While these great events were stirring Christendom, Charles V was elected to the imperial throne. He thus became the paramount prince of Europe, and his sovereignty was acknowledged by the greater part of Europe and the New World. In 1521 a historic Diet was convened at Worms to consider many important matters of state. Attended by the electors, princes and other dignitaries of the empire, it formed a sort of imperial parliament. So agitated was Christendom as a result of Luther’s teaching that it was decided to summon the monk of Wittenberg to appear before this august assembly.
In virtue of the papal bull, Luther’s life was already forfeit as a condemned heretic. He was, however, granted a safe conduct by the Emperor. Huss, a century before, had been betrayed and martyred in similar circumstances. Would Luther go? In dependence on God he went, fearing nothing, for he was fully prepared to lay down his life for the truth. “Pray not for me,” he said. “Pray for the Word of God.” His agonizing prayer, as the time of the ordeal approached, is a sublime testimony to his faith and dependence on God.
On April 17, 1521, the Diet assembled. The Emperor, seated on his throne, was surrounded by a magnificent assembly: the electors, princes, dukes and other rulers of his wide dominions, ambassadors from foreign courts, and the dignitaries of the Church. Before them stood Luther in his monk’s gown. Confronted with his own writings, he was challenged to acknowledge them and to say whether he persisted in his opinions. He asked for time to prepare a considered reply and was given till the following day. At his second appearance, he spoke soberly and humbly, yet firmly, and concluded by saying that unless he could be convinced to the contrary by the testimony of the Scriptures, he could not and would not retract. Looking around on the illustrious company, he added, “Here I stand; I can do no other; may God help me! Amen!” His words made a profound impression. God had mightily supported His servant. Many were in his favor, both among the nobility and the people. His arrival in the city had indeed been attended by vast crowds. The Emperor was anxious to punish him, Rome thirsted for his blood, but God had further work for him to do, and man could not touch him. He was allowed to leave Worms unmolested. But his life was hourly in danger. For his own safety, he was shut up by his friends in the lonely castle at Wartburg in the Thuringian forest. For a time he disappeared from the public eye, and it was not known whether he was alive or dead. In this castle he studied and wrote. From it issued further writings, and there he began one of his most valuable services, the translation of the New Testament into the German tongue.
The Holy Spirit was operating in hearts far and wide, and many were drinking in the truth. The long, dark night of papal dominion and Romish superstition was beginning to disperse before the rising beams of recovered truth. It was the Word of God which had emancipated Luther. It was the Word of God, freed from the trammels of human misinterpretation, which Luther fought for. It was this Word — the Holy Scripture, now being disseminated throughout Europe — which was to transform the hearts and lives of men and to change the face of Christendom. At first it was doctrine — particularly the great foundation truth of justification by faith. This was the keystone of the whole work of recovery. Practices for a time remained unaffected. Outwardly all went on as before. But as the Word of God lighted up the scene, the idolatry and corruption of the Middle Ages began to melt away. With the open Bible in their hands, the people could learn for themselves the will of God and judge between truth and error. Many of the monks and nuns left their convents, the Mass was replaced by the Lord’s supper in a more scriptural form, and many of the clergy married. Luther was the last to leave the Augustinian monastery of Wittenberg, for it was his only home. It became his home in another way later; he married a godly lady who had herself given up a nun’s life, and the monastery of Wittenberg was transformed into a Christian home.
Luther was opposed to extremism. He knew God was working. He saw clearly that spiritual results could not be effected by human means. While God providentially preserved him and used the protection of the Christian Elector Frederick and others to this end, Luther did not rely on the secular power, and more than once he risked his life against the advice of his would-be protectors.
The Emperor was still anxious to destroy this so-called heresy. Another Diet, this time at Spires, was called, but the Pope and the Emperor disagreed, war ensued, and Rome was sacked by the Emperor’s soldiers. A few years’ respite, during which the gospel spread more and more, was the result. Peace restored, the Pope and the Emperor combined again to stamp out the new movement. A further Diet was convened at Spires in 1529, but while the majority were ready to enforce an edict of persecution, the Elector John of Saxony, other princes and the representatives of the free cities were opposed. Some were even prepared to resort to force, but Luther strongly deprecated this. He continually repeated, “In retiring and in rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.” “We would rather die ten times,” he said, “than to see our gospel cause one drop of blood to be shed. Our part is to be like lambs of the slaughter. The cross of Christ must be borne. ... If the Emperor requires us to be given up to his tribunals, we are ready to appear. You cannot defend our faith.” It was about this time that Luther wrote his famous hymn, “Our God is a strong tower.”
Those members of the Diet who opposed the persecution were overruled and they were thus placed in the position of acting as the tool of Rome to apprehend and destroy those who had accepted the truth. Declining to be the executors of a wicked decree, they drew up a protest, in which they said, “Adhesion to your resolution would be acting against our conscience, condemning a doctrine that we maintain to be Christian and pronouncing that it ought to be abolished in our states. ... This would be to deny our Lord Jesus Christ. We protest by these presents before God our only Creator, Preserver, Redeemer and Saviour ... that we for us and for our people neither consent nor adhere in any manner whatsoever to the proposed decree in anything that is contrary to God, to His holy Word, to our right conscience, to the salvation of our souls and to the last decree of Spires” (which had granted liberty of conscience). This was the document which gave rise to the name Protestant. It should be borne in mind that it was rulers, acting in their capacity as such, who presented this remarkable document to the Emperor. The protest was against being made the Pope’s tools to persecute those who accepted the truth. It is a striking testimony to the influence of the gospel on the minds of men in authority.
