Christopher Columbus.
In A. D. 1485, when Columbus was about thirty-eight years of age he made his first application to the king of Portugal for aid in his great scheme of maritime discovery, but without success. He then successively applied to Spain, Genoa, Venice and England.
But the monarchs of Europe were under the control of Rome, and therefore too busy in aiding her religious persecutions to listen to the appeals of science.
Indeed in the very year in which Columbus made his first application, the Inquisition put to death nearly seventeen thousand persons, besides imprisoning thirty-two thousandmore. Nor was this all, ninety-two thousand Jews had suffered confiscation of their property, and had been given the unenviable choice of death, banishment or perpetual slavery. And the Saracens, who had dwelt in Spain for more than seven hundred years, or nearly twice as long a time as has elapsed since the discovery of America, were expelled from the lands which they had so long cultivated and beautified, and from their cities which had so long led the world in the arts, sciences and general civilization.
One evening in the autumn of A. D. 1485, a man of majestic appearance, pale, care-worn, and though in the meridian of life, with silver hair, leading a little boy by the hand, asked alms at the gate of a Franciscan convent near Polos—not for himself, but only a little bread and water for his child. That man was Columbus, destined to startle the inhabitants of Europe with the discovery of a new continent. But he was obliged to wait until he could take advantage of the commercial rivalry of Spain and Portugal.
The trade of Eastern Asia had always been a source of immense wealth to the nations that had controlled it. For more than a thousand years Venice had held the keys to that commerce. As discoveries extended, other nations perceived the possibility of opening new routes to the East and thus rivalling the commercial greatness of Venice. One of these plans was to sail around the southern end of Africa, the other to sail directly westward across the Atlantic. It was plain to every thinking person that if India could be reached by sailing westward, maritime power would pass from the Mediterranean countries to those upon the Atlantic coast.
About this time Columbus had a wonderful dream, or vision. An unknown voice spoke to him, and said: "God will cause thy name to be wonderfully resounded throughout the earth; and will give thee the keys to the ocean which are held with strong chains." From this time forward, Columbus looked upon himself as chosen from among men to accomplish the purposes of heaven; to bring the ends of the earth together, that all nations, and peoples, and tongues might be united under the banner of the Redeemer.
Isabella and Ferdinand were then joint king and queen of Spain. Meanwhile, Columbus had gained many influential friends, among whom was a Jewish sea-faring family named Pinzon, and Luis de Santangel the spiritual adviser of Queen Isabella.
At this time Columbus seemed more likely to fall into the hands of the Inquisition and suffer for his heresy than to succeed in his great enterprise.
At this juncture Luis de Santangel obtained audience with the queen, and addressed her with all the energy of a man who speaks for the last time in behalf of a favored project. Isabella listened attentively, hesitated a moment and then pledged her jewels to raise the amount necessary for the expedition. Contemporary writers have been enthusiastic in their descriptions of Isabella: but time has sanctioned their eulogies. She is one of the purest and most beautiful characters on the pages of history.
At length, on the 17th of April, A. D. 1492, Columbus was ushered into the royal presence, and received his commission. Immediately he commenced preparations, and on the 3rd of August, 1492, set sail on his ever-memorable voyage. The expedition consisted of three small vessels: theSanta Maria, commanded by Columbus; thePinta, by Martin Alonzo Pinzon; and theNina, by Vincent Yanez Pinzon. "The Pinzons were doubly interested in this voyage, for while they sought for a new and profitable route of commerce, they doubtless also felt a desire to find an asylum for their persecuted Jewish brethren." (See Lovel's American History, Canadian edition.)
Having touched at the Canary Islands they sailed directly westward. On losing sight of the last trace of land the hearts of the crews failed them. Behind them was everything dear to the heart of man: country, family, friends, life itself; before them everything was chaos, mystery and peril.
Columbus tried in every way to soothe their distress and inspire them with his own glorious anticipations. He described to them the magnificent countries to which he was about to conduct them: the islands of the Indian seas, teeming withgold and precious stones; the regions of Mangi and Cathay with their cities of unrivalled wealth and splendor. Nor were these promises made for purposes of deception. Columbus evidently believed that he would realize them all.
For many days they were gently but speedily wafted over a tranquil sea, but when near the middle of the Atlantic, they, for the first time, observed the variation of the needle of the compass, which no longer pointed directly north, but had veered around and pointed in a somewhat different direction.
Ships of Columbus.
Columbus was greatly perplexed yet dared not communicate his thoughts to anyone. It seemed as if the very laws of nature were changing, as they advanced, and they were entering another world subject to unknown influences; that the compass was about to lose its mysterious virtue, and without that guide what was to become of them on a vast and trackless ocean? Columbus gave an explanation of this phenomenon which satisfied the crew though unsatisfactory to himself. His situation was daily becoming more critical in proportion as theyapproached the regions where he expected to find land. At length, on the 9th of October, the crew broke out in open mutiny and threatened to throw him overboard, designing then to return to Spain. A compromise was effected, that if they would continue to sail westward three days longer, and no land was discovered he would then return. Two days passed away and still no sight of land.
