DISCUSSIONS
35
DISCUSSIONS
awarded to the Catholics, many prominent members
of the sect were converted, and Donatism was doomed
to a lingering death. Another memorable disputation
took place in Africa a couple of centuries later (645)
between St. Maximus, Abbot of Chrysopolis (Scutari)
and the Monothehte Patriarch Pyrrhus, who had been
driven from Constantinople by popular violence. It
was conducted with rare skill and ended with the tem-
porary conversion of Pyrrhus to the orthodox faith.
During the Reformation Period. — At the out- break of the Lutheran and Zwinglian revolution, tumultuous discussions of religious subjects grew to be epidemic. Luther opened the revolt by inviting discussion upon his ninety-five theses, 31 Oct., 1517. Although ostensibly framed to furnish matter for an ordinary scholastic dispute, Luther did not seriously contemplate an oral debate; for several of his theses were at variance with Catholic doctrine and could not be discussed at a Catholic university. Instead, they were widely scattered through Europe, everywhere creating confusion. An opportunity of dissemina- ting more openly his peculiar tenets regarding justifi- cation by faith alone, the slavery of the human will, and the sinfulness of good works was offered to the Reformer by his order during a convention held at Heidelberg in April, 1518, when he directed a dispute on twenty-eight theological and forty philosophical theses in the presence of many professors, students, citizens, and courtiers. Though his novel tenets were viewed with deep displeasure by the older heads, he was successful in winning over several of his younger hearers, notably Brenz and the Dominican, Martin Bucer. Emboldened by the outcome of the Heidel- berg Dispute, and having discovered that the road to success lay in captivating the young, the agitator made futile attempts at organizing disputations at the seats of higher learning; but no university would lend its halls to the dissemination of un-Catholic doctrines.
The imprudence of Dr. Eck, who had become in- volved in a literary contest with Carlstadt and had hastily challenged his adversary to a public debate, gave Luther his long-looked-for opportunity. With his customary energy, he took the direction of the in- tellectual duel, encouraged both antagonists to per- severe, and arranged the details. The city of Leipzig was chosen as the scene. Although the faculty of the university entered a vigorous protest, and the Bishops of Merseburg and Brandenburg launched prohibitions and an excommunication, the disputation took place under the segis of Duke George of iSaxony. The dis- content of the Catholics was increased when they learned that Luther had secured permission to sul> join a controversy with Eck on the subject of papal supremacy. Eck came to Leipzig with one attend- ant; Luther and Carlstadt entered the city accompan- ied by an army of adherents, mostly students. The preliminaries were carefully arranged; after which, from 27 June to 4 July (1519) Eck and Carlstadt de- bated the subject of free will and our ability to co- operate with grace. Eck had the better part of the argument throughout, and forced his antagonist to make admissions which stultified the new Lutheran doctrine. Thereupon Luther himself came forward to assail the dogma of Roman supremacy by Divine right. Sweeping away the authority of decretals, councils, and Fathers, he discovered to his hearers, and possibly also to himself, how completely he had abandoned the basic principles of the Catholic religion. There could no longer remain a doubt that a new Hus had arisen to scourge the Church. The debate on the primacy was succeeded by discussions of purgatory, indulgences, penance, etc. On 14 and 15 July, Carl- stadt, regaining courage, resumed the debate on free will and good works. Finally, Duke George declared the disputation closed, and each of the contendents de- parted, as usual, claiming the victory.
Of the two imiversities, Erfurt and Paris, to which
the final decision had been reserved, Erfurt declined
to intervene and returned the documents; Paris sat in
judgment upon Luther's writings, attaching to each of
his opinions the proper theological censure. The
most tangible outcome of this disputation was that,
while it opened the eyes of Duke George to the true
nature of Luther's revolt and attached him unalter-
ably to the Church of his fathers, on the other hand it
gained for the Lutheran cause the valuable aid of the
youthful Melanchthon, who never understood the
merits of the controversy, but was ovsrawed by the
vigorous personality of the Reformer.
The Leipzig Disputation was the last occasion on which the ancient custom of swearing to advance no tenet contrary to Catholic doctrine was observed. In all subsequent debates between Catholics and Prot- estants, the bare text of Holy Writ was taken as the sole and sufficient fountain of authority. This, natur- ally, placed the Catholics in a disadvantageous posi- tion and narrowed their prospect of success. This was particularly the case in Switzerland, where Zwingli and his lieutenants organized a number of one-sided debates under the presidency of tomi councils already won over to Protestantism. Such were the disputa- tions of Zurich, 1523, of Swiss Baden, 1526, and of Berne, 1528. In all of these the result was invariably the same, the abolition of Catholic worship and the de- secration of churches and religious institutions.
Passing over the numerous futile attempts made by the Protestants to heal their intestine quarrels by means of colloquies, we come to the still more hopeless efforts of Charles V to bring the religious troubles of Germany to a "speedy and peaceful termination" by conferences between the Catholic and the Protestant divines. Since the Protestants proclaimed their de- termination to adhere to the terms of the Augsburg Confession, and, in addition, formally repudiated the authority of the Roman pontiff and "would admit no other judge of the controversy than Jesus Christ", it was to be foreseen that the result of conferences thus conducted could only be to waste time and increase the acrimony already existing between the parties. This was as clear to Pope Paul III as to Luther, both of whom predicted the inevitable failure. However, since the emperor and his brother, Iving Ferdinand, persisted in making a trial, the pope authorized his nuncio, Morone, to proceed to Speyer, whither the meeting had been summoned for June, 1540. As the plague was raging in that city the conference took place in Hagenau. Neither the Elector of Saxony nor the Landgrave of Hesse could be induced to at- tend. Melanchthon was absent through a hea\'y ill- ness brought on by grief and shame at the ignoble part he had taken in the affair of the Landgrave's bigamy. The leading Protestant theologians at the conference were Bucer, Myconius, Brenz, Blaurer, and Urbanus Rhegius. 'The most prominent on the Catholic side were Bishop Faber of Vienna and Dr. Eck. Present and actively intriguing to prevent an accommodation was John Calvin, then exiled from Geneva; he ap- peared as confidential agent of the King of France, whose settled policy it was to perpetuate religious dis- cord in the domains of his rival, .\fter a month wasted in useless wrangling. King Ferdinand pro- rogued the conference to reassemble at Worms on 28 October.
Undismayed by the failure of the Hagenau confer- ence, the emperor made more strenuous efforts for the success of the coming colloquy at Worms. He dis- patched his minister Granvella and Ortiz, his envoy, to the papal court. The latter brought with him the celebrated Jesuit, Father Peter Faber. The pope sent the Bishop of Feltri, Tommaso Campeggio, brother of the great cardinal, and ordered Morone to attend. They were not to take part in the debates, but were to watch events closely and report to Rome. Granvella opened the proceedings at Worms, 25 Nov., with an
