Henry and the Protestants.

367

such an emergency to wait for the consent of all the Protestants. But on this proposition Saxony looked coldly, remembering the former fruitless negotiations : Hesse was friendly in language, but declined it for himself.* A league was then proposed, apparently by the latter potentate, on the simple basis of resisting the decrees of the Council of Trent, if they should be enforced and to this Henry declared himself ready to agree.t Mont and Buckler, however, now proceeded to Worms, whither the Protestants had sent delegates on the invitation of the Emperor: and there the original and more dignified proposition of a league between England and all the Protestants was again renewed. Bambach, the Marshal of Hesse, and Sleidan the historian, were solemnly appointed as their commissioners by the Protestants: and proceeded forthwith to Calais, the nearest point of English territory. But then Henry wavered again. The two commissioners waited long at Calais, but no person appeared to confer with them on the part of England. At length they remonstrated, and the Bishop of Durham was sent, but not till Bambach was gone, leaving

* State Pap. x. 282, 288, 341, 420.

The Privy Council wrote to Buckler, 12 May, 1545, declaring Henry's willingness to join the Landgrave in resisting the Council of Trent, and to omit minor differences. This Letter is one of the very few English papers of the age in which I have noted the word "Supremacy' applied to the papal power. But it looks as if the Privy Council were repeating an expression used by Buckler in quoting the overtures of the Germans. When the Council reply to it themselves, they speak, as usual, of the "tyrannical power and jurisdiction usurped by the Bishop of Rome."-State Pap. x. 433.

The Protestants appointed Bambach and Sleidan in a fully formal manner. "Ablegavimus ad Regiam Vestram Majestatem nobiles et ornatos viros Ludovicum a Bambach, Marascallum Hessiæ, et Johannem Sleidanum," &c. Their letter to Henry was signed "Legati Illustrissimorum Principum et Statuum Imperii; in causa sinceræ Religionis conjunctorum," 6 Aug., 1545.—State Pap. x. 560.

his colleague alone. Paget followed Tunstall to Calais, where he found that Sleidan had been joined by Bruno and Sturmius, the Protestant orators at the French court. Among them all frequent conferences were held down to the time when the Council of Trent was actually opened, and to the end of the same year. Nothing came of them.*

The Cardinal Legates, De Monte, Cervinus, and Pole, arrived in Trent eight months before the opening of the council. Of Pole there were curious rumours abroad. The dread of assassination was said to weigh continually upon his spirits. He refused to travel to Trent with his colleagues: he took the precaution of sending forward one of his servants disguised like himself and when at length he set out, he was escourted by a troop of horse as far as Mantua, whence he travelled by bye-roads. So much he feared lest the blow of a dagger, directed by his royal kinsman of England, should arrest his progress to the scene in which, as doubtless for the moment he expected, he was to win the highest glory. But Henry kept the dagger for nearer and more formidable churchmen.† The Cardinal, however, prepared himself, after his manner, for his high functions by writing an elaborate treatise on the nature and end of General Councils. This he addressed

* Ib. 640, 643, 691, 708, 823, &c.

It seems to have been believed that Henry hired two ruffians to waylay Pole on the road to Trent. Philipps's Pole, i. 390. The names of the two, Ludovico and Bonifacio, are certainly found among the mercenary captains whom Henry was hiring in great numbers in Italy, and this may have given rise to the story. If Henry had made such an attempt, there would be some trace of it in the letters of his Italian agents, but there is nothing about Pole beyond one or two contemptuous allusions to his state of mind. Thus, Harvel tells about Pole's servants going in disguise to Trent, and adds, “I know not to what purpose such folly should be used." State Pap. x. 400. And again, "The Cardinal Pole being, as I understand, in continual and incredible fear," p. 453. Harvel was the agent who hired Henry's Italian mercenaries.

Pole's Book de Concilio.

