Luther and the Reformation Part 9

A lone man, whose days were spent in poverty; who could withstand the mighty Vatican and all its flaming Bulls; whose influence evoked and swayed successive Diets of the empire; whom repeated edicts from the Imperial throne could not crush; whom the talent, eloquence, and towering authority of the Roman hierarchy a.s.sailed in vain; whom the attacks of kings of state and kings of literature could not disable; to offset whose opinions the greatest general council the Church of Rome ever held had to be convened, and, after sitting eighteen years, could not adjourn without conceding much to his positions; and whose name the greatest and most enlightened nations of the earth hail with glad acclaim,--necessarily must have been a wonder of a man.[24]

To begin with a minority consisting of one, and conquer kingdoms with the mere sword of his mouth; to bear the anathemas of Church and the ban of empire, and triumph in spite of them; to refuse to fall down before the golden image of the combined Nebuchadnezzars of his time, though threatened with the burning fires of earth and h.e.l.l; to turn iconoclast of such magnitude and daring as to think of smiting the thing to pieces in the face of princ.i.p.alities and powers to whom it was as G.o.d--nay, to attempt this, _and to succeed in it_,--here was sublimity of heroism and achievement explainable only in the will and providence of the Almighty, set to recover His Gospel to a peris.h.i.+ng race.[25]

FOOTNOTES:

[24] "In no other instance have such great events depended upon the courage, sagacity, and energy of a single man, who, by his sole and una.s.sisted efforts, made his solitary cell the heart and centre of the most wonderful and important commotion the world ever witnessed--who by the native force and vigor of his genius attacked and successfully resisted, and at length overthrew, the most awful and sacred authority that ever imposed its commands on mankind."--A letter prefixed to Luther's _Table-Talk_ in the folio edition of 1652.

[25] "To overturn a system of religious belief founded on ancient and deep-rooted prejudices, supported by power and defended with no less art than industry--to establish in its room doctrines of the most contrary genius and tendency, and to accomplish all this, not by external violence or the force of arms, are operations which historians the least p.r.o.ne to credulity and superst.i.tion ascribe to that divine providence which with infinite ease can bring about events which to human sagacity appear impossible."--Robertson's _Charles V._

HIS IMPRESS UPON THE WORLD.

To describe the fruits of Luther's labors would require the writing of the whole history of modern civilization and the setting forth of the n.o.blest characteristics of this our modern world.[26]

On the German nation he has left more of his impress than any other man has left on any nation. The German people love to speak of him as the creative master of their n.o.ble language and literature, the great prophet and glory of their country. There is nothing so consecrated in all his native land as the places which connect with his life, presence, and deeds.

But his mighty impress is not confined to Germany. "He grasped the iron trumpet of his mother-tongue and blew a blast that shook the nations from Rome to the Orkneys." He is not only the central figure of Germany, but of Europe and of the whole modern world. Take Luther away, with the fruits of his life and deeds, and man to-day would cease to be what he is.

Frederick von Schlegel, though a Romanist, affirms that "it was upon him and his soul that the fate of Europe depended." And on the fate of Europe then depended the fate of our race.

Michelet, also a Romanist, p.r.o.nounces Luther "the restorer of liberty in modern times;" and adds: "If we at this day exercise in all its plenitude the first and highest privilege of human intelligence, it is to him we are indebted for it."

"And that any faith," says Froude, "any piety, is alive now, even in the Roman Church itself, whose insolent hypocrisy he humbled into shame, is due in large measure to the poor miner's son."

He certainly is to-day the most potently living man who has lived this side of the Middle Ages. The pulsations of his great heart are felt through the whole _corpus_ of our civilization.

"Four potentates," says the late Dr. Krauth, "ruled the mind of Europe in the Reformation: the emperor, Erasmus, the pope, and Luther. The pope wanes; Erasmus is little; the emperor is nothing; but Luther abides as a power for all time. His image casts itself upon the current of ages as the mountain mirrors itself in the river which winds at its foot. He has monuments in marble and bronze, and medals in silver and gold, but his n.o.blest monument is the best love of the best hearts, and the brightest and purest impression of his image has been left in the souls of regenerated nations."

