The History of the Church and Court of Rome: From the Establishment of Christianity Under ...

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Chap. I . Preliminary Observations, in reference to the Reformation 1

II. State of the Roman Church in Faith and Morals, at the

period of the Reformation 24

III. Lather » ^ 34

IV. Diet of Worms, 1521 58

V. Diet of Nuremberg, 1622 71

VI. Diet of Augsbun?, 1530 89

VH. Council of Trent 106

VIII. Death and Character of Luther 119

IX. Diet of Ratisbon 129

X. Diet of Augsburg 149

XI. Council of Trent 160

XII. Maurices-Treaty of Passau — Dietof Augsburg, 1555 105

XIII. Reformation in England IfO

XIV. Reformation in Sweden. Denmark, France, Spain, Sic, ... 266 XV. On the Consequences of the Reformation 277

XVL Adrian VL 290

XVII. Clement VII.— Capture of Rome, by Bourbon 805

XVIII. Interview between Clement and Charles V. Reformation

in England.— Deatli of Clement— Paul III 32G

XIX. Institution of the Order of the Jesuits 334

XX. Council of Trent 352

XXL Julius III.— Council of Trent 357

XXIL The Inquisition 36»

XXIIL Pius IV. and V 388

XXIV. Gregory XI 11— Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Day... 399

XXV. Sixtus v.— Clement VIII 409

XXVI. Jansenist Controversy 429

SKETCH

OF THE

GERMAN AND ENGLISH REFORMATION.

Chapter I. Preliminary Observations

The period of which we are now about to treat, opened with a prospect, of all others, the most gloomy in the eyes of every true Christian. Corruption, both in doctrine and practice, had exceeded all bounds : and the general face of Europe, though the name of Christ was every where professed, presented nothing that was cheering to the mind of a true Christian. Although great efforts had been made to emancipate the Church of Christ from the oppression and degradation under which the "Powers of Darkness" had bound it down; and though many individuals had, thereby, been brought to a personal and saving knowledge of the truth ; still there had been no perceptible influence wrought on the Church generally ; nor had any Reformation in her general character taken place in any part of Europe.

The Members of God's Spiritual Chiurch were few and feeble ; utterly incapable of making effectual impression on the kingdom of Antichrist. The Roman Pontiffs were stiU the uncontrolled Patrons of Iniquity ; neither the scandalous

VOL. II. B s

crimes of Alexander VI., nor the military ferocity of Julius II. seem to have lessened the dominion of the Court of Rome; or to have so impressed the minds of men with a sense of the exiormity of their guilt, as to have created a determination to prevent their recurrence.

All this would be incredible and unaccountable, did not History attest its truth ; and were we not well informed, that the subjection of the mind of man to the doctrines and principles of Popery, had, at this time, become both universal qjad complete : insomuch, that the nations of Christendom differed from those of Paganism, in nothing, save the name.

In the midst of all this darkness and hopelessness, God did not leave his Chiurch utterly to perish ; his face had, indeed, been long hidden, but he was now aJ3out to arise to vindicate his own cause, and to manifest that His unaided Spirit was alone effectual to the accomplishment of all those gracious purposes of Jove and mercy to his Redeemed Church, which were now about to be disclosed: although suppressed, the indignant struggles of piety after a holier faith were not annihilated ; many in solitude and privacy, forwarded the day of yengeance by their patient suffering, and Christian supplication to the God of Truth. Slowly, but effectually, all things were now working together for good, to the oppressed and despised people of God; whose word had wrought effectually ia.'many hearts ; whilst a variety of circumstances, some appareijtly casual, were combining to produce effects of the most astonishing and beneficial nature, on the political and moral constitution of the world.

The era of the Reformation, says an anonymous writer, is one. of the most interesting in the page of Histoiy. The change which then took place in religious opinions, was the necessary result of various concurring causes, which gradually developed themselves, as maiikind advanced in knowledge. The effects which it produced, were almost instantaneously felt in every coimtry of Eiux)pe, and still continue to maintain a sensible influence upon the religion, the policy, the literature, and the science of many nations.

Al that era, new energies were excited in the human breast.

and a spirit of enqniiy, and, in general, an independence of character was elicited, to which the histoiy of the speciea affords no parallel.

