The Emperor Charles V. called a diet at Spire, in 1529, to
request aid from the German princes against the Turks, and to devise the
most effectual means for allaying the religious disputes which then
raged in consequence of Luther’s opposition to the established religion.
In this diet it was decreed by Ferdinand, archduke of Austria, and other
popish princes, that in the countries which had embraced the new
religion it should be lawful to continue in it till the meeting of a
council; but that no Roman Catholic should be allowed to turn Lutheran,
and that the reformers should deliver nothing in their sermons contrary
to the received doctrine of the church. Against this decree, six
Lutheran princes, namely, John and George, the electors of Saxony and
Brandenburg, Ernest and Francis, the two dukes of Lunenburg, the
landgrave of Hesse, and the prince of Anhalt, with the deputies of
thirteen imperial towns, namely, Strasburg, Ulm, Nuremberg, Constance,
Rottingen, Windsheim, Memmingen, Nortlingen, Lindaw, Kempten, Hailbron,
Wissemburg, and St. Gall, formally and solemnly _protested_ and declared
that they appealed to a general council; and hence the name of
Protestants, by which the followers of Luther have ever since been
known. Nor was it confined to them; for it soon after included the
Calvinists, and has now of a long time been applied generally to the
Christian sects, of whatever denomination, and in whatever country they
may be found, which have separated from the see of Rome.
Mr. Chillingworth, addressing himself to a writer in favour of the
church of Rome, speaks of the religion of the Protestants in the
following excellent terms: “Know then, sir, that when I say the religion
of Protestants is in prudence to be preferred before yours, on the one
side, I do not understand by your religion the doctrine of Bellarmine,
or Baronius, or any other private man among you, nor the doctrine of the
Sorbonne, of the Jesuits, or of the Dominicans, or of any other
particular company among you, but that wherein you all agree, or profess
to agree, the doctrine of the council of Trent; so, accordingly, on the
other side, by the religion of Protestants, I do not understand the
doctrine of Luther, or Calvin, or Melancthon, nor the confession of
Augsburg, or Geneva, nor the catechism of Heidelberg, nor the articles
of the church of England; no, nor the harmony of Protestant confessions;
but that in which they all agree, and which they all subscribe with a
greater harmony, as a perfect rule of faith and action; that is, the
Bible. The Bible, I say, the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants.
Whatsoever else they believe beside it, and the plain, irrefragable,
indubitable consequences of it, well may they hold it as a matter of
opinion; but as a matter of faith and religion, neither can they with
coherence to their own grounds believe it themselves, nor require belief
of it of others, without most high and most schismatical presumption. I,
for my part, after a long, and, as I verily believe and hope, impartial,
search of the true way to eternal happiness, do profess plainly that I
cannot find any rest for the sole of my foot but upon this rock only. I
see plainly, and with my own eyes, that there are popes against popes,
and councils against councils; some fathers against other fathers, the
same fathers against themselves; a consent of fathers of one age against
a consent of fathers of another age; traditive interpretations of
Scripture are pretended, but there are few or none to be found; no
tradition but that of Scripture can derive itself from the fountain, but
may be plainly proved either to have been brought in in such an age
after Christ, or that in such an age it was not in. In a word, there is
no sufficient certainty but of Scripture only for any considering man to
build upon. This, therefore, and this only, I have reason to believe.
This I will profess; according to this I will live; and for this, if
there be occasion, I will not only willingly, but even gladly, lose my
life, though I should be sorry that Christians should take it from me.
Propose me any thing out of this book, and require whether I believe or
no, and, seem it never so incomprehensible to human reason, I will
subscribe it with hand and heart, as knowing no demonstration can be
stronger than this, God hath said so, therefore it is true. In other
things, I will take no man’s liberty of judging from him; neither shall
any man take mine from me.”
Under such views the Bible is held as the only sure foundation upon
which all true Protestants build every article of the faith which they
profess, and every point of doctrine which they teach; and all other
foundations, whether they be the decisions of councils, the confessions
of churches, the prescripts of popes, or the expositions of private men,
are considered by them as sandy and unsafe, or as in nowise to be
ultimately relied on. Yet, on the other hand, they by no means
fastidiously reject them as of no use; for while they admit the Bible,
or the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, to be the only
infallible rule by which we must measure the truth or falsehood of every
religious opinion, they are sensible that all men are not equally fitted
to understand or to apply this rule; and that the wisest men want, on
many occasions, all the helps afforded by the learning and research of
others to enable them to understand its precise nature, and to define
its certain extent. These helps are great and numerous, having been
supplied, in every age of the church, by the united labours of learned
men in every country, and by none in greater abundance than by those in
Protestant communions.
request aid from the German princes against the Turks, and to devise the
most effectual means for allaying the religious disputes which then
raged in consequence of Luther’s opposition to the established religion.
