Omaha daily bee., 1917-06-07
Martin Luther's Work.

Somewhere in Nebraska, June A.
To the Editor of The Bee: The Pro-
testant revolution in Germany strip
ped of its mask, was contest between
church and state, in which contest the
state triumphed. My own opinion is
that no man was ever actuated by
more altruistic motives than was Mar
tin Luther of the so-called reforma-
ton. But had he not had the pro-
lection of the secular arm he would
have lasted no longer than Savonarola,
Hus or Bruno. The pope at that time
was a secular prince and the other
princes of Europe, when they wished
to stop the popes interference with
international complications were wont
to encourage any kind of an agitation
inside the church to distract the at
tention Of the bishop of Rome. Ranke
in his History of the Popes" has pre-
served a passage from letter written
be Maximilian 1 to Frederick the
Wise of Saxony. 1t was exhorting him
to protect Luther. HE may be USE
full to us yet" wrote the emperor to
the elector. Luther needed protector
and he got what he needed. Charles
v, grandson of MAMMALIAN, would not
break faith with Luther and allowed
him to depart from Worms. Where
upon he was kidnapped by his friends
and taken to a place of safety. A man
is seldom competent to Judge of his
own mental processes. Luther was
no exception to the rule. A kind of
latent gratitude, of which he himself
was not aware, made him a champion
of the secular ruler. AS the Nazarene
had counseled the payment of tribute
to Tiberius and Paul had enjoined
obedience to Nero, so Luther tried to
interpret the Canticles-"Song of
Solomon"-as an allegory teaching a
self-denying obedience to a secular
prince-quite as sensible as the in
depreciation generally placed upon It,
Few men-perhaps no single man
have or has exercised as much in
fluence-for good or for evil-on hu-
man history as this monk of Eislebem.
traced the kaiser worship which. is to
be invoiced in the mental equipment
of the individual German.
Tell him that he left Germany to
avoid military service; that the United
States has given him farm; that he
has sworn allegiance to our govern
ment; that he owes it undivided al
legiance; and he will answer: "Oh! |
am an American. I think that we
ought to stay at home and fight on
our own soil Wait until the Germans
come over here. We ought not to
fight the battles Of England and
France" The kaiser could have no
more faithful ally than the man who
utters such language. Wait. yes, wait
till Germany has conquered England,
France and Italy; captured the fleets
Of all these nations; then-then, where
would we be? Germany would only
have to seize the northeast corner of
the United States, which contains
mercial metropolis, our coal beds, our
military schools, our powder mills and
our munition factories. With the aid
of her then fleet she could do all this
with 100000 men. With her great feet
she could wipe us off the sea; capture
the Panama canal and blockade our
eastern and western coasts. A man
who would put up any such twaddle
as have quoted, is either traitor
or a damphool.
Some times we hear man-in a
generic sense-say that we could have
kept out Of this war. A short time
ago, not 1000 miles from where ! an
writing this letter, an English speak
ing man entered a store where lot OF
Teutons were engaged in conversation.
Upon the entry the conversation
shifted from English to German. One
old matron in her innocence re-
marked: "Warum stein sic NIGHT
aweg wien dem kaiser's mee?" why
do they not keep off the kaiser's
ocean," 80 g.. DER HEIDE.