CENTURY SIXTEENTH. INTRODUCTION. 1. IN narrating the ecclesiastical affairs of modern times, the same order cannot be followed which was pursued in the preceding periods. For the state of the Christian world having undergone a great change in the sixteenth century, and a much greater number of associations than formerly being found among the followers of Christ, differing widely in doctrines and institutions and regulating their conduct by different principles, all the various transactions among professed Christians can by no means be exhibited in one continued series, or so as to form one well-arranged picture. On the contrary, as the bond of union among Christians was severed, their history must be distributed into compartments corresponding with the division of the Christian world into its principal sects. 2. Yet many events occurred which affected the whole Christian world and the state of religion generally, or were not confined to any particular community, And as the knowledge of these general facts throws much light on the history of the particular communities, as well as on the general state of the Christian world, they ought to be stated separately and by themselves. Hence the work before us will be divided into two principal parts; the one, the general history of the Christian church, and the other, the particular. 3. The general history will embrace all those facts and occurrences which may be predicated of the Christian religion as such, or absolutely considered, and which in some sense affected the whole Christian world, rent unhappily as it was by divisions. Of course, we shall here describe the enlargement of the boundaries of Christendom or their contraction, without regard to the particular sects which were instrumental in these changes. Nor shall we omit those institutions and doctrines which were received by all the Christian communities, or by the principal part of them, and which thus produced changes very extensive and general. 4. In the particular history, we shall take a survey of the several communities into which Christians were distributed. And here we may properly make two classes of sects. First, we may consider, what occurred in the more ancient communities of Christians, whether in the East or in the West. Secondly, what occurred in the more recent communities, that is, those which arose after the reformation of both doctrine and discipline in Germany. In describing the condition and character of each particular sect, we shall pursue as far as practicable the method pointed out in the general Introduction to these Institutes. For according to our conceptions, the less a person recedes from this method, the less will he probably omit of what is necessary to a full knowledge of the history of each individual community. 5. The most important of all the events which occurred among Christians after the fifteenth century-nay, the greatest of all events affecting the Christian world since the birth of the Saviour-was that celebrated religious and ecclesiastical revolution called the Reformation. Commencing from small beginnings in Saxony, it not only spread in a short space of time over all Europe, but also affected in no slight degree the other quarters of the globe; and it may be justly regarded as the first and principal cause of all those great ecclesiastical and even those civil revolutions and changes, which have rendered the history of the subsequent times to the present day so interesting and important. The face of all Europe was changed after that event; and our own times are experiencing, and future times will experience both the inestimable advantages which arose from it, and the serious evils to which it gave occasion. The history of such an event, therefore-an event from which all others in a measure took their rise-demands a distinct and a prominent place. We now proceed to give a compendious view of the modern history of the Christian church, according to the method here proposed.2 1 See Villiers, Essai sur l'esprit et l'influence de la there are two translations into English, one by James Réformation de Luther, Paris, 1804, 8vo, of which Mill, Esq. with copious notes, Lond. 1805, 8vo, and the other by Lambert, Lond. 1807, 8vo.-R. 2 Mosheim still proceeds by centuries. On the sixteenth century, he divides his history into three Sections. I. The history of the Reformation, in four chapters. II. The general history of the church, in a single chapIII. The particular history of the several sects or ter. communities, in two parts. Part first embraces the ancient communities, viz. the Latin and the Greek or Oriental churches, in distinct chapters. Part second includes, in separate chapters, the history of the Lutheran, the Reformed, the Anabaptist or Mennonite, and the Socinian churches. On the seventeenth century, he makes but two sections. I. The general history, in a single chapter. II. The particular history, divided into Parts and Chapters, as in the preceding century; except that among the modern sects, he assigns distinct chapters to the Arminians, the Quakers, and an additional chapter to several minor sects.