ign the
church covenant, stands in an enviable situation: his situation is,
indeed, an enviable one, who, devoted to God, is prepared to say of his
property, 'Here it is, little or much; take it, and leave me unmolested to
commune with my God. Indeed, I dedicate myself to what? not to a fanatical
tenet; O, no! to a subject far beyond; to the worship of Almighty God, the
great Creator and Governor of the universe. Under the influence of his
love, I give my all: only let me worship according to my faith, and in a
manner I believe acceptable to my God!'

"I say again, the world cannot produce a parallel to the situation which
such a man exhibits--resigned to the will of Heaven, free from all the
feelings of earthly desire, and pursuing, quietly, the peaceful tenor of
his way."

REFORMATION.

This term is used, by way of eminence, to denote that great change which
took place in the Christian world, under the ministry of Luther, Calvin,
Zuinglius, Melancthon, and others, who successfully opposed some of the
doctrines, and many of the practices, of the Roman church. It commenced at
Wittemberg, in Saxony, in 1517, and greatly weakened the Papal authority.

It was from causes seemingly fortuitous, and from a source very
inconsiderable, that all the mighty effects of the reformation flowed. Leo
X., when raised to the Papal throne, in 1513, found the revenues of the
church exhausted by the vast projects of his two ambitious predecessors.
His own temper, naturally liberal and enterprising, rendered him incapable
of severe and patient economy; and his schemes for aggrandizing the family
of Medicis, his love of splendor, and his munificence in rewarding men of
genius, involved him daily in new expenses, in order to provide a fund for
which, he tried every device that the fertile invention of priests had
fallen upon, to drain the credulous multitude of their wealth. Among
others, he had recourse to a sale of indulgences.

The Romish church believe that pious persons may do works of
supererogation, that is to say, more good works than are necessary for
their own salvation. All such works, according to their doctrine, are
deposited, together with the infinite merits of Jesus Christ, in one
inexhaustible treasury. The keys of this were committed to St. Peter, and
to his successors the popes, who may open it at pleasure, and, by
transferring a portion of this superabundant merit to any particular
person for a sum of money,