L U T 
by the difcharge of a thumler-cloud his companion was 
killed, and he was himfelf thrown on the ground, though 
he fuftained no perfonal injury. This event affefled him 
very fenfrfely ; and, as his mind was naturally fnfcepti- 
ble of ferious impreftions, and tinftured with fomewhat 
of that religious melancholy which delights in the foli- 
tude of a monadic life, he determined to retire from the 
world into a convent of Augultinian friars ; and, without 
fufFering the entreaties of his parents to divert him from 
what he thought his duty to God, he adorned the habit of 
that order. Here he applied himfelf clofely to the dudy 
of divinity, as laid down in the writings of the fchoolmen ; 
but was foon turnilhed with a more folid foundation of 
knowledge and piety in the facred Scriptures. Having 
accidentally met with a copy of the Latin Bible, which lay 
neglected in the library of his monadery, and which he 
had never before feen, his curiofity was fo highly raifed, 
that he abandoned all other purfuits, and devoted himfelf 
to the dudy of it with fuch eagernefs and adiduity as af- 
tonilhed the monks, who -were little accudomed to derive 
their theological notions from that fource. After having 
paffed a year in the monadery of Erfurt, he took the vows; 
and he was admitted to priefts’orders in the year 1507. 
The fame of Luther’s fanftity and learning, and parti¬ 
cularly his knowledge of ihe fcriptures,was now widely dif- 
fufed;and,in the year 1508, Frederic eleftor of Saxony, hav¬ 
ing lately founded an univerfity atWittemberg.the place of 
his refidence, chofe Luther to till at firfl*sthe chair of phi- 
lofophy, and afterwards that of divinity, in the new fe- 
minary. The duties of thefe employments, hedifcharged 
with fo much ability, and in a method fo different from 
the ufual mechanical and dull forms of lecturing, that he 
was crowded with pupils front all quarters, and was de- 
fervedly efteemed the chief ornament of the univerfity. 
At the kune time Luther diltinguifhed himfelf by the fu- 
periority of his talents as a pulpit-orator. In the year 
1510, the monks in different convents belonging to his 
order, being embroiled in fome difputes with their vicar- 
general, fixed upon Luther to go to Rome, for the purpofe 
of defending their caufe at the papal court: an employment 
for which his abilities,and firm undauntedjnind, peculiarly 
qualified him. While in that city, he made his obfer- 
vations on the pope, and the government of the Romifh 
church; he alfo examined the manners of the clergy, which 
he feverely cenfures, and particularly condemns the hade 
and indifference with which they difcharged the public 
duties of their facred function : “ I had not been long at 
Rome,” fays he, “ before I performed mafs ; and I fre¬ 
quently favv it performed by ethers, but in fuch an inde¬ 
cent manner, that I can never think of it without horror.” 
Of the effefts produced on his mind by the obfervations 
which he made in this journey he afterwards often (poke 
with pleafure, declaring, fc that he would not but have 
made it for a thoufand florins.” 
Luther, as foon as he had accomplifhed the object of his 
million, returned to Wittemberg; where, in the year 1512, 
he had the degree cf doctor of divinity conferred on him, 
at the expenfe of Frederic ele6lor of Saxony, who fre¬ 
quently heard him preach, and was fully fenfible of his ex¬ 
traordinary merit. At firft, he was delirous of declining 
this honour, confidering himfelf too young for fuch a dil- 
tinftion, as he was only in his thirtieth year; but his ob- 
jedtion was over-ruled, and he was told that he muff fuffer 
himfelf to be dignified, “ for that God had important 
fervices to be performed in the church, and through his 
inftrumentality.” Lightly as this expreflion might at the 
time be uttered, fubfequent events proved it to be a fe¬ 
rious truth. Luther now applied himfelf with the greateft 
diligence to the duties of his divinity-chair. He read lec¬ 
tures on the books ofBcripture. He explained the Epif- 
tle to the Romans, and afterwards the Pfalms; of which 
his illultrations were fo fatisfadfory, that, in the judgment 
of pious and thinking men, he was regarded as the harbin¬ 
ger of a new day which was to fucceed the long night of 
darknefs and ignorance. He alio boldly oppofed, both in 
HER. 787 
his leclures and in his fermons, many erroneous notions 
which had been received in the church and in the fchools, 
renouncing all other tells of theirtruth but the Scriptures. 
