730 LUTHEE cation of free grace by faith alone, were the pillars of his theology and religion. The works of Luther are partly in Latin, partly in German, and consist of sermons, commentaries on the Scriptures, especially on Genesis, the Psalms, and Galatians, polemical tracts against Roman Catholics, fanatics, Zwinglians, Erasmus, Hen- ry VIII., &c., and a great many letters. He composed also a number of standard hymns and tunes, partly original, partly free versions and adaptations of Psalms and old Latin hymns ; and he may be regarded as the founder of Ger- man church poetry and music, which is richer than that of any other nation. His most f a-
- mous hymn is the Em"* feste Burg ist unser
Gott, the war song of the reformation, written in 1529 on the basis of the 46th Psalm, and often rendered into English (by Oarlyle, Mills, Miss Catharine Winkworth, Dr. Bunting, Mas- sie, Heyl, and others). But his most impor- tant and useful work is his translation of the Bible, commenced in 1521, continued with the assistance of Melanchthon, Bugenhagen (Pome- ranus), and Cruciger, and completed in 1534. It threw all the previous German versions into entire forgetfulness, assisted immensely in the spread of the reformation, and in spite of its many obscurities and inaccuracies remains to this day in general use among the Protestant churches of the German tongue. It bears a similar relation to German literature to that which the common English version bears to English literature and church life. Though less accurate, it is a more gigantic work as to labor and perseverance, if we consider that it was made nearly a century earlier, before the appearance of many important grammars, dic- tionaries, and commentaries, and almost single- handed, while the English version is the pro- duct of the united labor not only of the 47 divines appointed by James I., but of three generations, as represented by Tyndale, Cover- dale, Cranmer's Bible, the Geneva Bible, and the Bishops' Bible. Luther sometimes sat with his colleagues one and two weeks over a single obscure passage of the Hebrew Scriptures and the Latin Vulgate, and even employed butchers to dissect animals in his presence, that he might properly understand and accurately render the various sacrificial terms in the Levitical code. We have six complete editions of Luther's works, of which the best are that of Walch (24 vols. 4to, Halle, 1740-'53) and the unfin- ished one of Plochmann and Irmischer (68 vols. 8vo, Erlangen, 1826-'57). The latter gives the works in their original Latin or German, and adds all the writings which had appeared since Walch. The best and cheapest selection of his works, containing all his more important writings, with instructive introductions and notes, is the one edited by Dr. Otto von Ger- lach (last ed., 24 vols., Berlin, 1859). Dr. Barnas Sears has published, with valuable phi- lological notes, "Select Treatises of Luther" (Andover, 1846). The letters of Luther, which furnish the most authentic materials for an almost complete biography, were separately edited by De Wette (5 vols., Berlin, 1825-'8, to which a supplementary volume was added by Seidemann in 1856). The "Table Talk" was first collected by Aurifaber (1566), and then by Selneccer (1577) ; the best edition is by Forstemann and Bindseil (4 vols., Berlin, 1844-'8). It was translated into English by Bell (fol., London, 1652), and selections from it were made by William Hazlitt (London, 1848; new ed., enlarged, 1857). Of the very numer- ous biographies of Luther we mention those by Melanchthon, Historia de Vita etActis Lutheri (1546) ; Mathesius, Historic von Dr. M. Luther's Anfang, Lehre, Leben und Sterben (1565) ; Selneccer (1575) ; Keil (1746) ; Ukert (1817) ; Stange (1835) ; G. Pfizer (1836) ; Jiirgens (1st division, 3 vols., 1846 et seq.} ; Meurer (1850- '52 ; 3d ed., 1870), to a great extent in Luther's own words ; Konig and Gelzer (1851 ; English translation by Hare and Miss Winkworth, New York, 1857). The best work on the theology of Luther is by Julius Kostlin, Luther s The- ologie in ihrer geschiclitlicJien Entwiclcelung und ihrem inneren Zusammenhang dargestellt (2 vols., Stuttgart, 1863). An exceedingly fa- vorable judgment on Luther may be found in Dollinger's " Lectures on the Reunion of Chris- tendom," delivered at Munich in 1872, which is all the more remarkable since the famous Catholic historian at an earlier period of his life, in a learned work entitled Die Reforma- tion (3 vols., Ratisbon, 1846-'8), brought out very prominently the defects in Luther's char- acter and theology. See also Heinrich Lang, Martin Luther, ein religidses CUarakterbild (Berlin, 1870). The French work of Audin, in 2 vols. (also translated into English), is writ- ten from a Roman Catholic point of view, and is upon the whole a caricature. The Memoires by Michelet (Paris, 1857) are lively but super- ficial, and too much based upon the "Table Talk." The first volumes of Merle d'Aubi- gne's popular " History of the Reformation " are mostly occupied with Luther, and by their immense circulation have done more perhaps to spread a knowledge of his early life and labors in England and America than any other recent work. Of English and American wri- ters, we must mention Thomas Carlyle, Cole- ridge, Archdeacon Hare (first in a very long note to his " Mission of the Comforter," after- ward separately published, a most able vin- dication of Luther against the charges of Sir William Hamilton, Hallam, and others), and Barnas Sears ("Life of Luther, with special reference to his Youth," Philadelphia, 1850), as those who have best appreciated the char- acter of the German reformer. Dr. Tulloch, also, in his "Leaders of the Reformation" (2d ed., Edinburgh, 1860), gives a highly eulo- gistic- sketch of Luther. Prof. Fisher of Yale college devotes ample space to him in his " His- tory of the Reformation " (New York, 1873). The hymns of Luther have been translated by R. Massie, and in part also by H. Mills, in
