again, "as they did upon the earth," according to the aspiration found in every page of the ritual. But patience and labour are still required before the vivification is complete. The crying want is for more papyri. It is true that the greater part of those which we already possess have been but imperfectly read, but every additional one increases the chances and means of discovery. A few more in the style of the Two Brothers would be of immense value. And some such surely must exist, either above or below the ground. It is to be feared that an enormous destruction has taken place of these fragile records. The Anastasi, Sallier, and D'Orbiney papyri probably all came from a single tomb, and are the remnants of a large collection. What has become of the rest? At one time mere ignorance and carelessness on the part of the Arabs, who are usually the finders of these treasures, caused their destruction. At present these people are well aware of the commercial value of papyri, and unluckily this knowledge is accompanied by another cause of ruin; for their desire of making the most of their commodities, leads them to break up the manuscript into fragments. And so perish the world's records!

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE REFORMATION.-XXXIV.

GREGORY OF HEIMBURG AND JACOB OF JUTERBOCK.

THE sources and characteristics of the Reformation were manifold. It was a revolt, on the part of the laity, against the priesthood, arising from a desire to break the chain of slavery which the Church had bound around men in every relation of life. It was, too, a religious movement arising from disgust at the vice and degradation of the clergy, and having for its aim the restoration of the purity of carly Christianity. It was, moreover, an intellectual rebellion against the ignorance which had been fostered by the Church. In some measure, also, it was a priestly movement of national Churches to cmancipate themselves from the supremacy of Rome, and, in this connection, ambition, greed, hate, bad motives, and sordid considerations, all had their part, more or less, in bringing it about; while, as we have already pointed out, the disputes of the Schools had not a little to do with it. And, lastly, one of its most important sources of success lay in the fact, that it became so generally a national movement, based on patriotic feelings, or political considerations. All these things will have to be taken into account in forming our estimate of the Lutheran epoch, which became what it was because, in the person and age of Luther, so many of these influences converged to a focus.

We have already seen somewhat of the contest of reason and authority in the Schools, and of the work done by Wycliffe in England, and Huss in Bohemia, and of other the movements within and without the Church. During all this time, the Germans had remained the obedient sons of the Church, and it was to be some time ere, as a people, they were to become thoroughly roused to opposition. Although John of Goch's influence was by no means unfelt in Germany, it was in the Netherlands, nearly a century after his time (through the publication of his writings, and the advocacy of his principles, by Cornelius Graphæus), that his influence was most felt, and, assisted by other causes, bore its fruit in the revolt of the Netherlands against Spain. We have now to turn our attention to the commencement of the patriotic movement in Germany against the Papacy. These we find in the writings and career of Gregory of Heimburg. It is a mark of the change

which was now taking place in the views and feelings of men, that this Gregory was not an ecclesiastic, but a layman. In fact, the age of the civilians had now arrived, and a knowledge of law and learning was no longer to be confined to the clergy. In looking at what this Gregory did and said, we find that the servile belief of the laity, in the power and dignity of the priesthood being something far too sacred to be touched by their profane hands, was rapidly departing; for, not merely did he oppose the vices of the hierarchy, and attack their extortionate demands and abuse of power, but entered into an examination of the bases on which that power rested.

Gregory came of a noble Franconian family, and studied at the university of Wurzburg, where he took the degree of Doctor of Laws in the year 1430. He spent most of his life in the city of Nuremburg, a city already distinguished by its liberal tendencies, as we saw in the treatment which John Huss met with there. Gregory held there the office of City-syndic. "Three tendencies," says Ullmann, "different in kind, but yet auxiliary to each other, are prominently conspicuous in his life; first, lively zeal for the commencement "of the study of classical literature and eloquence in Germany; secondly, "active endeavours to strengthen the tottering empire, to promote its unity "and independence, and exalt the class of peaceful and industrious citizens "in opposition to the martial power of the princes; and, thirdly, indefatigable "war against the encroachments and usurpations of the hierarchy."* The moving spring of his action was patriotism, and he, therefore, represents the early growth of that side of the Reform movement. Like all who honestly work for the future, who oppose the powers that be, Gregory had to suffer; to suffer, not only the hatred of those he worked against, but the coldness and neglect of those he was working for. Such has ever been the hard lot of the progenitors of those movements which in their success have blessed mankind. It is instructive to compare the fate of this man with that of Encas Sylvius, with whom he was associated in his early career in opposition to the hierarchy. Gregory remained true to his principles, and died in poverty, exile, and excommunication: Sylvius betrayed them, and rose from rank to rank, until he became Pope Pius II. Such instances are found in all times; the man of honesty, who unflinchingly stands by the truth, must be prepared to suffer; yet, after all, he is happier than he who betrays the truth.

