# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1846 12 22_S49
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

...defame or bury, unmindful of his merits — that what they see, they see through him; what they know, they have learned from him.

Paul Fagius, when he delivered a public address on his (Luther's) death, said among other things: Whether you are called Small-Hans or Great-Hans, whatever you know in theology, you owe to Luther. (Paul Fagius was a great scholar of languages, latterly professor at Strasbourg; he died in 1549 at Cambridge, England.)

Nicolaus Selneccer (died 1592 as superintendent at Leipzig):

Philip Melanchthon recognized and declared Luther to be his father, his teacher, the Elijah of the last times, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen (2 Kings 2:12), and often repeated of him the saying: No later age will produce such a man. And when he wished to compare the various gifts of his colleagues, he would say: Dr. Pomeranus (Bugenhagen) is the grammarian (philologist), who weighs the words of the text; I am the dialectician — that is, I consider the order, the context, the parts, and the conclusions; Dr. Jonas is the orator, who can set forth matters with rhetorical charm; Luther is everything, with whom none of us can be compared.

Master Andreas Fabricius (died as pastor at Eisleben, 1577):

The more diligently one reads the writings of Luther, the more, with greater eagerness and fervor, one marvels at the holy text of the Bible itself and the word of the Holy Spirit, learns to recognize it, and receives it — for Luther's volumes are nothing other than a pointer to, and an exposition of, the Bible. Likewise: Luther is to be feared when he rebukes, lovely in comforting, earnest in admonishing, undaunted in confessing, fervent in praying, untiring in building up (with doctrine), incomparable in faith, blameless in life, to be marveled at in patience and suffering — he who by his death left behind in all the godly a longing desire. Wherefore whoever diligently reads his writings, and sees on almost every page and every line such great candor, also prays fervently that the grace of the Holy Spirit may come to his aid as a poor, cold-hearted sinner, that he may believe more firmly, pray more fervently, suffer more strongly, hold temporal things in low regard, and, marveling at God's work, become wholly enraptured. Likewise: it is a singular work of the Holy Spirit in Luther above others — one well worth considering with godly attention — that he sets forth Christ's benefit so gloriously, that he displays Christ, the one mystery of the Bible, that he extols the omnipotence and godhead of saving faith, that he so bravely defends and maintains the word "alone" with regard to faith, that, weighing Scripture against Scripture, he constantly cuts away from justification all merit, works, gifts, curious laws, glittering acts of worship, holinesses, so that

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he regards all of this as not worth a farthing — indeed, expressly confesses that it is damned and damning if one should wish to draw upon it for the kingdom of God, for the merit of Christ, for the justification of sinners, for the removal of sin, of death, of hell, of the wrath of God, and for attaining the way of salvation. For when it comes to the struggle and the parting [of this life], one must pray that God would turn his eyes away not only from our sins, but also from our own righteousness of good works and our whole life, however good it may have been, and spare us as unprofitable servants for the sake of the divine incarnation and the blood of the Son of God, if we lay hold, wholly and simply, with bare confidence of faith, of that infinite Person who, in such great lowliness, is set over against the kingdom of sin and eternal wrath, etc. Next to the Bible, there is no better book under the sun than Luther's Small Catechism alone — the marrow and sap of holy Scripture and its summary content, the wellspring and fountain of Luther's writings, in which as many matters as words, as many benefits as letters are contained; brief in its pages, yet nothing can be compared to it for the glory of the theological matters it holds.

II. Of the Reformed.

Ulrich Zwingli, the first founder of the Reformed Church, wrote in the year 1523: "Luther is as excellent a warrior of God as has not existed on earth in a thousand years, and with the manly, unshaken spirit with which he has attacked the Pope of Rome, no one has ever equaled him for as long as the papacy has endured. God be praised! Through him a countless world is brought to God, more than through me and others."

John Calvin, the second head of the Reformed:

This, I beg you, take to heart: first, what a great man Luther is, and by what great gifts he distinguishes himself; with what courage, with what constancy, with what skill, with what penetrating power of teaching he has hitherto been zealous to overthrow the kingdom of Antichrist and at the same time to spread the doctrine of salvation. I am accustomed often to say: even if he were to call me a devil, I would still show him this much honor, that I would acknowledge him as an outstanding servant of God.

Th. Beza (zealous defender of Calvinist doctrine, died 1605 at Geneva):

Luther was a truly admirable man; whoever does not perceive the Spirit of God in him perceives nothing at all. (Tract. adv. Brentium, fol. 190.)

Samuel Lucius (a very zealous Reformed preacher at Diessbach, not far from Bern in Switzerland, who published Luther's exposition of the Epistle to the Galatians; died 1750):

For I can say, on the ground of truth, to God's glory alone, that no writings have done me more good than those of this blessed man (Luther). Indeed, God has many times made me drunk with joy of faith from the silver cup of his writings, so that I forgot all the distress with which my conscience oppressed me, and with which sin, the devil, and the world pressed me even unto death; and I cannot but think that those who draw upon his most precious teaching have never yet tasted the burning sting of sin, the bitter curse of the law, the power of unbelief, and the malice of Satan, nor ever stood before God's strict judgment, as the Lord in his great mercy has let me experience all of this. It is certain that the glorious man of God, Luther, gloriously explains what secret theology has veiled in the dark shadows of unintelligible turns of phrase.

III. Of Roman Catholics.

Petrus Mosellanus, who at the time of the Leipzig Disputation, 1519, was Rector Magnificus at the University of Leipzig, sketches the following portrait of Martin Luther in his account of this disputation.

Martin is of medium height, gaunt from cares and study, so that one could almost count the bones through his skin; yet still of manly and vigorous age, and with a clear, lofty voice. He is, however, full of learning and excellent knowledge of Scripture, so that he can, so to speak, reckon everything off on his fingers. He knows so much Greek and Hebrew that he can judge interpretations. Nor does he lack for matter, for one finds in him a great forest or store of words and substance. In his way of life he is very courteous and friendly, and has nothing sour or severe (stoic) about him; indeed, he can adapt himself to any occasion. In company he is merry, witty, lively, and always cheerful, always in good spirits and of a joyful countenance, however much his adversaries may threaten him, so that one can hardly think the man undertakes such things without God. But the one fault all find to blame in him is that in rebuking (or scolding) he is somewhat too bold and biting — more than is safe, or becoming to a theologian, for one who treads a new path in theology (kainotomounti). Yet this is a fault which, indeed, all who are taught somewhat later on well have in themselves. You would not believe how, almost all of us, after coming here, have become much more favorably disposed toward Martin.

Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (died 1536 at Basel):

The life of Luther is praised with general approval. And it is truly a good presumption in his favor that Luther's conduct is so blameless that even his enemies find nothing to slander (Opp. III, ep. 317).

The same writes in a letter to the Bishop of Mainz:

"I see this, that the best men take absolutely no offense at Luther's writings. I am neither an accuser, nor a