosen for holding the Council the Pope says he sent thither his Legates the Cardinals Parisio Mocono and Pool as likewise the Bishop of Arras his Father Granvell and Mendoza came from the Emperour but when neither that seemed to the Pope to be a time fit enough the matter was delayed and new Legatees sent from Rome the Cardinals de Monte Santamore and Pool and from the Emperour the same Mendoza and Francisco de Toledo The Embassadours of other Princes came also and People from all hands flocked in great numbers to Trent Now at the same time the Emperour had Arms in Germany chiefly for the defence and propagation of Religion that whom he could not perswade he might compel And when by his prosperous success in the War he had brought into the way again those who had slighted the Council you who take to your selves the Title of Legates of the See of Rome suddenly and without acquainting the Pope as you your selves say for I know not what pretended cause propose the translation of the Council and scarcely allowing time for consultation break up in a hurry and depart from Trent contrary to the advice and consent of many excellent and virtuos Fathers who said it was an unreasonable removal and that they would not stir from Trent In the mean time the Emperour marching into Saxony overcame the Enemy at the Elb and took the two Heads and Generals of the War and nevertheless both before and after the War he often sollicited the Pope by Letters and Messengers that he would order the Fathers to return from Bolonia to Trent for that it was very dangerous if it should be otherwise Afterwards he called a Diet at Ausburg wherein at the Emperour's request all the Princes and States with great consent approved the Council of Trent and promised without any Condition to obey it When he had obtained that he presently sent the Cardinal of Trent to Rome to acquaint the Pope and Colledge of
Throne So did the Electors also every one according to his Degree behind him And over the Emperour the Trumpeters were placed on a kind of Stage Then advanced Duke Maurice's first Squadron and putting Spurs to their Horses came gallopping towards the Pavillion as the Custom is Duke Maurice himself in the mean time with his other Squadron was posted over against them accompanied by a croud of Princes and Great Men and twelve Trumpeters were ranked immediately before him Out of that Company presently advanced Henry Duke of Brunswick Wolffgang Brother to the Elector Palatine and Duke Albert of Bavaria who having gallopped their Horses to the place alighted and going up to the Emperour humbly begg'd his Imperial Majesty that it would please him to confer upon Duke Maurice the publick Investiture and Ensigns of Principality and Electorship The Emperour consulting with the Electors answered by the Mouth of the Archbishop of Mentz That he was willing provided he came and demanded it in person When Duke Maurice had received this Answer he speeded forward with the whole Body Before him were carried ten Banners with the Arms of so many Countries as he desired to be Invested in So having alighted and kneeling down before the Emperour he begg'd the same thing as also did Hoier Count Mansfield in name of his Brother Augustus The Emperour therefore made answer by the Mouth of the Archbishop of Mentz That seeing they had both done him faithful Service he gave to Duke Maurice and his Male-Issue or if he had none to his Brother Augustus and the Heirs of his Body the Electorship of Saxony and all the Lands and Possessions of John Frederick except so much as had been before made over to his Children Then the Archbishop of Mentz read over the Oath which the Electors take and when Duke Maurice had said it over after him and taken it the Emperour gave him a Sword and by that Ceremony put him in a manner into possession He returned him thanks promising him all Fidelity and Obedience Afterwards the Emperour gave Duke Maurice the Banners we mentioned which were immediately thrown amongst the people as it is customary John Frederick might have seen and indeed did behold all this Ceremony from the House where he lodged for it stood in the same Market place Bucer who was sent for as we have already said came at length to Ausburg and was entertained at the Elector of Brandenburg's Court. And now the Book about Religion which as it is mentioned before was ordered to be Complied was Finished The Elector of Brandenburg presents it as it was written to Bucer and desires him to Subscribe to it but upon perusal finding that the Popish Doctrine was therein establish'd he made answer That he could not approve it The Elector of Brandenburg took that very ill and was extremely angry with him for he lookt upon it to be a moderate Book as Islebius had persuaded him Granvel pressed him to it also by Messengers and promised him large rewards if he would approve it But when he could not prevail by fair promises he began to threaten which made Bucer return home but not without danger for there were Garisons of Spaniards all over the Dutchy of Wirtemberg as has been said before In the Month of April the Archbishop of Cologne who was lately made a Priest said his first Mass The Emperour King Ferdinand and a great many Princes were present whom afterwards he entertained at a most Magnificent Dinner At this time Muleasses King of Tunis whom thirteen years before the Emperour had restored to his Kingdom having expelled Barbarossa as has been said in the ninth Book came to Ausberg His Eldest Son had invaded his Kingdom and put out his Eyes And therefore the poor banished Prince came out of Africa to implore the Emperours help as not long after another of his Sons came also That Book which was made concerning Religion treats first of the State of Man both before and since his Fall of Redemption by Christ of Charity and good Works of the assurance of the Remission of Sins of the Church of Vows of Authority of the Ministers of the Church of the Pope of the Sacraments of the Sacrifice of the Mass of the Commemoration Invocation and Intercession of Saints of the Remembrance of those who are dead in the Faith of the Communion to be joyned with the Sacrifice of Ceremonies and the