throws a doubt on the authority of the Scripture and Councils[1]. In the preface to one of his works he says[2], it is rash to call the Holy Ghost God. "Audemus Spiritum Sanctum appellare Deum, quod veteres ausi non sunt." Noel Alexander informs us[3], that in 1527 the Faculty of Paris condemned several propositions taken from his works, and that at the Council of Trent the Cardinals appointed by Paul III. to report on the abuses which needed reformation, called on him to prohibit in the schools the reading of the Colloquies of Erasmus, in which are many things that lead the ignorant to impiety. He was, however, esteemed by several Popes, who invited him to Rome, to write against Luther, and it was even reported that Paul III. intended him for the Cardinalship. We may conclude with Bernini, that he died with the character of an unsound Catholic, but not a heretic, as he submitted his writings to the judgment of the Church, and Varillas[4] says he always remained firm in the Faith, notwithstanding all the endeavours of Luther and Zuinglius him to their side. He died in Basle in 1536, at the age of 70[5].
3. While Germany thus agitated with this dispute, the famous brief of Leo X. arrived there in 1613, and here we must introduce Luther. Martin Luther[6] was born in Eisleben, in Saxony, in 1483. His parents were poor, and when he afterwards acquired such a sad notoriety, some were not satisfied without tracing his birth to the agency of the devil[7], a report to which his own extraordinary assertions gave some colour at the time, since he said in one of his sermons to the people, that he had eaten a peck of salt[8] with the devil, and in his work "De Missa Privata," or low Mass, he says he disputed with the devil on this subject, and was convinced by him that private Masses should be abolished[9]. "Luther," said the devil, "it is now fifteen years that you are saying private Masses;—what would the consequence be, if on the altar you were adoring bread and wine? would you not be guilty of idolatry?" "I am a priest," said Luther, "ordained by my bishop, and I have done everything through obedience." "But," added the devil, "Turks and Gentiles also sacrifice through obedience, and what say you if your ordination be false?" Such are the powerful reasons which convinced Luther. Frederick Staphil[10] relates a curious anecdote concerning this matter. Luther at one time, he says, endeavoured to exorcise a girl in Wittemberg, possessed by an evil spirit, but was so terrified that he tried to escape, both by the door and window, which to his great consternation were both made fast;—finally one of his companions broke open the door.with a hatchet, and they escaped[11].
- ↑ Alberto, l. 11, 12.
- ↑ Erasm. advers. Hil. t. 12; Bernin. loc. cit.
- ↑ Nat. Alex. cit. art. 10, n. 12.
- ↑ Varill. t. 1, l. 7, p. 322.
- ↑ Nat. Alex. loc. cit.
- ↑ Gotti, Ver. Rel. t. 2, c. 108, sec. 2; Baron. Ann. 1517, n. 56; Varillas Istor. &c. t. 1, l. 3, p. 129; Hermant, Histor. Concili, t. 2, c. 227.
- ↑ Gotti, cit. sec. 2, n. 3.
- ↑ Nat. Alex. loc. cit.; Gotti, loc. cit. sec. 2, n. 2.
- ↑ Gotti, cit. sec. 5, n. 2.
- ↑ Staphil. Resp. contra Jac. Smidelin, p. 404.
- ↑ Varillas loc. cit. l. 14, p. 31.
