Protestant Reformation.

A GENERAL ACCOUNT

OF THE

FIRST REFORMERS,

AND THEIR DIFFERENT DOCTRINES.

MARTIN LUTHER, an Augustinian Friar, a bold rough man, and vehement declaimer, having imbibed erroneous sentiments from the heretical writings of John Huss, of Bohemia, took occasion, from the publication of indulgencies, promulgated by Pope Leo X., to break with the Catholic Church, and to promulgate his new errors, in 1517, at Wittemberg, in Saxony. He first inveighed against the abuse of indulgences; then he called in question their efficacy; and, at last, totally rejected them. He proceeded to broach new opinions, contrary to the Catholic doctrine; as, that remission of sins was not founded on contrition, but on ith alone, contrary to the scripture where it ays, "Do you see that by works a man is jus

tified, and not by faith only?" James ii. 24, that good works were not necessary for salvation; and other tenets which will occur in the sequel.

He threw off his religious habit, renounced the solemn vows he had made to God, abandoned his cloister, and returned to the world. He declaimed against the supremacy of the See of Rome, and condemned the whole Church, pretending that Christ had abandoned it, and that it wanted reforming, as well in faith as discipline. Thus, this new evangelist commenced that fatal defection from the ancient faith, which was styled "Reformation," and which afterwards overspread so large a part of western Christendom.

Before we proceed further, let us clearly understand the meaning of these words-Catholic, Protestant and Reformation. Catholic means universal; and religion, which takes this epithet, was called universal, because all Christian people, of every nation, acknowledged one and the same head of the Church, and this was the Pope, who, though he generally resided at Rome, was the head of the Church in England, in France, in Spain, and, in short, in every part of the world where the Christian religion was professed. But there came a

time, when some nations, or rather, parts of some nations, cast off the authority of the Pope, and, of course, no longer acknowledged him as the head of the Christian Church. These nations, or parts of nations, declared, or protested, against the authority of their former

head, and also against the doctrines of that Church, which, until now, had been the only Christian Church. They, therefore, called themselves Protestors, or Protestants; and this is now the appellation given to all who are not Catholics. As to the word Reformation, it means an alteration for the better; and it would be hard indeed if the makers of this great alteration could not have contrived to give it a good name.

Let us now hear the character, which a grave archbishop, and primate of England, has given of the great apostle of the Reformation. "In the beginning of the Reformation, (says Tillot. Serm. 29, p. 558,) when Antichrist sat securely in the quiet possession of his kingdom, Luther arose; a bold and rough man, but a fit wedge to cleave in sunder so hard and knotty a block: and appeared stoutly against the gross errors, and corruptions of the Church of Rome, and for a long time stood alone."

I can assure the reader that Luther will speak for himself, and by his own words we shall judge him. "I now declare," says he, speaking to the bishops, "that for the future I will not vouchsafe you so much honour, as to submit myself or doctrine to your judgment, or that of an angel from heaven." (Preface to his book, Adversus falso nominatum ordinem Episcoporum.) He wrote a book which he entitled, "Against the execrable Bull of Antichrist," meaning the Bull of his condemnation, by Pope Leo X. This book he concluded in these words: "In the same manner that they

excommunicate me, I excommunicate them again." In another book, which he published in defence of the articles condemned by the above mentioned Bull, "Forbear ye," says he, "to make war against the Turks, until the name of the Pope be taken from beneath the heavens: I have said it." Numberless other instances of his violence and fury might be alleged. Such was his spirit of pride, that he made open profession of contempt for the authority of the Church, councils, and fathers; whilst he arrogated an infallibility to himself, and anathematized all, whether Catholics or Protestants, that dissented from him,

The other reformers thought themselves as wise as Luther, and therefore broached new doctrines also, which they propagated and defended with such heat and vehemence, as to occasion every where seditions and insurrections, which they seemed to glory in. "You complain," says Luther, "that by our gospel the world is become tumultuous; I answer, God be thanked for it, these things I would have so to be; and wo to me if such things

were not."

One principal design of the Reformation was, to free men from two troublesome restraintsof subjecting their understanding to the mysteries of faith, and of being bound down in their actions to the strict laws of morality. The new teachers preached up a hitherto unheard of "evangelical liberty," as they styled it, by virtue of which they were masters to model their belief and practice, as it suited their

inclinations. In pursuance of this commodious doctrine, they dissected the Catholic faith, until they reduced it to a mere skeleton; they lopt off the reality of the body and blood of Christ, in the holy eucharist, the divine Christian sacrifice offered in the mass, confession of sins, most of the sacraments, penetential exercises, several of the canonical books of the scripture, the invocation of saints, celibacy, most of the general councils of the Church, and all present Church authority; they perverted the nature of justification, asserting that faith alone suffices to justify man; they made God the author of sin, and maintained the observance of the commandments to be impossible. These and other errors were taught by most of the modern Reformers; and they all agreed in renouncing all submission

to the See of Rome.

For a few specimens of Luther's doctrine, take the following: "God's commandments are all equally impossible." De Lib. Christ. T. 2, fol. 4. "No sins can damn a man, but only unbelief." De Captiv. Bab. T. 2, fol. 171. "God is just, though by his own will he lays us under a necessity of being damned; and though he damns those that have not deserved it." Tom. 2, fol. 434 and 466. "God works in us both good and evil." Tom. 2, fol. 44. "Christ's body is every where no less than the Divinity itself." Tom. fol. 37. Then for his darling principle of justification by faith, in his 11th article against Pope Leo, he says: "Believe strongly that you are absolved