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MARTIN LUTHER.

MARTIN LUTHER.
A SKETCH, IN TWO PARTS.

By Mrs. Bray,
Avrror or “THE Revoir or THE PROTESTANTS OF THE CEVENNES,”
“Tix Goop Sr. Lours,” “Harrnanp Forzst,” &c., &c.

PART II.

for Luther’s preservation, and well
knowing the perfidy of his enemies,

was so apprehensive that he would
never be suffered to return alive, that he projected
and executed a most extraordinary measure for his
safety. Luther was on his way back to Hisenach
when there suddenly rushed upon him from a
thick wood a number of armed horsemen, masked
and determined. He was instantly surrounded,
seized, and carried off; and his captors never drew
bridle till they reached the formidable castle of
Wartburg (or Wartenburg). There he was com-
mitted to the custody of a governor and persons
appointed by the Elector to take every possible
care of him. They were instructed to watch over
his safety, and to allow him whatever he desired,
except his liberty.

The disappearance of Luther occasioned the
utmost disappointment to his enemies; and the
people at large, not knowing what had become of
their beloved Reformer, thinking that his op-
ponents had destroyed him, became more than
ever enraged against them. In the meanwhile,
Luther, now allowed a guarded liberty under the
care of the friendly governor, was indulged in
the exercise of hunting, followed by his protecting
attendants, to whom he was known under the name
of Yonker George. It was in the retirement of

this friendly prison, that he completed the trans- |

lation into German of the whole of the Old and
New Testament. He also wrote and published
many tracts respecting the Scriptures, and carried
on a correspondence with his followers, from whom
he had the satisfaction of learning that his doctrines
had made considerable progress in almost every
town and city of Saxony. Whilst here confined,
he wrote many letters to his friend Melancthon.
Tn one of these he said, “Even though I should
perish, the Gospel would lose nothing, for thou
art far more important to it than Iam now; thou
art the Elisha on whom the spirit of Elias rests,
Suffer not thyself to be cast down, but sing in the
night the song of the Lord which I gave thee. I
will sing it also, having no other care than the
word. Let those who are ignorant be ignorant if
they will. . . . . Our care must be that they have
no cause to complain of us, that we failed in our
duty to them.”

Tt was also in the calm leisure of his retreat at
Wartburg that Luther, as a relaxation from his
more severe studies, employed many hours in the

composition of some of his noble hymns and
melodies.

“Tn Germany” (writes Mr. Higgins in his delight-
ful paper on “ Hymnology”) “Martin Luther was
the great restorer of sacred hymnody. Whatever
was good for holy song in ancient or modern times,

his large, earnest, faithful, rejoicing heart used for |”

his divine Master. A tumultuous life was his.
On great occasions, whether of a joyful or depress-
ing character, he was wont to express his thank-
fulness, or animate his hopes, by writing a hymn
or translating a psalm. In the year 1530, whilst
the Diet of Augsburg was sitting, Luther, hidden in
the Castle of Coburg, there in a little chamber at
the top of a tower on the southern side, overlook-

ing the town and river, harassed with the fear of’ |

those seeking his life, and more deeply still by
anxiety for the great work in which he was en-

gaged, he one day suddenly seized his pen, and |

wrote his noble version of the 46th psalm.”

Wearied at length with his confinement, and
wishing to govern the rash zeal which, in the
proceedings of his fellow-reformer, Carlostadt, he
apprehended would do mischief, he emerged from
his prison, and once more took his stand in public
to carry on the mighty work. It must here be
remarked that some writers have supposed that the
Elector’s plan in seizing Luther, in 1521, to save
him from treachery, was not unknown to Charles.
V., but surely this is very doubtful. Nothing
could be more bitter than the hatred on many
occasions exhibited by Charles against Luther, and
after his retirement to St. Justus in Spain, it is
stated that when giving some instructions to his
son Philip II, how best to suppress heresy,
he expressed his regret for having respected the
safe-conduct that he granted to Luther when he
came before the Diet at Worms’.

Luther now printed and published his trans- |

lation of the Holy Scriptures. All contemporary
writers agree (even some of the Church of Rome)
that the effect produced by this publication on the
people of Germany was almost miraculous, and

proved more fatal to the Papal Church than all |
other works. The German Bible was read by all |

ranks, from the highest to the lowest, and those
who could not read, listened to a friendly reader
of the New Testament with the utmost attention.
The Papal authority sank at once into contempt,
and several cities of the Empire openly abolished
the mass and adopted the Reformed faith.
Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, became so in-
furiated by Luther’s marvellous success, that, in
the absence of Charles, he published an edict
against the translation of the Scriptures, forbade
its being read, and directed every copy that could
be procured to be burnt. Just about this time,
1 See Motley’s “ Dutch Republic.”

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