use of the Sacraments Now amongst other things there are these Doctrines in it that those Works which are more than what God commands and commonly called Works of Supererogation are to be commanded That Man cannot without doubting believe that his Sins are forgiven him That the Church hath the Power of interpreting Scriptures of drawing and explaining Doctrines from them the Power of Jurisdiction of deciding in doubtful Cases by a Council and of making Canons That there is one Head over the rest to wit the Pope by Virtue of the Prerogative granted to Peter That the Government of the Universal Church is committed to him by Christ yet so as that the rest of the Bishops have a share in that Cure every one in his own Church That by Confirmation and Chrism the Holy Ghost is received to enable us to resist the temptations of the Devil the World and the Flesh and that a Bishop is the only Minister of that Sacrament That the Sins which we remember are to be confessed to a Priest That by satisfaction which consists in the Fruits of Repentance especially in Fasting Alms-deeds and Prayer the causes of Sin are rooted out and Temporal Punishments either taken quite away or mitigated That extreme Unction hath been in the Church ever since the Apostles time that it might either relieve the Body or fortifie the Mind it self against the fiery Darts of the Devil That then it is to be administred when the hour of Death seemeth to draw nigh That Marriage contracted without the Parents consent ought to stand good but that Children are in Sermons to be admonished to ask the advice of their Parents That Christ at his last Supper instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood First that it should be received by Believers as the saving Food of their Souls and then that it should be offered up in memory of his Death and Passion For that there are in all two Sacrifices of Christ one a bloody Sacrifice upon the Cross and another wherein under the form of Bread and Wine he offered up his own Body and Blood to the Father and afterwards commanded his Apostles and their Successors to do the same in remembrance of him to the end of the World That by the first Mankind was reconciled to God the Father but by this unbloody Sacrifice Christ is offered up and represented to the Father not that he may again make satisfaction for Sins but that by Faith we may apply to our selves the Redemption purchased to us by his Death That in
against Vergerio And not content with that neither he published also a Libel wherein through hatred to the reformed Religion he most slanderously traduces Germany When Grisonio came to Pola and Justinopolis he rushed into the Citizens Houses and searched for prohibited Books Next he went to the Pulpit and amongst many other Terrours denounced he excommunicated all who did not inform against those that were suspected of Lutheranism Promising however easier Penance to those that did repent and of their own accord asked Pardon from him But threatning such as did not openly confess their Crime and were afterwards accused by others that they should be burnt for the same and thus he went from house to house scaring the people out of their wits So that some came in and acused themselves and for fear did as they were bid The richer sort were forced to acknowledge their Errour privately but the poor publickly Such as confessed that they had read the New Testament in the Vulgar Tongue were strictly charged to do so no more for the future This wrought so upon the common People who were struck with a panick fear that they strove who should inform most without any regard to Relation Friendship or Obligation the Son not sparing the Father the Wife the Husband nor the Tenant his Lord and Master Now the Informations were most commonly about frivolous Matters such as superstition made them take for scandalous sins Besides they had frequent Sermons against the Doctrine of Vergerio And on a certain day when there was a great confluence of People in the Cathedral Church of Justinopolis Grisonio who then publickly said Mass in very rich Vestments steps up into the Pulpit and amonst other things that he might drive the Nail to the Head Now said he and for some years past you have been visited by many Judgments and Calamities that fell sometimes upon your Olives and sometimes on your Corn sometimes upon your Vines and sometimes again on your Cattle or other Goods And the cause of all these evils has been your Bishop and the rest of that heretical Rout nor are ye to expect any relief before they be restrained and the best way to do that is to fall upon them and stone them Vergerio being thus baited by their violents courses was forced to step aside to Mantua to Cardinal Hercules Gonzaga who his familiar acquaintance But since some at Rome and John Caso the Popes Legat at Venice urged Gonzaga by Letters and Messengers that he should no longer harbour such a man He went to Trent where the Council then sate that he might purge himself When this came to the Popes Ears though he could rather have wished to have had him Prisoner yet to avoid all suspition especially in Germany as if it had not been a free Council he wrote to his Legats that they should not allow him any place amongst the Fathers but command him to be gone some where else Being in this manner turned out he went to Venice There Caso the Legat persuaded him by all means to go to Rome But he knowing his own danger refused it Then some days after another charges him in the Popes Name not to return again to Justinopolis and therefore he went to Padua during his abode there he was a Spectator of the sad Example we mentioned and being moved thereat and an eye-witness of Gods heavy wrath which persued that poor wretch for denying of the Truth he began to be confirmed more and more and then fully resolved to leave his Native Country and all that ever he had and take upon himself a voluntary Banishment that he might go live in some place where he might freely profess the Doctrine of Christ This he did some Months after for leaving the Country of Bergamo he went and setled amongst the Grisons who were the next Neighbours And having for some years preached the