Landing of Columbus.
On the evening of the second day, Columbus remained on deck. What were the feelings that pervaded his breast no one but God can tell; with nothing but the heaving ocean beneath him and the silent stars o'er head. Anxiously he stands upon the prow of his vessel and peers into the darkness. It is one o'clock! Suddenly a gleam as of a torch is seen in the horizon! Is it a flash of phosphoric light as is sometimes seen on the surface of these tropical seas, or is it a blaze of fire indicating the habitations of men?
Soon the joyful cry of "Ho! land, ho!" resounded throughout the ship, and the booming of cannon announced the discovery to the other vessels.
When the dawning of the morning came, they beheld in all their grandeur and beauty, the hills and valleys, streams and forests of a new world. The men who had been so lately mutinous now came forward and bowed down before Columbus, and did homage to him as though he were a god.
Trials before triumphs have ever been the lot of self-taught men, and will be to the end of time. If the chosen heroes of this earth were counted over, they would be found to be men who stood alone and labored and waited; while those for whom they agonized and toiled poured upon them contumely and scorn.
The very martyrs of the past who were hooted at, reviled and spit upon by the mob, are the ones who are honored now. They suffered cruel tortures and burnings; to-day, the children of this generation are gathering up their scattered ashes to deposit them in the golden urn of a nation's history.
INFLUENCE OF ISRAEL—DISCOVERERS AND REFORMERS.
HISTORY IN WORDS—BRITISH COAT OF ARMS—THE TEN TRIBES—ACCOUNT OF ESDRAS—DISPERSION OF THE TRIBES—MIXED SEED OF ISRAEL—EFFECT ON EUROPEAN SOCIETY—JEWISH INFLUENCE—DISCOVERY OF CAPE OF GOOD HOPE—PACIFIC OCEAN DISCOVERED—MAGELLAN'S VOYAGE—DISCOVERS CAPE HORN—DISTANCE SAILED—DEATH OF MAGELLAN—VOYAGE COMPLETED—ITS EFFECT ON THE PUBLIC—HUSS AND JEROME BURNED—JOHN ZISKA—PERSECUTIONS OF WALDENSES—CAPTURE OF MENTZ—DISPERSION OF PRINTERS—HANS BOHEIM—JOSS FRITZ—SALE OF INDULGENCES—MARTIN LUTHER BURNS THE POPE'S LETTER—GRAND COUNCIL AT WORMS—ROME IN A RAGE—LUTHER KIDNAPPED.
One of the most pleasing and at the same time instructive amusements in which a thoughtful mind can engage, is to trace the derivation of certain words of our language to the primitive times and people where they originated, and thus learn the social and mental condition of the people who first used them. It is pleasing to know thatdishandmop,matandrug, and other household terms are the very words that were spoken by the women of ancient Britain, two thousand years ago, and have been handed down from generation to generation, with little or no variation. In like manner the wordsax,plow,house,post,bed,fire, and hundreds of others, can be easily discerned under the old Saxon forms. And as these words are precisely those that would be used by a rude or half-civilized people, while those words that refer to a more advanced state of society cannot be traced to our Saxon ancestors we may correctly infer the extent of their knowledgeand social condition. Further, as the ancient British words refer to domestic affairs while those of Saxon origin refer exclusively to the avocations of man, we can easily perceive that the Anglo-Saxon tongue has originated from the marriage of the ancient British women with their Saxon conquerors.
Hence Max Muller, the learned professor of languages, in the university at Oxford, England, very justly remarks that "by means of philology we have a more accurate record of our race than any narrative written by prejudice or ill-informed historians."
Now it is generally admitted that Germans, Anglo-Saxons and men descended from these nationalities, in one word, German thought, led the van of progress in science, literature and religious thought, during the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and in fact has continued to do so up to the present time.
From the fifth century, when Attila, king of the Huns, declared himself "The scourge of God," wave after wave of conquest by these hardy warriors had swept over the hills and plains of western and southern Europe, until their blood and their love of civil and religious liberty were infused into every European nation.
Now the language of the Goths, or ancient Germans, plainly indicates that they were not the primitive people of Europe, but had conquered and intermingled with them in the same manner as the Saxons conquered and intermingled with the inhabitants of ancient Britain, or the Spaniards with those of Mexico.
But it may be asked, whence came they? In this connection two other questions may also be asked: why is it that the German language contains so many idioms and terms that bear a close relationship to the language of the ancient Hebrews and Chaldeans? (See Max Muller's lectures on language.) And why is it that the lion, which was the emblem of Judah, and the unicorn, which was the emblem of Israel, are in modern times, emblazoned on the coat of arms of England? (See Ant. of Jews by Josephus, also Num. xxiii., 22 and Deut. xxxiii, 17.) These questions are worthy of deep andcareful consideration; and to better understand them it will be necessary to briefly trace the history of the children of Israel.
