The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1910-10-15
MARTIN LUTHER
AND HIS WORKS
Foul and Indecent Language Char
acterized his Speech and
his Writings.
The Consequence of his Revolution
Was Increase of Wickedness
and Vice.
His Informed Greed is Fast Los
ing its Hold in Germany
and Everywhere.

dl1u LVCAy y WAAOAC.
There is a very close relation be-
tween the actions of a man and his
character; in fact, those actions are
simply the reflex OF the character; so
that good mans life Is made up of
actions that are good, while his words
no less than his deeds reveal the in
ner nature of the man, writes Rev.
John Ashton, S. ]. 1t is this fact that
Our Lord alludes to when He says:
"By their fruits you shall know them;
for neither do men gather grapes
from thorns nor figs from thistles."
Now and again good man may fall,
and all that you can say is that his
action is inconsistent with his char
acter, just as a bad man may now
and again rise to the performance of
a good action, which must be de-
scribed as exceptional. We recognize
a saint as true and faithful follower
| Of Christ by his gentle ways, his deep
humility and distrust of himself, his
self.sacrifice, on behalf of others, his
spirit of prayer. But to find man
among the saints indulging in foul
and filthy scurrility, exalting himself
as an "Ecclesiastes, "a great doctor
above all Bishops and priests and
monks" denouncing in foul and often
in indecent language all who venture
to differ from him, is simply unthink-
able.
Surely the Finger Of the Devil.
AS we read his works, "Shemasphor-
as" Hans Woste, liable Talk" ETC.,
reeking as they are with filth, the con-
viction is over and over again forced
upon us that surely the finger of the
devil is there. Could saint (and most
assuredly if the Church of God is, or
was, to be reformed, it must be by
saint speak thus? Could saint
write thus? Impossible. And let it
not be said that Luther was merely
conforming to the fashion OF the time
There were saints by the score who
were contemporaneous with Luther,
but you will look in vain for any such
indulgence in scurrility in their words.
All Sorts Of Abuse and ScurriIity.
Sir Thomas More could use fairly
strong language in controversy, but
it was mild in comparison with Lr
theirs; and, at all events, it was de-
cent. Here is his estimate of Luther:
Reverend Brother, Father, Tippler
Luther, renegade of the Order of ST.
Augustine, misshapen bacchanal of
either faculty, unlearned doctor of
theology, will explain the manner in
which your book was composed. You
called your companions together, and
desired them to go each his own way
and gather all sorts of abuse and
scurrility. One frequented the public
carriages and boats, another the baths
and gambling houses; a third the tav-
erns and BARRIERS shops. They noted
down in their tablets all the most in
solent, filthy, and infamous things
they heard; and bringing back all
these denominations and impurities,
they discharged them into the filthy
kennel which is called Luther's
mind" (Sir T. More on Luther's Re-
ply to Henry Wits "AssertiO Septem
Sacramentorum.'
| What Were His Credentials?
If a man claims such an extraordi-
nary mission as that of reforming the
Church he must show his credentials.
Where and what are Luther's? AS
Sir Thomas More says, he was rene
gade friar Even in his younger days
he gave up saying the Divine Office,
that safeguard of priest, even for
weeks at a time-a thing We cannot
imagine a saint doing-even though
he had to contend against scruples.
So, there is reason to believe that his
faith was on the wane long before he
nailed his ninety-five theses to the
door of the church of Wittenburg.
Principal Sin Of Heretics-Their
...... Pride. ........
Surely he ought to have recognized
himself in the description he has Civ
en- of hereto in his Lectures on the