Gospel there and in the Valteline he was by Christopher Duke of Wittemburg invited to Tubingen His Brother the Bishop of Pola died before he left Italy and was suspected to have been poysoned Many other Great Men besides Vergerio had seen Spira in that State and amongst these Matthew Gribaldo a Lawyer of Padua who published a relation of all that he himself had seen and heard as also did Vergerio himself Sigismund Gelou Polonus and Henry Scot. The Archbishop of Benevento whom we mentioned wrote a Book of Sodomy than which nothing can be imagined more filthy and obscene Nor was he ashamed to extol and praise the foulest of Crimes which nevertheless is too well known over Italy and Greece In the mean time the Archbishops of Germany especially those of Mentz Cologne and Treves call Synods in their several Provinces to reform the Church according to the formulary prescribed by the Emperour Bucer as we told you before had preached in the Province of Cologne and there were some Ministers in it that had married Wives Now though it was by the Emperours Decree allowed that married Priests might retain their Wives until the Council determined the Matter yet the Archbishop of Cologne pretended that that was only indulged to the Lutherans but not to Roman Catholicks wherefore he made a Decree annulling Marriages contracted pronouncing them to be incestuous and declaring the Children begot in them to be illegitimate The Archbishop of Treves hath but a small Province and only three Suffragan Bishops Metz Toul and Verdun There was no need of such a Law amongst them For the Church-men in those places liked Concubines better than Wives But in this Archbishoprick where he perceived the danger to be greater he made the same Decree as his Colleagues did The Jurisdiction of Mentz is of a vast extent for he hath twelve Suffragan Bishops and all Hesse in a manner is subject to him in Spirituals He therefore began to urge and press the Observation of the Emperours Decree and of the Doctrine contained in the Interim The same did the Archbishop of Treves who also had some Jurisdiction there But the Landgrave's Sons and the rest of the Governours and Counsellors were deaf to these things The Archbishop sent also Michael Sidonius his Vicar General to Franckfurt where having first consecrated the Churches he preacht and taught after his own manner And the Bishop of Ausburg made some inconstant Priests that wavered in their Opinions abjure their Doctrine We spoke before of the French who in the Summer time went to the assistance of the Scots Now these at length carry over into France Mary the Kings only Daughter and Heir a young Lady of six years of age that so they might put the English out of all hopes of obtaining her This year the Pope made Charles of Vendosme a French man Cardinal After that Maximilian of Austria arrived in Spain and had married the Lady Mary the Emperour's Daughter Philip the Emperour's Son a Prince of one and twenty years of
up in the Market-place and there and about the Church keep Guard 'till the Council break up These are for the most part sent for out of the Country to be ready against the day of the Session though the Town also supply a good many When they are come into the Church Mass is said that being over the Decrees of the Council are read and then a day appointed for the next Session Then also if any Ambassador have ought to say he is heard But by reason of the many various and most cumbersom Ceremonies that are used in every thing the day is far spent before their Business is over and then the Legate returns home in the same Pomp as he came The Pope's Legate takes the first place in the Council next to him the Cardinal of Trent then the Legates Collegues and after them the Electoral Archbishops On the left hand sit the Ambassadors of the Emperour and other Princes And the middle Benches are filled by the Archbishops Bishops and other Prelates taking place according to the Seniority of their Consecration September the second Subjects were given to the Divines to be discussed and that they might give their Opinions of them that so they might be decided in the next Session Now in giving their Opinions this method was prescribed That they should insist upon the Holy Scriptures Apostolical Traditions received and approved Councils and the Authorities of the Fathers that they should use Brevity abstain from unnecessary and superfluous Questions and avoid all Jangling and Contention As to the Order it was thought fit that the Pope's Divines should speak first and then the Emperours and so of the rest The Pope's Legate also for the finding out of the Truth and the confuting of false Opinions as they said gave them leave to read all sorts of Books There were a great many Divines present Spanish Italians and Germans whom the Pope Emperour and his Sister Queen Mary the Governess of the Low Countries had sent besides those whom the Electors of Cologne and Treves and some Spanish and Italian Bishops also brought with them All things were to be examined by them and no Man who had not the Title of Doctor as they call it was permitted to speak But in favour to the Bishops of Cologne and Treves John Gropper a Civilian and John Delph a Divine but under Doctors Degree were admitted And because in some former Sessions in Anno 1546 and the year following new Canons were made concerning Original Sin Justification Free-will and the Seven Sacraments in general and particular Decrees made concerning Baptism and Confirmation it was resolved That all these standing in force they should proceed to other things and in the first place to the Sacrament of the Eucharist Then Points were assigned to the Divines with these Instructions that they should search and try if they were Heretical and to be condemned by the holy Council And these Points were gathered out of the Books of Luther Zuinglius Bucer and other Protestant Writers Now in this manner do the Divines handle the matter They all meet daily in the Legate's Lodgings and there for several hours and in the order we mentioned every one discourses of a Point without any interruption yet so that they still submit all they say to the Judgment of the Church