RESULTS OF THE REFORMATION.
GERMANY AROUSED--PEASANTS' WAR--MUNTZER'S PROCLAMATION--EMPEROR
QUARRELS WITH THE POPE--RESULTS IN OTHER COUNTRIES--GROWTH
OF MODERN LANGUAGES--LUTHER'S CROWNING WORK--POWER OF
SUPERSTITION--WITCHCRAFT--REFORMERS NOT INSPIRED--EXTRACTS FROM
MOSHEIM--BATTLE-AX OF GOD--COPERNICUS--GALILEO--NEWTON--DEATH OF
BRUNO--CHANGE IN COMMERCIAL AFFAIRS--SPANISH ARMADA--BLESSED BY THE
POPE--DESTROYED BY A STORM--ITS EFFECT ON EUROPE--ENGLAND'S INFLUENCE
AND POSITION--AMERICA THE LAND OF REFUGE.
As the booming of cannon, announcing the beginning of battle echoes
and re-echoes far and wide, so did the result of the council, or diet,
in the city of Worms. The answer of Luther was repeated by thousands
of sympathizing friends. Instead of growing fainter as it died away
in the distance, it increased in intensity and power, till its echoes
reverberated through every valley, and over every hill-top in central
Germany.
Within twenty-four hours Ulrich von Hutten and Franz von Sickingen had
mustered four hundred armed knights and eight thousand foot soldiers
all ready to fight, or, if need be, to die for the principles Luther
had advocated. The commotion continued until it culminated in a civil
war, in A. D. 1525. The horrors of that war no tongue can tell. Nightly
the papal party burned at the stake the prisoners they had taken. Amid
the groans of wounded and dying peasants on the battle field around
them, and the drunken revelry of the camp, might be heard the laughter
of the nobles as they watched the struggles and heard the shrieks of
their victims as they slowly roasted to death. But the revolution
continued to spread. The rage of {98} the peasants, who had so long
been crushed by the iron heel of oppression, knew no bounds. A few
extracts from the proclamation of their leader, Munzer, may not be out
of place, as they indicate to some extent the nature of the conflict
then going on!
"Arise and fight the battle of the Lord! On! on! on! Now is the time;
the wicked tremble when they hear of you. Be pitiless! Heed not the
groans of the impious! Rouse up ye townsmen and villagers; above all,
rouse up ye free men of the mountains! On! on! on! while the fire is
burning, while the warm sword is yet reeking with the slaughter! Give
the fire no time to go out, the sword no time to cool! Kill all the
proud ones! While they reign over you it is no time to talk of God!
Amen.
"Given at Muhlhausen, 1525.
"THOMAS MUNZER,
"servant of God against the wicked."
Such was the character of the men with whom the pope had to deal. At
length the emperor, Charles V., found it politic to side with his
people. Meanwhile Clement VII., succeeded to the papal throne, in 1523.
The emperor and the new pope soon quarrelled, and, in 1527, a German
army acting under the direction of the German emperor captured and
sacked the imperial city of Rome, and more pitilessly pillaged it than
it had been a thousand years before by the Goths and Vandals. From this
time Rome ceased to be the capital of the professedly Christian world.
But the revolution stayed not here. Its principles of reform passed
over the Alps and found a hearty welcome among the hardy mountaineers
of Switzerland. It reached the Rhine and with the current of that
mighty river flowed onward to the sea. The sturdy sons of Holland
received its teachings; and the patient peasantry of Denmark, Norway
and Sweden accepted it as an improvement on the past.
Germany continued in the throes of revolution for more than thirty
years, or until the peace of Augsburg, in 1555.
In the meantime England had revolted from Rome, in 1532; Denmark
followed in 1538; Geneva in 1541; Norway and Sweden in 1550; Scotland
in 1560; and Holland in 1581.
{99} Never in the history of the world was fulfilled more literally the
words that our Savior said in reference to the truth:
"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send
peace but a sword," etc. (_See Matt. x. 34, 38_.) For more than a
hundred years Europe continued to be the theatre of civil wars, until
the nations were completely exhausted--in some cases their power and
influence permanently weakened.