Meanwhile, Luther hurried on with the translation of the Old Testament. It has been criticized as not being a perfect translation, but when we think of the stormy times and the difficulties under which it was done, Luther’s health being poor at the time, some shortcomings may be excused.
The Emperor changed his tactics. In 1530 he summoned a new council of the imperial states, this time at Augsburg, in order to secure religious unity. “Let us,” he said, “all fight under one and the same leader — Jesus Christ — and let us strive thus to meet in one communion, one church, one unity.” How pious it sounds! The wolf had put on sheep’s clothing. Augsburg was thronged, and the Christian princes took advantage of this to have the gospel preached in some of the city churches. Immense crowds came to listen. The papists were beside themselves and would fain have stopped it. Luther himself remained at Coburg some distance away. Melancthon was commissioned to draw up a confession of faith for submission to the Emperor. The Elector of Saxony desired to sign it. Melancthon, who, like Luther, did not desire to bring in the secular power, at first refused, but the Elector said, “I desire to confess the Lord. My electoral hat and my ermine are not so precious to me as the cross of Jesus Christ.” He signed it, and so did the other princes. The Emperor agreed to hear the confession read. In it the basic truths of Christianity were clearly outlined. The distinction between the Church and the State was also drawn, the Lord’s words, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:3636Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. (John 18:36)), being quoted.
It was one of the most momentous days in history. The gospel was, in effect, preached to the Emperor, the princes, the lords and the other notables of Europe. Bishops and archbishops of the Church were present. It produced a profound impression and was circulated all over the Continent. Some of the nobility were won over to the truth. Luther himself said, “Our confession will penetrate into every court, and the sound thereof will spread through the whole earth.” This was the climax of the Reformation.
Rome could not confute the truth, so she strove to effect a compromise. It was to no purpose. No agreement was reached. The Emperor remained obdurate and resolved on the extermination of the heretics. He wrote to that effect to the Pope, demanding the support of all Christian princes.
Faced with the threatening attitude of the Emperor, the Protestant princes formed the league of Smacald (1530) for mutual defense. For some time they were left in peace and the truth made steady progress. The Pope, Clement VII, died in 1534 and his successor, Paul, was urged by the Emperor to call a general council. Years, however, passed before it assembled. Finally, a council was proposed to meet at Trent in 1542 but again delayed, owing to war between Germany and France. Its sittings finally began in 1546. The reformers and those who supported their cause refused to acknowledge it. The Emperor now decided to make war on the Protestant princes. In 1547 their small army was defeated. The Elector John of Saxony and Philip Landgrave of Hesse were thrown into prison and ignominiously treated. The Emperor’s army overran Germany and a form of popery was reimposed. God in His providence frustrated the counsels of wickedness. Maurice, who had become Elector of Saxony in place of his defeated nephew, turned against the Emperor and allied himself with the King of France. The Emperor’s dominions were invaded, and he had to flee. In 1552 he was compelled to sign the Peace of Passau, granting religious liberty. Further troubles assailed him. The Turks ravaged Hungary and were threatening Austria. Even the Pope turned against him in order to acquire the kingdom of Naples. In 1555 another Diet was held at Augsburg, when entire freedom of worship was accorded to Protestants in Germany. After three years, ninety percent of the population had abandoned Romanism. Charles resigned the crown in the following year and entered a monastery where he died three years later.
Luther did not live to see the consummation of his work. In 1546 he fell asleep in Jesus at Eisleben, the town in which he was born. He was thus taken from the scene before the painful and ignominious defeat of the Protestant princes in 1547. He had counseled them against war, but they had not heeded, and they had learned by bitter experience that their swords could not prevail.
When Maurice attacked the Emperor, the Council of Trent was sitting. On the approach of his army, the bishops fled for their lives, and the council thus adjourned, its work unfinished. It had met at first at the urgent representations of the Emperor with the ostensible object of reforming the Church and healing the breach of Christendom. By delay and subterfuge, it avoided doing either. It met again ten years later with a different purpose, namely to reestablish the power of Rome.
“The history of Europe for a hundred years was the history of the efforts of the Church, with open force or secret conspiracy, with all the energy, base or noble, which passion or passionate enthusiasm could inspire, to crush and annihilate its foes. No means came amiss to it, sword or stake, torture chamber or assassin’s dagger. The effects of the Church’s working were seen in ruined nations and smoking cities, in human beings tearing one another to pieces like raging maniacs, and the honor of the Creator of the world befouled by the hideous crimes committed in His name.” These are the words of Professor Froude. At the close of his lectures on the Council of Trent, from which the quotation is taken, this authority said, “The Reformation is now said to have settled nothing. I wish to recognize that every one of the ‘hundred grievances’ of Germany and every one of the abuses complained of by the English House of Commons in 1529 has been long ago swept away, and so completely that their very existence is now forgotten.” As a matter of fact, the whole course of history has been changed and the human race emancipated from an evil thrall which was every year more and more unbearable. The power which accomplished this was the Word of God. On the other hand, God also interposed, at times, in providential power and scattered the forces of evil, as at the time of the Spanish Armada, the siege of Leyden and the landing in England of the Prince of Orange.