The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1910-10-15

! SASS AASA0I VII luV4A oNA OplhAOA0'
Frequently they serve God with great
fervor and they do not intend any
evil; but they serve God according to
their own will" "They think they
are guided directly by God" "The
things which have been established
for centuries and for which so many
martyrs suffered they begin to treat
as doubtful questions" "They inter-
pret the Bible according to their own
heads and their own particular views,
and carry their own opinions into it"
Had Luther at any time any qualms
Of conscience or doubts as to his own
good faith? Was it his conscience or
"the DEVIL" who comes frequently
and reproaches me that great scandal
and much evil has come through my
doctrine" addressing him In the
words: who has commanded you
to preach the Evangelium? Who has
called you to preach in a way, which
through many centuries no Bishop, no
saint has dared to adopt? What if
God should not be pleased with it?
What if you should be answerable for
all the souls that have been seduced
by you?" Luther persuaded himself
that it was the devil who thus dis
turbed him, though he seems to have
thought that the devil was in his con-
science, for he says: when we are
plagued by the devil in our conscience,
on account of our sins, we ought to
say: Holy Devil pray for u.s.
The Devil "After Him Everywhere"
Indeed, if he was not possessed by
the devil he seems to have been con-
vinced that the devil was after him
everywhere"
A TippIer Given to Guzzling.
We have seen how Sir Thomas
More called him "tippler," and there
is abundant evidence that he was CIV
en- to what he himself calls "guzz-
ling" At all events. the night before
the end came, he and two boon com.
panions had been making merry. and
when, after supper. he rose up to go
to bed, he wrote with piece of chalk
on the wall: Living l was thy
plague. O Pope; dead will be thy
death" Within an hour or two he
was dead. And today, three centuries
and a half after, the Pope lives and
is power for good throughout the
world, while the Professionalism of
Luther is constantly diminishing
quantity. It has fallen into that lex
treme confusion" which he one day
in conversation with Meancthon pre-
dicted. DR.. Christlieb, a Professor at
Bonn University, afiirms that the
great mass of the educated, and, yet
more, of the half-educated, in the Ger
man Fatherland are "alienated from
all positive definite Christianity"
Whatever else Luther was, he was
clever enough to perceive what must
be the inevitable result of that move
ment which he labored so strenuous
ly to set on foot. Some Of those ef-
fects were visible even during his
lifetime.
FrghtfuI Increase of Wickedness and
Vice.
There is much evidence to show" 7"
says writer in the "Quarterly Re-
view," that one immediate conse-
quence of his revolution was fright
full increase Of wickedness and vice.
Luther's own testimony to the fact is
copious, and would be conclusive if
we could be quite sure that it is not
vitiated by his habitual exaggcration.
He does not hesitate to say that the
last state OF the regions which had
received his teaching was worse than
the first, and he owns that his doc
trine of justification-as popularity ap-
pretended or misapprehended-wa
largely responsible for the result. AS
his life draws to close, so does his
view of the moral effect of his work
grow darker" 1t was when his life
was drawing to close that one eve
ming he walked in his little garden
along with his wife Gf we are to call
her such). The stars blaZed with ex-
traordinary lustre; the heavens
seemed on fire. do you see what
splendor those luminous points emit?'
said Catherine. Luther looked up and
said: What a glorious sight? 1t
! shines not for us!" "And wherefore?"
returned she Have we lost our
right to the Kingdom Of Heaven?
Luther sighed. Perhaps so," said
he, "as a punishment for having left
our convents!" "Should We not re-
turn to them?" said Catherine. ut is
} too late! the car is sunk too deep,
, replied the doctor, and the conversa
ton dropped. But they are terrible