The lives, sentiments and sufferings of some of the reformers and martyrs before, since and independent of the Lutheran reformation

Preface

In reading ecclesiastical history, it has often been a subject of disappointment that we cannot readily attain to a knowledge of the everyday course, and inner life and spirit, and so as it were enjoy the familiar intercourse of those pious men and women, who were, during the darkness of the middle ages, depositaries of a little of the true light of the gospel, and instrumental in preserving more or less of a testimony to the inward efficacy and simplicity of true religion, and transmitting it to succeeding times. The history indeed of the "inner court" — the true church of Christ, from the dark hour of its flight into the wilderness, until the dawn of day in the sixteenth century — has never yet been written, and probably never will or can be. The various ecclesiastical histories, though, many of them, deeply interesting and instructive, are, in their general scope, and with scarcely any exception, histories rather of the corruptions and confusions of the "outer court," which was "given unto the gentiles," They show 1* (v)

VI PREFACE.

that church history, as well as other history, teaches not only by examples, but by warnings. They display, in a remarkable manner, the stratagems of Antichrist, whereby that great deceiver of the nations established his throne in the professing Christian church, showed himself as it were God, was worshipped as a god, trampled on the bodies and souls of men, made merchandise of the gospel, enslaved the human intellect by superstition, intoxicated mankind with the cup of the wine of the wickedness of Babylon, and reigned even over the kings of the earth.

But the sweetness and humility and love of the true Christian life, which still lived, through all the darkness and death, in the hearts of a few, out of the sight of the world, but called and chosen and faithful, appears to have been scarcely an object of the research or commemoration of historians; and indeed was so much neglected by successive writers from century to century, that records of it, if any there were at all, are now scarcely to be found.

Thus the accumulation of matter connected with and arising from worldly motives, and transactions of men of a worldly spirit, though ostensibly acting for religion, seems almost to eclipse in such histories the light of truly Christian example and effort; and the reader is often discouraged in his attempts to

PREFACE. VI 1

commune as it were with the real disciples of Christ, by the necessity of wading through so much corruption and contention and intrigue, in order to obtain access to a little of that which is of a purer nature and more worthy of the name of Christianity.

'Nor is he any less discouraged, in his endeavors to acquire a knowledge of the real sentiments and doctrines of many who have been considered as "disturbers of the peace," when they honestly testified against the corruptions introduced into the church. Historians have mostly given very imperfect, if not very partial and one-sided statements of opinions and doctrines so readily branded as heresy by interested parties; and in vain do we search, in the generality of church histories, for that which might be expected as a matter of justice, a clear and impartial statement of what such reformers really taught, couched in their own expressions. Perhaps the author who has approached the nearest to what is desired in this respect, may be said to be the late venerable and laborious Augustus ^N'eander. Yet most readers are afraid to undertake the task of an intimate acquaintance with his ponderous pages.

And in like manner, many even of the modern biographical accounts of eminent worthies of the middle ages are encumbered with details of the results of minute research, valuable in themselves,

VI 11 PREFACE.

and highly worthy of preservation, but rendering such works too bulky, whereby they lose much of the attractiveness of their subject, and are scarcely adapted for general perusal. That the public feeling evinces this want of a more intimate acquaintance with these reformers, is shown by the avidity with which even fictitious narratives, and diaries fallaciously purporting to portray their course, have of late years been received.

In a frequent realization of these circumstances, it has appeared to the author of the present volume, that it might not be unacceptable to many serious readers, to have spread before them in a simple and unpretending manner, and clear of extraneous matter, such a sketch, as the scanty materials now extant may permit, of the lives, examples, and sentiments of some of the sincere-hearted followers of the Lord Jesus, from the ninth century downward, who, having been taught more or less in the school of Christ, and faithful to the degree of light vouchsafed through the thick darkness, have been measurably enabled to discern the difference between genuine and fictitious religion, and made willing, at the hazard of their lives, to testify before the world against the falsities and corruptions which had crept in, so far as their eyes had been anointed and opened to perceive them.

