ligion as serious exercises, and performing them with suitable solemnity, the priests treated them as mere matters of political formality, and ridiculed his serious performance of the mass. 66 "I have seen," says he, "the pope and the pope's court, and 1 have had opportunity of personally observing the immorality of the clergy. I celebrated mass there, and I had occasion to see it celebrated by others, with so much indecency, that I am still unable to think of it without disgust. I have seen courtesans place themselves at the very altar, laughing and behaving in the most irreverent manner."

Disgusting as these scenes must have been to Luther, their influence on his future conduct could not fail of being most beneficial. Though for the present indeed he conceived that such conduet was confined merely to individuals of the clergy, he was notwithstanding gradually led to detect the delusions and hypocrisy of the papists, and hence would often afterward exclaim," I would not, for a thousand florins have missed the instruction afforded me by my journey to Rome"

On his return home the degree of doctor of divinity was conferred on him, under the most flattering circumstances ; the elector voluntarily offering to defray the expences attending it, and his brethren using much intreaty to prevent his declining the honourable title. The possession of this degree was afterwards of considerable importance, as it conferred upon him the privilege of teaching public. ly as well as privately; a right he frequently urged when his opponents attempted to silenee him.

In the year 1512, by the permission of the Elector, Lu ther having exchanged his professorship of philosophy for that of divinity, pursued his biblical studies with re doubled ardour. His first public exercise was to expound the epistle to the Romans, in which he explained the difference between the law and the gospel, exhibited his opinions respecting justification, and shewed that sin is freely forgiven for the sake of Jesus Christ, that Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world. His next exercise was an illustration of the book of psalms, in which he chiefly followed the exposition of Augustine, It was also about this period that he became convinced of the importance of acquiring a knowledge of Hebrew, and accordingly applied himself to the study of that sacred

language. He also paid so much attention to Greek, a language which in his time was little regarded, as might enable him to understand the New Testament.

Little remarkable is known of Luther during the four following years. His progress in divine knowledge appears to have been gradual, and to have excited little suspicion that in a short time he would become the most formidable enemy of popish tyranny. In the year 1516, he was appointed by Staupitz to examine into the state of the monasteries, in Saxony, and exercise in his absence a general superintendence. This new office naturally contributed to the dissemination of his sentiments, and to his acquiring that attachment to his person, which was so fully displayed in his subsequent troubles. No man, however, was less solicitous to make a study of ingratiating himself with the world. In a letter to Spalatinus, the Elestor's secretary, after having frankly expressed his opinion of the state of religion in the country, he adds, .66 many things please your Prince, and look great in his eyes, which are displeasing to God. In secular wisdom I confess that he is the most prudent of men: but in things which relate to God, or the salvation of the soul, I esteem him seven-fold blind."

About the same time, in a letter to another friend, he thus strikingly exhibited the progress he had now made in self-knowledge, and, what will ever be connected with it, a proportionate degree of humility. "I desire" says he "to know what your soul is doing; whether wearied at length of its own righteousness, it learns to refresh itself and to rest in the righteousness of Christ. The temptation to presumption in our age is strong in many, and especially in those who labour to be just and good with all their might, and at the same time are ignorant of the righteousness of God, which in Christ is conferred upon us with a rich exuberance of gratuitous liberality. They seek in themselves to work that which is good, in order that they may have a confidence of standing before God, adorned with virtues and merits, which is an impossible attempt. You, my friend, used to be of this same opinion, or rather this same mistake: so was I, but now I am fighting against the error, but have not yet prevailed." [To be continued.]

FOR THE MONITOR.

REASON.

REASON is defined to be" that power or faculty of the mind, by which we distinguish truth from falsehood, and combine means for the attainment of our ends." Among. the intellectual powers it holds an acknowledged supremacy, and on its developement and culture depends. the principal distinction we enjoy above the brute creation. Indeed without it man could not be a moral agent. But even to a mind, accustomed to serutinize its own operations, to arrange and classify its ideas, many difficulties arise while estimating the capacities, and fixing the precise objects, about which reason is conversaut. Polite literature in all its branches,-the fine arts, which are usually the result of our imagination and feelings, and our common intercourse with society, all partake largely of its assistance. Its legitimate field of exercise, however, is prescribed to those objects, the ideas of which are derived from sensation and reflection; and it is obvious, that no advances can be made in knowledge, unless the grounds and relations of intermediate ideas, between admitted principles and their deductions, be submitted to its examination.

