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12th. The Crown Prince had been deputed by his father, the aged Emperor, to represent him on this occasion, and 50,000 persons were assembled as spectators of the ceremonies. "Unser Fritz" performed his part with decorous zeal. At the appointed time he went in state to the Castle church, and placed a magnificent laurel-wreath upon the grave of Luther. In the mean while a long procession had been moving toward a large hall-the same in which Luther had delivered those lectures which made the university famous in his day. This was now reconsecrated as Luther Hall; the Crown Prince saying at the close of the proceedings: " May this festival serve as a holy exhortation to us to uphold the great benefits of the Reformation, and to strengthen our resolution to be ever ready to defend the Evangelical creed, liberty of conscience, and religious toleration! May Luther's anniversary help to confirm us in the resolve to enliven the Protestant feeling, preserve the German Evangelical Church from disunion, and lay the foundations of an everlasting peace!" Germany is not all Protestant, and the Catholics could not be expected to look with favor upon a commemoration like this, which it was now evident would assume a national character. The Wittenberg celebration was hardly over when it was proposed that the Catholics should observe the month of October as a "month of prayer." It was especially urged that the Catholic children throughout Germany should "join together in fervent supplications to Heaven for a speedy reunion of all Christian peoples within the fold of the one true Church." This recommendation was carried out to a very considerable extent, though it could hardly call forth much enthusiasm.

The preliminary celebration at Wittenberg was essentially the imperial one; that at Berlin was rather municipal and civic, though the Emperor and the royal family bore some part in it. On Friday the capital began to put on a festal aspect. Flag-staffs were raised on the roofs, and decorations pervaded the streets and public buildings. A somewhat cynical correspondent does not fail to notice that "the shopkeepers, great and small, appear to combine gratitude to the great reformer with an effort to turn an honest penny, by exhibiting his portrait in their windows for sale." As evening fell, the bells of the churches sounded their loudest peals, and on Saturday, at halfpast seven in the morning, they rang out again. The pupils of all the public schools marched in long procession to attend divine worship; and as the churches were insufficient to contain them, services were also held in public halls. The grand procession moved early from the town hall toward the church of St. Nicholas, the oldest place of worship in Berlin. The procession was much like those with which we are familiar, wanting, however, the military element. In front moved heralds and musicians. Then followed the Protestant clergy, the pro

fessors and students of the university, the chief officials of the city, of the kingdom of Prussia, and the empire. Last came the minor officials and common citizens. By noon the church was crowded. After a pause of half an hour, the Emperor, the Crown Prince, and the princes William and Frederick Charl.s made their appearance. Then the liturgy was recited, drums were beaten, trumpets blown, and Luther's "Ein' feste Burg" pealed forth like a song of victory to the roar of the great organ. General - Superintendent Brückner delivered the sermon of the day. It was a long and not over- brilliant discourse, the leading theme being that "Luther's grandest work, and most precious legacy to the world, was the purification of the Christian faith."

The celebration at Eisleben was by far the most characteristic one which we find described. In this mining town Luther was born, and here he died. His connection with Eisleben was in both respects altogether accidental. His parents resided in the neighboring village of Mansfeld. His mother had gone to Eisleben in order to make some household purchases, when he was born. Not long afterward his father took up his residence at Eisleben, and here Luther's boyhood was passed. He himself supposed that he was born at Mansfeld. He was sent to school at Mansfeld at the age of twelve, and it does not appear that he was ever after that in his native town for more than a few days, until a month before his death. He went there, not from any longings to revisit the home of his childhood, but for the purpose of bringing about a reconciliation between the two Counts of Mansfeld, who were at feud. The weather was inclement, and he was seized with a severe cold, which resulted in pneumonia. He was not thought to be in special danger until the day before his death. Only four days previous he had delivered his last sermon.

Eisleben possesses few memorials of Luther. The house in which he was born is still standing in the street that bears his name, though somewhat changed. It was partially burned in 1594, but was restored at the expense of the town, and was again restored in 1817; but the interior of the lower part remains unaltered. The entrance is modern, and over the door is a bust of Luther, and this inscription: "In this house Dr. Martin Luther was born, 10th of November, 1483.-God's word is Luther's lore; therefore fails it never more." house in which he died is also standing, near the market-place. On the front is a small tablet which simply says, "In this house Dr. Martin Luther died, the 18th of February, 1546." The humble house in which he was born is uninhabited and unfurnished, except for a few relics of Luther, which are of doubtful authenticity. In the more pretentious dwelling in which he died, the guest of the town-clerk, Luther's death-chamber and the sitting-room are unoccupied and unfurnished.

