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Using OpenRefine

The essential OpenRefine guide that takes you from

data analysis and error fixing to linking your dataset
to the Web

Ruben Verborgh
Max De Wilde

BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI
Using OpenRefine

Copyright © 2013 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written
permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in
critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy
of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is
sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the authors, nor Packt
Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages
caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the
companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals.
However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: September 2013

Production Reference: 1040913

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place
35 Livery Street
Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78328-908-0

[Link]

Cover Image by Aniket Sawant (aniket_sawant_photography@[Link])

 Credits

Authors Project Coordinator

Ruben Verborgh Sherin Padayatty
Max De Wilde
Proofreader
Reviewers Paul Hindle
Martin Magdinier
Dr. Mateja Verlic Indexer
Hemangini Bari

Acquisition Editor
Sam Birch Production Coordinator
Nilesh R. Mohite

Commissioning Editor
Subho Gupta Cover Work
Nilesh R. Mohite

Technical Editors
Anita Nayak
Harshad Vairat
 Foreword
At the time I joined Metaweb Technologies, Inc. in 2008, we were building up
Freebase in earnest; entity by entity, fact by fact. Now you may know Freebase
through its newest incarnation, Google's Knowledge Graph, which powers the
"Knowledge panels" on [Link].

Building up "the world's database of everything" is a tall order that machines and
algorithms alone cannot do, even if raw public domain data exists in abundance.
Raw data from multiple sources must be cleaned up, homogenized, and then
reconciled with data already in Freebase. Even that first step of cleaning up the data
cannot be automated entirely; it takes the common sense of a human reader to know
that if both 0.1 and 10,000,000 occur in a column named cost, they are very likely in
different units (perhaps millions of dollars and dollars respectively). It also takes a
human reader to decide that UCBerkley means the same as University of California
in Berkeley, CA, but not the same as Berkeley DB.

If these errors occur often enough, we might as well have given up or just hired
enough people to perform manual data entry. But these errors occur often enough
to be a problem, and yet not often enough that anyone who has not dealt with such
data thinks simple automation is sufficient. But, dear reader, you have dealt with
data, and you know how unpredictably messy it can be.

Every dataset that we wanted to load into Freebase became an iterative exercise in
programming mixed with manual inspection that led to hard-coding transformation
rules, from turning two-digit years into four-digits, to swapping given name and
surname if there is a comma in between them. Even for most of us programmers, this
exercise got old quickly, and it was painful to start every time.

So, we created Freebase Gridworks, a tool for cleaning up data and making it ready
for loading into Freebase. We designed it to be a database-spreadsheet hybrid; it is
interactive like spreadsheet software and programmable like databases. It was this
combination that made Gridworks the first of its kind.
In the process of creating and then using Gridworks ourselves, we realized that
cleaning, transforming, and just playing with data is crucial and generally useful,
even if the goal is not to load data into Freebase. So, we redesigned the tool to be
more generic, and released its Version 2 under the name "Google Refine" after
Google acquired Metaweb.

Since then, Refine has been well received in many different communities; data
journalists, open data enthusiasts, librarians, archivists, hacktivists, and even
programmers and developers by trade. Its adoption in the early days spread through
word of mouth, in hackathons and informal tutorials held by its own users.

Having proven itself through early adopters, Refine now needs better organized
efforts to spread and become a mature product with a sustainable community around
it. Expert users, open source contributors, and data enthusiast groups are actively
teaching how to use Refine on tours and in the classroom. Ruben and Max from the
Free Your Metadata team have taken the next logical step in consolidating those
tutorials and organizing those recipes into this handy missing manual for Refine.

Stepping back to take in the bigger picture, we may realize that messy data is not
anyone's own problem, but it is more akin to ensuring that one's neighborhood is
safe and clean. It is not a big problem, but it has implications on big issues such as
transparency in government. Messy data discourages analysis and hides real-world
problems, and we all have to roll up our sleeves to do the cleaning.

David Huynh
Original creator of OpenRefine
 About the Authors

Ruben Verborgh is a PhD researcher in Semantic Hypermedia. He is fascinated

by the Web's immense possibilities and tries to contribute ideas that will maybe
someday slightly influence the way the Web changes all of us. His degree in
Computer Science Engineering convinced him more than ever that communication is
the most crucial thing for IT-based solutions. This is why he really enjoys explaining
things to those eager to learn. In 2011, he launched the Free Your Metadata project
together with Seth van Hooland and Max De Wilde, which aims to evangelize the
importance of bringing your data on the Web. This book is one of the assets in this
continuing quest.

He currently works at Multimedia Lab, a research group of iMinds, Ghent

University, Belgium, in the domains of Semantic Web, Web APIs, and Adaptive
Hypermedia. Together with Seth van Hooland, he's writing Linked Data for Libraries,
Archives, and Museums, Facet Publishing, a practical guide for metadata practitioners.

Max De Wilde is a PhD researcher in Natural Language Processing and a teaching

assistant at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), department of Information and
Communication Sciences. He holds a Master's degree in Linguistics from the ULB
and an Advanced Master's in Computational Linguistics from the University
of Antwerp. Currently, he is preparing a doctoral thesis on the impact of
language-independent information extraction on document retrieval. At the
same time, he works as a full-time assistant and supervises practical classes for
Master's level students in a number of topics, including database quality, document
management, and architecture of information systems.
 About the Reviewers

Martin Magdinier, during the last six years, has been heavily engaged with startup
and open data communities in France, Vietnam, and Canada. Through his recent
projects (TTCPass and Objectif Neige) and consulting positions, he became intimate
with data massage techniques. Coming from a business approach, his focus is on data
management and transformation tools that empower the business user. In 2011, he
started to blog tips and tutorials on OpenRefine to help other business users to make
the most out of this tool. In 2012, when Google released the software to the community,
he helped to structure the new organization. Today, he continues to actively support
the OpenRefine user base and advocates its usage in various communities.

Dr. Mateja Verlic is Head of Research at Zemanta and is an enthusiastic

developer of the LOD-friendly distribution of OpenRefine. After finishing her PhD in
Computer Science, she worked for two years as Assistant Professor at the University
of Maribor, focusing mostly on machine learning, intelligent systems, text mining,
and sentiment analysis. In 2011, when she joined Zemanta as an urban ninja and
researcher, she began exploring the semantic web and has been really passionate
about web technologies, lean startup, community projects, and open source software
ever since.
 [Link]

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To Linda, for her ever-lasting and loving support

Ruben Verborgh

To Hélène, and baby Jeanne

Max De Wilde
 Table of Contents
Preface 1
Chapter 1: Diving Into OpenRefine 5
Introducing OpenRefine 5
Recipe 1 – installing OpenRefine 6
Windows 7
Mac 7
Linux 7
Recipe 2 – creating a new project 7
File formats supported by OpenRefine 8
Recipe 3 – exploring your data 10
Recipe 4 – manipulating columns 12
Collapsing and expanding columns 12
Moving columns around 13
Renaming and removing columns 14
Recipe 5 – using the project history 14
Recipe 6 – exporting a project 17
Recipe 7 – going for more memory 19
Windows 19
Mac 20
Linux 20
Summary 20
Chapter 2: Analyzing and Fixing Data 21
Recipe 1 – sorting data 22
Reordering rows 24
Recipe 2 – faceting data 24
Text facets 25
Numeric facets 28
Table of Contents

Customized facets 30
Faceting by star or flag 33
Recipe 3 – detecting duplicates 34
Recipe 4 – applying a text filter 36
Recipe 5 – using simple cell transformations 38
Recipe 6 – removing matching rows 41
Summary 44
Chapter 3: Advanced Data Operations 45
Recipe 1 – handling multi-valued cells 46
Recipe 2 – alternating between rows and records mode 49
Recipe 3 – clustering similar cells 52
Recipe 4 – transforming cell values 55
Recipe 5 – adding derived columns 58
Recipe 6 – splitting data across columns 60
Recipe 7 – transposing rows and columns 61
Summary 64
Chapter 4: Linking Datasets 65
Recipe 1 – reconciling values with Freebase 66
Recipe 2 – installing extensions 69
Recipe 3 – adding a reconciliation service 71
Recipe 4 – reconciling with Linked Data 73
Recipe 5 – extracting named entities 76
Summary 80
Appendix: Regular Expressions and GREL 81
Regular expressions for text patterns 81
Character classes 82
Quantifiers 85
Anchors 86
Choices 86
Groups 87
Overview 87
General Refine Expression Language (GREL) 88
Transforming data 88
Creating custom facets 90
Solving problems with GREL 91
Index 93

[ ii ]
 Preface
Data is often dubbed the new gold, as it is of tremendous value for today's
data-driven economy. However, we prefer to think of data as diamonds.
At first they're raw, but through great skills, they can be polished to become the
shiny assets that are so worthy to us. This is precisely what this book covers; how
your dataset can be transformed in OpenRefine so you can optimize its quality for
real-world (re)use.

As the vast amount of functionality of OpenRefine can be overwhelming to new

users, we are convinced that a decent manual can make the difference. This book
will guide you from your very first steps to really advanced operations that you
probably didn't know were possible. We will spend time on all different aspects of
OpenRefine, so in the end, you will have obtained the necessary skills to revive your
own datasets. This book starts out with cleaning the data to fix small errors, and ends
by linking your dataset to others so it can become part of a larger data ecosystem.

We realize that every dataset is different, yet learning is easiest by example.

This is why we have chosen the Powerhouse Museum dataset to demonstrate the
techniques in this book. However, since not all steps apply on your dataset, we have
structured the different tasks as recipes. Just like in a regular cookbook, you can just
pick the recipes you need for what you want to achieve. Some recipes depend on
each other, but this is indicated at the start of each chapter.

