502 



LUTHER QUADRICENTENNIAL. 



delivered his last sermon from the antique pul- 

 pit, now garlanded with evergreens. The hal- 

 lelujah chorus was sung, and then Chaplain 

 Frommel, from Berlin, delivered the sermon. 

 As the clocks struck twelve, the ceremony of 

 unveiling the statue began. " Ein' feste Burg " 

 was sung ; and then the worthy Burgomaster 

 Martin gave an account of the memorial statue. 

 All heads were then bared as the covering was 

 removed, while the choir struck up that other 

 noble hymn of Luther's, u Praise ye the Lord, 

 the mighty King." Dr. Koegel, the Emperor's 

 chaplain, pronounced the inaugural oration, 

 formally presented the statue to the town, and 

 dismissed the auditory with the benediction. 

 In the afternoon an official dinner was given. 



But these official ceremonials were not the 

 most interesting part of the Eisleben celebra- 

 tion. The people of the region arranged an 

 addition to the programme. When Luther 

 came thither, an imposing reception had been 

 given to him. It was resolved to revive this 

 upon a far larger scale by an historical proces- 

 sion. First came the mounted heralds, trum- 

 peters, and banner-bearers of the counts of 

 Mansfeld, followed by knights and squires, 

 huntsmen and falconers, lords and ladies, all 

 clad in the picturesque costume of four hun- 

 dred years ago, distributed into various groups, 

 as the scene has been handed down by the old 

 chroniclers. Then came those representing the 

 civic authorities of the good town ; then Luther 

 himself, seated in the gorgeous chariot of the 

 count, his three young sons, and his friend 

 Justus Jonas, by his side. After them were 

 the citizens of Eisleben and the surrounding 

 region. Everybody had done his best to pre* 

 sent himself as his forefathers might have 

 looked. There were merchants in long coats 

 of red velvet ; gardeners in light green ; all 

 schools and guilds with the various emblems 

 of their crafts; feudal retainers with crossbows 

 and javelins all mingling together in gay con- 

 fusion. One might have thought a bit of the 

 fifteenth century had suddenly dropped into 

 the closing years of the nineteenth. 



In Denmark and Sweden. In Denmark and 

 Sweden the day was universally celebrated as 

 a high festival. The schools were closed, pub- 

 lic business was suspended, and meetings were 

 held in the churches, where the great deeds of 

 Luther were set forth. 



In France. In France the Protestants form 

 an inconsiderable part of the community, and 

 of these the Lutherans are an insignificant frac- 

 tion. French Protestantism has always had 

 little sympathy with Luther, looking rather to 

 Calvin as its founder ; and just now anything 

 German is not in the best esteem in France. 

 Nevertheless, the adherents of the " reformed " 

 and those of the " free " church could not be 

 unmindful of the occasion. In Paris, at least 

 one crowded meeting was held, and the great 

 German was warmly eulogized. Pastor Wal- 

 bium extolled his activity, joyousness, sensi- 

 bility, and heroism, declaring that, in spite of 



some short-comings, " he had been equaled by 

 no man since Paul." M. Recollin went so far 

 as to admit that, great as Calvin was, " Luther 

 was far more expansive and universal." M. de 

 Pressense, speaking for the " Free Church," 

 eulogized Luther as the " ideal representative 

 of the German race in its best features, and at 

 its finest period ; he was the great emancipator 

 of souls." He also took occasion to repel the 

 invectives which the Catholic press had re- 

 cently been heaping upon Luther. 



There had been no lack of such attacks, the 

 foremost assailant being the " Univers," the 

 recognized organ of the Clerical party. This 

 periodical averred that " Germany is really 

 celebrating her own debasement by the man 

 who was the direct or indirect author of mas- 

 sacres so numerous that, could the bones of 

 those who had lost their lives through the in- 

 fluence of his pernicious teachings be exhumed, 

 they would whiten the whole soil of Germany. 

 He was a denier of free-will, and of the value 

 of good works. He died in consequence of a 

 gross debauch ; and Heaven itself had visibly 

 interposed to brand his memory with infamy ; 

 the tree under which he took shelter on his 

 flight from Worms had been blasted by light- 

 ning, and a thunder-bolt had twice struck the 

 church in which he was buried. In another 

 life he has the destiny which he prepared for 

 himself, for, according to his own confession, 

 he had while on earth too much dealing with 

 the devil to deserve to escape eternal damna- 

 tion," and much more of the like import. 

 The " Univers " also gives place to a paper by 

 Bishop Freppel, who used to lecture upon Lu- 

 ther at the Sorbonne. He was u amazed at 

 the glorification, at this day, of the man who 

 denied free-will, declared good works preju- 

 dicial to salvation, set all nations at variance, 

 and was the very incarnation of intolerance " ; 

 and declared that it was a "huge joke on the 

 part of the Crown Prince of Germany to desig- 

 nate this coming Lutheran commemoration as 

 the festival of toleration." 



In England. In England the day was very 

 widely celebrated, large meetings being held 

 in every considerable town and city. The 

 higher ranks of the Anglican clergy took little 

 part in the movement; the notable exceptions 

 being the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of 

 Liverpool, and Canon Farrar. The archbish- 

 op, in the hierarchy, stands second to the 

 Archbishop of Canterbury, and consequently 

 second, after the royal family, in order of pre- 

 cedence, outranking all dukes, earls, and bar- 

 ons. He had some weeks before accepted an 

 invitation to deliver a sermon upon Luther on 

 this commemoration-day. The Dean of York 

 ranks next to him in the archdiocese, being in 

 special charge of the ordinary services of York 

 Minster, the cathedral church. He took alarm 

 at this intimation of the archbishop, and wrote 

 to the newspapers to the effect that Luther 

 was a foreigner, and not of the Anglican com- 

 munion, and so not to be, as it were, canonized, 