PREFACE. . IX

In attempting these delineations, tlie writer lias not felt called upon to dwell particularly on those points of doctrine in which these comparatively enlightened men and women, through the influence of education and an almost universal prevalency, were still in accordance with the tenets of the Roman church; but rather to endeavor to arrive at and give their own statements in regard to the points in which they diverged from Rome, and were constrained to protest against its apostasy from primitive Christianity. I^either has it been deemed needful here to include accounts of those eminent men, who were directly concerned in that mighty revolution which took place in th'e beginning of the sixteenth century; as their instrumentality therein, and the particular features of their character and lives, have been repeatedly and largely portrayed, and are already matter of open and general history, and freely accessible to the public at large.

Derived as the matter is, by compilation and condensation, from a considerable variety of detached works of ecclesiastical history and biography, and without much reference to intervening events, no attempt has been made to give to the volume the aspect of a connected history. Yet, as the accounts are generally arranged in chronological order, it is hoped that some glimpses at least may thence be

PREFACE.

gathered, of the condition of Christian truth in the respective periods, and of the successive efforts mad6 to rescue it from the clouds of error.

The reader will perceive (however imperfectly accomplished) that one aim runs through the whole book — to show the superiority and sustaining efficacy of true spiritual religion — a religion, not of outward forms, and empt}^ pomp and parade, nor yet of airy imaginations, but of inward and living virtue to cleanse and renew the heart — a religion deeper than all the precepts of human learning, and loftier and more expansive than the utmost soarings of the human intellect — a religion taught in the heart, by Him who taught as never man taught, and Avho is still the great teacher of his people; as near to them now in Spirit, as he was then in that prepared body, in which, though Lord of all. He condescended to walk lowly among men. Let the world call this religion by whatever name they may please to designate it, if it is the religion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, pure and undefiled before God the Father, it will be owned and accepted by Him whose name is above every name, and before whom every knee must bow.

John Ruchrath, of Wesel 202

CHAPTER XIT.

CHAPTER Xllt.

CHAPTER XIV.

CHAPTER XV.

Anne Aske\y 30G

CHAPTER XVI.

CHAPTER XVII.

CHAPTER XVIII.

William Deli 428

BEFORE AND SINCE

THE LUTHERAN REFORMATION.

Chapter I. Claudius Of Turin

Before entering on a brief delineation of the life of this pioneer of reform in the Roman church, it may be well to glance at the rise of certain corruptions of doctrine and practice, which had obtained more or less prevalence therein previous to the end of the ninth century.

Most of the corruptions had their origin after the profession of Christianity by the Emperor Constantine, which took place in the year 312, and the deliberations of the Kicene Council, which occurred about thirteen years thereafter.

The venerating of "saints' days" has been traced as far back as the martyrdom of Polycarp, who was cotemporary with the old age of the Apostle John, and suffered death at the stake about the year 166. After that, the honoring of the yzAdha (literally birthdays), or anniversaries of the introduction of the saints by martj^rdom into the heavenly life, became a frequent practice ; and in the third century this form of superstition had extended so as to include an extreme veneration for their relics, if not an adoration of

2 (13)

them ; their blood being eagerly collected on- sponges, cloths, etc., and their bones, and even garments, most sedulously preserved as holy. In the fourth and fifth centuries this veneration for saints had passed into actual worship.*

Although Ascetics and Hermits were known in the East at a ver}^ early date, and even, it has been said, before the introduction of Christianity, yet the monastic system, properly so called, embracing communities of monks and nuns living in seclusion under a lifelong vow, was not known, or at least no vestige of it has been discovered, before the end of the third century. But in the fourth it appeared with vigor, being introduced in Egypt by a friend of the celebrated Athanasius, called Saint Anthony, who established several communities called Caenobites in the Lower Thebaid, which were soon afterward extended into Upper Egypt. And about the year 341, Athanasius himself is said to have carried with him to Rome a number of Egyptian monks of that order ; whose wild aspect, along with their devout demeanor, aroused the attention of the Romans, and induced the introduction of the system into Europe, and the foundation of several monasteries. In the fifth century the monastic system had become coextensive with the profession of Christianity.

