The safe-conduct enclosed in this letter bore the following address:—"To the honourable, our dear and pious doctor Martin Luther, of the order of the Augustins."
It began thus:—
"We, Charles, fifth of the name, by the grace of God, elected Roman Emperor, always Augustus, King of Spain, of the Two Sicilies, of Jerusalem, Hungary, Dalmatia, Croatia, etc., Arch-Duke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, Count of Hapsburg, Flanders, the Tyrol, etc., etc."
Then the king of so many nations giving to wit that he had summoned before him an Augustin monk named Luther, ordered all princes, lords, magistrates, and others, to respect the safe-conduct which he gave him, under pain of punishment by the emperor and the empire.[445]
Thus the emperor gave the title of "dear, honourable, and pious," to a man at whose head the Church had launched her excommunication. It had been wished, in the drawing up of the document, to remove all distrust from the mind of Luther and his friends. Gaspard Sturm was appointed to carry this message to the Reformer, and accompany him to Worms. The Elector, dreading the public indignation, wrote, on the 12th March, to the magistrates of Wittemberg to see to the safety of the emperor's officer, and, if deemed necessary, to provide him with a guard. The herald set out.
Thus the designs of God were accomplished. God was pleased to set upon a hill that light which he had kindled in the world, and emperors, kings, and princes, without knowing it, were forthwith in motion to execute his design. It is easy for him to exalt the lowest to the highest. An act of his power suffices to raise the humble child of Mansfeld from an obscure hut to the palace where kings are assembled. In regard to Him, there is nothing small, nothing great. When he wills it, Charles V and Luther meet face to face.
HOLY THURSDAY AT ROME.
But will Luther obey this citation? His best friends were in doubt. The Elector on the 25th of March wrote his brother—"Doctor Martin is summoned hither, but I know not if he will come. I cannot augur any good of it." Three weeks later (16th April), this excellent prince seeing the danger increase wrote anew to Duke John. "There is a proclamation against Luther. The cardinals and bishops attack him with much severity. May God turn all to good. Would to God I could procure him an equitable reception!"[446]
While these things were passing at Worms and Wittemberg, the Papacy was reiterating its blows. On the 28th March, the Thursday before Easter, Rome resounded with a solemn excommunication. At this season it is usual to publish the dreadful bull in Cœna Domini, which is only a long series of imprecations. On that day, the avenues to the church in which the sovereign pontiff was to officiate were occupied at an early hour by the papal guards, and by a crowd of people who had flocked from all parts of Italy to receive the benediction of the holy father. The square in front of the Basilisk was decorated with branches of laurel and myrtle; wax tapers were burning on the balcony of the church, and the ostensorium was raised upon it. All at once bells make the air re-echo with solemn sounds; the pope, clothed in his pontifical robes, and carried in a chair, appears on the balcony; the people kneel, all heads are uncovered, the colours are lowered, the muskets grounded, and a solemn silence reigns. Some moments after, the pope slowly stretches out his hands, raises them towards heaven, then bends them slowly towards the ground, making the sign of the cross. This movement is repeated thrice, and the air echoes anew with the ringing of bells, which intimate the pope's benediction to the surrounding country; then priests advance with impetuosity, holding lighted torches, which they reverse, brandish, and throw about with violence, to represent the flames of hell; the people are moved and agitated, and the words of malediction are heard from the height of the temple.[447]
When Luther was informed of this excommunication, he published the tenor of it, with some remarks, written in that caustic style in which he so much excelled. Although this publication did not appear till afterwards, we will here give some idea of it. Let us hear the high priest of Christendom on the balcony of his Basilisk, and the monk of Wittemberg answering him from the bosom of Germany.[448]