-Mur. SECTION I. HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. ARRANGEMENT OF THIS SECTION. CHAPTER I. THE REFORMATION COMMENCED. For THE history of the Reformation, as it is STATE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH WHEN called, is too extensive to be comprehended in one unbroken narrative without wearying the student. For the convenience, therefore, of those who are just entering on the study of church history, and to aid their memories, we shall divide this section into four chapters. The FIRST CHAPTER will describe the state of the Christian church at the commencement of the Reformation. The SECOND will detail the history of the Reformation to the presentation of the Augsburg Confession to the emperor. The THIRD will continue the history from that period to the commencement of the war of Smalcald. The FOURTH will carry it down to the peace granted to the friends of the Reformation A.D. 1555.-This distribution arises naturally from the history itself.1 The historians of the Reformation, as well the primary as the secondary, and both the general and the particular, are enumerated by Hane, (who is himself to be ranked among the better writers on this subject), in his Historia Sacrorum a B. Luthero emendatorum, par. i. cap. i. p. 1, &c. and by Fabricius, in his Centifolium Lutheranum, par. ii. cap. 187, p. 863, [also by Walch, Biblioth. Theol. tom. iii. p. 618]. The principal of these historians must be consulted by those who desire proof of what we shall briefly relate ing every moment the names of Sleidan, Seckendorf, and the others, who stand pre-eminent in this branch of history. [The following works on the general history of the German Reformation have appeared since Hane, Fabricius, and Walch compiled their catalogues of similar works: Planck, Geschichte der Entstehung, der Veränderungen, u. der Bildung unseres Protest. Lehrbegriffs, Leip. 1781-1800, six vols. It brings the history down to the year 1555, and though rationalistic in its tendency, is a valuable work. Marheineke, Gesch. d. teutchen Reformation. Berl. 1816-34, 4 vols. It closes at the year 1552, is full of extracts from the original sources, and though the author is an Hegelian in philosophy, he professes to be evangelical, and this work is the best we have by a German divine. Menzel, Neuere Gesch. d. Deutchon von der Reformation bis zur Bundesacte, Bresl. 1826-39, 8 vols. Hagenbach, Vorlesungen über Wesen u. Gesch. der Reformation, Leips. 1834-42, 5 vols. The author is an esteemed evangelical professor in Basil, and his views are orthodox. Ranke, Deutche Geschichte im Zeitalter der Reformation, Berl. 1839-43, 5 vols. This is by far the most valuable work we possess on the German Reformation, whether viewed politically or religiously. Archdeacon Hare has truly described it as written with a thorough knowledge of the facts, a clear insight into the principles and characters which shaped and controlled the events, and with a German love of truth." Mission of the Comforter, Notes, p. 668. It is in course of being translated into English by Mrs. Austin, Lond. 1845-47, 3 vols.; two remaining volumes have yet to appear. To this admirable work should be added another equally valuable, and perhaps containing more original matter, by the same eminent in this section. For it would be needless to be repeat 1. WHEN the century began, no danger pontiffs. seemed to threaten the those grievous commotions which had been raised in the preceding centuries by the Waldenses, the Albigenses, the Beghards, and others, and afterwards by the Bohemians, had been suppressed and extinguished by the sword and by crafty management. The Waldenses who survived in the valleys of Piedmont fared hard, and had few resources; and their utmost wish was, that they might transmit as an inheritance to their posterity that obscure corner of Europe which lies between the Alps and the Pyrenees. Those Bohemians who were displeased with the Romish doctrines, from their want of power and their ignorance, could attempt nothing; and therefore were rather despised than feared. 2. Complaints indeed were uttered, not only by private persons but by the most powerful sovereigns and by whole nations, against the haughty domination of the Roman pontiffs, the frauds, violence, avarice, historian, entitled, Die römischen Päpste, ihre Kirche u. ihr Staat im 16 u. 17 Jahrhundert, Ebd. 1834-36, which has been also translated by Mrs. Austin, Lond. 1840, 3 vols. Fürstemann, Neucs Urkundenbuch zur Geschichte Evangel. Kirchen Reformation, Hamb.. 1842, 4to, not yet completed. Neudecker, Gesch. d. deutchen Réformation von 1517-1532, nach d. älteren u. neuesten Quellen, Leips. 