As is well known, after the death of Solomon the kingdom was divided into two parts, known as the kingdom of Judah and the kingdom of Israel. In 730 B. C, Hashem, king of Israel, became tributary to Shalmaneser, king of Assyria. Nine years later his capital was taken and the greater portion of the people were carried away captive beyond the river Euphrates, and people from other countries were put in possession of their inheritance. In the Apocrypha the Prophet Esdras states that these ten tribes went a journey of a year and a half into the north country. He says: "These are the ten tribes which were carried away prisoners out of their own land in the time of Hosea the king, whom Shalmaneser the king of Assyria led away captive; and he carried them over the waters so they came into another land. But they took this council among themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen and go forth into a farther country where never mankind dwelt, that they might there keep their statutes which they never kept in their own land. For through that country there was a great way to go, namely, in a year and a half's journey, and the same region is called Arsareth." (II. Esdras, xiii, 40, 41, 42 and 45.)
Now by looking on a map of the eastern continent it will be seen at once that the Black Sea and the Caucasus mountains lie directly north of the river Euphrates. It is quite possible that the Black Sea is the "waters" to which Esdras refers. Also Josephus, in speaking of the return of the Jews under Esdras, says, "Many of them took their effects with them and came to Babylon, as very desirous of going down to Jerusalem, but then the entire body of the people of Israel remained in that country, wherefore there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the ten tribes are beyond the Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude and not to be estimated by numbers." (Ant. Book II. chapter 5.)
Perhaps the words of the ancient Roman are not altogether fable when he says that "Beyond the Borean (Caucasus) Mountains live a people who are sublime in their virtue since theydwell very distant form the provinces, in great simplicity and give great heed to the oracles which their gods have given unto them." Thus we have not only the sure word of prophecy, but likewise the admission of heathen writers.
Max Muller, in his work on language, in referring to the migrations of ancient European tribes, says, "Two great routes lay before them, one by way of the valleys of the Don and Volga across modern Russia to the shores of the Baltic, the other along the shores of the Black Sea to the valley of the Danube."
He also demonstrates the close relationship that exists between the Hebrew language and the language of the people of Finland in western Russia. Considering that more than twenty-five centuries have rolled by since the dispersion of Israel, sufficient time has elapsed for mighty changes. Muller adds in another place, "The time was when the ancestors of the Indians, the Fins, the Slavonic and German tribes of central Europe and the modern English lived in one enclosure, nay, under the same roof."
In the latter part of the second century or beginning of the third, these new settlers had spread as far westward as the Danube, and settled in the Roman province of Dacia, which lay on the north bank of that river. They also asked permission to cross the river which was granted under certain stipulations.
Still they continued to increase in numbers, and by inter-marriage with the native tribes had in the fifth century become formidable enemies of Rome and under the name of Dacians, Huns, Vandals, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Suevi and Heruli precipitated themselves upon Italy and wreaked a terrible vengeance.
The history of some of these, as the Huns for example, may be traced to the second century before the Christian era and to the very locality indicated by the Prophet Esdras and by Josephus. For over twenty-six centuries these scattered tribes have continued to mix up with the nations of the earth, but in their long migrations westward they have lost many of their distinctive characteristics.
Doubtless it is from this mixed seed of Israel that many, aye nearly all, the great reformers, inventors and discoverers have sprung. This infusion of new blood had a marked effect on the nations of western Europe, but more especially on Italy, which had continued to decline, from the days of Augustus, until these nations mingled with the degenerate ancient race, and infused new life into her decaying civilization. The result was that a succession of poets, painters, sculptors, philosophers, inventors and discoverers sprung up in Italy and western Europe unparalleled in the history of the world. Above all, the invention of printing had just come in time to spread whatever new ideas were afloat, with a rapidity never known before. In fifty-two years from the time of that invention came the discovery of America. Five years later two Jewish priests, Rabbi Abraham, and Rabbi Joseph, brought to King John II., of Portugal, a Saracen map of the entire coast of Africa.
Thus instructed King John sent out several expeditions in one of which Brazil was accidentally discovered. Aided by this, Vasco de Gama set sail, and on Nov. 20th, 1497, rounded the cape of Good Hope. Sixteen years later Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean, and six years still later, or in A. D. 1519, Magellan set out on his memorable voyage to circumnavigate the world.
The story of that voyage of wild adventure seems never to grow old by repeating. The narrative of that voyage is too long for this brief sketch, but a few items may not be out of place.
After many months of sailing in strange seas, he at length discovered a new land to which he gave the name of Patagonia. Here he found giants clad in skins, one of whom was greatly terrified at seeing his own image in a looking-glass.
The Straits of Magellan.
