The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-09-20
,-opvYuc srAR AND CATHOLIC NEssENaEh'
-- -..--, ~ Ns sIJNDAY. SEPTEMBER 90. 1863
ru LUTHER FESTIVAL At WORMS!


.+.a in andurinp marble. This ovation TO
40 ucreat Reformer" has given an oppor-
..n;+1 r. princes and princelings to air
their regalia, to penny-a-i ners to aoo
tbe;r scant revenues by verbose ana III
acted descriptions, and to Queen Victoria a
chance of immortalizing herself by tele-
graphic dispatch.
The inauguration of Luther's monument
Mt Worms has brought the noted hereslarch
again prominently before the Public' anu
critics have availed themselvesof the occa-
sion to discuss his merits and shortcomings.
Tint he is anything but venerated at the
present day is palpable. He has scarcely
any following worthy of the name which he
had fondly hoped to make immortal-Put
made simply infamous. This, indeed, was
predicted at the outset of his career, II we
NAV believe Gibbon, who represents pio"s
Catholic, of equable temperament, warning
the "Reformer of the consequences OF MS
Incorporate speeches and violent actions.
uYou know not" said he, Of the 1ear1ul
nae which will be made of the weapons you
ore placinp in indiscrimating hands. You
have n definite object in view, beyond
which you dare not proceed. Your Hollow"
ers will scorn your conservatism as pu-
sillanimity, and will differ as much from
Won az YOU now differ from Catholics"
The prediction has been verified liter
a,lv. for Luther to- day has no followers
which he would recognize as true protest.
ants, and the proceedings at Worms were
ayowedly intended to honor the man-mot
his creed. They looked upon him as a poll
fical hero, and hence, the Mayor of Worms
n Catholic-attended the inauguration. nu'
the climax to Luther's career is found IN
the fact that his descendants have all turned
Catholics, and the very city OF his monu-
mental grandeur is three-fourths Catholic.
Mr.. Cook, the able editor of the Saturday
Rericr, lately deceased, thus alluded to the
affair at Worms:
It is certainly not to Luther's creed that
this act of homage is being paid, at least Dy
those who happen to know anything ABOUT
what it was. We do not reckon among
lie having indicated "the cause of reli-
cious liberty" though that is, perhaps, what
his modern worshpers have vague notion
that they are trying to do themselves. u
was the very last thing Luther wished TO
accomplish, if by religious liberty Is meant
-
belief. And q leading organ OF theological
liberalism in England informed us only the
other day that in this matter 1T was quite OF
Luthers mind.
1t may be worth while to remember that
the two leading points of Luthers theology
were the sole and supreme infalllblllty OF
the written Word-always, however, as IN
terpreted by himself-and Justification by
faith or, in the more exact termlnology O.
Protestant divines, the dogma OF mpu0ee
W. Il hf
hundred Lutherans in the present day, 81
far as that name can be properly USED at al
since the Lutheran and Calvinlstic Churche
have been fused into one by the late hln'
of Prussia, who hold either doctrine. ~
doubt Protestant England holds to the lsibl
as AGAINST the Pope, but hardly to the Bibl
as interpreted by Luther, considering Una
one of the tenets which he most strenuous
insisted on to the last, as taught by the lei
ter of Scripture, was consuostantiatloi
which never obtained moments l9oth1i
in this country And as to "imputed rSh
eousness," though there is still a scho
among us perpetually engaged in denoul
cling . the soul destroying heresy OF II
herent righteousness, or, as they prefer
call ii. :. justification by works, we suspc
that this is practically the belief of the il
mense majority of intelligent Chrstia
outside the Church of Rome just as much
within it. Translated out of technical t.
anthology into the Language OF Ordinary IL
his teaching came SIMPLY 10 lntsL. 11 .
actual no less than original, is an integral
;neradicable constituent of human natul
all our seeming virtues are but DISCUS
and scarcely "splendid SIMS" and just
cation is not to be Effected through the
formation of the sinner, or his efforts 81
good, which are at once presumptuous
improbable, but by n bare 1mputatlon
transference to him of the merits of Chr
This is not the creed which either Engla
or Germany would delight to honor, but
is a very guarded statement, as any {
may ascertain for himself, of the doctri
theran formularies. 1t was but natu
corollary from Luthcr's doctrines when
vim, Bcza, and Zwingli--whose figures
seems, are grouped round that of the 81