He arrived here in October 1518 and, upon an assurance of his safety,
was admitted into the Cardinal's presence.
But Luther was soon convinced that he had more to fear from the Cardinal's power
than from disputations of any kind, and therefore, apprehensive of being
seized if he did not submit, withdrew from Augsburg upon the 20th.
But before his departure he published a formal appeal to the Pope, and,
finding himself protected by the Elector, continued to teach the same doctrines at
Wittenberg, and sent a challenge to all the Inquisitors to come and dispute with
him.
As to Luther, Miltitius, the Pope's Chamberlain, had orders to require the
Elector to oblige him to retract, or to deny him his protection.
But things were not now to be carried with so high a hand, Luther's credit being too
firmly established.
Besides, the Emperor Maximilian happened to die upon the 12th of this month,
whose death greatly altered the face of affairs, and made the Elector more able to
determine Luther's fate.
Miltitius thought it best, therefore, to try what could be done by fair and
gentle means, and to that end came to some conference with Luther.
During all these treaties the doctrine of Luther spread and prevailed greatly,
and he himself received great encouragement at home and abroad.
The Bohemians, about this time, sent him a book of the celebrated John
Huss, who had fallen a martyr in the work of Reformation, and also letters in which
they exhorted him to constancy and perseverance, owning that the divinity
which he taught was the pure, sound, and orthodox divinity.
Many great and learned men had joined themselves to him.
In 1519 he had a famous dispute at Leipzig with John Aechius, but this dispute ended
at length like all others, the parties not the least nearer in opinion, but more at
enmity with each other's person.
About the end of this year, Luther published a book in which he contended for
the communion being celebrated in both kinds, which was condemned by the Bishop
of Misnia, January 24, 1520.
While Luther was laboring to excuse himself to the new Emperor and the Bishops
of Germany, Aechius had gone to Rome to solicit his condemnation, which,
it may easily be conceived, was now become not difficult to be attained.
Indeed, the continual importunities of Luther's adversaries with Leo caused him
at length to publish a formal condemnation of him, and he did so, accordingly,
in a bull dated June 15, 1520.
This was carried into Germany and published there by Aechius, who had
solicited it at Rome, and who together with Jerome Alexander, a person eminent
for his learning and eloquence, was entrusted by the Pope with the
execution of it.
In the meantime, Charles V of Spain, after he had set things to right in the
Low Countries, went into Germany and was crowned Emperor, October 21, at
Aix-la-Chapelle.
Martin Luther, after he had been first accused at Rome upon Maundy Thursday by
the Pope's censure, shortly after Easter speedeth his journey toward Worms,
where the said Luther, appearing before the Emperor and all the states of Germany,
constantly stuck to the truth, defended himself, and answered his
adversaries.
Luther was lodged, well entertained, and visited by many earls, barons,
knights of the order, gentlemen, priests, and the commonalty, who
frequented his lodging until night.
He came, contrary to the expectation of many, as well adversaries as others.
His friends deliberated together, and many persuaded him not to adventure
himself to such a present danger, considering how these beginnings answered
not the faith of promise made.
Who, when he had heard their whole persuasion and advice, answered in this
wise, As touching me, since I am sent for, I am resolved and certainly determined to
enter Worms, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Yea, although I knew there were as many devils to resist me as there are tiles to
cover the houses in Worms.
The next day the herald brought him from his lodging to the Emperor's court,
where he abode until six o'clock, for that the princes were occupied in
grave consultations, abiding there and being environed with a great number of
people, and almost smothered for the press that was there.
Then after, when the princes were set and Luther entered, Aecius, the official,
spake in this manner, Answer now to the Emperor's demand, wilt thou maintain all
thy books which thou hast acknowledged, or revoke any part of them and submit
thyself?
Martin Luther answered, modestly and lowly, and yet not without some stoutness
of stomach and Christian constancy, Considering your sovereign majesty and
your honours require a plain answer, this I say and profess as resolutely as I
may, without doubting or sophistication, that if I be not convinced by testimonies
of the Scriptures, for I believe not the Pope, neither his general councils,
which have erred many times, and have been contrary to themselves, my conscience is
so bound and captivated in these Scriptures and the word of God,
that I will not nor may not revoke any manner of thing.
Considering it is not godly or lawful to do anything against conscience,
hereupon I stand and rest.
I have not what else to say.
God have mercy upon me.
The princes consulted together upon this answer given by Luther, and when they had
diligently examined the same, the prolocutor began to repel him thus,
The emperor's majesty requireth of thee a simple answer, either negative or
affirmative, whether thou mindest to defend all thy works as Christian or no.
Then Luther, tending to the emperor and the nobles, besought them not to force or
compel him to yield against his conscience, confirmed with the holy
Scriptures, without manifest arguments alleged to the contrary by his
adversaries.
I am tied by the Scriptures.
Before the Diet of Worms was dissolved, Charles V caused an edict to be drawn up,
which was dated the 8th of May, and decreed that Martin Luther be,
agreeably to the sentence of the Pope, henceforward looked upon as a member
separated from the Church, a schismatic, and an obstinate and notorious heretic.
While the bull of Leo X, executed by Charles V, was thundering throughout the
empire, Luther was safely shut up in the castle of Wittenberg.
But weary at length of his retirement, he appeared publicly again at Wittenberg,
March 6, 1522, after he had been absent about ten months.
Luther now made open war with the popes and bishops, and that he might make the
people despise their authority as much as possible, he wrote one book against the
pope's bull, and another against the order falsely called the Order of Bishops.
He published also a translation of the New Testament in the German tongue,
which was afterward corrected by himself and Melanchthon.
Affairs were now in great confusion in Germany, and they were not less so in
Italy, for a quarrel arose between the pope and the emperor, during which Rome
was twice taken and the pope imprisoned.
While the princes were thus employed in quarrelling with each other, Luther
persisted in carrying on the work of the Reformation, as well by opposing the
papists as by combating the Anabaptists and other fanatical sects, which,
having taken the advantage of his contest with the Church of Rome, had sprung up and
established themselves in several places.
In 1527, Luther was suddenly seized with a coagulation of the blood about the heart,
which had liked to have put an end to his life.
The troubles of Germany being not likely to have any end, the emperor was forced to
call a Diet at Spierz in 1529 to require the assistance of the princes of the
Empire against the Turks.
Fourteen cities, namely Strasbourg, Nuremberg, Ulm, Konstanz, Rettlingen,
Winsheim, Memmingen, Lindau, Kempten, Heilbronn, Eisenee, Weissenburg,
Nottlingen and St. Gaul, joined against the decree of the Diet-Protestation,
which was put into writing and published April 1529.
This was the famous Protestation, which gave the name of Protestants to the
reformers in Germany.
After this, the Protestant princes laboured to make a firm league and
enjoined the Elector of Saxony and his allies to approve of what the Diet had
done.
But the deputies drew up an appeal, and the Protestants afterwards presented
an apology for their confession, that famous confession which was drawn up
by the temperate Melanchthon as also the apology.
These were signed by a variety of princes, and Luther now had nothing else to do but
to sit down and contemplate the mighty work he had finished.
For that a single monk should be able to give the Church of Rome so rude a shock
that they needed but such another entirely to overthrow it, may be well esteemed a
mighty work.
In 1533, Luther wrote a consolatory epistle to the citizens of Auschwitz who
had suffered some hardships for adhering to the Augsburg Confession of Faith.
And in 1534, the Bible, translated by him into German, was first printed,
as the old privilege dated at Bibliopolis under the Elector's own hand shows,
and it was published in the year after.
