Page images
PDF
EPUB

in his sickle on the earth" could scarcely be devised than a public reading of the Confession of Augsburg, and accordingly the continued evidence of prophetic and historic accordance may be held to be decisively and interestingly supported by D'Aubigné's continuing testimony (cap. vii.) :

:

"At length the 25th June arrived. This was destined to be the greatest day of the Reformation, and one of the most glorious in the history of Christianity and of mankind.

"As the chapel of the palatine palace, where the emperor resolved to hear the Confession, could contain only about two hundred persons, before three o'clock a great crowd was to be seen surrounding the building and thronging the court, hoping by this means to catch a few words; and many having gained entrance to the chapel, all were turned out except those who were, at least, councillors to the princes.

"Charles took his seat on the throne. The electors or their representatives were on his right and left hand; after them, the other princes and states of the empire. The legate had refused to appear in this solemnity, lest he should seem by his presence to authorise the reading of the Confession.

"Then stood up John the elector of Saxony, with his son John Frederick, Philip landgrave of Hesse, the margrave George of Brandenburg, Wolfgang prince of Anhalt, Ernest duke of Brunswick-Luneburg, and his brother Francis, and last of all the deputies of Nuremburg and Reutlingen. Their air was animated and their features radiant with joy. The apologies of the early Christians, of Tertullian and Justin Martyr, hardly reached in writing the sovereigns to whom they were addressed. But now, to hear the new apology of resuscitated Christianity, behold that puissant emperor, whose sceptre, stretching far beyond the columns of Hercules, reaches the utmost limits of the world, his brother the king of the Romans, with electors, princes, prelates, deputies, ambassadors, all of whom desire to destroy the Gospel, but who are constrained by an invisible power to listen, and, by that very listening, to honour the Confession!

"One thought was involuntarily present in the minds of the spectators,-the recollection of the Diet of Worms. Only nine years before, a poor monk stood alone for the same cause in a hall of the town-house at Worms, in presence of the empire. And now in his stead behold the foremost of the electors, princes, and cities! What a victory is declared by this simple fact! No doubt Charles himself cannot escape from this recollection.

"The emperor, seeing the Protestants stand up, motioned them to sit down; and then the two chancellors of the Elector, Bruck and Bayer, advanced to the middle of the chapel, and stood before the throne, holding in their hands, the former the Latin and the other the German copy of the Confession. The emperor required the Latin copy to be read. 'We are Germans,' said the Elector of Saxony, and on German soil; I hope therefore your majesty will allow us to speak German.' If the Confession had been read in Latin, a language unknown to most of the princes, the general effect would have been lost. This was another means of shutting the mouth of the Gospel. The emperor complied with the Elector's demand.

"Bayer then began to read the evangelical Confession slowly, seriously, distinctly, with a clear, strong, and sonorous voice, which re-echoed under the arched roof of the chapel, and carried even to the outside this great testimony paid to the truth.

6

"Most serene, most mighty, and invincible emperor and most gracious lords,' said he, we who appear in your presence, declare ourselves ready to confer amicably with you on the fittest means of restoring one sole, true, and same faith, since it is for one sole and same Christ that we fight. And in case that these religious dissensions cannot be settled amicably, we then offer to your majesty to explain our cause in a general, free, and Christian council.'

"This prologue being ended, Bayer confessed the Holy Trinity, conformably with the Nicene Council, original and hereditary sin, which bringeth eternal death to all who are not born again,' and the incarnation of the Son, 'very God and very man.'

[ocr errors]

The historian then records the articles of the Confession which have been already quoted to confirm the illustration of the terms "Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, &c.," and continues:

"Such,' said Bayer, 'is a summary of the doctrine professed in our churches, by which it may be seen that this doctrine is by no means opposed to Scripture, nor even to the Romish church, such as the doctors describe it to us, and since it is so, to reject us as heretics is an offence against unity and charity.'

"Here terminated the first part of the Confession, the aim of which was to explain the evangelical doctrine. That part of the Confession destined to point out errors and abuses still remained. . . . And after some remarks on the ordinances and traditions of the church, Bayer came to the epilogue of the Confession.

"It is not from hatred that we have spoken,' added he, 'nor to insult any one, but we have explained the doctrines that we maintain to be essential, in order that it may be understood that we admit of neither dogma nor ceremony which is contrary to the Holy Scripture, and to the usage of the universal church.'