In applying this subject to the being and attributes of God, the light of nature teaches us not entirely to disdain the exercise of our natural faculties; for it is often through the medium of the understanding alone that direction can be given to the conduct. Reason is not, however, in all things to be made the umpire of our faith. I speak not of that faith, which is inwrought upon the very constitution by a supernatural and divine agency; nor of that assent of the mind to the evidence of testimony, which, once. admitting the authenticity of the Bible, yields implicit submission to its dictates ; but of that assent on the groundof authority, which silences all reasoning. Now, have we a right to require a revelation of the existence, attributes, and government of an infinite God, to be brought, in all 'its parts, within the scope of our comprehension ? Is it not sufficient to know that the Lord reigns, without demanding the reason and fitness of his designs?

To the belief of a proposition, it is not necessary that we be able fully to comprehend and explain all, that is embraced in the terms of that proposition. The descent of heavy bodies to the earth, for instance, or the ascent of smoke, is beyond the reach of science to explain, yet the facts we know, and our actions are correspondent. In many of the sciences the understanding pays homage to what can neither be demonstrated nor distinctly conceiv ed. Yonder planets, with all their splendid retinue, roll in their orbits; and in the harmonious regularity, observed in the developement of causes and effects in the material world, we discover traces of infinite wisdom and power; but there is still a curtain impenetrable. Our reason is baffled in examining the different species of animals, their instincts, and uses; the growth of plants; the formation of clouds; the terrific chain of lightning; and indeed, most of the phenomena, that attend our existence. If, then, about these little things, the champions of infidelity and deism have been bewildered in the dark mazes of uncertainty, how much more, when they attempt to fathom the mysteries of God's eternal, underived existence, his perfections, and his designs of mercy?

For six thousand years reason has wielded her sceptre and opened her schools; but in no nation has it invested man with the lustre, which attended him before his departure from the will of the Almighty.

At the time when Athens was encircled with such a cluster of illustrious geniuses, and had reached the pinnacle of her intellectual glory;-when her language had attained a versatility and precision never equalled, what were the greatest discoveries of her schools? they were, at one time,that there existed two independent Gods; then one; but he was controlled wholly by fate, and indifferent about the state of man; and then that there was no God.-that the world arose from chance-sensual pleasure was the supreme good-truth could never be found-the immortality of the soul was doubtful-there were no reciprocal duties between parents and children-the vilest acts and passions might be deified, and parricide was a virtue. After Christianity shone on the earth,reason paralized the efforts of its followers, and froze up the current of their zeal. The simplicity of truth was subverted by the dogmas of the schools, and, through the long night of the

middle ages, reason reigned to the triumph of superstition. Then came the jubilee of infidelity, commenced by Des Cartes and crowned by Hume, in which realities became spectres of the imagination,-a community of rights and privileges among the sexes established,—and death was sworn to be an eternal sleep. And in this age of deism and self-sufficiency, something under the banners of reason has marched boldly to the the throne of God,—asserted its prerogative to dietate concerning the great moral. machine of the universe,-attempted to prescribe limits to the infinite mind,-and to tell on the propriety of giving a revelation to man. But what is the result? It cannot tell in what manner to pay homage to the Almighty;— cannot ascertain the resurrection of the body, the immortality of the soul, and a future state ;-cannot discover an atonement, sin pardoned. and God propitious;-and following its dictates to that hour, which links the convuls sions of mortality with eternal realities, the dying sinner, on these points, finds no satisfactory answer, no solace. A dark cloud intercepts his view, and the soul shrinks back with horror at the yawning abyss, the awful preci pice, down which existence tumbles to annihilation or to hell.

If then, all the rationalities of the human race united are unable to fathom the mysteries of our own constitu tion, of creation, and providence, why should the mysteries of divine revelation be thought unworthy of a God to proclaim, or mortals to believe? As human reason is not an infallible guide to us as probationers for eternity, it becomes us to sit down in the attitude, and with the meekness and docility of little children, to the study of the Bible; and we should love its doctrines and obey its precepts, because they are the dictates of Jehovah.

A.

FOR THE MONITOR.

C6 SERMONS IN STONES, AND GOOD IN EVERY THING."

THE setting of the sun in autumn, is a scene dear to every lover of nature. That I might enjoy it more fully, I walked out one evening, a stranger, in a pleasant coun