at
Wittemberg) where he had got that pen, and how it came to be so strong.
[In those days they used goosequills for pens.] 'This pen,' replied he,
'belonged to a Bohemian goose [Huss] a hundred years old. I had it from
one of my old schoolmasters. It is so strong because no one can take the
pith out of it, and I am myself quite astonished at it.' On a sudden I
heard a loud cry; from the monk's long pen had issued a host of other
pens. I awoke a third time; it was day light." History of the
Reformation, Book III, Chap. 4.

Frederick related the foregoing to his brother John, the Duke of York,
on the morning of Oct. 31, 1517, stating that he had dreamed it during
the previous night. The same day at noon Martin Luther advanced boldly
to the chapel at Wittemberg and posted upon the door ninety-five theses,
or propositions, against the Papal doctrine of indulgences. This was his
public entrance upon the great work of reformation. The importance of
the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century is incalculable. It gave the
deathblow to the universal spiritual supremacy of Rome. As we have
already seen, the Papacy had for centuries held despotic sway over the
minds and the consciences of men. One potent cause of the Reformation
was the great Revival of Learning that marked the close of the medieval
and the beginning of the modern period of history. This great mental
awakening contrasted sharply with the blind ignorance and superstition
of the Middle Ages, and caused many men to doubt the Scriptural
authority of many of the doctrines and ceremonies of the Church of Rome;
such as invocation of saints, auricular confession, use of images,
worship of the Virgin Mary, etc.

Scandals and abuses in the Church of Rome also hastened the Reformation.
During the fifteenth century the morals of that church had sunk to the
greatest depths of iniquity. The Popes themselves were, in some cases,
monsters of impurity and iniquity, insomuch that historians are obliged
to draw the vail over many of their dark deeds.

But the real occasion of the revolt of the northern nations of Europe
against the jurisdiction of Rome was the controversy regarding
indulgences. "These in the Catholic church, are remissions, to penitents
of punishment due for sin, upon the performances of some work of mercy
or piety, or the payment of a sum of money." When Leo X. was elected to
the Papal dignity (1513), he found the church in great need of money for
the building of S