is fully as much the reformer of the German Catholics as of the Protestants.  This is true not only because the teachers of the Catholic Church in their struggle against him outgrew the old scholasticism, and fought for their sacraments with new weapons gained from his language, his culture, and his moral worth; nor because he, in effect, destroyed the church of the Middle Ages and forced his opponents at Trent to raise a firmer structure, though seemingly within the old forms and proportions; but still more because he expressed the common basis of all German denominations, of our spiritual courage, piety, and honesty, with such force that a good deal of his own nature, to the present benefit of every German, has survived in our doctrines and language, in our civil laws and morals, in the thoughtfulness of our people, and in our science and literature.  Some of the ideas for which Luther’s stubborn and contentious spirit fought, against both Catholics and Calvinists, are abandoned by the free investigation of modern times.  His intensely passionate beliefs, gained in the heartrending struggles of a devout soul, occasionally missed an important truth.  Sometimes he was harsh, unfair, even cruel toward his opponents; but such things should no longer disturb any German, for all the limitations of his nature and training are as nothing compared with the fulness of the blessings which have flowed from his great heart into the life of our nation.

But he should not have seceded after all, some people say; for his action has divided Germany into two hostile camps, and the ancient strife, under varying battle-cries, has continued to our day.  Those who think so might assert with equal right that the Christian revolt from Judaism was not necessary—­why did not the apostles reform the venerable high-priesthood of Zion?  They might assert that Hampden would have done better if he had paid the ship-money and had taught the Stuarts their lesson peaceably; that William of Orange committed a crime when he did not put his life and his sword into the hands of Alva, as Egmont did; that Washington was a traitor because he did not surrender himself and his army to the English; they might condemn as evil everything that is new and great in doctrine and in life and that owes its birth to a struggle against what is old.

To but few mortals has been vouchsafed such a powerful influence as Luther had upon their contemporaries and upon subsequent ages.  But his life, like that of every great man, leaves the impression of an affecting tragedy when attention is centred on its pivotal events.  It shows us, like the career of all heroes of history whom Fate permitted to live out their lives, three stages.  First, the personality of the man develops, powerfully influenced by the restricting environment.  It tries to reconcile incompatibilities, while in the depth of his soul ideas and convictions are gradually translated into volition.  At last they burst forth in a definite action, and the solitary individual enters upon the contest with the world.  Then follows a period of greater activity, more rapid growth, and larger victories.  The influence of the one man upon the masses grows ever greater.  Mightily he draws the whole nation to follow in his footsteps, and becomes its hero, its pattern; the vital force of millions appears summed up in one man.