of Rome for none of the Protestants were present This place is open indifferently to all Men. The Pope's Legate and generally all the Fathers are there but none speak except the Divines and their several Sayings and Opinions are marked down by Clerks When they have all discoursed which then was done commonly in a Months time the Bishops meet at the Legate's Lodgings and examine the Opinions of the Divines registred by the Clerks Then some of every Nation are chosen out of the whole number that then are present who having weighed all the Opinions out of them frame that which they call a Doctrine what ought to be determined and believed in every point Afterwards they Condemn in few words but with a severe Censure the contrary Doctrine and Errors as they call them And at length all these things are reported to the whole Assembly When they are fully agreed a publick Session is held as we said before where the Decrees are read aloud and then the Bishops are asked if they approve them To which they severally answer with a Placet And so then some Divines tell their Opinions of the several Points but the Bishops only and with them a few Mitred Prelates have the power of Determining What is so decreed they command to be reverenced as Sacred and Holy and call them Canons These things indeed are acted publickly but they who are more intimately acquainted with the Affairs of Rome say That all the Decrees are already framed at Rome by the Pope's order and sent in due time to the Legate that the Divines in their Reasonings may follow that Form and Prescript for the Pope maintains several of them and many Bishops also there And it is a jocose Proverb used by some That the Holy Ghost comes ever now and then from Rome to Trent in a Cloak-bag because the Pope sent Letters with his Orders and Instructions by Post from Rome September the fourth Count Heideck came to Magdâ—burg and Duke Maurice sent by him the Conditions of Peace formerly proposed so moderated that they resolved to proceed in the Treaty In the mean time there was a Cessation of Arms which was afterward also prolonged for many days as shall be said hereafter The French King now at variance with the Pope published an Edict wherein having enlarged much upon the injury done him by the Pope upon the cause of the War of Parma and why he had taken Octavio into his protection he commands under a most severe penalty That no more Money be for the future carried to Rome for since Money was the Sinews of War what madness would it be with his and his Subjects Treasure to maintain and strengthen the power of his Enemy That it was the proper Office of the Popes to take up the differences of Princes and that did Paul III. who being almost worn out by Age made a long progress to Nizza to make the Emperour and his Father friends but that Julius took a quite different course who having lately called a Council which was indeed very necessary to the publick had stirred up a War against him on purpose that he might exclude all the Church of France which was one of the chief and that so no lawful Council might be had wherein the Errors and Faults both of the Head and Members might be reformed This Edict of the King 's was published at Paris the seventh of September when a few days before another Edict of his and a most severe one too was published against the Lutherans which partly confirmed the former Decrees of that nature and partly where they seemed not smartly
Council which he had rather promised than desigued before The Conference was to be begun the First of August at Poissy and the Bishops and Divines were already arrived there and had entered into a Debate what Points were to be Disputed where they spent the time to no great purpose disputing amongst themselves concering the Office of a Bishop the Dignity of Cathedral Churches of Colleges and their Exemptions of the Ordination of Curates and Priests concerning allowing them Competent Pensions abating their number reforming the Discipline of the Monasteries of Commendam's and Benesices of cutting off the Pleasures and Luxuries of the Clergy and of Censures And they thought the Answering such like Queries was of great use to the Church in these confused times There appeared for the Protestants Augustin Marlorat Francis de S. Pol Jean Remond Merlin J. Malo Francis de Mureaux N. Tobie Theodore Beza Claud Brisson J. Bouquin J. Viret J. de la Tour Nich. de Crallas and John De l'Espine who abjuring the Dominican Order did then first openly prosess the Protestant Religion Soon after Peter Martyr came to Zurich These Asked four things 1st That the Bishops should be Parties and not Judge 2d That the King and Council should Preside 3d. That all things might be determin'd only by the Word of God 4th That whatever was agreed should be set down by Notaries The Queen yielded all these but would have one of the Secretaries of State be the only Notary and she would not consent that the King should Preside in the Conference The Cardinal of Lorraine had before objected against Beza That he should say that Christ was no more present in the Sacrament than in a Muddy Ditch This Expression is said to have been urged by Melanchthon against Oecolampadius as the Consequence of his Doctrine and was by a mistake of the Cardinal wrongfully charged on Beza who denied and detested it as Blasphemous The First of September the Conference began the King the Queen his Younger Brother and Sister and about Eleven Bishops being present and the Cardinals of Bourbon Tournon Chastillon Lorrain Armagnac and Guise The King opened it with a short Speech which was seconded by the Chancellor with a longer In which he preferr'd a National Council before a General and shewed that the Errours of many General Councils had been corrected by National Synods particularly the Arrian General Council of Ariminium was condemn'd by a Private Council held by St. Hillary Bishop of Poictiers and banished out of France He said they neithe needed much Learning nor many Books the Bible alone being sufficient by which Religion was to be Tried and Examined That the Protestants were their Brethren and to be treated as such if out of Ambition or Avarice they did otherwise