The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-11-17 00:00:00

THE CELEBRATION IN LONDON.

The elaborate series of preparations which have been
in progress for months past for the celebration of the
400th anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther
culminated on Saturday afternoon in an inaugural
meeting in Exeter Hall. The Luther Commemoration
Committee has had the arduous task of syatematising
the efforts of the Evangelical Churches towards ren-
dering fitting honour to the Great Reformer, and its
success was well demonstrated by the enormous crowd
which began to surge into the large hall at least
an hour before the advertised time at which the
meeting waa to commence. Prominent on the plat-
form was a large crayon portrait of Luther after the
well.known picture by Cranach, surrounded -by a
wreath of laurel. Lord Shaftesbury was received
with most enthusiastic cheering on his appearance to
take the chair. The platform sesta were all filled by
clergymen and ministers of various denominations,
and well-known laymen, many of whom received a
demonstrative welcome. The meeting was opened by
the singing of the Hundredth Psalm, the organ
accompanying and the audience standing.
The following telegram, prepared by the committee,
was then transmitted to the Emperor of Germany :
"From the Earl of Shaftesbury, K.G., President of
the Committee for the Luther Commemoration of
Great Britain and Ireland. May it please your Ma.
jf sty, Protestants in England cordially unite with
Germany this day in commemorating the four hun-
dredth anniversary of Luther's birth, and earnestly
pray that under the blessing of Almighty God both
countries may be enabled to uphold stedfastly those
grand principles of the Reformation which have ever
found so puissant a defender in your Majesty. May
God long preserve your life."—This congratulatory
message was read and received by the audience with
loud applause.
Mr. Maden Holt, chairman of the committee, then
stepped to the front of the p'atform, and in the name
of the committee presented Lord Shaftestury with a
with a silver medal which had been struck to commo-
rate the day's proceedings.

- -
Lord Shaftesbury then delivered an appropriate
address which he concluded by saying :—We honour
Luther as one of the most signal servants of Al-
mighty God, because he was the man chosen by God
Himself to deliver us from toe moat terrible and
degrading thraldom of mind and spirit that ever
fell upon the human race. You all know by
history what were the Dark Ages, and I am sure that
were the agencies removed that under God's blessings
Luther put into aetion we should return to the
darkness, the oppression. and the miseries of the
Dark Ages. Therefore I say we honour this man
as the special servant of God who delivered us
from intolerable thraldom, and enabled us to walk
into the light and the newness of life. And in
so honouring this man we do not only our duty, but
that which is beneficial to ourselves. I canr ot conceive
nything more beneficial to the human heart than to
contemplate the state of things from which Lether
delivered us, the manner in which he did so, and the
great issues and the results we are enjoying in con-
sequence. I must say that of all the honours that can
attend a man's memory the greatest is this, that
whenever his name is mentioned hundreds of thousands
of deeply pions and grateful hearts join in one chorus
of thankfulness to Almighty God, who in His wiscicm
and mercy thought fit to oall into existence and so

endow a inn for,the honour and happiness of the
whole human -race. And each name is that of
Martin Luther.

After the delivery of his address his Lonlship hurried
away from the Meeting to preside at the laying of the
tnemorial stones of the new Assetnbly-hall, in the
'Mile End•road, now in course of erection nnder the
auspices of the Tower Heiiillets Minion for the accom-
'•modation of 5,000 people, at a coin of' 20,000 guineas.
Sir Harry Verney, M.P., having taken the vacated
aliiiir, the remaining time of the conference was occu-
pied with the reading of tiro papers, the rst by the
' Dean of Chester on Luther in the Wartburg," the
other by the Rev, Professor Stoughton, on "Luther
hi his home at Wittenbing," A third paper, by the
, Dean of Peterborough, on "Luther as ,an Expositor
' of Scripture," was expected, but Dean Perowne's weak
;etate of health forbade his travelling to London, and
even prevented the completion of his dissertation.

•
• i3On Sunday sermons In connection witb,the celebra-
tion wee preached by the Archbishop :4 York in
Westminster Abbey, by Archdeacon Farrar in St.
Margaret's Westminsterby the Revt Professor
Stanley aathes in Kensington Parish Church, by
Canon Boyd Carpenter at Christ Chtircbt Lancaster-
gate, Bayswater, by Mr. C. H. Spurgeon In Exeter-
hall, and by other clergymen in different parts of the
metropolis.

On Sunday the Luther commemoration was very
generally observed throughout England, the Noncon-
formists in many instances joining with the Evangeli-
cal sections of the Church in the celebration.
The commemoration is reported to have been general
throughout Ireland, In Dublin on Saturday afternoon
a crowded thanksgiving service was held in the Metro-
politan Hall, and on Sunday night a special service
was held in St. Patrick's Cathedral. At Belfast on
Saturday Lord Waveney presided at a large meeting,
when papers appropriate to the occasion were read by
Professor Watts, Dr. MlLay, and others.

In every Protestant church in Glasgow on Sunday
special reference was made in the sermons to the life
and work of Luther, and the blessings the Reforms-
Mon has conferred through his instrumentality. Ser-
mons were also delivered in connection with the West
of Scotland Protestant Association in 39 chnrches in
Glasgow and in 29 in the West of Scotland. The
subjects taken up in the city were Luther's life and
work, mission and power.
At Edinburgh on Saturday and Sunday a large
number of meetings and special services were held by
the Protestant churches. The chief meeting was held
on Saturday evening, and was addressed by Principal
Cairns, Professors Calder Wood and Buff.