This eleyation of sentiment, was not confined to a few individuals, to one district of a country, or to one nation. In Germany, in France, in England, and even in Scotland, a similar tone of temper, and the same fervid zeal almost simultaneouslj appeared; and the united strength of the ecclesiastical and civil powers was unable to suppress them.

In the consideration of these events, we shall see that God makes the wrath of man to praise him ; and in the mysteries of his moral government, frequently produces light out of darkness.

It will be necessary, before we direct our attention to the histoiy of those events, which unitedly considered, we characterize as the Reformation, to state, briefly, yet explicitly, in what that fortunate concurrence of circumstances consisted, by which this great and glorious era was preceded, matmred and forwarded. The impulse given to Germany was felt throughout the whole of Europe. Luth^ was not to Bohemia alone, but to the whole world, the harbinger of that glorious era which was to emancipate the minds of men from the bondage of a corrupt and debasing superstition. If, therefore, in the following sketch of the circumstances which preceded and produced the Reformation, we seem to look principally to the efforts of the German Reformer, let it be remembered, that this great work was begun in Germany ; that although poHtical and personal circumstances apparently produced the rupture between England and Rome, the minds of men had been previously prepared for a thankful embracing of it, by the writings of Luther ; that the political causes were only accidental ones, providentially concurring with those of a moral nature ; and that so far fi*om being considered as independent and isolated events, the Reformation, both in England and Germany, was one and the same eventi under different appearances and modifications.

As the fifteenth centui^ evolved, the moral censures of the

b2 public judgment became more animated against the vices and abuses of the Papal court, and its official administration ; and thus, before Henry VIII. or Luther was even bom, two of the great points for which the latter afterwards contended, had become fixed in the opinions of mankind, though no one stirred to put thenif into effectual execution. These were, that the Popedom and the CathoHc Hierarchy were in a corrupt and immoral state ; and that for the sake of true Christianity and of the public welfare, a general Reformation ought to be commanded and enforced. But Luther no more originated the d^ire of the amelioration, than he produced the degeneracy which needed the correction. The evil had been so striking, and so imiversal, that it could not, when the mind was enlarging on every subject of human thought, continue to exist so glaringly and so offensively, without exciting some sensitive and intrepid spirit to be an active pubUc leader, in obtaining that Reformation, which all, but the deteriorated and the interested, felt to be indispensable.

To overturn a system of religious belief, founded on ancient and deep rooted prejudices, supported by power, and defended ^th no less art than industry ; to establish in its room doctrines of the most contrary genius and tendency ; and to accomplish all this, not by external violence or the force of arms, are operations which historians, the least prone to credulity and superstition, ascribe to that Divine Providence, which, vrith infinite ease, can bring about events, which to human sagacity appear impossible. The interposition of Heaven, in favour of the Christian religion at its first publica^ tion, was manifested by miracles and prophecies, wrought and uttered in confirmation of it. Though none of the Reformers possessed, or pretended to possess these supernatural gifts ; yet that wonderful preparation of circumstances, which disposed the minds of men for receiving their doctrines ; that singular combination of causes, which secured their success, .and enabled men iiestitute of power and of policy, to triumph over those who employed against them extraordinary efforts of both, may be considered as no slight proof, that tiie same hand which planted the Christian religion, protected the Reformed £uthj and reared it from beginnings extremelj fee ble, to an amazing degree of vigour and maturity.

It was not against the Catholic dogmata, but against the abuses and the corruptions of the Papal Court, as in the case of indulgences, that Luther and others origmally directed their zeal. Our intrepid Reformer does not appear at all to have origmally contemplated an attack against transubstantiation, purgatory, praying for the dead, the use of images and pictures, the veneration of relics, tradition as a rule of faith, the invocation of saints, or even against the use and sale of indulgences. It was not against all or any of these Catholic tenets, that the Reformers, in the first instance, protested ; nor are we certain, hsni no flagrant abuse been made of some branches of discipline, that any efibrts would then have been made to restore the ancient simplicity of faith, or the purity of the primitive discipline. The extreme laxity and even profligacy of the clergy, had long been the source of painful regret to the wise and the good, and of sarcasm, impious pleasinre, and contempt to the wicked and the vain. Cardinal Bellarmine, a writer, as all the world knows, but seldom disposed to say a syllable in disparagement of the Church or the Roman Court, confesses that "for some years before the Lutheran and Calvinistic heresies," as he expresses it, " were published, there was not (as contemporary authors testify) any severity in ecclesiastical judicatories, any knowledge of sacred hterature, any reverence for divine things; there was not almost any religion remaining." Had the moral conduct of the head, and ministers of religion been such as became their holy office, it is more than probable that no particular outcry would have been raised against the CathoHc doctrines at that time. It was not the light of science, the encouragement at that time given to the arts, and to elegant literature; it was not any new discovery that had then been made in regard to morals, metaphysics, or religion, that first enabled the Reformers to attack with success the principles of the old faith, or the peculiarities of the ancient discipline. Even before that event, the arts were encouraged, because they coii\xii\^^\i^^ \o