To qualify himfelf the better for his important office, he 
applied himfelf with diligence to the itudy of the Greek 
and Hebrew languages, and encouraged their cultivation 
in the univerfity : he alfo recommended the perufal of the 
writings of Erafmus, as admirable antidotes to monadic 
ignorance, and helps in acquiring juft lentiments, and 
awakening a liberal lpirit of enquiry. While Luther was 
thus adtive in propagating knowledge by his ledlures and 
fermons, he was a rigid exadlor of difcipline among the 
(Indents, and was himfelf an example of Itridt obedience 
to the laws of the univerfity, of indefatigable application, 
and of unimpeachable morals. By thefe means he ac¬ 
quired vaft credit and authority, and contributed to raife 
the univerfity of Wittemberg to a height of reputation, 
which amply gratified the elector for his munificence in 
founding it. In thefe circumltances, a general fale of 
indulgences publifhed by pope Leo X. proved the fir It 
link in a chain of Caufes which produced a revolution in 
the fentiments of mankind, “ the greateft,” fays Dr. Ro- 
bertfon, “ as well as the moil beneficial, that has happened 
fince the publication of Chriftianity.” When Leo was 
raifed to the papal throne, he found the revenues of the 
church exhaulted by the vaft projedts of his two ambi¬ 
tious predeceflors, Alexander VI. and Julius II. His own 
temper, naturally liberal and enterprifing, rendered him 
incapable of that fevere and patient economy which the 
fituation of his finances required. Oil the contrary, his 
fchemes for aggrandizing the family of Medici, his love 
of fplendour, his tafte for pleafure, and his munificence in 
rewarding men of genius, involved him daily in new ex- 
penfes; in order to provide for which, he tried every de¬ 
vice that the fertile invention of priefts had fuggelled, to 
drain the credulous multitude of their wealth. Among 
others, he had recourfe to a fale of indulgences. The in¬ 
dulgences pretended to convey to the pofieflor either the 
pardon of his own fins, or the releafe of any one in whofe 
happinefs he is interefted, from the pains of purgatory. 
They were firft invented in the eleventh century by Ur¬ 
ban II. as a recompenfe for thofe who went in perfon to 
join the armies of the crufaders in the Holy Land. Af¬ 
terwards they were granted to thofe who hired a foldier 
for that purpofe; and in proed's of time were bellowed 
on fuch as gave money for accomplifliing any pious work, 
enjoined by the pope. Julius II. had bellowed indul¬ 
gences on all who contributed towards building the 
church of St. Peter at Rome; and, as Leo was carrying 
on that expenfive fabric, his grant was founded on the 
fame pretence. The right of promulgating thefe indul¬ 
gences in Germany, together with a (hare in the profits 
arifing from the fale of them, was granted to Albert, elec¬ 
tor of Menfz and archbilhop of Magdeburg; who, as his 
chief agent for retailing them in Saxony, employed Tet- 
zel, a Dominican friar, of licentious morals, but of an ac¬ 
tive lpirit, and remarkable for his noify and popular elo¬ 
quence. This man, afiilled by the monks of his order, 
executed the commiflion with great zeal and fuccefs, but 
with little diferetion or decency. For though, by mag¬ 
nifying the benefit of their indulgences, and felling them 
at a low price, they for a time carried on a lucrative traf¬ 
fic among the credulous and the ignorant; yet the extra¬ 
vagance of their encomiums, and the irregularities in their 
conduct, came at laft to give general oifence, and to make 
it the general wifh that fome check were given to this 
commerce, no lefs detrimental to fociety than deltructive 
to religion. 
Luther, in the mean time, beheld with the utmoft con¬ 
cern the artifices of thofe who fold, and the fiinplicity of 
thofe who bought, indulgences. Boldly rejecting the opi¬ 
nions of the fchoolmen, on which the practice was found¬ 
ed, and finding that it derived no countenance from the 
Scriptures, he determined openly to protelt againft fuch a 
fcandalous impofition on his deluded countrymen. Ac¬ 
cordingly, 
