THE LIFE AND TIMES ration from on high, in three jeavs it vrill cease to be thought of.'
" The archbishop persisted ' that we made from your books faithful extracts of articles which we object to ; would you submit these to a council?'
Avere none of those which the Council of Constance has already condemned,' quickly retorted Lvither.
' But if they were ?'— ' Then,' said Luther, ' I would not consent to submit them to a council ; for I am certain that the decrees of that council condemned the truth.
I would rather lose my head than abandon the divine word.
In what conceens the word of God and the FAITH, E\^RY ChRISTLVN IS AS GOOD A JUDGE AS THE rOPE, THOUGH SUPPORTED BY A MILLION COUNCILS, CAN
BE FOR HIM ; for eacli man must live and die according to his belief.
The word of God does not belong exclusively to Kome ; it is not the property of the pope ; it is the common heritage of humanity, and each member of the brotherhood has a right to explain it for himself.
Still the passage of St. Paul, //' any thing is revealed to another that sitteih by, let tlie first hold Ms peace, proves clearly that the master must follow the disciple, if the latter understand the Scripture better than he himself.'
" And thus ended the conference.
" Soon after this the official sent for Luther, and in the presence of the arch-chancellor read to him the imperial sentence.
' since you have not chosen to hsten to the counsels of his majesty and the states of the empire, and to confess your error, it is now for the emperor to act.
By his order I give you twenty days wherein to return to Wittemberg, secure under the imperial safe-conduct, provided that on your way you excite no disorders by preaching or otherwise,'
" As the official concluded, Sturm, the herald, inclined his staff in token of respect.
'• Luther bowed and said, ' Be it as the Lord pleases ; blessed be the name of the Lord.'
He then added the expression of his warm gratitude towards the emperor personally, towards his ministers and the states of the empire, for whom he affirmed, with his hand on his heart, he was ready to sacrifice life, honor, reputation, all except God's word.
" On the next day, April 26th, after a collation given him by his friends, the doctor quitted Worms."* Thus, says a sagacious writer, ended an affair which seemed, at the beginning, fraught with tremendous portent for Luther and his sacred cause.
Beset by enemies who had resolved to employ the whole subtleties of the Bom an see to ruin him, and by fiiends who, in their fears for his safety, half' forgot the sacredness of the vows which were upon, him, it required not less discretion than firmness to' save his integrity, and ward off the manifold blows intended for his destruction.
Had lie yielded the principle tliat neither popes nor princes, churches nor councils, can have any authority to demand respect for doctrines not found in ScrijDture, Christendom might still have had to endure for bitter ages the iron yoke of Roman superstition; had he, on the other hand, pressed his opinions with the air of a zealot, the princes of the empire would have felt no sympathy for his character, and the full weight of the imperial wrath would have fallen upon his uncovered head.
Happily for him and for Christianity, he was preserved from abandoning the calm and moderate tone which so well became a preacher of righteousness conscious of his integrity, and anxious mainly that all men should bow in willing homage to the imperious truth.
This gave added Aveight and dignity to his eloquence, and while it awed the petulant spirits of one portion of his adversaries into unwilling silence, it convinced the rest of his moderation, of his sincerity, fortitude, elevation of thought, and thorough purity of intention.*
" The Romanist himself," observes Audin, " if he will for a moment forget the sectarjin the man, cannot but contemplate with admiration, in this grand historical scene of the diet of Worms, that tall, sombre, black-robed monk, standing face to face with, and resolutely bearding the throng of princes and nobles in their steel panoplj-, their gauntleted hands grasping the massive handles of * Stebbing, Hist. Ref., Vol. their swords; and his heart swells witliin him as he hears the clear, firm voice of the obscure brother
Martin defying the assembled powers of the earth.
" That youthful emperor, on whose head rests the interests of so large a portion of Europe, and whom a mere monk stops short at every turn of the conference; those grave priests Amsdorff and Justus pressing, full of love and enthusiasm, close up to their master, ready to defend him with their arms, if need be, as well as with their learned voices
; that populace in whose eyes the Augvistine was all-wonderful as the latest novelty of the time Freundsburg, who addressed the pilgrim monk as though he were an armed warrior; those
Avarm, excitable southern faces full of restless energy, contiasting strongly with the motionless features of the German spectators
: all this forms a magnificent spectacle, unsurpassed in history, and well worthy of the attention of the grandest masters of the period—of Raphael or of Angelo himself."