He also published this year a book, Against Masses and the Consecration of
Priests.
In February 1537, an assembly was held at Smalkald about matters of religion to
which Luther and Melanchthon were called.
At this meeting, Luther was seized with so grievous an illness that there was no hope
of his recovery.
As he was carried along, he made his will, in which he bequeathed his detestation of
potpourri to his friends and brethren.
In this manner was he employed until his death, which happened in 1546.
That year, accompanied by Melanchthon, he paid a visit to his own country,
which he had not seen for many years, and returned again in safety.
But soon after, he was called thither again by the earls of Mannfeld to compose
some differences which had arisen about their boundaries, where he was received by
one hundred horsemen or more, and conducted in a very honourable manner,
but was at the same time so very ill that it was feared he would die.
He said that these fits of sickness often came upon him when he had any great
business to undertake.
Of this, however, he did not recover, but died on February 18 in his sixty-third
year.
A little before he expired, he admonished those that were about him to pray to God
for the propagation of the gospel, because, said he, the Council of Trent,
which had sat once or twice, and the Pope, will devise strange things against it.
Feeling his fatal hour to approach, before nine o'clock in the morning,
he commended himself to God with this devout prayer.
My Heavenly Father, Eternal and Merciful God, Thou hast manifested unto me Thy dear
Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
I have taught Him, I have known Him, I love Him as my life, my health,
and my redemption, whom the wicked have persecuted, maligned, and with injury
afflicted.
Draw my soul to Thee.
After this, he said, as ensueth, thrice, I commend my spirit into Thy
hands, Thou hast redeemed me, O God of truth.
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have life everlasting.
Having repeated oftentimes his prayers, he was called to God.
So praying, his innocent ghost peaceably was separated from the earthly body.
Chapter 10 General Persecutions in Germany The general persecutions in Germany were
principally occasioned by the doctrines and ministry of Martin Luther.
Indeed, the Pope was so terrified at the success of that courageous reformer that
he determined to engage the Emperor Charles V at any rate in the scheme to
attempt their extirpation.
To this end, he gave the Emperor 200,000 crowns in ready money, he promised to
maintain 12,000 foot and 5,000 horse for the space of six months or during a
campaign, he allowed the Emperor to receive one half the revenues of the
clergy of the Empire during the war, and he permitted the Emperor to pledge the
Abbey lands for 500,000 crowns to assist in carrying on hostilities against the
Protestants.
Thus prompted and supported, the Emperor undertook the extirpation of the
Protestants, against whom indeed he was particularly enraged himself, and for this
purpose a formidable army was raised in Germany, Spain and Italy.
The Protestant princes in the meantime formed a powerful confederacy in order to
repel the impending blow.
A great army was raised and the command given to the Elector of Saxony and the
Landgrave of Hesse.
The Imperial forces were commanded by the Emperor of Germany in person and the eyes
of all Europe were turned on the event of the war.
At length the armies met and a desperate engagement ensued in which the Protestants
were defeated and the Elector of Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse both taken
prisoners.
This fatal blow was succeeded by a horrid persecution, the severities of which were
such that exile might be deemed a mild fate and concealment in a dismal wood
passed for happiness.
In such times a cave is a palace, a rock a bed of down and wild roots
delicacies.
Those who were taken experienced the most cruel tortures that infernal imaginations
could invent and by their constancy evinced that a real Christian can surmount
every difficulty and despite every danger acquire a crown of martyrdom.
Henry Woos and John Esch, being apprehended as Protestants, were brought
to examination.
Woos, answering for himself and the other, gave the following answers to some
questions asked by a priest who examined them by order of the magistracy.
The priest asked, were you not both some years ago Augustine Friars?
Woos said, yes.
The priest asked, how came you to quit the bosom of the church at Rome?
Woos replied, on account of her abominations.
The priest inquired, in what do you believe?
Woos answered, in the Old and New Testaments.
The priest continued, do you believe in the writings of the fathers and the
decrees of the councils?
Woos affirmed, yes, if they agree with scripture.
The priest demanded, did not Martin Luther seduce you both?
Woos answered, he seduced us even in the very same manner as Christ seduced the
apostles, that is, he made us sensible of the frailties of our bodies and the value
of our souls.
This examination was sufficient.
They were both condemned to the flames, and soon after suffered with that manly
fortitude which becomes Christians when they receive a crown of martyrdom.
Henry Sutphen, an eloquent and pious preacher, was taken out of his bed in the
middle of the night and compelled to walk barefoot a considerable way, so that his
feet were terribly cut.
He desired a horse, but his conductor said in derision, a horse for a heretic!
No, no, heretics may go barefoot.
When he arrived at the place of his destination he was condemned to be burned,
but during the execution many indignities were offered him, as those who attended,
not content with what he suffered in the flames, cut and slashed him in a most
terrible manner.
Many were murdered at Huller, Middleburg being taken by storm, all the Protestants
were put to the sword, and great numbers were burned at Vienna.
An officer being sent to put a minister to death, pretended when he came to the
clergyman's house that his intentions were only to pay him a visit.
The minister, not suspecting the intended cruelty, entertained his supposed guest in
a very cordial manner.
As soon as dinner was over the officer said to some of his attendants,
take this clergyman and hang him.
The attendants themselves were so shocked after the civility they had seen that they
hesitated to perform the commands of their master, and the minister said,
think what a sting will remain on your conscience for thus violating the laws of
hospitality.
The officer, however, insisted upon being obeyed, and the attendants, with
reluctance, performed the execrable office of executioners.
Peter Spengler, a pious divine of the town of Schullet, was thrown into the river and
drowned.
Before he was taken to the banks of the stream which was to become his grave,
they led him to the marketplace that his crimes might be proclaimed, which were not
going to mass, not making confession, and not believing in transubstantiation.
After this ceremony was over he made a most excellent discourse to the people,
and concluded with a kind hymn of a very edifying nature.
A Protestant gentleman, being ordered to lose his head for not renouncing his
religion, went cheerfully to the place of execution.
A friar came to him and said these words in a low tone of voice.
As you have a great reluctance publicly to abjure your faith, whisper your confession
in my ear and I will absolve your sins.
To this the gentleman loudly replied, Trouble me not, friar, I have confessed my
sins to God and obtained absolution through the merits of Jesus Christ.
Then turning to the executioner he said, Let me not be pestered with these men,
but perform your duty.
On which his head was struck off at a single blow.
Wolfgang Schuch and John Hugelin, two worthy ministers, were burned,
as was Leonard Kaiser, a student of the University of Württemberg, and George
Carpenter, a Bavarian, was hanged for refusing to recount Protestantism.
The persecutions in Germany, having subsided many years, again broke out in
1630 on account of the war between the Emperor and the King of Sweden,
for the latter was a Protestant prince, and consequently the Protestants of
Germany espoused his cause, which greatly exasperated the Emperor against them.
The imperialists, having laid siege to the town of Passerwalk, which was defended by
the Swedes, took it by storm and committed the most horrid cruelties on the occasion.
They pulled down the churches, burnt the houses, pillaged the properties,
massacred the ministers, put the garrison to the sword, hanged the townsmen,
ravished the women, smothered the children, etc., etc.
A most bloody tragedy was transacted at Magdeburg in the year 1631.
The generals Tilly and Pappenheim, having taken that Protestant city by
storm, upwards of 20,000 persons, without distinction of rank, sex or age,
were slain during the carnage, and 6,000 were drowned in attempting to
escape over the river Elbe.
After this fury had subsided, the remaining inhabitants were stripped naked,
severely scourged, had their ears cropped, and, being yoked together like oxen,
were turned adrift.