1843. Merle D'Aubigné, Histoire de la Réformation du seizième Siècle, Paris, 1838-47, 4 vols. not yet completed; and embracing not only the German, but the Swiss and French reformations, and expected to include the English and Scottish. There are several translations of this popular work into English, but the preferable one is that published with the sanction of the author by Oliver and Boyd, Edin. We have but few British works of 1846, 4 vols. authority on the continental reformation. I need only specify the following, which include both the German and the French Reformations: Milner's account in the concluding volumes of his History of the Church; Scott's Continuation of Milner to the death of Calvin, Lond. 1826-31, 3 vols. The Rev. George Stabbing has also compiled another continuation of Milner, Lond. 1839-42, 3 vols. but of no great merit; and he is the author of a History of the Reformation, Lond. 1836, 2 vols. forming part of Lardner's Cyclopædia; Waddington's History of the Reformation on the Continent, Lond. 1841, 3 vols. carefully compiled to the death of Luther, from the original sources. Works on the Reformation in the other countries of Europe, and the principal biographies of the leading reformers, will be carefully specified in subsequent notes.-R. and injustice of the court of Rome, the insolence, tyranny, and extortion of the papal legates, the crimes, ignorance, and extreme profligacy of the priests of all orders and of the monks, and finally of the unrighteous severity and partiality of the Romish laws; and desires were now publicly expressed, as had been the case in generations long gone by, that there might be a reformation of the church in its head and in its members, and that the subject might be taken up in some general council. But these complaints the pontiffs could safely set at defiance. For the authors of them entertained no doubts of the supreme power of the sovereign pontiffs .in matters of religion; nor did they themselves attempt the work they so much desired, but concluded to wait for relief either from Rome itself or from a council. Yet it was manifest that so long as the power of the pontiffs remained inviolate, the opulence and corruptions of the church and clergy could not be diminished in any considerable degree. 3. Nor were the pontiffs any more alarmed by the happy revival of learning in many countries of Europe, and the consequently vast increase of well-informed men. The revival of learning by dissipating the clouds of ignorance, awakened in many minds the love of truth and of liberty; and among the learned were many who, as appears from the example of Erasmus and others, facetiously ridiculed and satirized the perverse conduct of the priests, the superstitions of the times, the corruptions of the court of Rome, and the rustic manners and barbarism of the monks. But the root of all the evil and of the public calamity, namely, the juris-, diction of the pontiffs which was falsely called canonical, and the inveterate prejudice respecting a vicegerent of Christ located at Rome, no one dared resolutely attack. And the pontiffs very justly concluded that so long as these ramparts remained entire, their sovereignty and the tranquillity of the church would be secure, whatever menaces and assaults some persons might offer. Besides, they had at their disposal both punishments with which 1 These accusations have been collected in great abundance by the most learned writers. See, among many others, Löscher's Acta et Documenta Reformationis, tom. i. cap. v. &c. p. 105, &c. cap. ix. p. 181, &c. and Cyprian's Preface to Tenzel's Historia Reformat. Lips. 1717, 8vo. The complaints of the Germans in particular respecting the wrongs done by the pontiffs and the clergy, are exhibited by Georgius, in his Gravamina Imperatoris et Nationis German. adversus sedem Roman. cap. vii. p. 261, &c. Nor do the more intelligent and candid among the adherents to the pontiffs at this day deny that the church, before Luther arose, was grossly corrupt. to coerce the refractory, and honours and emoluments with which to conciliate the more daring and contentious. 4. Hence the bishops of Rome reigned securely and free from all fear; and they indulged their lusts and all their vicious propensities, as freely as their innate depravity demanded. Alexander VI. a monster of a man and inferior to no one of the most abandoned tyrants of antiquity, marked the commencement of the century with his horrid crimes and villanies. He died suddenly, A.D. 1503, from poison which he had prepared for others, if the common report is true; or from old age and sickness, if others are to be believed.2 His successor, Pius III. died at the end of twenty-six days, and was followed by Julian de Roveria, under the name of Julius II. who obtained the pontificate by fraud and bribery. 