ed and sounder criticism, but, as it was declared,
through the inward light of the Spirit; that nothing had been done to
alleviate the ancient intolerant dogmatism, the forcible suppression of
freedom of thought. [Sidenote: Leo X.; his character.] Leo X., it is
well known, at first altogether mistook the nature of the Reformation.
He was a man of refined tastes and pleasure, delighting in sumptuous
feasts, and too often scandalizing the devout by his indecent
conversation and licentious conduct. He gloried in being the patron of
the learned, devoting all his attention to the progress of literature
and the fine arts, a connoisseur in antiques. The amenities of the life
of an accomplished gentleman were not to be disturbed. He little dreamt
that in the coarse German monk there was an antagonist worthy of the
papacy. The gay Italians looked upon Luther with ineffable contempt, as
introducing ideas even more absurd than those he was trying to displace,
and, what was perhaps a still greater offence, upholding his bad
doctrines in worse Latin. They affected to believe that they discerned a
taint of insanity in the Reformer's account of his conflicts with the
Devil, yet were willing to concede that there was a method in his
madness, since he was bent on having a wife. In their opinion, the
result of the German movement must be exceedingly detrimental to
learning, and necessarily lead to the production of very vulgar results,
exciting among the common people a revolutionary and destructive spirit.
Nor was this personal distaste for Luther altogether undeserved. The
caricatures which that great man permitted himself to put forth are too
indelicate to be described to a modern reader. They would be worthy of
our disgust and indignation did we not find some palliation in the
coarseness of the communities and times in which he lived. Leo awoke to
his blunder when it was too late, and found that he had been
superciliously sneering at what he should have combated with all his
might.

[Sidenote: Check of the Reformation in Europe.] It is now more than
three centuries since the Reformation commenced, and we are able, with
some degree of accuracy, to ascertain its influence. Founded as it was
on the right of private interpretation of the Scriptures, it introduced
a better rule of life, and made a great advance towards intellectual
liberty. It compelled men to be more moral, and permitted them to be
more learned. For the traditions of sup