Bayer then ceased to read. He had spoken for two hours: the silence and serious attention of the assembly were not once disturbed. . . .

"When the reading was finished, Chancellor Bruck, with the two copies in his hand, advanced towards the emperor's secretary and presented them to him. Charles the Fifth himself took the two Confessions, handed the German copy, considered as official, to the Elector of Mentz, and kept the Latin one for himself. He then made reply to the Elector of Saxony and to his allies, that he had graciously heard their Confession; but as this affair was one of extreme importance, he required time to deliberate upon it."

The "sickle" was "thrust in" by "him that sat on the

cloud."

D'Aubigné continues, "The joy with which the Protestants were filled shone in their eyes. God had been with them; and they saw that the striking act which had so

recently been accomplished imposed on them the obligation of confessing the truth with immovable perseverance. 'I am overjoyed,' wrote Luther, that I have lived until this hour, in which Christ has been publicly exalted by such illustrious confessors, and in so glorious an assembly.' The whole evangelical church [or "white cloud"], excited and renovated by this public confession of its representatives, was then more intimately united to its Divine Chief, and baptised with a new baptism. Since the apostolic age,' said they (these are the words of a contemporary), 'there has never been a greater work or a more magnificent confession.'

"The emperor, having descended from his throne, approached the Protestant princes, and begged them in a low tone not to publish the Confession; they acceded to his request, and every one withdrew."

Luther thus comments on this reading in a letter to the Elector of Saxony, "The adversaries imagine," he writes, "they have done a wonderful thing by forbidding the preaching of the gospel, and they do not see, poor creatures! that by the reading of the Confession in the presence of the Diet, there has been more preaching than in the sermons of ten doctors. Exquisite subtilty! admirable expedient! Master Agricola and the other ministers are reduced to silence; but in their places appear the Elector of Saxony and the other princes and lords [or "a white cloud and the one who sat upon it"] who preach before his imperial majesty and the members of the whole empire, freely, to their beard, and before their noses. Yes, Christ is in the Diet, and he does not keep silence: the word of God cannot be bound. They forbid it in the pulpit, and are forced to hear it in the palace; poor ministers cannot announce it, and great princes proclaim it; the servants are forbidden to listen to it, and their masters are compelled to hear it; they will have nothing to do with it during the whole course of the Diet, and they are forced to submit to hear more in one day than is heard ordinarily in one year. . . . When all else is silent, the very stones cry out, as says our Lord Jesus Christ."

The public reading of the Confession of Augsburg to the

emperor Charles and the German princes having realised the thrusting in of "the sharp sickle," an extensive diffusion of the Confession throughout Europe is demanded by the terms "on the earth"-the Apocalyptic earth having been held to represent the territory of the old Roman empire and accordingly, our interest as well as confidence in the foregoing historical exposition is pleasurably enhanced by the following continuing testimony of D'Aubigné (cap. viii.):

[ocr errors]

"The Romanists had expected nothing like this. Instead of a hateful controversy, they had heard a striking confession of Jesus Christ; the most hostile minds were consequently disarmed. We would not for a great deal,' was the remark on every side, have missed being present at this reading.' The effect was so prompt, that for an instant the cause was thought to be definitely gained. The bishops themselves imposed silence on the sophisms and clamours of the Fabers and the Ecks. All that the Lutherans have said is true,' exclaimed the bishop of Augsburg; 'we cannot deny it.' 'Well, doctor,' said the duke of Bavaria to Eck, in a reproachful tone, 'you had given me a very different idea of this doctrine and of this affair.' This was the general cry; accordingly, the sophists, as they called them, were embarrassed. But, after all,' said the duke of Bavaria to them, 'can you refute by sound reasons the confession made by the elector and his allies?' 'With the writings of the apostles and prophets-No!' replied Eck; 'but with those of the fathers and of the councils-Yes!' 'I understand,' quickly replied the duke, 'I understand. The Lutherans, according to you, are in Scripture, and we are outside.'

[ocr errors]

"The Archbishop Hermann, elector of Cologne, the Countpalatine Frederick, Duke Erick of Brunswick-Luneberg, Duke Henry of Mecklenburg, and the Dukes of Pomerania were gained over to the truth; and Hermann sought erelong to establish it in his electorate.

"The impression produced in other countries by the Confession was perhaps still greater. Charles sent copies to all the Courts; it was translated into French, Italian, and even into Spanish and

« PreviousContinue »