The Empire of Austria; Its Rise and Present PowerAbbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
History
The Empire of Austria; Its Rise and Present Power
Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
Austria -- History
Ferdinand was as energetic as he had previously proved himself
inflexible and persevering. In person he visited Munich, the capital of
Bavaria, that he might more warmly interest in his favor Maximilian, the
illustrious and warlike duke. The emperor made him brilliant promises,
and secured his cordial cooeperation. The Duke of Bavaria, and the
Elector of the Palatinate, were neighbors and rivals; and the emperor
offered Maximilian the spoils of the Palatinate, if they should be
successful in their warfare against the newly elected Bohemian king.
Maximilian, thus persuaded, placed all his force at the disposal of the
emperor.
The Elector of Saxony was a Lutheran; the Elector Palatine a Calvinist.
The Lutherans believed, that after the consecration of the bread and
wine at the sacramental table, the body and blood of Christ were
spiritually present with that bread and wine. This doctrine, which they
called _consubstantiation_, they adopted in antagonism to the papal
doctrine of _transubstantiation_, which was that the bread and wine were
actually transformed into, and became the real body and blood of Christ.
The difference between the Calvinists and the Lutherans, as we have
before mentioned, was that, while the former considered the bread and
wine in the sacraments as _representing_ the body and the blood of
Christ, the latter considered the body and the blood as spiritually
present in the consecrated elements. This trivial difference divided
brethren who were agreed upon all the great points of Christian faith,
duty and obligation. It is melancholy, and yet instructive to observe,
through the course of history, how large a proportion of the energies of
Christians have been absorbed in contentions against each other upon
shadowy points of doctrine, while a world has been perishing in
wickedness. The most efficient men in the Church on earth, have had
about one half of their energies paralyzed by contentions with their own
Christian brethren. It is so now. The most energetic men, in pleading
the cause of Christ, are often assailed even more unrelentingly by
brethren who differ with them upon some small point of doctrine, than by
a hostile world.
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