The New Zealand TABLET THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1900. DEEPLY-ROOTED NONSENSE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 43, 25 October 1900, Page 17

The New Zealand TABLET

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1900. DEEPLY-ROOTED NONSENSE.

4 To promote the cause of Religion and Justice by Ihe ways of Truth and Peace. 1 Li:o XIII to the N.Z. Tuju:r.

SIIERE are some themes which arc e\er given. One of these is Li thkr. Recently v host of preachers, in town and \ illage, have been up in loud defence of the holy nun: and of his glorious work. Obviously, a large number of uneducated and half-educated people have still no doubt but that he was a heaven-sent benefactor of mankind — an angel of light who delivered Europe from a vast accumulation of superstition, vice, and darkness. Astounding is the theory of Christian

history on which the Luther myth is based. In a few words it runs thus :— The Son of God came down and enlightened and redeemed the world. He established a Christian society or Church. He promised to remain always with it, protecting and guiding it. He gave the assurance, indeed, that the gates of hell, the spirit of error and vice, should not prevail against it. However, Christian society soon became swamped in superstition and error. Darkness nnd idolatry overshadowed it, for long dreary centuries. But happily, a certain German arose, restored to Christendom the long-lost primal &u&pel, and iuLioduoed oldci, propriety, and Christian discipline amid this infernal chaos. And, wonderful ! the great lever of his reformation was the principle of individual judgment in religious matters, that every man is a law unto himself. The work of the Son of God was a failure till mended by this man. Since the time of this illustrious being that portion of Europe, which adopted 4 the light so bright,' as he called it, has progressed hugely in purity, holiness, truth, riches, steam-engines, big ships, and an intensely gratifying material comfort. In one word, the blessings of the glorious Reformation brought us all the blessings of our modern civilisation. • • • Though the Luther myth is believed by vast numbers who take the story from shallow copyists of old partisan histories, yet the force of fact is rapidly discrediting the myth among educated people. Even Lutheran writers themselves are no longer afraid of being guilty of sacrilege should they say hard things of the venerable legend. For instance, Maurenhercher protests, in his Studies and Sfotches, against 'the deeply-rooted nonsense which until recently has been offered to the public as Luther's history.' Holzman describes ' the Luther myth as formed by theological prejudice and falsification, at least, unconscious.' • • * What prejudice and the necessities of a religious system can do to obscure truth and fact, is forcibly illustrated by the invention and persistence of the Luther legends. Yet if there be a character in history of whom much may be known, it is Luther. He and his associates were blatant and loud-mouthed. Their history can be learned from themselves. Passing over the man, just glance at the result of his preaching, as described by himself :— ' Our evangelicals are becoming seven times worse than they were before. For, after we have learned the gospel, we rob, lie, cheat, gorge, and are guilty of all sorts of vice. For one devil that has gone out of us seven worse have entered in.' He says again, ' Every one hears the complaint that a good deal is preached but no one acts according to it. Jt is a shame that people are so cold and lazy. They do much less than lie fore : and yet we have so bright a light.' He beinoaii3 Unit, ' while all boast they are "Christians and are proud of their Christian liberty, yet, giving way to concupiscence, they turn to avarice, pride, lust, envy, and so on. Nobody does his duty faithfully ; nobody serves his neighbor in clnrity. Sometimes this makes me so impatient that I often wish these hogs were still under the tyranny of the Tope. For it is impossible that these Gomorrha people should be ruled in the peace of the gospel.' ' All vices,' he tells us, ' have become so common that they arc no longer reputed such.' *If I had forseen these scandals, and if (jioi) had not shut my eyes, I would never have begun to preach the gospel.' Whole pages might be filled with extracts of like import from the reformer's own writings. Dullixgeu and Yerues give them ad nauseam. m • * But it may be objected that this language is mere rhetorical exaggeration. Great orators and highly imaginati\" people like Luther are much given to hyperbole and tierce denunciation. Unfortunately for the Luther myth that cannot be said. The reformer's own friends, Osiander, Mathesius, Pomeranus, Corvin, Link, etc., describe the fruits of the • gospel ' in language as strong as the master's. The oilicial and judicial contemporary records of the reformed provinces of Germany, of Denmark, and Sweden, tell of an extraordinary increase of moral corruption. The secular authorities and even the Lutheran Synods found it necessary to make special laws to restrain this torrent of vice : Vide Dollinukk's Reformation, 11. 432, et seq. Many men were deceived at the outset of Luther's career by his loud professions of religious zeal and his desires

so strongly expressed to sweep away existing abuses. They fancied some good might come out of ihe commotion. They praised the reformer, patted him on the back, cheered him on. But when they grasped the import of the new gospel and saw its results among the people, they abandoned him in disgust. Among those whose eyes were opened by the natural fruits of the Evuiujeiwm was the famous Erasmus of Rotterdam. "This new gospel,' says he, 'prorhipps a now race of men, harsh, impudent, seditious, quarrelsome, mendacious, sycophantic, deceitful ' (Letter 19). £ i'onueilv, i elision made men ir,i!d, peaceful, kind in Bpeech. Those men have become thieves, cheats, seditious, slanderers of good men. I see new hypocrites, new tyrantfl, but not even a crumb of the spirit of the Gospel — nr mi ram quidem evangdici sjiirilus.' * * # Luther attributed the moral depravity of his followers to the devil. He always fell back upon the devil when mischief was done. But, assuredly, the new gospel was calculated to give very material assistance to the devil. AYe will make no mention of his laxity in regard to divorce and bigamy and his gross opinions on kindred topics. It will be sufficient to say that Luther told men that good works were not necessary for salvation ; that faith or trust was absolutely suflicient ; that they might sin bravely provided that they believed more bravely and they should be .saved ; that, in fact, sin is only a good means of bringing home to us the consoling convictions and peace of the gospeli; that, above all things, man has no free will ; that he merely obeys a rider and does ill or well according as his will is ridden by God or the devil. Such were the principles from "which many were glad to draw the obvious practical conclusions. £o deep were the veneration, for Luther and the gratitude of the mob for the sweet liberty which the Evcmgdium gave them, that he said contemptuously of them : — Adombunt strriora nosfra rfjno bnlsamo halrbwit .' # # * It is true that decent people guided by the decent instincts of humanity managed to forget and ignore the distinctively Lutheran tenets of the new gospel. It is true that for decency sake they were compelled to substitute a legendary Luther for the real one. It is true that learned historians have riddled again and again the Luther myth. Yet such is the force of religious prejudice that millions and millions still adhere to it with unwavering assent, and preachers can lash them into a Jury of rage when a hostile linger is laid upon the historic fetish. Poor human mind ! What an illustration of thy dulness and ineptitude.