His perseverance was at last rewarded, and after fifteen months of struggling and adventures he discovered Cape Horn, passed through the strait which now bears his name and entered the Great South Sea, on Nov. 28th, 1520. An eye-witness relates that he shed tears of joy when he recognized its great expanse, and that God had brought him where he might grapple with its unknown dangers. Admiring its placidsurface he courteously gave it the name it will ever bear, the "Pacific Ocean." Magellan was the first European to discover that when the nights are long in the northern hemisphere they are correspondingly short in the southern. When he passed through the straits the nights were only four hours long. At the same time in Spain they were nearly fifteen hours long. And now the great sailor having burst through the barrier of the great American continent steered for the north-west. For three months and fifteen days he sailed on and on, but saw no inhabited land.
He and his crew were compelled by famine to soak old leather in the sea, then boil it and make of it a wretched food; and to drink water that had become putrid by keeping; yet he resolutely held his course, though his men were dying daily. He estimated that he sailed over this unknown sea more than twelve thousand miles.
In the whole history of human undertakings there is nothing that exceeds, if indeed there is anything that equals, this voyage of Magellan. That of Columbus dwindles away in comparison. It is a display of super-human courage and perseverance, an exhibition of heroic resolution, not to be diverted from its purpose by any motive, or any suffering, but inflexibly persisting to its end.
This unparalleled resolution met its reward at last. He reached the Ladrones, a group of islands north of the equator. Thence he sailed to the Spice Islands, where he met with European merchants. He had accomplished his object and proven that the earth was round. At an island called Zebu, or Mutan, he was murdered either by the natives or by his own men. In a few days more his crew learned that they were actually in the vicinity of their friends. On the morning of Nov. 8th, 1521, they entered Tidore, the capital of the Spice Islands, and the king swore upon the Koran alliance to the sovereign of Spain.
Magellan's crew continued their voyage amid hardships and perils, and at length, on Sept. 10th, 1522, the good ship,San Vittoria, sailed into the very port from which she had departed just three years and twenty-seven days before. She had accomplished the greatest achievement in the history of thehuman race. She had circumnavigated the earth. Magellan lost his life in his great enterprise, but he made his name immortal. His lieutenant Sebastian d'Elcano received the proudest and noblest medal ever given to a sailor. It was a golden globe belted with this inscription,Primus circumdedisti me—"Thou hast first circumnavigated me."
At the present time it is almost impossible to conceive the effect of Magellan's voyage had upon the public mind. One of the leading dogmas of Rome had been that the earth was flat. Now it was proved that the earth was indeed a vast ball. If Rome had been in error in this case, where was her infallibility? Might not some of her other teachings be equally false? Many leading minds began to doubt her authority. Even Pope Leo X., is said to have become skeptical. At all events he chose to spend his leisure time in his library reading to his sister out of the beautiful new printed books which were then throwing a flood of intellectual light on all grades of society. The philosophy of Aristotle and Plato, the poems of Homer and Virgil, the sciences of the Saracens and the narratives of the adventures of Columbus and Vasco de Gama had more charms for him than burning and torturing heretics as his predecessors had done.
While science was undermining the influence of Rome in one direction, religious thought was busy at work in another. That great religious revolution commonly called the Reformation had long been gathering its forces; and already sounded from behind the Alps the loud clarion of battle.
The memory of John Huss and Jerome of Prague was still fresh in the minds of the populace. Huss had been burned at Constance, in A. D. 1415, and Jerome the year following. When the news of these barbarous executions reached Bohemia, it threw the whole kingdom into confusion and a civil war was kindled from the ashes of the martyrs.
John Ziska, the leader of the populace, collected an army of forty thousand men and defeated the emperor, Sigismund, in several battles. When Ziska found that he was dying, he gave orders that his skin should be made into a drum which was long the symbol of victory to his followers.
The Rack.
The Waldenses also who dwelt in the valleys of Switzerland and Piedmont had lively memories of cruel wrongs. Their ancestors had been destroyed by Pope Innocent III., and as late as A. D. 1487, they had been driven to the mountains and obliged to wander there until their feeble and little ones wereleft buried in the Alpine snows. No wonder they chanted that grand old Hymn, commencing:
"O God, arise, avenge Thy slaughtered Saints,Whose bones lie bleaching on the Alpine mountains cold."
"O God, arise, avenge Thy slaughtered Saints,Whose bones lie bleaching on the Alpine mountains cold."
The writings of Dante and Petrarch, Reuchlin and Erasmus, were already scattered in every direction, by means of the printing press, and wielded a mighty influence in society.
The siege and capture of Mentz, in A. D. 1462, had the effect of scattering Guttenberg and his co-workers. Printing presses were established immediately afterwards in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Holland, France and England.
In 1476, on the banks of the river Maine, in central Germany had appeared a strange character named Hans Boheim. He professed to be a prophet of God, to have received visions, and to have been sent to proclaim that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. More than forty thousand men flocked to his standard. At length the bishops of Mentz and Wurtzburg interfered, dispersed the crowd and burned the prophet. He was but a sign of the times—"a voice crying in the wilderness." His memory was not forgotten. In 1493, another movement took place, and again in 1501. Maximilian, the emperor of Germany, ordered the leaders to be quartered alive and their wives and children to be banished. But the fire was only slumbering. In 1512, it commenced again on a larger scale. It found a leader in Joss Fritz, a soldier of commanding presence and great natural eloquence, used to battle and above all to patience. He was one of those who had escaped being quartered. His banner was blue silk with a white cross, and underneath the motto, "O Lord, help the righteous." Fritz was the William Tell of his times. No wonder his name is a favorite one among the Germans.
