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CHAPTER XIII

The Reformation, and Progress of Events During the Sixteenth Century.

At the beginning of the sixteenth century the popes enjoyed the utmost tranquility; the commotions excited by the Albigenses, Hussites, &c., were suppressed; and, according to all appearance, they had no reason to fear an opposition to their authority. Yet, in a short time after, a totally unforeseen event produced a singular change in the religious and political state of Europe: this was the opposition of Luther to the doctrines of the church of Rome, or the beginning of what is commonly called the Reformation. The publicity with which the sale of indulgences was carried on under the sanction of Leo X., excited the indignation of Martin Luther, an Augustine monk and professor of theology at Wittenberg, in Saxony. Emboldened by the attention which he had gained, not only from the people but from some of their rulers, he pushed his inquiries and attacks from one doctrine to another, till he at length shook the firmest foundations on which the wealth and power of the church were established. Leo, therefore, finding there was no hope of reclaiming so incorrigible a heretic, issued a sentence of excommunication, A. D. 1520: but he was screened from its effects by the friendship of the elector of Saxony. On the election of Charles V. to the imperial throne of Germany, his first act was the assembling a diet at Worms, to check the progress of Lutheranism. In the progress of his arduous work, Luther had the assistance of several learned men, among whom were Zuinglius, Melancthon, Carolstadius, etc.: and there was the greatest probability that the papal hierarchy would have been overturned, at least in the north of Europe, had it not been for the opposition of the emperor Charles V., who was also king of Spain. On the death of Frederic, his brother John succeeded to the electorate of Saxony, by whose order Luther and Melancthon drew up a body of laws relating to the form of ecclesiastical government, the mode of public worship, etc., which was proclaimed by heralds throughout the Saxon dominions: this example was immediately followed by all the princes and states of Germany who had renounced the papal supremacy. In a diet held at Spires, in 1529, the edict of Worms was confirmed; upon which a solemn protest was entered upon this decree by the elector of Saxony and other reformers; from which circumstances they obtained the name of PROTESTANTS, an appellation subsequently applied to all who dissented from the doctrines of the Romish church. In the same year the elector of Saxony ordered Luther and other eminent divines to commit the chief articles of their religion to writing, which they did; and, farther to elucidate them, Melancthon drew up the celebrated "Confession of Augsburg," which, being subscribed by the princes who protested, was delivered to the emperor in the diet assembled in that city, in 1530. From this time to the death of Luther, in 1546, various negotiations were employed and schemes proprosed, under pretence of settling religious disputes.