Reformation was needed, then, in the sixteenth century, and Luther was evidently raised up by Divine Providence to accomplish it. Next to his heart being influenced by the grace of God, and enlightened by the study of the Holy Scriptures, the quality which fitted him for his work was his firm persistency in his opinions when once he had formed them :—an almost dogged determination of purpose, which would yield to no arguments, and relax to no entreaties. No one can study Luther's character thoroughly without seeing that if he had continued a monk all his days, and been made abbot, he would have been a stern enforcer of any views he thought right, perhaps a tyrant to those placed under his rule. But if he had not been made of sterner stuff than many of his celebrated contemporaries, Melancthon and Erasmus, for instance, what would have become of the Reformation? How often would affairs have taken an entirely different course had not Luther disregarded the advice of princes, and the more seductive solicitations of his personal friends? Deference to authority; a firm belief in the Pope as the head of the Church; a dread of heresy in all its forms;these were only a few of the principles which everywhere held in the spirit of those who sighed and cried for the abominations of the land, and led them to be satisfied with constant prayer

nents. We do not know on what authority the above anecdote rests, but it appears scarcely credible that with such knavery openly practised by the agents of the Pope, the people could swallow the doctrine of indulgences as they did. Tetzel, no doubt, was fit for any trickery in the prosecution of his nefarious calling; but we should have expected some more outward prudence than is attributed to him. Mr. Worsley informs us that "he was prohibited by Frederick from entering Saxony, because he objected to the indulgence tax being levied on his subjects, and also on personal grounds, for at Inspruck, Tetzel had been convicted of adultery, and sentenced to be thrown in a sack into the river." This one fact, and also the other that Luther made such opposition to the sale of indulgences, prove that ignorance did not reign unopposed, and that many rose superior to the absurd practices of the Church to which they belonged. Indeed the very fact of the Reformation being brought about by Luther, shews plainly that society was fitted for it; and that a truly godly element mingled with those of an opposite character. Great harm is done to historic truth, and also to Christianity, by the exaggerated descriptions of the state of things in Christendom before. It was bad enough, without our giving it a darker colouring by the creation of our fancy. The very beginning of Mr. Worsley's work contains an instance of these redeeming circumstances which existed in the midst of papal misrule. "The influence of education in forming the mind and the character, can only be ranked second to nature itself, or the stamp which God himself infixes on the heart and on the head. And certainly the education which little Martin enjoyed or underwent, was exactly adapted to fit and prepare him for the arduous duties and trials of his future career. John Luther was a pious man, and often prayed that his children might be filled with the grace of God. Moreover he loved learning; and assembled in his cottage as often as he could such learned men as would honour him with a visit." This is a very pleasing picture, and our readers need not be told what inferences flow from it as to the state of society in general before Luther appeared.

to heaven for help, and an occasional protest against some more notorious instance of Christian unfaithfulness.

Luther, before the Diet of Worms, is a fine study for those who delight to see how God makes use of men's natural tendencies and qualities to answer his own designs. It was the turning point of the Reformation, when the Chancellor of the Elector of Treves addressed the Reformer as follows: "Martin Luther, although you had no right to demand a longer period for deliberation, inasmuch as you were well aware of the purpose for which you were summoned, and a matter of faith ought to be so grounded in the minds of all, that any one, at whatever time he might be questioned should be able to render a sure and settled reason for it; Come, then, and answer the imperial demand! Do you maintain all the works you have acknowledged to be yours, or are you willing to retract anything?" We believe Luther might have been quite as conscientious, and yet have felt it his duty to concede something to the counsel of those whom he loved and admired, and few persons placed in his position would have maintained as he did all he had received and taught. But concessions at that time might have been fatal, for, if "the beginning of strife is as the letting out of water," so pliancy of temper towards opponents seldom stops at its first yielding, but goes on, often, to further admissions. In the celebrated final speech of Luther we may even detect errors, for surely a private judgment must often be called upon to yield to authority in matters of doctrine and faith; yet at that critical moment unyielding firmness seems to have been absolutely necessary for the cause, and Luther's native obstinacy came to rescue it from all chance of failure:

"At the conclusion, the Chancellor remarked, in a chiding tone, 'You have not answered to the point. The doctrines condemned and defined by Councils cannot be brought into question. Give a simple and direct answer: Will you retract, or will you not ?' Luther, unmoved, replied, Since your most serene Majesty and your Lordships require a simple and direct answer, I will give one as simple as language can express. Unless I am convinced by the testimony of Scripture, or plain reason, (for I do not believe in the Pope or in Councils alone, for it is certain they have often erred, and have contradicted themselves),—unless I am convicted by the texts I have adduced (and my conscience is a captive to the Word of God), I cannot retract, nor will I retract anything; for to act against my conscience is neither safe nor honest. Here I stand: I can do no otherwise. God help me. Amen.'

Unless we raise Luther above humanity, we cannot refuse to see in all this his natural temperament aiding the convictions of

his understanding, and carrying him even beyond what the pious and good of his day deemed necessary for the cause he had undertaken. We know that many persons read these events as though they were not in the category of ordinary causes, and as though Luther acted under direct inspiration from heaven; but with such we have no sympathy. Only in the case of men having a direct mission from heaven, as the prophets and apostles, can we consent to eliminate the human element in our estimate of the causes which God makes use of in his Holy Providence; and if we say that the resolution of Luther at this time was arrived at partly by his constitutional pugnacity of disposition, we only affirm that he was a man, left to the ordinary means of grace which God gives to all his people for their own edification and for his own glory. In order to see the truth of our position, we have only to contemplate Luther in other scenes of his public life, in which his overbearing obstinacy will be generally acknowledged. Let us take the conference at Marburg, between him and Zwingle, as a fair illustration of the idiosyncracy of the former :

"The following day, Saturday, Oct. 2, 1529, the more public conference was to take place. An apartment in the interior of the castle near the prince's bed-chamber had been chosen for the discussion, for much care was used to prevent the intrusion of the idly-curious or illdisposed. Carlstadt had requested permission to be present, but Luther at once negatived such a proposition; and many who had come from Switzerland or the Rhine, full of anxiety to be witnesses of the controversy, knocked in vain at the castle gate, and implored to be let in. Early in the morning the Landgrave entered the hall and took his seat, with his courtiers, and counsellors of the first mark, professors of his university, and the nobles and deputies who had been granted admission; about twenty-four spectators in all according to the Zwinglian account, as many as fifty or sixty according to the Lutheran. The prince was very plainly attired, and thus appeared eager to ignore his rank on the occasion, and to do homage to theology. Of an intelligent mind, and wellversed in Scripture, he listened with fixed attention to the arguments advanced by either side. A desk covered with a velvet cloth divided Luther and Melancthon from Zwingle and Ecolampadius, and the other theologians were seated behind the chiefs of their respective parties. But before the controversy began, Luther stepped forward, and wrote with a piece of chalk in large letters in Latin, the text of Scripture on which he depended, This is my body.' It was a token that, as long as that text was found in Scripture, he would not abandon the doctrine of the corporeal presence.

"The conference was opened by Feige, the Chancellor of Hesse, admonishing the disputants of the object for which they were met, namely, the establishment of concord. Upon this Luther declared that he must