The town of Hoxter was taken by the Popish army, and all the inhabitants as well as
the garrison were put to the sword.
The houses even were set on fire, the bodies being consumed in the flames.
At Griffenberg, when the Imperial forces prevailed, they shut up the senators in
the Senate chamber, and, surrounding it by lighted straw, suffocated them.
Fronendal surrendered upon articles of capitulation, yet the inhabitants were as
cruelly used as at other places.
And at Heidelberg, many were shut up in prison and starved.
The cruelties used by the Imperial troops under Count Tilly in Saxony are thus
enumerated.
Half-strangling and recovering the persons again, repeatedly, rolling sharp wheels
over the fingers and toes, pinching the thumbs in a vice, forcing the most filthy
things down the throat, by which many were choked, tying cords round the head so
tightly that the blood gushed out of the eyes, nose, ears and mouth, fastening
burning matches to the fingers, toes, ears, arms, legs and even the
tongue, putting powder in the mouth and setting fire to it, by which the head was
shattered to pieces, tying bags of powder to all parts of the body by which the
person was blown up, drawing cords backwards and forwards through the fleshy
parts, making incisions with bodkins and knives in the skin, running wires through
the nose, ears, lips, etc., hanging Protestants up by the legs with their
heads over a fire by which they were smoke-dried, hanging up by one arm until
it was dislocated, hanging upon hooks by the ribs, forcing people to drink until
they burst, baking many in hot ovens, fixing weights to the feet and drawing up
several with pulleys, hanging, stifling, roasting, stabbing, frying,
racking, ravishing, ripping open, breaking the bones, rasping off the flesh,
tearing with wild horses, drowning, strangling, burning, broiling,
crucifying, immuring, poisoning, cutting off tongues, noses, ears,
etc., sawing off the limbs, hacking to pieces and drawing by the heels through
the streets.
The enormous cruelties will be a perpetual stain on the memory of Count Tilly,
who not only committed but even commanded the troops to put them in practice.
Wherever he came, the most horrid barbarities and cruel depredations ensued.
Famine and conflagration marked his progress, for he destroyed all the
provisions he could not take with him and burnt all the towns before he left them,
so that the full result of his conquest were murder, poverty and desolation.
An aged and pious divine, they stripped naked, tied him on his back upon a table
and fastened a large, fierce cat upon his belly.
They then pricked and tormented the cat in such a manner that the creature,
with rage, tore his belly open and gnawed his bowels.
Another minister in his family was seized by these inhuman monsters.
They ravished his wife and daughter before his face, stuck his infant son upon the
point of a lance, and then, surrounding him with a whole library of books,
they set fire to them, and he was consumed in the midst of the flames.
In Hesse-Kassel some of the troops entered an hospital in which were principally mad
women, when, stripping all the poor wretches naked, they made them run about
the streets for their diversion, and then put them all to death.
In Pomerania some of the imperial troops, entering a small town, seized upon all the
young women and girls of upwards of ten years, and then, placing their parents in
a circle, they ordered them to sing psalms while they ravished their children,
or else they swore they would cut them to pieces afterward.
They then took all the married women who had young children, and threatened,
if they did not consent to the gratification of their lusts, to burn
their children before their faces in a large fire which they had kindled for that
purpose.
A band of Count Tilly's soldiers, meeting a company of merchants belonging
to Basel, who were returning from the great market of Strasbourg, attempted to
surround them.
All escaped, however, but ten, leaving their properties behind.
The ten who were taken begged hard for their lives, but the soldiers murdered
them, saying, You must die, because you are heretics and have got no money.
The same soldiers met with two countesses, who, together with some young ladies,
the daughters of one of them, were taking an airing in Orlando.
The soldiers spared their lives, but treated them with the greatest
indecency, and having stripped them all stark naked, bade the coachman drive on.
By means and mediation of Great Britain, peace was at length restored to Germany,
and the Protestants remained unmolested for several years, until some new
disturbances broke out in the Palatinate, which were thus occasioned.
The great church of the Holy Ghost, at Heidelberg, had for many years been
shared equally by the Protestants and Roman Catholics, in this manner.
The Protestants performed divine service in the nave or body of the church,
and the Roman Catholics celebrated Mass in the choir.
Though this had been the custom from time immemorial, the elector of the Palatinate
at length took it into his head not to suffer it any longer, declaring that as
Heidelberg was the place of his residence, and the church of the Holy Ghost the
cathedral of his principal city, divine service ought to be performed only
according to the rights of the church of which he was a member.
He then forbade the Protestants to enter the church, and put the papists in
possession of the whole.
The aggrieved people applied to the Protestant powers for redress,
which so much exasperated the elector that he suppressed the Heidelberg catechism.
The Protestant powers, however, unanimously agreed to demand satisfaction,
as the elector, by this conduct, had broken an article of the Treaty of
Westphalia, and the courts of Great Britain, Prussia, Holland, etc.
sent deputies to the elector to represent the injustice of his proceedings,
and to threaten, unless he changed his behaviour to the Protestants and the
Palatinate, that they would treat their Roman Catholic subjects with the greatest
severity.
Many violent disputes took place between the Protestant powers and those of the
elector, and these were greatly augmented by the following incident.
The coach of the Dutch minister standing before the door of the resident,
sent by the Prince of Hesse, the host was by chance being carried to a sick person.
The coachman took not the least notice, which those who attended the host
observing pulled him from his box, and compelled him to kneel.
This violence to the domestic of a public minister was highly resented by all the
Protestant deputies, and still more to heighten these differences, the
Protestants presented to the deputies three additional articles of complaint.
One, that military executions were ordered against all Protestant shoemakers who
should refuse to contribute to the masses of St. Crispin.
Two, that the Protestants were forbid to work on Popish holy days, even in harvest
time, under very heavy penalties, which occasioned great inconvenience and
considerably prejudiced public business.
And three, that several Protestant ministers had been dispossessed of their
churches under pretense of their having been originally founded and built by Roman
Catholics.
The Protestant deputies at length became so serious as to intimate to the elector
that force of arms should compel him to do the justice he denied to their
representations.
This menace brought him to reason, as he well knew the impossibility of
carrying on a war against the powerful states who threatened him.
He therefore agreed that the body of the Church of the Holy Ghost should be
restored to the Protestants.
He restored the Heidelberg Catechism, put the Protestant ministers again in
possession of the churches of which they had been dispossessed, allowed the
Protestants to work on Popish holy days, and ordered that no person should be
molested for not kneeling when the host passed by.
These things he did through fear, but to show his resentment to his
Protestant subjects, in other circumstances where Protestant states had
no right to interfere, he totally abandoned Heidelberg, removing all the
courts of justice to Mannheim, which was entirely inhabited by Roman
Catholics.
He likewise built a new palace there, making it his place of residence,
and being followed by the Roman Catholics of Heidelberg, Mannheim became a
flourishing place.
In the meantime, the Protestants of Heidelberg sunk into poverty, and many of
them became so distressed as to quit their native country and seek asylum in
Protestant states.
A great number of these coming into England in the time of Queen Anne were
cordially received there, and met with the most humane assistance, both by public and
private donations.
In 1732, above 30,000 Protestants were, contrary to the Treaty of Westphalia,
driven from the Archbishopric of Salzburg.
They went away in the depth of winter, with scarcely enough clothes to cover
them, and without provisions, not having permission to take anything with them.
The cause of these poor people not being publicly espoused by such states as could
obtain them redress, they emigrated to various Protestant countries, and settled
in places where they could enjoy the free exercise of their religion, without
hurting their consciences, and live free from the trammels of Popish superstition
and the chains of papal tyranny.