In addition, the example dataset in this book illustrates a healthy data culture; the
people at Powerhouse decided to bring it online even though they were aware that
there were still some quality issues. Interestingly, that didn't stop them from doing
it, and in fact, it shouldn't stop you; the important thing is to get the data out. Since
then, the data quality has significantly improved, but we're providing you with the
old version so you can perform the cleaning and linking yourself.
Preface

We are confident this book will explain all the tools necessary to help you get your
data in the best possible shape. As soon as you master the skill of polishing, the raw
data diamonds you have right now will become shiny diamonds.

Have fun learning OpenRefine!

Ruben and Max.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Diving Into OpenRefine, teaches you the basic steps of OpenRefine, showing
you how to import a dataset and how to get around in the main interface.

Chapter 2, Analyzing and Fixing Data, explains how you can get to know your
dataset and how to spot errors in it. In addition, you'll also learn several techniques
to repair mistakes.

Chapter 3, Advanced Data Operations, dives deeper into dataset repair, demonstrating
some of the more sophisticated data operations OpenRefine has to offer.

Chapter 4, Linking Datasets, connects your dataset to others through reconciliation of

single terms and with named-entity recognition on full-text fields.

Appendix, Regular Expressions and GREL, introduces you to advanced pattern

matching and the General Refine Expression Language.

What you need for this book

This book does not assume any prior knowledge; we'll even guide you through the
installation of OpenRefine in Chapter 1, Diving Into OpenRefine.

Who this book is for

This book is for anybody who is working with data, particularly large datasets.
If you've been wondering how you can gain an insight into the issues within your
data, increase its quality, or link it to other datasets, then this book is for you.

No prior knowledge of OpenRefine is assumed, but if you've worked with

OpenRefine before, you'll still be able to learn new things in this book. We cover
several advanced techniques in the later chapters, with Chapter 4, Linking Datasets,
entirely devoted to linking your dataset.

[2]
 Preface

Conventions
In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between
different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an
explanation of their meaning.

Program code inside text is shown as follows: "The expression that transforms the
reconciled cell to its URL is [Link]".

New terms are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog
boxes for example, appear in the text like this: "After clicking on OK, you will see a
new column with the corresponding URLs".

Warnings or important notes appear in a box like this.

Tips and tricks appear like this.

Reader feedback
Feedback from our readers is always welcome. Let us know what you think about
this book—what you liked or may have disliked. Reader feedback is important for us
to develop titles that you really get the most out of.

To send us general feedback, simply send an e-mail to feedback@[Link],

and mention the book title via the subject of your message.

If there is a topic that you have expertise in and you are interested in either writing
or contributing to a book, see our author guide on [Link]/authors.

Customer support
Now that you are the proud owner of a Packt book, we have a number of things to
help you to get the most from your purchase.

[3]
Preface

Downloading the example files

You can download the raw data and OpenRefine projects to follow along with the
recipes in the book. Each chapter has its own example file which can be downloaded
from your account at [Link] If you purchased this book
elsewhere, you can visit [Link] and register to have
the files e-mailed directly to you.

Errata
Although we have taken every care to ensure the accuracy of our content, mistakes do
happen. If you find a mistake in one of our books—maybe a mistake in the text or the
code—we would be grateful if you would report this to us. By doing so, you can save
other readers from frustration and help us improve subsequent versions of this book.
If you find any errata, please report them by visiting [Link]
submit-errata, selecting your book, clicking on the errata submission form link,
and entering the details of your errata. Once your errata are verified, your submission
will be accepted and the errata will be uploaded on our website, or added to any list
of existing errata, under the Errata section of that title. Any existing errata can be
viewed by selecting your title from [Link]

Piracy
Piracy of copyright material on the Internet is an ongoing problem across all media.
At Packt, we take the protection of our copyright and licenses very seriously. If you
come across any illegal copies of our works, in any form, on the Internet, please
provide us with the location address or website name immediately so that we can
pursue a remedy.

Please contact us at copyright@[Link] with a link to the suspected

pirated material.

We appreciate your help in protecting our authors, and our ability to bring you
valuable content.

Questions
You can contact us at questions@[Link] if you are having a problem with
any aspect of the book, and we will do our best to address it.

[4]
 Diving Into OpenRefine
In this opening chapter, we will discover what OpenRefine is made for, why
you should use it, and how. After a short introduction, we will go through seven
fundamental recipes that will give you a foretaste of the power of OpenRefine:

• Recipe 1 – installing OpenRefine

• Recipe 2 – creating a new project
• Recipe 3 – exploring your data
• Recipe 4 – manipulating columns
• Recipe 5 – using the project history
• Recipe 6 – exporting a project
• Recipe 7 – going for more memory

Although every recipe can be read independently from the others, we recommend
that readers who are new to OpenRefine stick to the original order, at least for the
first few recipes, since they provide crucial information about its general workings.
More advanced users who already have an OpenRefine installation running can pick
our tricks in any order they like.

Introducing OpenRefine
Let's face a hard fact: your data are messy. All data are messy. Errors will always
creep into large datasets no matter how much care you have put into creating them,
especially when their creation has involved several persons and/or has been spread
over a long timespan. Whether your data are born-digital or have been digitized,
whether they are stored in a spreadsheet or in a database, something will always go
awry somewhere in your dataset.
Diving Into OpenRefine

Acknowledging this messiness is the first essential step towards a sensible approach
to data quality, which mainly involves data profiling and cleaning.

Data profiling is defined by Olson (Data Quality: The Accuracy Dimension, Jack E.
Olson, Morgan Kaufman, 2003) as "the use of analytical techniques to discover the true
structure, content, and quality of data". In other words, it is a way to get an assessment
of the current state of your data and information about errors that they contain.

Data cleaning is the process that tries to correct those errors in a semi-automated
way by removing blanks and duplicates, filtering and faceting rows, clustering and
transforming values, splitting multi-valued cells, and so on.

Whereas custom scripts were formerly needed to perform data profiling and
cleaning tasks, often separately, the advent of Interactive Data Transformation tools
(IDTs) now allows for quick and inexpensive operations on large amounts of data
inside a single integrated interface, even by domain professionals lacking in-depth
technical skills.

OpenRefine is such an IDT; a tool for visualizing and manipulating data. It looks like
a traditional, Excel-like spreadsheet software, but it works rather like a database, that
is, with columns and fields rather than individual cells. This means that OpenRefine
is not well suited for encoding new rows of data, but is extremely powerful when it
comes to exploring, cleaning, and linking data.

The recipes gathered in this first chapter will help you to get acquainted with
OpenRefine by reviewing its main functionalities, from import/export to data
exploration and from history usage to memory management.

Recipe 1 – installing OpenRefine

In this recipe, you will learn where to look in order to download the latest release of
OpenRefine and how to get it running on your favorite operating system.

First things first: start by downloading OpenRefine from [Link]

OpenRefine was previously known as Freebase Gridworks, then as Google Refine for
a few years. Since October 2012, the project has been taken over by the community,
which makes OpenRefine really open. OpenRefine 2.6 is the first version carrying the
new branding. If you are interested in the development version, you can also check
[Link]

OpenRefine is based on the Java environment, which makes it platform-independent.

Just make sure that you have an up-to-date version of Java running on your machine
(available from [Link] and follow the following instructions,
depending on your operating system:

[6]
 Chapter 1

Windows
1. Download the ZIP archive.
2. Unzip and extract the contents of the archive to a folder of your choice.
3. To launch OpenRefine, double-click on [Link].

Mac
1. Download the DMG file.
2. Open the disk image and drag the OpenRefine icon into the
Applications folder.
3. Double-click on the icon to start OpenRefine.

Linux
1. Download the gzipped tarball.
2. Extract the folder to your home directory.
3. In a terminal, enter ./refine to start.

It should be noted that, by default, OpenRefine will allocate only 1 GB of RAM to

Java. While this is sufficient to handle small datasets, it soon becomes restrictive
when dealing with larger collections of data. In Recipe 7 – going for more memory, we
will detail how to allow OpenRefine to allocate more memory, an operation that also
differs from one OS to the other.

Recipe 2 – creating a new project

In this recipe, you will learn how to get data into OpenRefine, whether by creating
a new project and loading a dataset, opening an existing project from a previous
session, or importing someone else's project.

If you successfully installed OpenRefine and launched it as explained in

Recipe 1 – installing OpenRefine, you will notice that OpenRefine opens in your default
browser. However, it is important to realize that the application is run locally: you do
not need an Internet connection to use OpenRefine, except if you want to reconcile
your data with external sources through the use of extensions (see Appendix, Regular
Expressions and GREL for such advanced uses). Be also reassured that your sensitive
data will not be stored online or shared with anyone. In practice, OpenRefine uses
the port 3333 of your local machine, which means that it will be available through the
URL [Link] or [Link]

[7]
Diving Into OpenRefine

Here is the start screen you will be looking at when you first open OpenRefine:

On the left, three tabs are available:

• Create Project: This option loads a dataset into OpenRefine. This is what
you will want when you use OpenRefine for the first time. There are various
supported formats, as shown in the preceding screenshot. You can import
data in different ways:
° This Computer: Select a file stored on your local machine
° Web Addresses (URLs): Import data directly from an online source*
° Clipboard: Copy-paste your data into a text field
° Google Data: Enable access to a Google Spreadsheet or Fusion Table*

*Internet connection required

• Open Project: This option helps you go back to an existing project created
during a former session. The next time you start OpenRefine, it will show
a list of existing projects and propose you to continue working on a dataset
that you have been using previously.
• Import Project: With this option, we can directly import an existing
OpenRefine project archive. This allows you to open a project that someone
else has exported, including the history of all transformations already
performed on the data since the project was created.

File formats supported by OpenRefine

Here are some of the file formats supported by OpenRefine:
• Comma-Separated Values (CSV), Tab-Separated Values (TSV), and other *SV
• MS Excel documents (both .XLS and .XLSX) and Open Document Format
(ODF) spreadsheets (.ODS), although the latter is not explicitly mentioned
• JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)

[8]
 Chapter 1

• XML and Resource Description Framework (RDF) as XML

• Line-based formats (logs)
If you need other formats, you can add them by way of OpenRefine extensions.
Project creation with OpenRefine is straightforward and consists of three simple
steps: selecting your file , previewing the import, and validating to let OpenRefine
create your project. Let's create a new project by clicking on the Choose Files
button from the This Computer tab, selecting your dataset (refer to the following
information box), then clicking on Next.

