lution-principles, would be both unjust and absurd; possibly, when the prerogative and powers claimed and exercised by his predecessors are taken into consideration, his tragical end may be thought more than an expiation of his errors. With regard to his enemies, although liberty and religion were their pretended motives, power and emolument were their real incentives; and that tribunal, which doomed their sovereign to death for a breach of the law, were themselves assembled, and acted, contrary to, and in defiance of those very laws." The Castle appears, by Domesday-book, to have been built by William Fitz-Osborne, Earl of Hereford, and the first lord of the island, soon after the Norman conquest. It stands on a small hill S.W. of the town of Newport, and overlooking the village of Carisbrooke. The walls of the original fortress cover about an acre and a half, these are surrounded by a more modern fortification, faced with stone, of an irregular pentagonal form, defended by five bastions; these outworks, which are in circuit about three quarters of a mile, and encompassed by a deep ditch, include in the whole about twenty acres: they were added in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and are said to have been constructed upon the same plan as the fortifications of Antwerp, and by the same engineer, Genebella, an Italian. The entrance (represented in the engraving) is on the west side between two bastions, through a small stone gateway, on the arch of which is the date, "1598," with the initial letters "E. R." This gate leads to a second (see engraving), of much greater antiquity, machicolated and flanked by two large round towers. This was built in the time of Edward the Fourth. On entering the area, the chapel of St. Nicholas, with its enclosed cemetery, is seen on the right hand: the present building was erected on the ruins of an ancient chapel, endowed when Domesday-book was compiled. Over the door is carved "G. ii. 1738;" showing the date of the present building. On the left hand are the ruins of some buildings, said to be those in which Charles the First was confined; and a window is shown for that through which he attempted to escape. Beyond these are the barracks and governor's house. In the N.E. angle of the base-court, on a mount raised considerably above the other buildings, stands the donjon, or keep; its figure is an irregular polygon: the ascent to it is by seventy-two steps at the side of the mount. This bears marks of very great antiquity, and was probably a fortress of the Saxons; round which, Fitz-Osborne erected the outer walls. Under a small building in the castle-yard is a well more than two hundred feet deep, whence the water for the use of the garrison was drawn by means of a large wheel turned by an ass. These ruins, as well from their situation as from the historic scenes with which they are connected, are all worthy the attention of the traveller.-E. A. I. TO CARISBROOK CASTLE. OFT have I climbed with weary step the brow, GENERA Saturday Magazine. No 121. MAY TERATURE & EDUCA NOT 24TH, 1834. PRICE ONE PENNY. UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. MARTIN LUTHER. nor could the remonstrance of Cajetan, nor the subsequent present of the "Consecrated Rose" to Frederick, by the Pope, induce him to withhold that support, which, both from policy and principle, he had bestowed. Luther's doctrines were now rapidly spread, and readily received: many great and learned men assisted and encouraged him; among others, Philip Melancthon, Andrew Carolostadius: and even Erasmus secretly admitted the truth of the tenets he had not the courage to avow. In 1519, Luther had disputed again with John Eckius, at Leipsic, upon the doctrines of purgatory, indulgences, and the supre THERE is probably no period more interesting, or important, in history, than that which is comprised in the biography of this celebrated man. The exactions of the Roman Pontiffs, the lax discipline of the Popish clergy, the distresses of the people, and that spirit of scriptural and general investigation, which the revival of learning and the invention of the art of printing had created and confirmed, all tended to aid the progress of that important religious Reformation, to effect which, by the will of Providence, he was the happy instrument and cause. Born at Isleben, in Saxony, on November 10th, 1483, of humble and obscure descent, Luther dis-macy of the Pope; a dispute, which tended but to tinguished himself at a very early period by his confirm each party in their views, and increase the energy and abilities. He studied first at Magdeburg, interest of the controversy. Such was the progress from whence he was removed to Eysenach, a city of he had made, when Charles the Fifth arrived in Thuringia, where he remained four years, and Germany, who, finding it politically expedient to entered, in 