T

LAND AND THE COLOGNE

CATHEDRAL.

HE Rhine, the beautiful Rhine, is the most picturesque river in Europe, its sides being

castled crags, covered with rich vineyards. These, with their legends, make the Rhine very wierd and romantic. The Rhine is not so large and grand as our Hudson, yet it is doubly interesting when to the natural scenery is added the religious history. The Rhine region in many parts was Reformed land. For the Reformed doctrines spread northward from Heidelberg.

Indeed before the Reformed doctrines had entered Heidelberg, two places had already heard them. One was Marburg, which lies east of the Rhine district, about 70 miles northeast of Frankford on the Main. Marburg is beautifully located in the narrow valley of the Lahn, the town rising like steps around the hill, until it culminates in the picturesque castle on the hill-top. In this castle occurred the conference to which we referred in the life of Zwingli, when Luther and Zwingli were brought together. The ruler of that district of Germany in the reformation was Landgrave

Philip of Hesse, a brave statesmen and aggressive prince. He determined to unite the Reformed and Lutheran Churches if possible, so that they might present a united front to Catholicism. So he invited Luther and Melancthon to come from Wittenberg; and the Reformed leaders, Zwingli from Zurich, Ecolampadius from Basle and Bucer and Capito from Strassburg. Luther came unwillingly and when climbing the hill to the castle, tradition says, he kept repeating the words about the Lord's Supper, "This is my body." They met on October 1, 1529. The first day was spent in private conference, the Landgrave putting the aggressive Luther with the mild Ecolampadius and the ardent Zwingli with the more mediating Melancthon. These conferences prepared the way for the public conference held the next day, when all the reformers gathered before the two princes, the Landgrave of Hesse and the Duke of Wurtemberg, and discussed the Lord's Supper. Luther wrote in chalk on the table before him the words, "This is my body," so as to prevent himself from making any concessions. Zwingli held that the meaning of those words was to be taken figuratively. Luther held that it was literal, not figurative.

On the next day, unfortunately, the English

plague broke out in the crowded town, which broke up the conference. But before the reformers separated, the landgrave tried to get them to unite. Zwingli held out his hand for union. But Luther refused, saying "You have another spirit." Finally fifteen articles of faith were drawn up, called the "Marburg Articles," to which, they all agreed, except to the article about the Lord's Supper, where the Lutherans and the Reformed differed. So the two Churches were not united and the reformers went to their respective homes. But the effect of the conference was to open the eyes of Germany to what Zwinglianism or the Reformed doctrines really were. The Lutherans had thought that the Reformed were Arians and held to heretical doctrines. They were surprised to find, that, except on the Lord's Supper, the Reformed agreed with them. It can not be said, who was victorious in the debate at Marburg, Luther or Zwingli. But Lambert of Avignon, the reformer of Hesse, declared he went into the conference with his mind like a sheet of white paper, waiting for impressions. He afterwards accepted the Reformed doctrines, which shows the effect of the conference, although he unfortunately died very soon after the conference.

In the castle is still shown the beautiful Gothic

room, in which tradition says the conference took place, although it is probable that it took place in another part of the castle, in the east wing. But there is no room in the castle so suitable for it as the Gothic room. The room next to it contains a fine museum of Hessian documents, among them is the original Marburg article, and also the original of the Protest of Spire, 1529, signed by the German nobles, who were Protestants.

Just south of the castle on the hill-side is the Lutheran church, which was the scene of a riot against the Reformed in 1605. The year before (1604) the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, Maurice, the grandson of Landgrave Philip, introduced the Reformed faith into Hesse-Cassel, which had been low-Lutheran. The people of Marburg, who were high-Lutheran strongly resented this. And when the Reformed ministers attempted to preach in the Lutheran church, they threw one of the ministers out of the church. Another fled to the parsonage for a refuge, but the former minister's wife, angered at the introduction of the Reformed faith, refused to let him in and he fled through the streets, now pursued by a woman with a washing bottle, now by a laborer with a flail. Marburg has remained Lutheran to this day, but a Reformed con