who ventured to oppose the encroachments of the papacy, whereby others were afterwards incited thoroughly to examine the title, which the popes pretended they had, to impose arbitrary laws on Christendom.

Eckius had wrote some notes upon the first thesis of Luther, which were answered by Carolostadius; and a conference was agreed on at Leipsic, by the consent of prince George of Saxony, uncle to the elector Frederic. Eckius appeared, and was met by Luther, who was accompanied by Melancthon and Carolostadius. Both parties were well received by the prince, the senate, and university, who appointed a great hall in the castle for the place of the conference, which was solemnly opened on the twenty-seventh of June, 1519. The first disputation was concerning_free-will, which Eckius undertook to prove by a passage in Ecclesiasticus; and was opposed by Carolostadius, who denied that free-will had a distinct operation from grace. This dispute continued a whole week; in which time Luther preached a sermon, in the chapel of the castle, upon the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, wherein he declaimed against the authority of the Pope. The dispute was then carried on between Luther and Eckius, upon thirteen propositions extracted by the latter out of the writings of the former; the last and principal of which, was against the supremacy of the Pope. Luther alleged against it, the canon of the council of Afric, which ordained that the bishop of the first see should not be called the prince of bishops, or supreme bishop; and he maintained that Wickliffe and Huss ought not to have been condemned, as many of their articles were orthodox; and that he could oppose the tradition and usage of the Greek church for 1400 years, to the condemnation of the Bohemians. Eckius attempted to prove the doctrine of indulgences, by the authority of the general councils of Vienna, Lateran, and Constance : he said that St. Gregory had published them, 900 years before; that they were approved by the consent of the universal church; and that all the Christian world had acknowledged them by receiving the jubilees. Luther replied, that he preferred works of charity before indulgences, and supported his opinion by the authority of St. Paul and St. Augustine, who say, "we can do no good without charity and grace." Eckius seemed to make this question a matter of nothing: but Luther had the advantage of the argument. He knew "that the Christian princes had been tired of making expeditions to the Holy Land, which were only specious pretences, invented by the Popes, to drain them of their blood and treasure; and that another scheme was then set on foot to allure them and their subjects to part with their money; that frequent jubilees were kept at Rome, though, according to their first institution, they were to take place but once in a century; that the Popes perceived the advantages which arose from bringing people together to

their market, from all parts of the Christian world, and shortened the time, by ordering a jubilee to be kept every fifty years, and afterwards appointed one to be celebrated every thirty years; that immense sums were brought into the Pope's coffers by these jubilees at Rome, where all that resorted received absolution for their sins, for a particular sum; and that indulgences being found so beneficial, they were sold all over Europe, and no more confined to certain times and jubilees."

The conference at Leipsic continued fourteen days; and the dispute was left to the decision of the universities of Paris and Erfurt: but Luther opened the whole to the world, by publishing a tract, entitled, "Resolutions of the propositions disputed at Leipsic," and addressed to Spalatinus; in which he said that Eckius had no cause to boast of the dispute, and had acknowledged that no trust ought to be put in indulgences, Melancthon wrote with great moderation upon these conferences: and Eckius told Hogostratus, that the Lutherans had great advantages over him, because they were many against a single man. Jerome Emser owned, that the dispute at Leipsic was rather sharp than edifying: but the two universities never gave their judgments about the contests in these conferences.

Zuinglius began, about this time, to write against pardons and indulgences. Luther wrote a book "Of Christian liberty;" which he dedicated to the Pope. He also addressed another book to the nobility of Germany, wherein he shook the three principal bulwarks of popery, by opposing the doctrine, “That temporal magistrates were subject to the spirituality; that the Pope is the only judge of the scripture; and that he can only call a council." Luther shewed what things should be handled in councils; and asserted, that the Pope yearly drained Germany of three millions of florins. He pointed out the necessity of reforming schools and universities; declared that heretics should be convinced by scripture, and not awed by fire; imputed the misfortunes of the emperor Sigismund to his breach of faith with Huss and Jerome; and exposed the inconveniences resulting from the council of Constance.