The exposure of images and paintings of the Virgin Mary and of saints in places for public worship, is said to have originated in the fourth century.

In the early part of that century also, the celibacy of priests seems to have obtained a foothold, it being then established that no priest in the western church should marry after ordination. By the end of the fifth century, the rule of celibacy was commonly observed by the Romish clergy; but it was not strictly and universally enforced for several centuries afterward.

* Waddington's History of the Church, p. 213

The practice of private Confession to priests, called auricular confession, was established by Pope Leo I., surnamed the Great, about the middle of the fifth century, and gave so vast an addition to the influence of the priesthood that it has been considered as the laying of the cornerstone of the papal edifice.

- The doctrine of Purgatory is not mentioned, nor does it appear to have been thought of (as afterward held), during the first four centuries. It began to obtain belief in the fifth and sixth ages, and was established in the church by Pope Gregory L, about the end of the latter century.

The same pope concentrated with the bishopric of Rome, the claim to "the power of the Keys of St. Peter," and (though with some appearance of caution) evidently aimed at establishing the supremacy of the Roman See; though both these arrogant assumptions were stoutly and permanently resisted by the Patriarchs of Constantinople on behalf of the Eastern or Greek church.

Gregory also introduced the pompous ceremonies of the "Communion," called "the Mass," regulated the prayers and chanting of the ceremonial, and established a school of chanters about the beginning of the seventh century.

The appropriation by the priesthood of the use of the Holy Scriptures, whereby the Bible was practically withdrawn from the knowledge of the people at large, may be dated about the seventh century.*

The doctrine of Transubstantiation, or the assertion that the bread and wine of the "Communion" became "the actual body and blood of Christ, — the same body which was born of the Yirgin Mary, was crucified, and rose again," — was broached by Radbert, abbot of Corbie, in 831 ; and this doctrine was at length, under the pontificate of Innocent III., confirmed in the Romish church about the begin-

* Waddington, p. 692.

ning of the thirteenth century. It was, therefore, only beginning to attract attention, in the age of Claudius of Turin. Tithes do not appear to have been claimed by the priesthood, or paid at all, as such, by the ante-Nicene church; though Cyprian and Origen gave some hints in regard to the Levitical institution, and first fruits under the law. Ambrose and Augustine, in the fourth century, implied that in their time some such payments were voluntarily made ; and the former seems to claim it as a divine requisition. Chrysostom and Jerome* favored the same claim ; but the system was very gradual in its extension during sevei'al centuries, and the first strictly legislative act conferring on the clergy the right to claim tithe, was passed by Charlemagne in the year t18.* But it was found very difficult to enforce the collection of tithes, and it Avas. not until the end of the twelfth century that the claim could be considered as universally admitted.

Claudius, bishop of Turin, who has been styled '' the Protestant of the ninth century," was a native of Spain, where he received his early education. As he grew up to manhood, he became attached to the clerical portion of the household of the Frank King Louis, surnamed the Pious, in Auvergne, and remained in this position about three years. While in the court of Louis,^ he commenced a series of Commentaries on various books of Holy Scripture, by writing three books on Genesis, and one on Matthew, which he published in the year 815. In 816, he pubhshed a Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, soon followed by one on that to the Ephesians, and others on other books of the Old and New Testaments at intervals of a few years. Neander says that his object in writing these Com-

«- Waddington, p. 231.

f Huston's "Israel of the Alps," vol. i. p. 9. English edition.

CLAUDIUS OF TURIN. IT

mentaries was the instruction and convenience of those ecclesiastics to whom the works of the older church authors were not readily accessible. As the Bible had now for more than a hundred years been secluded from the people at large, he had probably another object in view, to wit, the spreading of more correct views in regard to the contents of the Holy Scriptures than those which at that time prevailed. These Commentaries contained many original remarks, explanatory of his own rehgious sentiments, in addition to much compiled from the writings of Augustine and other ancient authors.

