insufficient, The magistrate ought to superintend the instruction of children. The establishment of schools is one of the most important duties which they have to perform."

Luther, too, was passionately fond of music. In his table-talk he says:

"Music is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents that God has given us. Satan is the inveterate enemy of music, for he knows that by its aid we drive away temptations and evil thoughts: he cannot make head against music." So again: "Next to theology I give music the first place and highest honor."

While in the monastery Luther became terribly depressed on account of his spiritual state, and would doubtless have died from the effects of his rigorous asceticism and mental agony had not the Vicar General Staupitz wisely counselled him and instructed him in "the more excellent way." When Luther was once in deep religious anguish Dr. Staupitz said: "Thy thoughts are not according to Christ, Christ does not terrify, he consoles." and by degrees a gentle peace from heaven took possession of his heart.

He became a Professor and Doctor of Theology in the University of Wittenberg, and the words "the just shall live by his faith motto and the inspiration of his life.

were his Tetzel had been

Now came another turning point in Luther's career. commissioned by the Pope to sell indulgences in order to raise funds for the building of St. Peter's. He made use of the most extravagant rhetoric to vend his pardons. We hear him saying: "the very instant the piece of money chinks at the bottom of the strong box, the soul is delivered out of purgatory and flies up to heaven." The tariff of sins was fixed, and in the Roman Chancery we find the following fees: For murdering a layman, 7s. 6d. ; for polygamy, 1os. 6d.; for sacrilege and perjury, 9s; for burning a neighbour's house, 12s. This shameful traffic, this insolent affront to the moral sense of Germany, aroused Luther's indignation, and, filled with the spirit of a hero, he bid defiance to the greatest potentates and highest ecclesiastical authorities. His courage never failed him. He faced the plague at Wittenberg as bravely as did San Carlo Borromeo at Milan. He declared when threatened by Duke George of Leipsic that "if he had business at Leipsic he would ride there if it rained Duke George's nine days' running." When on his way to Worms and they showed him a picture of Savanarola, he said, "he would go there if there were as many devils on the tiles as there were tiles on the roofs." And when the stake was set before him and the fate of John Huss, he said: "they burnt John Huss but they could not burn the truth.

66

What grander, nobler, sublimer words were ever uttered by man than his reply to the cold, stern, powerful Emperor, surrounded by his scowling Spaniards, dukes, princes, electors, and barons? Prove to me," says the dauntless monk, "Prove to me out of Scripture that I am wrong, and I will submit. Till then my conscience binds me. Here I stand, I can no otherwise, God help me, Amen." These words like the

thunder of artillery shook the world. Well might George of Freundsberg say, "Little monk, little monk, thou hast a work before thee such as I, and many a man whose trade is war, never faced the like of." And with what enthusiastic, triumphant exultation did he exclaim on reaching his house, "I am through and through, if I had a thousand heads they should all be cut off, one by one, sooner than I would recant." When Cardinal Cajetan said to him: "Think you that the princes will take up arms for you? No, indeed; and where will you be then ?" "Under heaven," was the calm and dauntless reply.

66

When Luther left Worms he intended to return to Wittenberg, but friendly hands saved him from the peril of such a course, and carried him per force to the Castle of Wartburg, where he lived in concealment for some years. Many are the beautiful incidents of his life here. Gazing once on a little withered discolored flower, he said sorrowfully, Poor flower, God alone can now give you life. Adieu, adieu for ever,' and he wept like a child. Here he commenced his great work—the translation of the Bible. It was a toilsome task, and he revised and re-wrote till every sentence and expression satisfied him. "I sweat blood and water," says he, " in my efforts to render the prophets into the vulgar tongue. Good God, what work it is! How difficult it is to make these Jews talk German. They struggle hard before they will give up their Hebrew to our barbarous tongue.'

Dr. Döllinger though a Romanist gives an eloquent tribute to Luther. "It was Luther's overpowering greatness of mind and marvellous manysidedness which made him the man of his time and people; and it is correct to say that there has never been a German who so instinctively understood his people, and in turn has been so thoroughly understood by the people as this Augustinian monk at Wittenberg. Heart and mind of the Germans were in his hand like the lyre in the hand of the musician. Moreover he has given to his people more than any other man in Christian ages has given to his people-language, manual for popular instruction, Bible, hymns." Indeed, it cannot be doubted that Luther did for Germany what William Tyndale did for England.

In June 1525, Luther married Catherine von Bora, a nun. For his wife he had the profoundest affection, and of his little daughter who died, he said : "It is wonderful how sick at heart her loss has made me, I feel a mere woman, so great is the agitation which has pervaded me. I could never have dreamed that a man's heart could be filled with such tenderness towards a child." Referring to marriage, he said: "The greatest of God's gifts is a patient, amiable wife, who fears God, loves her home, and with whom one may live in peace, and in whom one may entirely confide.

Luther had a strong belief in the personality of the devil, and as we have said, he considered music one means of putting him to flight. "I like it well" he says, "when with sounding voice we sing in the Church, Et homo factus est; et Verbum caro factum est, 'And was made man, and the Word was made flesh.' The devil can't endure these words and flies away." Luther's journey to Rome, his climbing up the Scala Santa,

his theses, his burning of the Pope's bulla, we can only mention, but we must allude for a moment to his great doctrine "Justification by faith," which has been so greatly misunderstood. Luther taught justification by "Glaube," and by Glaube he did not mean justification by belief, in the sense in which it has been held, but by trust, living simple, daily trust in Christ, who in return pardons our transgressions. And on his monument at Worms is carved the essence of his preaching : "Faith is but the right and true life in God."