Although we encourage you to experiment with OpenRefine on your own

dataset, it may be useful for you to be able to reproduce the examples
used throughout this book. In order to facilitate this, all recipes are
performed on the dataset from the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney,
freely available from your account at [Link]
(use the file [Link]). Feel free to download this file and load it
into OpenRefine in order to follow the recipes more easily. Files are also
present for the remaining chapters in a similar format for download. If you
purchased this book elsewhere, you can visit [Link]
com/support and register to have the files e-mailed directly to you.

On the next screen, you get an overview of your dataset as it will appear in
OpenRefine. In the bottom-right corner, you can see the following parsing
options as shown in the following screenshot:

By default, the first line will be parsed as column headers, which is a common practice
and relevant in the case of the Powerhouse dataset. OpenRefine will also attempt
a guess for each cell type in order to differentiate text strings from integers, dates,
and URLs among others. This will prove useful later when sorting your data (if you
choose to keep the cells in plain text format, 10 will come before 2, for instance).
[9]
Diving Into OpenRefine

Another option demanding attention is the Quotation marks are used to

enclose cells containing column separators checkbox. If you leave it selected,
be sure to verify that the cell values are indeed enclosed in quotes in the original
file. Otherwise, deselect this box to ensure that the quotation marks are not
misinterpreted by OpenRefine. In the case of the Powerhouse collection, quotes are
used inside cells to indicate object titles and inscriptions, for instance, so they have
no syntactic meaning: we need to deselect the checkbox before going further. The
other options may come in handy in some cases; try to select and deselect them in
order to see how they affect your data. Also, be sure to select the right encoding to
avoid special characters to being mixed up. When everything seems right, click on
Create Project to load your data into OpenRefine.

Recipe 3 – exploring your data

In this recipe, you will get to know your data by scanning the different zones giving
access to the total number of rows/records, the various display options, the column
headers and menus, and the actual cell contents.

Once your dataset has been loaded, you will access the main interface of OpenRefine
as shown in the following screenshot:

[ 10 ]
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
bishops, and thanks to his acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures, he
easily stopped their mouths.[14]
This firmness in the friends of the Reformation produced fruits that
surpassed their expectation. It was no longer possible to be
deceived: the spirit that was manifested in these men was the spirit
of the Bible. Everywhere the sceptre was falling from the hands of
Rome. "The leaven of Luther," said a zealous Papist, "sets all the
people of Germany in a ferment, and foreign nations themselves are
agitated by formidable movements."[15]
It was immediately seen how great is the strength of deep
convictions. The states that were well disposed towards the Reform,
but which had not ventured to give their adhesion publicly, became
emboldened. The neutral states, which demanded the repose of the
empire, formed the resolution of opposing the edict of Worms, the
execution of which would have spread trouble through all Germany,
and the Papist states lost their boldness. The bow of the mighty was
broken.[16]
Ferdinand did not think proper, at so critical a
moment, to communicate to the diet the severe PROCEEDINGS OF
THE DIET.
instructions he had received from Seville.[17] He
substituted a proposition of a nature to satisfy both parties.
The laymen immediately recovered the influence of which the clergy
had dispossessed them. The ecclesiastics resisted a proposal in the
college of princes that the diet should occupy itself with church
abuses, but their exertions were unavailing. Undoubtedly a non-
political assembly would have been preferable to the diet, but it was
already something that religious matters were no longer to be
regulated solely by the priests.
The deputies from the cities having received communication of this
resolution, called for the abolition of every usage contrary to the
faith in Jesus Christ. In vain did the bishops exclaim that, instead of
abolishing pretended abuses, they would do much better to burn all
the books with which Germany had been inundated during the last
eight years. "You desire," was the reply, "to bury all wisdom and
knowledge."[18] The request of the cities was agreed to,[19] and the
diet was divided into committees for the abolition of abuses.
Then was manifested the profound disgust inspired by the priests of
Rome. "The clergy," said the deputy from Frankfort, "make a jest of
the public good, and look after their own interests only." "The
laymen," said the deputy from Duke George, "have the salvation of
Christendom much more at heart than the clergy."
The commissions made their report: people were
astonished at it. Never had men spoken out so THE PAPACY
DESCRIBED.
freely against the pope and the bishops. The
commission of the princes, in which the ecclesiastics and the laymen
were in equal numbers, proposed a fusion of Popery and Reform.
"The Priests would do better to marry," said they, "than to keep
women of ill-fame in their houses; every man should be at liberty to
communicate under one or both forms; German and Latin may be
equally employed in the Lord's Supper and in Baptism; as for the
other sacraments, let them be preserved, but let them be
administered gratuitously. Finally, let the Word of God be preached
according to the interpretation of the Church (this was the demand
of Rome), but always explaining Scripture by Scripture" (this was the
great principle of the Reformation). Thus the first step was taken
towards a national union. Still a few more efforts, and the whole
German race would be walking in the direction of the Gospel.
The evangelical Christians, at the sight of this glorious prospect,
redoubled their exertions. "Stand fast in the doctrine," said the
Elector of Saxony to his councillors.[20] At the same time hawkers in
every part of the city were selling Christian pamphlets, short and
easy to read, written in Latin and in German, and ornamented with
engravings, in which the errors of Rome were vigorously attacked.
[21] One of these books was entitled, The Papacy with its Members
painted and described by Doctor Luther. In it figured the pope, the
cardinal, and then all the religious orders, exceeding sixty, each with
their costumes and description in verse. Under the picture of one of
these orders were the following lines:

Greedy priests, see, roll in gold

Forgetful of the humble Jesu:

under another:

We forbid you to behold

The Bible, lest it should mislead you![22]

and under a third:

We can fast and pray the harder

With an overflowing larder.[23]

"Not one of these orders," said Luther to the reader, "thinks either of
faith or charity. This one wears the tonsure, the other a hood; this a
cloak, that a robe. One is white, another black, a third gray, and a
fourth blue. Here is one holding a looking-glass, there one with a
pair of scissors. Each has his playthings......Ah! these are the palmer
worms, the locusts, the canker-worms, and the caterpillars which, as
Joel saith, have eaten up all the earth."[24]
But if Luther employed the scourges of sarcasm, he
also blew the trumpet of the prophets; and this he THE
DESTRUCTION OF
did in a work entitled The Destruction of JERUSALEM.
Jerusalem. Shedding tears like Jeremiah, he
denounced to the German people a ruin like that of the Holy City, if
like it they rejected the Gospel.[25] "God has imparted to us all his
treasures," exclaimed he; "he became man, he has served us,[26] he
died for us, he has risen again, and he has so opened the gates of
heaven, that all may enter......The hour of grace is come......The glad
tidings are proclaimed......But where is the city, where is the prince
that has received them? They insult the Gospel: they draw the
sword, and daringly seize God by the beard.[27]......But wait......He
will turn round; with one blow will he break their jaws, and all
Germany will be but one wide ruin."