These conflicts, commonly known as the "Wars of the Peasants," had shown the masses that with more union and better information they were the real strength of the nation.
Such was the condition of affairs in the very locality where, four years afterwards, burst forth the great religious revolution known as the Reformation.
Society seemed waiting for a coming man of strong will and fervent religious nature, who should give something of organizationto those movements, and gather around him an irresistible phalanx of the noble, the learned and ardent spirits of the age. This man was Martin Luther. He came from his cell a shaven monk, in his hand no sceptre, on his head no crown. But he had a human heart within him; and it gushed out for human woe.
Strong in the principles of right he hurled the firebrands of truth right and left and kindled such a flame that all the waves of error could never quench it.
The immediate cause of the Reformation was when John Tetzel, in 1574, was sent into Germany to sell indulgences.
The church of Rome had long taught the people that the pope and clergy under him held the keys of heaven. At this time the pope was in need of means to complete that great cathedral called St. Peter's Church. He therefore issued indulgences or pardons for all kinds of sins. These pardons or indulgences entitled whoever bought them to a free passport to heaven. Nor was this all. A man of sufficient wealth could purchase the pardon of a sin heintendedto commit. Thus the civil law was shorn of its power and the nation of its wealth.
This bold blasphemy provoked the indignation of a people already ripe for revolution.
Luther, then thirty-four years of age, began to denounce the sale of these indulgences. In 1520, the pope issued a decree, or bull, as it was called, condemning Luther and his writings. Luther in turn defied the pope. When the news reached him he took the decree and all the Roman books he could find, and on December 10, 1520, burned them in a public place just outside the walls of the city of Wittenberg. Then Luther was summoned to appear before a grand council, or court, to be held in the city of Worms. His friends procured him a passport or pledge of security, lest the papal authorities should take his life.
Accordingly, on the 17th of April, 1521, Luther appeared before the council, or diet, as it was called. The Emperor Charles V., of Germany, presided in person. When Luther was asked to recant his opinions and deny his own teachings, he not only refused to do so but also pleaded his own causewith eloquence and power. So powerful were his arguments that many of the nobility were won over to his side. A poor monk, the son of a simple peasant, clad in the armor of truth, had defied and defeated the proudest potentates of earth! No wonder that Rome was in a rage! No wonder that the friends of Luther deemed it advisable to kidnap him and carry him away to the castle of Wartburg, in the solitudes of the Thuringian forest! No wonder that those valiant knights, Ulrich von Hutten and Franz von Sickingen, prepared to use their swords and eloquence in defense of right! We may not in all things admire the character of Luther or defend his acts; yet no grander figure appears on the pages of modern history than Luther, as, with one hand upon his breast and the other lifted towards heaven, he refused the emperor's demand to retract his writings or deny the truth, closing with these memorable words, "Hier stehe ich, Gott helfe mir. Amen." "Here I stand, God help me. Amen."
The battle that Luther fought was not only for Germany and the sixteenth century, but for all countries, all peoples and all coming times. It was a battle not merely against the pope, but against all powers religious or secular, that seek to enchain the human mind or prevent the free exercise of religion.
RESULTS OF THE REFORMATION.
GERMANY AROUSED—PEASANTS' WAR—MUNTZER'S PROCLAMATION—EMPEROR QUARRELS WITH THE POPE—RESULTS IN OTHER COUNTRIES—GROWTH OF MODERN LANGUAGES—LUTHER'S CROWNING WORK—POWER OF SUPERSTITION—WITCHCRAFT—REFORMERS NOT INSPIRED—EXTRACTS FROM MOSHEIM—BATTLE-AX OF GOD—COPERNICUS—GALILEO—NEWTON—DEATH OF BRUNO—CHANGE IN COMMERCIAL AFFAIRS—SPANISH ARMADA—BLESSED BY THE POPE—DESTROYED BY A STORM—ITS EFFECT ON EUROPE—ENGLAND'S INFLUENCE AND POSITION—AMERICA THE LAND OF REFUGE.
As the booming of cannon, announcing the beginning of battle echoes and re-echoes far and wide, so did the result of the council, or diet, in the city of Worms. The answer of Luther was repeated by thousands of sympathizing friends. Instead of growing fainter as it died away in the distance, it increased in intensity and power, till its echoes reverberated through every valley, and over every hill-top in central Germany.
