The labors of such nun could not fail to kindle in Germany still more the desire for a reformation, and to strengthen the expectation that in resuming the work of reformation on a grand scale the German na- tion would take the lead. As early a- 1 157, chancellor Mayer of Me ntz wrote to Tinea- Sylvius, subsequently pope l'ius 1 1 : •■ Tin' i ■< rman nation, once the queen of the world, hut now a tributary handmaid of the Roman Church, begins to arouse herself as out of a dream, and is resolved to throw off the yoke." This spirit of pre- paring for the overthrow of the papal yoke and the pu- rification of Christianity at the' proper time wa- fondly nurtured by hundreds of learned and pious men in the latter part of the' loth and the beginning of the 16th centurv ; and w hen at le llgth the righl lead) r app< aii d at the' fulness of time, he found hundreds of thousands ready to fall at once into line a- combatants in the' grand army of reform.
II. Luther's Reformation in Germany.- While tin fore- runners of the Reformation diffused in the Church the yearning for a radical purification of Christianity, and while the humani-ts were' educating a race much better lit l id for being the standard-hearer- of a thorough reform than we-re' the' reformers of preceding centuries, a num- ber of other great events co-operated lor bringing the mediaeval history of mankind to a close, and for usher- ing in a new iera. Maritime discoveries of unparalleled magnitude widened the horizon of the European nations and led to a rapid growth of commerce, to an increase of manufactures, and a greater and more general dififu-
-i f wealth. Th.' invention '•!' the art of printing
diffused knowledge among the masses of the people to an extent which former generations would have regard-
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REFORMATION
ed as impossible. Feudalism and mediaeval chivalry collapsed before the rise of the wealthier and more in- telligent, burgherdom of the cities and towns, on the one hand, and the consolidation of powerful stales under centralized governments, on the other. The new forces which obtained a controlling influence upon modern so- ciety were not always, and not by necessity, hostile to the ruling Church ; but it is at once apparent that when in alliance with reformatory Church movements they were a considerable aid in raising up more formidable oppositions to the popes and their Church than those which had been put down in the Middle Ages. Soon after the beginning of the 16th century, Germany, then the soil most favorable to religious reform, produced the man who succeeded in carrying through the reforms which the preceding centuries had so often in vain at- tempted, who dealt to the papacy a heavier blow than it had received since the separation of the Eastern Church, and whose name, forever associated with " The Refor- mation," stands at the portal of modern history as one of its greatest pillars. No one disputes the eminent po- sition which Martin Luther occupies in history, nor the extraordinary qualities which elevated him to it. The Manual of Church History, by Dr. Alzog, which has been translated into nearly all the languages of Europe, and is very extensively used in the theological schools of the Roman Catholic Church, says of Luther: l,If we look upon his agitated, eventful life, we must count him among the most remarkable men of all centuries, al- though he has not grasped his mission as a reformer of the Church. We must also recognise his courage, though it frequently degenerated into defiance — his un- tiring activity, his popular, irresistible eloquence, spark- ling wit, and disinterestedness. He did not lack a pro- found religious sentiment, which yearned for satisfaction, and which constitutes the fundamental character and the most brilliant feature of his system." A Protestant Church historian (Kurtz) justly calls Luther a religious genius, who was called to his great work by the rarest union of the necessary qualifications and gifts of the in- tellect, sentiment, character, and will ; who was trained and educated by a providential guidance of his life; who, in his own life, had passed through the entire es- sential course of reformation, had tested in himself its divine power, and then could not but make the holiest and dearest experience of his life serviceable to all the world.
1. The origin of the German Reformation was quite humble and indefinite. Pope Leo X, of whom even Roman Catholic writers must say that " he does not ap- pear to have experienced the blessing and power of the Christian faith," and that "religion was not to him the highest affair of life," had arranged for a very extensive sale of indulgences. It was not deemed worth while to assign fur such an outrage upon the religious senti- ment of pious Christians a more specious pretext than that the proceeds of the sale were intended for a war against the Turks and the erection of St. Peter's church. The real destination of the money, it was quite common- ly believed, was to defray the exorbitant expenditures of the pope's court and to serve as a marriage dowry of his sister. Archbishop Albert of Mentz, of whose Chris- tian belief as little was known as of that of the pope, authorized the sale in Germany on condition that fifty per cent, of the gross income should flow into his own pocket. A Dominican friar (Tetzel) carried on the trade with an effrontery which outraged the sentiments of thousands of earnest Christians. Among those who were urged by their conscience to rise against this profanation of Christianity was Luther, then a young monk in an Augustinian convent. When a young stu- dent, he had been driven by his anxiety for the salva- tion of his soul into the retirement of a convent. After long doubts and mental troubles, he had derived from a profound study of the Scriptures, and of the writings of Augustine and Tauler, the consolatory belief that man is to be saved, not by his own works, but by faith in the