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been disposed of . * This proceeding did not , however , suppress the spirit of inquiry vvhich had been excited ,
* The circumstance is thus related by Bernardus Shenkius , a German monk , residing at the time at Venice , in a letter to George Spalatinus , the Secretary of Frederick , Elector of Saxony , dated the 19 th September , 1520 : Legi qusc de domino Martino Luther petiisti , et certe bona fama viri diii apud nos fuit ; dicurit autem : Caveat sibi d Pontifice . Ante
duos menses decem libri de suis apportati , et statini venditi fuerant , antequam novdssem . In principio ver 6 hujus mensis supervenit mandatum Papae , et domini Patriarchae Veneti , inhibens libros , quos dominus Patriarcha apud librarios investigando unicum imperfectum invenit , et abstulit . Ego habere desideravj , sed prae timore librarius non vult adducere . —
Gerdes , ubi supra , p . 7 . Notwithstanding this show of vigour , the publication of the Bull was postpoued ; and , indeed , it seems doubtful whether the first Bull was ever published at Venice . In the year following ( 1521 ) the publication of a Bull took place , but this was probably the second Bull , which was issued on the 6 th January , in that year . The reluctance of the Senate to give their
sanction to this instrument , which excommunicated Luther , and all who possessed his books , or favoured his opinions , is evident from the manner in which they caused it to be made public in their city ; for they would not suffer
it to be read until after the people had been confessed , and nearly the whole of the congregation had quitted the church The circumstance is thus related by Shenkius , in a letter to Spalatinus , dated the r April , 1521 : Mnum dolens dico ,
quomam Patriarcha Venetiarum secunda ieria Paschae , jussu Papae , ab omnibus prjedicatoribus , fecit excommunicari Ma-Kistruin Martinum Luther , et onines habentes libros suos , quoscunque et fautoms ipsius cujuscunque gradus et status , cum niagna totius Germanise divisione , tanquaiu consentientis . In hoc tamen
Domini Veneti prudenter egerant , quod uoluerunt hoc publicari , nisi postquam populus fuerat confessus , dimisso iicmpe coetu , aut maxima ejus parte , —Gerdes , "bi supra , p . 7 ; Seckendorf , Hist . Lu-^ er , Lib . i . pp . H 5 , 116 . A copy of Jhe second Bull against Lutherprinted
, b the authority of the Papal Government at Rome , in 1546 , is now before me . Ihere is a singular error of the press in the date of this instrument , vigesimo tertio being inserted for vigesimo primo . keo the Tenth waa succeeded by Adrian
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but apparently served rather to extend and strengthen it . In 1524 , Cardinal Campejus , who attended the Diet of Nuremburg that year as the Pope ' s Nuncio , bitterly complained , not only in respect to Germany , that it had embraced the doctrine of Luther , but
also of Italy , because , even at that period , the writings of Luther were generally read at Venice . And he seems to have considered the case of the Italians as even more hopeless than that of the Germans : for such , he
remarks , was the genius of the Germans , that whilst they readily received novel opinions , they as readily abandoned them ; but that what the Italians had once embraced they steadily retained . * That the Cardinal ' s
lamentations were not without good grounds , may be collected from some documents relating to this period - from which it appears that numerous converts had been gained over to the cause of the Reformation in the Venetian States . Luther was apprised so early as the year 1528 of the existence of these Italian Reformers ; and , in 1542 , he received a communication from them , in a letter which was written by Balthasar Alterius , at that time Secretary to the English legation at Venice , "in the name of the brethren , "
as they are styled , " Venice , Vincenza and Trevigio . " -f Melancthon , in 1522 . The date of the Pontificate is right , being the eighth year , " anno octavo . " Leo was made Pope in 15 Li .
* Bock , Hist . Antitrin . II . p . M )() ; Gerdes , ubi supra , p . 8 . Germanos eo esse ingenio , ut nova cupide accipiant , sed et facile deponant ; Italos pcrtinaciter inhitrere semel aeceptis . f Seckendorf , L . Ill - § xcvii . pp . 40 l r et seqq . ; Gerdes , pp . 61 , et seqq . From this letter it appears that the friends of the Reformation in the Venetian States
were at this time very narrowly watched , and that some of them had already been driven into exiie . — Proscribuntur , the writer states , multi , quorum aliqui in Cenobates ( forte Genabates ) secessisse dicuntur , quidam Basileam , et in Helvetias , alii in nnitimas regiones , plurimi
capiuntur , ut perpetuo tandem carcere contabescant : nullus tamen est qui eri ~ piat innocentein , qui judicium faciat pauperi et orphano , qui patrocinetur gloria ? Christi . Omnes in unum conspirarunt , ut opprimant Dominum et Unctum ejus > nullibi autem magis saevit aut pncvalet
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The Nonconformist . No . XXIII . 87
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1822, page 87, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2509/page/23/
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