k place, we may recognize it
without difficulty. Heretofore each man had dedicated his services to
his superior--feudal or ecclesiastical; now he had resolved to gather
the fruits of his exertions himself. Individualism was becoming
predominant, loyalty was declining into a sentiment. We shall now see
how it was with the Church.

INDIVIDUALISM. Individualism rests on the principle that a man shall
be his own master, that he shall have liberty to form his own opinions,
freedom to carry into effect his resolves. He is, therefore, ever
brought into competition with his fellow-men. His life is a display of
energy.

To remove the stagnation of centuries front European life, to vivify
suddenly what had hitherto been an inert mass, to impart to it
individualism, was to bring it into conflict with the influences
that had been oppressing it. All through the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries uneasy strugglings gave a premonition of what was coming.
In the early part of the sixteenth (1517), the battle was joined.
Individualism found its embodiment in a sturdy German monk, and
therefore, perhaps necessarily, asserted its rights under theological
forms. There were some preliminary skirmishes about indulgences and
other minor matters, but very soon the real cause of dispute came
plainly into view. Martin Luther refused to think as he was ordered to
do by his ecclesiastical superiors at Rome; he asserted that he had an
inalienable right to interpret the Bible for himself.

At her first glance, Rome saw nothing in Martin Luther but a vulgar,
insubordinate, quarrelsome monk. Could the Inquisition have laid hold of
him, it would have speedily disposed of his affair; but, as the conflict
went on, it was discovered that Martin was not standing alone. Many
thousands of men, as resolute as himself, were coming up to his support;
and, while he carried on the combat with writings and words, they made
good his propositions with the sword.

THE REFORMATION. The vilification which was poured on Luther and his
doings was so bitter as to be ludicrous. It was declared that his father
was not his mother's husband, but an impish incubus, who had deluded
her; that, after ten years' struggling with his conscience, he had
become an atheist; that he denied the immortality of the soul; that
he had composed hymns in honor of drunkenness, a vice to which he
was unceasingly addicted; that he blasphemed the Holy Scriptures, and
particularly Moses; that