first began his attack on the same idolatrous system, Erasmus approved of his conduct, and encouraged him to persevere in his endeavours to lead his countrymen to a saving acquaintance with the Scriptures of truth. It must, however, be acknowledged, that though Erasmus prepared the way for the reception of the Reformation, he afterwards turned his back on the Reformer. His love of ease and of the esteem of persons in high rank, and his dread of losing the pensions which they conferred on him, soon led him to censure Luther as too daring; and, at length, to employ his pen against him.

A simultaneous activity, a desire of improvement, and of personal distinction, connected with the progress; new directions of thought, and new facts or opinion resulting from industrious research, and very varied pursuits, appeared to be now rising in every department of human exertion and enquiry. The labours and the results were not, as in former times, partial and limited; the mind began to act with an universality, and with an emulous diversity which had never been witnessed by preceding ages. In science, in art, in war, in literature, in mechanical inventions, in navigation, in polity, and in a more diffused and elaborate education, as well as on the venerated topics of religion and its establishments, individuals from every class of life, and in every region of the continent, emerged into notice by their activity, their improvements, their speculations and their discoveries. The intellectual principle, which animates and guides the human frame, displayed, in all things, an excited and an investigating curiosity; awakening from the sleep of its former contentedness, and never to be deadened or satiated again.

The kindling feelings of mankind assumed, at this time, a public form in Hungary, while Luther was living a contented Monk and an eager Papist, when, in 1508, the Waldenses petitioned the Hungarian King to allow of their dissent from the Roman See, on the doctrinal points which they respectfully stated. Their apology anticipated and argued most of the tenets for which Luther and his religious co-operators afterwards contended. They made faith their great principle, and the Scriptures its foundation; they desired the Holy

Sacrament to be administered in the exact words of our Saviour, without any addition, to preclude all controversy, and they stated that purgatory was but the invention of the well known Thomas Aquinas, and that it had not been thought of, or used as a formal doctrine, before he conceived and suggested it. Analagous dispartings of opinions from the Papal Creed were spreading so eagerly in Switzerland, that Zuinglius started there simultaneously with Luther, and with equal effect; he began to teach at Zurich in 1519, and was successful in overturning Popery in Zurich, Berne, Constance, Geneva, Strasburgh, and Basle.

CHAPTER III.

LUTHER.

THIS great Reformer was born at Eisleben, a small town of Upper Saxony, on the 10th of November, 1483. Though his parents were not in affluent circumstances, they were enabled to give him a liberal education. Luther was, accordingly, sent first to a school at Magdeburg, and, afterwards, to one at Eisenach, where he spent four years, during which period he made rapid progress in his studies. In 1501 he entered the University of Erfurt, in Thuringia, where he took the degree of Master of Arts, with the intention of studying the civil law. From this intention he was diverted by seeing one of his companions struck dead with lightning, which made such a deep impression on his mind, that, contrary to the remonstrances of his father, he entered a Monastery of Augustinian Friars at Erfurt, at the age of 22. Here he em

ployed himself in reading, meditation, and prayer, together with incessant labor at his studies. His desire to attain knowledge was exceedingly ardent; but, to his great grief, among the numerous books which he perused, he found nothing which could lead him to an acquaintance with divine truth.

At length, quite unexpectedly, he was conducted, by divine providence, to the very fountain of true learning. In 1507, the second year after he had entered the Monastery, he discovered a Latin copy of the Bible in the library, which had lain there for a long time quite neglected. He immediately applied himself to the study of this inestimable treasure, when, to his astonishment, he found that not only were the truths which it contained withheld from the people, but that innumerable errors were substituted in their place.

The Bible now became the daily companion of Luther; the most striking passages of which he committed to memory: he was greatly refreshed too by the discourses of a good old Monk, who shewed him that pardon of sin was to be obtained only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Almost the whole of his time was now spent in acquiring the knowledge of Divine truth and secular learning. His fame soon spread through the country, and he was not only held in high estimation by his countrymen, but considered the most ingenious and learned man of his order in Germany.

