taken on. The church ordered all of Luther's works burned, but few carried out this command with any enthusiasm. In 1520, he wrote a series of pamphlets entitled An Appeal to the Nobility of the German Nation, On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church and On Christian Liberty, which together set forth a plan for reforming the church. These contained ideas so radical that it would be impossible, as Desiderius Erasmus the great humanist and historian said, to make peace with the papacy. The pamphlets called for a return to the Scriptures and Epistles as the sole belief system of the church, for a priesthood for the common man instead of an exclusive clergy, and a doctrine of justification by faith alone. It must be asserted, though, that Luther and his followers still had no intention of removing themselves from the Catholic church. They wanted reform, not separation. But this reformation never happened. The leaders of different European countries swore allegiance to either one side or the other. Some governments followed the Protestant doctrine out of faith, others because it was a useful political tool in explaining their actions. In the Netherlands, for example, the Protestant Reform not only took the form of a religious upheaval but also of a political rebellion against the Spanish rulers. Everywhere, Europe was split along religious lines. Luther was tossed from one place to another by this maelstrom, brought before councils and protected by supportive monarchs. Luther eventually died in 1546. In his final days, he had become a bitter and often disappointed man. The Reformers who came to take his place seemed to him too fanatic and too proud. They had held back when he alone had faced the fury of the Pope, and now they had burst forth triumphantly now that the papacy had been broken. The Reformation continued outside of Germany, occurring mostly in the north and outside of England. Following Luther came Martin Bucer to lead the Germa...