Many and glowing are the eulogies which have been p.r.o.nounced upon him, but Frederick von Schlegel, speaking from the side of Rome, gives it as his conviction that "few, even of his own disciples, appreciate him highly enough." Genius, learning, eloquence, and song have volunteered their n.o.ble efforts to do him justice; centuries have added their light and testimony; half the world in its enthusiasm has urged on the inspiration; but the story in its full dimensions has not yet been adequately told. The skill and energy of other generations will yet be taxed to give it, if, indeed, it ever can be given apart from the illuminations of eternity.[27]

FOOTNOTES:

[26] "From the commencement of the religious war in Germany to the Peace of Westphalia scarce anything great or memorable occurred in the European political world with which the Reformation was not essentially connected. Every event in the history of the world in this interval, if not directly occasioned, was nearly affected, by this religious revolution, and every state, great or small, remotely or immediately felt its influence."--Schiller's _Thirty Years' War_, vol.

i. p. 1.

[27] "Luther was as wonderful as he was great. His personal experience in divine things was as deep as his mind was mighty, large, and unbounded. Though called by the Most High, and continued by his appointment, in the midst of papal darkness, idolatry, and error, with no companions but the saints of the Bible, nor any other light but the lamp of the Word to guide his feet, his heaven-taught soul was ministerially furnished with as rich pasture for the sheep of Christ, as awful ammunition for the terror and destruction of the enemies by which he and they were perpetually surrounded. The sphere of his mighty ministry was not bounded by his defence of the truth against the great and powerful. No! He was as rich a pastor, as terrible a warrior. He fed the sheep in the fattest pastures, while he destroyed the wolves on every side. Nor will those pastures be dried up or lost until time, nations, and the churches of G.o.d shall be no more."--Dr.

Cole's _Pref. to Luther on Genesis_.

HIS ENEMIES AND REVILERS.

Rome has never forgotten nor forgiven him. She sought his life while living, and she curses him in his grave. Profited by his labors beyond what she ever could have been without him, she strains and chokes with anathemas upon his name and everything that savors of him. Her children are taught from infancy to hate and abhor him as they hope for salvation. Many are the false turns and garbled forms in which her writers hold up his words and deeds to revenge themselves on his memory. Again and again the oft-answered and exploded calumnies are revived afresh to throw dishonor on his cause. Even while the free peoples of the earth are making these grateful acknowledgments of the priceless boon that has come to them through his life and labors, press and platform hiss with stale vituperations from the old enemy.

And a puling Churchism outside of Rome takes an ill pleasure in following after her to gather and retail this vomit of malignity.

Luther was but a man. No one claims that he was perfection. But if those who sought his destruction while he lived had had no greater faults than he, with better grace their modern representatives might indulge their genius for his defamation. At best, as we might suppose, it is the little men, the men of narrow range and narrow heart--men dwarfed by egotism, bigotry, and self-conceit--who see the most of these defects. n.o.bler minds, contemplating him from loftier standpoints, observe but little of them, and even honor them above the excellencies of common men. "The proofs that he was in some things like other men," says Lessing, "are to me as precious as the most dazzling of his virtues."[28]

And, with all, where is the gain or wisdom of blowing smoke upon a diamond? The sun itself has holes in it too large for half a dozen worlds like ours to fill, but wherein is that great luminary thereby unfitted to be the matchless centre of our system, the glorious source of day, and the sublime symbol of the Son of G.o.d?

If Luther married a beautiful woman, the proofs of which do not appear, it is what every other honest man would do if it suited him and he were free to do it.

If he broke his vows to get a wife, of which there is no evidence, when vows are taken by mistake, tending to dishonor G.o.d, work unrighteousness, and hinder virtuous example and proper life, they ought to be broken, the sooner the better.

And, whatever else may be alleged to his discredit, and whoever may arise to heap scandal on his name, the grand facts remain that it was chiefly through his marvelous qualities, word, and work that the towering dominion of the Papacy was humbled and broken for ever; that prophets and apostles were released from their prisons once more to preach and prophesy to men; that the Church of the early times was restored to the bereaved world; that the human mind was set free to read and follow G.o.d's Word for itself; that the ma.s.ses of neglected and downtrodden humanity were made into populations of live and thinking beings; and that the nations of the earth have become repossessed of their "inalienable rights" of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

"And let the pope and priests their victor scorn, Each fault reveal, each imperfection scan, And by their fell anatomy of hate His life dissect with satire's keenest edge; Yet still may Luther, with his mighty heart, Defy their malice.

