The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-11-10
THE SPIRIT OF LUTHER.

THE SPIRIT OF LUTHER.
Freedom is the universal birthright. That
birthright has been violently wrested from
many, and in many cases has been voluntar-
lily parted with; but none the less it remains
eternally true that it is the rghtful heritage
of every man born into the world. The
struggles of mankind have been in the direc-
ton of freedom, against all the accidents and
incidents which have prevented its free course
and full enjoyment From Moses to John
Brown, the impulse is the same, the purpose
Identical. Ind this freedom is as many-sided
rs man is many-sided Simultaneous with
the struggles for physical freedom,
have been the mightier ones for
mental and moral freedom. The
gives that have bound mems minds and
souls have been stronger more irksome,
more corroding than the bonds which
have chained mems limbs; and so it comes
that in the estimate of the world, in this day
of enlightment and of advanced mental and
moral independence, the heroes who fought
and the martyrs who fell for intellectual
liberty and for soul freedom are honored
ruggled for the like idea upon a lower
plane What would liberty of body, the
right to go here and to go there at will, to
enjoy the fruits of the labors of
ones own hands, be worth unless
there went with it the freedom
of thought and the freedom of soul which
makes of one who enjoys this trinity
of liberty a man of full stature 1t is worth
much in the battle, that is always on that
the world can stop and pay the tribute of
thoughtful study and honor to the life and
work of such a hero as Martin Luther, who,
after the lapse of more than three centuries,
stands yet the colossal figure in the fore
ground of the worlds advance in mind and
morals The story of Luther's life will be
told all over the Christian world to-day.
Millions and hundreds of millions of people
will read and listen to the wonderful piano.
rama of striking events in which this
son of poor miner, boy who sang his
songs in poverty for a pittance, but who
finally struck boldly at the most powerful
hierarchy the world ever knew, and shattered
It's baleful power, is the principal
figure. Harriet Martineau rejoiced in
the thought that she would be i'm
mortal in her books if nowhere else; and
what an immortality has come to the son of
Hans Luther, when, on this four hundredth
anniversary of his birth, a world hats in its
busy course to do him honor. 1t is the i'm
mortality of genius; the immortality of work,
B which had in it the potency resident in all
real, true, faithful service. In view of what is
to be seen to-day the earth over, how paltry
and puerile are the criticisms which may be
passed upon the faults and foibles of
Luthers life and character. Pnchbeck does
not win in the long run, and the believers in
Luther and Lutherism need spend no time
in warding off impotent blows that may be
leyeled at the Augustinian monk who, in
his own person, led a reformation that in its
effects became a regeneration.
Men of the grand mold of Luther stand
IOr SOlu6LulUS Tue WOIlu has WdIlcu lot, anu,
when it comes, is received and retained as a
priceless legacy. Said Abraham Lincoln, in
his Gettysburg Grafton:
'The world will little note or long re-
member what we say here, but it can never
eorget what they did here. 1t is for us, the
living rather to be dedicated here to the
unfinished work which they who fought
here have thus far so nobly advanced. 1t is
rather for us to be here dedicated to the
great task remaining before US; that from
these honored dead we take increased devo-
ton to that cause for which they gave the
last fell measure of devotion; that we here
highly resolve that these dead shall not
have died in vain"
The day and the anniversary will be but
poorly spent, and the spirit of the occasion
will have entirely eluded us, if we do not
ct some little inspiration of what
Lutherism is and stands for;
if men do not highly resolve
that the great cause for which Luther lived
shall be advanced by them toward perfection.
Protest and reforma tton ara alvyavs paodoJ.