God would judge and condemn them and their Decrees would be rejected That they ought to Amend and give God Thanks for any Errour that was discovered and if they did not God would Punish them After him the Cardinal of Tournon spoke and Thanked the King Queen and Princes for being present and approved highly of what the Chancellor had said but desired a Copy of it which the Chancellor refused though it was seconded by the Cardinal of Lorrain because he perceived they craftily designed to mischief him by it Theodore Beza being next commanded to speak fell upon his Knees and after a Prayer and reciting his Faith complained to God that they had been injuriously treated as Enemies of the Publick Peace Then he shewed wherein they agreed with the Church of Rome and wherein they differed and discoursed of the way of attaining Salvation of Faith Good Works the Word of God the Authority of the Councils and Fathers of the Sacraments and of their use and true Interpretation of Transubstantiation and Consubstantiation and lastly of the Ecclesiastical Order and Discipline and obedience to Princes he was so long and so sharp in some of these things that they had scarce patience to hear him out and the Cardinal of Tournon presently replied with a Voice trembling for Rage That he and the other Prelates had done violence to their Consciences by condescending to this Conference in compliance with his Majesties Commands by hearing these new Evangelists That he foresaw if they were heard many things would be spoken by them injurious to the Majesty of God which would offend the Ears of the King and of all good Men. And therefore he beseeched his Majesty not to believe what was said That if he could have prevented it the King should not have been present but however he desired he would not suffer his Mind to be pre-ingaged in their false Opinions but to suspend till the Bishops had Answered it and the King and the rest there present should know the difference between Falsehood and Truth He Asked a Day to Answer in and prayed the King that he would persevere in the Religion of his Ancestors Lastly he added that but for the respect they bore to the King the Bishops would have arisen and put a stop to those horrible and abominable Words The Queen calmly said she had done the thing without the Advice of the Parliament of Paris the Princes and Privy-Council That no change was designed but that the Disturbances of France might be appeased and Men friendly brought from their Errors into the Old Way which belonged to them to effect The first Dispute was about the Lords Supper The second which was the 17th of August was about the Church which the Cardinal of Lorrain said could not Err That if any particular Church did Recourse was to be had to the Head the Church of Rome and the Decrees of a General Council and the Concurrent Opinions of the Ancient Fathers and before all to the Sacred Scriptures explain'd by the Right Sense and Interpretation of the Church As to the Lord's Supper in effect he said That if the Protestants would not embrace their Opinions there was no hope of an Agreement The Cardinal of Tournon thereupon applauded his Harangue and said he was ready to lay down his Life for this Faith intreating the King to continue stedfast in it and was contented Good Man that if the Protestants would subscribe these two Points they should be admitted to dispute all the rest but if they refused this all hearing was to be denied them and they were to be expell'd out of his Dominions Beza desired to Answer him Extempore but the King delayed the Answer to the next day Upon a Petition the Ministers were heard at last again the 24th of September before the Queen only when Beza discoursed of the Church and its Notes which he said were the Preaching of the Word and a Pure Administration of the Sacraments As for the Succession of Persons and Doctrines it had been often interrupted He discoursed of the Ordinary and Extraordinary Vocation of the Universal Church and her Authority of Councils which he affirm'd
to have the Articles considered by the Council who that they might elude this pursuit made some Decrees which had some respect to those things the French had desired but which aimed at the granting a Liberty and Immunity to the Clergy against all the Laws Privileges Liberties and Jurisdictions and Lawful Authorities of all Kingdoms States and Princes which being seen by La Ferriere and Du Faur the King's Ambassadors at Trent they by their Master's Order opposed the said Decrees The 27th of September the King by a Letter having commanded his Ambassadors to insist upon their first Demands and to assure the Council that as none of the Christian Princes should exceed him in the fervor of true Piety and a desire to promote the Affairs of the Council so if they still went on to cure the desperate wounds of the Church with a light hand or rather to plaster them over and conceal than cure them whilest they omitted the proper and most necessary remedies and instead of considering the Reformation of the Church turn'd the edge of their Authority against the Power of Princes and the Decrees of Councils he would not have the Presence of his Ambassadors add Authority to such unjust Decrees to the great prejudice of his Royal Dignity and to the Damage of the Liberties of his Kingdom He said also that he had been informed that the Council had entertain'd a design to declare the Marriage of Anthony de Bourbon King of Navarr and Joan his Queen unlawful and to declare Henry his Son a Bastard and he commanded them not to be present at any such Act. Lastly he commanded them to repeat their former demands and if the Fathers of the Council would not grant them then to leave Trent and go to Venice and stay there till they had further Orders from him He told them also that his principal desire was by a serious Reformation of Church-affairs and manners the corruptions in which had caused so many to make defection from the Church of Rome by the Authority of a General Council to unite the divided minds of men in the matters of Religion That his Ambassadors and Proctors had often treated with the Pope and the Fathers of the Council about this and