Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-07-18
Luther S Nature
Was Multiform
and ParadoxicaI
Thought Marriage No Sacra-
ment, Urged Divorce and Open
Iy Advocated PoIygamy.

The monumental work On Luther
written by Dr. Hartmann Grisar, has
now reached the third volume As
German Review says, its interest
increases as It proceeds. The vita
force of the man. his vast interest,"
in life, impress themselves upon any
one who reads about him. He IS the
most multiform. the most paradoxicaI
of men. These characteristics are
thus described by Adolf Hausrath
whom Or. Geiger quotes as follows:
The very union, so characteristics
of him, OF mother-wit and melancholy
is quite peculiar. His wanton humor
seems al times 70 make a playthiue
of the whole world, yet the mex
moment this seemingly incurable
humorist is oppressed with the deep
est melancholy. so that he knows moi
what TO do with himself. n
one corner Of his heart turks demon
of defiance, who. when reused, car
ries away the submissive monk &c
outbursts which he himself recos-
nizes as the work OF some alien
/ force. stronger than his firnest res
olutions.
a Mighty Revolutionist.
HE was the greatest revolutionary
OF his age and yet he was con
! sentative theologian, yea, conserva-
! tive TO obstinacy He insisted
at times upon the better as though
( the salvation of the entire church
depended upon Il, and yet we find him
{ rejecting whole books Of the Bible
and denying their apostolic spirit.
Reason appears TO him as temp
ment. intellect as a mere rogue, who
proves TO his own satisfaction just
what he is DESTROYS Of seeing proved.
and yet. armed with this same rea-
son and intellect Luther went oui
boldly into the battlefeids of the pro-
/ longed religious war"
Dr. Grisar takes huge delight in.
exposing the Inconsistencies Of
Luther's character. He appears TO
enjoy dwelling on the dark side-the
/ coarse indecencv which Erasmus 50
/ cautieally commented upon; on the
savage violence. the recklassness 81
I his language: not in themselves. Of
coursesathe proof. but as illustrations
! Of what seems TO him almost the NEG
/ essary consequences Of obstinate
apostasy
Doubtless IN some respects he
proves his case. There is not trace
of exaggeration. The words them
selves are appealed TO as evidence
Two examples II will suffice to cite
The first is the curious indifference
to the salvation Of souls which was
observed IN the reforming monk. He
was quite ready to minister to tl1e
godly. but as TO the conversion Of tbs
| ungcdly, that did not seem to inter
est him.
Luther was asked how he Noulf
| behave towards those who had nns
been to church for twenty years +
answered, Why. l would LET them e
to the devil. and when they wers
dead | would pitch their bodies ontf
the manure heap
Another example Is Lufher's att
tude toward marriage. He had. 4
1525. espoused Catherine de Bore. wis
had lived in great freedom in Witten
berg. where. as a French writer saSs
she sayished kisses in profusion upo'
the Young students of the unirersitss
Erasmus aspersed her character mers
seriously but later he refracted his
charge and said that it was caused
by idle gossip.
Believed In Poly gnmy-
However. Luther, after his marriage
to the emancipafed nun. openly de-
clared his belief in the looseness q
the marriage tie and advocated greai
freedom in divorce. He also gave his
sanction TO polygamy, not only in his
writings, but in practise in one his
toric and notorious case.
Marriage, Luther declared. was 8
matter for the temporal authority, anr
he said in his book "On the Baby
lonish Captivity of the Church" thai
the sacrament of marriage was ont
not diyinely inspired and instituted
but one invented in the church BY
men led astray by their ignorance
alike of things and Of words
As DIR. Grisar says. Luther, IN
speaking of marriage or sexual mat
tiers. could adopt a tone calculated TO
make even the piainest of plain
speakers vince.
4 On the other hand, DIR. Grisar re-
jects the more serious charges ad-
vanced against the reformer's morals
He was self-indulgent, but then hs
had a theory that such indulgence
was the true and only cure for
melancholy. Others have had the
same idea. For instance, Robert Bur
ton, the author Of that curious book,
THE Anatomy of Melancholy. was
so burdened with the black choler.
as ne called 1t. that he could find re-
lief only in going down to the LON
don docks and listening 10 the pro-
family and obscenity of the barge
men.
In DR.. Grisar's account of Luther
relations with Melanethon he proves
that in essentials the latter was quite
as advanced as the former, and he
traces the growth of divergence be-
tween them. showing how, for ex-
ample. Melancthon gradually reached
the Zwinglian doctrine of the conf
munion Between Zwingli and Luther
there was never any real harmony Of
opinion and Luther received the
news of the death of the Swiss on the
battlefield Of Capped with a feeling
not far removed from giee.