vain that God exercised him in so many conflicts, for
that He would employ him as His servant for great purposes. Truly have
the words of the good old man come true. Yet Dr Martin was far from
enlightened. He was to obtain full emancipation from the thraldom of
Rome in Rome itself. He was sent there to represent seven convents of
his own order, who were at variance with the Vicar-general. He had
always imagined Rome to be the abode of sanctity. Ignorance, levity,
dissolute manners, a profane spirit, a contempt for all that is sacred,
a scandalous traffic in divine things. Such was the spectacle afforded
by this unhappy city. Even when performing their most sacred
ceremonies, the priests derided them. Some of them boasted that when
pretending to consecrate the elements, they uttered the words `_Panis es
et panis manebis; vinum es et vinum manebis_.' While himself performing
mass, on one occasion, the priest near him, who had finished his, cried
out, `_Passa_--_passa_--_quick_--_quick_!--have done with it at once!'
It was the fashion at the Papal Court to attack Christianity, and no
person could pass for a well-bred man unless he could satirise the
doctrines of the Church. These, and numberless other abominations,
which he saw and heard, must greatly have shaken his faith in the
sanctity of Rome; and, at length, on a certain occasion, his eyes were
completely opened. The Pope had promised an indulgence to all who
should ascend on their knees a staircase, which it is pretended was
brought from Pilate's Judgment-hall, and that down it our blessed Lord
had walked. It is called `Pilate's Staircase.' While he, with others,
desirous of obtaining the promised indulgence, was laboriously climbing
up the stair on his knees, he thought that he heard a voice of thunder
crying out, `_The just shall live by faith_.' He rose at once,
shuddering at the depth to which superstition had plunged him, and fled
from the scene of his folly. Yes, those words are the key-note of all
the arguments by which our glorious work must be supported," exclaimed
Albert. "Yes, _faith without works justifies us before God_; that is
the fundamental article Dr Martin holds. Soon after his return he was
made Doctor of Divinity, and could now devote himself to the study of
the Holy Scriptures, and, which was of the greatest importance, lecture
on them. While thus engaged, he ever, from the first, pointed to the
Lamb of God. The firmness with