to that end had exhibited the said XXXIV Articles to which no satisfactory return had been made but on the contrary they having lightly touched the business of Reformation had exercised an Authority which belonged not to them against the Rights Liberties and Power of Soveraign Princes That they neither could nor ought to inquire into the Civil Administration which was not subject to their Court nor to derogate from those Constitutions and Customs which had been long enjoyed by Princes nor to Anathematize Kings all which things tended to Sedition and the interruption of the publick Peace That he would not suffer that Authority which he had received from his Ancestors to be weakned by their unjust censures Yea he commanded them to tell the Fathers That if they presumed any more to undermine the Authority of Kings and the Prerogatives of their Betters that they should then also protest against their proceeding and leave Trent Advising the Bishops and Divines of France who were in the Council to promote the Reformation of Religion as much as was possible for the good of his divided Kingdom and to that end to stay still at Trent But then the King did trust to their wisdom and conscience that they would not approve of by their presence or consent to any thing which was prejudicial to the Royal Authority Prerogative or Dignity of the King or Kingdom of France But however the Council still persisting in their former Methods La Ferriere came into the Council and made a sharp Oration against the Pope and the Council Polano in his History of the Council of Trent has the sum of this Oration and Thuanus saith it was pronounced the 22d of September But however I will not trouble the Reader with it here because of its great length this Oration pleased none of the Fathers the French themselves not excepted because he set Princes as the Ministers of God above the Anathema's of the Clergy and made both their persons and revenues subject to the Laws and Authority of Kings telling them too plainly of their great prevarications obstinacy and unwillingness to reform or be reformed But however all the Fathers could do was to bring the Faith of the Ambassadors in question which they soon discuss'd by producing their Instructions This failing they cavell'd at the parts of the Oration and end eavoured to pervert the sense and meaning of it so that Ferriere was forced to publish an Apology for it And soon after this they mended the matter by a sharper Oration in which amongst other things they told the Council plainly That Hadrian the Sixth was in the right when he told the world That what care soever was taken of the lower members of the Church that body could not be restored to its health if the Head also the Pope were not reformed Towards the end they said They protested only against Pius the Fourth They Venerated the Apostolick See the great Pontiff the Holy Church of Rome for the increase of whose Dignity their Ancestors had so often shed their blood and of late had fought in France but it was against the Soveraignty of Pius the Fourth that they protested all whose Decrees and Sentences they refused and despised and seeing there was nothing done at Trent but all was dispatched at Rome and what was here published was rather the Dictates of Pius the Fourth than the Decrees of a General Council they denounced and testified That whatever was decreed in that Convention or should hereafter be decreed or published they being only the Decrees moved by Pius the Fourth they should not be approved by the Most Christian King nor the French nor be taken for the Acts of a General Council And then commanded all their Archbishops Bishops Abbots and Divines to return into France till God should restore to the Catholick Church the ancient form and liberty belonging of right to General Councils and to the Most Christian King his just Rights Thuanus saith he can hardly believe this Oration was made tho' he finds it Printed in the Commentaries of Jacques de Bourdin Secretary of State. But however it shews the sense great men had of the Council of Trent at that time when it was best understood A little before this time the Emperor being about leaving Inspruck discovered that they consulted at Rome and Trent about proceeding against Queen Elizabeth of England and he wrote to the Pope and the Legates that if the Council would not yield that fruit which was desired that they might see an Union of Catholicks to reform the Church yet at least they should not give occasion to Hereticks to unite themselves more which they would do in case they proceeded against the Queen of England
The demands of their Divines in the Council 546. The Protestant Princes make a League at Nuremberg 614. They acquaint the Emperor with it ibid. Their answer in the Diet of Augsbourg to the Papists Allegations 623. Their reply to Ferdinand's Answer to their Papers 626. Prussia vide Albert of Brandenbourg vide Sigismund of Poland vide Wolfgang grand-Master R. RAtisbon Catholick Lords there with Campegio confirm the Decree at Wormes against Luther 74. Make Regulations for the Reformation of the Clergy 75. The Princes do not meet at Ratisbon at the Diet 110. The Diet removes thither from Spire 155. The Articles of the Treaty of Nurenberg are there confirmed 160. A Diet there 272. The Acts of the Diet at Ratisbon 275. The Presidents and Witnesses at the Conference 276. The Acts of the Diet 278. The Decree of the Diet 283. They promise Aid against the Turks ib. A Conference is appointed there 351. The Names of the Conferrers ibid. It is refused by the Papists 352. The Conference opened 358. The Names of the Presidents ibid. The Points disputed upon ibid. It breaks up 359. A Diet there 374. Reformation in Germany its Original 273. Religion those of the Reformed Religion begin to form a League 105. Renate Prince of Orange is killed 327. Reuchlin John Capnio Commissioned to examine Jewish Books 30. His Answer to Maximilian ibid. Answers Phefercorne's Book ibid. Is Cited to Mentz ibid. Excepts to Hogostratus as a Judge ibid. Appeals to the Pope ibid. Is acquitted at Rome ibid. Dies 55. Rhodes taken by Solyman 57. Richard Elector of Triers vide Triers Ridley Nicholas