his efforts to reconcile Luther to the Pope and the Church. Whatever resolution our zealous and intrepid Reformer might manifest in his opposition to the papal authority, he appears to have been but ill-prepared to withstand the attacks of flattery; and, accordingly, Miltitz, who seems properly to have appreciated the mind of Luther, prevailed upon him, by calling in the assistance of the society of the Augustine Monks, to which, as we have seen, Luther belonged, to write again to the Pope, with a further and more explicit account of his conduct. This application to the Augustine Monks seems to have been particularly pleasing to Luther.

The indefatigable and truly impartial Mr. Roscoe has treated this part of the subject in his usual interesting and just manner; and as it is one of the most essential traits in the early history of the Reformation, I will give the account of Luther's letter, as it appears in this author's Life of Leo X.*

"Under the pretext of obedience, respect, and even affection for the pontiff, he has conveyed the most determined opposition, the most bitter satire, and the most marked contempt; insomuch, that it is scarcely possible to conceive a composition more

Vol. IV. p. 13, et seq.

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replete with insult and offence, than that which Luther affected to allow himself to be prevailed on to write by the representations of his own fraternity. Amongst the monsters of the age,' says Luther, with whom I have now waged nearly a three years' war, I am compelled, at times, to turn my regards towards you, O most holy father Leo; or rather I may say, that as you are esteemed to be the sole cause of the contest, you are never absent from my thoughts. For although I have been induced by your impious flatterers, who have attacked me without any cause, to appeal to a general council, re'gardless of the empty decrees of your predecessors, Pius and Julius, which, by a kind of stupid tyranny, were intended to prevent such a measure, yet I have never allowed my mind to be so far alienated from your holiness, as ⚫ not to be most earnestly solicitous for the happiness both of yourself and your see, which I have always endeavoured, as far as in my power, to obtain from God by continual and 'ardent supplications. It is true, I have almost 'learnt to despise and to exult over the threats ⚫ of those who have sought to terrify me, by the 'majesty of your name and authority; but there is one circumstance which I cannot contemn, and which has compelled me again to address your holiness. I understand I have been highly blamed, as having had the temerity to carry my opposition so far as even to attack your personal character.

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"I must, however, most explicitly assure you, that whenever I have had occasion to " mention you, I have never done it but in the best and most magnificent terms. Had I done • otherwise, I should have belied my own judg

ment, and should not only concur in the opi'nion of my adversaries, but most willingly acknowledge my rashness and impiety. I have given you the appellation of Daniel in Baby'lon, and have even endeavoured to defend you against your great calumniator Silvester (Prierio) with a sincerity which any reader' 'will abundantly perceive in my works. The ' unsullied reputation of your life is, indeed, so august and so celebrated in every part of the world by the applauses of learned men, as to 'set at defiance any aspersions which can be thrown upon it. I am not so absurd as to ' attack him whom every one praises, when it has always been my rule to spare even those 'whom public report condemns. I delight not in blazoning the crimes of others, being conscious of the mote which is in my own eye, ⚫ and not regarding myself as entitled to throw the first stone at an adultress,'

"After justifying the asperity with which he has commented on the misconduct of his adversaries, by the example of Christ, and of the prophets and apostles, he thus proceeds: I must, however, acknowledge my total abhorrence of your see, the Roman court, which,

'neither you nor any man can deny, is more corrupt than either Babylon or Sodom, and

according to the best of my information, is 'sunk in the most deplorable and notorious im'piety.* I have been, therefore, truly indig'nant to find, that under your name, and the pretext of the Roman church, the people of • Christ have been made a sport of; which I have opposed, and will oppose, as long as 'the spirit of faith shall remain in me. Not ⚫ that I would attempt impossibilities, or expect ⚫ that my efforts could avail against such a hos'tile throng of flatterers, and in the midst of the commotions of that Babylon. I owe, ' however, something to my brethren, and conceive that it behoves me to keep watch that they are not seized in such numbers, nor so violently attacked, by this Roman plague.

*« It must be observed, that Luther had been in Rome, in the year 1510, on the affairs of his convent, where he had been greatly disgusted with the conduct of the clergy, and the manners of the people, in the performance of religious worship. Ego Romæ,' says he, non diu fui. Ibi ce⚫lebravi ipse, et vidi celebrari aliquot missas, sed ita, ut, quoties recordor, execrer illas. Nam super mensam, inter alia, audivi Curtisanos quusdam ridendo gloriari; nonnullos in ara super panem et vinum hæc verba pronun" tiare,' Panis es, panis manebis; vinum es, vinum manebis. Ex Luther, op. German. tom. vi. Jena, ap. Melch. Adam in vitâ, 49. Speaking of this journey in his Colloquia, he observes, that he would not have exchanged it for a thousand florins. Ib.

For what has Rome poured out for these many years past (as you well know) but the desolation of all things, both of body and soul, and the worst examples of all iniquity. It is, indeed, as clear as day-light to all mankind, that 'the Roman church, formerly the most holy of all churches, is become the most licentious den ' of thieves, the most shameless of all brothels, 'the kingdom of sin, of death, and of hell; the wickedness of which not antichrist himself 'could conceive.

"In the mean time, you, O Leo, sit like a ⚫ lamb amidst wolves, and live like Daniel amidst the lions, or Ezekiel among the scorpions. 'But what can you oppose to these monsters? 'Three or four learned and excellent cardinals! • but what are these on such an occasion? In 'fact, you would all sooner perish by poison, 'than attempt a remedy to these disorders. • The fate of the court of Rome is decreed; the ' wrath of God is upon it; advice it detests; ⚫ reformation it dreads; the fury of its impiety

cannot be mitigated, and it has now fulfilled ' that which was said of its mother, We have • medicined Babylon and she is not healed; let us therefore leave her. It was the office of you and of your cardinals to have applied a remedy; • but the disorder derides the hand of the physician, nec audit currus habenas. Under these impressions I have always lamented, O most • excellent Leo, that you, who are worthy of