Within twenty-four hours Ulrich von Hutten and Franz von Sickingen had mustered four hundred armed knights and eight thousand foot soldiers all ready to fight, or, if need be, to die for the principles Luther had advocated. The commotion continued until it culminated in a civil war, in A. D. 1525. The horrors of that war no tongue can tell. Nightly the papal party burned at the stake the prisoners they had taken. Amid the groans of wounded and dying peasants on the battle field around them, and the drunken revelry of the camp, might be heard the laughter of the nobles as they watched the struggles and heard the shrieks of their victims as they slowly roasted to death. But the revolution continued to spread. The rage ofthe peasants, who had so long been crushed by the iron heel of oppression, knew no bounds. A few extracts from the proclamation of their leader, Munzer, may not be out of place, as they indicate to some extent the nature of the conflict then going on!
"Arise and fight the battle of the Lord! On! on! on! Now is the time; the wicked tremble when they hear of you. Be pitiless! Heed not the groans of the impious! Rouse up ye townsmen and villagers; above all, rouse up ye free men of the mountains! On! on! on! while the fire is burning, while the warm sword is yet reeking with the slaughter! Give the fire no time to go out, the sword no time to cool! Kill all the proud ones! While they reign over you it is no time to talk of God! Amen.
"Given at Muhlhausen, 1525."THOMAS MUNZER,"servant of God against the wicked."
"Given at Muhlhausen, 1525."THOMAS MUNZER,"servant of God against the wicked."
Such was the character of the men with whom the pope had to deal. At length the emperor, Charles V., found it politic to side with his people. Meanwhile Clement VII., succeeded to the papal throne, in 1523. The emperor and the new pope soon quarrelled, and, in 1527, a German army acting under the direction of the German emperor captured and sacked the imperial city of Rome, and more pitilessly pillaged it than it had been a thousand years before by the Goths and Vandals. From this time Rome ceased to be the capital of the professedly Christian world.
But the revolution stayed not here. Its principles of reform passed over the Alps and found a hearty welcome among the hardy mountaineers of Switzerland. It reached the Rhine and with the current of that mighty river flowed onward to the sea. The sturdy sons of Holland received its teachings; and the patient peasantry of Denmark, Norway and Sweden accepted it as an improvement on the past.
Germany continued in the throes of revolution for more than thirty years, or until the peace of Augsburg, in 1555.
In the meantime England had revolted from Rome, in 1532; Denmark followed in 1538; Geneva in 1541; Norway and Sweden in 1550; Scotland in 1560; and Holland in 1581.
Never in the history of the world was fulfilled more literally the words that our Savior said in reference to the truth:
"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace but a sword," etc. (See Matt. x. 34, 38.) For more than a hundred years Europe continued to be the theatre of civil wars, until the nations were completely exhausted—in some cases their power and influence permanently weakened.
We might in view of its immediate results, be inclined to look upon the Reformation as producing more evil than good. Yet amid the wars, bloodshed, anarchy and persecutions, society made rapid steps in the path of progress.
The Reformation promoted national growth, and mental activity. During the middle ages, the various nations of Europe were in the condition of colonies to a vast religious empire whose center and seat of government was Rome. But after the peace at Augsburg, 1555, all this was changed. Each nation that accepted the Reformation, became socially and religiously as well as politically free. Rome was shorn of her power. She was no longer the supreme court of appeal; nor did the high dignitaries of those realms look to her for preferment.
The Reformation was obviously only partially successful. Where it succeeded it infused new energy; where it failed it produced reaction. Those nations that rejected the light, glimmering though it was, fell back into the double bondage of kingcraft and priestcraft. The Bastile of France was a symbol of the one; the Inquisition of Spain a type of the other. Wave after wave of revolution has swept over these unhappy countries. The guilty streets of Paris and Madrid have been deluged with blood until their population has sunk down into religious apathy or brazen infidelity.
In no particular was the effect of the Reformation more apparent than in the impulse it gave to national languages and literature. Latin had been the language of the Roman empire and Roman church. But when the nations revolted from this central authority they immediately began to cultivate their own native tongues. Learning was no longer confined to thefew, nor communicated through the medium of a foreign language, but became the heritage of the people.
The crowning work of Luther was in giving to the German people his German Bible and hymns. The earnest, vigorous German in which they were written fixed the future style of the language. The classic German of to-day is the German of Luther's Bible, and Luther's hymns.
In England, too, the same thing is to be marked. The English translation of the Bible, together with other works of that era, such as Shakspeare's dramas, Milton's poems and Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, have done more to stamp the character of our modern English than all later publications.
It may be asked, Why did not the human mind, in this era, free itself from its trammels, claim its true freedom and concede it to every one? The answer is, the range of knowledge was too narrow. The minds of men could not take a broader view of things than the horizon of their knowledge let them. Ignorance and superstition still held a terrible sway.
It is true that the whole character of that age bears the stamp of the German rather than the Italian intellect. It was the energy of a Luther, the learning and loving heart of a Melanchthon, the polished wit of an Erasmus, which then gave impulse and direction to the thoughts and opinions of the world, much more than the frivolous jesting of the infidel priests who thronged the streets of Rome and the halls of the Vatican. Yet even these great men were controlled by superstition, to a very great extent. Witchcraft was universally believed in at that time. Hundreds, aye thousands, of unoffending old women, with no other fault than that they were poor and old, were burned to death as witches, instead of being treated with that respect due to those who have lived many years and spent their best days for the good of others.