369

to his colleagues, designing it for the guidance of himself and them. "My treatise," said he, "is but a rough draught, for I am no architect. It is not a perfect model, but a prefatory sketch of that magnificent temple which is to be founded on truth, and built by the restoration of discipline. The Legates of the Apostolic See are more than ambassadors: they are to discharge their office not only faithfully, but with a particular decency and dignity. How can they do this but by ascertaining the matter, the scope, and the composition of the assembly over which they are to preside? A General Council is a congregation of persons united in the same faith, and gathered from every nation or people of God. All cannot be present at such a council: nor is the Church a popular state where the multitude decide all. There was once a council of the whole human race in the plains of Shinar, and the decree of that council was, 'Let us make a tower reaching up to Heaven.' In the Church it is the part of the people to assent and to obey. But neither is the Church thereby an oligarchy away with such a thought! It is a monarchy: the monarch is Christ the rulers and pastors of the Church are but the expositors of the laws of their monarch. It is a congress of these rulers and pastors, consulting for the interests of the people of God, that we call a General Council. What part has the Roman Pontiff in such a council? He has the part of the Vicar of Christ, who is the chief Pastor and Bishop of our souls; that is the name by which St. Peter himself denoted Christ. And if he have the part of Christ, he has the part of God Himself. To Peter, and to the successors of Peter, Christ delegated His offices, though He Himself remain ever spiritually present with His Church. Those offices or parts are three:

to be the father, the preserver, the pastor: who generates anew, who keeps from evil, who feeds the flock with salutary food. These parts were taken by Peter in the first General Council of the Church, the Council of Jerusalem, the Council in which the Jewish law was abrogated. In that Council the four kinds or ranks of persons who must be in councils were present the first was in the person of Peter, the second was in the persons of Paul and Barnabas, the third in the person of James, and those who are called the Elders were the fourth. But is not a council called in the name of a prince? Yes: it is called in the name and by the authority of the Prince of princes, even of the Holy Ghost. In that first Council of the Church at Jerusalem there were no earthly princes present. Rich men enter hardly into the kingdom of heaven. To bring nobles, princes, and emperors into the Church is the taming of wild beasts; the conversion of Constantine was a miracle. Princes may be the protectors of councils, but they add not by their presence to the four kinds of persons who are there. Nevertheless they have their assigned part; and they too are the Vicars of Christ. For when I said that the Pontiff was Christ's Vicar, I meant not that he absorbed all vicarial parts. Every Christian man is in some sense a Vicar of Christ; the Emperor is the same in a special sense. He is the Regal Head of the Church, as the Pontiff is the Sacerdotal Head.

Both are

Vicars of Christ, who is both Priest and King. The Emperor is indeed, like Christ, king of kings: and in a General Council he has those parts exactly which Christ, as their Lord, Master, and King, discharged toward His Apostles. He must protect the Council, as Christ did His Apostles when He said, 'Let these go their way.' He must control the disputes of the

Opening of the Council.

37ICouncil, as Christ controlled the contentions of His Apostles and he must do this without despising them and setting their doctrine at nought because of their contentions; but remember that General Councils are held for the very purpose of determining the differences of teachers and pastors. The cause that the consent of emperors first began to be asked for holding General Councils was, that the churches of the chief pastors lay like flocks in the kingdoms of emperors and princes.". Such was the characteristic prelude of the Council of Trent.*

The Pope, who broke the general precedent by withholding his own presence from the Council, looked coldly on a doubtful undertaking, and perhaps desired that it should be as little effective as possible. The early promise of the pontificate of Paul the Third was long departed and the advancement of his family seemed to be the chief care of the builder of the Farnese palace and the ravager of the Colosseum. † The Legates who represented him found themselves imperfectly instructed, and doubtful how to proceed. They opened the Council at length on the thirteenth of December, 1545, in the cathedral church of Trent: where the concourse of another cardinal, of four archbishops, of twenty-six bishops, of five religious generals, and the ambassadors of the King of the Romans, feebly presented the churches of all kingdoms. The Council afterwards seldom reached the number of fifty prelates: to whom are to be added a body of assistant divines

*Liber De Concilio. In displaying the positions I have done no justice to the Scriptural learning and the pious spirit of this remarkable work.

† Gardiner, e.g., writes to Henry that it was said that the Pope has opened the Council, being "moved thereto because he trusteth it shall not take the due effect; " and that he labours to advance his family.-State Pap. xi. 24.