These works had a very great sale.[28] It was not only the peasants
and townspeople who read them, but nobles also and princes.
Leaving the priests alone at the foot of the altar, they threw
themselves into the arms of the new Gospel.[29] The necessity of a
reform of abuses was proclaimed on the 1st of August by a general
committee.
Then Rome, which had appeared to slumber,
awoke. Fanatical priests, monks, ecclesiastical THE
INSTRUCTIONS
princes, all beset Ferdinand. Cunning, bribery, OF SEVILLE.
nothing was spared. Did not Ferdinand possess the
instructions of Seville? To refuse their publication was to effect the
ruin of the Church and of the empire. Let the voice of Charles
oppose its powerful veto to the dizziness that is hurrying Germany
along, said they, and Germany will be saved! Ferdinand made up his
mind, and at length, on the 3d August, published the decree, drawn
up more than four months previously in favour of the edict of
Worms.[30]
The persecution was about to begin; the reformers would be thrown
into dungeons, and the sword drawn on the banks of the
Guadalquivir would pierce at last the bosom of Reform.
The effect of the imperial ordinance was immense. The breaking of
an axle-tree does not more violently check the velocity of a railway
train. The Elector and the Landgrave announced that they were
about to quit the diet, and ordered their attendants to prepare for
their departure. At the same time the deputies from the cities drew
towards these two princes, and the Reformation appeared on the
brink of entering immediately upon a contest with the Pope and
Charles the Fifth.
But it was not yet prepared for a general struggle. It was necessary
for the tree to send out its roots deeper, before the Almighty
unchained the stormy winds against it. A spirit of blindness, similar
to that which in former times was sent out upon Saul and Herod,[31]
then seized upon the great enemy of the Gospel; and thus was it
that Divine Providence saved the reform in its cradle.
The first movement of trouble was over. The
friends of the Gospel began to consider the date of CHANGE OF
POLICY.
the imperial instructions, and to weigh the new
political combinations which seemed to announce to the world the
most unlooked-for events. "When the Emperor wrote these letters,"
said the cities of Upper Germany, "he was on good terms with the
Pope, but now everything is changed. It is even asserted that he had
told Margaret, his deputy in the Low Countries, to proceed gently
with respect to the Gospel. Let us send him a deputation." That was
not necessary. Charles had not waited until now to form a different
resolution. The course of public affairs, taking a sudden turn, had
rushed into an entirely new path. Years of peace were about to be
granted to the Reform.
Clement VII., whom Charles was about to visit,
according to the instructions of Seville, in order to RELIGIOUS
LIBERTY
receive in Rome itself and from his sacred hands PROPOSED.
the imperial crown, and in return to give up to the
pontiff the Gospel and the Reformation,—Clement VII, seized with a
strange infatuation, had suddenly turned against this powerful
monarch. The Emperor, unwilling to favour his ambition in every
point, had opposed his claims on the states of the Duke of Ferrara.
Clement immediately became exasperated, and cried out that
Charles wished to enslave the peninsula, but that the time was come
for re-establishing the independence of Italy. This great idea of
Italian independence, entertained at that period by a few literary
men, had not, as now, penetrated the mass of the nation. Clement
therefore hastened to have recourse to political combinations. The
Pope, the Venetians, and the King of France, who had scarcely
recovered his liberty, formed a holy league, of which the King of
England was by a bull proclaimed the preserver and protector.[32] In
June 1526, the Emperor caused the most favourable propositions to
be presented to the Pope; but these advances were ineffectual, and
the Duke of Sessa, Charles's ambassador at Rome, returning on
horseback from his last audience, placed a court-fool behind him,
who, by a thousand monkey tricks, gave the Roman people to
understand how they laughed at the projects of the Pope. The latter
responded to these bravadoes by a brief, in which he threatened the
Emperor with excommunication, and without loss of time pushed his
troops into Lombardy, whilst Milan, Florence, and Piedmont declared
for the Holy League. Thus was Europe preparing to be avenged for
the triumph of Pavia.
Charles did not hesitate. He wheeled to the right as quickly as the
Pope had done to the left, and turned abruptly towards the
evangelical princes. "Let us suspend the Edict of Worms," wrote he
to his brother; "let us bring back Luther's partisans by mildness, and
by a good council cause the evangelical truth to triumph." At the
same time he demanded that the Elector, the Landgrave, and their
allies should march with him against the Turks—or against Italy, for
the common good of Christendom.
Ferdinand hesitated. To gain the friendship of the Lutherans was to
forfeit that of the other princes. The latter were already beginning to
utter violent threats.[33] The Protestants themselves were not very
eager to grasp the Emperor's hand. "It is God, God himself, who will
save his churches."[34]
What was to be done? The edict of Worms could neither be repealed
nor carried into execution.
This strange situation led of necessity to the
desired solution: religious liberty. The first idea of CRISIS OF THE
REFORMATION.
this occurred to the deputies of the cities. "In one
place," said they, "the ancient ceremonies have been preserved; in
another they have been abolished; and both think they are right. Let
us allow each one to do as he thinks fit, until a council shall re-
establish the desired unity by the Word of God." This idea gained
favour, and the recess of the diet, dated the 27th August, decreed
that a universal, or at least a national free council should be
convoked within a year, that they should request the Emperor to
return speedily to Germany, and that, until then, each state should
behave in its own territory in a manner so as to be able to render an
account to God and to the Emperor.[35]
Thus they escaped from their difficulty by a middle course; and this
time it was really the true one. Each one maintained his rights, while
recognising another's. The diet of 1526 forms an important epoch in
history: an ancient power, that of the middle ages, is shaken; a new
power, that of modern times, is advancing; religious liberty boldly
takes its stand in front of Romish despotism; a lay spirit prevails over
the sacerdotal spirit. In this single step there is a complete victory:
the cause of the Reform is won.
Yet it was little suspected. Luther, on the morrow of the day on
which the recess was published, wrote to a friend: "The diet is
sitting at Spire in the German fashion. They drink and gamble, and
there is nothing done except that."[36] "Le congrès danse et ne
marche pas,"[37] has been said in our days. It is because great
things are often transacted under an appearance of frivolity, and
because God accomplishes his designs unknown even to those
whom he employs as his instruments. In this diet a gravity and love
of liberty of conscience were manifested, which are the fruits of
Christianity, and which in the sixteenth century had its earliest, if not
its most energetic development among the German nations.
Yet Ferdinand still hesitated. Mahomet himself came to the aid of the
Gospel. Louis, king of Hungary and Bohemia, drowned at Mohacz on
the 29th August, 1526, as he was fleeing from before Soliman II.,
had bequeathed the crown of these two kingdoms to Ferdinand. But
the Duke of Bavaria, the Waywode of Transylvania, and, above all,
the terrible Soliman, contested it against him. This was sufficient to
occupy Charles's brother: he left Luther, and hastened to dispute the
two thrones.

II. The Emperor immediately reaped the fruits of

his new policy. No longer having his hands tied by ITALIAN WAR.
Germany, he turned them against Rome. The
Reformation had been exalted and the Papacy was to be abased.
The blows aimed at its pitiless enemy were about to open a new
career to the evangelical work.
Ferdinand, who was detained by his Hungarian affairs, gave the
charge of the Italian expedition to Freundsberg, that old general
who had patted Luther in a friendly manner on the shoulder as the
reformer was about to appear before the diet of Worms.[38] This
veteran, observed a contemporary,[39] who "bore in his chivalrous
heart God's holy Gospel, well fortified and flanked by a strong wall,"
pledged his wife's jewels, sent recruiting parties into all the towns of
Upper Germany, and owing to the magic idea of a war against the
Pope, soon witnessed crowds of soldiers flocking to his standard.
"Announce," Charles had said to his brother,—"announce that the
army is to march against the Turks; every one will know what Turks
are meant."
Thus the mighty Charles, instead of marching with the Pope against
the Reform, as he had threatened at Seville, marches with the
Reform against the Pope. A few days had sufficed to produce this
change of direction: there are few such in history in which the hand
of God is more plainly manifested. Charles immediately assumed all
the airs of a reformer. On the 17th September, he addressed a
manifesto to the Pope,[40] in which he reproaches him for behaving
not like the father of the faithful, but like an insolent and haughty
man;[41] and declares his astonishment that, being Christ's vicar, he
should dare to shed blood to acquire earthly possessions, "which,"
added he, "is quite contrary to the evangelical doctrine."[42] Luther
could not have spoken better. "Let your holiness," continued Charles
the Fifth, "return the sword of St. Peter into the scabbard, and
convoke a holy and universal council." But the sword was much
more to the pontiff's taste than the council. Is not the Papacy,
according to the Romish doctors, the source of the two powers? Can
it not depose kings, and consequently fight against them?[43]
Charles prepared to requite "eye for eye, and tooth for tooth."[44]
Now began that terrible campaign during which the
storm burst on Rome and on the Papacy that had ITALIAN
CAMPAIGN.
been destined to fall on Germany and the Gospel.
By the violence of the blows inflicted on the pontifical city, we may
judge of the severity of those that would have dashed in pieces the
reformed churches. While we retrace so many scenes of horror, we
have constant need of calling to mind that the chastisement of the
seven-hilled city had been predicted by the Divine Scriptures.[45]
In the month of November, Freundsberg, at the
head of fifteen thousand men, was at the foot of MARCH ON
ROME.
the Alps. The old general, avoiding the military
roads, that were well guarded by the enemy, flung himself into a
narrow path, over frightful precipices, that a few blows of the
mattock would have rendered impassable. The soldiers are forbidden
to look behind them; nevertheless their heads turn, their feet slip,
and horse and foot fall from time to time down the abyss. In the
most difficult passes, the most sure-footed of the infantry lower their
long pikes to the right and left of their aged chief, by way of barrier,
and Freundsberg advances, clinging to the lansquenet in front, and
pushed on by the one behind. In three days the Alps are crossed,
and on the 19th November the army reaches the territory of Brescia.
The Constable of Bourbon, who since the death of Pescara was
commander-in-chief of the imperial army, had just taken possession
of the duchy of Milan. The Emperor having promised him this
conquest for a recompense, Bourbon was compelled to remain there
some time to consolidate his power. At length, on the 12th February,
he and his Spanish troops joined the army of Freundsberg, which
was becoming impatient at his delays. The Constable had many
men, but no money: he resolved therefore to follow the advice of
the Duke of Ferrara, that inveterate enemy of the princes of the
Church, and proceed straight to Rome.[46] The whole army received
this news with a shout of joy. The Spaniards were filled with a desire
of avenging Charles the Fifth, and the Germans were overflowing
with hatred against the Pope: all exulted in the hope of receiving
their pay and of having their labours richly recompensed at last by
the treasures of Christendom that Rome had been accumulating for
ages. Their shouts re-echoed beyond the Alps. Every man in
Germany thought that the last hour of the Papacy had now come,
and prepared to contemplate its fall. "The Emperor's forces are
triumphing in Italy," wrote Luther; "the Pope is visited from every
quarter. His destruction draweth nigh; his hour and his end are
come."[47]
A few slight advantages gained by the papal
soldiers in the kingdom of Naples, led to the REVOLT OF THE
TROOPS.
conclusion of a truce that was to be ratified by the
Pope and by the Emperor. At this news a frightful tumult broke out in
the Constable's army. The Spanish troops revolted, compelled him to
flee, and pillaged his tent. Then approaching the lansquenets, they
began to shout as loudly as they could, the only German words they
knew: Lance! lance! money! money![48] These words found an echo
in the bosoms of the Imperialists; they were moved in their turn,
and also began to cry with all their might: Lance! lance! money!
money! Freundsberg beat to muster, and having drawn up the
soldiers around him and his principal officers, calmly demanded if he
had ever deserted them. All was useless. The old affection which the
lansquenets bore to their leader seemed extinct. One chord alone
vibrated in their hearts: they must have pay and war. Accordingly,
lowering their lances, they presented them, as if they would slay
their officers, and again began to shout, "Lance! lance! money!
money!"—Freundsberg, whom no army however large had ever
frightened! Freundsberg, who was accustomed to say, "the more
enemies, the greater the honour," seeing these lansquenets, at
whose head he had grown gray, aiming their murderous steel
against him, lost all power of utterance, and fell senseless upon a
drum, as if struck with a thunderbolt.[49] The strength of the veteran
general was broken for ever. But the sight of their dying captain
produced on the lansquenets an effect that no speech could have
made. All the lances were upraised, and the agitated soldiers retired
with downcast eyes. Four days later, Freundsberg recovered his
speech. "Forward," said he to the Constable; "God himself will bring
us to the mark." Forward! forward! repeated the lansquenets.
Bourbon had no other alternative: besides, neither Charles nor
Clement would listen to any propositions of peace. Freundsberg was
carried to Ferrara, and afterwards to his castle of Mindelheim, where
he died after an illness of eighteen months; and on the 18th April,
Bourbon took the highroad to Rome, which so many formidable
armies coming from the north had already trodden.
Whilst the storm descending from the Alps was
approaching the eternal city, the Pope lost his THE ASSAULT.
presence of mind, sent away his troops, and kept
only his body-guard. More than thirty thousand Romans, it is true,
capable of bearing arms, paraded their bravery in the streets,
dragging their long-swords after them, quarrelling and fighting; but
these citizens, eager in the pursuit of gain, had little thought of
defending the Pope, and desired on the contrary that the
magnificent Charles would come and settle in Rome, hoping to
derive great profit from his stay.
On the evening of the 5th May Bourbon arrived under the walls of
the capital; and he would have begun the assault at that very
moment if he had had ladders. On the morning of the 6th the army,
concealed by a thick fog which hid their movements,[50] was put in
motion, the Spaniards marching to their station above the gate of
the Holy Ghost, and the Germans below.[51] The Constable, wishing
to encourage his soldiers, seized a scaling-ladder, mounted the wall,
and called on them to follow him. At this moment a ball struck him:
he fell, and expired an hour after. Such was the end of this unhappy
man, a traitor to his king and to his country, and suspected even by
his new friends.
His death, far from checking, served only to excite the army.
Claudius Seidenstucker, grasping his long sword, first cleared the
wall; he was followed by Michael Hartmann, and these two reformed
Germans exclaimed that God himself marched before them in the
clouds. The gates were opened, the army poured in, the suburbs
were taken, and the Pope, surrounded by thirteen cardinals, fled to
the Castle of St. Angelo. The Imperialists, at whose head was now
the Prince of Orange, offered him peace on condition of his paying
three hundred thousand crowns. But Clement, who thought that the
Holy League was on the point of delivering him, and who fancied he
already saw their leading horsemen, rejected every proposition.
After four hours' repose, the attack was renewed, and by an hour
after sunset the army was master of all the city. It remained under
arms and in good order until midnight, the Spaniards in the Piazza
Navona, and the Germans in the Campofiore. At last, seeing no
demonstrations either of war or of peace, the soldiers disbanded and
ran to pillage.
Then began the famous "Sack of Rome." The
Papacy had for centuries put Christendom in the THE SACK.
press. Prebends, annates, jubilees, pilgrimages,
ecclesiastical graces,—she had made money of them all. These
greedy troops, that for months had lived in wretchedness,
determined to make her disgorge. No one was spared, the imperial
not more than the ultramontane party, the Ghibellines not more than
the Guelfs. Churches, palaces, convents, private houses, basilics,
banks, tombs—every thing was pillaged, even to the golden ring that
the corpse of Julius II. still wore on its finger. The Spaniards
displayed the greatest skill; they scented out and discovered
treasures in the most mysterious hiding-places; but the Neapolitans
were still more outrageous.[52] "On every side were heard," says
Guicciardini, "the piteous shrieks of the Roman women and of the
nuns whom the soldiers dragged away by companies to satiate their
lust."[53]
At first the Germans found a certain pleasure in
making the Papists feel the weight of their swords. GERMAN
HUMOURS.
But ere long, happy at finding food and drink, they
were more pacific than their allies. It was upon those things which
the Romans called "holy" that the anger of the Lutherans was
especially discharged. They took away the chalices, the pyxes, the
silver remonstrances, and clothed their servants and camp-boys with
the sacerdotal garments.[54] The Campofiore was changed into an
immense gambling-house. The soldiers brought thither golden
vessels and bags full of crowns, staked them upon one throw of the
dice, and after losing them, they went in search of others. A certain
Simon Baptista, who had foretold the sack of the city, had been
thrown into prison by the Pope; the Germans liberated him, and
made him drink with them. But, like Jeremiah, he prophesied against
all. "Rob, plunder," cried he to his liberators; "you shall however give
back all; the money of the soldiers and the gold of the priests will
follow the same road."
Nothing pleased the Germans more than to mock the papal court.
"Many prelates," says Guicciardini, "were paraded on asses through
all the city of Rome."[55] After this procession, the bishops paid their
ransom; but they fell into the hands of the Spaniards, who made
them pay it a second time.[56]
One day a lansquenet named Guillaume de Sainte Celle, put on the
Pope's robes, and placed the triple crown upon his head; others,
adorning themselves with the red hats and long robes of the
cardinals, surrounded him; and all going in procession upon asses
through the streets of the city, arrived at last before the castle of
Saint Angelo, where Clement VII. had retired. Here the soldier-
cardinals alighted, and lifting up the front of their robes, kissed the
feet of the pretended pontiff. The latter drank to the health of
Clement VII., the cardinals kneeling did the same, and exclaimed
that henceforward they would be pious popes and good cardinals,
who would have a care not to excite wars, as all their predecessors
had done. They then formed a conclave, and the Pope having
announced to his consistory that it was his intention to resign the
Papacy, all hands were immediately raised for the election, and they
cried out "Luther is Pope! Luther is Pope!"[57] Never had pontiff
been proclaimed with such perfect unanimity. Such were the
humours of the Germans.
The Spaniards did not let them off so easily.
Clement VII. had called them "Moors," and had VIOLENCE OF
THE SPANIARDS.
published a plenary, indulgence for whoever should
kill any of them. Nothing, therefore, could restrain their fury. These
faithful Catholics put the prelates to death in the midst of horrible
tortures, destined to extort their treasures from them: they spared
neither rank, sex, nor age. It was not until after the sack had lasted
ten days, and a booty of ten million golden crowns had been
collected, and from five to eight thousand victims had perished, that
quiet began to be in some degree restored.
Thus did the pontifical city expire in the midst of a long and cruel
pillage, and that splendour with which Rome from the beginning of
the sixteenth century had filled the world faded in a few hours.
Nothing could preserve this haughty city from chastisement, not
even the prayers of its enemies. "I would not have Rome burnt,"
Luther had exclaimed; "it would be a monstrous deed."[58] The fears
of Melancthon were still keener: "I tremble for the libraries," said he,
"we know how hateful books are to Mars."[59] But in despite of
these wishes of the reformers, the city of Leo X. fell under the
judgment of God.
Clement VII., besieged in the castle of Saint Angelo, and fearful that
the enemy would blow his asylum into the air with their mines, at
last capitulated. He renounced every alliance against Charles the
Fifth, and bound himself to remain a prisoner until he had paid the
army four hundred thousand ducats. The evangelical Christians
gazed with astonishment on this judgment of the Lord. "Such," said
they, "is the empire of Jesus Christ, that the Emperor, pursuing
Luther on account of the Pope, is constrained to ruin the Pope
instead of Luther. All things minister unto the Lord, and turn against
his adversaries."[60]

III. And in truth the Reform needed some years of

repose that it might increase and gain strength; PROFITABLE
CALM.
and it could not enjoy peace, unless its great
enemies were at war with each other. The madness of Clement VII.
was as it were the lightning-conductor of the Reformation, and the
ruin of Rome built up the Gospel. It was not only a few months'
gain; from 1526 to 1529 there was a calm in Germany by which the
Reformation profited to organize and extend itself. A constitution
was now to be given to the renovated Church.
The papal yoke having been broken, the ecclesiastical order required
to be reestablished. It was impossible to restore their ancient
jurisdiction to the bishops; for these continental prelates maintained
that they were, in an especial manner, the Pope's servants. A new
state of things was therefore called for, under pain of seeing the
Church fall into anarchy. Provision was made for it. It was then that
the evangelic nations separated definitely from that despotic
dominion which had for ages kept all the West in bondage.
Already on two occasions the diet had wished to make the reform of
the Church a national work; the Emperor, the Pope, and a few
princes were opposed to it; the Diet of Spire had therefore resigned
to each state the task that it could not accomplish itself.
But what constitution were they about to substitute for the papal
hierarchy?
They could, while suppressing the Pope, preserve the Episcopal
order: it was the form most approximate to that which was on the
point of being destroyed.
They might, on the contrary, reconstruct the ecclesiastical order, by
having recourse to the sovereignty of God's Word, and by re-
establishing the rights of the christian people. This form was the
most remote from the Roman hierarchy. Between these two
extremes there were several middle courses.
The latter plan was Zwingle's; but the reformer of
Zurich had not fully carried it out. He had not PHILIP OF HESSE.
called upon the christian people to exercise the
sovereignty, and had stopped at the council of two hundred as
representing the Church.[61]
The step before which Zwingle had hesitated might be taken, and it
was so. A prince did not shrink from what had alarmed even
republics. Evangelical Germany, at the moment in which she began
to try her hand on ecclesiastical constitutions, began with that which
trenched the deepest on the papal monarchy.
It was not, however, from Germany that such a system could
proceed. If the aristocratic England was destined to cling to the
episcopal form, the docile Germany was destined the rather to stop
in a governmental medium. The democratic extreme issued from
Switzerland and France. One of Calvin's predecessors then hoisted
that flag which the powerful arm of the Genevese Reformer was to
lift again in after-years and plant in France, Switzerland, Holland,
Scotland, and even in England, whence it was a century later to
cross the Atlantic and summon North America to take its rank among
the nations.
None of the evangelical princes was so enterprising as Philip of
Hesse, who has been compared to Philip of Macedon in subtlety, and
to his son Alexander in courage. Philip comprehended that religion
was at length acquiring its due importance; and far from opposing
the great development that was agitating the people, he put himself
in harmony with the new ideas.
The morning-star had risen for Hesse almost at the same time as for
Saxony. In 1517, when Luther was preaching in Wittemberg the
gratuitous remission of sins, men and women were seen in Marburg
repairing secretly to one of the ditches of the city, and there, near a
solitary loophole, listening to the words that issued from within, and
that preached doctrines of consolation through the bars. It was the
voice of the Franciscan, James Limburg, who having declared that,
for fifteen centuries, the priests had falsified the Gospel of Christ,
had been thrown into this gloomy dungeon. These mysterious
assemblies lasted a fortnight. On a sudden the voice ceased; these
lonely meetings had been discovered, and the Franciscan, torn from
his cell, had been hurried away across the Lahnberg towards some
unknown spot. Not far from the Ziegenberg, some weeping citizens
of Marburg came up with him, and hastily snatching aside the
canvass that covered his car, they asked him, "Whither are you
going?" "Where God wills," calmly replied the friar.[62] There was no
more talk of him, and it is not known what became of him. These
disappearances are usual in the Papacy.
Scarcely had Philip prevailed in the Diet of Spire, when he resolved
on devoting himself to the Reformation of his hereditary states.
His resolute character made him incline towards
the Swiss reform: it was not therefore one of the Lambert's
Paradoxes.
moderates that he required. He had formed a
connexion at Spire with James Sturm, the deputy from Strasburg,
who spoke to him of Francis Lambert of Avignon, who was then at
Strasburg. Of a pleasing exterior and decided character, Lambert
added to the fire of the South the perseverance of the North. He
was the first in France to throw off the cowl, and he had never since
then ceased to call for a radical reform in the Church. "Formerly,"
said he, "when I was a hypocrite, I lived in abundance; now I
consume frugally my daily bread with my small family;[63] but I had
rather be poor in Christ's kingdom, than possess abundance of gold
in the dissolute dwellings of the Pope." The Landgrave saw that
Lambert was such a man as he required, and invited him to his
court.
Lambert, desiring to prepare the reform of Hesse, drew up one
hundred and fifty-eight theses, which he entitled "paradoxes," and
posted them, according to the custom of the times, on the church
doors.
Friends and enemies immediately crowded round them. Some
Roman catholics would have torn them down, but the reformed
townspeople kept watch, and holding a synod in the public square,
discussed, developed, proved these propositions, and ridiculed the
anger of the Papists.
A young priest, Boniface Dornemann, full of self-
conceit, whom the bishop, on the day of his FRIAR BONIFACE.
consecration, had extolled above Paul for his
learning, and above the Virgin for his chastity, finding himself too
short to reach Lambert's placard, had borrowed a stool, and
surrounded by a numerous audience, had begun to read the
propositions aloud.[64]
"All that is deformed, ought to be reformed. The Word of God alone
teaches us what ought to be so, and all reform that is effected
otherwise is vain."[65]
This was the first thesis. "Hem!" said the young priest, "I shall not
attack that." He continued.
"It belongs to the Church to judge on matters of faith. Now the
Church is the congregation of those who are united by the same
spirit, the same faith, the same God, the same Mediator, the same
Word, by which alone they are governed, and in which alone they
have life."[66]

"I cannot attack that proposition," said the priest.[67] He continued

reading from his stool.
"The Word is the true key. The kingdom of heaven is open to him
who believes the Word, and shut against him who believes it not.
Whoever, therefore, truly possesses the Word of God, has the power
of the keys. All other keys, all the decrees of the councils and popes,
and all the rules of the monks, are valueless."
Friar Boniface shook his head and continued.
"Since the priesthood of the Law has been
abolished, Christ is the only immortal and eternal DISPUTATION AT
HOMBURG.
priest, and he does not, like men, need a
successor. Neither the Bishop of Rome nor any other person in the
world is his representative here below. But all Christians, since the
commencement of the Church, have been and are participators in
his priesthood."
This proposition smelt of heresy. Dornemann, however, was not
discouraged; and whether it was from weakness of mind, or from
the dawning of light, at each proposition that did not too much
shock his prejudices, he failed not to repeat: "Certainly, I shall not
attack that one!" The people listened in astonishment, when one of
them,—whether he was a fanatical Romanist, a fanatical Reformer,
or a mischievous wag, I cannot tell—tired of these continual
repetitions, exclaimed: "Get down, you knave, who cannot find a
word to impugn." Then rudely pulling the stool from under him, he
threw the unfortunate clerk flat in the mud.[68]
On the 21st October, at seven in the morning, the gates of the
principal church of Homburg were thrown open, and the prelates,
abbots, priests, counts, knights, and deputies of the towns, entered
in succession, and in the midst of them was Philip, in his quality of
first member of the Church.
After Lambert had explained and proved his theses, he added: "Let
him stand forth who has anything to say against them." There was
at first a profound silence; but at length Nicholas Ferber, superior of
the Franciscans of Marburg, who in 1524, applying to Rome's
favourite argument, had entreated the Landgrave to employ the
sword against the heretics, began to speak with drooping head, and
downcast eyes; but as he invoked Augustin, Peter Lombard, and
other doctors to his assistance, the Landgrave observed to him: "Do
not put forward the wavering opinions of men, but the Word of God,
which alone fortifies and strengthens our hearts." The Franciscan sat
down in confusion, saying: "This is not the place for replying." The
disputation, however, recommenced, and Lambert, showing all the
fire of the South, so astonished his adversary, that the superior,
alarmed at what he called "thunders of blasphemy and lightnings of
impiety,"[69] sat down again, observing a second time, "This is not
the place for replying."
In vain did the Chancellor Feige declare to him that
each man had the right of maintaining his opinion TRIUMPH OF THE
GOSPEL IN
with full liberty; in vain did the Landgrave himself HESSE.
exclaim that the Church was sighing after truth:
silence had become Rome's refuge. "I will defend the doctrine of
purgatory," a priest had said prior to the discussion; "I will attack the
paradoxes under the sixth head (on the true priesthood)," had said
another;[70] and a third had exclaimed, "I will overthrow those
under the tenth head (on images);" but now they were all dumb.
Upon this Lambert, clasping his hands, exclaimed with Zacharias:
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed
his people.
After three days of discussion, which had been a continual triumph
for the evangelical doctrine, men were selected and commissioned
to constitute the churches of Hesse in accordance with the Word of
God. They were more than three days occupied in the task, and then
their new constitution was published in the name of the synod.
The first ecclesiastical constitution produced by the Reformation
should have a place in history, so much the more as it was then set
forward as a model for the new Churches of Christendom.[71]
The autonomy or self-government of the Church is
its fundamental principle: it is from the Church, CONSTITUTION
OF THE CHURCH.
from its representatives assembled in the name of
the Lord, that this legislation emanates; there is no mention in the
prologue either of state or of Landgrave.[72] Philip, content with
having broken for himself and for his people the yoke of a foreign
priest, had no desire to put himself in his place, and was satisfied
with an external superintendence, necessary for the maintenance of
order.
A second distinctive feature in this constitution is its simplicity both
of government and worship. The assembly conjures all future synods
not to load the Churches with a multitude of ordinances, "seeing
that where orders abound, disorder superabounds." They would not
even continue the organs in the churches, because, said they, "men
should understand what they hear."[73] The more the human mind
has been bent in one direction, the more violent is the reaction in
the contrary direction when it is unbent. The Church passed at that
time from the extreme of symbols to that of simplicity. These are the
principal features of this constitution:—
"The Church can only be taught and governed by the Word of its
Sovereign Pastor. Whoever has recourse to any other word shall be
deposed and excommunicated.[74]
"Every pious man, learned in the Word of God, whatever be his
condition, may be elected bishop if he desire it, for he is called
inwardly of God.[75]
"Let no one believe that by a bishop we understand anything else
than a simple minister of the Word of God.[76]
"The ministers are servants, and consequently they ought not to be
lords, princes, or governors.
"Let the faithful assemble and choose their bishops
and deacons. Each church should elect its own CONSTITUTION
OF THE CHURCH
pastor.[77] —BISHOPS.

"Let those who are elected bishops be consecrated to their office by

the imposition of the hands of three bishops; and as for the
deacons, if there are no ministers present, let them receive the
laying on of hands from the elders of the Church.[78]
"If a bishop causes any scandal to the Church by his effeminacy, or
by the splendour of his garments, or by the levity of his conduct,
and if, on being warned, he persists, let him be deposed by the
Church.[79]
"Let each church place its bishop in a condition to live with his
family, and to be hospitable, as St. Paul enjoins; but let the bishops
exact nothing for their casual duties.[80]
"On every Sunday let there be in some suitable place an assembly of
all the men who are in the number of the saints, to regulate with the
bishop, according to God's Word, all the affairs of the Church, and to
excommunicate whoever gives occasion of scandal to the Church;
for the Church of Christ has never existed without exercising the
power of excommunication.[81]
"As a weekly assembly is necessary for the direction of the particular
churches, so a general synod should be held annually for the
direction of all the churches in the country.[82]
"All the pastors are its natural members; but each
church shall further elect from its body a man full TWO ELEMENTS
of the Spirit and of faith, to whom it shall intrust IN THE CHURCH.
powers for all that is in the jurisdiction of the
synod.[83]
"Three visiters shall be elected yearly, with commission to go
through all the churches, to examine those who have been elected
bishops, to confirm those who have been approved of, and to
provide for the execution of the decrees of the synod."
It will no doubt be found that this first evangelical constitution went
in some points to the extreme of ecclesiastical democracy; but
certain institutions had crept in that were capable of increase and of
changing its nature. Six superintendents for life were afterwards
substituted for these annual visiters (who, according to the primitive
institution, might be simple members of the church); and, as has
been remarked,[84] the encroachments, whether of these
superintendents or of the state, gradually paralyzed the activity and
independence of the churches of Hesse. This constitution fared as
did that of the Abbé Sièyes, in the year 8, which, being destined to
be republican, served through the influence of Napoleon Bonaparte
to establish the despotism of the Empire.
It was not the less a remarkable work. Romish doctors have
reproached the Reformation for making the Church a too interior
institution.[85] In effect, the Reformation and Popery recognise two
elements in the Church,—the one exterior, the other interior; but
while Popery gives precedence to the former, the Reformation
assigns it to the latter. If however it be a reproach against the
Reformation for having an inward Church only, and for not creating
an external one, the remarkable constitution of which we have just
exhibited a few features, will save us the trouble of reply. The
exterior ecclesiastical order, which then sprung from the very heart
of the Reformation, is far more perfect than that of Popery.
One great question presented itself: Will these
principles be adopted by all the Churches of the LUTHER ON THE
MINISTRY.
Reformation?
Everything seemed to indicate as much. The most pious men
thought at that time that the ecclesiastical power proceeded from
the members of the Church. By withdrawing from the hierarchical
extreme, they flung themselves into a democratical one. Luther
himself had professed this doctrine as early as 1523. The Calixtins of
Bohemia, on seeing the bishops of their country refuse them
ministers, had gone so far as to take the first vagabond priest. "If
you have no other means of procuring pastors," wrote Luther to
them, "rather do without them, and let each head of a family read
the Gospel in his own house, and baptise his children, sighing after
the sacrament of the altar as the Jews at Babylon did for Jerusalem.
[86] The consecration of the Pope creates priests—not of God, but of
the devil, ordained solely to trample Jesus Christ under foot, to bring
his sacrifice to naught, and to sell imaginary holocausts to the world
in his name.[87] Men become ministers only by election and calling,
and that ought to be effected in the following manner:—