Of Luther's buoyant hope, his large-hearted charity, his benevolence, his love for friends, "honor, children, wife," we cannot now speak, but we must refer to his grand hymn commencing "Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott," "a safe stronghold our God is still," so finely translated by Carlyle, who had many points in common with Luther-rugged, hating cant and and hypocrisy, loving truth and exposing shams with scathing eloquence. Luther was tolerant of rituals and ceremonies, but he was above trivialities. When asked if it were permissible to use warm water in baptism, he replied: "Tell the blockhead that water, warm or cold, is water.”

Regarding the political effects of Luther's work, to be convinced of the vast national benefits which have accrued to those nations which have embraced Protestantism, and to estimate the incalculable blessings due to the Reformation, we have but to listen to the words of a great modern publicist, speaking not as a Protestant or Romanist, but as a philosopher and politician. M. Emile de Laveleye when discussing the future of Catholic peoples, finds marks of progress in the reformed nations which are wanting in the Roman Catholic. He compares Scotland and Ireland, peoples of the same race, and shows that though Ireland was once famous for learning and civilization, she has been outstripped by Protestant Scotland, and is now poor, discontented and torn with internal feuds. Among the Swiss reformed cantons he finds activity, industry, and commerce with the outer world, whereas among the Catholic cantons there is idleness, poverty, and isolation. The countries of the Reformation surpass in freedom, liberty, and morality and culture those States. which are under Papal sway. He compares the English Revolution carried on by men of deep religious conviction and pure morals with the French conducted by men of loose morality. Which are the three most advanced and prosperous countries in the world? England, Germany and North America--and these are the countries of the Reformation. To use his own words "It is the worship and not the race, which is the cause of the extraordinary prosperity of certain peoples." What is Lutherism? we have asked. A modern divine has furnished a right response. Lutherism, he says is "independence of mind, fearless reading of the divine word, defiance of consequences, aggression upon error, however venerable." With him do we ask "when will the day dawn, when we shall say 'Brethren, perfection cannot be found in the individual, we can be inspired by a common earnestness, though we may not reach a common conclusion; we may be one in our moral consistency, though we may be a multitude in our intellectual convictions; we

may be consolidated in heart, though each may see some light of truth which is hidden from our eyes."

As we look upon the teeming life around us, and see men devoting their whole time and energies to the pursuit of wealth and ease, honors and distinction, regardless of the higher aspirations of the soul and the deeper mysteries of the heart, we feel how great a need there is for a Luther to arise in our midst, and lift our eyes from the earth to the wonders around us and above us, and the splendours and infinities of human life and destiny; and to bring again to our remembrance the words of the Lord Jesus "Ye ought to support the weak." "It is more blessed to give than to receive." "Love is the fulfilling of the law." Dec., 1883.

A. T. C.

H

3. b. C.

ÆTAT 52.

E bore the burden and the heat till noon;
And then, his Master, seeing him a-weary
Bade him (unheard by us), in accents cheery
To rest within His House, and take the boon
Of shelter it could give ;--which he obeyed!
The Master gave him work so pleasant there,
Employ so grateful to his soul, and fair,
That willingly and gladly there he stayed.

Yet spake he, with an anxious backward thought,
"Dear Master, there are lov'd ones left behind!
Reply was made, "Due preparation given
And all you love shall here be safely brought."
They trust the Master there ;-He is so kind

They call Him Father, and that House call Heaven!

J.B.

That "beatben Chinee" again.

"Which I wish to remark

And my language is plain-
That for ways that are dark

And for tricks that are vain,

The heathen Chinee is peculiar,

Which the same I would like to explain."

"All right,

OW mate, turn out o' that," snarled Jim Carroll. Jim," I replied, and out I turned. Jim Carroll and the writer of this true story were two of a party of four men who were working a "claim" on Tucker Flat, Kawarau River, near Arrowtown, Otago, New Zealand.

Our operations had reached the interesting stage known as "washing up." We had cleared our "paddock,"* the black sand and gold had been sluiced over the tail-race, and nothing now remained to do but take up the paving stones, and wash up in pans, or "pan off" as it is called the fine tailings, upon the success or failure of which operation depended the measure of our reward for three months "hard labour."

66

We had reason to expect a few pounds weight of gold, for we had seen fair prospects occasionally when we came across little dips and gutters in the wash-dirt, and as was the custom under such circumstances we mounted guard during the night with a view to keeping an eye on the thievish Chinamen who crept round the tail-races and often made a considerable haul" on dark nights. They would sneak up quietly into the "paddock" which had been cleared ready for "washing-up," pick up the paving stones in the tail-races, gather up the sand and gold, and carry it away in bags, leaving the proprietors of the claim to curse everybody in general and the "Chinamen" in particular, an accomplishment in which they had, by long practice, and close attention to detail and results obtained, acquired a proficiency bordering on perfection.

:

The month was June: the night was pitch dark: the wind howled mournfully the rain beat upon the canvas roof of our 8 by 10 sod hut as though it would have thrashed it into its original shreds. One might have said with the brave and loyal Kent in King Lear :

"Things that love night

Love not such nights as these; the wrathful skies

Gallow the very wanderers of the dark,

And make them keep their caves; since I was man,
Such groans of roaring wind and rain, I never

Remember to have heard."

Jim Carroll seemed to have had enough of it, for he had been on duty for two hours in the rough weather, and when he went up to the hut to "turn in," instead of leaving his ill-temper behind him, he did what I have heard of some gentlemen in England doing after an unpleasant and

* Paddock-a block of land about 20 feet square, stripped down to the reef or rock below the soil and gravel.