DIET

The a embly of the states of Germany. We shall only notice the more remarkable of those which have been held on the affairs of religion. The Diet of Worms, in 1521, where Alexander, the pope’s nuncio, having charged Luther with heresy, the Duke of Saxony said, that Luther ought to be heard; which the emperor granted, and sent him a pa , provided he did not preach on this journey. Being come to Worms, he protested that he would not recant unle they would show him his errors by the word of God alone, and not by that of men; wherefore the emperor soon after outlawed him by an edict. The first Diet of Nuremberg was held in 1523, when Francis Cheregat, Adrian VI.’s nuncio, demanded the execution of Leo X.’s bull, and of Charles V.’s edict, published at Worms, against Luther: but it was answered, that it was nece ary to call a council in Germany, to satisfy the nation about its grievances, which were reduced to a hundred articles, some whereof struck at the pope’s authority, and the discipline of the Roman Church: they added that, in the interim, the Luther ans should be commanded not to write against the Roman Catholics, . All these things were brought into the form of an edict, and published in the emperor’s name. The second Diet of Nuremberg was in 1524. Cardinal Cangegio, Pope Clement VII.’s legate, entered the town incognito, for fear of exasperating the people there: the Luther ans having the advantage, it was decreed that, with the emperor’s consent, the pope should call a council in Germany; but, in the interim, an a embly should be held at Spire, to determine what was to be believed and practised; and that to obey the emperor, the princes ought to order the observance of the edict of Worms as strictly as they could. Charles, angry at this, commanded that edict to be very strictly observed, and prohibited the a embly at Spire. The first Diet of Spire was held in 1526. The emperor Charles V. being then held in Spain, named his brother, Archduke Ferdinand, to preside over that a embly, where the Duke of Saxony and Landgrave of He e demanded a full and free exercise of the Luther an religion, so that the Luther ans preached there publicly against Popery; and the Luther an princes’ servants had these five capital letters, V.D. M.I.Æ., embroidered on their sleeves, signifying, Verbum Dei manet in Æternum , to show publicly they would follow nothing else but the pure word of God . The archduke, not daring to oppose this, proposed two things, the first concerning the Popish religion, which was to be maintained in observing the edict of Worms; and the second concerning the aid demanded by Lewis, king of Hungary, against the Turks: the Luther ans prevailing about the first, it was decreed, that the emperor should be desired to call a general or national council in Germany within a year, and that in the mean time every one was to have liberty of conscience, and whilst they were deliberating in vain about the second, King Lewis was defeated and slain at the battle of Mohatz. The second Diet of Spire was held in 1529. It was decreed against the Luther ans, that wherever the edict of Worms was received, it shall be lawful for nobody to change his opinion; but in the countries where the new religion (as they termed it) was received, it should be lawful to continue in it till the next council, if the old religion could not be reestablished there without sedition. Neverthele the ma was not to be abolished there, and no Roman Catholic was allowed to turn Luther an; that the Sacramentarians should be banished out of the empire, and the Anabaptists put to death; and that preachers should nowhere preach against the doctrine of the Church of Rome. This decree destroying that of the first Diet, six Luther an princes, viz. the Elector of Saxony, the Marquis of Brandenburg, the two Dukes of Lunenburg, the Landgrave of He e, and the Prince of Anhalt, with the deputies of fourteen imperial towns, protested in writing, two days after, in the a embly, against that decree, which they would not obey, it being contrary to the gospel; and appealed to the general or national council, to the emperor, and to any other unprejudiced judge. From this solemn protestation came that famous name of Protestants , which the Luther ans took presently, and the Calvinists and other reformed Christians afterwards. They also protested against contributing anything towards the war against the Turks, till after the exercise of their religion was free in all Germany. Next year the emperor held the famous Diet of Augsburg. The first Diet of Augsburg was called in the year 1530, by the emperor Charles V., to reunite the princes about some matters of religion, and to join them all together against the Turks. Here the Elector of Saxony, followed by many princes, presented the confe ion of faith called the Confe ion of Augsburg. The conference about matters of faith and discipline being concluded, the emperor ended the Diet by a decree, that nothing should be altered in the doctrine and ceremonies of the Church of Rome till a council should order it otherwise. The second Diet of Augsburg was held in 1547. The electors being divided concerning the decisions of the Council of Trent, the emperor demanded that the management of this affair should be left to him, and it was resolved, that every one should conform to the council’s decisions. The third Diet of Augsburg was held in 1548, when, the commi ioners named to examine some memoirs about a confe ion of faith, not agreeing together, the emperor named three divines, who drew the design of that famous Interim so well known in Germany and elsewhere. The fourth Diet of Augsburg was held in 1550, when the emperor complained that the Interim was not observed, and demanded that all should submit to the council, which they were going to renew at Trent; but Duke Maurice, one of Saxony’s deputies, protested that their master did submit to the council on this condition, that the divines of the Confe ion of Augsburg not only should be heard there, but should vote also like the Roman Catholic bishops, and that the pope should not preside: but, by plurality of votes, submi ion to the council was resolved on. The first Diet of Ratisbon was held in 1541, for uniting the Protestants to the Church of Rome. The pope’s legate having altered the twenty-two articles drawn up by the Protestant divines, the emperor proposed to choose some learned divines that might agree peaceably upon the articles, and being desired by the Diet to choose them himself, he named three Papists, viz. Julius Phlugus, John Gropperus, and John Eckius; and three Protestants, viz. Philip Melancthon, Martin Bucer, and John Pistorius. After an examination and dispute of a whole month, those divines could never agree upon more than five or six articles, wherein the Diet still found some difficulties; wherefore the emperor, to end these controversies, ordered by an edict, that the decision of those doctors should be reserved to a general council, or to the national council of all Germany, or to the next Diet eighteen months after; and that, in the mean while, the Protestants should keep the articles agreed on, forbidding them to solicit anybody to change the old religion, (as they called it,) . But to gratify the Protestants in some measure, he gave them leave, by patent, to retain their religion, notwithstanding the edict. The second Diet at Ratisbon was held in 1546: none of the Protestant confederate princes appeared; so that it was easily decreed here, by plurality of votes, that the Council of Trent was to be followed, which yet the Protestant deputies opposed, and this caused a war against them. The third Diet of Ratisbon was held in 1557: the a embly demanded a conference between some famous doctors of both parties; which conference, held at Worms, between twelve Luther an and as many Popish divines, was soon di olved by the Luther ans’ division among themselves.— Brought on.