CHAPTER XI.
AN ACCOUNT OF THE PERSECUTIONS IN THE NETHERLANDS The light of the Gospel having
successfully spread over the Netherlands, the Pope instigated the Emperor to
commence a persecution against the Protestants, when many thousand fell
martyrs to superstitious malice and barbarous bigotry, among whom the most
remarkable were the following.
Wendelinutter, a pious Protestant widow, was apprehended on account of her
religion, when several monks, unsuccessfully, endeavoured to persuade
her to recant.
As they could not prevail, a Roman Catholic lady of her acquaintance desired
to be admitted to the dungeon in which she was confined, and promised to exert
herself strenuously towards inducing the prisoner to abjure the reformed religion.
When she was admitted to the dungeon, she did her utmost to perform the task she
had undertaken, but finding her endeavours ineffectual, she said, Dear Wendelinutter,
if you will not embrace our faith, at least keep the things which you profess
secret within your own bosom and strive to prolong your life.
To which the widow replied, Madam, you know not what you say, for with the
heart we believe to righteousness, but with the tongue confession is made
unto salvation.
As she positively refused to recant, her goods were confiscated and she was
condemned to be burned.
At the place of execution, a monk held a cross to her and bade her kiss and worship
God, to which she answered, I worship no wooden God but the Eternal God who is in
Heaven.
She was then executed, but through the before-mentioned Roman Catholic lady,
the favour was granted that she should be strangled before fire was put to the
faggots.
Two Protestant clergymen were burned at Collen.
A tradesman of Antwerp named Nicholas was tied up in a sack thrown into the river
and drowned, and Pistorius, a learned student, was carried to the market of a
Dutch village in a fool's coat and committed to the flames.
Sixteen Protestants having received sentence to be beheaded, a Protestant
minister was ordered to attend the execution.
This gentleman performed the function of his office with great propriety,
exhorted them to repentance and gave them comfort in the mercies of their Redeemer.
As soon as the sixteen were beheaded, the magistrate cried out to the
executioner, There is another stroke remaining yet.
You must behead the minister.
He can never die at a better time than with such excellent precepts in his mouth
and such laudable examples before him.
He was accordingly beheaded, though even many of the Roman Catholics themselves
reprobated this piece of treacherous and unnecessary cruelty.
George Schurter, a minister of Salzburg, was apprehended and committed to prison
for instructing his flock in the knowledge of the gospel.
While he was in confinement, he wrote a confession of his faith, soon after which
he was condemned, first to be beheaded and afterward to be burned to ashes.
On his way to the place of execution, he said to the spectators, That you may
know I die a true Christian, I will give you a sign.
This was indeed verified in a most singular manner, for after his head was
cut off, the body, lying a short space of time with the belly to the ground,
it suddenly turned upon the back, when the right foot crossed over the left,
as did also the right arm over the left.
And in this manner it remained until it was committed to the flames.
In Ljubljana, a learned man named Persinal was murdered in prison, and Justus
Innsberg was beheaded for having Luther's sermons in his possession.
Giles Tillerman, a cutler of Brussels, was a man of great humanity and piety.
Among others, he was apprehended as a Protestant, and many endeavours were made
by the monks to persuade him to recant.
He had once, by accident, a fair opportunity of escaping from prison,
and being asked why he did not avail himself of it, he replied, I would not do
the keepers so much injury, as they must have answered for my absence had I gone
away.
When he was sentenced to be burned, he fervently thanked God for granting him
an opportunity by martyrdom to glorify his name.
Perceiving at the place of execution a great quantity of faggots, he desired the
principal part of them might be given to the poor, saying, A small quantity will
suffice to consume me.
The executioner offered to strangle him before the fire was lighted, but he would
not consent, telling him that he defied the flames, and indeed he gave up the
ghost with such composure amidst them that he hardly seemed sensible of their
effects.
In the year 1543 and 1544, the persecution was carried on throughout all Flanders in
a most violent and cruel manner.
Some were condemned to perpetual imprisonment, others to perpetual
banishment, but most were put to death either by hanging, drowning, immuring,
burning the rack, or burying alive.
John de Boscarne, a zealous Protestant, was apprehended on account of his faith in
the city of Antwerp.
On his trial he steadfastly professed himself to be of the reformed religion,
which occasioned his immediate condemnation.
The magistrate, however, was afraid to put him to death publicly, as he was popular
through his great generosity, and almost universally beloved for his inoffensive
life and exemplary piety.
A private execution being determined on, an order was given to drown him in prison.
The executioner accordingly put him in a large tub, but Boscarne struggling and
getting his head above the water, the executioner stabbed him with a dagger
in several places until he expired.
John de Buisson, another Protestant, was about the same time secretly
apprehended and privately executed at Antwerp.
The numbers of Protestants being great in that city, and the prisoner much
respected, the magistrates feared an insurrection, and for that reason ordered
him to be beheaded in prison.
In A.D.
1568, three persons were apprehended in Antwerp, named Scoblant, Hoos and Coumans.
During their confinement they behaved with great fortitude and cheerfulness,
confessing that the hand of God appeared in what had befallen them and bowing down
before the throne of his providence.
In an epistle to some worthy Protestants, they expressed themselves in the following
words.
Since it is the will of the Almighty that we should suffer for his name and be
persecuted for the sake of his gospel, we patiently submit and are joyful upon
the occasion.
Though the flesh may rebel against the spirit and hearken to the counsel of the
old serpent, yet the truths of the gospel shall prevent such advice from being
taken, and Christ shall bruise the serpent's head.
We are not comfortless in confinement, for we have faith.
We fear not affliction, for we have hope, and we forgive our enemies, for we have
charity.
Be not under apprehensions for us.
We are happy in confinement, through the promises of God, glory in our bonds,
and exult in being thought worthy to suffer for the sake of Christ.
We desire not to be released, but to be blessed with fortitude.
We ask not liberty, but the power of perseverance, and wish for no change in
our condition but that which places a crown of martyrdom upon our heads.
Scoblant was first brought to his trial.
When, persisting in the profession of his faith, he received sentence of death.
On his return to prison, he earnestly requested the jailer not to permit any
friar to come near him, saying, They can do me no good, but may greatly
disturb me.
I hope my salvation is already sealed in heaven, and that the blood of Christ,
in which I firmly put my trust, hath washed me from my iniquities.
I am going to throw off this mantle of clay, to be clad in robes of eternal
glory, by whose celestial brightness I shall be freed from all errors.
I hope I may be the last martyr to papal tyranny, and the blood already spilt found
sufficient to quench the thirst of popish cruelty, that the Church of Christ may
have rest here, as His servants will hereafter.
On the day of execution, he took a pathetic leave of his fellow prisoners.
At the stake he fervently said the Lord's Prayer, and sung the 40th Psalm,
then, commending his soul to God, he was burned alive.
Hoose, soon after, died in prison, upon which occasion Coumans wrote thus to
his friends, I am now deprived of my friends and companions.
Scoblant is martyred, and Hoose dead, by the visitation of the Lord.
Yet I am not alone, I have with me the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.
He is my comfort, and shall be my reward.
Pray unto God to strengthen me to the end, as I expect every hour to be freed from
this tenement of clay.
On his trial he freely confessed himself of the reformed religion, answered with a
manly fortitude to every charge against him, and proved the scriptural part of his
answers from the Gospel.
The judge told him the only alternatives were recantation or death, and concluded
by saying, Will you die for the faith you profess?