We might in view of its immediate results, be inclined to look upon
the Reformation as producing more evil than good. Yet amid the wars,
bloodshed, anarchy and persecutions, society made rapid steps in the
path of progress.
The Reformation promoted national growth, and mental activity. During
the middle ages, the various nations of Europe were in the condition
of colonies to a vast religious empire whose center and seat of
government was Rome. But after the peace at Augsburg, 1555, all this
was changed. Each nation that accepted the Reformation, became socially
and religiously as well as politically free. Rome was shorn of her
power. She was no longer the supreme court of appeal; nor did the high
dignitaries of those realms look to her for preferment.
The Reformation was obviously only partially successful. Where it
succeeded it infused new energy; where it failed it produced reaction.
Those nations that rejected the light, glimmering though it was, fell
back into the double bondage of kingcraft and priestcraft. The Bastile
of France was a symbol of the one; the Inquisition of Spain a type of
the other. Wave after wave of revolution has swept over these unhappy
countries. The guilty streets of Paris and Madrid have been deluged
with blood until their population has sunk down into religious apathy
or brazen infidelity.
In no particular was the effect of the Reformation more apparent than
in the impulse it gave to national languages and literature. Latin had
been the language of the Roman empire and Roman church. But when the
nations revolted from this central authority they immediately began to
cultivate their own native tongues. Learning was no longer confined
to the {100} few, nor communicated through the medium of a foreign
language, but became the heritage of the people.
The crowning work of Luther was in giving to the German people his
German Bible and hymns. The earnest, vigorous German in which they were
written fixed the future style of the language. The classic German of
to-day is the German of Luther's Bible, and Luther's hymns.
In England, too, the same thing is to be marked. The English
translation of the Bible, together with other works of that era, such
as Shakspeare's dramas, Milton's poems and Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress,
have done more to stamp the character of our modern English than all
later publications.
It may be asked, Why did not the human mind, in this era, free itself
from its trammels, claim its true freedom and concede it to every one?
The answer is, the range of knowledge was too narrow. The minds of
men could not take a broader view of things than the horizon of their
knowledge let them. Ignorance and superstition still held a terrible
sway.
It is true that the whole character of that age bears the stamp of
the German rather than the Italian intellect. It was the energy of a
Luther, the learning and loving heart of a Melanchthon, the polished
wit of an Erasmus, which then gave impulse and direction to the
thoughts and opinions of the world, much more than the frivolous
jesting of the infidel priests who thronged the streets of Rome and
the halls of the Vatican. Yet even these great men were controlled
by superstition, to a very great extent. Witchcraft was universally
believed in at that time. Hundreds, aye thousands, of unoffending old
women, with no other fault than that they were poor and old, were
burned to death as witches, instead of being treated with that respect
due to those who have lived many years and spent their best days for
the good of others.
Social eminence was no safeguard against these delusions. When it was
affirmed that Agnes Sampson, with two hundred other witches, had sailed
in sieves from Leith to North Berwick church to hold a banquet with
the devil, James I., {101} had the torture applied to the wretched
woman, and took pleasure in putting appropriate questions to her. It
then was charged that the two hundred old women had baptized and then
drowned a black cat, thereby raising a dreadful storm in which the ship
that carried the king narrowly escaped being wrecked. Upon this, Agnes
was condemned to the flames. She died protesting her innocence, and
piteously calling on Jesus to have mercy on her for Christian men would
not.
Of all the early reformers, Luther and Melanchthon were perhaps the
freest from superstition, and yet even they devoutly believed that in
the Tiber, not far distant from the pope's palace, a monster had been
found having the head of an ass, the body of a man and the claws of a
bird. After searching their Bibles to find out what the prodigy meant,
they at length concluded that it was one of the signs and wonders which
were to precede the fall of the papacy, and published a pamphlet about
it. Yet Luther and Melanchthon were the leaders of a great movement,
the teachers of a great nation, and were in every respect the most
influential persons in that nation. The people, credulous and grossly
ignorant, listened and believed. We, at this distance of time and
living in another realm of thought, can form but a faint conception of
the effect these horrible conceits produced upon them.
But the greatest need of those times was the want of divine authority.
The writings of Luther, Melanchthon, Erasmus and Calvin were never
considered as inspired. Luther himself never professed to have divine
authority for his teachings; but on the other hand denounced the very
idea of inspiration.
