The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1871-04-20
LUFHER'S MONUMENT.
BY TX. HosMER.


The Prussian church lisa true church
militant. There is an element of de-
fiance and sternness in German Prot
estantism, brought down from old
| times, which never drops away.
I Many German ehm eh has on its
walls marks Of the rapine Of the Thir-
! ty Years War. Many of the pulpits
from which in the Reformation such
/ hot resistance was preached, are occu-
! pied by the ministers who gave tone
10 the nations present religious life.
As churches and pulpits are the same,
/ 50 the words Of the preachers have
! much of the ancient spirit. Over the
sesult of the ROmish council, / heard
Eain and again last summer outbursts
of most energetic protest.
In the midst of the public square in
| the old city of Worms, where Luther
appeared at the famous diet, is the
magnificent Luther memorial, one of
the finest and most costly pieces OF
modern art, to erect which treasure
was poured IN from all Protestant Ger.
many, in great part from Prussia. In
I the first place there is a broad square
substrueture of granite, along the bOr-
der of which are set colossal statues Of
| princes anC scholars, and allegOrical
/ figures of cities famous in the RcfOr-
nation. Coming from the outside to
the Centre you have the great heart
of the thing. Five statues Of bronze
are grouped together on a base of poll
| ished sienite. -Four Of these represent
the great fOrerunners, Huss, Wyck-
| life, Peter Waldus, and SavOnarola,
! the latter figure being particularly
startling IN ltS IfTeIIkc pTcseEI GGlIuaEE.
In the midst of all, from among the
princes, whose power shielded him,
the scholars who held up his hands,
and the mighty martyrs who died that
the fullness of time might come and
he and his work live, towers the colos-
sal Luther.
The statue is ten and half feet
high. A sch 0lar's gown drapes it to
the feet, one Of which is advanced =
His clenched right fist is on the cover
Of Bible he'hOlds in his left arm.
Tne head is bare, the face upturned, the
lips parted. That giant Luther face
And beneath are cut the words which
he uttered before the diet-the heroic
shout, some tone Of which may have
been borne in the air as far as the spot
.
"HereI stand; I cannot do otherwise;
God help me. Amen" 1t IS very,
very grand, cOmmemOTating glorious
ly a most manly and cOnsecrated well
fare. To erect it cOincided thoroughly
with the spirit Of PrOtestanism in
Germany to-day. Two OF three years
since, at the dedication, an immense
multitude came together, one Of the
largest Protestant gatherings OF mod
ern times, who, as they stood before
the group, seemed to recognise in the
spirit that filled the faces the antaEOn-
istic fire that burned in themselves
The speeches were fulminatiOns fun
Of the old thunder that fell on willing
ears. There stood the bronze which
the best genius had made almost live,
the princes with their swords, the
brows Of the scholars grown spare with
earnest controversy, the hand Of
SavOnarola eloquent with denuncia-
tiOns, and towering highest the great
shoulders of Luther. There were tire
parted lips, the lines plOwed by spirit
ual struggle, the rugged brOws, the
clenched fist resting on the Bible, the
figure braced back for mighty shock,
as if he saw in the air before him the
range on range Of mighty prelates and
helm ted rulers, and in the background
-ho take and fagots. The masculine,
lutte hostility toward the old enc
~ embodied in the memorial the
vast multitude recognized as some
thing that belonged to itself to de-
gree unabated; and so it is that one
finds even the Prussian faith crowned
with the spiked helmet.