, 1842-01-01


Such is the usual course Of revoluiionists.-
Luther continued, in a good degree. sovereign
of this greatest revolution: all Professionals, of
what rank of function soever, looked much
to him for guidance: and he held it peacea-
BILE, continued firm at the centre Of ii. A
man 10 do this must have a kingly faculty; he
must have tho gift to discern at all turns
where the true heart OF the matter lies, and
to plant himself c~ourageously on that as a
strong. true man. that other true men may
rally round him there. He will not continue
leader o men otherwise. Lulher's clear. deep
force Of Judgment, his force of all sorts. of
~silence. of tolerance, and moderation. among
others, arc very notable in these ~circumstan-
ces.
Tolerance, | says very genuine kind Of
tolerance. He distinguishes what is essen
tial and what is not: The unassen,ial may 90
as 1t will. A complaint comes that such and
such n reformed preacher twill not preach
without a cassock." Well answers Luther
wha; harm will a cassock do the man? 'Lct
him have a cassock to preach in; let him
have three caS>ocks. il he find benefit in them"
His conduct in The matter of karlstadt's will
image-brraking: Of The A%nabaprisis: of the
PEASANTS war. shows n noble sire 9Th, very
different from spaSmodic violence. With sure
prompt insight. he Discriminate what is what:
Il strong just man speaks forth what is the
wise course. an all men follow him IN that.
Luther'S written works give similar tes,imo-
ny Of him. Tie dilIect Of these speculaticns
is now grown obsolete Tor us; but one still
reads them with a singular attraction. And
legib'e enough. Luthrr's merit in literary
hiSrorviS of the greatest: his dialect became
the Ian unge OF all writing. They are not
well written. these our-and twenty quarters
"f his, written hastily, with quite other ihan
literary objects. But in no books have !
found n more robust. genuine, will say noble.
faculty of u man than in t ose. A rugged
honesty, LONELINESS, simplicity. rugged sier-
ing sense and strength. He flashes ont illu-
minarion from him; his smiling idioma:ic phra-
ses seem to cieave into the secret of the mat
ter. Good humor, too. nay tender affection
nobleness. and depth; this man could have
been a Eoei too. lie had To work an Epic
poem, not write one. ! call him Il great
thinker, as indeed his greatness of heart al
ready hetokens that.
Rircher saws "fLn,her's words. ''his words
are halfbaltlrs" They may be called so.--
The essential quality Of him WIS that he could
fight and conquer; that he was 4 right piece
of human valor. No more valiant man, on
mortal heart to be called brarer. tina, one has
drrd, whose chlracte; is valor. Hi, defiance
of the devils in Worms was not n mere
holsi. rs the ike might he if now spoken. |.
was a faith of Luthrr's that there were
s.Devils. spiritual denizcns of the Pit" con-
tinualIy besetrjng men. Many times. in his
writings, this turns up: "nd a sheer has heen
grounded on it nv some. In the room of the
NaTlDuTU, NHtTe lie S3l uanSl lll10 ne
Bible, they still show you Il black spot on
the wall. the memorial Of one of these con-
nicts. Luther sat translaring one of the
Psalms; he was worn down with long labor,
with sickness, abstinence from food there
rose before him some hideons indefnahle image
which he took for the Evil One, 20 forbid his
work. Luther started up with iend defiance:
flung the inks'and at the spectre, and it dis
appeared. The spot still remains there. a
c%urious monument of several things. Any
apothecary's apprentice can now tell us
what we are to think Of this apparirion, in a
scientific sense: but The mans heart. that dare
rise defiant. face 10 face. against Hell itself,
can give no higher proof Of fearlessness.
The thing he will quail before exists not on
this earth or under it. Fearless enough!
They once spoke about his not being at
Leipzig. "a if "I>uke George had hindered
him;" a great enemy Of his. sIt was not
for linke George" answered he. "No: if |
had hnsine>sa ut Leipzig, would 90, though it
rained Duke Georges for nine day running"
At the same time, they err greatly who
imagine that this mans courage was f%erocity,
mere coar. e, disobedient obstinacv and saw
agerv, as many do. Far from that. There
NAV he an absence Of fear which arises from