they gained ground rapidly, and in the year 1529 another assembly, known as the Second Diet of Spires, was called to consider the matter. This body issued an edict forbidding all persons doing anything to promote the spread of the new doctrines, until a general council of the Church should have investigated them and pronounced authoritatively upon them. Seven of the German princes, and a large number of the cities of the empire, issued a formal protest against the action of the Diet. Because of this protest, the reformers from this time began to be known as Protestants.
Causes that checked the Progress of the Reformation.—Even before the death of Luther,[1] which occurred in the year 1546, the Reformation had gained a strong foothold in most of the countries of Western Christendom, save in Spain and Italy, and even in these parts the new doctrines had made some progress. It seemed as if the revolt from Rome was destined to become universal, and the old ecclesiastical empire to be completely broken up.
But several causes now conspired to check the hitherto triumphant advance of Protestantism, and to confine the movement to the Northern nations. Chief among these were the divisions among the Protestants, the Catholic counter-reform, the increased activity of the Inquisition, and the rise of the Order of the Jesuits.
Divisions among the Protestants.—Early in their contest with Rome, the Protestants became divided into numerous hostile sects. In Switzerland arose the Zwinglians (followers of Ulrich Xwingle, 1484–1531), who differed from the Lutherans in their views regarding the Eucharist, and on some other points of doctrine. The Calvinists were followers of John Calvin (1509–1564), a Frenchman by birth, who, forced to flee from France
- ↑ After the death of Luther, the leadership of the Reformation in Germany fell to Philip Melanchthon (1497–1560), one of Luther's friends and fellow-workers. Melanchthon's disposition was exactly the opposite of Luther's. He often reproved Luther for his indiscretion and vehemence, and was constantly laboring to effect, through mutual concessions, a reconciliation between the Roman Catholics and the Protestants.