Bishop of London burnt at Oxford for Religion 619. Rochell an Insurrection there 304. Quieted 305. Rome Court of Rome it 's Description 24. A great Inundation there 137. Roman Clergy vide Jews Romans vide King of the Romans Rotman Bernard Preaches up the Reformation at Munster 190. Declares himself an Anabaptist 192. S. SAmson Friar Preaches Indulgences at Zurick 22. Savoy D. of Savoy quarrels with Geneva 203. Loses most part of his Country to the French ibid. Accuses the French King 323. Dies 602. Saxons embrace Luther's Doctrine of the Eucharist 97. Saxony Prince of Saxony's Answer to the Arbitrators 159. Quarrels in the Churches there about Indifferent things 481. Scherteline Sebastian marches towards Inspruck with his Army for the Protestants 388. Leaves the Camp 406. Retires from Strasbourg to Constance 418. A Fine is set upon his Head by the Emperor 554. He raises men in Germany for the French King ibid. Is reconciled to the Emperor and King Ferdinand 594. Schwabian Confederates beat Ulric D. of Wirtemberg 80. They refuse a Truce with the Boors ibid. They rout the Boors at Saltzbourg 81. An Account of the Schwabian League 82. The Schwabian Cities mediate betwixt Albert and the City of Noremberg 562. Schwinfurt a Town upon the Main there the Princes mediate an Accommodation 156. The Treaty is removed to Norenberg 160. Sepsy vide Sepusio Sepusio claims the Crown of Hungary after K. Lewis's death 105. vide Vaivod of Transylvania Dies 269. His Son put under Solyman ' Protection 270. Servetus Michael Burnt at Genoa 593. Seymour Edw. D. of Somerset Protector of K. Edward VI. and the Kingdom in his Minority 418. Is Imprisoned 485. Releas'd and Marries the D. of Northumberland's Daughter 492. Is again made a Prisoner 528. And Beheaded 538. Sforza Francis obtains the Dutchy of Milan of Charles V. 122. Marries Christina the K. of Denmark's Daughter 174. Dies 180. Sibylla of Cleve Wife to John Frederick Elector of Saxony sollicites the Emperor for her Husband 429. Is received Graciously by the Emperor ibid. She dies 596. Sickius Francis at War with the Bishop of Triers 56. Sickness Sweating Sickness in Germany 121. Sidonius Michael a Champion for the Mass at Augsbourg 437. Assists in Compiling the Interim 454. Siena revolts from the Emperor 573. Is Besieged by the D. of Florence 598. Retaken by the Emperor's Forces 615. Sigismund takes Cusanus Prisoner 36. Appeals from the Pope to a Couucil ibid. Calls the Council of Constance 47. Begs the assistance of the Empire against Zisca ibid. Sigismund K. of Poland Wars against Albert Great Master of the Teutonick Order 99. Makes him D. of Prussia ibid. His Answer to the Emperor's Ambassadors 348. His Plea given in by his Ambassador Alaskia about the Dutchy of Prussia 445. He dies 450. Sixtus IV's Decree concerning the Virgin Mary 377. Sleidan John sent by the Protestants Ambassador into England 352. Sent Deputy from Strasbourg to the Council of Trent 529. He applies himself to the Emperor's Ambassadors 531. Complains of Gropper to the Council of Trent 535. Joins with the Wirtemberg and Saxon Ambassadors in their Sollicitations with the Emperor's Ambassadors 537. Takes leave of the Emperor's Ambassador who stops him 545. Leaves Trent 546. Deputy from Strasbourg to the French King 557. Treats with him and the Constable ibid. Dies 638. Smalcald a Town in Franconia belonging to the Landgrave of Hesse vide Protestant League at Smalcald 142. The Confederates of the League expostulate upon the motion to chase a King of the Romans 143. The League renewed 189. A Convention of the Protestants there 212. Solyman makes War in Hungary 50. Takes Belgrade 51. And Rhodes 57. Invades Hungary 103. Besieges Vienna 121. Breaks up the Siege ibid. Makes a new Irruption into Austria 161. His Troops are defeated ibid. Imprisons Alaski Ferdinand's Ambassador 271. Strangles his Son Mustapha 594. Solmes Count vide Naves Spira Francis his dismal Story 475. Spires Bishop of Spires appointed to hear Reuchlin's Cause 30. Decrces in favour of him against Hogostratus ibid. A Diet held there 103. The States there differ about Religion 104. But their Breaches are made up ibid. And they make a Decree about Religion ibid. The Princes Assembled here write to the Senate of Strasbourg about the Mass 116. The Diet there assembled 118. They refuse the Deputies of Strasbourg to sit in the Diet ibid. They make a Decree about Religion ibid. The Princes of the Reformed Religion protest against the Decree 119. As also the Free Cities 120. A Diet call'd thither 152. Removed to Ratisbon 155. Another Diet called there 288. A mighty full Diet 317. A Decree there which angers the Papists 325. States of the Empire Some at Ratisbon desire to referr every thing to the Pope's Legate 279. They treat with tho D. of Cleve to restore Guelderland 285. They send a Message from Nurenberg to the Saxon and Landgrave about the D. of Brunswick 299. Write to the Switzers not to aid the French King 321. They acquaint Maurice the Elector of Brandenbourg with the Emperor's Resolution about the Landgrave 442. Strasbourg Priests marry there 66. The Bishop cites them ib. They justifie themselves ibid. The Bishop writes to Campegio complaining of the Senate 73. The Senate justifie themselves to Campegio ibid. And Parly with him upon his Answer 74. The Popish Clergy complain against the Senate to the
