Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1917-10-29
REFORMS
ARE CELEBRATED
Four Hundredth Anniversary
of the Reformation Com
memorated This Week.
BLOWS ON CHURCH DOOR
Have Echoed Down the Ages
From the Castle Church
at Wittenzerg.

EDITORS NOTE: This is the fifth
Of series OF articles that have been
sspptari1g WesfR I'M I'M co,,.morsiop Lne mor5a of
the four hundredth anniversary Of the
reformation, which will be celebrated
in Tulsa and turnout the United states
on next "Wednesday. The concluding
article Of the series will appear in The
World Wednesday morning OF this week.
The Great Reforma ton OF four CEN
turtles ago, as the name implies, was a
movement to bring the church back In
faith and in practice to Christ and the
apostles. That this was done is proved
by the rapid spread. like true leaven.
of the influences of Luther and the
other reformers.
The hammer blows struck on the
door Of the old castle church in Wit
tenberg. October 81, 1917. echoed into
every section OF the civilized world
and have re-echoed down the ages TO
these the days Of the quadricentennial,
OF that historic mailing Of the famous
Luther Theses.
The Protestant reformation move
ment was by no means a German
movement. In Switzerland. France
and later in England similar activities
occurred. 1t was an evangelical move
ment intended to reach men of all
tongues; hence one Of Luther's first
acts was to stop the reading of masses
in Latin and TO give TO his German
brethren the Gospel in their own Ian
guage. The idea caught fire and
spread rapidly. Begun in 1917 in Ger
many, the evangelical principle Of
Professionalism was planted in Sweden
by 1925; Denmark and Norway, 1887;
Iceland. 1851; Livonia, Esthonia and
Russia, 1920. its triumph in Courland,
Russia, being complete by 1889. 1t
spread TO Hungary in 1905. Bohemia
and Moravia, 1909. It had a strong
hold in Austria in 1928. Its influence
was strong in England-so strong, in
fact, that King Henry VII, in 1922
wrote against the teachings of the
Monk of Wittenberg. In. Scotland the
parliament legislated to keep out the
Lutheran influence. In both France
and Spain there were many followers
Of Luther as early as 1923. Already
in 1919 Luther's books were in great
demand even in Italy. Lutherans were
martyred in Antwerp. Holland. as
early as 1923. The Augsburg Confess
sion was founded in Constantinople in
1859.
Thus the faith of Luther rapidly
spread practically thruout all Europe.
which. being at that time the continent
of highest civilization and intelligence,
the Lutheran faith soon became the
champion OF intellectual development
and missionary endeavor.
The First Foreign Missionaries.
II is due the Danish Lutherans to
say that they started evangelical for
eign missions by sending out the two
Lutheran missionaries. Ziegenbalg and
Plutschau, who began their work in
Tranquebar in 1906. almost a century
before William Carey, by some spoken
of as the pioneer of foreign missions,
arrived in India. where the real pio-
neers had already finished life work
and rested from their labors I'm India
graves.
While the work of the Lutheran
church has been done on a most eco
nomical basis. II has been none the less
effective. Lutherans have missions in
the following countries: Africa. south,
east and west; China. India, Green
land. Arabia, Turkey, Persia. Papua-
land. South Australia. Palestine Syria,
Egypt. Dutch Indies, New Guinea. To-
goland, Madagascar, Japan. Burma,
the Sudan, the Congo, Lapland and
Turkestan. There are no less than
thirty-five European and fourteen
American boards or societies engaged
in this ofreign mission work. having
81, 600 American and European mis-
sionaries and about 5000 native mis-
sionaries. The latest availa BILE sta It's
tics indicate an annual expense of over
81, 900. 900 in maintaining these mis-
slons. into which have been gathered
a million and n half of native Chris
tians. The church breaches the Gospel
in fifty languages.
The War Interrupts.
Prior to the beginning of the great
world war correspondence had begun
between the churches in various coun-
tries in Europe and the churches in
America. all of which are marking
the year 1917 as the year of quadri-
centennial jubilation. The general
conference which already embraces
Lutherans Of various languages and
countries in four continents promises
to embrace. ultimately. the represen-
tatives of this great polyglot body of
nearly half of the Protestant world in
Ig,, .rIs q 10 Toll. g. Al