When, in 1525, Munzer and his associates (commonly known as the
prophets of Zwickaw) claimed divine authority, Luther was foremost in
denouncing and persecuting them, and their followers. According to
Mosheim, their principal crimes were in denying infant baptism and
the right of a distinct class to preach for hire; and asserting that
"God still continued to reveal His will to chosen persons by dreams
and visions." (_See Mosheim Vol. II, p. 128_.) They also claimed
"that God in His own good time would erect to Himself a holy church
possessing a perfect organization, and would set {102} apart for the
execution of this grand design, a certain number of chosen instruments
divinely assisted and prepared for this chosen work, by the aid and
inspiration of His Holy Spirit." As a consequence they claimed the right
to rebaptizing persons coming from other churches.
Mosheim further admits, "The extreme difficulty of correcting or
influencing by the prospect of suffering, or even by the terrors of
death, minds that are firmly bound by the ties of religion. In almost
all the countries of Europe, an unspeakable number of those unhappy
people preferred death, in its worst forms, to a retraction of their
opinions. Neither the view of the flames that were kindled to consume
them, nor the ignominy of the gibbet, nor the terrors of the sword,
could shake their invincible constancy or make them abandon tenets that
appeared dearer to them than life itself and all its enjoyments." (_See
Mosheim Vol. II, p. 131_.)
To this sect and its principles Luther was bitterly opposed, but this
opposition argues nothing in his favor, nor does it strengthen his
authority. It may also be added that if Rome had divine authority,
Luther had no right to secede from her. But if, as Luther claimed, she
had through apostasy lost her authority, then, it may be asked, From
whence did Luther receive his authority? In all this, Luther's actions
were indeed logical, but fatal to the claims of modern sectarians who
profess to be the ministers of Christ.
Luther was simply the battle-ax of God to hew down the edifice of
popery which stood in the way of human progress. The churches, which,
under the leadership of Luther, Melanchthon, Zwingle, Calvin, Knox
and Henry VIII. of England, separated from Rome received the name of
Protestant. And this very name implies that they were merely a protest
against Rome, her teachings and authority. The right of protesting
being once granted, it follows that others, also, have the right
to protest against them. This principle caused the long and bloody
wars which were only closed by the peace of Westphalia, in 1648, and
then it was found that central and northern Europe had cast off the
intellectual tyranny of Rome, and had established the right of every
man to think for himself.
{103} The Protestant party having thus established its existence, by
protest and separation, was obliged to submit to the operation of the
same principles. A decomposition into many rival sects was inevitable.
These having no central or controlling authority, and no longer in
fear of their great Roman adversary, commenced bitter warfares on
each other; Lutherans persecuted Catholics and Catholics persecuted
Protestants, and they in turn persecuted Puritans. Even Calvin proved
the darkness of his own mind when he put to death the celebrated
philosopher and physician, Michael Servetus, whose greatest crimes were
that in religion he denied that the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost
were one and the same person; and in science he had partially succeeded
in discovering the circulation of the blood. The circumstances also
were of the most atrocious character. For two hours he was roasted in
the flames of a slow fire, begging for the love of God that they would
put on more wood, or do something to end his torture.
Yet the death of Servetus was not without advantage to the world.
Men asked with amazement and indignation if the atrocities of the
Inquisition were again to be revived. They saw at once that intolerance
was not confined to the Romish church.
In spite of all these commotions, science was making rapid progress.
Copernicus lived at the same time as Luther and died two years before
him. His was as brave a life as ever lived in story. For thirty-six
years--at the very time the Protestant struggle was raging--he was
working at that immortal book, in which he so clearly demonstrates the
motions of the earth and the revolutions of the planets around the
sun. But he did not dare to publish it until there was a lull in the
political storm. He was then an old man in broken health. His book
was in the printer's hands when he was on his death bed. He waited at
death's door from day to day. At length the messenger arrived with the
printed book. He received it with tears in his eyes, composed himself
and died.
Copernicus was followed by Tycho Brahe, Kepler and Galileo, and last,
but by no means least, Isaac Newton, that scientific giant, who burst
through the fetters of the ages, and taught {104} man the laws, harmony
and grandeur of the Creator's works.
