for the ensuing Friday. The Roman party were also invited to present a Confession; but they excused themselves, saying that they were satisfied with the Edict of Worms. The emperor's order took the Protestants by surprise, for the negotiations between Valdez and Melancthon had prevented the latter from putting the finishing stroke to the Confession. It was not copied out fair; and the conclusions, as well as the exordium, were not definitively drawn up. consequence of this, the Protestants begged the archbishop of Mentz to obtain for them the delay of a day; but their petition was refused. They therefore laboured incessantly, even during the night, to correct and transcribe the Confession.

"On Thursday, 23rd June, all the Protestant princes, deputies, councillors, and theologians met early at the Elector's. The Confession was read in German, and all gave their adhesion to it, except the landgrave and the Strasburgers, who required a change in the article on the sacrament. The princes rejected their demand."

Then follow the declarations of the Elector of Saxony and of Wolfgang, prince of Anhalt, on signing the Confession quoted at p. 501, commencing with "The Elector of Saxony, was already preparing to sign." The historian then says in the same chapter:

"The wiles of the Ultramontanists were added to Melancthon's dejection in order to arrest the courageous proceedings of the princes. Friday, 24th June, was the day fixed for reading the Confession, but measures were taken to prevent it. The sitting of the Diet did not begin till three in the afternoon; the legate was then announced; Charles went to meet him as far as the top of the grand staircase, and Campeggio, taking his seat in front of the emperor, in king Ferdinand's place, delivered a harangue in Ciceronian style. 'Never,' said he, 'has St. Peter's bark been so violently tossed by such various waves, whirlwinds, and abysses. The Holy Father has learnt these things with pain, and desires to drag the church from these frightful gulfs. For the love of Jesus Christ, for the safety of your country and for your own, O mighty Prince!

get rid of these errors, deliver Germany, and save Christendom.'

"After a temperate reply from Albert of Mentz, the legate quitted the town-hall, and the evangelical princes stood up; but a fresh obstacle had been provided. Deputies from Austria, Carinthia, and Carniola, first received a hearing. Much time had thus elapsed. The evangelical princes, however, rose up again, and Bruck, the Elector's chancellor, said: It is pretended that new doctrines not based on Scripture, that heresies and schisms, are spread among the people by us. Considering that such accusations compromise not only our good name, but also the safety of our souls, we beg his majesty will have the goodness to hear what are the doctrines we confess.'

"The emperor, no doubt by arrangement with the legate, made reply that it was too late, besides, that this reading would be useless; and that the princes should be satisfied with putting in their Confession in writing. Thus the mine, so skilfully prepared, worked admirably; the Confession, once handed to the emperor, would be thrown aside, and the Reformation would be forced to retire, without the papists having even condescended to hear it, without defence, and overwhelmed with contumely.

"The protestant princes, uneasy and agitated, insisted, 'Our honour is at stake,' said they; our souls are endangered. We are accused publicly; publicly we ought to answer.' Charles was shaken; Ferdinand leant towards him, and whispered a few words in his ear: the emperor refused a second time.

"Upon this the Elector and princes, in still greater alarm, said, for the third time, with emotion and earnestness: For the love of God, let us read our Confession! No person is insulted in it!' Thus were seen, on the one hand, a few faithful men, desiring with loud cries to confess their faith [by thrusting in the sharp sickle on the earth]; and on the other, the great emperor of the west, surrounded by a crowd of cardinals, prelates, and princes, endeavouring to stifle the manifestation of the truth. It was a serious, violent, and decisive struggle, in which the holiest interests were discussed.

"At last Charles appeared to yield: 'His majesty grants your request,' was the reply to the princes; but as it is now too late, he begs you to transmit him your written Confession, and to-morrow, at two o'clock, the Diet will be prepared to hear it read at the palatine palace.'

"The princes were struck by these words, which, seeming to grant them everything, in reality granted nothing. In the first place, it was not in a public sitting at the townhall, but privately in his own palace, that the emperor was willing to hear them; then they had no doubt that if the Confession left their hands it was all over with the public reading. They therefore remained firm. The work has been done in great haste,' said they, and it was the truth; 'pray leave it with us to-night, that we may revise it.' The emperor was obliged to yield, and the Protestants returned to their hotels full of joy; while the legate and his friends, perceiving that the Confession was inevitable, saw the morrow approach with continually increasing anxiety.