Far beyond _them_ soars the soul They slander. From his tomb there still comes forth A magic which appalls them by its power; And the brave monk who made the Popedom rock Champions a world to show his equal yet!"

FOOTNOTES:

[28] "It was by some of these qualities which we are now apt to blame that Luther was fitted for accomplis.h.i.+ng the great work which he undertook. To rouse mankind when sunk in ignorance and superst.i.tion, and to encounter the rage of bigotry armed with power, required the utmost vehemence of zeal as well as temper daring to excess."--Robertson's _Charles V._

THE FOUNDING OF PENNSYLVANIA.

I. THE HISTORY AND THE MEN.

It was in 1492, just nine years after Luther's birth, that the intrepid Genoese, Christopher Columbus, under the patronage of Ferdinand, king of Spain, made the discovery of land on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. A few years later the distinguished Florentine, Americus Vespucius, set foot on its more interior coasts, described their features, and imprinted his name on this Western Continent. But it was not until more than a century later that permanent settlements of civilized people upon these sh.o.r.es began to be made.

During the early part of the seventeenth century several such settlements were effected. A company of English adventurers planted themselves on the banks of the James River and founded Virginia (1607). The Dutch of Holland, impelled by the spirit of mercantile enterprise, established a colony on the Hudson, and founded what afterward became the city and State of New York (1614). Then a s.h.i.+pload of English Puritans, flying from religious oppression, landed at Plymouth Rock and made the beginning of New England (1620). A little later Lord Baltimore founded a colony on the Chesapeake and commenced the State of Maryland (1633). But it was not until 1637-38 that the first permanent settlement was made in what subsequently became the State of Pennsylvania.

MOVEMENTS IN SWEDEN.

From the year 1611 to 1632 there was upon the throne of Sweden one of the n.o.blest of kings, a great champion of religious liberty, the lamented and ever-to-be-remembered GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.

In his profound thinking to promote the glory of G.o.d and the good of men his attention rested on this vast domain of wild lands in America.

He knew the sorrows and distresses which thousands all over Europe were suffering from the constant and devastating religious wars, and the purpose was kindled in his heart to plant here a colony as the beginning of a general asylum for these homeless and persecuted people, and determined to foster the same by his royal protection and care.

"To this end he sent forth letters patent, dated Stockholm, 2d of July, 1626, wherein all, both high and low, were invited to contribute something to the company according to their means. The work was completed in the Diet of the following year (1627), when the estates of the realm gave their a.s.sent and confirmed the measure. Those who took part in this company were: His Majesty's mother, the queen-dowager Christina, the Prince John Casimir, the Royal Council, the most distinguished of the n.o.bility, the highest officers of the army, the bishops and other clergymen, together with the burgomasters and aldermen of the cities, as well as a large number of the people generally. For the management and working of the plan there were appointed an admiral, vice-admiral, chapman, under-chapman, a.s.sistants, and commissaries, also a body of soldiers duly officered."[29] And a more beneficent, brilliant, and promising arrangement of the sort was perhaps never made. The devout king intended his grand scheme "for the honor of G.o.d," for the welfare of his subjects and suffering Christians in general, and as a means "to extend the doctrines of Christ among the heathen."

But when everything was complete and in full progress to go into effect, King Gustavus Adolphus was called to join and lead the allied armies of the Protestant kingdoms of Germany against the endeavors of the papal powers to crush out the cause of evangelical Christianity and free conscience.[30]

For the ensuing five years the attention and energies of Sweden were preoccupied, first with the Polish, and then with these wars, and the colonization scheme was interrupted.

Then came the famous battle of Lutzen, 1632, bringing glorious victory over the gigantic Wallenstein, but death to the victor, the royal Adolphus.[31]

Only a few days before that dreadful battle he spoke of his colonization plan, and commended it to the German people at Nuremberg as "the jewel of his kingdom;" but with the king's death the company disbanded.

We could almost wish that Gustavus had lived to carry out his humane and magnificent proposals with reference to this colony as well as for Europe; but his work was done. What America lost by his death she more than regained in the final success and secure establishment of the holy cause for which he sacrificed his life.

FOOTNOTES: