The Portland daily press., 1883-11-12

Luther and his wife were accustomed 10 sit
and talk with each other. These constitute
about all the furniture of the room. and they
all hear marks OF great age. The third room
contains plain bookcase, well filled with
trinkets. Among these were mentioned Luth-
ers beer cup and wine glass, the latter being
in fragments, havlng been dropped and sh1y-
cred by Peter the Great OF Russia who insisted
on having drink from it, several pieces of
Cathennes handiwork, paintings and draw
lngs, illustrating some of the most thrilling
scenes III the life of Luther, and numerous 9TH
or things. The brazen fount from which Luth-
er baptized candidates in the city church is
still in use there. The doors of the castle
church upon which he nailed the theses were
destroyed by Napoleon in 1913, but Frederick
William Ill OF Prussia had iron cnes cast
WIN tne theses IN Latin cast in them on
the outside, and these doors today supply the
place OF the old ones. Luther lies buried with
in this church, with his faithful friend, Mel
ancthon, and his staunch defenders, Frederick
the Wise, and John the Steadfsst, electors of
Saxony. 1t matters little that princes lie en-
tomoed beneath the same roof, for at the tomb
OF Luther, and there only, the soft tread
dwlndles to pause. Here the peasant rises
above the sovereign; and it is the illustrious
light OF the man, who in boyhood sang for
bread, that discovers that SOVEREIGN in the dark
background of the past.
The music by the excellent choir at this
church was appropriate TO the occasion. and of
high order. They sang for the first selection
"Luther,s Last Judgment" The second hymn
was Luther's battle hymn, "a mighty fortress
is our Cod After the prayer the response
was, "Prayer, Sweet Prayer After the ser
mon, Strike the Cymbal' was excellently
rendered.
HIGH STREET CHURCH,
Rev. W. Ell. Fem preached from Roman /,
17-"The just shall live by faith" History
discloses the desperate condition of the church
at the close of the fifteenth century and
the ho9elessness of reformation from within
her. Nothing but the recovery of the original
principles could restore her purity and glory
Truth compels us to admit that there were re-
formers before the reformation, and that in
important respects The movement made the
man, If the man in turn led the movement.
The germs of Luther's impulse are to be
traced in Waldus, Augustine and in the
Mystics, as we'll as, most of all, in St. Paul's
epistle to the Romans Nevertheless there
was an abundant and special equipment Of the
great leader to interpret and meet the long
ings of his age. God took him from the market
place peasants son, severely chastened him
at school, put him in the church and its
monastery, sent him to Rome to see with his
own eyes and measure the difficulties with
which he must cope. God was also about to
oPoA INC AuiSuty era Vi mOQorQ LlOuQlt
through the press, the arts and sciences There
must therefore be a power raised up and
trained to hold the sceptre over it, Over
against the vast outward gifts W ich God was
laying In the one scale, he threw himself into
the human mind to keep the balance of power.
To this end he opened consciousness, Christian
consciousness; the science of the soul, to meet
the sciences OF nature; a spiritual philosophy
to counterfeit mRterial the inward light, the
counterpart OF the external temptations; to
Inn, han pts. III I'll
rulers OF all that time. Luther was made to
pass through deepest anguish for sin, until un-
der the leading OF Stanpitz, he tasted the
peace OF forgiveness. Forced to the Bible he
found the witness to his own hearts ex-
perience in the righteousness which is bv
faith. Under the blazing light of this central
luminary there started forth the correlatiye
principle of the Word of God, the sole outward
authority corresponding to the voice of Christ
within the soul; the objects of faith in in
innate relation to their subject.
Afterwards and by degrees came the princi
pie OF liberty. or the right and the duty of
private judgment The Reformation was not
primarily revolt against authority but a
search after positive and Christian possessions.
Its leaders are not directly responsible for the
unbelef which flowed from Professionalism.
Rather we're they the medium of salvation to
Europe and America After these vital prin-
ciples came safely that OF the sacredness of
learning, the revival OF the arts, the diffusion
fH.
give the knowledge of God to the people-the
rights OF worship and self government in the
church to open the hearts of the people to Cad.
Frotestantlsm has committed grievous sins and
nss oiten fallen below her high calling. If
7 she would do again her first works. and IL
iustrafe her amazing recuperatiye power it
must be in reviving the higher education
especially in It's relation to religion by a more
Just liberty under law, deeper and fTesher
faith in God
The music was very fine and the by INNS sung
were Luther's.
ST. STEPHENS.
Rev. Mr.. Dalton's sermon was taken from
St. Luke 1:76.
The first reference was to the two extraord-
mary spectacles witnessed in Germany within
month, the unwilling of the colossal statue
of Germaua, symbolizing the unity of the
German empire; and yesterday the great gath
ering at Wittenburg to commemorate the
400th anniversary of the birth of Martin
Luther. After describing the state of Europe
at the time of Luther's birth, and enumerat-
ing the leading events in Luther's life, as well
as the principal epochs of the Reformation,
the preacher presented and enlarged on the
three fundamental principles for which Luther
contended and on which Professionalism is
UooSu' w 4Ao AAOiJ 0CAipbuIco DIS CONTAINING
all things necessary to salvation. (2) The right
of private Judgment. 81 Justification by faith
only, or personal, j. g., immediate, trust in
God, who is both able and willing to save ali
who look to Him in and through Christ
In conclusion the preacher argued that the
Reformation was not and is not failure: that
its work is not finished; that its influence is
still felt in every land, and the whole church,
Catholic as well as Protestant. As the Ameri-
can Republic reacts on the old world, modify
ing all its governments and institutions, SO it
has been and is with the Reformation, It's
indirect influence has been less only, than its
direct. The whole church was reformed in a
measure, both in its head and in its members
as It much needed to be, and for which popes
and councils, clergy and laity, had waited long
and patiently. The Roman Catholic Church,
as 1t exists among us, is not now generally
regarded with the suspicion and hostility of
former times, but is recognized as "a power
which makes for Righteousness" according to
the convictions OF Its adherents, clerical and
lay.
AS to Luther, he was greatly superior to all
the other reformers, earlier and later. He was
TO the Reformation what Washington was to
our revolutionary cause, "the first in the hearts
Of the people" The Reformation, as a re-
iig1ons revolution, is still more comparable to
the French revolution as political one. Ma
poleon was the outcome, the embodiment the
great man of the French revolution, but his in
nuence and Napoleonic ideas are now things Of
the past. Not 30 with Luther and his ideas
His words were battles, and his cause is still in
the ascendant, the cause of mental freedom,
liberty of conscience, the right of private
judgment. In the Christian Church Luther's
only peer is found in St. Paul, whose life and
services precisely parallel those of the Great
Reformer
FIRST PARISH.
AT the First Parish church the service
opened with Luther's ga Mighty Fortress"
and other pieces Of his music were also intro
duced.
DR.. Hill took his text from Ezekiel xii, 80:
II sought for man /. that should
stand in the gap" He opened with some OBJ
servations upon the relation of great men to
their times; they were generally opponents as
well as creators Of the general tone of thought.
The inspiration of God was not bounded by
narrow lines He poured out His spirit upon
sll flesh, and thus prepared an audience for
those whom he lifts to higher planes. After
briefly illustrating this point by other ex-
amples, DR.. Hill passed to consideration of
Luther; his preparation for his work, and the
preparation of the German people to accept it.
The influence of Luther was so great, partly
because Luther was SO entirely and thoroughly