Throughout the entire Middle Ages there was existent, hidden, it is true, but not quenched, the spirit which produced the Reformation. It is only by the light of this fact, that the political struggles of those ages can be understood. What were Guelph and Ghibelline but the supporters and opposers of the Church represented by the Papacy? The Church triumphed over the Empire, but she failed to destroy the political animosity towards her engendered by that fact. So it is, that in the literature produced by the darkest of the Dark Ages there is hidden under the guise of fable and covert satire, a feeling of uncompromising hostility to the Church. The secret societies of the Middle Ages, of which so little is really known, were doubtless political combinations against the Papacy; and, as has been repeatedly pointed out, the spirit of the Italian Classics-Dante, Petrarch, and othersis entirely anti-papal, and (as the Church and Papacy had become so intimately bound together), therefore, antagonistic to the Church. This, too, becomes evident, in the ready listeners and abettors that such men as Arnold of Brescia and Rienzi obtained. Beneath the seeming submission to the Spiritual Despotism there was ever a spirit of secret and deadly enmity to

*Reformers before Reformation, i. 69.

the Church of Rome, arising from political considerations; and there were men who," as a writer in the Edinburgh Review has remarked, “safe "behind the shield of their secret associations, ministered weapons to the more daring assailants, who rushed desperately against the leading files "of the array of Papal Despotism.' What was needed to set this secret hostility free? what to make this deadly enmity do its natural work? The enlightenment of the people; and the strengthening of the Empire, if that were possible. Gregory was among the first to see this, hence his efforts in those directions. The means of the enlightenment of the people was achieved by the Revival of Letters and Learning in Europe, at the causes of which we shall look when we inquire exactly how that Revival was related to the Reformation; as for the Empire, that was dead, past any strengthening. But by rousing a patriotic spirit and political life in Germany Gregory did much to create a national party against the Church, and to give a voice to that secret hostility of which we have spoken.

There was, however, another side to the political element in the Refor mation, that must not be forgotten-not the patriotic, but the democratic. It was a natural consequence of the teaching of the Church, that all Civil Authority emanated from the Priestly; for, of course, when people came seriously to doubt the one, doubts regarding the other would follow. This element, which derived additional force from the sufferings of the people, under the joint despotism of Church and State-we find making its appearance about the middle of the fifteenth century. John Behem, variously known as the "Holy Youth," and the "Drummer," took to preaching in the diocese of Wurzburg, and was followed by thousands of the people, who eagerly listened, while he inveighed against tithes and taxes, and "insisted that all roadmoney, tolls, servitudes, and other oppressive burthens, claimed by spiritual " and temporal superiors, should be done away, and, on the other hand, insisted "that hunting and fishing, and the free use of the forests should be common to every Christian man, without distinction, whether rich or poor, peasant, "bishop, or prince." By way of answering him, the Bishop of Wurzburg burnt him. But his work was not without its fruit in the war of the peasantry which formed one side of the Reformation movement, and frightened many of the German princes, who would else have sided with Luther, back into alliance with the Papacy.

But besides these political and social causes, there was throughout the whole of the fifteenth century a continually-increasing and widening religious fermentation among the people of Germany, being the combined result of the work of the Waldenses, the Fraticelli, and the Hussites. For a long time, even so early as the thirteenth century, there had been a secret movement of this kind, having its source in the Waldensian teachings. There is no doubt that the people who called themselves "Friends of God," and who were very numerous in many parts of Germany, were, in fact, those who had secretly embraced those doctrines. Their emissaries spread all over Germany. Thousands of these people were, through the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, detected, persecuted, and slain, without much being said of it; but the remembrance of their fate left in the minds of thousands a feeling, which grew stronger and stronger as the opening of the sixteenth century approached. Even in the time of Huss, these "Friends of God" were bold enough to greet him, denounced as a heretic though he was.

See Edin. Review, vol. lv. Art. "The Anti-Papal Spirit of the Italian Classics," in which this subject is ably discussed.

While Gregory of Heimburg was actively engaged in opposition to the Church, by his writings stirring up the minds of the German people to oppose the Papacy and the hierarchy--if not with any immediate result, with effects which were to make themselves visible in an after time--we have, in the writings of a pious monk of that time-Jacob of Jüterbock-proof of the deep felt want of a change. The Church, he said, had become so corrupt and deformed that it was scarcely possible to believe in the possibility of a general Reform of it. The Pope, said Jacob, would never, and if he would, as a single fallible man, could not effect the needed Reform; the Church needed entirely remodelling. How far the reformatory tendency extended is shown in the fact that this pious monk, strict in all the duties of monkery, and believing in the Church with his whole soul, actually called the Pope "fallible man," and went so far as to say that God gave his infallible aid to none of the Popes, "not even the first (by whom he meant St. Peter), who,' said he, we learn, from Scripture, fell into error, both before and after the "effusion of the Holy Ghost." It has been well said that his words remain as an important testimony how irresistibly the necessity for a reformation had forced itself upon the minds of even the most pious Churchmen. Yes, one feels that when a monastic recluse dared thus to speak of the Pope and Church, a great change must, indeed, have taken place in the views and feelings of men.

