LESSON XXXII.
THE REFORMATION.
"The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field."--_Matt_.
xiii. 44.
When the Services of the Church were first drawn up, almost everyone in
the East spoke Greek, and most people in the West understood Latin;
and when the Teutons learnt Christianity, they also, with it, learnt
a little Latin. Thus the Prayers and the Scriptures remained in that
tongue, but the people themselves spoke each their own language. German,
English, French, Spanish, and Italian are mixtures in different degrees
of Latin and Teuton, and only learned persons who understood the old
language, could follow the Prayers, or read the Bible. So the people
missed more and more of the real truth and meaning of sacred things;
and some of the clergy who had grown corrupt, took advantage of their
ignorance and deceived them. Whereas the Pope had once declared that
those who went on a Crusade were sure of dying in a state of salvation,
he now declared, that to give alms for building the great Church of St.
Peter at Rome, would answer the same purpose; and indulgences, namely,
promises of so many years less of purgatory, used to be absolutely sold;
and it was very difficult to set these errors right, for anyone who was
thought to speak against the doctrine of the Church, was liable to be
punished by being burnt to death.
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