History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume III Part 13

[184] Knapp's Nachlese, ii. 458.

This was not enough. Having been convinced that the progress of heresy was owing to the extreme ignorance of the German princes, Henry thought the moment had arrived for showing his learning. The victories of his battle-axe did not permit him to doubt of those that were reserved for his pen. But another pa.s.sion, vanity, ever greatest in the smallest minds, spurred the king onward. He was humiliated at having no t.i.tle to oppose to that of "Catholic," and "Most Christian,"

borne by the kings of Spain and France, and he had long been begging a similar distinction from the court of Rome. What would be more likely to procure it than an attack upon heresy? Henry therefore threw aside the kingly purple, and descended from his throne into the arena of theological discussion. He enlisted Thomas Aquinas, Peter Lombard, Alexander Hales, and Bonaventure into his service; and the world beheld the publication of the _Defence of the Seven Sacraments, against Martin Luther, by the most invincible King of England and France, Lord of Ireland, Henry the eighth of that name_.

"I will rush in front of the Church to save her," said the King of England in this treatise; "I will receive in my bosom the poisoned arrows of her a.s.sailants.[185] The present state of things calls me to do so. Every servant of Christ, whatever be his age, s.e.x, or rank, should rise up against the common enemy of Christendom.[186]

[185] Meque adversus venenata jacula hostis eam oppugnantes objicerem.

a.s.sertio septem sacramentorum adv. M. Lutherum, in prologo.

[186] Omnis Christi servus, omnis aetas, omnis s.e.xus, omnis ordo consurgat. Ibid.

[Sidenote: HENRY'S CONTEMPTUOUS AND ABUSIVE LANGUAGE.]

"Let us put on a twofold breastplate; the heavenly breastplate, to conquer by the weapons of truth him who combats with those of error; but also an earthly breastplate, that if he shows himself obstinate in his malice, the hand of the executioner may constrain him to be silent, and that once at least he may be useful to the world, by the terrible example of his death."[187]

[187] Et qui nocuit verbo malitiae, supplicii prosit exemplo. a.s.sertio septem sacramentorum adv. M. Lutherum, in prologo.

Henry VIII. was unable to hide the contempt he felt towards his feeble adversary. "This man," said the crowned theologian, "seems to be in the pangs of childbirth; after a travail without precedent, he produces nothing but wind.[188] Remove the daring envelope of the insolent verbiage with which he clothes his absurdities, as an ape is clothed in purple, and what remains?......a wretched and empty sophism."

[188] Mirum est quanto nixu parturiens, quam nihil peperit, nisi merum ventum. Ibid.

The king defends, successively, the ma.s.s, penance, confirmation, marriage, orders, and extreme unction; he is not sparing of abusive language towards his opponent; he calls him by turns a wolf of h.e.l.l, a poisonous viper, a limb of the devil. Even Luther's sincerity is attacked. Henry VIII. crushes the mendicant monk with his royal anger, "and writes as 'twere with his sceptre," says an historian.[189]

[189] Collyer, Eccl. Hist. p. 17.

And yet it must be confessed that his work was not bad, considering the author and his age. The style is not altogether without force; but the public of the day did not confine themselves to paying it due justice. The theological treatise of the powerful King of England was received with a torrent of adulation. "The most learned work the sun ever saw," cried some.[190]--"We can only compare it," re-echoed others, "to the works of Augustine. He is a Constantine, a Charlemagne!"--"He is more," said others, "he is a second Solomon!"

[190] Burnet, Hist. Ref. of England. i. 30.

[Sidenote: EFFECT ON LUTHER.]

These flatteries soon extended beyond the limits of England. Henry desired John Clarke, dean of Windsor, his amba.s.sador at Rome, to present his book to the sovereign pontiff. Leo X. received the envoy in full consistory. Clarke laid the royal work before him, saying: "The king my master a.s.sures you that, having now refuted Luther's errors with the pen, he is ready to combat his adherents with the sword." Leo, touched with this promise, replied, that the king's book could not have been written without the aid of the Holy Ghost, and conferred upon Henry the t.i.tle of _Defender of the Faith_, which is still borne by the sovereigns of England.

The reception which this volume met with at Rome contributed greatly to increase the number of its readers. In a few months many thousand copies issued from different presses.[191] "The whole christian world," says Cochlus, "was filled with admiration and joy."[192]

[191] Intra paucos menses, liber ejus a multis chalcographis in multa millia multiplicatus. Cochlus, p. 44.

[192] Ut totum orbem christianum et gaudio et admiratione repleverit.

Ibid.