5. That this Julius II. possessed, besides other vices, very great ferocity, arrogance, vanity, and a mad passion for war, is proved by abundant testimony. In the first place, forming an alliance with the emperor and the king of France, he made war upon the Venetians.3 He next laid siege to Ferrara. And at last, drawing the Venetians, the Swiss, and the Spaniards to engage in the war with him, he made an attack upon Lewis XII. the king of France. Nor, so long as he lived, did he cease from embroiling all Europe. Who can doubt that under a vicar of Jesus Christ frequenting camps and ambitious of the fame of a great warrior, everything both in church and state must have gone to ruin, and both the discipline of the church and the very spirit of religion have become prostrate? 6. Yet amid these evils, there appeared some prospect of the ardently and longwished-for reform. For Lewis XII. king of France, published a. threat stamped upon the coins he issued, that he would completely overthrow the Romish power, which he designated by the name of Babylon." Moreover some cardinals of 2 See Gordon's Life of Alexander VI. Lond. 1729, fol.; also another life of him by a very learned and 4 See Liebe's Commentatio de numis Ludovici XII. epigrapho," Perdam Babylonis Nomen," insignibus, Lips. 1717, 8vo. Compare however the Thesaurus Epistolicus Crozianus, tom. i. p. 238, 243; Colonia's Hist. Littér. de la Ville de Lyon, tome ii. p. 443, &c. and others; for it is well known that there has been much dispute respecting these coins and the object of them. [Liebe has given engravings of these coins. On the one side was the king's likeness and his title, on the other side, the arms of France, surrounded with the inscription: Pr the Romish court, relying on the authority the acts of the assembly at Pisa were inof this king and of the emperor, summoned a council at Pisa in the year 1511, to curb the madness of the pontiff, and to deliberate on measures for a general reformation of the inveterate corruptions in religion. But Julius, relying on the power of his allies and on his own resources, laughed at this opposition. Yet not to neglect means for frustrating these designs, he called another council to meet in the Lateran palace, A.D. 1512.4 In this body Perdam Babillonis (instead of Babylonis) Nomen, or also simply, Perdam Babillonem. Harduin understood Babylon here to denote the city of Cairo in Egypt; and he explained the coin of a military expedition which Lewis contemplated against the Turks. But Liebe has fully Babylon means Rome together with the pope, and that the threatened vengeance was aimed by the king against the pontiff. And that the French church was not opposed to the designs of the king appears from the conclusions of the council of Tours, mentioned in the following note. See Du Pin's Nouv. Biblioth. des Auteurs Ecclésiast. tome xiii. p. 13, 14, and Gerdes, Historia Reformationis, tom. iv. Append. No. 1.-Schl. 4 Harduin's Concilia, tom. ix. p. 1559, &c. [Lewis XII. was not an enemy to be despised. He made preparations for a war against the pope, which were certainly great and imposing. He assembled the (see Harduin, ubi supra, p. 1555), and proposed to them the following questions.-I. Is it lawful for the pope to make war upon temporal princes, whose territories do not belong to the church? No. II. May the prince in such a case lawfully oppose force to force, and fall upon the territories of the church, not to conquer and retain them but to disable the pope from carrying on confuted this ingenious Jesuit, and has shown that clergy of France first at Orleans and then at Tours, the war? Yes. III. May a prince refuse obedience to a pope who is his enemy and who makes unjust war upon him? Yes: so far as is necessary for his own security and that of his people. IV. In that case, how are these affairs to be conducted which ordinarily are referred to the decision of the pontiff? Answer: in the manner prescribed by the Pragmatic Sanction. V. May a Christian prince defend with arms another prince who is under his protection, against the assaults of the pope? (This question referred to the duke of Ferrara who was involved in war with the pope.) Yes. VI. If the pope and prince disagree, whether a case between them belongs to the ecclesiastical or the civil jurisdiction, and the prince wishes to leave it to referees, and the pope will not consent but draws the sword, may the prince stand on the defensive and call on his allies to help him? Yes. VII. If a pope pronounces an unjust sentence against a prince, [with whom he is at variance, and who cannot safely appear at Rome to defend his cause], is that sentence binding? No. VIII. If the pope in such a case should lay the prince and his realm under an interdict, what is to be done? Answer: Such an interdict would be itself a nullity. [See the questions and answers at full length, in Gerdes Historia Reformationis, tom. iv. Append. No. 1.