Chapter XIX: Section III

1. The Growth of Luther's Rebellion.--The thing most important, the one which drew with it the gravest consequences, and which led to the greatest good produced by the Reformation, was the rebellion of Luther against the authority of the pope. He did not come out in open rebellion at the first, but arrived at that state by gradual and imperceptible steps. When his opposition to the sale of indulgences met with reproof from the pontiff, he appealed from the pope ill-informed to the pope better-informed. When that pope better-informed still held him to be in error and refractory, he appealed to a general, free council of the whole church; but when no heed was taken of this appeal, and Leo, pressed by Eckius, Cajetan and others, excommunicated him, he then answered by burning the pope's bull of excommunication, and stood in open rebellion to the authority of the pontiff. When the pope appealed to Emperor Charles to make the excommunication of some force by the power of the secular authority vested in him, the emperor, contrary to the protests of the pope's legates, resolved to give the Reformer a hearing before proceeding against him. Accordingly Luther was summoned before the diet at Worms, where he not only insisted upon having a hearing before a free, general council of the church, but a council that would accept the Bible as the final authority upon the questions at issue between himself and the pontiff.

2. The Catholic Rule of Faith.--This was demanding more than the pope could grant; for the Catholics have never exalted the Bible above the church, but have always held that {243} the scriptures must be accepted as construed by the church, and in the days of Luther the pope was the church. The Catholic rule of faith in respect to the laws by which the church is to be governed is: "The word of God, at large, whether written in the Bible or handed down from the apostles by tradition, and as it is understood and explained by the Catholic church." [33] Besides their rule of faith, which is scripture and tradition, "Catholics acknowledge an unerring judge of controversy, or sure guide in all matters relating to salvation--viz., the church." [34]

3. This rule employed to interpret the Bible and to settle controversies that might arise, Luther rejected. Writing in defense of his conduct in burning the papal bull of excommunication and the decretals of the popes, he said:

Let no man's good sense be so far seduced as to reverence the
volumes I have burnt, on account of their great antiquity or their
high titles. Let every one first hear and see what the pope teaches
in his own books, and what abominable, poisonous doctrines are to
be found among the sacred, spiritual laws; and then let him freely
judge, whether I have done right or not in burning such writings.

4. Among the teachings in the decretals which Luther held up for special condemnation were the following:

(1) The pope has the power to interpret scripture, and to teach as
he pleases; and no person is allowed to interpret in a different
way. (2) The pope does not derive from the scripture but the
scripture derives from the pope, authority, power and dignity.

He then affirms that comparing together the different parts of the canon law, its language amounts to this:

That the pope is God on earth; above all that is earthly or
heavenly, temporal or spiritual; that all things belong to the
pope; and that no one must venture to say, what doest thou?[35]

{244}It was against this arbitrary authority that Luther rebelled.

5. Attempted Settlement by a General Council.--At last when through the influence of the emperor the pope consented to appoint a council, a difficulty arose as to where it should be held. The pope on his part seemed determined to have it assemble in Italy, or in some country where his influence would predominate; the Reformers were equally determined to submit their cause to no council outside of Germany. The difficulty had arisen in Germany; they insisted it should be settled by a council in Germany, or by a diet of the empire. The cause was never fairly tried by a council of the whole church; the revolt against the authority of the pope was sustained by an appeal to arms, as related in section I, Part III, of this work.

6. Revolution, not Rebellion.--Had that revolt against the Catholic church been a revolt against legitimate authority it would have been rebellion: but as it was against a usurped and hence an illegitimate authority, it was a justifiable revolution. For in ecclesiastical government, no less than in civil government, if a long train of abuses renders it odious, and those who execute it are tyrannical and usurp authority which the law of God does not sanction, by which unrighteous dominion is exercised over the minds of men, it is the right of the people to resist such authority: and refuse to sustain those who exercise that unrighteous dominion to please their vanity or gratify their ambition.

7. True Position, but a Corrupt Church.--The position that the church, officered by inspired prophets and apostles--men having by virtue of their priesthood and official position a right to the inspiration and revelations of God--the position that the church of Christ so officered, has the right to decide upon all controversies and to determine the meaning of scripture, is, beyond all questioning, a true position. But the difficulty with the Roman Catholic church was that it was no {245} longer the church of Christ, as already proven in