1501, the University of Erfurt, going secure the Pope's friendship, determined on the through the usual courses of logic and philosophy. sacrifice of Luther. A safe pass, under the Emperor's hand, was consequently forwarded to him, with a summons to appear at the Diet held at Worms, in March 1521. With this Luther did not hesitate to comply: in vain his friends urged the danger; reminded him of the fate of John Huss, condemned, under similar circumstances, to death. Superior to the fears of a similar result, he boldly declared, "I am lawfully called to appear in that city, and thither I will go in the name of the Lord, though as many devils as there are tiles on the houses were there combined against me." At his appearance on this memorable occasion, princes and personages of the highest rank treated him with every demonstration of respect. He replied with firmness to the charges, and refused to retract, even although many of the Diet were willing to proceed to his immediate execution. At the age of twenty, he took his Master's Degree, and, in compliance with the wishes of his parents, commenced the study of the Civil Law. His mind, very much alive to serious sentiments, was, however, considerably affected and influenced by the death of a companion by his side, in a violent thunder-storm; and this, together with his naturally ardent and enthusiastic temper, induced him to retire into a convent of Augustinian friars; nor could the entreaties of his friends divert him from a course, which he thought his duty to his Creator compelled him to adopt. Here he soon acquired great reputation for learning, and having also found a copy of the Bible in the library of his monastery, he gave up all other pursuits for its constant study. The great progress which he made, and the name for sanctity and erudition which he had acquired, induced Frederic, Elector of Saxony, to appoint him Professor of Philosophy and Theology, in the University he had just founded at Wittemberg on the Elbe. In this manner he was employed, when the sale of Popish Indulgences was published in 1517. Pope Leo the Tenth, impoverished by his extravagance, had recourse to this method of raising money, to continue the building of St. Peter's at Rome, which had been commenced by Julius the Second. Albert, Elector of Metz, and Archbishop of Magdeburg, was commissioned to effect their sale in Germany; and he employed for this purpose John Tetzel, a Dominican friar of dissolute habits, who boasted he had power to sell pardons, not only for sins past, but for sins to come." The warm and impetuous temper of Luther, excited by the circumstance, did not suffer him to continue a silent spectator of this delusion. From the church of Wittemberg he denounced it; examined the arguments on which it rested, and pointed out the danger of relying for salvation upon any other means than those appointed in the revealed word of the Almighty. He was immediately opposed in these opinions by Tetzel, Eccius, a celebrated divine of Augsburg, and Prierias, a Dominican friar. The tardy attention of Leo the Tenth was now attracted to the dispute; he cited Luther to appear at Rome, but finally granted his request to be heard in his defence, against the accusation of heresy, before Cardinal Cajetan, at Augsburg, in October, 1520. The result may be imagined. Men rarely admit the wisdom of an inferior, or the truth of tenets opposed to selfish interest. Cajetan debated but to condemn, and desired Luther to retract the errors he had preached. Assured of the Elector's protection, and confident in his cause, Luther immediately refused; A few days after he left the city, Charles issued his edict, excommunicating him as an heretic, and requiring all persons to concur in seizing his person as soon as the term of his safe conduct was expired. Luther was, however, saved by the Elector, who contrived his seizure and detention in the strong castle of Wartburg, where he remained in security till the spirit of persecution was in some degree subdued. In this interval, he replied to the University of Paris, and Henry the Eighth of England, who had received the title of Defender of the Faith, for his answer to Luther's work, Of the Captivity of Babylon. After leaving his retreat in 1522, he completed his translation of the Bible in the German tongue, which was read with wonderful avidity by persons of all ranks, and, until the year 1524, he continued, by publications of every description, to undermine the power and examine the opinions of the Church of Rome. Clement the Seventh, who had now succeeded to Adrian and Leo in the Papal chair, with a view of avoiding the demands of the Germans for a General Council to terminate the dispute, instructed Cardinal Campeggio, an artful man, to appear as his nuncio at the Diet of the empire, assembled at Nuremberg. Campeggio, while craftily condemning the