DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70031#0162
LUTHER. [GERMANY.
Saxony, in 1483, and son of a common blacksmith.
His father, notwithstanding the narrowness of his
circumstances, gave him a good education, of which
he availed himself. Having been present at a fatal
accident which happened to one of his companions,
who was killed by a thunderbolt at his side, Luther
considered this accident as a warning from heaven ;
determined, contrary to the wishes of his family, to
embrace a monastic life, and entered himself among
the hermits of St. Augustin, at Erfurtb. There giving
himself up with uncommon ardor to the study of the
ancient languages, as well as to that of scholastic
divinity, studies then much in fashion, he soon
was able to become a professor in the university of
Wirtemberg, where he alternately gave lectures of
philosophy and theology with equal success. Luther,
feeling his superiority, became by degrees more
bold and enterprising. Courageous and disinterested,
actuated moreover by a strong passion for celebrity
and a taste for innovation, he knew how to avail him-
self of the opportunity which was offered to him by
the conduct of the missionaries sent into Germany
by Leo the Tenth to sell indulgences; and he thun-
dered in his writings against the court of Rome. Per-
ceiving that the moment for attacking it with success
wras arrived, Luther, after having loudly declaimed
against the abuse of indulgences, attacked the indul-
gences themselves; and the thesis which he pub-
lished at this epoch, produced such a sensation in all
Germany, that not only Frederick, elector of Saxony,
but also the Elector Palatine and several bishops, de-
clared themselves secretly in his favour. Things were
even carried to such a length that a missionary, named
Saxony, in 1483, and son of a common blacksmith.
His father, notwithstanding the narrowness of his
circumstances, gave him a good education, of which
he availed himself. Having been present at a fatal
accident which happened to one of his companions,
who was killed by a thunderbolt at his side, Luther
considered this accident as a warning from heaven ;
determined, contrary to the wishes of his family, to
embrace a monastic life, and entered himself among
the hermits of St. Augustin, at Erfurtb. There giving
himself up with uncommon ardor to the study of the
ancient languages, as well as to that of scholastic
divinity, studies then much in fashion, he soon
was able to become a professor in the university of
Wirtemberg, where he alternately gave lectures of
philosophy and theology with equal success. Luther,
feeling his superiority, became by degrees more
bold and enterprising. Courageous and disinterested,
actuated moreover by a strong passion for celebrity
and a taste for innovation, he knew how to avail him-
self of the opportunity which was offered to him by
the conduct of the missionaries sent into Germany
by Leo the Tenth to sell indulgences; and he thun-
dered in his writings against the court of Rome. Per-
ceiving that the moment for attacking it with success
wras arrived, Luther, after having loudly declaimed
against the abuse of indulgences, attacked the indul-
gences themselves; and the thesis which he pub-
lished at this epoch, produced such a sensation in all
Germany, that not only Frederick, elector of Saxony,
but also the Elector Palatine and several bishops, de-
clared themselves secretly in his favour. Things were
even carried to such a length that a missionary, named