protest against the opinions entertained by his opponents on the Lord's Supper, and ever should protest against them, for the words of Christ were simple and conclusive-This is my body.' Ecolampadius replied, that the words of Christ thus quoted were figurative, and to be explained by similar texts, such as ""I am the true vine;" "I am the door of the sheep" "John is Elias," etc. Luther acknowledged a figure in the passages adduced, for the simplest understanding must at once perceive them to be figurative, but he denied that there was anything parallel to them in the declaration, This is my body.' Ecolampadius then had recourse to Christ's own statement, of the manner in which eating his flesh and drinking his blood were to be understood in John vi., when, in answer to the enquiry, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?' he says, 'It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.' Luther insisted that that passage of Scripture did not refer to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, but to feeding on Christ spiritually; but even if it did refer to the Sacrament, by Christ's words in that place must be understood, not his flesh, but our flesh; in other words, that the body of Christ is to be received not with a carnal, but a spiritual heart; for what blasphemy to dare to say 'The flesh of Christ profiteth nothing!' Christ himself saith, His flesh bringeth life.' Ecolampadius continued to press him upon this point. 'But if there be the spiritual manducation, what can the oral avail ?' 'That,' said Luther, is a mere rationalistic question; it ought to be enough that the Word of God says so. What that Word states we are bound to believe without a doubt, or a cavil, or objection. The world must obey God's precepts, we must all kiss his Word. Worms, listen: it is your God who speaks!' Here Zwingle came to the

:

aid of his friend, and the controversy quickly assumed a sharper and more excited tone. 'The devil,' Luther repeated, shall not drive me from simple dependence on Christ's words, "This is my body." 'You keep on singing the same song,' Zwingle exclaimed. This Luther resented as rough and arrogant language; and when Zwingle continued, 'Pardon me, my dear sir; the Saviour's explanation of the meaning of his words is decisive Christ tells you at once,' Your language,' Luther retorted, 'savours of the camp and of bloodshed,'-glancing at the ulterior designs which he supposed to be veiled by the eagerness for unanimity, and yet more obviously alluding to the preparations for battle which had been made by Zurich and Bern against the Forest Cantons in the summer, and all but brought to the test of actual conflict. It was a relief to the Landgrave and all who had harmony and concord at heart, that at this heated time in the discussion, when the argument had degenerated into personal allusion, the combatants were parted by dinner being announced."

Luther here reminds us of the "good old rule, the righteous plan,"

"That they should take which have the power,

And they should keep who can,"

since he attempts to accomplish by his own su erior strength,

and by wordy bombast, what should have been sought by more lawful and Christian means. No Pope had ever asserted infallibility—that is, my interpretation of Scripture is the interpretation of Scripture, and I will allow no other—in a more offensive way, and the Reformer now used the same weapons of theological despotism which he had so long laboured to break when weilded by others. All through life he had the same characteristics, modified indeed by misfortune and sickness, yet continually peeping out. He formed his opinion and would brook no advice; he determined on a course of action, and refused to be controlled by others; qualities which, as we have said, were used and overruled for great purposes in the history of the Church, but which, while furnishing occasion for the exhibition of the wisdom of Divine Providence, still must be considered as blemishes in the man.

The fact is, that Luther's mental character never appears to full advantage except in his great conflict with the papal despotism. In proportion as he is brought into close contact with the Popedom, he rises in our esteem, and we are compelled to view him as God's instrument to humble that system of overgrown misrule; but as he recedes from that centre-as he retires from that platform of energetic action-he becomes like other men, and exhibits frailties which are strikingly contrasted with his masculine character and holy courage in the appropriate field of his exertions. In order to work out more clearly the purpose we have in view in this paper, we must dwell a little longer on ́these defects of character which, while they did not interfere with his active reforms, stood in the way of his reconstructing that which he laboured to throw down. Our object being to find out Luther's right place in the scale of means employed by God in the governance of his Church: when that is discovered we shall the more readily recognize the Hand which employed him, and rise from the humble instrument to the designing Mind which condescended to use his services.

We have been struck, in reading Mr. Worsley's interesting life of Luther, with the way in which the Reformer often mistook his own self-will for the will of God; and without any warrant but his own impressions, set aside that moral obedience which is a prime virtue in Christianity. Two instances of this temper we will bring before our readers. The Emperor had granted a safe-conduct to Luther to enable him to appear at Worms, and one of its conditions was, that he was not to preach on the way; a reasonable requirement considering the circumstances of the times, and one which might even have been suggested by a desire for his safety. The way in which he disobeyed