XV.

CHAP. in which he seems to have suggested to Luther some of the leading points on which he ought more particularly to insist, we find the same A. Pont. VI. sentiment repeated. (a) It is also occasionally

A. D. 1518.
A. Et. 43.

referred to in the letters of Erasmus, in such a
manner as to show that this part of the con-
duct of Luther had contributed in a great de-
gree to secure the favour and concurrence of
that eminent scholar. "The papal bulls may
"have more weight," says he, "but a book
"filled with good arguments, derived from
"the sacred writings, and which pretends to
"teach only and not to compel, will always
"be preferred by men of real learning; for a
"well-informed mind is easily led by reason,
"but does not readily submit to authority."(b)
This conduct on the part of Luther, at the
same time that it confirmed the attachment of
his friends, depressed and injured the cause of
his opponents; who, by declining the chal-
lenge, gave rise to suspicions that they were
unable

""

(a) Ipse videtur omnibus æquis æquum petere, cum "offerat se disputationi publicæ, et submittat se judicibus "non suspectis." Erasm. Axiom. in Luth. op. vol. ii. p.

314.

(b) Erasm. Ep. Francisco Craneveldio, lib. xv. Ep. 5. p. 690.

XV.

A. Et. 43. A. Pont. VI.

unable to defend by reason those doctrines CHAP. which they wished to enforce by violence and by threats. Plausible however as this conduct A. D. 1518. may appear on the part of Luther, it must be confessed that its success was much beyond what might reasonably have been expected from it; and that it was in fact, little more than a veil thrown over the eyes both of his enemies and his friends. Both parties might, without any extraordinary sagacity, have perceived that between an entire obedience to the decrees of the Romish church and a direct opposition to them, there is no medium. To doubt the supreme authority of the holy see in matters of faith, to call upon her to defend her doctrines by arguments, to question the rectitude of those opinions which have been silently and respectfully assented to for ages, to assert those of a contrary tenor, to enforce them not only by reason and scripture, but by sarcasm and abuse, and finally to impeach the authority of the church itself by requiring the dispute to be heard by impartial judges, is to throw off all obedience and to appear in open rebellion. Could the supreme pontiff lay aside his infallibility, and, surrounded by the venerable college of cardinals, enter into a dispute with a German monk on questions which involved both the spiritual and temporal authority

XV.

CHAP. thority of the holy see? Could the successor of St. Peter betray the interests of his high office, and consent to submit the decision of points of faith to any inferior tribunal? Was it to be tolerated, that an obscure individual should be allowed to range at large through the holy scriptures, the decisions of councils, and the decretals and bulls of two hundred successive pontiffs, in order to convict the church itself of error and to combat her with her own weapons weapons? If it had been possible that the pontiff and his advisers could have stooped to this humiliation, he must have appeared to the world as a self-convicted impostor, and the triumph of Luther would have been complete. But although the pope and his adherents were in no danger of disgracing themselves, by submitting their cause to the test of reason and scripture, yet they impru dently suffered themselves to be discountenanced and repulsed by the bold attitude and daring approach of their adversary; and Luther, individually, for a long time balanced the scale against the whole Christian world, and at length broke the beam which he could not wholly incline in his favour. Warmly as the protestant writers have inveighed against the arrogance and unbending pride of the cardinal of Gaeta and

A. D. 1518. A. Pont. VI.

A. Et. 43.

XV.

AD. 1518,

A. Et. 43.

A. Pont. VL

and the other opponents of Luther,(a) it is CHAP. sufficiently clear, that the cause of the church was rather injured by the condescension and moderation which he experienced, as well as by the writers who entered with him into discussions on contested dogmas and intricate points of faith. The first measure adopted by Luther in the publication of his propositions at Wittemberg was sufficiently hostile to have justified the pontiff in calling upon him for an unqualified submission, and in case of refusal or hesitation, to have separated him, as an infected limb, from the body of the church, Of the feeble conduct of the Roman see, both on this and on other occasions, Luther was well aware; and had employed his time to such advantage, that before Leo assailed him with the thunders of the Vatican he was already prepared to obviate their effects; to retort violence for violence and abuse for abuse. Throughout all his writings, this great reform

er

(a)" It was sufficient barely to mention the measures "taken by Cajetan" (says the learned translator of Mosheim. vol. ii. p. 21,)" to draw Luther anew under the "papal yoke, because these measures were indeed nothing "6 more than the wild suggestions of superstition and tyranny, maintained and avowed with the most frontless im"pudence."

66

254

THE LIFE OF LEO THE TENTH.

XV.

CHAP er has represented his own cause as the cause of truth, of religion, of justice, and of sound learning; and by the skilful management of these topics, his efforts were, in a great degree, crowned with success. Being thus aware of the weapons to which he owed his victory, he was enabled, after he had once established himself in the public opinion, to defend himself against those who presumed to differ from him, as he had before differed from the church of Rome; and the conduct of Luther in enforcing his own peculiar dogmas, and silencing those who opposed his tenets, may justify the assertion, that if he had been pope instead of Leo X. he would have defended the church against a much more formidable adversary than the monk of Wittemberg.

A. D. 1518. A. Pont. VI.

A. Et. 43.