"First, seek God by prayer;[88] then being assembled together with

all those whose hearts God has touched, choose in the Lord's name
him or them whom you shall have acknowledged to be fitted for this
ministry. After that, let the chief men among you lay their hands on
them, and recommend them to the people and to the Church."[89]
Luther, in thus calling upon the people alone to
nominate their pastors, submitted to the ORGANIZATION
OF THE CHURCH.
necessities of the times. It was requisite to
constitute the ministry; but the ministry having no existence, it could
not then have the legitimate part that belongs to it in the choice of
God's ministers.
But another necessity, proceeding in like manner from the state of
affairs, was to incline Luther to deviate from the principles he had
laid down.
The German Reformation can hardly be said to have begun with the
lower classes, as in Switzerland and France; and Luther could
scarcely find anywhere that christian people, which should have
played so great a part in his new constitution. Ignorant men,
conceited townspeople, who would not even maintain their ministers
—these were the members of the Church. Now what could be done
with such elements?
But if the people were indifferent, the princes were not so. They
stood in the foremost rank of the battle, and sat on the first bench in
the council. The democratic organization was therefore compelled to
give way to an organization conformable to the civil government.
The Church is composed of Christians, and they are taken wherever
they are found—high or low. It was particularly in high stations that
Luther found them. He admitted the princes as representatives of
the people; and henceforward the influence of the state became one
of the principal elements in the constitution of the evangelical
Church.
In the mind of the Reformer, this guardianship of the princes was
only to be provisional. The faithful being then in minority, they had
need of a guardian; but the era of the Church's majority might
arrive, and with it would come its emancipation.
We may admit that this recourse to the civil power
was at that time necessary, but we cannot deny LUTHER'S LETTER
TO THE ELECTOR.
that it was also a source of difficulties. We will
point out only one. When Protestantism became an affair of
governments and nations, it ceased to be universal. The new spirit
was capable of creating a new earth. But instead of opening new
roads, and of purposing the regeneration of all Christendom, and the
conversion of the whole world, the Protestants sought to settle
themselves as comfortably as possible in a few German duchies. This
timidity, which has been called prudence, did immense injury to the
Reformation.
The organizing power being once discovered, the Reformers thought
of organization, and Luther applied to the task; for although he was
in an especial manner an assailant and Calvin an organizer, these
two qualities, as necessary to the reformers of the Church as to the
founders of empires, were not wanting in either of these great
servants of God.
It was necessary to compose a new ministry, for most of the priests
who had quitted the Papacy were content to receive the watchword
of Reform without having personally experienced the sanctifying
virtue of the Truth. There was even one parish in which the priest
preached the Gospel in his principal church, and sang mass in its
succursal.[90] But something more was wanting: a Christian people
had to be created. "Alas!" said Luther of some of the adherents of
the Reform, "they have abandoned their Romish doctrines and rites,
and they scoff at ours."[91]
Luther did not shrink from before this double
necessity; and he made provision for it. GERMAN MASS.
Understanding that a general visitation of the
churches was necessary, he addressed the Elector on this subject,
on the 22d October 1526. "Your highness, in your quality of guardian
of youth, and of all those who know not how to take care of
themselves," said he, "should compel the inhabitants, who desire
neither pastors nor schools, to receive these means of grace, as they
are compelled to work on the roads, on bridges, and such like
services.[92] The papal order being abolished, it is your duty to
regulate these things; no other person cares about them, no other
can, and no other ought to do so. Commission, therefore, four
persons to visit all the country; let two of them inquire into the tithes
and church property; and let two take charge of the doctrine,
schools, churches, and pastors." We naturally ask, on reading these
words, if the church which was formed in the first century, without
the support of princes, could not in the sixteenth be reformed
without them?
Luther was not content with soliciting in writing the intervention of
the prince. He was indignant at seeing the courtiers, who in the time
of the Elector Frederick had shown themselves the inveterate
enemies of the Reformation, rushing now, "sporting, laughing,
skipping," as he said, on the spoils of the Church. Accordingly, at the
end of this year, the Elector having come to Wittemberg, the
Reformer repaired immediately to the palace, made his complaint to
the prince-electoral, whom he met at the gate, then without caring
about those who stopped him, made his way by force into his
father's bedchamber, and addressing this prince, who was surprised
at so unexpected a visit, begged him to remedy the evils of the
Church. The visitation of the churches was resolved upon, and
Melancthon was commissioned to draw up the necessary
instructions.
In 1526, Luther had published his "German Mass," by which he
signified the order of church service in general. "The real evangelical
assemblies," he said, "do not take place publicly, pellmell, admitting
people of every sort;[93] but they are formed of serious Christians,
who confess the Gospel by their words and by their lives,[94] and in
the midst of whom we may reprove and excommunicate, according
to the rule of Christ Jesus.[95] I cannot institute such assemblies, for
I have no one to place in them;[96] but if the thing becomes
possible, I shall not be wanting in this duty."
It was also with a conviction that he must give the
Church, not the best form of worship imaginable, MELANCTHON'S
INSTRUCTIONS.
but the best possible, that Melancthon laboured at
his Instructions.
The German Reformation at that time tacked about, as it were. If
Lambert in Hesse had gone to the extreme of a democratical
system, Melancthon in Saxony was approximating the contrary
extreme of traditional principles. A conservative principle was
substituted for a reforming one. Melancthon wrote to one of the
inspectors:[97] "All the old ceremonies that you can preserve, pray
do so.[98] Do not innovate much, for every innovation is injurious to
the people."[99]
They retained, therefore, the Latin liturgy, a few German hymns
being mingled with it;[100] the communion in one kind for those only
who scrupled from habit to take it in both; a confession made to the
priest without being in any way obligatory; many saints' days, the
sacred vestments,[101] and other rites, "in which," said Melancthon,
"there is no harm, whatever Zwingle may say."[102] And at the same
time they set forth with reserve the doctrines of the Reformation.
It is but right to confess the dominion of facts and circumstances
upon these ecclesiastical organizations; but there is a dominion
which rises higher still—that of the Word of God.
Perhaps what Melancthon did was all that could be effected at that
time: but it was necessary for the work to be one day resumed and
re-established on its primitive plan, and this was Calvin's glory.
A cry of astonishment was heard both from the
camp of Rome and from that of the Reformation. DISAFFECTION.
"Our cause is betrayed," exclaimed some of the
evangelical Christians: "the liberty is taken away that Jesus Christ
had given us."[103]
On their part the Ultramontanists triumphed in Melancthon's
moderation: they called it a retractation, and took advantage of it to
insult the Reform. Cochlœus published a "horrible" engraving, as he
styles it himself, in which, from beneath the same hood was seen
issuing a seven-headed monster representing Luther. Each of these
heads had different features, and all, uttering together the most
frightful and contradictory words, kept disputing, tearing, and
devouring each other.[104]
The astonished Elector resolved to communicate Melancthon's paper
to Luther. But never did the Reformer's respect for his friend show
itself in a more striking manner. He only made one or two
unimportant additions to this plan, and sent it back accompanied
with the highest eulogiums. The Romanists said that the tiger caught
in a net was licking the hands that clipped his talons. But it was not
so. Luther knew that the aim of Melancthon's labours was to
strengthen the very soul of the Reformation in all the churches of
Saxony. That was sufficient for him. He thought besides, that in
every thing there must be a transition; and being justly convinced
that his friend was more than himself a man of transition, he frankly
accepted his views.
The general visitation began. Luther in Saxony, Spalatin in the
districts of Altenburg and Zwickau, Melancthon in Thuringia, and
Thuring in Franconia, with ecclesiastical deputies and several lay
colleagues, commenced the work in October and November 1528.
They purified the clergy by dismissing every priest
of scandalous life;[105] they assigned a portion of IMPORTANT
RESULTS.
the church property to the maintenance of public
worship, and they placed the remainder beyond the reach of
plunder; they continued the suppression of the convents; they
established everywhere unity of instruction; and "Luther's greater
and smaller catechisms," which appeared in 1529, contributed more
perhaps than any other writings to propagate throughout the new
churches the ancient faith of the Apostles; they commissioned the
pastors of the great towns, under the title of superintendents, to
watch over the churches and the schools; they maintained the
abolition of celibacy; and the ministers of the Word, become
husbands and fathers, formed the germ of a third estate, whence in
after-years were diffused in all ranks of society learning, activity, and
light. This is one of the truest causes of the intellectual and moral
superiority that indisputably distinguishes the evangelical nations.
The organization of the churches in Saxony, notwithstanding its
imperfections, produced for that time at least the most important
results. This was because the Word of God prevailed; and because,
wherever this Word exercises its power, secondary errors and abuses
are paralyzed. The very discretion that was employed proceeded in
reality from a good principle. The reformers, unlike the enthusiasts,
did not utterly reject an institution because it was corrupted. They
did not say, for example: "The sacraments are disfigured, let us do
without them! the ministry is corrupt, let us reject it!"—but they
rejected the abuse, and restored the use. This prudence is the mark
of a work of God; and if Luther sometimes permitted the chaff to
remain along with the wheat, Calvin appeared later, and more
thoroughly purged the Christian threshing-floor.
The organization which was at that time
accomplishing in Saxony, exerted a strong reaction THE
REFORMATION
on all the German empire, and the doctrine of the ADVANCES.
Gospel advanced with gigantic strides. The design
of God in turning aside from the reformed states of Germany, the
thunderbolt that he caused to fall upon the seven-hilled city, was
clearly manifest. Never were years more usefully employed; and it
was not only to framing a constitution that the Reformation devoted
itself, it was also to extend its doctrine.
The duchies of Luneburg and Brunswick, many of the most
important imperial cities, as Nuremberg, Augsburg, Ulm, Strasburg,
Gottingen, Gosslar, Nordhausen, Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg,
removed the tapers from the chapels, and substituted in their place
the brighter torch of the Word of God.
In vain did the frightened canons allege the authority of the Church.
"The authority of the Church," replied Kempe and Zechenhagen, the
reformer of Hamburg, "cannot be acknowledged unless the Church
herself obeys her pastor Jesus Christ."[106] Pomeranus visited many
places to put a finishing hand to the Reform.
In Franconia, the Margrave George of Brandenburg, having reformed
Anspach and Bayreuth, wrote to his ancient protector, Ferdinand of
Austria, who had knit his brows on hearing of his reforming
proceedings: "I have done this by God's order; for he commands
princes to take care not only of the bodies of their subjects, but also
of their souls."[107]
In East Friesland, on new-year's day, 1527, a Dominican named
Resius, having put on his hood,[108] ascended the pulpit at Noorden,
and declared himself ready to maintain certain theses according to
the tenor of the Gospel. Having silenced the Abbot of Noorden by
the soundness of his arguments, Resius took off his cowl, laid it on
the pulpit, and was received in the nave by the acclamations of the
faithful. Ere long the whole of Friesland laid aside the uniform of
Popery, as Resius had done.
At Berlin, Elizabeth, electress of Brandenburg,
having read Luther's works, felt a desire to receive A PIOUS
PRINCESS.
the Lord's supper in conformity with Christ's
institution: a minister secretly administered it at the festival of
Easter, 1528; but one of her children informed the Elector. Joachim
was greatly exasperated, and ordered his wife to keep her room for
several days;[109] it was even said that he intended to shut her up.
[110] This princess, being deprived of all religious support, and
mistrusting the perfidious manœuvres of the Romish priests,
resolved to escape by flight; and she claimed the assistance of her
brother, Christian II. of Denmark, who was then residing at Torgau.
Taking advantage of a dark night, she quitted the castle in a
peasant's dress, and got into a rude country-waggon that was
waiting for her at the gate of the city. Elizabeth urged on the driver,
when, in a bad road, the wain broke down. The electress, hastily
unfastening a handkerchief she wore round her head, flung it to the
man, who employed it in repairing the damage, and ere long
Elizabeth arrived at Torgau. "If I should expose you to any risk," said
she to her uncle, the Elector of Saxony, "I am ready to go wherever
Providence may guide me." But John assigned her a residence in the
castle of Lichtenberg, on the Elbe, near Wittemberg. Without taking
upon us to approve of Elizabeth's flight, let us acknowledge the good
that God's Providence drew from it. This amiable lady, who lived at
Lichtenberg, in the study of His word, seldom appearing at court,
frequently going to hear Luther's sermons, and exercising a salutary
influence over her children, who sometimes had permission to see
her, was the first of those pious princesses whom the house of
Brandenburg has counted, and even still counts, among its
members.
At the same time, Holstein, Sleswick, and Silesia decided in favour of
the Reformation: and Hungary, as well as Bohemia, saw the number
of its adherents increase.
In every place, instead of a hierarchy seeking its
righteousness in the works of man, its glory in EDICT OF OFEN.
external pomp, its strength in a material power, the
Church of the Apostles reappeared, humble as in primitive times,
and like the ancient Christians, looking for its righteousness, its
glory, and its power solely in the blood of Christ and in the Word of
God.[111]