During these troublous times Leonardo da Vinci wrote his celebrated
works on mathematics and natural philosophy; and the arts of painting,
sculpture and music were greatly improved under the direction of
Titian, Corregio, Michael Angelo and Filippo Neri. A few years later
Bruno wrote his work on the plurality of worlds.
Copernicus having died soon after the publication of his works, was
beyond the reach of his persecutors. Galileo was brought before the
Inquisition, and after years of imprisonment, only saved his life
by denying the great truths he had discovered. But Bruno heroically
refused to recant, and was tortured to death February 16th, 1700, a
martyr to the cause of truth.
While these things were transpiring, great changes had taken place
in the maritime and commercial affairs of the world. Bold navigators
had sailed along the whole eastern coast of America, and a large part
of the western coast. Tolerably accurate maps of the outlines of the
western hemisphere, had been published as early as 1590. After these
discoveries, the great centers of commerce were no longer to be found
on the shores of the Mediterranean, but had shifted to the shores of
the Atlantic.
England by her geographical position, betwixt the two continents, and
in the very center of the inhabitable portion of the earth, as well as
the indomitable energy of her sons, had rapidly become the foremost
commercial nation of the world.
The great naval armament called the Invincible Armada, was equipped for
the subjugation of England; but in the providence of God she destroyed
the Armada and paralysed the influence of Spain.
In May, 1588, a Spanish fleet of one hundred and thirty ships sailed
from the harbor of Lisbon for the English coast. Some of these ships
were the largest that had yet been built; they carried eight thousand
sailors, and twenty thousand Spanish troops. The pope had blessed the
expedition and offered the sovereignty of England as the conqueror's
prize. The Catholics throughout Europe were so confident of success
{105} that they named the armament "The Invincible Armada." So vast
was the number of ships that, as they sailed along in the form of
an inverted V (thus ^), or in the form of a vast flock of wild geese,
the distance from one extremity of the fleet to the other was more than
seven miles.
But they were destined to realize that
"God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm."
Scarcely had the fleet entered the English channel when a storm
arose which lasted more than a week. The wind blew a perfect gale
from the south-west, so that it was impossible for them to return
if they had so desired. The line of battle could no longer be kept
up. They drifted helplessly and in disorder up the straits of Dover.
When nearly opposite Calais, the English loaded several vessels with
gunpowder, set them on fire and sent them into the Spanish fleet.
The explosions caused terrible havoc. The Spanish admiral no longer
thought of victory, but only of escape. But his disasters were not
yet ended. Many of his vessels were wrecked on the shores of Norway
and Scotland. In returning around the north coast of Ireland a second
storm was experienced with almost equal loss. Only a few shattered
vessels of this mighty armament returned to Spain to bring intelligence
of the calamities that had overwhelmed the rest. The defeat of the
Armada was regarded even then as the work of Providence. The Spanish
king, when he heard the news, exclaimed, "I did not expect to fight
the elements!" Thus was the triumph of the Protestant cause secured,
the lovers of freedom throughout Europe were encouraged, and the power
of Spain forever paralysed in the affairs of Europe. Henceforth the
commerce and prosperity of Spain declined. King Philip, who had planned
the Armada, died in 1598, and bequeathed a vast debt to his nation
whose resources were already exhausted, notwithstanding her rich mines
of gold and silver in the new world. In 1589, the next year after the
destruction of the Armada, Henry IV,, the first Protestant king of
France, {106} ascended the throne, and by the Edict of Nantes secured
to the Protestants the free exercise of their religion.
England, at that time the mistress of the seas, held the keys of the
commerce of Europe. Her long conflict with her Catholic sovereigns, and
the Catholic powers of Europe, had taught her self-reliance, and had
educated her people in the principles of self-government. Her laws were
the best the world then new. Henceforth she became the favored land of
the seed of Abraham, and the asylum of the oppressed of every nation.
The foregoing will indicate to some extent the condition of society
in Europe at the beginning of the seventeenth century. It is not
surprising that under such circumstances men began to look toward
America, as the land of refuge, where the institutions of liberty might
be planted and fostered, and political institutions framed which would
insure unto all, life, liberty and religious toleration.