«pp(»rt tlie primitiTe superstitions ; the liberal sciences were no where so successfully cultivated, as in the cloisters, and at the sacred colleges.

The profound learning of the Benedictine Monks, has been the subject of a warm panegyric from the able pen of Mr. Gibbon. Mr. Bosco bears ample testimony to the learning and talents of many of the supreme Pontiffs : no ; it was the bluse conduct of the clergy that first sounded the tocsin of religious war. This depravity had, naturally enough, become the subject of public ridicule, of reproach, and, at last, of contempt and open opposition. The universal cry was "Reform !" and when this was rejected, another still more powerful and dreadful was raised, of " Destruction !"

The Holiness of the Church, became the first object of general attack; and unfortunately for herself, that which should have been her strongest hold, was the most vulnerable part in the whole fortress. In those States wherein the Church may be said to have fallen, it is fair to remark, that she fell, in a manner by her own hand. The prophet's reproach may justly be applied to her, " O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself." It is with communities as with individuals; little ** can harm them, whilst they are followers of that which is good;" as " charity hides a multitude of sins," so does much active goodness conceal from the view a thousand errors of opinion, and many superstitions of worship. The subsequent ridicule and indecent abuse about the " Wafer Grod," would doubtless have been spared, had the Catholic Clergy but minded, as they ought, by a life of devotion and obedience, to " honour and serve that God," whom they believe to be present in the consecrated elements of which the wafer was composed. The outcry was not against the host, but against him by whom it was elevated. Holy images, pictures, &c. were never despised, till they were abused and profaned by those to whose custody they had been previously consigned. The growing pride of the Church of Rome, naturally engendered by the union of the spiritual and temporal power, was one of the strong symptoms of approaching revolt

Erejiy prince bore the insolence and ambition of the Roman

Pontiff, with a greater or less degree of impatience ; some of them dared to oppose it openly, and the University of Paris had more than once been made the organ of Sovereign Power^ to answer the menaces of Borne; they had the courage to appeal to a fiiture Council, which they, without ambiguity^ deemed superior to the Pope. The eyes of men began to open* The impolitic violence of some Popes, the scandalous lives of others, the seventy years captivity at Avignon, the schism of forty other years which followed it ; in which two and sometimes three Popes appeared, euch having a party, abusing and excommunicating each other, loading each other with the most revolting insult, and reproaching each other with the lowest vices ; unexpected discoveries which covered both rivals with ignominy at the same time ; all these will surely account for the hatred and contempt, which everywhere lurked secretly against the Romish Hierarchy ; complaints and murmiu^ arose on every hand ; thousands of vices imited in demanding a Reformation of the Church, in its head, and in its members, its faith and its manners; but there were other and concurring causes, connected with the condition and circumstances of the priesthood generally, to which we must, though but briefly, advert.

Many of the dignified clergy, secular as well as regular, being the younger sons of noble families, who had assumed the ecclesiastical character, for no other reason, but that they found in the Church, stations of great dignity and affluence, were accustomed totally to neglect the duties of their office, and indulge themselves without reserve, in all the vices to which great wealth and idleness naturally give birth ; though the inferior clergy were prevented by their poverty, from imitating the expensive luxury of their superiors, yet gross ignorance and low debauchery, rendered them as contemptible, as the others were odious. The voluptuous Hves of Ecclesiastics, occasioned great scandal, not only because their manners were inconsistent with their sacred character, but the laity being accustomed to see several of them raised from the lowest stations, to the greatest affluence^ ^/jLJUjLjjjKgf the same indulgence to their excesses, as to those of persons pos^ sessed of hereditary wealth or grandeur ; and viewing their condition with more envy, they censured their crimes with greater severity ; nothing therefore could be more acceptable to Luther's hearers, than the violence with which he exclaimed against the immoralities of Churchmen, and every person in his audience could, from his own observation, confirm the truth of his invectives.