-Mur.] After these preparatory steps, Lewis went still farther, and purposed to have a general council called against the pope. The emperor Maximilian united in the measure, and three cardinals lent their aid to the business. The council was opened at Pisa, A.D. 1511, and after a few sessions removed to Milan. The pope was cited by the fathers to appear at Milan, and was afterwards suspended. But as the pope had now brought about a reconciliation with the emperor, and as nearly all the assembled prelates were from France, the decrees of this council were nowhere received except in France. The council assembled by the pope in the Lateran church at Rome, to oppose that of Pisa, was somewhat larger than the other, yet quite too small for a general council, and besides was composed almost exclusively of Italians. It may therefore be regarded rather as a provincial than as a general counIt held eleven sessions in all. In the first, it was determined to take up the subjects of the division cil. dignantly condemned and annulled; and severe anathemas would undoubtedly have followed against Lewis and others, if death had not overtaken this most audacious pontiff in his preparatory steps, A.D. 1512. 7. His successor Leo X. of the family of Medici, who was elected in the year 1513, was of a milder disposition, but no better guardian of religion and piety. The friend of learned men and himself learned according to the standard of that age, he devoted a part of his time to conversation with literary men, but a larger portion of it to the gratification of his appetites and to amusements, and was averse from all cares and business, prodigal, luxurious, and vain; perhaps also, according to a current report, positively infidel. Yet he did not neglect the interests and the grandeur of the Romish see. For he took good care that nothing should be sanctioned in the Lateran council which Julius had assembled and left sitting, favourable to the long-wished-for Reformation; and at Bologna A.D. 1515, he persuaded Francis I. king of France to allow the abrogation of the ordinance called the Pragmatic Sanction, which had long been odious to the pontiffs, and to cause another called the Concordate to be imposed on his subjects, notwithstanding their extreme indignation.' 8. Besides the intolerable thirst for dominion and for oppressing everybody which tormented these pontiffs, they had an insatiable craving for money, which they caused to flow from every province of the Christian world towards Rome, in order to support their power and to purchase friends. It caused by the council of Pisa, the reformation of the church, a pacification among Christian princes, and a war against the Turks. In the second, the convention at Pisa was declared to be irregular. In the third, the emperor having now sided with this council, severe bulls were issued against France. In the fourth, the abrogation of the Pragmatic Sanction was taken up. In the fifth, simony in the election of popes was forbidden, and the French church cited to appear on the subject of the above-named Sanction. Soon after, Julius died; and in the sixth and seventh sessions, the council was adjourned both by the new pope Leo X. and by the votes of its members. In the eighth session, Lewis XII. was present by his envoys; and the pope forbade the studying of philosophy more than five years, without proceeding to theology and jurisprudence. The ninth and tenth sessions were devoted to trivial matters, which did not satisfy the expectations raised concerning a reformation of the church. At length the council closed in its eleventh session, May 16th, 1516.- Schl. 1The Pragmatic Sanction of the French is extant in Harduin's Concilia, tom. viii. p. 1949. The Concordate is in the same work, tom. fx. p. 1867; also in Leibnitz, Mantissa Codicis Diplomat. par. i. p. 158, &c. Add par. ii. p. 358, &c. For a history of the Pragmatic Sanction and of the Concordate which succeeded it, see Burnet's History of the Reformation of England, vol. iii. p. 3; Bulæus, Hist. Acad. Paris. tom. vi. p. 61109; Du Clos, Hist. de Louis XI. Hist. du Droit Eccles. tom. iii. p. 285. [See also p. 534, note 1.-Mur. François, tome i. Diss. ix. p. 415. Add Menagiana, would seem not preposterous or unsuitable for the heads of the Christian republic to demand tribute from their subjects. For who can deny that the sovereign ruler of a commonwealth (and such the pontiffs claimed to be) is entitled to a revenue from the whole state? But as the term tribute was too offensive, and would excite the indignation of the temporal sovereigns, the pontiffs managed the affair more discreetly, and robbed the unwary of their money by various artifices concealed under an appearance of religion. Among these artifices, what were called indulgences-that is, liberty to buy off the punishments of their sins by contributing money to pious uses-held a distinguished place. And to these recourse was had as often as the papal treasury became exhausted, to the immense injury of the public interests. Under some plausible but for the most part false pretext, the ignorant and timorous people were beguiled with the prospect of great advantage by the hawkers of indulgences, who were in general base and profligate charac ters.2 1 Whoever would learn the whole art and mystery of the financial concerns of the Romish court, may consult Le Bret's Magazine for Civil and Ecclesiastical History and the Ecclesiastical Laws of Catholic States, vol. ii. p. 605, and vol. iii. p. 3, where is an essay entitled History of the Romish Chancery Regulations; and also an essay by a learned Neapolitan on the benefices. And if any one wishes to form an idea of the productiveness of these chancery regulations, he need only compute the part of them relating to Annats. Of these Luther made a computation in his tract entitled Legatio Adriani Papa, &c. which contains an essay on the nature of Annats, Wittemb. 