vices of the inferior clergy, earnestly exhorted the Diet, in a long discourse, to execute the former decree which had been passed relative to Luther; but his opinions were coldly received, and they separated without enjoining any additional severities against him or his party. In this year, 1524, he renounced the monastic habit, and the year after married Catherine à Boria,a nun of noble family, who had abjured the vows in 1523, and whom he had intended to marry to Glacius, a minister of Ortamunden. This step led to the bitterest opposition, both from his opponents and supporters; certain, however, of the correct motives of his conduct, he bore their reproaches with his usual fortitude. see. In 1526, the Reformation lost its first protector, Frederick, Elector of Saxony, but the cause was now triumphant, and councils were successively summoned at Augsburg and Spires, to take into consideration the state of Religion, and it was at the celebrated meeting of the latter, in 1529, that the Elector of Saxony, the Marquis of Brandenburg, the Landgrave of Hesse, the Dukes of Lunenberg, the Prince of Anhalt, together, with the deputies of fourteen free cities, entered a protest against its On that account decrees, as impious and unjust. they were distinguished by the name of Protestants, a name now applied to all dissenters from the Roman But, as it is necessary, as well for the repression of errors, as the inculcation of truths, that, some certain well-defined principles of religious beliet should be adopted by every sect, the Protestants employed Melancthon to draw up a confession of their faith, in terms as little offensive to the Catholics, as a regard for truth would admit. This, which was called the Confession of Augsburg, was at last amended by Luther, who had now but to contemplate with pious gratitude, and hope, the mighty work which he had finished, and the remainder of whose life was spent in exhortations to princes, and prayers to his Creator, for the progress and stability of that pure system of Religion he had preached. Appearances of danger, however, daily increased, the terrors and forces of the church, and of the emperor, were alike to be directed against the Protestant church; but Luther was saved by a seasonable death, from beholding or feeling its destructive rage. Having in 1546, gone to his native city of Isleben, to settle a dissension among the Counts of Mansfelt, he was seized with inflammation in the stomach, which put an end to his life, in the sixty-third year of his age. Such was Martin Luther, whose character alternately elevated and depressed by the admiration of disciples, or the hatred of opponents, stands yet preeminent for the brightest virtues that give dignity to man. Combining zeal for truth, undaunted intrepidity in its defence, and abilities equal to his unchanging industry in the propagation of its principles, with that purity of manners, and sanctity of feeling, which become the doctrine which he preached, he has left by his own actions, not by exaggerated praise or evil minded censure, the best criterion for the regulation of opinions as concerns him, for the present age, and for all time. The good that he effected it is impossible to estimate; he found the Bible a scaled book, he left it a living letter; it was the exclusive possession of the rich, he has left it a precious inheritance of the poor; and, in the emphatic language of the historian, "By him, the lofty fabric of superstition, from the abuse of indulgences to the intercession of the Virgin, has been levelled with the ground. Myriads of both sexes of the monastic profession have been restored to the liberty and labours of social life, and the imitations of paganism have been succeeded by a pure and spiritual worship of prayer and thanksgiving, the most worthy of man, and the fittest offering to the Deity." The engraving which illustrates this article, is a view of the interior of the chamber which Luther occupied, in the old Augustine convent at Erfurt, and which still continues to attract the attention of S. H. the stranger CHRISTIANITY AND FALSE PHILOSOPHY CONTRASTED Its splendour on a world of woe: Yet, hark, amid the thunder's sound, And oh, how chang'd those scenes of late How bright those hills once wrapt in gloom, P. S. Q. R To the natural eye this world is opaque, and shows only its surface; to the eye of faith, it is transparent, and may be seen through, so as to afford a view of somewhat beyond it. SKELTON. THE Christian parent ought to be a living exemplification of Christianity. His house, his habits, his family, his associates, his pursuits, his recreations, ought all to be so regulated, as to evince that religion is, indeed, the parent of order, the inspirer of good sense, the well-spring of good humour, the teacher of good manners, and the perennial source of happiness and peace.--BISHOP JEBB. |