Social eminence was no safeguard against these delusions. When it was affirmed that Agnes Sampson, with two hundred other witches, had sailed in sieves from Leith to North Berwick church to hold a banquet with the devil, James I.,had the torture applied to the wretched woman, and took pleasure in putting appropriate questions to her. It then was charged that the two hundred old women had baptized and then drowned a black cat, thereby raising a dreadful storm in which the ship that carried the king narrowly escaped being wrecked. Upon this, Agnes was condemned to the flames. She died protesting her innocence, and piteously calling on Jesus to have mercy on her for Christian men would not.
Of all the early reformers, Luther and Melanchthon were perhaps the freest from superstition, and yet even they devoutly believed that in the Tiber, not far distant from the pope's palace, a monster had been found having the head of an ass, the body of a man and the claws of a bird. After searching their Bibles to find out what the prodigy meant, they at length concluded that it was one of the signs and wonders which were to precede the fall of the papacy, and published a pamphlet about it. Yet Luther and Melanchthon were the leaders of a great movement, the teachers of a great nation, and were in every respect the most influential persons in that nation. The people, credulous and grossly ignorant, listened and believed. We, at this distance of time and living in another realm of thought, can form but a faint conception of the effect these horrible conceits produced upon them.
But the greatest need of those times was the want of divine authority. The writings of Luther, Melanchthon, Erasmus and Calvin were never considered as inspired. Luther himself never professed to have divine authority for his teachings; but on the other hand denounced the very idea of inspiration.
When, in 1525, Munzer and his associates (commonly known as the prophets of Zwickaw) claimed divine authority, Luther was foremost in denouncing and persecuting them, and their followers. According to Mosheim, their principal crimes were in denying infant baptism and the right of a distinct class to preach for hire; and asserting that "God still continued to reveal His will to chosen persons by dreams and visions." (See Mosheim Vol. II, p. 128.) They also claimed "that God in His own good time would erect to Himself a holy church possessing a perfect organization, and would setapart for the execution of this grand design, a certain number of chosen instruments divinely assisted and prepared for this chosen work, by the aid and inspiration of His Holy Spirit." As a consequence they claimed the right to rebaptizing persons coming from other churches.
Mosheim further admits, "The extreme difficulty of correcting or influencing by the prospect of suffering, or even by the terrors of death, minds that are firmly bound by the ties of religion. In almost all the countries of Europe, an unspeakable number of those unhappy people preferred death, in its worst forms, to a retraction of their opinions. Neither the view of the flames that were kindled to consume them, nor the ignominy of the gibbet, nor the terrors of the sword, could shake their invincible constancy or make them abandon tenets that appeared dearer to them than life itself and all its enjoyments." (See Mosheim Vol. II, p. 131.)
To this sect and its principles Luther was bitterly opposed, but this opposition argues nothing in his favor, nor does it strengthen his authority. It may also be added that if Rome had divine authority, Luther had no right to secede from her. But if, as Luther claimed, she had through apostasy lost her authority, then, it may be asked, From whence did Luther receive his authority? In all this, Luther's actions were indeed logical, but fatal to the claims of modern sectarians who profess to be the ministers of Christ.
Luther was simply the battle-ax of God to hew down the edifice of popery which stood in the way of human progress. The churches, which, under the leadership of Luther, Melanchthon, Zwingle, Calvin, Knox and Henry VIII. of England, separated from Rome received the name of Protestant. And this very name implies that they were merely a protest against Rome, her teachings and authority. The right of protesting being once granted, it follows that others, also, have the right to protest against them. This principle caused the long and bloody wars which were only closed by the peace of Westphalia, in 1648, and then it was found that central and northern Europe had cast off the intellectual tyranny of Rome, and had established the right of every man to think for himself.
The Protestant party having thus established its existence, by protest and separation, was obliged to submit to the operation of the same principles. A decomposition into many rival sects was inevitable. These having no central or controlling authority, and no longer in fear of their great Roman adversary, commenced bitter warfares on each other; Lutherans persecuted Catholics and Catholics persecuted Protestants, and they in turn persecuted Puritans. Even Calvin proved the darkness of his own mind when he put to death the celebrated philosopher and physician, Michael Servetus, whose greatest crimes were that in religion he denied that the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost were one and the same person; and in science he had partially succeeded in discovering the circulation of the blood. The circumstances also were of the most atrocious character. For two hours he was roasted in the flames of a slow fire, begging for the love of God that they would put on more wood, or do something to end his torture.
Yet the death of Servetus was not without advantage to the world. Men asked with amazement and indignation if the atrocities of the Inquisition were again to be revived. They saw at once that intolerance was not confined to the Romish church.
