Tributes to the memory of Martin Luther

Front matter

TRIBUTES

TO THE MEMORY

OF

Preface

IT is not necessary to offer an apology for the appearance of a book of this kind. Festivities that have been so universally and enthusiastically celebrated as the recent quarto-centennial celebration of Luther's birth, declare that the great Reformer has a warm place in the hearts of the Protestant world. The story of his life is known. It has been told in hundreds of books, and written in scores of tongues. This memorial year has greatly multiplied the number of his biographies, and refreshed the account of his times. It might be superfluous to write another Life of Luther or another History of the Reformation ; but a collection of tributes, such as we have here brought together, has never been presented to the reading public, nor could it have been before the unprecedented observances of this Memorial Year. And while it may perhaps not be as instructive as history or biography, it will be, we flatter ourself to believe, equally interesting and even more entertaining. As with the ever-changing combinations of the kaleidoscope, though but reflections from the same crystal, we feel confident many an admirer will amuse himself looking over these pages, ever changing, as he will find them, while the subject is always the same.

It is to preserve in a more permanent and convenient form many of the thousands of well-said Luther-

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iv PREFACE.

encomiums that this volume has been prepared, and is now launched upon the sea of publication.

Amid the super-abundance of material furnished, by almost every Protestant pulpit, and every editor's desk, and every writer's pen, we have experienced no small difficulty in the selection, having been circumscribed by our purpose and necessarily limited in time, as the publication could, for various reasons, not be long deferred. We discovered that there is no end of panegyric, and our research has established the conviction that no other man who has ever lived, has received so much and so general and so just and such discriminating praise.

Part I. is a slight exhibition of what men of note and ability have said during the four centuries since Luther's birth. It is by no means exhaustive of noble tributes, and for further reading on this point we refer the curious and studious to the many " Lives " of the Reformer and the multitude of Church Histories extant, to files of the current periodicals covering the months of October, November and December, 1883, and to such volumes as the " Gloria Lutheri," Leipzig, 1618; " Hundret Stimmen Namhafter Manner iiber Luther's Werk and Person," M. C. Bartel, St. Louis, Mo., 1872. Any large library will contain many Luther books. The Mercantile of Philadelphia, has over three hundred volumes treating on Luther. We have made use of it in the compilation of this Part, and received much assistance from Dr. Krauth's " Conservative Reformation," Dr. Seiss' "Ecclesia Lutherana," Dr. Rein's "Life of Luther," (as published in English by Funk & Wagnalls, New York,) Wacker-

PREFACE. y

nagel's " Life of Luther," (Pilger Book Store, Reading, Pa.); "Gloria Lutheri," by M. Caspar Roth; Stork's " Luther and the Bible," etc. The tributes in this part are arranged, as near as possible, in chronological order of their authors.

Part 11. contains a few of the many editorials with which periodicals were teeming these past memorial months. We have confined ourself almost exclusively to religious papers in our selection, appending but a few from the secular press. It will be seen that non- Lutheran organs have even surpassed in glowing tribute those of the Lutheran Church. This accounts for so slim a representation of the best Lutheran Journals of our land.

Part III. is a fair showing of what prominent American divines and other eminent men have said in various parts of our land. With but a single exception (that of Rev. C. H. Spurgeon), these last two parts are entirely composed of American tributes. The foreign press dispatch showed what laurel-wreaths could be constructed from the flowers that bloomed this year in Germany, which in the product of Lutherhonor was closely followed by all other civilized and Protestant nations. Germany, however, took the lead, where Luther's battle had been fought, and where his glorious Battle-hymn this year " made the rafters roar from Hamburg to Bohemia."

We regret that we were obliged to abbreviate some of the beautiful encomiums sent in, and to omit others altogether, since not bearing exactly on the point for which we had solicited. We regret also having been compelled to break these tributes away from their

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PREFACE.

connection, in which they fitted Hke jewels in settings of gold. But we have, in most instances, indicated the source from which they were taken ; there the reader can find these gems in all their casements of connected thought.

Our thanks are due to many of our ministerial brethren for their encouraging words, etc., in response to our circular. Special mention we owe Drs. Mc- Cosh, C. W. Schaeffer, B. M. Schmucker, J. G. Morris, V. L. Conrad, H. E. Jacobs, Revs. M. Sheeleigh, W. H. Kuntz, G. C. Henry, J. A. Singmaster, A. Stump, J. C. Zimmerman, J. N. Lenker, and Mr. Samuel J. Shanbacher, of Philadelphia, in acknowledgement of assistance received at their hands, either in the loan of a book or paper, or in their direction to such material as we were in search for.

For the make-up of this laurel-wreath we claim for ourself no more than the finding of the hoop upon which the flowers are strung, the gathering of these laurels, and the cord that binds them together. It has proven to be no light task, but it has been a labor of much love, and if it will help to keep alive not only the demonstrations of this "Luther-year," but also to perpetuate the humble faith and the implicit trust in God, the brave heroism and the unflinching defence of right and truth, which has made this " Father of Protestantism," so justly famous and so widely honored, our work shall not have been in vain.

Schuylkill Haven, Pa. P. C. C.

CONTENTS,

PAGE

What Scholars of This and Other Days Have Said of Luther . 9

What the Press Has Editorially Said of Luther This

Memorial Year 137

What Eminent Divines and Other Speakers Have Said OF Luther During the Recent Quarto-Centennial Festivities 195

Index 315

LUTHER.

BY JOAQUIN MILLER.

Valiant, defiant and free.

Majestic, impressive and lone,

He looms like an isle of the sea That rose to an emperor's throne.

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