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From Here to Forever
resented to the youthful emperor the danger of sacrificing, in the
cause of an insignificant monk, the friendship and support of Rome.
On the day following Luther’s answer, Charles announced to
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the diet his determination to maintain and protect the Catholic re-
ligion. Vigorous measures should be employed against Luther and
the heresies he taught: “I will sacrifice my kingdoms, my treasures,
my friends, my body, my blood, my soul, and my life. ... I shall
... proceed against him and his adherents as contumacious heretics,
by excommunication, by interdict, and by every means calculated
to destroy them.
Nevertheless, the emperor declared, Luther’s
safe-conduct must be respected. He must be allowed to reach his
home in safety.
Luther’s Safe-conduct in Jeopardy
The representatives of the pope again demanded that the Re-
former’s safe-conduct be disregarded. “The Rhine should receive
his ashes, as it had received those of John Huss a century ago.
But
princes of Germany, though avowed enemies to Luther, protested
such a breach of public faith. They pointed to the calamities which
had followed the death of Huss. They dared not call down upon
Germany a repetition of those terrible evils.
Charles, in answer to the base proposal, said: “Though honor
and faith should be banished from all the world, they ought to find a
refuge in the hearts of princes.
He was further urged by Luther’s
papal enemies to deal with the Reformer as Sigismund had dealt with
Huss. But recalling the scene when Huss in public assembly had
pointed to his chains and reminded the monarch of his plighted faith,
Charles V declared, “I should not like to blush like Sigismund.
Yet Charles deliberately rejected the truths presented by Luther.
He would not step out of the path of custom to walk in the ways of
truth and righteousness. Because his fathers did, he would uphold
the papacy. Thus he refused to accept light in advance of what his
fathers had received.
22
Ibid., bk. 7, ch. 9.
23
Ibid., bk. 7, ch. 9.
24
Ibid., bk. 7, ch. 9.
25
Lenfant, vol. 1, p. 422.