Certain states having announced that they would not be bound by the
will of the majority, the question naturally came up as to how far they
would defend this position by arms. [Sidenote: March 6, 1530]
Luther's advice asked and given to the effect that all rebellion or
forcible resistance to the constituted authorities was wrong. Passive
resistance, the mere refusal to obey the command to persecute or to
act, otherwise contrary to God's law, he thought was right but he
discountenanced any other measures, even those taken in self-defence.
All Germans, said he, were the emperor's subjects, and the princes
should not shield Luther from him, but leave their lands open to his
officers to do what they pleased. This position Luther abandoned a
year later, when the jurists pointed out to him that the authority of
the emperor was not despotic but was limited by law.
The Protest and Appeal of 1529 at last aroused Charles, slow as he was,
to the great dangers to himself that lurked in the Protestant schism.
Having repulsed the Turk and having made peace with France and the pope
he was at last in a position to address himself seriously to the
religious problem. Fully intending to settle the trouble once for all,
he came to Germany and opened a Diet at Augsburg [Sidenote: June 20,
1530] to which were invited not only the representatives of the various
states but a number of leading theologians, both Catholic and Lutheran,
all except Luther himself, an outlaw by the Edict of Worms.
The first action taken was to ask the Lutherans to state their position
and this was done in the famous Augsburg Confession, [Sidenote: June
25] read before the Diet by the Saxon Chancellor Brueck. It had been
drawn up by {117} Melanchthon in language as near as possible to that
of the old church. Indeed it undertook to prove that there was in the
Lutheran doctrine "nothing repugnant to Scripture or to the Catholic
church or to the Roman church." Even in the form of the Confession
published 1531 this Catholicizing tendency is marked, but in the
original, now lost, it was probably stronger. The reason of this was
not, as generally stated, Melanchthon's "gentleness" and desire to
conciliate all parties, for he showed himself more truculent to the
Zwinglians and Anabaptists than did Luther. It was due to the fact
that Melanchthon [Sidenote: Melanchthon] was at heart half a Catholic,
so much so, indeed, that Contarini and others thought it quite possible
that he might come over to them. In the present instance he made his
doctrine conform to the Roman tenets to such an extent that (in the
lost original, as we may judge by the Confutation) even
transubstantiation was in a manner accepted. The first part of the
Confession is a creed: the second part takes up certain abuses, or
reforms, namely: the demand of the cup for the laity, the marriage of
priests, the mass as an _opus operatum_ or as celebrated privately,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account