Such extravagant panegyrics augmented the insufferable vanity of this chief of the Tudors. He himself seemed to have no doubt that he was inspired by the Holy Ghost.[193] From that time he would suffer no contradiction. His papacy was no longer at Rome, but at Greenwich; infallibility reposed on his shoulders: at a subsequent period this contributed greatly to the Reformation of England.

[193] He was brought to fancy it was written with some degree of inspiration. Burnet, Preface.

[Sidenote: LUTHER'S VIOLENCE AND ENERGY.]

Luther read Henry's book with a smile mingled with disdain, impatience, and indignation. The falsehood and the abuse it contained, but especially the air of contempt and compa.s.sion which the king a.s.sumed, irritated the Wittemberg doctor to the highest degree. The thought that the pope had crowned this work, and that on all sides the enemies of the Gospel were triumphing over the Reformation and the reformer as already overthrown and vanquished, increased his indignation. Besides, what reason had he to temporize? Was he not fighting in the cause of a King greater than all the kings of the earth? The meekness of the Gospel appeared to him unseasonable. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. He went beyond all bounds.

Persecuted, insulted, hunted down, wounded, the furious lion turned round, and proudly roused himself to crush his enemy. The elector, Spalatin, Melancthon, and Bugenhagen, strove in vain to pacify him.

They would have prevented his replying; but nothing could stop him.

"I will not be gentle towards the King of England," said he. "I know that it is vain for me to humble myself, to give way, to entreat, to try peaceful methods. At length I will show myself more terrible towards these furious beasts, who goad me every day with their horns.

I will turn mine upon them. I will provoke Satan until he falls down lifeless and exhausted.[194] If this heretic does not recant, says Henry VIII. the new Thomas, he must be burnt alive! Such are the weapons they are now employing against me: the fury of stupid a.s.ses and swine of the brood of Thomas Aquinas; and then the stake.[195]

Well then, be it so! Let these hogs advance if they dare, and let them burn me! Here I am waiting for them. After my death, though my ashes should be thrown into a thousand seas, they will rise, pursue, and swallow up this abominable herd. Living, I shall be the enemy of the papacy; burnt, I shall be its destruction. Go then, swine of St.

Thomas, do what seemeth good to you. You will ever find Luther like a bear upon your way, and as a lion in your path. He will spring upon you whithersoever you go, and will never leave you at peace, until he has broken your iron heads, and ground your brazen foreheads into dust."

[194] Mea in ipsos exercebo cornua, irritaturus Satanam, donec effusis viribus et conatibus corruat in se ipso. L. Epp. ii. 236.

[195] Ignis et furor insulsissimorum asinorum et Thomisticorum porcorum. Contra Henric.u.m Regem, Opp. Lat. ii. 331. This language reminds us of the Irish agitator. There is, however, greater force and n.o.bility in the orator of the 16th than in him of the 19th century.

See _Revue Britannique_ for November 1835. _Le Regne d'O'Connel._ "Soaped swine of civilized society," &c. p. 30.

Luther first reproaches Henry VIII. with having supported his doctrines solely by the decrees and opinions of men. "As for me," says he, "I never cease crying the Gospel, the Gospel! Christ, Christ!--And my adversaries continue to reply: Custom, custom! Ordinances, ordinances! Fathers, fathers!--St. Paul says: _Let not your faith stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of G.o.d_ (1 Cor. ii. 5).

And the apostle by this thunderclap from heaven overthrows and disperses, as the wind scatters the dust, all the hobgoblins of this Henry. Frightened and confounded, these Thomists, Papists, and Henrys fall prostrate before the thunder of these words."[196]

[196] Confusi et prostrati jacent a facie verborum istius tonitrui.

Contra Henric.u.m reg. Opp. Lat. ii. 336.

[Sidenote: THE WORD OF G.o.d AND NOT THE WORD OF MAN.]

He then refutes the king's book in detail, and overturns his arguments one after the other, with a perspicuity, spirit, and knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and history of the Church, but also with an a.s.surance, disdain, and sometimes violence, that ought not to surprise us.

Having reached the end of his confutation, Luther again becomes indignant that his opponent should derive his arguments from the Fathers only: this was the basis of the whole controversy. "To all the words of the Fathers and of men, of angels and of devils," said he, "I oppose, not old customs, not the mult.i.tude of men, but the Word of Eternal Majesty,--the Gospel, which even my adversaries are obliged to recognise. To this I hold fast, on this I repose, in this I boast, in this I exult and triumph over the papists, the Thomists, the Henrys, the sophists, and all the swine of h.e.l.l.[197] The King of heaven is with me; for this reason I fear nothing, although a thousand Augustines, a thousand Cyprians, and a thousand of these churches which Henry defends, should rise up against me. It is a small matter that I should despise and revile a king of the earth, since he himself does not fear in his writings to blaspheme the King of heaven, and to profane His holy name by the most impudent falsehoods."[198]

[197] Hic sto, hic sedeo, hic maneo, hic glorior, hic triumphor, hic insulto papistis......Ibid. 342.