In contemplating the qualities and endowments of Luther, we have no hesitation in affirming that it is not easy to find a more blameless, or even a more excellent character. No man, since the Apostles days, had penetrated into the sacred oracles with such singular felicity; he was endowed with a greatness of soul far beyond the common lot of man; a dangerous gift in a fallen creature! It was through divine grace that he was enabled to display and persevere in a conduct the MOST consistent, incorrupt, and disinterested; his bold and adventurous spirit never appears, in any one instance, to have made the smallest encroachment on the most perfect integrity. Humane, generous, and placable, he was rarely diverted from the path of equity, and, notwithstanding the uncommon

vehemence of his temper, he was often submissive and condescending. With an exquisite sensibility and readiness of conception, with a zeal and an imagination which never remitted their ardour for a single moment, he was most perfectly free from enthusiasm, and with a great capacity, and an unparalleled intrepidity, he seems to have been devoid of ambition, and contented to live all his days in very moderate circumstances. ONLY the wise disposer of all events, for the glory of his own name, and for the revival of true religion in in Europe, by the effectual operation of his Holy Spirit, could have produced at the season when most wanted so faithful a champion; one possessed of so much vigour of intellect, of so daring a spirit, and of so truly humble and Christian-like a temper.

Such was the illustrious Luther when he was called upon by Divine Providence to enter the lists alone, and without one assured human ally, against the hosts of the pretended successor of St. Peter, who was then domineering over the Christian world in all his grandeur and plenitude of power.

Frederick, Elector of Saxony, having founded an University at Wittemberg, was so charmed with the eloquence of Luther, that he resolved to make him one of its teachers. Luther was, accordingly, called to the chair of philosophy at the early age of 25, where he soon distinguished himself by his acuteness, his learning, and the liberality of his sentiments. A dispute having shortly afterwards arisen, between seven Convents of Augustinians and the Vicar General, which was carried by appeal to the Pope, Luther was sent to Rome in 1510, for the purpose of bringing this matter to an amicable termination; which he accomplished with so much ability and success, that, on his return, he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity. The effect which this journey produced on him was very great: while he expected to see the ministers of religion, in what was styled the Holy City, acting in a manner becoming their office, what must have been his indignation and sorrow at finding them indulging in licentiousness, indecency, and profanity. We find him, therefore, complaining of their impiety in the following words, "I have seen the

Pope and the Pope's Court, and have had opportunity of observing, personally, the morals of the Romish Clergy. I performed Mass there, and I saw it performed by others, but in such a manner that I never think of it without horror." So deep and lasting, indeed, was the impression which the conduct of the Italian Priests made on his mind, that he used often, afterwards, to say that he "would rather have parted with a thousand florins, than have lost the instruction afforded him by that journey." Luther, however, was still firmly attached to the Church of Rome; which he, at that time, believed to be the true Church of Christ, and never thought of altering any of its endless ceremonies.

While Luther was now at the height of his reputation and authority, Tetzel began to publish Indulgences in the neighbourhood of Wittemberg, and to ascribe to them the same imaginary virtues, which had in other places imposed on the credulity of the people. As Saxony was not more enlightened than the other provinces of Germany, Tetzel met with prodigious success there. It was with the utmost concern that Luther beheld the artifices of those who sold, and the simplicity of those who bought Indulgences. The opinions of Thomas Aquinas and the other schoolmen, on which the doctrine of Indulgence was founded, had already lost much of their authority with him; and the Scriptures, which he began to consider as the great standard of theological truth, afforded no countenance to a practice equally subversive of faith and of morals. His warm and impetuous temper did not suffer him long to conceal such important discoveries, or to continue a silent spectator of the delusion of his countrymen. From the pulpit of the great church in Wittemburg, he inveighed bitterly against the irregularities and vices of the Monks who published Indulgences; he ventured to examine the doctrines which they taught, and pointed out to the people the danger of relying for salvation upon any other means than those appointed by God in his word. The boldness and novelty of these opinions drew great attention; and being recommended by the authority of Luther's personal character, and delivered with a popular and persuasive