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in 1538 , addressed a tetter to the Senate of Venice , from whick it has been inferred , though probably without sufhaec calamitas , quam hie , ubi totus viget Antichristus . In consequence of the danger and the sufferings to which they were thus exposed , these Reformers supplicate Luther to intercede for them with the German
Protestant princes , in order to induce them to take up their cause and prevail on the Senate to allow them the free exercise of their religion , while they abstained from political offences : Nam , cum tanta passi fueritis , ob earn duntaxat causam , ut nomen Christi ad nos usque perveniret , non est credendum ,
quod cum agnovenmus ilium , et sequaluur , in medio pene cursu deserarnur a vobis , quorum voce ad id vehementer incitati sumus , et ad hunc usque diem mirifice impellimur . Id auteni est , quantum hue usque e Spiritu Christi colligere potuimus , et fortasse vobis quoque non dispKcebit , ut , quamprimum fieri poterit
at Serenissimos Germaniae Principes , qui ex nostra sunt parte , et eorum bonus est nuraerus , auspice Christo , skut a multis accepimus , hanc rem totam deferatis , eosque per Christum rogetis , ut litteras commendatitias ad Senatum Venetiarum pro nobis conscribant , rogando nionendoque ut sese temperent ab ea decernendi licentia , atque judicandi libidine , quam
ministris Papa ? tarn inconsulto concessere ac quotidie saevius impertiuntur in pusillos Chr isti sub practextu ndei et religion is impie cruciandos , sed , permittant queinlibet ritu suo vivere , dum tamen seditio , ct publicoc quietis perturbatio caveatur , eamque rein ad generale concilium , quod ajtmt , in promptu esse , licet nunquaia futurum esse arbitremur , oninino referant ,
interim neminem cogi aut trahi ad fidem sinant . In the course of this letter , the learned and pious writer took occasion , in the . spirit of charity , to lament the disunion and the angry disputes which had been excited among the Protestant Reformers
in Germany and other places on the subject of the Lord ' s Supper , and to recommend to his correspondent to put an end to such dissensions . He learnt , however , from Luther ' s answer , that his benevolent wish , on this head , was not likely to be soon accomplished . The notice of the
subject seeing to have roused all the angry feelings of the Saxon Reformer against his opponents in this controversy ; for he particularly cautions the Italians against the " pestilent errors" of BuIIenger , Bucer and others , whom he stigmatizes as false prophets , who , at the instigation of
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ficient reason , that the members of that venerable body were not unfriendly to the cause of the Reformation . J ^ this epistle , the writer gives a brief exposition of the principal doctrine s which were professed by himself , and
the other German Reformers : but he subjoins to this statement an admonition to the Senators against the tenets of Servetus , warning them not to permit such heresies to be promulgated in their territories . *
There is extant a curious document which , if it be , as it purports , the genuine production of a sincere Catholic , may serve to shew , on the authority of its adversaries , the extent and strength of the feeling which existed in the North of Italy in favour
of the Reformation . This professes to be a letter addressed by Gerardus Busdragius , a suffragan Bishop in the diocese of Padua , to Cardinal Pisano . The writer expresses his serious apprehensions that the whole of Italy
would be shortly infested with what he calls cc the plague of Lutheranism ;" the inquisitors finding themselves , it seems , unequal to the task of staying the ravages of the malignant disease which was threatening the very existence of the Papal authority . This-
let-Satan , were knowingly fighting agaibst the truth . This language was afterwards severely censured by Melancthon . Besides the references above noted , see De Porta , Hist . Reform . Eccles . Roettearuni , Tom . I . Pt . ii . p . 10 . * It has been doubted whether
Mclancthon did actually address such a letter to the Venetian Senate , it appearing unlikely that he Should write in such terms and upon such a subject to a body known to be attached to the interests of the See of Rome ; and it has been conjectured that the report might have arisen
from his having addressed a letter " to some Venetians devoted to . the study of the gospel . " Ad J ^ enetos quosda rn Evangelii studiosos . But Bock saw the original edition of the letter referred to in the library of the University of Konigsberg . Ft was printed at Nuremburg , in 1539 ,
by Jerom Formschneider , and us intituled Epistola Rhilippi Melancthonls adrSenatum l * enetumm Oratio publice hdbita JVittenbergcB in promotion ^ Doctoris Jttr is , Da scripto Jure et Dignitate P ^ eterum Interpretum Juris . Bock , at supra , II . pp . 3 ^ 7 , 398 . De Porta , Hist . Reform . Eccles . Ksetrcarujro , Tom . I . Lib . ii . p . 6 J .
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88 The Nonconformist . No . XXIII .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1822, page 88, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2509/page/24/
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