Duke of Aumales Marraige Louis d' Avilaâ— History of the German War. Islebius brags of the Interim The Bishop of Auranches writes against the Interim So does Romey the Dominican The constancy of the Sons of the Duke of Saxony The Duke of Saxony avows to the Emperour his rejecting of the Interim The Deputies of Constance with the Emperour Their humble Letters to him The Bishop of Constance dies of an Apoplexy which he had imprecated unto his People Maximilian's War against the Switzers The Emperour changeth the Senate of Ausburg The Companies are abolished The Emperour gives sentence in favour of Nassaw against the Landgrave The Spaniards march privately to Constance Alfonsus Vives was killed and the Spaniards draw off without success A Custom of the Switzets The Letter of the Strasburgers to the Emperour Their Judgment of the Interim The Emperours answer to those of Strasburg The people of Constance proscribed They pray some Princes and the Suitzers to intercede with the Emperour for them The Emperous answer to the intercessors Those of Lindaw receive the Interim The Strasburgers consult about the Interim Many of them renounce their freedoms in the City and depart The Senate of Vlm changed The constancy of four Divines of Vlm The Ministers of Vlm put into Chains The Emperour comes to Spire The Popes Legats sent to Germany The Duke of Saxony and Landgrave carried Prisoners into the Low Countries The Deputies of Strasburg with the Emperour The Bishops of Strasburg's Letter to the Clergy about the observation of the Decree Their Letter to the Emperour The Deputies of Strasburg are dismissed and ordered to agree with their Bishop The Emperour keeps the Duke of Saxony with him The Landgrave he sends to Oudenard The Reformation of the Chamber The Duke of Brunswick brings an Action against the Protestants and so do some others The people of Constance give themselves up to the house of Austria King Ferdinand upon Conditions takes them into his protection And then lays his Commands upon them The Marriage of Duke Augustus of Saxony A Sedition at Bourdeaux The Bourdeaux-men receive the Constable and his Soldiers The Punishments inflicted by the Constable at Bourdeaux The Bells are taken from them and their Charters burnt The dead Body of the King's Lieutenant being by the Citizens scraped out of the ground with their Nails is splendidly buried The horrible History of Francis Spira John Caso Archbishop of Benevento the Pope's Legate at Venice Spira falls sick and also into despair admitting of no comfort He dyes despairing of Salvation Vergerio The strange Conversion of Vergerio to the reformed Religion Vergerio writes a Book against the Apostates of Germany John Baptista Vergerio Bishop of Pola The Inquisitors against Vergerio An Invective against Vergerio The Inquisition of Pola and Justinopolis Grisonio's exhortation against the Lutherans Vergerio goes to Trent to justifie himself in Council But is deny'd a place in it Vergerio preached the Gospel against the Grisons from thence was called to Tubingen Vergerio's Brother dies not without suspition of Poyson The Book of an Archbishop on the praise of Sodomy Marriages contracted by the Ministers of the Church of Cologne are annulled and declared to be incestuous The Custom of the Province of Treves The Interim is in vain pressed upon the Landgrave's subjects Siâ—onius consecrates a new the Churches of Franckfurt The Queen of Scots carried over into France Philip the Emperour's Son passes through Italy to the Low Countries Philip is magnificently received at Genova 1549. As also at Milan The Count of Buren dies A Convention of States in Saxony A Form of Religion is drawn up for Saxony The Emperous Son comes to Germany The Duke of Arescot is sent to meet him Duke Maurice's intercession for the Landgrave his Father-in-Law Troubles in Africa Upon what occasion the Cardinal of Lorrain was made Bishop of Metz. The City of Strasburg's Letter to the Emperour The People of Magdenburg exposed as a prey because of Religion The Preachers of Vlm freed out of Prison Tumults in Engâ—and The Admiral of England beheaded The Bishop of Strasburg enjoyns the Clergy to obey the Emperours Edict The diligence of Archbishop Cranmer in Promoting Piety Bucer and Fagius go over Sea to England The Emperours Son makes his entry into Brussels Intercession made for the Landgrave but in vain The Bishop of Strasburg says Mass The Plea of the Professors of Strasburg to the Bishop The Answer of the Bishops Agents to the Professors of Strasburg The intercession of the Senate of Strasburg for their Professors Christopher Welsinger a Civilian The Duke of Deux-ponts is again urged to approve the Decree His Letter to the Emperour The Ingenuous Confession of the Duke of Deux-ponts The refutation of the Interim by those of Lower Saxony The beginning of the divisions in the Churches of Saxony The Hamburghers Letter to Melaâ—chton about indifferent matters Melanchton's Answer The Electoral Archbishops held Provincial Synods The Heads of their Decrees Of Consecrations and Exorcisms The manifold use of Holy Water Salt in Baptism The Churching of Women 1589. The Ceremony of the Dedication of a Church The Consecration of Bells The way of Consecrating Altars The making of Oyl and the Chrism The Popish Ceremonies brought into contempt through the preaching of Luther A Papal Decree concerning the use of Holy Water The Pope's Legates to the Emperour The Pope's Indulgence The Power of the Bishops delegated Of Monks fallen into Heresie Of the Communion in both kinds Of the Profits of Church Lands The Subdelegation of the Bishops Delegate The Emperour sends the Pope's Indult to the Bishops of Germany The Archbishop of Mentz sends the Pope's Indult to the Landgravians A godly Answer of the Preachers A Dispute at Oxford in England about the Lord's Supper The Coronation of the Queen of France The King and Queen of France make their entry into Paris A Persecution in France Solemn Processions and Prayers at Paris Luther and other Hereticks to be rooted out of France Monsieur Vervine beheaded A League betwixt the Switzers and French. Duke Maurice's Letters to his Subjects The Landgraves Wife dies An Insurrection in England The French King recovers some Places from England The Duke of Somerset committed to Prison The Emperour makes the Low-Countries do Homage to his Son Prince Philip. The Senate of Strasburg agree with their Bishop The danger of the Republick of Magdeburg by reason of the Emperours Proscription Their Apologetick Declaration Two Reasons why they cannot obtain Peace Gordius the Martyr The Marriage of Francis of Mantua The death of Paul III. A Book against Paul III. The Murders of Paul III. Paul's Sister being a Whore makes him a Cardinal He murders another Sister His Lusts The Funeral Charges of Paul III. A description of the Conclave of Rome 54 Cardinals in the time of Paul III. The way of chusing the Pope How many Voices every Cardinal may give Three Factions of Cardinals The Conclave full of chinks Pool upon