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The various facts above-detailed, go far to show how, and in how many ways, the men of the fifteenth century were clearing the battle-field which Luther was to occupy. Like all other great workers in history, he appeared not until the time was ripe for him. He was the greatest of the Reformers, not because he created the movement, but that he directed it. The Reformation, like all other great historic movements, had its roots deep down in the centuries which lay behind it; and without the men and work of those centuries preceding him, Luther, and his career, had been an impossibility. JAS. L. GOODING.

THE NATURE OF A MIRACLE.

FROM A LECTURE.

(Continued from p. 128.)

It has been generally believed that the working of miracles furnishes evidence of the worker being authorised by God-that the performance of such actions demonstrates him to be divinely commissioned, and, consequently, that we are bound to submit ourselves unto those who, in the name of God, both perform miraculous works and teach new doctrines. The common boast of our orthodox believers is, that they do not believe upon any evidence short of Divine, and when it is asserted that they have the authority of Heaven to vindicate that which they teach, it is meant that the miracles which were wrought furnished that vindication. It is sufficient now to show the unsoundness of such assertions, for to discuss the source of the error, or to develope the principles upon which it is founded, would lead us far away into the realms of human weakness and superstition, where black night and error reign in happy union.

The first objection to the popular theory is fatal, that is even when the popular theory of miracles advocated by Doctor Wardlaw is left unquestioned. That eminent writer said: "If a man announces himself as having been commissioned "by God to propound a certain doctrine, or system of doctrines, as from Him, and "for the truth of his commission and communication appeals to works such as no

power but that of God can effect; if, upon making this appeal, these works are instantly and openly done at his bidding, there is no evading of the conclusion "that this is a Divine interposition at the moment, in attestation of the authority "he claims, and of the truth of what is declared."* There is nothing left, according to this, but that we submit ourselves, in all humility, and believe with all firmness. But, it may be asked, if God is bound by human fancy, and constrained to act whether He wishes it or otherwise, when men have resolved upon working wonders in His name. Dr. Wardlaw, consistently with his theory, contends that He is thus bound. The language employed is worthy of notice. He says: "When the appeal is made to His Name, and is avowedly designed to substantiate a claim to His authority, His permitting any real miracle, in such circumstances, "to be performed, would be the very same thing as if He Himself by His own "power directly effected it; just as for what is done in our name, not ostensibly "merely, but with our admitted concurrence, we become, when it is in our power "to hinder it, as really responsible as if we did it ourselves." The human is thus supposed capable of constraining the Divine! According to this theory, when a man professes to work miracles in the name of God, then God cannot avoid restraining him if he has spoken falsely; because should He abstain from interfering, the innocent people will be deceived into accepting a false doctrine. But if this be true, how comes it that so many false doctrines have been taught, and taught, too, in the name of God? Rightly or wrongly, all great religious teachers have pro fessed to be taught of God; they have given forth their religious lessons as heavendescended, and until it can be shown that they claimed to be children and servants of the Devil, it will be perfectly legitimate to argue, upon Doctor Wardlaw's principles, that God is responsible for all the evil consequences which flowed from their teaching. They appealed to His Name, and to no other; they professed to be taught by Him, and by none other; and it was in His Name they wrought miracles. Thus, if there be any force in his reasoning, seeing that God did not interfere against them, we are bound to believe the doctrines they taught, and, conse quently, must ally ourselves with Buddhists, or some other of the miracle-attested religions.

The common answer to this is that the wonders supposed to have been wrought by such persons were frauds and not substantial miracles. But this merely evades the difficulty, and does not remove it. It supposes that a case has been suggested such as could not possibly occur The consequences to the people were precisely the same as if the wonders had been all which they supposed them to be; they honestly believed them to be real, and as it is difficult, even in our own age, to conceive of any sufficient test of the miraculous, it can hardly be said that in ancient times the generations of men should have been better provided, in this particular, than we are. They saw only what was generally believed to be proof of the Divine co-operation, and if Dr. Wardlaw's reasoning has any value, then God was as much bound to act against them as he could be to act against those who actually wrought miracles." His honour was quite as much mixed up with one as it was with the other, and, in point of goodness and care for His creatures, His interference would be as essential.

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They who argue that miracles furnish absolute proof of the Divine Interference, either omit to notice the various Biblical accounts of "miracles wrought by the ungodly," or they deny that any such have been worked. They are correct enough in the latter, but to maintain their position, they are compelled practically to deny the statements made in "Holy Writ.". Evidently it was contemplated by the author of Deuteronomy that men would arise who would work miracles and teach false doctrines, provision being made for their punishment. Even if the sign or wonder came to pass whereof he spake, the people were not to believe the doctrine he taught, but were to put him to death. And surely it will not be said that such a one could have been acting under the guidance of Jehovah. Then, again, it is distinctly intimated in Matthew that miracle-workers in abundance will rise up to deceive: "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and