What the divines of Paris and Erfurt neglected, those of Louvain and Cologne attempted. The former consulted with the Cardinal de Tortosa, afterwards Pope Adrian VI. and condemned twenty-two propositions extracted from Luther as heretical, or approaching to heresy, and declared that his writings ought to be burnt. Those of Cologne concurred; and agreed that Luther ought to be obliged to make a public recantation. Luther declared, he disregarded the censures of these two universities; and that Occam, Stapulensis, Huss, and other eminent men, were unjustly condemned after the same manner. He accused the universities of rashness, of want of charity, and contempt of justice; after which, he sharply confuted their censures, without any respect to their persons.

The emperor Maximilian was so far from suffering himself to be persuaded to proceed against Luther, that he used to say, "If the clergy would lead pious lives, Luther would have no room for a reformation." But his successor was of a different disposition, and gave occasion to the violent measures that were taken to nip the Reformation in its very bud. Luther wrote a letter to the new emperor, on the fifteenth of January, 1520, before his arrival in Germany, to vindicate his conduct, and entreat his protection from the power of his numerous adversaries, who had persecuted him for three years, and were resolved that he should perish with the gospel. He told the emperor, he would not desire his protection, if he was convicted of impiety or heresy; but desired he would not let him be condemned without hearing; and declared, he would either be silent, or refer himself to the judgment of any impartial universities, before which he was ready to appear.

It was a great mistake in Leo X. to decide in favour of the indulgence-merchants, by his bull in 1518, since thereby all hopes of an accommodation were cut off; for it would have been much more politic in him to have enjoined silence to both parties, and to have contrived some way to satisfy Luther, who offered Cajetan to drop the controversy, if his adversaries would do the same; but they would be satisfied with nothing less than a recantation. The elector of Saxony was again solicited to give up Luther, who was compelled to fall upon the Pope, to vindicate himself, by appealing to a general council; the calling whereof was delayed upon various pretences, whereby the cause of Rome became more and more suspected. About the same time, the Pope's quarrel with Henry VIII. made way for the introduction of the Reformation into England; and the house of Navarre, in revenge for the Pope's siding with Ferdinand the catholic, encouraged the protestant religion to the utmost of their power in France. Besides all this, many sensible honest men, even among the Roman catholics, were quite unconcerned at the rough treatment which Luther shewed the papal see, because they knew it deserved his resentment.

Luther also wrote to the elector of Mentz, who answered him, and commended his disposition; but desired him to treat of religious matters with moderation and respect, for he observed with grief, that the professors disputed upon frivolous opinions, and questions of little consequence, with intolerable pride.

While Luther was vindicating himself to the emperor, and the bishops of Germany, judgment was passed upon his writings at Rome, where Eckius and Ubricus went on purpose to solicit his condemnation, which was resolved upon, notwithstanding he had obediently reverenced the person of the Pope. Luther, at the request of the Augustines, wrote a long epistle to his holiness, full of submission and respect, wherein he told

him, "That the court of Rome was visibly more corrupt than either Babylon or Sodom; but that his holiness was a lamb in the midst of wolves, a Daniel among lions, and an Ezekiel among scorpions: that there were not above three or four cardinals who had any learning or piety; and that it was against these disorders of the court of Rome, that he was obliged to appear."

