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general demand for more than a century had been made, for a Council which should reform abuses. The revival of learning. in the west of Europe, in consequence of the literati having sought refuge from Constantinople, reduced by the Turks, in Italy, and France, and Germany, where they became instructors of youth in all the public seminaries of learning, and introduced a taste for the study of the ancient Greek and Roman authors; had roused the human mind to a sense of its native dignity and worth, and introduced a bold spirit of investigation into the correctness of long established notions, and an ardent desire for improvement in every art and science. The art of printing, which had been invented in Germany about the year 1440, gave the world in 1450, at Mentz, A PRINTED BIBLE; and enabled mankind to multiply copies of books to almost any extent, with amazing rapidity and but little comparative expense. Before that period, books were written out with the pen on parchment,* which made them very expensive and scarce. Had Luther then risen, he would have communicated his sentiments to but very few, for what he communicated must have been chiefly from the pulpit. Whatever he wrote would scarce have been read by a hundred persons. But appearing as he did, at this fortunate moment, when the discovery of this wonderful art had not only rendered the multiplication of books easy, but had raised in the world an astonishing thirst for reading, Luther's books at once filled Europe, and his opposition to the corruptions of the Papacy became the subject of universal conversation. Luther himself was a Franciscan friar. Tetzel, a Dominican. These orders were bitter enemies, and it was only for Luther to imitate Paul, when he exclaimed, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, to enlist in his favour the whole body of the Franciscans, though they had ever been firm supporters of the Papal dominion

But while these and other circumstances may be pointed out as propitious to the cause of Luther, his astonishing success must and will, by every pious mind, be ascribed to the overruling providence of God. It was the great Head of the Church,

*The Jews wrote the Old Testament on skins with very great care, and connected them together and rolled them in a double roll. The Greek manuscripts were written in capital letters, and without any separation of words; thus,

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BLESSEDARETHEDEADWHODIEINTHELORD.

No manuscript of the New Testament extant, can be traced higher than the fourth century. Most of the Hebrew manuscripts were written between the years 1000 and 1457. Those of an earlier period have been, for some reasons unknown, destroyed,

ever watchful of that which he had purchased with his own blood, who raised up this wonderful reformer, gave him his astonishing talents and ardent love of truth, preserved his life amid many dangers, and enabled him to expose the corruptions of the Man of sin, and lead forth the Church from this worse than Egyptian bondage.

Leo X. the Roman Pontiff, at first viewed the contest in Germany with indifference; supposing it to be only a contest, not uncommon in that age, between a Dominican and Franciscan monk. "Brother Martin," said he, "is a man of a very fine genius, and these squabbles are the mere effusions of monastic envy." But on being fully informed of its nature and extent, he became alarmed, and summoned Luther, July 1518, to appear at Rome, within sixty days, to answer for his conduct before the Auditor of the Chamber, and Prierias, the Inquisitor General. Luther knew there would be no safety for him at Rome; and, through the earnest solicitation of his patron, Frederick the Wise, he obtained liberty to have his cause tried before Cardinal Cajetan, who was then the pope's legate, in Germany. Within sixteen days after his citation, however, he was condemned as an incorrigible heretic at Rome by the Bishop of Ascoli, the Auditor of the Apostolical Chamber;-such was the sincerity of the Pope in granting him a hearing in Germany.

Having obtained a safe conduct from the Emperor, Luther appeared before Cajetan at Augsburg, in the month of October; but Cajetan was a Dominican, the avowed friend of Tetzel, and enemy of Luther. He did nothing but require Luther, in a most arrogant manner, immediately to renounce his opinions and return into the bosom of the church, and this without having one of them proved erroneous. Such an assumption of authority was not at all calculated to intimidate or move such a mind as Martin Luther's. He expressed the utmost reverence for the Pope, but declared he would never renounce opinions which he viewed as scriptural, without being convinced of his error. Cajetan immediately threatened him with the heaviest church censures; and it being evident that nothing awaited him but the severest measures, the reformer secretly withdrew from the presence of the Cardinal and returned to Wittemberg; appealing from the Pope himself, "ill-informed, to the same Leo X. better informed." This appeal however, was soon evidently hopeless; for the Pope issued a special edict, commanding all his subjects" to acknowledge his power of delivering from all the punishments due to sin and transgression of every kind." This completely shut the door against all hope of reconciliation but by a direct

and full renunciation of all his opinions, and Luther appealed to a general Council as superior to the Pope.

Hoping to reclaim Luther by a messenger of more mildness and cunning than Cardinal Cajetan, Leo sent Charles Miltitz, a Saxon knight, in 1519, to negociate with him. To conciliate the elector Frederick, Miltitz carried to him the golden consecrated rose, the peculiar mark of the Pope's favour; and, to gain Luther, he rebuked Tetzel with the greatest severity. The elector received the bauble, which once he desired, with indifference. With the reformer, Miltitz had several interviews, but they were fruitless as to the great point. He persuaded Luther, however, to write a submissive letter to the Pope, and agreed with the elector to refer the whole subject to the first diet held by the new emperor of Germany, Charles V. In his letter, Luther expressed a great reverence for the church of Rome; declared that his great object was to honour that church, and, though he could not renounce his opinions without being convinced that he was in an error, yet he would, in future, be silent respecting indulgences, if his enemies would no longer persecute him.