To which Coumans replied, I am not only willing to die, but to suffer the most
excruciating torments for it, after which my soul shall receive its confirmation
from God himself in the midst of eternal glory.
Being condemned, he went cheerfully to the place of execution, and died with the most
manly fortitude and Christian resignation.
William of Nassau fell a sacrifice to treachery.
Being assassinated in the fifty-first year of his age, by Balthasar Gerard,
a native of Ranche-Comte in the province of Burgundy.
This murderer, in hopes of a reward here and hereafter for killing an enemy to the
King of Spain, and an enemy to the Catholic religion, undertook to destroy
the Prince of Orange.
Having procured firearms, he watched him as he passed through the great hall of his
palace to dinner, and demanded a passport.
The Princess of Orange, observing that the assassin spoke with a hollow and confused
voice, asked who he was, saying that she did not like his countenance.
The Prince answered that it was one that demanded a passport, which he should
presently have.
Nothing further passed before dinner, but on the return of the Prince and
Princess, through the same hall, after dinner was over, the assassin,
standing concealed as much as possible by one of the pillars, fired at the Prince,
the balls entering at the left side and passing through the right, wounding in
their passage the stomach and vital parts.
On receiving the wounds, the Prince only said, Lord have mercy upon my soul and
upon these poor people, and then expired immediately.
The lamentations throughout the United Provinces were general, on account of the
death of the Prince of Orange, and the assassin, who was immediately
taken, received sentence to be put to death in the most exemplary manner.
Yet such was his enthusiasm, or folly, that when his flesh was torn by red-hot
pincers, he coolly said, if I was at liberty, I would commit such an action
over again.
The Prince of Orange's funeral was the grandest ever seen in the Low Countries,
and perhaps the sorrow for his death the most sincere, as he left behind him the
character he honestly deserved, namely, that of father of his people.
To conclude, multitudes were murdered in different parts of Flanders.
In the city of Valence, in particular, fifty-seven of the principal inhabitants
were butchered in one day, for refusing to embrace the Romish superstition,
and great numbers were suffered to languish in confinement, until they
perished through the inclemency of their dungeons.
CHAPTER TWELVE THE LIFE AND STORY OF THE TRUE SERVANT AND MARTYR OF GOD We have now
to enter into the story of the good martyr of God, William Tyndale, which William
Tyndale, as he was a special organ of the Lord appointed, and as God's mattock to
shake the inward roots and foundation of the Pope's proud prelacy, so the great
Prince of Darkness, with his impious imps having a special malice against him,
left no way unsought how craftily to entrap him, and falsely to betray him,
and maliciously to spill his life, as by the process of his story here
following may appear.
William Tyndale, the faithful minister of Christ, was born about the borders of
Wales, and brought up from a child in the University of Oxford, where he,
by long continuance, increased as well in the knowledge of tongues, and other
liberal arts, as especially in the knowledge of the Scriptures, whereunto his
mind was singularly addicted.
Insomuch that he, lying then in Magdalen Hall, read privily to certain students and
fellows of Magdalen College, some parcel of divinity, instructing them in the
knowledge and truth of the Scriptures.
His manners and conversation being correspondent to the same, were such that
all they that knew him reputed him to be a man of most virtuous disposition,
and of life unspotted.
Thus he, in the University of Oxford, increasing more and more in learning,
and proceeding in degrees of the schools, spying his time, removed from thence to
the University of Cambridge, where he likewise made his abode a certain space.
Being now further ripened in the knowledge of God's word, leaving that university,
he resorted to one master Welsh, a knight of Gloucestershire, and was there
schoolmaster to his children, and in good favour with his master.
As this gentleman kept a good ordinary commonly at his table, there resorted to
him many times sundry abbots, deans, archdeacons, with divers other doctors,
and great benefist men, who there, together with master Tyndale, sitting at
the same table, did use many times to enter communication, and talk of learned
men, as of Luther, and of Erasmus, also of divers other controversies,
and questions upon the scripture.
Then master Tyndale, as he was learned and well practised in God's matters,
spared not to show unto them simply and plainly his judgment, and when they at any
time did vary from Tyndale in opinions, he would show them in the book,
and lay plainly before them the open and manifest places of the scriptures,
to confute their errors, and confirm his sayings.
And thus continued they for a certain season, reasoning and contending together
divers times, until at length they waxed weary, and bare a secret grudge in their
hearts against him.
As this grew on, the priests of the country, clustering together, began to
grudge and storm against Tyndale, railing against him in alehouses and other
places, affirming that his sayings were heresy, and accusing him secretly to the
Chancellor, and others of the Bishop's officers.
It followed not long after this, that there was a sitting of the Bishop's
Chancellor appointed, and warning was given to the priests to appear,
amongst whom Master Tyndale was also warned to be there.
And whether he had any misdoubt by their threatenings, or knowledge given him,
that they would lay some things to his charge, it is uncertain.
But certain this is, as he himself declared, that he doubted their privy
accusations, so that he, by the way, in going thitherwards, cried in his mind
heartily to God, and to give him strength fast to stand in the truth of his word.
When the time came for his appearance before the Chancellor, he threatened him
grievously, reviling and rating him as though he had been a dog, and laid to his
charge many things whereof no accuser could be brought forth, notwithstanding
that the priests of the country were there present.
Thus, Master Tyndale, escaping out of their hands, departed home and returned to
his master again.
There dwelt, not far off, a certain Doctor, that had been Chancellor to a
Bishop, who had been of old familiar acquaintance with Master Tyndale,
and favoured him well.
Unto whom Master Tyndale went, and opened his mind upon Diver's questions
of the Scripture, for to him he durst be bold to disclose his heart.
Unto whom the Doctor said, Do you not know that the Pope is very Antichrist,
whom the Scripture speaketh of?
But beware what you say, for if you shall be perceived to be of that opinion,
it will cost you your life.
Not long after Master Tyndale happened to be in the company of a certain Divine,
recounted for a learned man, and in communing and disputing with him,
he drove him to that issue, that the said great Doctor burst out into these
blasphemous words, We were better to be without God's laws than the Pope's.
Master Tyndale, hearing this, full of godly seal and not bearing that
blasphemous saying, replied, I defy the Pope and all his laws, and added,
If God spared him life, ere many years he would cause a boy that driveth the plough
to know more of the Scripture than he did.
The grudge of the priests increasing still more and more against Tyndale,
they never ceased barking and rating at him, and laid many things sorely to his
charge, saying that he was a heretic.
Being so molested and vexed, he was constrained to leave that country and to
seek another place.
And so coming to Master Welch, he desired him of his goodwill that he
might depart from him, saying, Sir, I perceive that I shall not be
suffered to tarry long here in this country, neither shall you be able,
though you would, to keep me out of the hands of the spirituality, what
displeasure might grow to you by keeping me, God knoweth, for the which I should be
right sorry.
So that in fine Master Tyndale, with the goodwill of his master,
departed, and Eftsoons came up to London and there preached a while as he had done
in the country.
Bethinking himself of Cuthbert Tonstal, then Bishop of London, and especially of
the great commendation of Erasmus, who in his annotations so extolleth the
said Tonstal for his learning, Tyndale thus cast with himself that if he
might attain unto his service he were a happy man.
Coming to Sir Henry Guildford, the King's Comptroller, and bringing with
him an oration of Isocrates, which he translated out of Greek into English,
he desired him to speak to the said Bishop of London for him, which he also did,
and willed him moreover to write an epistle to the Bishop and to go himself
with him.
This he did, and delivered his epistle to a servant of his, named William
Hepethwaite, a man of his old acquaintance.