1538, 4to. A still fuller account may be seen in the tract published title of Tara Cancellaria Apostolicae et Taxa Sancta Pænitentia, and which was republished at Cologne by Colini, 1515, and at Paris, 1520, and afterwards in the Supplement to the Councils, vol. vi. It occurs also in the Oceanus Juris or the Tractatus Tractatuum, tom. XV. par. i. p. 368, &c. [It was frequently published, with notes and comments, and some diversity in the text; whence the Catholics placed it in the list of books prohibited, as being perverted by the Protestants. See Bayle's Dictionnaire, articles Pinet and Bank (Law rence).-Mur.] It contains the tariff of dues to be paid to the papal chancery for all absolutions, dispensations, Romish chancery regulations and the reservation of by Silber, at Campo Flore near Rome, 1514, under the &c. According to this book, a dean may be absolved from a murder for twenty crowns. A bishop or abbot for three hundred livres may commit a murder whenever he pleases. And for one-third of that sum, any clergyman may be guilty of unchastity under the most abominable circumstances. The ingenuous French Catholic divine, Claude spence, in his Comment. in Epist. ad Titum, Opp. tom. i. p. 479, indignantly wrote concerning this book: "There is a book extant, which like a venal prostitute appears openly before the public here at Paris and is now for sale, as it long has been entitled Taxa Camera seu Cancellaria Apostolice; from which more crimes can be learned than from all the writings concerning the vices, and in which license is promised to very many and absolution offered to all purchasers."- Schl. 2 The German princes and states, both Catholic and Lutheran, assembled in the diet at Nuremberg A.D. 1522, complained loudly of the papal indulgences, as exhausting the resources of the country and subverting piety and good morals, in their Centum Gravamina Nationis Germanice, No. 4, &c.-Mur. 9. But although the reverence for the sovereign pontiffs was extremely high, yet the more intelligent, especially among the Germans, French, English, and Flemings, denied their entire exemption from error and their superiority to all law. For after the period of the councils of Constance and Basil, the belief prevailed among all except the monks, the Romish parasites, and the superstitious vulgar, that the pontiff's authority was inferior to that of a general council, that his decisions were not infallible, and that he might be deposed by a council, if he was guilty of manifest errors and gross crimes, or plainly neglected the duties of his station. And hence arose those high expectations and those intense desires for a general council in the minds of the wiser portions of the age, and those frequent appeals to such a future council, whenever the Romish court committed offences against justice and piety. 10. The subordinate rulers and teachers of the church eagerly followed the example of their head and leader. Most of the bishops, with the canons their associates, led luxurious and jovial lives in the daily commission of sins, and squandered in the gratification of their lusts those funds which the preceding generations had consecrated to God and to the relief of the poor. Most of them likewise treated the people subject to their control much more rigorously and harshly than the civil magistrates and princes treated their dependants. The greater part of the priests, on account of their indolence, their unchastity, their avarice, their love of pleasure, their ignorance, and their levity, were regarded with utter contempt, not only by the wise and the good but likewise by the common people.3 For as sacred offices were now everywhere bought and sold, it was difficult for honest and pious men to get possession of any good living in the church, but very easy for the vicious and unprincipled. duced everywhere great grievances and 11. The immense swarms of monks procomplaints. midway between light and darkness, would Yet this age, which stood patiently have borne with this indolent throng if they had only exhibited some show of piety and decorum. But the Benedictines and the other orders which were allowed to possess lands and fixed revenues, abused their wealth and rushed headlong into every species of vice, regardless altogether of the rules they professed. The 3 Sec, beside others, Gaudanus, Apocalypsis seu Visio Mirabilis super Miserabili Statu Matris Ecclesiæ, in Burmann's Analecta Historica de Hadriano VI. p. 245, &c. Utrecht, 1727, 4to. |