This degeneracy of manners among the Clergy might have been tolerated, perhaps, with greater indulgence, if their exorbitant riches and power had not enabled them, at the same time, to encroach on the rights of every other order of men. It is the genius of superstition, fond of whatever is pompous and grand, to set no boxmds to its liberality towards persons whom it esteems sacred, and to think its expressions of regard defective, unless it hath raised them to the height of wealth and authority. Hence flowed the extensive revenues and jurisdiction possessed by the Church in every coxmtry in Europe, and which were become intolerable to the Laity, from whose undisceming bounty they were at first derived.

The unsettled state of government in Germany, and the frequent wars to which that country was exposed, contributed, in another manner, towards aggrandizing Ecclesiastics. The only property during those times of anarchy which enjoyed security from the oppression of the great, or the ravages of war, was that which belonged to the Church. This was owing not only to the great reverence for the sacred character prevalent in those ages, but to a superstitious dread of the sentence of Excommunication, which the Clergy were ready to denounce against those who invaded their possessions; many observing this, made a surrender of their lands to Ecclesiastics, and consenting to hold them in fee of the Church, obtained as its vassals a degree of safety, which, without this device, they were unable to procure. By such an increase of the nmnber of their vassals, the power of Ecclesiastics received a real and permanent augmentation ; and as lands held in fee by the limited tenures common in those ages, often retamed to the persons on whom the fief depended, considerable additions were made in this way to the property of the Clergy.

Hie solicitude of the Clergy in providing for the safety of their own persons, was still greater than that which they displayed in securing their possessions ; and their efforts to attain it, were still more successful. As they were consecrated to the priestly office with much outward solemnily, were distinguished firom the rest of mankind by a peculiar garb and manner of life, and arrogated to their order many privileges which do not belong to other Christians, they naturally became the objects of excessive veneration. As a superstitious spirit spread, they were regarded as beings of a superior species to the profane Laity, whom it would be impious to try by the same laws, or to subject to the same punishments. This exemption from civil jurisdiction, granted at first to Ecclesiastics as a mark of respect, they soon claimed as a point of right This valuable immunity of the priesthood, is asserted not only in the decrees of Popes and Councils, but was confirmed in the most ample form, by many of the greatest Emperors. As long as the clerical character remained, the person of an Ecclesiastic was in some degree sacred ; and unless he were degraded firom his office, the unhallowed hand of the civil judge durst not touch him. But as the power of degradation was lodged in the Spiritual Courts, the difficulty and expence of obtaining such a sentence, too often secured absolute impunity to offenders. Many assumed the clerical charact^, for no other reason than that it might screen them firom the punishment which their actions deserved. The German Nobles complained loudly, that these anointed malefieu^tors, as they called them, seldom suffered capitally, even for the most atrocious crimes ; and their independence of the civil magistrate is ofi;en mentioned in the remonstrances of the Diets, as a privilege equally pernicious to society, and to the morals of the Clergy.

While the Clergy asserted the privileges of their ovm order with so much zeal, they made continual encroachments upon those of the Laity. All causes relative to matrimony, to testaments, to usury, to legitimacy of birth, as well as those which concerned Ecclesiastical Revenues, were thought to be so connected with religion, that they could be tried only in the Spiritual Courts. Not satisfied with this ample jurisdiction, which extended to one half of the subjects that gave rise to litigation among men, the Clergy, with wonderful industry, and by a thousand inventions, endeavoured to draw all other causes into their own courts.