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delivered his last sermon from the antique pulpit, now garlanded with evergreens. The hallelujah 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, "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 celebration. 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 procession. First caine the mounted heralds, trumpeters, 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 hundred 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 present 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 ningling together in gay confusion. 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, public 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 fraction. 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 Walbium extolled his activity, joyousness, sensibility, 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 Pressensé, 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 recently 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 massacres so numerous that, could the bones of those who had lost their lives through the influence 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 lightning, 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 damnation," and much more of the like import. The "Univers" also gives place to a paper by Bishop Freppel, who used to lecture upon Luther at the Sorbonne. He was "amazed at the glorification, at this day, of the man who denied free-will, declared good works prejudicial 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 designate 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 archbishop, in the hierarchy, stands second to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and consequently second, after the royal family, in order of precedence, 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 communion, and so not to be, as it were, canonized,

and added that any formal church service in which the Lutheran movement should be publicly commemorated "would gender strife, encourage discord, and hinder individual spiritual life." If such an encomium were to be pronounced by the archbishop in the minster, he himself would be absent from the service. The archbishop purposed to deliver the sermon, not in the cathedral, but in another church in the city. He, however, took prompt occasion to affirm his right to deliver it in the minster, and at the same time to set forth his own position in the matter. To the "Times" he wrote: "Every time we use the church service, and particularly the holy communion service in our churches, we affirm the Reformation. Every candidate who is ordained, and every clergyman who receives a benefice does, by signing the Thirty-nine Articles afresh, which attest the Reformation. Every year, when the convocation meets within the precincts of the minster, we return thanks, in the convocation prayer, for the blessings of the Reformation, and for our deliverance from the papal tyranny which once here prevailed. While it is true that the English Reformation was accomplished in a different manner from the Reformation in Germany and other countries, yet it is nevertheless true that the possibility of a religious reformation in any part of Europe sprang in a large part from the intense personal conviction and contagious faith of one man-Martin Luther."

This York discourse, delivered on Saturday, was repeated on Sunday, Nov. 11th, in Westminster Abbey. It embodied a eulogistic statement of the great facts in Luther's career, closing with a summation of the reasons why he should be held in special reverence by the Church of England. "The Anglican Church," said the archbishop, "bears a much nearer resemblance to the German Reformed than to the Protestant system which prevailed in Switzerland. Our Church joined with Luther in protesting against the Zwinglian doctrine of the eucharist; and, out of the Thirty-nine Articles, not less than fourteen were derived from the Confessions of Augsburg and Würtemberg. It has, moreover, been conclusively shown that in countries where the Reformed religion prevailed, there was more order, more liberty, greater prosperity, greater industry and enterprise, than existed in countries which professed the Roman Catholic religion. This was not the result of race, but was equally evident when comparison was made between populations of the same race professing the two different religions. How great, therefore, is the debt we owe to the great reformer whose teachings had brought about such results! This was certainly a memory which Englishmen would never let die."

What may be styled the popular movement in England was headed by the Earl of Shaftesbury, the chairman of the Lutheran Commemoration Committee. Among the immense meet

ings held was one at Exeter Hall, where clerical and lay orators spoke in the same strain with those from whom citations have been made. In America. In the United States the commemoration was widely observed, though without any ostentatious public display. On Sunday, Nov. 11th, the day following the anniversary of Luther's birth, there were few prominent Protestant pulpits in which the work of the great German was not made the theme of comment and eulogy. Large meetings were held in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Brooklyn, Baltimore, Chicago, Pittsburg, Princeton, and other places. In Cincinnati, Monsignor Capel delivered two discourses in the cathedral, in which he treated of Luther from the Catholic stand-point.

LUTHERANS. Considerable discrepances exist between the computations of the statistics of the several Lutheran bodies in the United States as given in the different year-books. The "Church Almanac" (General Council) gives summaries as follows:

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The German Synod of Iowa and the Norwegian Augustana Synod, classed in the "Church Almanac" among the independent synods, are regarded in the Brobst "Kalender" as affiliated in sympathy with the General Council, though not officially connected with it. If their members were added to those of the General Council, the strength of that body would be, according to Brobst, 879 ministers, 1,675 congregations, and 240,009 members. The sum of the members shows, according to Brobst, an increase during the year in the entire Lutheran Church of 153 pastors, 292 congregations, and 36,181 communicants.

