Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1917-11-08

CELEBRATE
REFORMATION

/ vi sunday, november 11Ch at o.
clock p. m. all Lutherans of this city
and surrounding country will celebrate
the 400th anniversary of the Refor-
nation in one joint service in the A
musement hall. Professor August
PEPPER, D. D., Lutheran Seminary
Wauwatosa, Wisconsin will deliver the
German address. Rev. w. M. Czaman-
ske, Ph. D., Sheboygan, Wis, the Eng
ish sermon. Music will be furnished
by the Merrill Lutheran band. A large
mixed and children's chorus will help
beautify the service. The Reformation
being source of joy for the entire
Protestant church. Everybody is cor
daily welcome to this celebration.
Public-spirited men, writer's of ma
tional fame, college presidents, and
lecturers are vieing with churches,
Sunday schools, Bible societies and
young peoples organizations in ev-
cry Protestant denomination to
commemorate the birth hour of the
Reformation, which took place at
the posting of the theses on October
81, 1917.
The four -hundredth anniversary
of this great event has awakened in
their hearts and minds a due sense
of the gratitude they owe to God
for the many blessings that have
come down to our time not only to
the church but to mankind in general.
Both the religious and the secular
press have granted their columns to a
presentation of the history of the Re
formation in order to furnish to the
public at large not only the looming
lessons of the past, but also to give
them an inspiration to face the tasks
of the present with the noble desire to
do their duty by their country and to
preserve it's sacred ideals to future
generations.
What our age needs is men, men of
courage and conviction, men of SYM
patny for the downtrodden, men will
ing to sacrifice their life and limb for
the freedom of the oppressed, men who
do not grovel among diamonds and di-
vidends and dollars but take time to
cultivate the tenderplant called rever-
ence, men to whom conscience is more
than lounging in an easy chair, and
conservation more than cornering the
market.
Such a man was Luther. Of him
Philip Schaff says, "No man-save
the apostles-deserves so much to be
held in grateful remembrance as Mar
tin Luther, remarkable alike as man,
as Christian, as husband and faith
er, as a theologian, as Bible transla-
tor, catechist, and hymnist, as the bold
champion of the freedom of conscience
as the founder of the Lutheran church.
and as the chief leader of that Refor
nation which carried Christendom
back to first principles, and urged it
forward to new conquests."
Cummings, in his Lectures on the
Apocalypse, refers to Luther's name
as having become "household name,
a name that shines with greater lustre
than the name of Milton, of Shakes
peare, or of Newton, because associat-
ed with more glorious triumphs; a
name that has left behind it legacy
that no other has rivaled-the legacy
of an unshackeled Christianity, an un-
clasped Bible, a preached Gospel"
The best appreciation of Luther,
the one he himself would heartily en-
dorse if he still were here is this: 'Let
all the glory of the work Of the Re-
formation be given to God. | am not
and do not want to be anybody's mas
ter"
The one article that reigned in Lu-
theirs heart was the love of Christ, the
only Head and Master of the Church
the only Saviour of all mankind. This
was the joy of Luther's soul and the
inspiration of his life. And if men
who have neglected the Gospel Of Je-
sus, will be brought back to a diligent
perusal of the Word of God and try
to translate it's sacred precepts into
their daily life as members of society
and as citizens of our beloved country,
the celebration of the Reformation will
not be in vain.