IV. All these triumphs of the Gospel could not pass unperceived;
there was a powerful reaction, and until political circumstances
should permit a grand attack upon the Reformation on the very soil
where it was established, and of persecuting it by means of diets,
and if necessary by armies, they began to persecute in detail in the
Romish countries with tortures and the scaffold.
On the 20th August, 1527, King Ferdinand, by the Edict of Ofen in
Hungary, published a tariff of crimes and penalties, in which he
threatened death by the sword, by fire, or by water,[112] against
whoever should say that Mary was a woman like other women; or
partake of the sacrament in an heretical manner; or consecrate the
bread and wine, not being a Romish priest; and further, in the
second case, the house in which the sacrament should have been
administered was to be confiscated or rased to the ground.
Such was not the legislation of Luther. Link having asked him if it
were lawful for the magistrate to put the false prophets to death,
meaning the Sacramentarians, whose doctrines Luther attacked with
so much force,[113] the Reformer replied: "I am slow whenever life is
concerned, even if the offender is exceedingly guilty.[114] I can by
no means admit that the false teachers should be put to death;[115]
it is sufficient to remove them." For ages the Romish Church has
bathed in blood. Luther was the first to profess the great principles
of humanity and religious liberty.
They sometimes had recourse to more expeditious
proceedings than the scaffold itself. George PERSECUTIONS—
WINKLER AND
Winkler, pastor of Halle, having been summoned CARPENTER.
before Archbishop Albert in the spring of 1527, for
having administered the sacrament in both kinds, had been
acquitted. As this minister was returning home along an
unfrequented road in the midst of the woods, he was suddenly
attacked by a number of horsemen, who murdered him, and
immediately fled through the thickets without taking anything from
his person.[116] "The world," exclaimed Luther, "is a cavern of
assassins under the command of the devil; an inn, whose landlord is
a brigand, and which bears this sign, Lies and Murder; and none are
more readily murdered therein than those who proclaim Jesus
Christ."
At Munich George Carpenter was led to the scaffold for having
denied that the baptism of water is able by its own virtue to save a
man. "When you are thrown into the fire," said some of his brethren,
"give us a sign by which we may know that you persevere in the
faith."—"As long as I can open my mouth, I will confess the name of
the Lord Jesus."[117] The executioner stretched him on a ladder, tied
a small bag of gunpowder round his neck, and then flung him into
the flames. Carpenter immediately cried out, "Jesus! Jesus!" and the
executioner having turned him again and again with his hooks, the
martyr several times repeated the word Jesus, and expired.
At Landsberg nine persons were consigned to the
flames, and at Munich twenty-nine were thrown PERSECUTIONS—
KEYSER.
into the water. At Scherding, Leonard Keyser, a
friend and disciple of Luther, having been condemned by the bishop,
had his head shaved, and being dressed in a smock-frock, was
placed on horseback. As the executioners were cursing and
swearing, because they could not disentangle the ropes with which
he was to be bound, he said to them mildly: "Dear friends, your
bonds are not necessary; my Lord Christ has already bound me."
When he drew near the stake, Keyser looked at the crowd and
exclaimed: "Behold the harvest! O Master, send forth thy labourers!"
He then ascended the scaffold and said: "O Jesu, save me! I am
thine." These were his last words.[118] "Who am I, a wordy
preacher," exclaimed Luther, when he received the news of his
death, "in comparison with this great doer?"[119]
Thus, the Reformation manifested by such striking works the truth
that it had come to re-establish; namely, that faith is not, as Rome
maintains, an historical, vain, dead knowledge,[120] but a lively faith,
the work of the Holy Ghost, the channel by which Christ fills the
heart with new desires and with new affections, the true worship of
the living God.
These martyrdoms filled Germany with horror, and gloomy
forebodings descended from the thrones among the ranks of the
people. Around the domestic hearth, in the long winter evenings, the
conversation wholly turned on prisons, tortures, scaffolds, and
martyrs; and the slightest noise alarmed the old men, women, and
children. These narratives gained strength from mouth to mouth;
the rumour of a universal conspiracy against the Gospel spread
through all the Empire. Its adversaries, taking advantage of this
terror, announced with a mysterious air that they must look during
this year (1528) for some decisive measure against the Reform.[121]
One scoundrel resolved to profit by this state of mind to satisfy his
avarice.
No blows are more terrible to a cause than those
which it inflicts upon itself. The Reformation, seized PACK'S FORGERY.
with a dizziness, was on the verge of self-
destruction. There is a spirit of error that conspires against the cause
of truth, beguiling by subtlety;[122] the Reformation was about to
experience its attacks, and to stagger under the most formidable
assault,—perturbation of thought, and estrangement from the ways
of wisdom and of truth.
Otho of Pack, vice-chancellor to Duke George of Saxony, was a crafty
and dissipated man,[123] who took advantage of his office, and had
recourse to all sorts of practices to procure money. The Duke having
on one occasion sent him to the Diet of Nuremberg as his
representative, the Bishop of Merseburg confided to him his
contribution towards the imperial government. The Bishop having
been afterwards called upon for this money, Pack declared that he
had paid it to a citizen of Nuremberg, whose seal and signature he
produced. This paper was a forgery; Pack himself was the author of
it.[124] This wretch, however, put an impudent face on the matter,
and as he was not convicted, he preserved the confidence of his
master. Erelong an opportunity presented itself of exercising his
criminal talent on a larger scale.
No one entertained greater suspicions with regard to the Papists
than the Landgrave of Hesse. Young, susceptible, and restless, he
was always on the alert. In the month of February 1528, Pack
happening to be at Cassel to assist Philip in some difficult business,
the Landgrave imparted to him his fears. If any one could have had
any knowledge of the designs of the Papists, it must have been the
vice-chancellor, one of the greatest enemies to the Reform. The
crafty Pack heaved a sigh, bent down his eyes, and was silent. Philip
immediately became uneasy, entreated him, and promised to do
nothing that would injure the Duke. Then, Pack as if he had allowed
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