The writings of Luther were examined in a congregation of cardinals, who distinguished his doctrine, writings, and person. They condemned forty-one propositions taken out of his works, ordered him to appear in person, and agreed that his writings should be burnt. In consequence of this resolution, the bull was drawn up by the cardinal of Ancona, and published by the Pope, who invoked the aid of Jesus Christ, the apostles, and all the saints, against the new errors and heresies; and to preserve the faith, peace, and unity of the church. This bull was dated the fifteenth of June, 1520, and condemned the forty-one articles, extracted from the writings of Luther, as heretical, false, and scandalous. Indulgences, the papal supremacy, free-will, purgatory, and the begging friars, were the principal things vindicated in this bull; and all Christians were forbid, under the pain of excommunication, to defend any of the propositions that were thus condemned: Luther was admonished to revoke his errors by some public act, and cause his books to be burnt within sixty days; otherwise he, and his adherents, should incur the punishments due to heretics.

nance.

Luther, now perceiving that all hopes of an accommodation were at an end, threw off all reserve, and answered this bull, which he called "The execrable bull of antichrist," by publishing a book called "The captivity of Babylon;" in which he absolutely rejected indulgences; and asserted, that the papacy was the kingdom of Babylon. He denied there were seven sacraments; and said, there was properly only one, in three sacramental signs, the Lord's Supper, baptism, and peHe affirmed, that the sacrament of the altar is the testament of Jesus Christ, which he left when he died, to be given to all those who should believe in him; that this testament is a promise of forgiveness of our sins, confirmed by the death of the Son of God; that it is only faith in this promise which justifies, and the mass is entirely useless without that faith. He declared that the effect of baptism depended alone upon faith in the promise of Jesus Christ, of which the outward baptism is only a sign, supplied in infants by the faith of the church. He maintained, that the remission of sins, which is the effect of penance, depends upon faith in the promise of Jesus Christ; and allowed no effect to the other parts of penance. He wondered that confirmation, and ordination, should be sacraments, when they are no more than ecclesiastical ceremonies; neither would he allow marriage to be a sacrament, because there is no pro

mise annexed to it, and the marriage of infidels is as binding as that of Christians; and he rejected the usage of the extreme unction, built upon the authority of the epistle of St. James, because he thought there was not any promise of grace annexed

to that unction.

Luther was fully persuaded of the necessity of "justification by faith alone;" which he looked upon as the basis of the whole Christian religion. When he first preached against indulgences, he intended no separation from the church of Rome; but the violence of his opponents, and the heat of the controversy, drew him so far into the dispute, that he carried it on with unparalleled spirit, and came at last to fix upon that scheme, which has been since adhered to by the Lutheran churches, with little variation.

As the Pope had condemned Luther at Rome, Luther degraded the Pope in Germany. He compiled a history of the wars raised by the Popes against the emperors; and maintained that the German princes had the same power over the clergy as over the laity. He advised the Germans to shake off the yoke of popery; and proposed a reformation, that should subject the Pope and bishops to the power of the emperor, and take away from the Pope the authority of interpreting scripture, or calling a general council. He declaimed against the manners and practice of the court of Rome, the pride of the Pope, and the avarice of the cardinals; he asserted, that annates and papal months should be abolished, and that the canon law ought to be entirely destroyed. He even assembled the students of Wittenberg together, and flung the Pope's bull and decretals into a fire prepared for that purpose, saying, "Because thou hast troubled the Holy One of God, let eternal fire trouble thee." This ceremony was performed by Luther, upon the tenth of December, 1520. The next day he expounded the Psalms, and earnestly charged his auditors, "that, as they loved the salvation of their souls, they should take heed of the Pope's decrees." He also defended what he had done in writing; and published among other errors in the papal doctrine, the following thirty:

"I. The Pope and his clergy are not bound to obey the commandments of God.

"II. It is not a precept, but a counsel of St. Peter, when he teaches That all men are to be subject to kings.'

"III. That in a state, the sun signified the papal power, the moon meant the imperial or secular.

"IV. That the Pope and his chair are not to be held subject to the councils and decrees.

"V. That the Pope has, in the secret of his own breast, all laws, and plenary power over all laws.

"VI. Whence it follows, that the Pope hath power to disannul, change, and determine all councils, and all constitutions and ordinances, as he daily practises.