* Audin, Histoire de M. Lutli., 5th ed Meantime, while Luther quitted Worms by oue gate, Frederick of Saxony, the elector palatine, the elector archbishop of Cologne, and many inferior friendly members of the diet left the city by another.
" Banishment," wrote the elector to his brother, duke John, "is Luther's only hope of protection.
If God permits me to return to you, I shall have matters to relate that are almost beyond credence.
It is not only Annas and Caiaphas, but Pilate and Herod also, that have combined against him."
By the withdrawal of these friends of the Eeformation the field was left free ; only the Spaniards, the Italians, and the most ultramontane of the Germans remained.
The papal legate, Aleander, hastened to Charles, and laid before him the outline of an edict intended by him as a model of that which the diet ought to issue against Luther.*.
The emperor assembled the remaining members of the diet ; had the edict of the nuncio read to them, and it was accej)ted by all present.!
"The next day, which was a great festival, the emperor went to the cathedral, attended by all the lords of his splendid retinue.
" When the religious ceremonies were over, and a crowd of people still thronged the sanctuary, Aleander, robed in all the insignia of his dignity, approached Charles V.
; he held in his hand two copies of the edict against Luther, one in Latin, the other in German, and kneehng before his imperial majesty, he implored him to affix to them his signature and the seal of his empire.
"It was at the moment when the sacrifice had been offered, Avhen the incense still filled the temple, the melancholy wail of the sacred chants was still reechoing through the the dim, mysterious aisles, and as it were in the presence of the Deity, that the enemy of Eome was to be pronounced a heretic, and placed under a ban both civil and ecclesiastical.
" Charles assumed a gracious air, and taking the pen, wa*ote his name.
Aleander withdrew in triumph, and he immediately sent the decree to the printers, and then forwarded the still wet copies to all parts of Christendom.
This crowning act of the toils of Eome had cost the papacy no little trouble.
Pallavicini himself informs us that this edict, although bearing date the 8th of May, was not signed till later; but it was antedated to make it appear that the signature was affixed at a time when all the members of the diet were assembled in solemn state.'""'
This formidable edict was much more dreadful than the mock thunders and Chinese gongs of the The papal. bulls might indeed be published in Italy, but they conld not be executed in But now the emperor and the pontiff joined hands to crush heres3^
" We, Charles," so ran the imperial decree, and then followed his titles, " to all electors, princes, prelates, and others whom it may concern.
" The Almighty having confided to us, for the defence of the most holy faith, more kingdoms and greater authority than he has ever given to our predecessors, we propose employing every means in our
2")Ower to 'prevent our holy empire from being polluted by heresy.
" The Augustine monk, Martin Luther, notwithstanding ourexhortation, has rushed like a madman on our holy church, and has attempted to destroy it by books overflowing with blasphemy.
He has shamefully polluted the indestructible law of holy matrimony; he has endeavored to excite the laity to dye their hands in the blood of the clerg}^
; and setting at naught all authority, has incessantly urged the people to revolt, schism, war, murder, robbery, incendiarism, and to the utter ruin of the In a word, not to mention his other evil practices, this man, who is in truth not so much a man as Satan himself under the form of a man, and dressed in a monk's frock, has collected into one stinking slough all the vilest heresies of past times, and has added to them new ones of his own invention.
" We have therefore dismissed from our presence this Luther, whom all pious and sensible men deem a madman, or one possessed of the devil, and we enjoiu that, ou the expiration ol' his safe-couduct, immediate recourse be had to effectual measures to check his furious rage.
"For this reason, under pain of incurring the penalties due to the crime of high treason, we forbid you to harbor the said Luther after the appointed time shall have expired
; to conceal him, to give him food or drink, or to furnish him, by word or deed, pubhcly or secretly, with any kind of succor whatsoever.
We enjoin you, moreover, to seize him, or cause him to be seized, wherever you may find him ; to bring him before us without any delay, or to keep him in safe custody until you have learned from us in what manner you are to act towards him, and have received the reward due to your labor: in so holy a work.
" As for his adherents, you will apprehend them, confine them, and confiscate their property.
" As for his writings, if the best nutriment becomes the detestation of all men as soon as one drop of poison is mingled with it, how much more ought such books, which contain a deadly poison for the soul, to be not onl}^ rejected, but destroyed?
You will therefore burn them, or utterly destroy them in any other manner.
"As for the authors, poets, printers, painters, buyers or sellers of placards, papers, or pictures, against the pope or the church, you will seize them, body and goods, and will deal with them according to your good pleasure.
"And if any person, whatever be his dignity,