Of educational institutions connected with the several bodies and particular synods, the “Church Almanac " enumerates 19 theological seminaries, 18 colleges and universities, 29 academies, and 16 seminaries for young womThe charitable and benevolent institu

en.

tions comprise 25 orphanages, 8 hospitals, 1 home for the aged and infirm, 1 institute for the deaf and dumb, 4 emigrant missions, under the care of different bodies, in New York city, and 1 emigrant mission in Baltimore. The whole number of periodicals is 87, of which 30 are in the English language, 28 in German, 7 in Swedish, and 22 in Norwegian and Danish. The General Council.-The General Council met in the city of New York, October 18th. The Rev. Dr. A. Spaeth, of Philadelphia, presided. The business of the session consisted chiefly in the continuation of the regular discussion of the ninety-five theses of Luther and the review of the progress of the various missionary and publishing enterprises of the body. The discussion of Luther's theses, to which the Council statedly devotes a part of the time of every annual meeting, has been instituted for the comparison of views among the members of the body, and for mutual enlightenment in doctrine, and does not take the shape of formal action. On the present occasion the fifth, sixth, and seventh theses, declaring the impotency of the Pope in the forgiveness of sins, were considered, as follows:

The Pope neither wisheth to nor can remit any punishments save those which he, of his own will, or according to the canons, hath inspired.

The Pope can not forgive any sin, except so far as he doth declare and confirm God's forgiveness; or, indeed, when he forgiveth reserved cases, where, if they be despised, the sin remaineth still.

God verily forgiveth no man's sins, without at the same time subjecting him in all things in humility to his vicar, the priest.

A strong desire was expressed for the union of the synods of the United States on the occasion of the four-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther; and the corresponding secretaries were instructed to enter into corre spondence with the synods which are one with the Council in the unity of the faith, with that end in view.

The Board of Foreign Missions reported that its receipts for the year had been $7,278, and that its estimates for expense for the coming year amounted to $10,000. The mission is in the Presidency of Madras, India, and has its principal stations at Rajamundry and Samulcotta, with numerous sub-stations. It employed four American and European missionaries, two native pastors, two woman missionaries, two evangelists, and forty teachers, and returned 722 children in the schools and 465 persons baptized during 1882 and the first six months of 1883. The German Home Mission Committee had received during the year $4,447, and had expended $4,410. Three missionaries had been dispatched to Canada, seven had been ! appointed to fields within the United States, and a traveling missionary was employed in Texas. The committee was unable to meet the demands made upon it for additional laborers. Thirty-four students were, however, under preparation at institutions in Germany to engage in its work. The Swedish Home Mis

sion Committee had missions at San Francisco, Cal., Astoria and Portland, Oregon, and Puget Sound, Washington Territory, in Idaho, at Salt Lake City, and in Colorado. The Emigrant Mission had given shelter in its home in New York city to more than 15,000 persons. The House and its mission was now generally known, and the Home Missionary Society in Europe was very generally co-operating with the committee. Mission stations had been established in Bremen, Hamburg, and Antwerp. Castle Garden was regularly visited at each arrival of passengers. The Swedish Augustana Synod was sustaining a mission in connection with the committee's work. A recommendation that the Home Mission Committees be advised to secure the services of one or more traveling missionaries for the purpose of organizing congregations along the line of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and of securing sites for churches, etc., was offered, and referred to the next meeting of the Council. A general committee, which had been appointed the year before in furtherance of the same object, reported prog. ress. A declaration was adopted to the effect that the co-operation of women in the work of the Church was greatly desired. "But as the Church is the proper channel through which all efforts are to be directed, the Council can recognize no other. It must leave to the individual congregation the right to direct its own affairs. If it deem it wise to organize woman's mission societies, it can do so, and will no doubt have the approval of the Council."

The General Synod.-The General Synod met in its thirty-first biennial convention at Springfield, Ohio, May 16th. The Rev. J. G. Morris, D. D., LL. D., was chosen president. Reports were made by the several boards having charge of the benevolent enterprises of the synod, of their operations during the previous two years. The Board of Church Extension had received $41,791, and had expended $39,325. It had completed its work in aid of the mission in Brooklyn, N. Y., was helping to build a church in Chicago, Ill., and was arranging for architectural plans to assist in building churches in the mission-fields. The plan for securing an income by apportioning among the churches the amount they would be asked to contribute had been worked with satisfaction and success. The Board of Publication had increased its net assets by $14,016, the present amount being $61,767, and reported sales for the year ending March 31, 1883, of $49,049. It had been able to appropriate from its profits $5,000 to the benevolent work of the Church as represented in the organizations connected with the General Synod. A history of the Lutheran Church in America was in preparation under its direction. The Committee of the Pastors' Fund had received $1,951, and expended $1,541. The Board of Home Missions had received $38,407, and had paid to missionaries $24,040. It had the care of 53 missions, which represented 63 congregations, having 3,680 members. The

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