"Among those who prepared to confess the evangelical truth, was one, however, whose heart was filled with sadness-it was Melancthon. Placed between two fires, he saw the reformed, and many even of his own friends, reproach his weakness; while the opposite party detested what they called his hypocrisy. . . . On the eve of the 25th June, he was present in imagination at the reading of that Confession which he had drawn up, which was about to be proclaimed before the world, and in which one word too many or too few might decide on the approbation or the hatred of the princes, on the safety or ruin of the Reformation and of the empire. He could bear up no longer, and the feeble Atlas, crushed under the burden of the world upon his shoulders, gave utterance to a cry of anguish. All my time here is spent in tears and mourning,' wrote he to Vitus Diedrich, Luther's secretary in the Castle of Coburg; and on the morrow he wrote to Luther himself: My dwelling is in perpetual tears. My consternation is indescribable. O my father! I do not wish my words to exaggerate my sorrows; but without your consolations, it is impossible for me to enjoy here the least peace.'

"Nothing in fact presented so strong a contrast to Melancthon's distrust and dejection, as the faith, calmness, and exultation of Luther. . . . Never perhaps did man SO environ himself with the promises of the Lord, or so dwell in the atmosphere of his Word and live by his breath, as Luther at Coburg. He wrote with his own hand many declarations of Scripture over the doors and windows, and on the walls of the castle. In one place, 'I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.' In another, The way of the wicked seduceth them;' and over his bed, 'I will lay me down in peace and sleep; for thou, O Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.'

"In a letter to Jonas, Luther writes:

"I am delighted at that tranquil mind which God gives our prince. As for Melancthon, it is his philosophy that tortures him, and nothing else. For our cause is in the very hands of Him who can say with unspeakable dignity: No one shall pluck it out of my hands. I would not have it in our hands, and it would not be desirable that it were so. I have had many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have been able to place in God's, I still possess.'

"On learning that Melancthon's anguish still continued, Luther wrote to him; and these are the words that should be preserved :

"Grace and peace in Christ! in Christ, I say, and not in the world, Amen. I hate with exceeding hatred those extreme cares which consume thee. If the cause is unjust, abandon it; if the cause is just, why should we belie the promises of Him who commands us to sleep without fear? Can the devil do more than kill us? Christ will not be wanting to the work of justice and truth. He lives; he reigns; what fear, then, can we have? God is powerful to upraise his cause if it is overthrown, to make it proceed if it remains motionless, and if we are not worthy, he will do it by others.' [Let us cry, therefore, with loud voice, to him that sits upon the cloud, our Elector, Thrust in thy sickle and reap; for the time is come for thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe].

"I have received your apology, and I cannot understand what you mean, when you ask what we must concede to the papists. We have already conceded too much. Night and day I meditate on this affair, turning it over and over, diligently searching the Scriptures, and the conviction of the truth of our doctrine every day becomes stronger in my mind. With the help of God I will not permit a single letter of all that we have said [in our Confession] to be torn

from us.

"The issue of this affair torments you, because you cannot understand it. But if you could, I would not have the least share in it. God has put it in a "common place," that you will not find either in your rhetoric or in your philosophy: that place is called Faith. It is that in which subsists all things that we neither understand nor see. Whoever wishes to touch them, as you do, will have tears for his whole reward.

666

'If Christ is not with us, where is he in the whole universe? If we are not the Church, where, I pray, is the Church? Is it the dukes of Bavaria, is it Ferdinand, is it the pope, is it the Turk, who is the Church? If we have not the Word of God, who is it that possesses it?

'Only we must have faith, lest the cause of faith be found to be without faith.

"If we fall, Christ falls with us, that is to say, the Master of the world. I would rather fall with Christ, than remain standing with Cæsar.'

"Thus wrote Luther. The faith which animated him flowed from him like torrents of living water. He was indefatigable; in a single day he wrote to Melancthon, Spalatin, Brentz, Agricola, and John Frederick, and they were letters full of life. He was not alone in praying, speaking, and believing. At the same moment the evangelical Christians exhorted one another everywhere to prayer. Such was the arsenal in which the weapons were forged [and from which the sharp sickle' proceeded] that the confessors of Christ wielded before the Diet of Augsburg.”

It has been already remarked that a more perfect illustration of the terms "And he that sat on the cloud thrust