New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-11-11
THE LUTHERAN FESTITIL.

The retrospect suggested by inc hu'Hcl"h
festival is not directed toward the man but to-
ward Professionalism. The intrepid monk re-
fusing nj Worms to submit his faith to Pope,
Council or princes, audplcading that it could
not be right for Il Christian to speak against MS
conscience, was the 60 mmandiug figure OF his
own century The moral grandeur OF the spec
tacle COMPOUNDED his enemies. startled the
European courts, and electrified men aud nations
with new sense of intellectual and spiritual
power. The record of the deliberations oil that
historic assembly discloscs the fact that princes
and ccclcsiastics recognized the crisis through
which Christcndom was passing. Never did
great man reveal himself more completely To
his own generation. When the century closed
Iuthcr's refusal to rctract remained IN mems
memories as it's most impressive scene, its most
sublime moment. The progress of time has
only tended to deepen the impression of The
greatness of the man. The Thirty Years War,
the French Revolution, the founding of the
American Republic, the development of Protcs-
tantism and the reforms within the Roman
Church are traced back in turn to the scene
at Worms az n common point OF origin.
The Fathcrland recognizes in him not only
the leader of its religious life, but :hc
founder of its National literature and the
fOrerunner of German unity. The passage
Of centuries does not alter his relations To
his own time or to the cause of Professionalism.
Historical perspective leaves him precisely as
hc was at W0rms-a grand, heroic figure, in
stinct with the aspirations and the prcjudiccS o
the common people, towering in cpcal dignity
above the princes, prclatcs and philosophers of
his time.
The anniversary of Luthcr's birth brings to
close four centuries of Protestant Christianity.
The character of the man and the influences of
his work have remained unchanged, but the
movement which he headed has passed through
various stages of action and reaction, dccadcnce
and progress. Luther was warrior in con-
trOycroy, but a man of peace in tho affairs of
nations. He was drawn from his prison fortress
by the excuses of revolutionary leaders, and
throughout the Peasants Rebellion, peasant
though he was, he sided with the princes. He
never encouraged revolt against civil authority /;
warfare between nations his soul abhurrcd.
Professionalism during his lifetime was pacific
force in secular affairs; but scarcely were his
ashes cold before the long series of religious
wars opened. Every new century sinco his
birth has found Professionalism essentially
different in spirit and method from what it was
in his era. Its theology has sometimes been
more rigid and again more elastic its cOntrO-
vcrsial zeal has been distinctiycly warmer or
colder, narrower or broader; its attitude to-
ward science has been hostile or friendly; Its
instincts have been more humane, or its ten
denotes more progressive; there has been
duickening of its intelligence or "a decline in its
religious fervOr; it has taken more active
interest in civil government; it has gvon n
greater impulse to the worlds civilization.
Every century has witnessed new phase of
Professionalism with Distinguishing characteris-
tics of its own.
The most comprehensive distinction that can
be drawn between the Professionalism of the
fifteenth and the Professionalism of the nine
teenth century relates TO religious federation.
The Protestant reformers of Germany England
and France We'd with one another in the rigid
ity with which they adhered to their own
ecclesiastical standards Luther denied to his
fellow-P rotestants the liberty which he claimed
for himself rs matter of conscience. Calvin
carried intolerance to the verge of tyranny at
Geneva The English PrOtestants prosecuted
first the Catholics and then the Puritans. pre-
cisely as the Puritans in another century