In the year 814, when Louis had succeeded to the imperial throne of Charlemagne, having imbibed a great regard for Claudius during his residence in his house, and hoping that his influence would be salutary in Northern Italy, he nominated him to the bishopric of Turin. On entering this new field of labor, his pious zeal, Neander tells us, found work enough to do in efforts to reform and improve a church so sunk in worldly views, ignorance, and superstition, as was that in Italy at that day.

The course taken by Gregory I., called "the Great," about the end of the sixth century, although a pontiff of uncommon energy and scope of mind, had greatly tended to fasten certain superstitious views and practices on the Roman church; especially the reverence for images and relics, and a belief in miracles performed by them, which extended to a degree most absurd and contrary to the common sense of mankind. The custom of exposing for public reverence in places of worship the images of saints, of the Virgin Mary, and even of Christ, which had arisen as early as the fourth century, had gradually advanced with the progress of bigotry, until the feeling toward these objects among the poor ignorant people became one of adoration. And though Gregory would not go so far as positively to sanction the actual worship of images, as such, yet he professed to believe that there was a benefit to be derived to the illiterate from the exhibition of them, and would not have them removed. Thus a sort of passive sanction was given by the pontiff to the superstitious veneration in which they were more and more held by the public ; which was all that was needed, aided as it was by the cupidity of the priests- interested in the matter, to promote the prevalency of the practice; so that during the succeeding two hundred years the worship of images and of the relics of saints became very general in Italy, though not much prevalent among the Pranks, and scarcely if at all allowed of among the simple inhabitants of the Alpine valleys of Piedmont.

The extension of the doctrine of Purgatory, as we have already seen, had also been greatly promoted by the same pontiff; and likewise the practice of pilgrimage to what were deemed holy places. But in nothing perhaps had the influence of Gregory more permanently fastened superstition on the succeeding ages, than in his extraordinary claims on the credulity of the people in regard to the most absurd stories of wonderful miracles performed by rehcs of the saints. His letter to»the Empress Constantina,* who had solicited from him a donation for the enriching of a new temple of worship in Constantinople, exhibits a degree of bigotry which in our day would be considered unworthy of a reasonable intellect. The empress had requested the head, or at the least some portion of the body, of the Apostle Paul, for transportation to her new and splendid shrine, in order to give it importance with the people. But Gregory assured her that the bodies of the saints could not be approached within several feet for the purpose of abstracting any portion, without death to the daring invader; instancing several awful cases in point — one of which was

'•■• For this letter, see Waddington's History of the Church, p. 152.

that a number of workmen engaged in some repairs near the tomb of the Saint Laurentius, had accidentally opened a portion of the grave and seen his remains, and that they all died within ten days. All that the pope would promise the empress was, that if it were possible to obtain any filings from the chains which the Apostle Paul had worn on his neck and hands, he would send them to her; but he added that this was very doubtful, for though a certain priest was stationed with a file, for the gratification of the solicitations of pilgrims, and could sometimes succeed in fihng off a few grains from the chains, yet at other times all his efforts, though drawing his file over them for a long time, could scrape no filings whatever from the relics !

Under the powerful influence of pontifical encouragement, thus given by Gregory and his successors, such senseless superstitions ha.d greatly increased in Italy, and taken the place of true religion; so that when Claudius assumed his episcopal functions in Turin, as JSTeander informs us, " He saw with extreme pain how the essence of Christianity was here placed, in making pilgrimages to Rome, in adoring images and relics, in various species of outward works ; and how men were taught to trust in the intercession of saints, to the neglect of all earnest moral efforts of their own. He beheld a superstition which bordered closely on paganism, obtaining in the worship of saints, of images, of the cross, and of relics." With great zeal he both wrote and preached* against these superstitions, and even ejected the images and crosses from the places of worship, that they might no longer be objects of religious adoration. But, as might have been expected, his zeal provoked a bitter animosity on the part of some of the priests and people. In one of his works, written some years afterward, he says: ''When I was induced to uh-

