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115 of reform. Adrian VI., who was a man of strict morals, the successor of Leo. X., found himself unable to remedy the abuses to which he attributed the Lutheran movement. The demand which he made by his legate at the Diet of Nuremberg, in 1522, that the decree against Luther should be enforced, was met by the presentation of a list of a hundred grievances of which the Diet had to complain to the Roman see. His successor, Clement VII., in whom the old spirit of worldliness, after the brief interval of Adrian's reign, was reinstated in the papal chair, fared little better at the Diet of Nuremberg, in 1524, when, through his legate Campeggio, he demanded the unconditional suppression of the Lutheran heresy. The Pope and the Emperor could obtain no more than an indefinite engagement to observe the Worms decree, "as far as possible." This action was equivalent to remanding the subject to the several princes within their respective territories. It was coupled with a reference of disputed matters to a general council, and with a resolution to take up the hundred complaints at the next diet. A majority could not be obtained against the Lutherans and in favor of the coercive measures demanded by the Pope and by Charles. And the movement of reform was spreading in every part of Germany.

This aspect of affairs moved the papal party to the adoption of active measures to turn the scale on the other side measures which began the division of Germany. Up to this point no division had occurred. The nation had moved as one body: it had refused to suppress the new opinions. Now strenuous efforts were put forth to combine the Catholics into a compact party for mutual aid and defense. At Ratisbon an alliance of this character was formed by the Catholic princes and bishops of South Germany, by the terms of which the Wittenberg heresy was to be excluded from their dominions, and they were to help each other in their common dangers. At

the Diet of Nuremberg it had been determined to hold an assembly shortly after at Spires for the regulation of ecclesiastical affairs. The princes were to procure beforehand from their councillors and scholars a statement of the points in dispute. The grievances of the nation were to be set forth, and remedies were to be sought for them. The nation was to deliberate and act on the great matter of religious reform. The prospect was that the evangelical party would be in the majority. The papal court saw the danger that was involved in an assembly gathered for such a purpose, and determined to prevent the meeting. At this moment war was breaking out between Charles and Francis. Charles had no inclination to offend the Pope. He forbade the assembly at Spires and, by letters addressed to the princes individually, endeavored to drive them into the execution of the edict of Worms." In consequence of these threatening movements, the Elector of Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse entered into the defensive league of Torgau, in which they were joined by several Protestant communities. The battle of Pavia and the capture of Francis I. were events that appeared to be fraught with peril to the Protestant cause. In the Peace of Madrid (January 14, 1526) both sovereigns avowed the determination to suppress heresy. But the dangerous preponderance obtained by the Emperor created an alarm throughout Europe; and the release of Francis was followed by the organization of a confederacy against Charles, of which Clement was the leading promoter. This changed the imperial policy in reference to the Lutherans. The Diet of Spires in 1526 unanimously resolved that, until the meeting of a general council, every state should act in regard to the edict of Worms as it might answer to God and his imperial majesty. Once more Germany refused to stifle the Reformation, and adopted the principle that each of the component parts of the Empire should be left free to act according to its own

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will. It was a measure of the highest importance to the cause of Protestantism. It is a great landmark in the history of the German Reformation. The war of the

Emperor and the Pope involved the necessity of tolerating the Lutherans.

In 1527, an imperial army, composed largely of Lutheran infantry, captured and sacked the city of Rome. For several months the Pope was held a prisoner. For a number of years the position of Charles with respect to France and the Pope, and the fear of Turkish invasion, had operated to embolden and greatly strengthen the cause of Luther. But now that the Emperor had gained a complete victory in Italy, the Catholic party revived its policy of repression; and at the Diet of Spires, in 1529, a majority was obtained for an edict virtually forbidding the progress of the Reformation in the states which had not accepted it, at the same time that liberty was given to the adherents of the old confession in the reformed states to celebrate their rites with freedom. It is impossible to describe here the methods by which a reversal of the national policy was thus procured. The decisive circumstance was that Charles V., in consequence of his sympathy with the spirit of Spanish Catholicism, instead of putting himself at the head of the great religious and national movement in Germany, chose to maintain the ancient union of the Empire with the Papacy. The protest against the proceeding of the Diet, which gave the name of Protestants to the reforming party, and the appeal to the Emperor, to a general or a German council, and to all impartial Christian judges, was signed by John, the Elector of Saxony, the Margrave of Brandenburg, the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, the Landgrave of Hesse, the Prince of Anhalt; to whom were united fourteen cities, among which were Nuremberg, Strasburg, and Con

stance.

The party of reform did not consider itself bound by

the action of the Diet, not only because its edict looked to compulsion in a matter that should be left to the conscience, but also because it overthrew a policy which had been solemnly established; a policy on the faith of which the princes and cities that were favorable to the evangelical cause had proceeded in shaping their religious polity and worship. The efforts made, especially by the Landgrave of Hesse, to combine the supporters of the Reformation in a defensive league, were chilled by the opposition of Luther to measures that looked to a war with the Emperor, and still more prevented from being successful by his determined unwillingness to unite with the Swiss, on account of what he considered their heretical doctrine of the sacrament. Luther and his associates were imbued with a sense of the obligation of the subject to the powers that be and with the sacredness of the Empire. The course for the Christian to take, in their judgment, was that of passive obedience. They likewise deemed it an unlawful thing to join with errorists - with men who rejected material parts of Christian truth. However open to criticism the position of the Saxon reformers was on both of these points, it should not be forgotten that their general motive was the sublime disregard of mere expediency, which had characterized, and, we may add, had ennobled their movement at every step.

The

In this state of things, the Emperor, flushed with success, met the representatives of the Empire in 1530, at the memorable Diet of Augsburg. The inconvenience and danger of keeping the Pope in captivity had caused Charles to wish for an accommodation with him. desire of Clement VII., a self-seeking politician, to have Florence restored to his family, in connection with other less influential considerations, inspired him with a like feeling; so that amity was reëstablished. At the same time the Peace of Cambray terminated for a time the

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conflict with France. The Emperor was freed from the embarrassments which had hindered him from putting forth determined endeavors to restore the unity of the Church. He had been crowned at Bologna, and was filled with a sense of his responsibility as the head of the Holy Roman Empire, the guardian of Christianity and of the Church. He was surrounded by the Spanish nobility as well as by the princes and representatives of the Empire. The design was to persuade, and, if this should prove impracticable, to overawe and coerce the Protestants into an abandonment of their cause. A faith and heroism less steadfast would have yielded to the tremendous pressure that was brought to bear upon them. It was not considered wise or safe for Luther to go to Augsburg. He was left behind in the castle of Coburg, ' within the limits of the Elector's dominion, but he held frequent communication with the Saxon theologians who attended the Elector. The celebrated Confession, drawn up by Melancthon, in a conciliatory spirit, but clearly defining the essential tenets of Protestantism-a creed which has obtained more currency and respect than any other Protestant symbol - was read to the Assembly. The reply, composed by Eck and other Catholic theologians, was also presented. Then followed efforts at compromise, in which Melancthon bore a prominent part, and showed a willingness to concede everything but that which was deemed most vital. These efforts fell to the ground. They could invent no formulas on which they could agree, upon the merit of works, penance, and the invocation of saints. The elaborate and able Apology by Melancthon, in defense of the Confession, was not heard, but was published by the author. The majority of the Diet en⚫ joined the restoration of the old ecclesiastical institutions, allowing the Protestants time for reflection until the 10th of November of the following year; after which, it was implied, coercion would be adopted. Nothing in the his