But God, who secretly disposeth the course of things, saw that was not best for
Tyndale's purpose, nor for the profit of his church, and therefore gave him to find
little favour in the Bishop's sight.
The answer of whom was this, his house was full, he had more than he could well find,
and he advised him to seek in London abroad, where he said he could lack no
service.
Being refused of the Bishop, he came to Humphrey Mummoth, Alderman of London,
and besought him to help him, who at the same time took him into his house,
where the said Tyndale lived, as Mummoth said, like a good priest, studying both
night and day.
He would eat but sodden meat by his goodwill, nor drink but small single beer.
He was never seen in the house to wear linen about him, all the space of his
being there.
And so remained Master Tyndale in London almost a year, marking with himself the
course of the world, and especially the demeanour of the preachers, how they
boasted themselves and set up their authority, beholding also the pomp of the
prelates, with other things more which greatly misliked him, insomuch that he
understood not only that there was no room in the Bishop's house for him to translate
the New Testament, but also that there was no place to do it in all England.
Therefore, having by God's providence some aid ministered unto him by Humphrey
Mummoth and certain other good men, he took his leave of the realm and
departed into Germany, where the good man, being inflamed with a tender care and zeal
of his country, refused no travail nor diligence how by all means possible to
reduce his brethren and countrymen of England to the same taste and
understanding of God's holy word and verity which the Lord had endued him
withal.
Whereupon, considering in his mind, and conferring also with John Frith,
Tyndale thought with himself no way more to conduce thereunto than if the Scripture
were turned into the vulgar speech, that the poor people might read and see
the simple plain word of God.
He perceived that it was not possible to establish the lay people in any truth,
except the Scriptures were so plainly laid before their eyes in their mother tongue,
that they might see the meaning of the text.
For else, whatsoever truth should be taught them, the enemies of the truth
would quench it, either with reasons of sophistry and traditions of their own
making, founded without all ground of Scripture, or else juggling with the text,
expounding it in such a sense as it were impossible to gather of the text if the
right meaning thereof were seen.
Master Tyndale considered this only almost chiefly to be the cause of all mischief in
the church, that the Scriptures of God were hidden from the people's eyes.
For so long the abominable doings and idolatries maintained by the pharisaical
clergy could not be espied, and therefore all their labour was with might and main
to keep it down, so that either it should not be read at all, or if it were,
they would darken the right sense with the mist of their sophistry.
And so entangle those who rebuked or despised their abominations, wresting the
Scripture unto their own purpose, contrary unto the meaning of the text,
they would so delude the unlearned lay people, that though thou felt in thy heart
and wert sure that all were false that they said, yet couldst thou not solve
their subtle riddles.
For these and such other considerations this good man was stirred up of God to
translate the Scripture into his mother tongue for the profit of the simple people
of his country, first setting in hand with the New Testament, which came forth in
print about A.D.
1525.
Cuthbert Tomstil, Bishop of London, with Sir Thomas More being sore aggrieved,
despised how to destroy that false, erroneous translation, as they called it.
It happened that one Augustine Packington, a Mercer, was then at Antwerp,
where the Bishop was.
This man favoured Tyndale, but showed the contrary unto the Bishop.
The Bishop, being desirous to bring his purpose to pass, communed how that he
would gladly buy the New Testaments.
Packington, hearing him say so, said, My Lord, I can do more in this
matter than most merchants that be here, if it be your pleasure, for I know the
Dutchmen and strangers that have brought them of Tyndale, and have them here to
sell, so that if it be your Lordship's pleasure I must disperse money to pay for
them, or else I cannot have them, and so I will assure you to have every
book of them that is printed and unsold.
The Bishop, thinking he had God by the toe, said, Do your diligence, Gentlemaster
Packington.
Get them for me, and I will pay whatsoever they cost, for I intend to burn and
destroy them all at Paul's Cross.
This Augustine Packington went unto William Tyndale, and declared the whole
matter, and so, upon compact made between them, the Bishop of London had the books,
Packington had the thanks, and Tyndale had the money.
After this, Tyndale corrected the same New Testaments again, and caused them to be
newly imprinted, so that they came thick and threefold over into England.
When the Bishop perceived that, he sent for Packington, and said to him,
How cometh this, that there are so many New Testaments abroad?
You promised me that you would buy them all.
Then answered Packington, Surely I bought all that were to be had, but I perceive
they have printed more since.
I see it will never be better, so long as they have letters and stamps.
Wherefore, you were best to buy the stamps too, and so you shall be sure.
At which answer the Bishop smiled, and so the matter ended.
In short space after, it fortuned that George Constantine was apprehended by Sir
Thomas More, who was then Chancellor of England, as suspected of certain heresies.
Master More asked of him, saying, Constantine, I would have thee be plain
with me in one thing that I will ask, and I promise thee I will show thee favour
in all other things whereof thou art accused.
There is beyond the sea, Tyndale, Joy, and a great many of you.
I know they cannot live without help.
There are some that succour them with money, and now, being one of them,
hath thy part thereof, and therefore knowest whence it came.
I pray thee, tell me, who be they that help them thus?
My lord, quoth Constantine, I will tell you truly, it is the Bishop of London that
hath hope in us, for he hath bestowed among us a great deal of money upon New
Testaments to burn them, and that hath been, and yet is, our only succour and
comfort.
Now, by my troth, quoth More, I think even the same, for so much I told the Bishop
before he went about it.
After that, Master Tyndale took in hand to translate the Old Testament, finishing the
five books of Moses, with sundry, most learned, and godly prologues,
most worthy to be read, and read again by all good Christians.
These books being sent over into England, it cannot be spoken what a door of light
they opened to the eyes of the whole English nation, which before was shut up
in darkness.
At his first departing out of the realm, he took his journey into Germany,
where he had conference with Luther and other learned men.
After he had continued there a certain season, he came down into the Netherlands,
and had his most abiding in the town of Antwerp.
The godly books of Tyndale, and especially the New Testament of his translation,
after that they began to come into men's hands and to spread abroad, wrought great
and singular profit to the godly.
But the ungodly, envying and disdaining that the people should be anything wiser
than they, and fearing lest by the shining beams of truth their works of darkness
should be discerned, began to stir with no small ado.
At what time Tyndale had translated Deuteronomy, minding to print the same at
Hamburg, he sailed thitherward.
Upon the coast of Holland he suffered shipwreck, by which he lost all his books,
writings and copies, his money and his time, and so was compelled to begin all
again.
He came in another ship to Hamburg, where at his appointment, Master Coverdale
tarried for him and helped him in the translating of the whole five books of
Moses.
From Easter until December, in the house of a worshipful widow, Mistress Margaret
van Emerson, in A.D.
1529.
A great sweating sickness being at the same time in the town.
So, having dispatched his business at Hamburg, he returned to Antwerp.
When God's will was that the New Testament in the common tongue should come abroad,
Tyndale, the translator thereof, added to the latter end a certain epistle,
wherein he desired them that were learned to amend if ought were found amiss.
Wherefore, if there had been any such default deserving correction, it had been
the part of courtesy and gentleness, the men of knowledge and judgment,
to have showed their learning therein, and to have redressed what was to be
amended.
But the clergy, not willing to have that book prosper, cried out upon it that there
were a thousand heresies in it, and that it was not to be corrected,
but utterly to be suppressed.
Some said it was not possible to translate the scriptures into English.
Some that it was not lawful for the lay people to have it in their mother tongue.
Some that it would make them all heretics.
And to the intent to induce the temporal rulers unto their purpose, they said it
would make the people to rebel against the king.