* Milner's Church History, vol. iii. p. 209.

dertake the office of pastor, and came to Italy, I found, contrary to the true doctrine, all the churches full of the lumber of consecrated gifts ; and because I alone began pulling down what all adored, I was calumniated by all, and unless the Lord had helped me, they would perhaps have swallowed me up alive." Among others who saw their craft placed in danger by Claudius's opposition to these superstitions, the Pope Paschalis I. was greatly displeased ; but the favor of the Emperor Louis probably furnished a protection so powerful, that his enemies did not dare to put it to the test by commencing a persecution.

In the year 821, he published four books on Exodus, and in 823 a Commentary on Leviticus, which he dedicated to an old familiar friend, Theodemir, abbot of a monastery in the diocese of Msmes. These were followed by other similar works. In his various writings he took decided ground in favor of practical religion as opposed to mere outward forms ; sanctification of spirit, and genuine love to God, were with him of the first importance as characteristics of true piety; and he displayed an earnest view of the nature of sin, and of the estrangement of the carnal nature from God ; having no faith whatever in the monkish doctrine of the meritorious claims of Avhat were called good works. His former friend, however, the Abbot Theodemir, was not prepared to undergo the odium of uniting with him in his sw^eeping measures of reform, and cleared himself of all connection with so dangerous a position by publicly denouncing several of his views (particularly some in his Commentary on the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians) as errors in doctrine. This he did before an assembly of bishops and nobles, at a time when Claudius supposed him to be still friendly to him. Theodemir did not, however, succeed at that time in procuring his condemnation; and when Claudius was afterward informed by his friends of what had taken place, he wrote to Theodemir: ''May the Lord forgive thee — who is the witness of my life, and who gave me this work to do."

Claudius hereupon wrote a work in defense of his doctrines and conduct, wherein, says the translator of Neander, "he unfolded his principles with great boldness and the most violent zeal."* Whether this " most violent zeal " was anything more than the earnest asseverations of a man who felt convinced of the truth of the ground on which he stood, and of the necessity of maintaining it against all assailants, we are not informed; but Neander adds: "He declared that on no point had he set forth erroneous doctrines, or been a schismatic; but that he held firmly to the unity of the church, preached the truth, and defended the church; that he had always combated superstition and error, and would with God's help always continue to combat them. He attacked in this work every mode and form of imageworship ; he exposed, as Agobard had done," every false plea which could be employed in its palliation. 'If those, said he, 'who have forsaken idolatry, worship the images of the saints, then they have not forsaken idols, but changedtheir names. Whether thou paintest thy walls with figures of St. Peter and St. Paul, or of Jupiter and Saturn, neither the latter are gods, nor the former apostles. If men must be worshiped, it were much better to pay that worship to the living than to the dead; that is, to that wherein they bear the image of God, than to that wherein they are like to the brute, or rather to lifeless wood and stone. If the works of God's hands (the stars of heaven) ought not to

* Neander's own expression is, "heftigem Eifer" — simply, sharp or vehement zeal, — a comparatively mild term — not even "heftigstem;" so that the expression "most violent" is evidently an error of the translator. The contents of Claudius's document, as given in Flaccus Illyricus's Catalogus Testium Veritatis, from the work of Jonas of Orleans, his opponent, do not warrant any such epithet.

2*

22 RErORMERS AND MARTYRS.

be worshiped, much less ought the works of haman hands to be worshiped; even the worship of saints will not bear to be excused, for these never arrogated divine honors to themselves. Whoever seeks from anv creature in heaven or on earth the salvation which he should seek from Grod alone, is an idolater.'"

