In truth, on the 6th July, the Pope had assembled the consistory of cardinals in his palace at Rome, and had made known to them the Protestant ultimatum; namely, the cup for the laity, the marriage of priests, the omission of the invocation of saints in the sacrifice of the Mass, the use of ecclesiastical property already secularized, and for the rest, the convocation of a council. "These concessions," said the cardinals, "are opposed to the religion, the discipline, and the laws of the Church.[700] We reject them, and vote our thanks to the Emperor for the zeal which he employs in bringing back the deserters." The Pope having thus decided, every attempt at conciliation became useless.
Campeggio, on his side, redoubled in zeal. He spoke as if in his person the Pope himself were present at Augsburg.[701] "Let the Emperor and the right-thinking princes form a league," said he to Charles; "and if these rebels, equally insensible to threats and promises, obstinately persist in their diabolical course, then let his Majesty seize fire and sword, let him take possession of all the property of the heretics, and utterly eradicate these venomous plants.[702] Then let him appoint holy inquisitors, who shall go on the track of the remnants of Reform, and proceed against them, as in Spain against the Moors. Let him put the university of Wittemberg under ban, burn the heretical books, and send back the fugitive monks to their convents. But this plan must be executed with courage."
TWO MIRACLES.
Thus the jurisprudence of Rome consisted, according to a prophecy uttered against the city which is seated on seven hills, in adorning itself with pearls that it had stolen, and in becoming drunk with the blood of the saints.[703]
While Charles was thus urged on with blind fury by the diet and the Pope, the Protestant princes, restrained by a mute indignation, did not open their mouths,[704] and hence they seemed to betray a weakness of which the Emperor was eager to profit. But there was also strength concealed under this weakness. "It only remains for us," exclaimed Melancthon, "to embrace our Saviour's knees." In this they laboured earnestly. Melancthon begged for Luther's prayers; Brenz for those of his own church: a general cry of distress and of faith ran through Evangelical Germany. "You shall have sheep," said Brenz, "if you will send us sheep: you know what I mean."[705] The sheep that were to be offered in sacrifice were the prayers of the saints.
THE EMPEROR'S MENACE.
The Church was not wanting to itself. "Assembled every day," wrote certain cities to the Electors, "we beg for you strength, grace, and victory,—victory full of joy." But the man of prayer and faith was especially Luther. A calm and sublime courage, in which firmness shines at the side of joy—a courage that rises and exults in proportion as the danger increases—is what Luther's letters at this time present in every line. The most poetical images are pale beside those energetic expressions which issue in a boiling torrent from the Reformer's soul. "I have recently witnessed two miracles," wrote he on the 5th August to Chancellor Brück; "this is the first. As I was at my window, I saw the stars, and the sky, and that vast and magnificent firmament in which the Lord has placed them. I could nowhere discover the columns on which the Master has supported this immense vault, and yet the heavens did not fall......
"And here is the second. I beheld thick clouds hanging above us like a vast sea. I could neither perceive ground on which they reposed, nor cords by which they were suspended; and yet they did not fall upon us, but saluted us rapidly and fled away.
"God," continued he, "will choose the manner, the time, and the place suitable for deliverance, and he will not linger. What the men of blood have begun, they have not yet finished......Our rainbow is faint......their clouds are threatening......the enemy comes against us with frightful machines......But at last it will be seen to whom belonged the ballistæ, and from what hands the javelins are launched.[706] It is no matter if Luther perishes: if Christ is conqueror, Luther is conqueror also."[707]