All this Tyndale himself, in his prologue before the first book of Moses,
showing further what great pains were taken in examining that translation,
and comparing it with their own imaginations, that with less labour,
he supposeth, they might have translated a great part of the Bible.
Showing moreover that they scanned and examined every title and point in such
thought, and so narrowly, that there was not one I therein, but if it lacked a
prick over his head, they did note it, and numbered it unto the ignorant people
for a heresy.
So great were then the froward devices of the English clergy, who should have been
the guides of light unto the people, to drive the people from the knowledge of
the Scripture, which neither they would translate themselves, nor yet abide it to
be translated of others.
To the intent, as Tyndale saith, that the world being kept still in
darkness, they might sit in the consciences of the people through vain
superstition and false doctrine, to satisfy their ambition and insatiable
covetousness, and to exalt their own honour above king and emperor.
The bishops and prelates never rested before they had brought the king to their
consent, by reason whereof a proclamation in all haste was devised and set forth
under public authority, that the testament of Tyndale's translation was inhibited,
which was about A.D.
1537.
And not content herewith, they proceeded further how to entangle him in their nets,
and to bereave him of his life, which how they brought to pass,
now it remaineth to be declared.
In the registers of London it appeareth manifest, how that the bishops and Sir
Thomas More, having before them such as had been at Antwerp, most studiously would
search and examine all things belonging to Tyndale, where and with whom he hosted,
whereabouts stood the house, what was his stature, in what apparel he went,
what resort he had, all which things when they had diligently learned, then began
they to work their feats.
William Tyndale, being in the town of Antwerp, had been lodged about one whole
year in the house of Thomas Points, an Englishman, who kept a house of English
merchants.
Came thither one out of England, whose name was Henry Phillips,
his father being customer of Poole, a comely fellow, like as he had been a
gentleman, having a servant with him, but wherefore he came, or for what purpose
he was sent thither, no man could tell.
Master Tyndale, divers times, was desired forth to dinner and support amongst
merchants, by means whereof this Henry Phillips became acquainted with him.
So that within short space, Master Tyndale had a great confidence in him,
and brought him to his lodging, to the house of Thomas Points,
and had him also once or twice with him to dinner and supper, and further entered
such friendship with him, that through his procurement he lay in the same house of
the said Points, to whom he showed moreover his books and other secrets of
his study, so little did Tyndale then mistrust this traitor.
But Points, having no great confidence in the fellow, asked Master Tyndale how he
came acquainted with this Phillips.
Master Tyndale answered that he was an honest man, handsomely learned,
and very conformable.
Points, perceiving that he bears such favour to him, said no more, thinking that
he was brought acquainted with him by some friend of his.
The said Phillips, being in the town three or four days, upon a time desired Points
to walk with him forth of the town to show him the commodities thereof, and in
walking together without the town, had communication of divers things,
and some of the king's affairs, by which talk Points as yet suspected
nothing.
But after, when the time was past, Points perceived this to be the mind of
Phillips, to feel whether the said Points might, for lucre of money, help him to his
purpose, for he perceived before that Phillips was moneyed, and would that
Points should think no less, for he had desired Points before to help him to
divers things, and such things as he named he required might be of the best,
for, said he, I have money enough.
Phillips went from Antwerp to the court of Brussels, which is from thence twenty-four
English miles, whence he brought with him to Antwerp the procurator general,
who is the emperor's attorney, with certain other officers.
Within three or four days, Points went forth to the town of Barois, being
eighteen English miles from Antwerp, where he had business to do for the space
of a month or six weeks, and in the time of his absence, Henry Phillips came again
to Antwerp, to the house of Points, and coming in, spake with his wife,
asking whether Master Tyndale were within.
Then he went forth again, and set the officers, whom he had brought with him
from Brussels, in the street and about the door.
About noon he came again, and went to Master Tyndale, and desired him to lend
him forty shillings, for, said he, I lost my purse this morning, coming over
at the passage between this and Mecklen.
So Master Tyndale took him forty shillings, which was easy to be had of
him, if he had it, for in the wily subtleties of this world he was simple and
inexpert.
Then said Phillips, Master Tyndale, you shall be my guest here this day.
No, said Master Tyndale, I go forth this day to dinner, and you shall go with me
and be my guest, where you shall be welcome.
So when it was dinner time, Master Tyndale went forth with Phillips, and at the going
forth of Points's house was a long narrow entry, so that two could not go in front.
Master Tyndale would have put Phillips before him, but Phillips would in no wise
but put Master Tyndale before, for that he pretended to show great
humanity.
So Master Tyndale, being a man of no great stature, went before, and Phillips,
a tall, comely person, followed behind him, who had set officers on either side
of the door upon two seats, who might see who came in the entry.
Phillips pointed with his finger over Master Tyndale's head down to him,
that the officers might see that it was he whom they should take.
The officers afterwards told Points, when they had laid him in prison,
that they pitied to see his simplicity.
They brought him to the Emperor's Attorney, where he dined.
Then came the Procurator-General to the House of Points, and sent away all that
was there of Master Tyndale's, as well as his books, as other things,
and from thence Tyndale was had to the Castle of Filforda, eighteen English miles
from Antwerp.
Master Tyndale, remaining in prison, was proffered an advocate and a
procurator, the which he refused, saying that he would make answer for
himself.
He had so preached to them who had him in charge, and such as was there conversant
with him in the Castle, that they reported of him, that if he were not a good
Christian man, they knew not whom they might take to be one.
At last, after much reasoning, where no reason would serve, although he
deserved no death, he was condemned by virtue of the Emperor's decree made in the
Assembly at Augsburg.
Brought forth to the place of execution, he was tied to the stake, strangled by the
hangman, and afterwards consumed with fire at the town of Filforda, A.D.
1536, crying at the stake with a fervent zeal and a loud voice, Lord, open the King
of England's eyes!
Such was the power of his doctrine and the sincerity of his life, that during the
time of his imprisonment, which endured a year and a half, he converted,
it is said, his keeper, the keeper's daughter, and others of his household.
As touching his translation of the New Testament, because his enemies did so much
carp at it, pretending it to be full of heresies, he wrote to John Frith as
followeth, I call God to record against the day we shall appear before our Lord
Jesus, that I never altered one syllable of God's word against my conscience,
nor would do this day, if all that is in earth, whether it be honour, pleasure,
or riches, might be given me.
Chapter Thirteen An Account of the Life of John Calvin This reformer was born at
Noyon in Picardy, July 10, 1509.
He was instructed in grammar, learning at Paris under Maturinus Cordirius,
and studied philosophy in the College of Montaigne under a Spanish professor.
His father, who discovered many marks of his early piety, particularly in his
reprehensions of the vices of his companions, designed him at first for the
church, and got him presented, May 21, 1521, to the chapel of Notre-Dame
de la Jeusine in the church of Noyon.
In 1527 he was presented to the rectory of Marseville, which he exchanged in 1529 for
the rectory of Point-le-Vec near Noyon.
His father afterward changed his resolution and would have him study law,
to which Calvin, who by reading the scriptures had conceived a dislike to the
superstitions of popery, readily consented, and resigned the chapel of
Jeusine and the rectory of Point-le-Vec in 1534.
He made a great progress in that science, and improved no less in the knowledge of
divinity by his private studies.
At Bourges he applied to the Greek tongue under the direction of Professor Vollmar,
his father's death having called him back to Noyon.
He stayed there a short time, and then went to Paris, where a speech of Nicolas
Coppe, rector of the University of Paris, of which Calvin furnished the materials,
having greatly displeased the Sorbonne and the Parliament, gave rise to a persecution
against the Protestants, and Calvin, who narrowly escaped being taken in the
College of Fauteuil, was forced to retire to Saint-Ange, after having had the honour
to be introduced to the Queen of Navarre, who had raised this first storm against
the Protestants.
