The Portland daily press., 1883-10-19
EDITORS Easy Chair IN Harper's Magazi
vamhar
The Luther Anniversary,

Amid all the centennial commence ations
with which we have become familiar, none
is more worthy of the universal observance
which it will receive than the four hun-
dredth anniversary of the birth of Martin
| Luther, which occurs on the 10th of Novem
Der. At Eisleben, his birthplace, and
throughout Germany, and everywhere in the
| countries that lead civilization, will the au-
| spicious day be gratefully remembered and
reverently celebrated. For in, the truest
| sense Luther is the father OF modern civili-
cation. He emahcipate the human mind
from ecclesiastical slavery. He proclaimed
that freedom of thought without which it is
easy to see that, despite the great modern
inventions. the spirit of the Dark Ages must
have been indefinitely prolonged, and the
course of modern civilization must have
been essentially different. It was the spirit
ual freedom which Luther asserted that
produced political freedom and the freedom
Of the press; buther's spirit was to make
the invention of Gutenberg the true servant
of Humanity, and to open to the benign ge-
MUS OF liberty the lands to which Gioja's
mariners compass should point the way.
! Indeed, among human benefactors there are
few greater names than Martin Luther.
OF course neither in his own life nor in
that of those who followed him most closely
was the great doctrine of liberty, for which
his name stands, fully developed, nor has
that doctrine yet regenerated human society.
The right Of private judgment carries with il
an immunity which is by no means willingly
or completely recognized even by the com
munities which are most truly Lutheran in
the sense of sharing his protest against the
old order, and his affirmation of the aulhori-
ty of the individual conscience. Indeed.
much that is strictly Lutheran, in the sense
OF necessary consequence of his great doc
trine, is not to be found in his works, and
would have been personally repudiated by
him. But it is his, nevertheless, as the free
political development of England and Amer
lea is the result of Puritanism, however diff
erent its aspect may be from that of the
Puritan Commonwealth, and however stern
lv the Puritan may have denounced it. Out
of strength comes forth sweetness. Out OF
Luther came forth John Woolman and
Charming, and those also at whom Wool
man and Claiming would look in wonder
and even with apprehension.
The lesson of Luther's birthday is not on
ly that the individual conscience alone re-
yeals the truth and the way to the sincere
soul, but that the man who has the courage
to hold to it firmly will be at last recognized
and honored. 1t is the oldest of sayings
that a prophet is not honored in his own
country, and that we do not recognize the
angels with whom we live. Many "solid
man of Boston" elorfies the memory of Sam
Adams, who, had he lived in Sam Adams s
day, would have thought him a pestilent fel-
low, and who look askance upon the Sam
Adamses of their own day. 1t may be wisely
remembered by the respectable and domi-
| 1ant opinion which delights to pay homage
TO Luther that the same respectable and dom
| inant opinion of Ehis own time hated and
hunted him. The tale is forever repeated.
The other day at public dinner in Boston
The Lord Chief Justice of England, who
would be heard nowhere more respectfully
than in Boston, mentioned several dis
tinguished men of that city and neigh
borhood, but the four that he first
named together were Benjamin Frank
lin and Daniel Webster and joseph Story
and Theodore Parker. But how long is it
since, to many of the eminent citizens who
applauded Lord Coleridge, Theodore Parker
was abhorrent as dangerous both to church
and state?