REFORMATION. 
tending to restrain ecclesiastical students 
in their pursuits relative to poetry and phi- 
losophy ; but these restraints and prohibi- 
tions were made too late : a spirit of spe- 
culation and research had gone abroad, and 
ft was not to be checked by decrees and 
councils, fulminations and threats. 
In addition to the causes of the reforma- 
tion which we have just enumerated, there 
were others more obvious, which are Said 
to have been “ the long schism of the 
Church of Rome in the fourteenth cen- 
tury ; the misconduct of Alexander VI. and 
of Julius II. ; the encroachments of the 
clergy on the rights of the laity ; the ve- 
nality of the Roman court; and above all, 
perhaps, the general progress of liberal stu- 
dies, and the happy invention of the art of 
printing.” 
The spirit of inquiry, aided by the light of 
science and the invention of printing, had 
more or less diffused itself over the minds of 
Christians in every part of Europe ; but no 
where had this spirit more successfiilly made 
its approaches than in Saxony. Intoxicated 
with the luxury, and dazzled with the mag- 
nificence of the Roman court, the Italians 
satisfied themselves with ridiculing the vices 
of the church in poems and visions ; but 
took no effectual steps towards bringing 
about a reformation. They consoled them- 
selves with the reflection, that though their 
chief city was the seat of vice and de- 
bauchery, it was also the residence of the 
supreme head of the church, the great de- 
pository of riches, the scene of pomp and 
grandeur, and the nnrsei y of the fine arts. 
The magnificence of ancient ruins, the num- 
ber of refigious edifices, and the splendour 
of crowded processions, gave a sort of dig- 
nity and importance to the city of the 
Caesars, and superseded pure devotion and 
simple prayers ; while a religion which cap- 
tivated the senses of the Italians, lulled their 
vices, and caused them to think reformation 
less needful than it was. In Saxony, however, 
the case was different. This hardy race of 
men had never been corrupted by luxury. 
Almost the last to embrace the doctrines of 
the Christian faith, when they were com- 
pelled by Charlemagne to become Chris- 
tians, they soon embraced the gospel 
with sincerity and simplicity. They had, 
with the profession of popery, preserv- 
ed their principles in a great degree free 
from the evils with which that system 
of religion had been attended in other 
countries. They were papists ; but popery 
was not the whole of their religion : when, 
therefore, the corruptions of the church 
were brought before their view, they first 
despised, then abhorred, and at last forsook 
them. They had always been impatient 
under the Roman yoke, and w'ere fully ripe 
for a reformation which promised them 
freedom of thought and the full exercise of 
natural liberty. The reyvival of literature, 
which manifested itself in Italy by the fine 
arts, the enjoyments of taste, and the classi- 
cal beauties of ancient Greece and Rome, 
operated on the minds of the sober and 
active Saxons in the cultivation of metaphy- 
sics, philosophy, and history. When, there- 
fore, the reformation broke forth, the Saxon 
theologians were more than a match for 
the Italian poets, painters, and Platonisls. 
Ariosto and Luther were very diflTerent 
characters ; To the one the world is in- 
debted for a diffusion of the true spirit of 
poetry ; to the otlier, that of piety, and the 
right of private judgment in matters of faith 
and worship. It was reserved for the bold 
and enterprising genius of Luther to un- 
loose the trammels by which the minds of 
men had been so long fettered; to open the 
prison doors to those that were bound ; to 
silence by scripture and argument the 
thunders of the Vatican ; and to assure the 
world, that the human mind is naturally 
free. 
To support the expenses of a luxurious 
court, Leo X. had availed himself of an an- 
cient custom in the church to raise money ' 
by the sale, of indulgences, by which the 
purchasers were allowed the practice of 
several sins, and a deliverance from the 
pains of pur gatory. To defend these indul- 
gences, it was urged, that as one drop of 
Christ’s blood is sufficient to atone for the 
sins of the whole world, the remainder of 
blood shed by the death of the Saviour be- 
longed to the church, and that its efficacy 
might be sold out to the people. It was 
supposed also, that to the church belonged 
all the good works of the saints beyond 
what were employed in their own justifica- 
tion. These superabundant merits w’ere 
accordingly sold to the unthinking multi- 
tude at various prices, according to tlie 
nature of the offence for which they were 
to atone. The form of these indulgences 
not being very generally known, w'e will 
give an exact copy of one of these most ex- 
traordinary instruments. 
“ May our Lord Jesus Christ have mercy 
upon thee, and absolve thee by the merits 
of his most holy passion. And I, by hi# 
authority, that of his blessed apostles, Peter 
