All Romanists, the Emperor included, were of the opinion that the
Protestants must be brought back to the papal fold. But they differed
somewhat as to the means of accomplishing this purpose. Some demanded
that force be resorted to forthwith, while others counseled that
leniency be tried first. Campegius advised kindness at the beginning,
and greater severity only in dealing with certain individuals, but that
sharper measures and, finally, force of arms ought to follow. At Rome
force was viewed as the "true rhubarb" for healing the breach,
especially among the common people. July 18 Garsia wrote to the Emperor:
"If you are determined to bring Germany back to the fold, I know of no
other or better means than by presents and flattery to persuade those
who are most eminent in science or in the empire to return to our faith.
Once that is done, you must, in dealing with the remaining common
people, first of all publish your imperial edicts and Christian
admonitions. If they will not obey these, then the true rhubarb to cure
them is force. This alone cured Spain's rebellion against its king. And
force is what will also cure Germany's unfaithfulness to God, unless,
indeed, divine grace should not attend Your Majesty in the usual
measure. God would learn in this matter whether you are a faithful son
of His, and should He so find, then I promise you that among all
creatures you will find no power sufficiently strong to resist you. All
will but serve the purpose of enabling you to obtain the crown of this
world." (42.)
Among the open advocates of force were Cochlaeus, Eck, Faber, and the
theologians and monks who flocked to Augsburg in large numbers about the
time the Augsburg Confession was read. They all considered it their
prime duty to rouse the passions of the Emperor, as well as of the
Catholic princes and estates, and to incite them against the Lutherans.
Their enmity was primarily directed against the Augustana, whose
objective and moderate tone had gained many friends even among the
Catholics, and which had indirectly branded Eck and his compeers as
detractors and calumniators. For had not Duke William of Bavaria, after
the reading of the Confession, rebuked Eck, in the presence of the
Elector of Saxony, for having misrepresented the Lutheran doctrine to
him? The moderation of the Augustana, said these Romanists, was nothing
but the cunning of serpents, deception and misrepresentation, especially
on the part of the wily Melanchthon, for the true Luther was portrayed
in the 404 theses of Eck. Cochlaeus wrote that the Lutherans were slyly
hiding their ungodly doctrines in order to deceive the Emperor: "astute
occultari in illorum Confessione prava eorum dogmata, de quibus ibi
tacendo dissimulabant, ut in hypocrisi loquentes Maiestati Tuae aliisque
principibus imponerent." (Laemmer, _Vortridentinische Theologie,_ 39.)
Thus the malice and fanaticism of the papal theologians and the monks
rose in proportion as friendliness was shown the Lutherans by Catholic
princes and the Emperor. They feared that every approach toward the
Lutherans would jeopardize the _pax Pontificia._
The fanaticism of the papal theologians is frequently referred to by the
Lutherans. June 26 Melanchthon wrote to Luther: "Sophists and monks are
daily streaming into the city, in order to inflame the hatred of the
Emperor against us." (_C. R._ 2, 141.) June 27: "Our Confession was
presented last Saturday. The opponents are now deliberating upon how to
answer; they flock together, take great pains, and incite the princes,
who already have been sufficiently aroused. Eck vehemently demands of
the Archbishop of Mainz that the matter be not debated, since it has
already been condemned." (144.) June 29 Jonas wrote to Luther: "Faber is
goaded on by furies and Eck is not a whit more sensible. Both insist in
every manner imaginable that the affair ought to be managed by force and
must not be heard." (154.) Melanchthon, July 8: "By chance Eck and
Cochlaeus came to the legate [Campegius, with whom Melanchthon was
deliberating]. I heard them say, distinctly enough, I believe, that the
opponents are merely deliberating upon how to suppress us by force."
(175.) July 15: "Repeatedly have I been with certain enemies who belong
to that herd of Eck. Words fail me to describe the bitter, Pharisaical
hatred I noticed there. They do nothing, they plan nothing else than how
they may incite the princes against us, and supply the Emperor with
impious weapons." (197.) The implacable theologians also succeeded in
fanaticizing some of the princes and bishops, who gradually became more
and more opposed to any kind of settlement by mutual understanding.
(175.)
The chief exponent of force was Cochlaeus. In his _Expostulatio,_ which
appeared at Augsburg in May, 1530, he argued that not only according to
papal, but according to imperial law as well, which the Evangelicals
also acknowledged, and according to the Scriptures, heretics might, aye,
must be punished with death. The treatise concludes as follows: "Thus it
is established that obdurate heretics may be executed by every form of
law. We, however, much prefer to have them return to the Church, be
converted, healed and live, and we beseech them to do so. _Constat
igitur, haereticos pertinaces omni iure interimi posse. Nos tamen longe
magis optamus et precamur, ut redeuntes ad ecclesiam convertantur,
sanentur et vivant._" (Plitt, 1, 5.)
Naturally Eck, too, was prominent among those who counseled the
employment of compulsory measures; indeed, he could not await the hour
when the order would be given to proceed against the heretics with fire
and sword. He lamented, in bitter terms, the fact that the Emperor had
not made use of stern measures as soon as he arrived in Germany. For
now, said he, procrastination and the conciliatory demeanor of the
Evangelicals, especially of Melanchthon and Brueck, had made it
impossible to rouse the Emperor to such a degree as the exigency of the
case demanded. (Plitt, 63.) Luther wrote: "For that shameless gab and
bloodthirsty sophist, Doctor Eck, one of their chief advisers, publicly
declared in the presence of our people that if the Emperor had followed
the resolution made at Bononia, and, immediately on entering Germany,
had courageously attacked the Lutherans with the sword, and beheaded one
after another, the matter would have been easily settled. But all this
was prevented when he permitted the Elector of Saxony to speak and be
heard through his chancellor." (St. L. 16, 1636.)