Nor did the Clergy neglect the proper methods of preserving the wealth and power which they had acquired with such industry and address ; the possessions of the Church being consecrated to God, w^re declared to be unalienable, so that the fimds of a society which was daily gaining, and could never lose, grew to be immense. In Germany, it was computed that the Ecclesiastics had got into their hands more than one half of the national property. In other countries, the proportion varied, but the share belonging to the Church was every where prodigious. These vast possessions were not subject to the burdens imposed on the lands of the Laity. The German Clergy were exempted by law firom all taxes ; and if on any extraordinary emergence. Ecclesiastics were pleased to grant some aid towards supplying the public exigencies, this, was considered as a firee gift, flowing from their own generosity, which the civil magistrate had no right to demand, much less to exact

The manner in which these extraordinary powers were exercised, rendered them still more odious and intolerable ; the avarice and extortion of the Court of Rome were become excessive almost to a proverb. The practice of selling benefices was so notorious, that no pains were taken to conceal or disguise it. Companies of merchants openly purchased the benefices of difierent districts in Germany, from the Pope's •ministers, and retailed them at an advanced price. Pious men beheld with deep regret, these simoniacal transactions, so unworthy the ministers of a Christian Church, while politicians complained of the loss sustained by the exportation of so much wealth in that irreligious traffic.

Such were the dissolute manners, the exorbitant wealth, the enonnoiis power and priTileges of the Clergy before tlie Refisr r mation, such the oppressive rigour of that dominion, which the Popes had established over the Christian world, and such the sentiments concerning them, that prevailed in Germany^ at the beginning of the sixteenth century.

To men thus prepared for shaking off the yoke, Luther addressed himself with certainly of success. As fliey had long felt its weight, and had borne it with impatience, they listened with joy to the first offer of procuring their deliverance; hence proceeded the fond and eager reception that his doctrines met with, and the rapidity with which they spread over all the provinces of Germany. Even the impetuosity and fierceness of Luther's spirit, his confidence in asserting his own opinions, and the arrogance as well as contempt wherewith he treated all who differed firom him, which, in ages of greater moderation and refinement, have been reckoned defects in the character of that Reformer, did not appear excessive to his contemporaries, whose minds were strongly agitated by those interesting controversies which he carried on, and who had themselves endured the rigour of Papal tyranny, and seen the corruptions in the Church, against which he exclaimed.

When proud men in power are hard pressed with the arguments or the complaints of their inferiors, there are only two methods, as they suppose, of parrying the ignoble thrust of their adversary, they must either crush by authority their troublesome opponents, or, shrouding themselves in a delusive security, treat the reasoning of their humble but powerful enemies, with ^' silent contempt :" often the miserable subterfuge of the cowardly and the vanquished* This was now the conduct of the Roman Court The remonstrances of the wise and good were listened to, but disregarded ; the satires and lampoons of the poets were laughed ai, and forgotten ; and for a long time, the innovating zeal of Luther, an " obscure monk in a comer of Germany,'' was treated with what was mistakenly deemed, a merited disregard.

Perhaps it may be said, and truly, that the love of ease, refinement, and polite literature, rather than the pride of Leo X. operated to the prejudice of the Church, and coUater^ aUy strengthened the cause of the Reformers. But it was those very feelings, swelling into disdain for the remonstrances and homely vulgarities of the real friends of reli^on and public virtue, that preyed like a canker on the Papal power, and by its corrosive qualities, weakened, if it could not destroy, the foundations of its own imperious dignity. In every point of view, the Church acted the part of a suicide. Next to the lordly pride of the Romish Court, we may reckon among the proximate causes of the Reformation, the luxury, extravagance, and religious indifference of Leo X.

About the period of Luther's first attack on the religion of the Catholics, Rome was in profoxmd peace,* and this interval of repose, Leo X. occupied in expensive schemes for aggrandizing the family of the Medici, in extending the splendour of the Papal See : and in lavishing presents on authors, artists, profane wits and buffoons. To support the enormous expence to which these propensities subjected the supreme Pontiff, required far greater resources than the now sdmost exhausted Papal treasury supplied.

* This feeling of seciuity pervaded all the Ecclesiastical Orders ; the inferior as well as the superior clergy, accounted public opinion a thing of no moment, and lived only to gratify their appetites, and display their pride ; but they were treading on ashes which concealed subterraneous fires. The elements of a mighty explosion were then accumulating ; an explosion, which eansed tiie throne of the Pontiffs to totter, and tore from their grasp the fairest portion of their empire. Like Belshazzar and his' Lords, the Pope and his Cardinals passed the night in licentious festivity, and to give a greater zest to their carousal, they profaned ** the vessels of the Lord :** as with Belshazzar too, an enemy approached the gate ; but no Daniel was there, to mterpret the handwriting upon the wall.

