About a month before his death, he was seized with a dysentery, which his feeble frame, already weakened by disease, was unable to sustain, and which proved mortal on the 12th of July, 1536. The last of his days were spent in constantly imploring the mercy of Almighty God, and of Jesus Christ, without speaking of those Catholic ceremonies, which he had so frequently blamed in the monks. He was buried in the cathedral church of Basil, or as it is generally called, Bâsle.

In his person he was low of stature, well shaped, of a fair complexion, cheerful countenance, low voice, and agreeable elocution; neat and decent in his apparel; and a pleasant companion.68

The unprecedented circulation of the anti-monastic writings of Erasmus, and the repeated editions of his New Testament created universal interest, and essentially aided the progress of truth, by exposing the vices of the monks, and causing the vast superstructure of superstition to tremble to its foundation; but the far more difficult labour of establishing the doctrines of the Gospel on an immoveable basis, was reserved for the intrepid and illustrious LUTHER, who, with a fearless independency of spirit, embraced, defended, and propagated those evangelical and important doctrines, which, by the gracious providence of God, induced and confirmed the happy event of the ever-memorable REFormation. (68) Jortin's Life of Erasmus, passim.

CHAPTER IV.

SIXTEENTH CENTURY CONTINUED.

Luther. German Version. Duke of Wurtemberg's Library. Melancthon. Bugenhagen. Jonas. Cruciger. Aurogallus. Rorarius. Forster. Ziegler. Emser's Catholic New Testament. Dietenberg's Bible. Other German Versions. Attempts to suppress Luther's Version. Low-Saxon, Swedish, Icelandic, Hungarian, and Dutch Versions. Potken's Ethiopic Editions. Progress of the Reformation. Zuingle. Latin Versions. Munster. Leo Judæ. Bibliander. Cholin. Gualter. Bullinger. Pellican. German-Swiss and German Versions.

THE great Saxon Reformer, MARTIN LUTHER, was

born at Eisleben, in the county of Mansfeld, and electorate of Saxony, in the year 1483. His father was employed in the mines, and rose by assiduity and integrity to the possession of property, and the office of magistrate. His mother, who appears to have been a woman of exemplary piety, devoted considerable attention to the tuition of her infant son; and to her pious instructions he was probably indebted for the early devotional bias of his mind. After receiving a liberal education in the schools of Magdeburg and Eisenach, he repaired to the university of Erford or Erfurt, and commenced master of arts, at the age of twenty. In 1505, he retired to the Augustinian monastery in that place, under the influence of religious impressions, occasioned by the awful death of a friend, and his own providential deliverance from a tremendous storm of thunder and lightning. "In this university of Erford," says Fox, there was a certain aged man in the convent of the

Augustines, with whom Luther, being then of the same order, a Friar Augustine, had conference upon divers things, especially touching the article of the Remission of Sins; the which article the said aged father opened unto Luther after this sort; declaring, that we must not generally believe only forgiveness of sins to be, or to belong to Peter, to Paul, to David, or such good men alone; but that God's express commandment is, that every man should believe his sins particularly to be forgiven him in Christ; and further said, that this interpretation was confirmed by the testimony of St. Bernard, and shewed him the place, in the Sermon of Annunciation,' where it is thus set forth: But add thou that thou believest this, that by him thy sins are forgiven thee. This is the testimony that the Holy Ghost giveth thee in thy heart, saying, Thy sins are forgiven thee. For this is the opinion of the Apostle, that man is freely justified by faith. By these words Luther was not only strengthened, but was also instructed of the full meaning of St. Paul, who repeateth so many times this sentence, We are justified by faith. And having read the expositions of many upon this place, he then perceived, as well by the purpose of the old man, as by the comfort he received in his spirit, the vanity of those interpretations which he had read before, of the schoolmen. And so reading, by little and little, with conferring the sayings and examples of the prophets and apostles, and continual invocation of God, and excitation of faith by the force of prayer, he perceived that doctrine most evidently."

