New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-11-12
THE LUTHER CELEBRATION.

If by some special providence, the life OF Lu-
thcr could have been prolonged to this time, and
he could have been awakened yesterday morn =
ing from the slumbcr of centuries, the most
surprising thing to him would have been the
cOmmcmorati0n of his birthday in this city. He
was boy of nine when America was discovered
and his whole life was completed before any
practical movement had begun to make the
New World the home OF a new population. The
millions of civilized men who now occupy it
were mthought of and inconccivable. That
the people of his birthplace and of the country
TO which he belonged should take some inter
est in the occurrences of his life even long after
he had passed away, he probably anticipated,
with the pleasure natural to a man who hoped
that his fame would be pelpetuated But he
would have laughed in his gruif way at the
! thought that a new people, speaking the Ian
guagc of his enemy, Henry WILL, would rise
beyond the sea; and do signal honor to his mem
Ory. Such a suggestion would perhaps have led
him to give an additional paragraph in his
tabc-talk, in which he would have pOied fun
Mt the naked savages whom the Spanish navi-
gators had found. He might even have been
tempted to Use some cOntcmptuous phrases
about the English language as suitable for be-
wildcring the inhabitants of an unknown con-
tinCnt.
Naturally, most of the sermons yesterday
were historical. The religious life and iniiu
cnce of Luther, in the light of subsequent
events. were contemplated from many widely
separated points of view. 1t was appropriate
that the imagination of. the people should be led
into the past, that they might behold the,dawn
of the modern day. Luther's name is, indeed, Il
watchwOrd, as one preacher put it, and his
life and works, as was said from more than one
pulpit have lost none of their value or interest
by the lapse of four centuries. 1t was instruc-
tive to draw parallel between Luther and
Moses, for both had the courage of great lead
crs and the inspiration of a great cause.
His contest with the Pope, involving as it
did all the machinery of ecclcsiasticisn, all the
forces Of diplomacy and all the turbulence Of
popular movements, was topic not TO be cx-
hausted in a single discourse. 1t was appropri-
ate too with all this discussion of the past, that
some words should be spoken of the times we
live in - and that :" the future of religion
should be considered.
Another thing which might well have aston
isbed Luther would have been to have heard in
hymn and Scripture and ritual in this city and
country, that have risen to greatness since his
death his own words as he wrote them more
than three centuries and half ago. Among the
many things that have been said of New-York
is that, saving Berlin, it is the largest German
city in the world. There was in this an addi-
tional reason for the widespread observance OF
his birthday. III he had walked into one OF the
German churches of the city, the people would
bave had M more reason to stare at his rugged
face and his long students gown than ne to
scan their features and wonder how such
changes as he would have witnessed had taken