Calvin returned to Paris in 1534.
This year the Reformed met with severe treatment, which determined him to leave
France, after publishing a treatise against those who believed that departed
souls are in a kind of sleep.
He retired to Basel, where he studied Hebrew.
At this time he published his Institutions of the Christian Religion, a work well
adapted to spread his fame, though he himself was desirous of living in
obscurity.
It is dedicated to the French king Francis I.
Calvin next wrote an apology for the Protestants, who were burned for their
religion in France.
After the publication of this work, Calvin went to Italy to pay a visit to the
Duchess of Ferrara, a lady of eminent piety, by whom he was very kindly
received.
From Italy he came back to France, and having settled his private affairs,
he proposed to go to Strasbourg or Basel, in company with his sole surviving
brother, Anthony Calvin.
But as the roads were not safe, on account of the war, except through the
Duke of Savoy's territories, he chose that road.
This was a particular direction of Providence, says Bale.
It was his destiny that he should settle at Geneva, and when he was wholly intent
upon going farther, he found himself detained by an order from Heaven,
if I may so speak.
At Geneva, Calvin, therefore, was obliged to comply with the choice which the
consistory and magistrates made of him, with the consent of the people,
to be one of their ministers and professor of divinity.
He wanted to undertake only this last office and not the other, but in the end
he was obliged to take both upon him.
In August 1536.
The year following, he made all the people declare upon oath their assent to the
confession of faith, which contained a renunciation of potpourri.
He next intimated that he could not submit to a regulation which the canton of Bern
had lately made, whereupon the syndics of Geneva summoned an assembly of the people,
and it was ordered that Calvin, Farel, and another minister should leave
the town in a few days for refusing to administer the sacrament.
Calvin retired to Strasbourg, and established a French church in that city,
of which he was the first minister.
He was also appointed to be professor of divinity there.
Meanwhile, the people of Geneva entreated him so earnestly to return to them,
that at last he consented, and arrived September 13, 1541, to the great
satisfaction both of the people and the magistrates.
And the first thing he did after his arrival was to establish a form of church
discipline and a consistorial jurisdiction, invested with power of
inflicting censures and canonical punishments, as far as excommunication
inclusively.
It has long been the delight of both infidels and some professed Christians,
when they wish to bring odium upon the opinions of Calvin, to refer to his agency
in the death of Michael Servetus.
This action is used on all occasions by those who have been unable to overthrow
his opinions, as a conclusive argument against his whole system.
Calvin burnt Servetus, Calvin burnt Servetus, is a good proof, with a certain
class of reasoners, that the doctrine of the Trinity is not true, that divine
sovereignty is anti-scriptural, and Christianity a cheat.
We have no wish to palliate any act of Calvin's which is manifestly wrong.
All his proceedings in relation to the unhappy affair of Servetus, we think,
cannot be defended.
Still, it should be remembered that the true principles of religious toleration
were very little understood in the time of Calvin.
All the other reformers then living approved of Calvin's conduct.
Even the gentle and amiable Melanchthon expressed himself in relation to this
affair in the following manner.
In a letter addressed to Bullinger, he says, I have read your statement
respecting the blasphemy of Servetus, and praise your piety and judgment,
and am persuaded that the Council of Geneva has done right in putting to death
this obstinate man who would never have ceased his blasphemies.
I am astonished that anyone can be found to disapprove of this proceeding.
Farel expressly says that Servetus deserved a capital punishment.
Butzer did not hesitate to declare that Servetus deserved something worse than
death.
The truth is, although Calvin had some hand in the arrest and imprisonment of
Servetus, he was unwilling that he should be burnt at all.
I desire, says he, that the severity of the punishment should be remitted.
We endeavoured to commute the kind of death, but in vain.
By wishing to mitigate the severity of the punishment, says Farel to Calvin,
you discharge the office of a friend towards your greatest enemy.
That Calvin was the instigator of the magistrates that Servetus might be burnt,
says Turitin, historians neither anywhere affirm, nor does it appear from any
considerations.
Nay, it is certain that he, with the College of Pastors, dissuaded from that
kind of punishment.
It has been often asserted that Calvin possessed so much influence with the
magistrates of Geneva, that he might have obtained the release of Servetus,
had he not been desirous of his destruction.
This, however, is not true, so far from it that Calvin was himself once banished from
Geneva by these very magistrates, and often opposed their arbitrary measures
in vain.
So little desirous was Calvin of procuring the death of Servetus that he warned him
of his danger and suffered him to remain several weeks at Geneva before he was
arrested.
But his language, which was then accounted blasphemous, was the cause of his
imprisonment.
When in prison, Calvin visited him and used every argument to persuade him to
retract his horrible blasphemies without reference to his peculiar sentiments.
This was the extent of Calvin's agency in this unhappy affair.
It cannot, however, be denied that in this instance Calvin acted contrary to the
benignant spirit of the Gospel.
It is better to drop a tear over the inconsistency of human nature and to
bewail those infirmities which cannot be justified.
He declared he acted conscientiously and publicly justified the act.
It was the opinion that erroneous religious principles are punishable by the
civil magistrate that did the mischief, whether at Geneva, in Transylvania,
or in Britain, and to this, rather than to Trinitarianism or Unitarianism,
it ought to be imputed.
After the death of Luther, Calvin exerted great sway over the men of that notable
period.
He was influential in France, Italy, Germany, Holland, England, and Scotland.
2,150 Reformed congregations were organised, receiving from him their
preachers.
Calvin, triumphant over all his enemies, felt his death drawing near.
Yet he continued to exert himself in every way with youthful energy.
When about to lie down in rest, he drew up his will, saying, I do testify
that I live and purpose to die in this faith which God has given me through his
gospel, and that I have no other dependence for salvation than the free
choice which is made of me by him.
With my whole heart I embrace his mercy, through which all my sins are covered for
Christ's sake and for the sake of his death and sufferings.
According to the measure of grace granted unto me, I have taught this pure,
simple word by sermons, by deeds, and by expositions of this scripture.
In all my battles with the enemies of the truth, I have not used sophistry,
but have fought the good fight squarely and directly.
May 27, 1564 was the day of his release and blessed journey home.
He was in his fifty-fifth year.
That a man who had acquired so great a reputation and such an authority should
have had but a salary of one hundred crowns, and refused to accept more,
and after living fifty-five years with the utmost frugality, should leave but three
hundred crowns to his heirs, including the value of his library, which sold very
dear, is something so heroical that one must have lost all feeling not to admire.
When Calvin took his leave of Strasbourg to return to Geneva, they wanted to
continue to him the privileges of a free man of their town and the revenues of a
prebend which had been assigned to him.
The former he accepted, but absolutely refused the other.
He carried one of the brothers with him to Geneva, but he never took any pains to get
him preferred to an honourable post, as any other possessed of his credit would
have done.
He took care indeed of the honour of his brother's family by getting him freed from
an adulteress and obtaining leave to him to marry again.
But even his enemies relate that he made him learn the trade of a bookbinder,
which he followed all his life after.
Calvin as a friend of civil liberty The Reverend Dr. Wisner, in his late discourse
at Plymouth on the anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims, made the
following assertion.
Much as the name of Calvin has been scoffed at and loaded with reproach by
many sons of freedom, there is not an historical proposition more susceptible of
complete demonstration than this, that no man has lived to whom the world is
under greater obligations for the freedom it now enjoys than John Calvin.