700 THE GERMAN REFORMATION. A.D. 1517 To 1580.
Margrave George of Brandenburg, Duke Ernest of Liine. burg, Duke John Frederick of Saxony, Duke Francis of Liineburg, Prince Wolfgang of Anhalt; and by two representatives of free cities, Niirnberg and Reutlingen.
The signing required considerable courage, for it involved the risk of the crown. When warned by Melanchthon of the possible consequences, the Saxon Elector nobly replied: “J will do what is right, unconcerned about my Electoral dignity. I will confess my Lord, whose cross I esteem more highly than all the power on earth.”
This act and testimony gave great significance to the Diet of Augsburg, and immortal glory to the confessors. Luther gave eloquent expression to his joy, when he wrote to Melanchthon, Sept. 15, 1530:1 “ You have confessed Christ, you have offered peace, you have obeyed the Emperor, you have endured injuries, you have been drenched in their revilings, you have not returned evil for evil. In brief, you have worthily done God’s holy work as becometh saints. Be glad, then, in the Lord, and exult, ye righteous. Long enough have ye been mourning in the world; look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh. I will canonize you as a faithful member of Christ. And what greater glory can you desire? Is it a small thing to have yielded Christ faithful service, and shown yourself a member worthy of Him?”
The only blot on the fame of the Lutheran confessors of Augsburg is their intolerant conduct towards the Reformed, which weakened their own cause. The four German cities which sympathized with the Zwinglian view on the Lord’s Supper wished to sign the Confession, with the exception of the tenth article, which rejects their view; but they were excluded, and forced to hand in a separate confession of
faith. 1 In De Wette, IV. 165.
ὃ 118. NEGOTIATIONS, AND PEACE OF NURNBERG. 701
ἢ 118. The Negotiations, the Recess, the Peace of Niirnberg.
The remaining transactions during this Diet were discouraging and unfruitful, and the result was a complete, but short-lived, victory of the Roman Catholic party.
Melanchthon during all this time was in a state of nervous trepidation and despondency.! Before the delivery of the Confession he thought it too mild and pacific; after the delivery, he thought it too severe and polemic. So far was he carried away by his desire for reunion, and fears of the disastrous results of a split, that he made a most humiliating approach to the papal legate, Campeggi, who had advised the Emperor to crush the Protestant heresy by fire and sword, to put Wittenberg under the ban, and to introduce the Spanish Inquisition into Germany. Two weeks after the delivery of the Confession, he assured him that the Lutherans did not differ in any doctrine from the Roman Church, and were willing to obey her if she only would charitably overlook a few minor changes of discipline and ceremonies, which they could not undo.? And, to conciliate such a power, Melanchthon kept aloof as far as possible from the Zwinglians and Strassburgers. On the 8th of July he had
1 He spent his time ‘‘ in lacrymis ac luctu,’”? was exhausted and emaciated. See his letters, and those of Jonas and Osiander, in ‘‘ Corp. Ref.,’’ 11. 125 sq., 157, 163.
2 He wrote two letters to Campeggi, July 6, and two to his secretary, July 7 and Aug. 5. See “‘ Corp. Reform.,’’ II. 168-174, and 240. In the first letter, after a quotation from Plato and some words of flattery, he makes this astounding concession (fol. 170): ‘‘ Dogma nullum habemus diversum ab ecclesia Romana. ... Parati sumus obedire ecclesie Romane, modo ut illa pro sua clementia, qua semper erga omnes gentes usa est, pauca quedam vel dissimulet, vel relaxet que jam mutare nequidem si velimus queamus. .. . Ad hec Romani pontificis auctoritatem et universam politiam ecclesiasticam reverenter colimus, modo nos non abjiciat Rom. pontifex. . . . Nullam ob rem aliam plus odii sustinemus in Germania, quam quia ecclesia Romane dogmata summa constantia defendimus. Hanc fidem Christo et Romane ecclesie ad extremum spiritum, Deo volente, prestabimus. Levis quedam dissimilitudo rituum est que videtur obstare concordie.’’ Of similar import are the propositions he sent to Campeggi, Aug. 4 (fol. 246).