AT RATISBON.
As the Protestants declined to recognize the Council of Trent, which had been opened in December, 1545, the Elector Palatine had proposed a colloquy between the two parties, and this conference opened at Ratisbon, January 27, 1546. Bucer had been nominated one of the delegates on the part of the Reformation; and the Senate of Strasburg, judging that a Spanish convert from Catholicism to Protestantism, a man rich in knowledge and in virtue, would carry much weight in the discussion, associated Diaz with his friend. At Ratisbon, Bucer and Diaz found as champions of the papacy, Malvenda, whom Diaz had known at Paris, Cochlaeus,[170] and the Carmelite monk Billik. These three were determined to maintain the extremest doctrines of the papacy; for seeing that the council was assembled they feared that if they made any concession they would be struck with the same anathemas as the Protestants. Without hesitation Diaz went to see Malvenda. Malvenda was his senior, and he ought to pay his respects to him. Perhaps he hoped that the ties which had formerly united them would give him some hold on the mind of his countryman. Presenting himself, therefore, with one of his friends, he told him with the utmost simplicity that he was come to Ratisbon with Bucer for the purpose of defending the doctrines of the Reformation. Malvenda could believe neither his own eyes nor ears. He remained for a short time astounded, as if some monster had made its appearance.[171] The expression of his countenance and the restlessness of his movements displayed his astonishment and alarm. At length he said: 'What! Juan Diaz at Ratisbon! Juan Diaz in Germany, and in the company of Protestants!... No, I am deceived; it is a phantom before me, resembling Diaz indeed in stature and in feature, but it is a mere empty image!' The young Spaniard assured the doctor that he really was there present before him. 'Wretched man,' said Malvenda, 'do you not know that the Protestants will pride themselves far more on having gained over to their doctrine one single Spaniard than if they had converted ten thousand Germans or an in infinite number of men of other nations?' Diaz wondered at these words, for it seemed to him that the sovereign will could convert a Spaniard as easily as a German. Malvenda, then, no longer in doubt as to the real presence of Diaz in flesh and blood before him, assailed him with questions blow after blow. 'Hast thou been long in Germany? What ails thee that thou hast come into these parts? Dost thou understand the doctrine of Martin Bucer and the other Germans?' and so forth. Diaz, with more presence of mind than his master, replied quietly and modestly: 'I have been almost six months in this country. My object in coming was to see here religion established in its purity, and to confer with the learned men who are to be found here. The true knowledge of God is before every thing; and in a matter so important I would rather trust my own eyes than the false reports of evil men. I had a wish to see this poison; and as I find that the churches of Germany are in agreement with antiquity, and have in their favor the perpetual consent of the apostles and prophets, I can not reject their doctrine.'[172]
This admiration for Germany very much astonished Malvenda. 'Oh!' cried he, 'it is an exceedingly wretched lot to live in this country. For any man who loves the unity of Rome, six weeks' sojourn here is a burden as oppressive as six years; nay, say rather six centuries. Six days in Germany make me older than a long lifetime. Every honest man must beware of what is taught here. Much more must thou, Diaz, beware, who belongest to a land in which the religion of our holy mother the Church has always flourished. Respect, therefore, thine own reputation, and do not bring dishonor on thyself, nor on thy family, nor on the whole Spanish nation.' As Diaz was accompanied by one of his friends, Malvenda, embarrassed, did not pursue the subject farther. But they agreed to meet again.
Malvenda prepared to make use of his fine rhetorical powers in striking the heaviest blows for the purpose of bringing back into the Roman fold this sheep which as he thought had gone astray. When Diaz made his appearance again, this time alone, Malvenda said: 'Dost thou not perceive all the dangers which are threatening at once thy body and thy soul? Dost thou not see the formidable thunderbolts of the pope, the vicar of the Son of God, which are about to fall upon thee? And dost thou not know with what a horrible execration those are smitten whom he excommunicates, so that they become the plague of the human race? Is it well, then, to venture, for the sake of the opinion of a small number of people, to stir up sedition in all countries and to disturb the public peace? Dost thou not dread the judgment of God, and the abhorrence of all thy fellow-countrymen?' Assuming, then, the most kindly air, he continued: 'I promise to aid thee, to befriend thee in this matter to the utmost of my power. But do not wait until the emperor arrives at Ratisbon; go to meet him, cast thyself at the feet of his confessor, and entreat him to pardon thine offence.'
'I am not afraid,' replied Diaz, modestly but decisively, 'of exposing myself to danger for the purpose of maintaining the heavenly doctrine on which our salvation depends, or even of shedding my blood to bear testimony to the religion of Christ. To me this would be a great honor and a great glory.'
HIS INTERVIEW WITH MALVENDA.
Malvenda shuddered at these words. If what Diaz said was true, what Rome said was false; and yet his fellow-countryman was ready to die to testify the truth of his belief. 'No,' exclaimed the priest, 'the pope, vicar of Christ, can not err.' 'What!' resumed Diaz, 'the popes infallible! Monsters defiled within and without with enormous crimes infallible!' Malvenda acknowledged that some of the popes had led impure lives; but, as he was anxious to drop this subject, he declared to Diaz that it was mere loss of time to come to the colloquy, and that no good would arise from it. He added that if Diaz wished to do any good, he ought to go to the Council of Trent, which was established by the pope and attended by many prelates. Diaz quitted the doctor, resolved to see him no more privately.[173]
The young Spaniard had now ruined himself with the doctor. The affection which Malvenda had felt for him gave place to implacable hatred, and as he had not succeeded in gaining him over, his only thought now was to ruin him. With this view he applied to the confessor of Charles the Fifth, of whose influence he was aware. 'There is now at Ratisbon,' he wrote, 'a young Spaniard whom I once knew at Paris as an obedient son of Rome, but who now avows himself an enemy of the church and a friend of the Lutherans. If such things are permitted, Spain is lost, and you will see her claiming to shake off her shoulders the burdens with which she will profess to be overwhelmed. I implore you to avert such a calamity, even if necessary by a violent remedy.' Malvenda was not content with writing one letter. As the confessor gave no answer, he wrote other letters, 'far more harsh and violent than the first.'
De Soto had not answered at once because he was perplexed. He was quite capable of feeling the worth of such a man as Juan Diaz; and, whatever the chroniclers may have said, he had previously been struck with the excellencies of Enzinas, and had winked at his escape. Moreover, the case was one of real difficulty. Diaz, being one of a deputation sent to a colloquy approved by the emperor, was protected against violent measures, except at the cost of a renewal of the breach of faith of which John Huss had been the victim. Just at the time when the confessor received from Malvenda his last violent letter, he had with him another Spaniard, named Marquina, who was entrusted with a mission for Rome, respecting which he was conversing with the confessor. 'See,' said De Soto, 'what trouble our Spaniards give us,' and he read to him Malvenda's letter. Marquina, who was an old friend of Juan Diaz, had always looked upon him as a model of honesty and piety. He therefore said to De Soto: 'Put no faith in Malvenda's statements. He is no doubt impelled by some private ill-will. Believe, rather, the public testimonies of good men, who have at all times approved the character and the doctrine of Diaz.' But De Soto was not convinced. 'We must,' he said, 'either convert him, or get him put out of the way.' Did he mean that he was to be imprisoned or put to death? The latter seems the most probable conclusion. Nevertheless De Soto was not so black as Protestant writers depict him. In 1560 he was prosecuted by the Inquisition of Valladolid, on suspicion of Lutheranism.[174] His intercourse with such men as Enzinas and Diaz might well tend to make him afterwards more just towards a doctrine which he had at first condemned. Marquina set out for Rome.