He objected also to the common custom of making the sign of the cross, with the idea of virtue attending it, believing that its tendency was to lead away the mind from spiritual communion with the Redeemer, and to fix it instead on outward symbols. In combating carnal views and superstitions of this nature, he frequently brought forward the Apostle's declaration : " Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him (thus) no more." And he alleged that we have no more obligation to worship the cross, than to worship many other outward things with which our Saviour came in contact, or was connected, while in that body of flesh — such as mangers, from his being laid in one when an infant, lambs, from his being called ''the Lamb of God," or ships, from the fact that he sometimes taught the multitude from on board of them.

Neander gives* this testimony to his spiritual views: "To point men away from the sensuous worship; of the cross to the spiritual following after Christ in the fellowship of his sufferings, and in self-renunciation, was to him the principal thing ; and hence the vehemence of his zeal against everything which tended to draw men away from this. Thus, he says, against the fleshly worshipers of the cross, 'What they do is quite a different thing from what God has commanded. God has commanded us to bear the cross, not to adore it. They are for adoring it, because they are unwilling to bear it either spiritually or bodily.

••■ Church History, 2(1 Amer. edit., vol. iii. p. 430.

CLAUDIUS OP TURIN. 23

To worship God after this manner means to turn away from him ; for he has said, " Whoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me ;" for he who does not break away from himself cannot draw near to Him who is higher than himself,' etc. Again, 'By the shameful sacrilege of images you estrange them [men] from their Creator, and plunge them in everlasting ruin,' He invites men to seek after inward fellowship with Christ, when he says : ' Ye blind, return to the true light, which enlightens every man that cometh into the world; which light shineth into the darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not ; ye who, not beholding that light, walk in darkness and know not whither you go, because the darkness hath blinded your eyes.'"*

On the word of the Lord, through the Prophet Ezekiel (chap. xiv. V. 14), '' Though these three men — Noah, Daniel, and Job — were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness," he observed: "This* is said to warn us against trusting to the merits or to the intercession of saints ; because no one who has not the same faith, the same righteousness and truth, whereby the saints obtained the divine approbation, can be saved." And in another place he reminds his readers that before the tribunal of Christ neither Job, nor Daniel, nor Noah can be of any use to us, but each one will have to bear his own burden, f In accordance herewith, he taught the utter emptiness of the idea of merit attaching to pilgrimages to Rome

* This primitive doctrine of the Christian religion, preached by Claudius in the ninth century, of the necessity of looking to and obeying the light of Christ, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world, and which the world so readily and willingly forgets, had to be proclaimed anew, in the demonstration and power of the gospel, eight hundred years afterward.

(except as the Almighty regards with compassion the motives of the hoDest-hearted), or that any one thereby made himself sure of the intercession of the Apostle Peter. On this subject, he says : "One gets no nearer to St. Peter by finding hinaself on the spot where his body was buried ; for the soul is the real man." He denied that any power to bind or loose on earth what had been bound or loosed in heaven had been committed continuously to Peter, and those who came after him, in a sort of lineal succession. And he charged his opponent, the Abbot Theodemir, with culpable inconsistency or remissness, in retaining one hundred and forty monks in his own monastery, subservient to himself, instead of sending them to Kome, if his belief really was that pilgrimages to Rome were of so great a value in securing salvation ; reminding him that there was no greater offense than that of preventing men from attaining to eternal blessedness.

Theodemir had reproached his former friend with incurring the displeasure of the " Dominus Apostolicus" — the apostolic lord — meaning the pope ; to which Claudius replied : "The title 'apostolic' does not belong to him who administers a bishopric founded by an apostle, but to him who truly fulfills the apostolic vocation ; to those who occupy the place, without fulfilling the vocation, should be applied the passage in Matthew, chap, xxiii. v. 12." He considered our Lord Jesus Christ as the true and only Head of the Church;* and that it was not allowable to obey the pope, further than as the pope himself stood in the apostolic doctrine. Thus boldly did Claudius defend the cause of practical Christianity, in accordance with the measure of light vouchsafed to him.