In this diet it was decreed by Ferdinand, archduke of Austria, and other
popish princes, that in the countries which had embraced the new
religion it should be lawful to continue in it till the meeting of a
council; but that no Roman Catholic should be allowed to turn Lutheran,
and that the reformers should deliver nothing in their sermons contrary
to the received doctrine of the church. Against this decree, six
Lutheran princes, namely, John and George, the electors of Saxony and
Brandenburg, Ernest and Francis, the two dukes of Lunenburg, the
landgrave of Hesse, and the prince of Anhalt, with the deputies of
thirteen imperial towns, namely, Strasburg, Ulm, Nuremberg, Constance,
Rottingen, Windsheim, Memmingen, Nortlingen, Lindaw, Kempten, Hailbron,
Wissemburg, and St. Gall, formally and solemnly _protested_ and declared
that they appealed to a general council; and hence the name of
Protestants, by which the followers of Luther have ever since been
known. Nor was it confined to them; for it soon after included the
Calvinists, and has now of a long time been applied generally to the
Christian sects, of whatever denomination, and in whatever country they
may be found, which have separated from the see of Rome.
Mr. Chillingworth, addressing himself to a writer in favour of the
church of Rome, speaks of the religion of the Protestants in the
following excellent terms: “Know then, sir, that when I say the religion
of Protestants is in prudence to be preferred before yours, on the one
side, I do not understand by your religion the doctrine of Bellarmine,
or Baronius, or any other private man among you, nor the doctrine of the
Sorbonne, of the Jesuits, or of the Dominicans, or of any other
particular company among you, but that wherein you all agree, or profess
to agree, the doctrine of the council of Trent; so, accordingly, on the
other side, by the religion of Protestants, I do not understand the
doctrine of Luther, or Calvin, or Melancthon, nor the confession of
Augsburg, or Geneva, nor the catechism of Heidelberg, nor the articles
of the church of England; no, nor the harmony of Protestant confessions;
but that in which they all agree, and which they all subscribe with a
greater harmony, as a perfect rule of faith and action; that is, the
Bible. The Bible, I say, the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants.
Whatsoever else they believe beside it, and the plain, irrefragable,
indubitable consequences of it, well may they hold it as a matter of
opinion; but as a matter of faith and religion, neither can they with
coherence to their own grounds believe it themselves, nor require belief
of it of others, without most high and most schismatical presumption. I,
for my part, after a long, and, as I verily believe and hope, impartial,
search of the true way to eternal happiness, do profess plainly that I
cannot find any rest for the sole of my foot but upon this rock only. I
see plainly, and with my own eyes, that there are popes against popes,
and councils against councils; some fathers against other fathers, the
same fathers against themselves; a consent of fathers of one age against
a consent of fathers of another age; traditive interpretations of
Scripture are pretended, but there are few or none to be found; no
tradition but that of Scripture can derive itself from the fountain, but
may be plainly proved either to have been brought in in such an age
after Christ, or that in such an age it was not in. In a word, there is
no sufficient certainty but of Scripture only for any considering man to
build upon. This, therefore, and this only, I have reason to believe.
This I will profess; according to this I will live; and for this, if
there be occasion, I will not only willingly, but even gladly, lose my
life, though I should be sorry that Christians should take it from me.
Propose me any thing out of this book, and require whether I believe or
no, and, seem it never so incomprehensible to human reason, I will
subscribe it with hand and heart, as knowing no demonstration can be
stronger than this, God hath said so, therefore it is true. In other
things, I will take no man’s liberty of judging from him; neither shall
any man take mine from me.”
Under such views the Bible is held as the only sure foundation upon
which all true Protestants build every article of the faith which they
profess, and every point of doctrine which they teach; and all other
foundations, whether they be the decisions of councils, the confessions
of churches, the prescripts of popes, or the expositions of private men,
are considered by them as sandy and unsafe, or as in nowise to be
ultimately relied on. Yet, on the other hand, they by no means
fastidiously reject them as of no use; for while they admit the Bible,
or the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, to be the only
infallible rule by which we must measure the truth or falsehood of every
religious opinion, they are sensible that all men are not equally fitted
to understand or to apply this rule; and that the wisest men want, on
many occasions, all the helps afforded by the learning and research of
others to enable them to understand its precise nature, and to define
its certain extent. These helps are great and numerous, having been
supplied, in every age of the church, by the united labours of learned
men in every country, and by none in greater abundance than by those in
Protestant communions.