Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-12-17

ot philosophy except the Scripture alone.''
MOST ignorant peasants often became
preachers, and justified their want of edu-
cation by the plea that the reading of
scriptures suficed. While some princes
dld from The spoils of uaonasseries erect
schools, the larger number as Luther and
Meianc6top complain. appropriated every
thing TO their own uses, and did nothing
80 repi9ce the monastic schools. Ihs
namoer OF students at the universities
rapidly diminished. Wittenberg had IN
1920 three hundred and elevsn sEudents;
In 1927 the entrances amount
ea to fourteen. MaisnohtoD ex-
claimed IN tears: "Is is g sad shame.
I see around me bR5 few punAs Who
have only from Difference to sheir master
not deserted ma" Dollinger reviews the
annals of the universities of Eefutth,
Basle, Tubingen, Leipsic and Heioei0erg,
and proves proporttonate failing OF in
the namber CT gsudenEs. Erasmus evil
IDENTITY was right TO say: wherever la
theranism has entered, literature has de-
cliaad." Philip OF Hssse, IL 1929, strcYe
| to re-establish the university of Marburg
in its former condition, end in tho act &C
| sording certain privileges TO it, he says:
ARTS, letters, science, have fallen into Ia
mensable reputs amid & stupid people,
| End seem to be tkreatened with a still
| more deplorable decay. The public mani
fest pronounced aversion to learned
| men, books and students" The evil con-
tinued after Luther's time. The
inspectors of churches and schools
in Saxony for the year
1878, say; "Of all evils that affiies society
and threaten church and state with proxi-
mate decay, the worst is the bad state of
primary schools, and tbs absence of zeal
| among teachers and pupils for religion and
science" With ali truth Hallam can
| write, reviewing the iuduepes of Luther
| upon learning: 'Nor, again, is there any
| foundation for imagining that Luther was
| concerned for the interests OF literature.
None had he himself, save theological; nor,
are there. as apprehsnd, many illusions
to profans studies, or any proof of his re-
gard to thsm, in ssll his works.
probable that both the principles of this
great founder, and the natural tendency
of SO intense an application to theological
controversy, checked for q time the pro
gress or pathological and philosophical 1T
erature on this side the Alps"
Tan SIXTEENTH CENTURY AND IRA OF p..ox Els
DEoPITH LUTHER.
And yes the era of the Lutheran regoll-
ton is the era of learning, the era OF III
tellectual progress! Yes, but despite .he
Lutheran revolution. l.ather appeared
when Europe through ;he labors of the
Catholic church was in q blaze of light,
and his followers in subsequent ages have
credited the light to him, This is all
there is III the Protestans acslaim, that
their reformation began for Europa the
era of progress. How very contradictory
to facts is tho popular belief!
If Gutenberg had waited seventy
, years longer before invaubipg the
! printing press, and printing the
Bible; if Columbus had delay ed thirty
, moro years before discovering America,
T what eloquent oTations va would have on
ths alorlss OF the Protestant reform .lion,
, which gavo us the printing press, sna5ched
D the Bible from m0nasSi0 calls aud spread
s il through the world, which inspired
1 Columbus to sail boldly beyond line pill
I lars OF HurcUles IN search cf Dsw CONT
meats. The logic IL tbs easa would bs no
8 worse than that nov used in placing upon
J, Luther and his fellow reformas5 the laurel
L wreaths Of the Intellectual progress OF the
: Sixteenth century.
The true facts are that Luther did meal
: cuiable injury TO progress by re.arding
q very seriously tho onward march of The in
Il te!lect, for which Europe was SO yell pre-
S pared at tho close of the fifteenth century.
) In Germany the movement was almost en-
n tIrely arrested. For two hundred years
g after Luther, Germany was behind the
: other counties of Europe in learning. AS
late as 1715 Leibnit1 deplores. this literary
desoiation of his country. Throughout
II Europe, generally, religious divisions broke
n up the feeling of universal brotherhood SO
5 congenisl to learning, and besides turning
L the most active minds into dogmatic con-
l. troversies threw many obstacles in the
z path of scholars. The Catholic church
J. herself became more cautious in her en-
g couragement of speculation and discovery,
and was forced for her protection to
e strengthen her theological arsenals even at
{. the expense of literary and scientific pro-
e ductIons to which she could no longer lend
4 SO generously her powerful influence. The
10 Lutheran revolution was misfortune for
2 learning.
: THE PRINCIPLE OF FREE ISQUIKY.
= Much stress is laid by the friends Of
\ Luther's revolution on his proclamation Of
y free religious inquiry, as having in itself
1t all the germs of intellectual progress
Il which we're sure to develop in time what
10 ever may have been the immediate results
l. of the movement. It is prevalent notion
b deeply rooted in the minds of men, that
o the church in some way kept reason in
L. letters, and that the secret of progress
was the breaking away of reason from
this slavery. First, be il we'll IN
derstood, the church's authori-
W ty does not extend beyor
/ faith and morals; ell else is free field
for reason. Again, before crlticizing the
teaching authority of the church in mat
70 ter OF faith and morals, it is requisite that
men should ask themselves whether she
/ has not been appointed by Christ to teach.
. If she has been, as is undoubtedly the
l. case, then she must teach, and we must
submit. Her history plainly shows that
; authority in religion has been no obsta-
% Gle to the development of science and
learning among her children. A moments
9 reflection will furthermore point out shat
q the certainty of religious truth is strong
y positive aid to the mind in other depart
ments of knowledge. Religious truths
IS east their light far beyond their immedi-
b ate frontier, and serve as
polar stars to the wanderer
among the most distant fields