Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 3.djvu/202

132 STATESMEN AND SAGES simplicity, and rich, if sometimes coarse humor, he is at the same time a spiritual genius. His intuitions of divine truth were bold, vivid, and penetrating, if not comprehensive ; and he possessed the art which God alone gives to the finer and abler spirits that He calls to do special work in this world, of kindling other souls with the fire of his own convictions, and awakening them to a higher con- sciousness of religion and duty. He was a leader of men, therefore, and a Reformer in the highest sense. His powers were fitted to his appointed task ; it was a task of Titanic magnitude, and he was a Titan in intellectual robustness and moral strength and courage. It was only the divine energy which swayed him, and of which he recognized himself the organ, that could have accomplished what he did. View him as a mere theologian, and there are others who take higher rank. There is a lack of patient thoughtfulness and philosophical temper in his doctrinal discussions ; but the absence of these very qualities gave vigor to his bold, if sometimes crude, conceptions, and enabled him to triumph in the struggle for life and death in which he was engaged. To initiate the religious movement which was destined to renew the face of Europe, required a gigantic will, which, instead of being crushed by opposition, or frightened by hatred, should only gather strength from the fierceness of the conflict before it. To clear the air thoroughly, as he himself said, thunder and lightning are necessary. Upon the whole, it may be said that history presents few greater characters few that ex- cite at once more love and admiration, and in which we see tenderness, humor, and a certain picturesque grace and poetic sensibility more happily combined with a lofty and magnanimous, if sometimes rugged, sublimity. Luther's works are very voluminous, partly in Latin, and partly in German. Among those of more general interest are his Table-Talk, his letters, and ser- mons. His Commentaries on Galatians and the Psalms are still read ; and he was one of the great leaders of sacred song, his hymns, rugged but intense and expressive, having an enduring power. As an example of his more tender writing, take his letter to his little son Hans : " Grace and peace in Christ. My dear little son, I am glad to hear that thou learnest well and prayest diligently. Do this, my son, and continue it ; when I return home I will bring thee a fine fairing. " I know a beautiful, cheerful garden, in which many children walk about They have golden coats on, and gather beautiful apples under the trees, and pears, and cherries, and plums ; they sing and jump about, and are merry ; they have also fine little horses with golden bridles and silver saddles. And I asked the man, ' Whose children are they ? ' He replied, ' These are the children who like to pray and learn and are pious.' Then I said, ' My good man, I have a son ; his name is Hans Luther ; may he not also come to this garden to eat such nice apples and pears, and ride such fine little horses, and play with these chil- dren ?' And the man said, ' If he likes to pray and learn, and is pious, he shall come to this garden with Lippus and Just ; and when they all come together.