Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/618

* LUTHER. 550 LUTHER. His much blainod pxliortation to the princes to crush the bloody revolt was intended to. clear his religious policy from alleged complicity with anarchy. This year also his breach with Erasmus culminated in bitter cpiarrel and invective, dis- creditable to both. In this stormy year (1525) he married Katharina von JSora, a la<ly of noble family, fifteen years younger than he, .a former nun, who had for some years been an adherent of the reformed religion. The history of Luther's career here merges in the fortunes of the Kcformation. The year 1529 is memorable for the unsuccessful effort made by the JIarburg conference between Luther and Zwingli to draw into closer union the German and the Swiss reformers. The Augsburg Con- fession, presented at the Diet of lo.'ifl. the earliest symbol of Lutheran Protestantism, though draft- ed by Melanchtlion. was drawn up from articles prepared by Luther. The Schmalkald League, formed in 1531 by the Protestants for self-de- fense, was not to Luther's liking; he counseled faith in God, and reliance on spiritual forces only. In 15.34 he completed his great work, the Bible translation. In 15.37 he ilrew up the Schmalkald Articles for Protestant nsi' at the then hoped for general council. Mcanwliile his polemic writings against Kome and his ell'orts for harmony among German Protestants continueil; but repeated ill- nesses, often painful, and depression at the untoward state of the Kcformation, frequently darkened his mind. In 1544 he wrote that he was old, worn out. and of no further use. In 1545 he quitted Wittenberg, but was pi-evailed upon by the Klector .John Frederick and the iiniversity to return. That year he concluded his last work, a commentary on Genesis, begun ten years l)efore, ending with the words, "I am weak and can do no more. Pray God lie may grant me a liajipy and peaceful death." A journey in .January. 1540, to end a quarrel of the counts of JMansfeld. brought on a severe cold, despite which he preached and worked as usual, and accomplished his peace-making mis- sion, but his illness grew, and he passed away at Eisleben, February I8th. Roman Catholic and Protestant estimates of Luther are antipodal. To the latter a religious hero, to the fornu'r lie is a rash and rc])rehen- sible schismatic, a rebel against divinely consti- tuted authority. By not waiting and working for that reform to come within the Church, which they regard as having come through the Council of Trent (1545), they hold that he disastrously divided Christendom and re- tarded the religious jirogress of mankind. Among his fellow Protestants he remained near- est to the Roman Catholic conception of the Church and its Eucharist, .-^s a theologian he was often inccmsistcnt, being surpassed by Me- lanchtlion, and still more by Calvin. If lax Wittenberg be compared with strict Geneva, he was singularly ileticient as a moral <lisciplina- rian. His political ideal of German luiity and independence has been realized only in our own time. By his Bible work, an unparalleled achieve- ment of almost single-handed efTort. '"he created for the German people." says Pfleiderer. "the imifiod language which for centuries has been the single bond of the ])oliticallv rent and divided tribes." BiBi.iOGRAPiiT. I,uther's works in Latin and German are voluminous. In the most accessible edition, that of Erlangen, edited by J. G. Ploch niann and J. K. Irmisclier, the Latin works hll 38 volumes (1829-8), and the German 07 vol- umes (1820-57). In 1883, under the editorship of .J. C. F. Knaake, and patronized liy the Gcr man Emperor, began to appear at Weimar what aims to lie the definitive edition of Lutlicrs woiks. Critical and expensive, it will rei|uirc many _years for completion, as only some twciit} vohuues have appeared. For general usefulnc^- J. G. Watch's edition, published at Halle in lM parts (1740-50), and carefully reprinted at Saint Louis, JIo. (1880 seq.), by the Conctu-ilia Publish- ing House, including six volumes of miscellaneous documents from diirerent sources and of great interest, and Tiltiniately to include the corre- spondence, is to be commended to readers fauiil iar with German, as Luther's (ierman has been modernized and his Latin translated. Only an exceptionally enthusiastic Luther student woul.l care to read the innumerable sermons and volu minous commentaries which fill the greater part of these editions. Those who wish to enter more closely into his spirit should read his Tdblr-tull (Tischrcden, vol. xxii. in the Saint Louis Walcli edition; also in Bohn's I>ibrarv. translated and edited by W. Hazlitt). All students will con- sult his correspondence (Ilrit fncclisr'l, ed. Iiv de Wette and Seidemann, Berlin, lS25-5("i. ami. better, Mil Erlutitcniiif/cii, by Dr. E. L. Ender-, Calw and Stuttgart. 1884 sqq., vcA. viii.. to April, 1531). In English there is less of Luther in satisfactory form. The translation of bis Select ^Vorks by Rev. Henry Cole (London. 1824- 20) is practically inaccessible. Of greater in- terest and accessible is his Commciitur!/ on (l<i- Intidnfi ( New York, 1878); also his Coinnxn- 1nn/ ml the Hrrmon on the Mount, well dime by'C. X. Hay (Philadelphia, 1893). Of primary im]iortance, admirably translated by C. A. Buih heim and edited by H. Wace, is First Principli ••• of the Reformation, or the inet)/-five Thesis and the Three Primary Works ['"Address to the Nobility of the German Nation." "Concerning Christian Liberty," and "On the Babvlonish Cap- tivity of the Church"] (London, 1883). I'.icigraphies of Luther are numerous. Of special value are those in German by .Julius Kiistlin (Elberfcld. 1875; 4th ed.. Berlin. 1889) ; Theodor Kolde (Gotha, 1884-93) ; Martin Rade (Ncusalza, 1887; new ed., Tiibingen, 1901) ; .Ar- nold E. Berger (Berlin, 1895-98). In English there are the translation of Kiistlin's standard work (New York. 1883) ; the Life by Jules Jli- chelet. based upon his correspondence, tr. from the French, in Bohn's series; by Peter Bavne (New York, 1887) ; by H. E. .Jacobs (New Y'ork, 1898), popular and accurate. Consult, also, Pfleiderer, "Luther and Protestant Civiliza- tion," in his volume of essays on Erohition and Theoloriy (Eng. trans. New Y'ork. 1900), and Seiss, Luther and the Reformation (Philadelphia, 1884). For his theologA' separately considered, consult : Harnack, Martin Lnther in seiner liedentnng fur die Oeschichtc der Wisscnsehnft iind der Bildnnff (Giessen, 1883; .3d ed. 1901); Kostlin, Luthei's Theologie (Stuttgart, 2d ed.. 1901; Enc. trans., Philadelphia, 1898) ; C. P. Krnutli, The Conseri^atire Reformation (Philadelphia, 1871). Of Roman Catholic writers on Luther, consult : .Janssen, flistorif of the German People (Saint Louis, 1900); Verres, Luther (London, 1884);