ial Constitution than he, that the individual
Estates of the Empire had full authority to preserve their independence
in spiritual matters, in every possible way, and then only did he yield
a reluctant consent to the league afterward formed among the
Protestants at Schmalkald. He was strongly opposed to inviting the
Swiss to take part in it, until they were reconciled to his view of the
Lord's Supper. More genial than Zwingli, trained to implicit obedience
in the monastery, in earlier life a hard student of the church-fathers;
whilst the Switzer in those years, when the most vivid and lasting
impressions are made, had devoted his attention to the history of the
ancient republics, the study of Roman and Grecian authors; Luther,
although he publicly and resolutely condemned the severity and
arbitrary conduct of princes, and warned them with boldness and power,
was yet far more inclined to the doctrine of passive resistance against
evil, the disarming of the enemy by innocent suffering, submission to
every existing form of government, even though unjust and tyrannical--a
doctrine which lies in the spirit of the Gospel, and was not only
preached but practised by Christ himself, and confirmed by his own
example. It is worth our while to hear the two Reformers on this
fundamental point. Their peculiar views of it have naturally influenced
their judgment in political matters.

"It is the law of Christ," says Luther, "not to resist evil, not to
grasp the sword, not to defend ourselves, not to revenge ourselves, but
to give up life and property, that he may take, who will. For we have
yet enough remaining in our Lord, who will not forsake us, since he
hath so promised. Suffering, suffering--the cross, the cross is the law
of Christ; this and nothing else. Will ye thus fight and not agree to
let the coat go with the cloak, but try to get back the cloak again,
though you should wish rather to die and leave the body, than not to
love your enemies and do them good? O ye easy Christians! Dear friends,
Christians are not so common, that they can be gathered in a heap; a
Christian is a rare bird! Would to God the most of us were only good,
pious heathen, observing the natural, to say nothing of the Christian
law! Christians are not to fight for themselves with the sword or
harquebusses, but with the cross and patience; even as their general,
Christ, does not wield the sword, but hangs upon the cross. Hence their
victory does not lie in