Of the popularity of Luther at this period, some judgment may be formed from the following extract from one of his letters, "Charles Miltitz saw me at Altenburg, and complained that I had united the whole world to myself, and drawn it aside from the Pope; that he had discovered this at the inns as he travelled. 'Martin,' said he, you are so much favoured with the popular opinion, that I could not expect with the help of 25,000 soldiers, to force you with me to Rome.' "

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Soon after his conferences with Miltitz, Luther was brought into a public dispute with Eckius. This learned and brilliant professor of theology, flattered himself, that, in public debate, he could silence these young reformers; and he challenged Carolstadt, the colleague and friend of Luther, to a public dispute on the controverted points, at Leipsic. The assembly was large, and the dispute between these combatants was carried on for fourteen days; and such were the plaudits bestowed upon Eckius, that he challenged Luther to engage in the combat. Luther accepted the challenge, and the dispute continued ten days. But Eckius was not here as triumphant as before. He found his antagonist well acquainted with the sacred scriptures; honest in the sacred cause; dexterous; eloquent, and a firm expectant of the blessing of Heaven. Many were the points in debate; but the chief one regarded the superiority of the Roman See. Luther declared it impious to maintain the divine right of the

Pope to act as the vicar of Christ, though he willingly allowed him a supremacy above others, from the universal consent of the church. He was daily drawing nearer to the evangelical liberty of the gospel of Christ; though by slow advances. Both parties claimed the victory; but the dispute was in general advantageous to the reformation; for the more the corruptions of Popery were discussed, the more were the minds of men enlightened, and their consciences set free. In the close of 1519, Luther began to preach and write on the administration of the sacrament, in both kinds, which exceedingly exasperated his enemies. But said he, "Let us in faith and prayer commit the event to God, and we shall be safe."

While Luther was thus gaining and diffusing knowledge in Germany, and opposing the corruptions of Popery, a spirit of reform similar to his own was roused in Switzerland. There the Franciscans had carried on the scandalous traffic to an awful extent, and the minds of the people were perfectly infatuated. Huldric Zuinglius, a man not inferior to Luther, dared to oppose it in the summer of 1518; and though condemned by the universities of Cologne and Louvaine, he advanced with bold and rapid steps toward a complete and thorough reformation.

The greatest scholar of the age was Erasmus. He was ordained a priest in 1492, at the age of twenty-six. The great object of his life was the revival of literature. He was extensively acquainted with the theology then universally received, and he became a most severe satirist upon all its superstitions and follies. He, by his sound reasoning, his invective and raillery, first sowed the seeds of reformation in Europe. But he had not the courage to become an open opponent of the Pope. "Every man," said he, "hath not the courage requisite to make a martyr; and I am afraid that if I were put to the trial, I should imitate St. Peter." He repressed and moderated his zeal, therefore, against the errors of popery, while he was a friend and admirer of Luther; and did more than almost any other man in promoting the study of the sacred scriptures.

The celebrated Philip Melanchton, who became one of the most illustrious coadjutors of Luther, was at the public dispute at Leipsic. He was then twenty-three years of age; but such were his attainments in literature, that he had been made professor of Greek at Wittemberg. So fully was he convinced of the soundness of Luther's principles, that, from the time of his dispute with Eckius, he enlisted with ardour in the cause of the reformation. Other men were present at the same disputation,

who afterwards became distinguished lights and guides in the cause of truth and liberty.

But one prince, as yet, publicly declared in favour of Luther. This was his patron, Frederic, elector of Saxony. He was a diligent searcher of the sacred scriptures; had become much dissatisfied with the usual modes of interpretation, and with the abominations of popery; and, as far as he could, without provoking the vengeance of Rome, to whom he still was conscientiously subject, he aided Luther in his arduous work. At the death of Maximilian, the emperor, in 1519, Frederic acted as vicar of the empire during the interregnum, and protected Lutheranism from the violent assaults of its enemies.

On the fifteenth of June, one thousand five hundred and twenty, Luther was publicly denounced by the church of Rome. Forty-one propositions from his works were condemned as heretical; all pious persons were forbidden to read his works on pain of excommunication; such as had them, were commanded to burn them; and he, himself, if he did not in sixty days recant his errors and burn his books, was to be excommunicated and delivered unto Satan for the destruction of his flesh. All secular princes were required, under pain of incurring the same censures, and of forfeiting all their dignities, to seize his person, that he might be punished as his crimes deserved.

The church of Rome had become fully satisfied, that they could never reclaim him; and that the only way to save themselves was to proceed violently against him. Luther had made astonishing advances in the discovery of truth, and by almost innumerable letters, tracts, sermons and commentaries on scripture, had diffused his sentiments throughout Europe, and made many distinguished and powerful converts.

The papists exulted at the publication of the pope's bull. They had been accustomed to see this terminate all controversies, and they supposed that it would forever silence the reformer. But it had very little effect upon his mind, or his cause. It came too late to command submission in Germany. This intrepid man erected without the walls of Wittemberg an immense pile of wood; and there, in presence of the professors and students of the university, and a vast crowd of spectators, committed the papal bull to the flames, together with the volumes of the canon law, the rule of the pontifical jurisdiction.

By this public act he left the Roman communion. He denounced the pope of Rome as the Man of sin. He waged open war with the whole papal establishment, and exhorted all christian rulers and people to separate from it. By this bold act

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