[198] Nec magnum si ego regem terrae contemno. Ibid. 344, verso.

"Papists!" exclaimed he in conclusion, "will ye never cease from your idle attacks? Do what you please. Nevertheless, before that Gospel which I preach down must come popes, bishops, priests, monks, princes, devils, death, sin, and all that is not Christ or in Christ."[199]

[199] L. Opp. Leips. xviii. 209.

[Sidenote: LUTHER'S ERROR--FISHER'S REPLY.]

Thus spoke the poor monk. His violence certainly cannot be excused, if we judge it by the rule to which he himself appealed,--by the Word of G.o.d. It cannot even be justified by alleging either the grossness of the age (for Melancthon knew how to observe decorum in his writings), or the energy of his character, for if this energy had any influence over his language, pa.s.sion also exerted more. It is better, then, that we should condemn it. And yet, that we may be just, we should observe that in the sixteenth century this violence did not appear so strange as it would now-a-days. The learned were then an estate, as well as the princes. By becoming a writer, Henry had attacked Luther. Luther replied according to the established law in the republic of letters, that we must consider the truth of what is said, and not the quality of him that says it. Let us add also, that when this same king turned against the pope, the abuse which the Romish writers and the pope himself poured upon him, far exceeded all that Luther had ever said.

Besides, if Luther called Dr. Eck an a.s.s and Henry VIII. a hog, he indignantly rejected the intervention of the secular arm; while Eck was writing a dissertation to prove that heretics ought to be burned, and Henry was erecting scaffolds that he might conform with the precepts of the chancellor of Ingolstadt.

Great was the emotion at the king's court; Surrey, Wolsey, and the crowd of courtiers, put a stop to the festivities and pageantry at Greenwich to vent their indignation in abuse and sarcasm. The venerable Bishop of Rochester, who had been delighted to see the young prince, formerly confided to his care, breaking a lance in defence of the Church, was deeply wounded by the attack of the monk. He replied to it immediately. His words distinctly characterize the age and the Church. "Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines, says Christ in the Song of Songs. This teaches us," said Fisher, "that we must take the heretics before they grow big. Now Luther is become a big fox, so old, so cunning, and so sly, that he is very difficult to catch. What do I say?......a fox? He is a mad dog, a ravening wolf, a cruel bear; or rather all those animals in one; for the monster includes many beasts within him."[200]

[200] Canem dixissem rabidum, imo lupum rapacissimum, aut saevissimam quandam ursam. Cochlus, p. 60.

[Sidenote: REPLY OF THOMAS MORE.]

Thomas More also descended into the arena to contend with the monk of Wittemberg. Although a layman, his zeal against the Reformation amounted to fanaticism, if it did not even urge him to shed blood.

When young n.o.bles undertake the defence of the papacy, their violence often exceeds even that of the ecclesiastics. "Reverend brother, father, tippler, Luther, runagate of the order of St. Augustine, misshapen baccha.n.a.l of either faculty, unlearned doctor of theology."[201] Such is the language addressed to the reformer by one of the most ill.u.s.trious men of his age. He then proceeds to explain the manner in which Luther had composed his book against Henry VIII.: "He called his companions together, and desired them to go each his own way and pick up all sorts of abuse and scurrility. One frequented the public carriages and boats; another the baths and gambling-houses; a third the taverns and barbers' shops; a fourth the mills and brothels. They noted down in their tablets all the most insolent, filthy, and infamous things they heard; and bringing back all these abominations and impurities, they discharged them into that filthy kennel which is called Luther's mind. If he retracts his falsehoods and calumnies," continues More, "if he lays aside his folly and his madness, if he swallows his own filth[202]......he will find one who will seriously discuss with him. But if he proceeds as he has begun, joking, teasing, fooling, calumniating, vomiting sewers and cesspools[203]......let others do what they please; as for me, I should prefer leaving the little friar to his own fury and filth."[204] More would have done better to have restrained his own.

Luther never degraded his style to so low a degree. He made no reply.

[201] Reverendus frater, pater, potator, Lutherus. Cochlus, p. 61.

[202] Si......suas resorbeat et sua relingat stercora. Ibid. p. 62.