It is not in human nature that tyranny and extortion can long be patiently eadnred ; and at this time, no country, no class of society, was exempt from intolerable burdens ; so that while the Popes and their partisans were sunk in security and ease, the whole community was dissatisfied, restless, and complahiing. Princes and sovereign states, were the first to exclaim agamst tiie Papal oppressioni; and evAn among the Prelates, were found a few zealons opponents of the lordly ambition of the Bishops of Rome. The wealthy were wearied by exorbitant and lawless exactions ; the diligent were disgusted by the idleness of the monks and friars, who swarmed like locusts, and like locusts, devoured every green leaf; while the people at large were shocked and alienated, by tbe grms and glaring immorality' of the Popish clergy.

IS

At no time was the Roman court in greater splendour, nor did the Vicars of Christ ever exhibit a magnificence so im- - posing, as that displayed during the Pontificate of Leo X. Eveiy decoration that art could suggest; every wish that the most voluptuous appetite could engender; and every refinement that an unbounded love of science and literature could devise, found a patron in that luxurious prince. This great Maecenas of his age, in his unrestrained admiration of talent and g^us, scrupled not to lend his countenance, and to open his coffers to many palpable empirics and vulgar bufibons.

This profiision and magnificence in the supreme Pontiff, was amply copied by the Chie& and the Princes of the Roman Court, who vied with each other in the grandeur and sumptuousness of their palaces, and the prodigality and gaiety of th£ir entertainments; nor did it deduct firom the pressure to " which this extravagance exposed the subjects of the Papal dominions, that a considerable portion of the riches which were drained from the labour or the purses of the poor, were lavished without discrimination on artists, painters, and sculptors.

But the expensive dignity of the See of Rome was not the only ground of complaint. In the midst of courtly gaieties and costly pageantry, the mind of the supreme Pontiff became insensible or indifferent to the dangers that were Collecting around him. Leo X. has been accused of a natural disregard of theological studies, and the religious affairs of the Church; whilst the moderation to which he was urged as well by his own disposition, as by the wise counsel of his correspondent Erasmus, in some cases might be construed into indifference and unconcern. It is certain that he delayed, till it was too late, to exert his power to suppress the Reforpiation ; and that when, at length, he did awaken to a sense of his danger, the violence which he manifested, or encouraged, tended, only to . add fuel to the flame. Divine Providence intending on the one hand to chastise the Church for her profligacy of manners, and on the other to free the Gospel of Christ &om the errors and corruptions which had grown upon ity seems to have lulled the supreme FonUff tio ^^^iai««KAs:pi63<>

14 and to have strack with blindness those whom it designed to

An admirer of the fine arts, firom which he only sought fame and gratification, a crafty but presuming politician, prepossessed with contempt for the German rudeness of manners, under which he was unable to discover that strength and manliness of character, all the energy of which he had to encounter, Leo X. was not qualified to enter the lists with Luther; and the arrogant weakness of the one opened numberless advantages to the intrepid firmness of the other. Whoever considers the characteristic national difierences between the Italians and Saxons, will perceive that Divine Providence had been secretly, but effectually, preparing for that great Reformation in the Church. The Italians adhered strongly to a religion which captivated their senses, and permitted the indulgence of all their vices; a taste for luxury, pomp and voluptuousness, with that of the fine axts, was all their enjoyment Always oppressed, they were naturally deceitful, cmming, dissimulating, andselfisli; eveiy thing conducive to the enjoyment of taste, every thing flattering to the sensibility, physical and moral, had become the object of Italian activity. But the calm, equal, persevering activity of the Saxons, was directed to the abstract sciences, to philosophy, to historical researches. When the Reformation burst forth^ 4here was not a single theologian of Italy, capable of encountering those of Saxony; some of them had the presumption to attempt it, a presumption always the associate of ignorance; they were defeated and covered with confusion. In revenge, Italy boasted loudly of her poets and her painters: she had not produced a Luther, but Saxony had not produced an vAriostOk