It was about the same time that Luther either received from one of the monks, or accidentally found in the library, a neglected copy of the Latin version of the BIBLE, bound in red morocco. To his great surprize, he discovered that there were many parts of the Scripture which were never read to the people in the public service of the (1) Fox's Actes and Monumentes, Il. pp. 60, 61.

church. He therefore studied the Sacred Volume with such constancy and diligence, that he was very soon able to refer with ease and promptitude to any particular passage. Many portions of it he committed to memory; and sometimes spent the whole day in endeavouring to gain the true sense of one sentence. The incredible ardour with which he applied himself to the study of the Scriptures, gradually enlightened his mind, and produced those important views of Christian doctrine, experience, and practice, that eventually led to the astonishing results which took place in the Christian church, and spread the pure light of the Gospel in every direction.

Luther also became a Biblical, or Scriptural Bachelor, (Baccalaureus Biblicus,) whose duty it was to read lectures upon certain portions of Scripture. The Biblical Bachelors were, however, considered as inferior to the Scholastic Bachelors, (Baccalaurii Sententiarii,) or those who read lectures on the Sentences of Peter Lombard, and the works of other scholastic divines, and, therefore, their degree was regarded merely as a preparatory one in divinity. But it is worthy of notice, that at the time when Luther entered the order of the Augustinians, it was the only one capable of furnishing a Biblical bachelor to the university of Paris; for, at the reformation of the theological faculty, or college, at Paris, towards the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Augustin monks were selected to furnish the college of divinity, once a year, with a Biblical bachelor, from which it is natural to conclude, that the Dominicans, Franciscans, and other mendicant orders, had entirely neglected the study of the Scriptures, and especially, as by the original decree of the theological faculty, prior to the reformation of the college, each of the mendicant orders was enjoined to provide annually a Biblical bachelor, yet in the reformation of the college, none but the Augustinians were able to VOL. II.

S

satisfy that demand. Melancthon was a Biblical Bachelor of the same order as Luther.

In his Augustine superior, Staupitius, or Staupitz, Luther found a zealous adviser of the study of the Scriptures, in preference to any other pursuit. In the technical language of the times, Staupitz recommended him to become a good Textualis et Localis, by which he meant, the acquisition of a thorough knowledge of the texts of Scripture, and an expertness in quoting them. In 1507, he was ordained; and the next year was called by Staupitz, to the professorship of logic, in the university of Wittemberg. In 1510, he was sent on special business to Rome, and after his return was created doctor in divinity; and exchanged the philosophical for the theological chair, of the same university.* He now commenced lectures on the Epistle to the Romans, and the Psalms; he also diligently applied to the study of the Hebrew and Greek languages, for the purpose of obtaining a more perfect knowledge of the Scriptures.

"Such," says Melancthon, "were the employments of Luther at the time when those prostitute Indulgences were first proclaimed by that most impudent Dominican, Tetzel. Burning with the love of every thing that was godly, and irritated by Tetzel's shameful discourses, he published some propositions concerning the nature of indulgences. The Dominican, in return, publicly burnt Luther's propositions, and menaced the heretic himself with the flames. In a word, the outrageous conduct of Tetzel and his associates, absolutely compelled Luther

(2) Mosheim's Eccles. Hist. by Maclaine, IV. p. 218, note. Du Cange, Glossar. Lat. v. Baccalarii.

* The learned reader will find Luther's views of the duty of a Christian divine, delineated in a summary, extracted from Melchior Adam's Life of the German Reformer: "Tria faciunt theologum, dixit: meditalio, oratio, tentatio: et tria verbi ministro facienda: evolvere Biblia; orare serio; et semper discipulum manere. Optimi ad vulgus hi sunt concionatores: qui pueriliter, trivialiter, populariter, et simplicissime docent. (M. Adami Vit, Germ. Theolog. p. 165.