Retrospect of French Literature— History. 643 
saints and images became the vain sub- 
stitutes of a God almost forgotten, and 
the immediate objects of devotion. It 
resulted from this superstition, that every | 
Italian became. either a papist or an 
atheist; and that he either adored our 
Jady of Loretto, or adored no one. Ac- 
cordingly, never were there so many 
atheists as in the immediate vicinity of 
the sovereign pontiff. 
On the other hand, the people of Sax- 
ony had not been rendered effeminate 
by luxury, by opulence, or a mild cli- 
mate. ‘ There resided an indigenous 
nation, bold and energetic, which until 
the ninth century had never been sub- 
dued. It had once arrested the flight of 
the Roman eagle, which could never pe- 
netrate into its provinces on the banks 
of the Elbe ; at a latter period, the same 
nation had given conquerors to Europe; 
for the Angles, the Normans, the Bur- 
gundians, the Franks, all'swarms from 
Saxony, had overcome Great Britain, 
the Gauls, and other nations of the 
West. 
“‘ Those who remained at home, were 
attached to the anti-juity and simplicity 
of their ancient worship; and it was not 
until after a desperate resistance of 
thirty-three years, that Charlemagne 
succeetled in making them adopt Chris- 
tianity, which they did most heartily, 
‘and according to its unsophisticated 
principles. They did not in after times, 
hike their southern neighbours, display 
any great knowledge of the fine arts ; but, 
in conformity to their ancient character, 
turned their minds towards the abstract 
sciences, philosophy, and historical re- 
search. Accordingly, when the refor- 
mation took place, there was not found 
one single theologian of [taly, who was 
able to enter the lists with those of Sax- 
ony. She might boast of her poets and 
her painters, buat -could never produce a 
Luther.” 
While the Saxons felt that indigna- 
tion which seemed more peculiar to their 
character than that of anv other portion 
of Europe, Leo X. determined to inflict 
on the Christian world “the onerous 
impost of a new indulyence.” The pre- 
text was the erection of the church of 
St. Peter; but this was not the only mo- 
tive, as the pontiff had “ given by anti- 
cipation to a beloved sister, the sums’ 
arising’out of the levy from the countries 
extencing between Lower Saxony and 
the Baltic Sea. This circumstance,” it 
is added, “‘ was known to all the world; 
and the Dominican Tetzel had the au. 
a % 
dacity to repair to the vicinity of Wires 
temberg, to open his traffic in indul< 
ences, to proclaim his venal mission. . . 
? 9 
and to support his. cause by means of 
sermons of too extravagant and gross 
a nature to be easily credited ac the pre= 
sent day.” , | 
This friar was immediately opposed 
by the hero of these pages; by Martin 
Luther, a doctor, a priest, and an Au- 
gustine monk, He was then professor of 
philosophy and theology at the new 
university of Wirtemberg, where, we are 
told, a love of the science, of true re- 
ligion, and of the liberty of thinking, pre- 
vailed at that period. He is described 
as descended from a poor and obscure 
family, and was raised to the post he 
then occupied by his talents alone. 
“He had addicted himself with ardor 
to those novel studies cultivated by the 
most eminent geniuses of his age; and 
no sooner had the first rays of the sun 
illuminated the lofty summits of the 
mountains, than he perceived, long bes 
fore the vulgar, the new day that was 
approaching. Inflamed by an indefati- 
gable zeal, and a prodigious memory, he 
attained a critical knowledge of the 
holy Scriptures, the Fathers, and other 
ecciesiastical antiquities. One of his 
principal views was to overturn the pre- 
vailing customs of the schools of those 
days, by banishing Aristotle from the 
domain of theology, and demonstrating 
how much, by the singular mixture of 
logic and Pagan philosophy with the 
doctrine of Christianity, the first had 
been misunderstood, and both deter- 
minated. The leading features of his 
individual character, which had such an 
influence on the reformation, consisted 
of energy and rectitude, Ardent and 
yet calm, lofty and yet at the same time 
humble, violent in his speech when pro=’ 
voked, mitd and hostile to all violence 
in his actions, open, jovial, amd even a 
good companion at the tables of the 
creat; studious, sober, anda Stoic, at 
home, yet nevertheless courageous and 
disinterested at the same time, he was 
ready to expose himself to. every risk for 
what he regarded as the truth.” 
Such was the man, who, having visited » 
Rome, there beheld its corruptions; and 
who, on the approach of Tetzel, exposed — 
the abuses resulting from the sale of in- 
dulgences, and the,danger of believing 
that pardon might be purchased for all 
crimes for money, while a sincere re- 
pentance, and an amended life, could 
alone appease Divine justice, 
The 