In spite of all these commotions, science was making rapid progress. Copernicus lived at the same time as Luther and died two years before him. His was as brave a life as ever lived in story. For thirty-six years—at the very time the Protestant struggle was raging—he was working at that immortal book, in which he so clearly demonstrates the motions of the earth and the revolutions of the planets around the sun. But he did not dare to publish it until there was a lull in the political storm. He was then an old man in broken health. His book was in the printer's hands when he was on his death bed. He waited at death's door from day to day. At length the messenger arrived with the printed book. He received it with tears in his eyes, composed himself and died.
Copernicus was followed by Tycho Brahe, Kepler and Galileo, and last, but by no means least, Isaac Newton, that scientific giant, who burst through the fetters of the ages, and taughtman the laws, harmony and grandeur of the Creator's works.
During these troublous times Leonardo da Vinci wrote his celebrated works on mathematics and natural philosophy; and the arts of painting, sculpture and music were greatly improved under the direction of Titian, Corregio, Michael Angelo and Filippo Neri. A few years later Bruno wrote his work on the plurality of worlds.
Copernicus having died soon after the publication of his works, was beyond the reach of his persecutors. Galileo was brought before the Inquisition, and after years of imprisonment, only saved his life by denying the great truths he had discovered. But Bruno heroically refused to recant, and was tortured to death February 16th, 1700, a martyr to the cause of truth.
While these things were transpiring, great changes had taken place in the maritime and commercial affairs of the world. Bold navigators had sailed along the whole eastern coast of America, and a large part of the western coast. Tolerably accurate maps of the outlines of the western hemisphere, had been published as early as 1590. After these discoveries, the great centers of commerce were no longer to be found on the shores of the Mediterranean, but had shifted to the shores of the Atlantic.
England by her geographical position, betwixt the two continents, and in the very center of the inhabitable portion of the earth, as well as the indomitable energy of her sons, had rapidly become the foremost commercial nation of the world.
The great naval armament called the Invincible Armada, was equipped for the subjugation of England; but in the providence of God she destroyed the Armada and paralysed the influence of Spain.
In May, 1588, a Spanish fleet of one hundred and thirty ships sailed from the harbor of Lisbon for the English coast. Some of these ships were the largest that had yet been built; they carried eight thousand sailors, and twenty thousand Spanish troops. The pope had blessed the expedition and offered the sovereignty of England as the conqueror's prize. The Catholics throughout Europe were so confident of successthat they named the armament "The Invincible Armada." So vast was the number of ships that, as they sailed along in the form of an inverted V (thus ^), or in the form of a vast flock of wild geese, the distance from one extremity of the fleet to the other was more than seven miles.
But they were destined to realize that
"God moves in a mysterious way,His wonders to perform;He plants His footsteps in the sea,And rides upon the storm."
"God moves in a mysterious way,His wonders to perform;He plants His footsteps in the sea,And rides upon the storm."
Scarcely had the fleet entered the English channel when a storm arose which lasted more than a week. The wind blew a perfect gale from the south-west, so that it was impossible for them to return if they had so desired. The line of battle could no longer be kept up. They drifted helplessly and in disorder up the straits of Dover. When nearly opposite Calais, the English loaded several vessels with gunpowder, set them on fire and sent them into the Spanish fleet. The explosions caused terrible havoc. The Spanish admiral no longer thought of victory, but only of escape. But his disasters were not yet ended. Many of his vessels were wrecked on the shores of Norway and Scotland. In returning around the north coast of Ireland a second storm was experienced with almost equal loss. Only a few shattered vessels of this mighty armament returned to Spain to bring intelligence of the calamities that had overwhelmed the rest. The defeat of the Armada was regarded even then as the work of Providence. The Spanish king, when he heard the news, exclaimed, "I did not expect to fight the elements!" Thus was the triumph of the Protestant cause secured, the lovers of freedom throughout Europe were encouraged, and the power of Spain forever paralysed in the affairs of Europe. Henceforth the commerce and prosperity of Spain declined. King Philip, who had planned the Armada, died in 1598, and bequeathed a vast debt to his nation whose resources were already exhausted, notwithstanding her rich mines of gold and silver in the new world. In 1589, the next year after the destruction of the Armada, Henry IV,, the first Protestant king of France,ascended the throne, and by the Edict of Nantes secured to the Protestants the free exercise of their religion.
England, at that time the mistress of the seas, held the keys of the commerce of Europe. Her long conflict with her Catholic sovereigns, and the Catholic powers of Europe, had taught her self-reliance, and had educated her people in the principles of self-government. Her laws were the best the world then new. Henceforth she became the favored land of the seed of Abraham, and the asylum of the oppressed of every nation.
The foregoing will indicate to some extent the condition of society in Europe at the beginning of the seventeenth century. It is not surprising that under such circumstances men began to look toward America, as the land of refuge, where the institutions of liberty might be planted and fostered, and political institutions framed which would insure unto all, life, liberty and religious toleration.