The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1880, Page 39

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

39

The Life of Dr. Martin Luther.

XX.
LUTHER'S BURIAL.

The sad tidings of Luther's death rapidly
spread through the country and soon reached
Wittenberg. Melanchthon, in communicating
the painful news to the students of the Univer-
sity, used the words of the prophet Elisha:
“Alas! he has been taken from us, the chariot
of Israel and the horsemen thereof, by whom
the Church was led in this last age of the
world.’’? The Elector of Saxony sent letters to
Hisleben, expressing his wish that the body be
brought to Wittenberg to be buried in the
Castle Church, the same in which Luther re-
gularly preached during his lifetime.

On February 19th the corpse was laid in a
metallic coffin and taken to the parish church
of Eisleben, princes and lords, and an immense
number of people following it—all in tears.
At the church Dr. Jonas preached a funeral
sermon on 1 Thess. 4, 13—18. On the follow-
ing day the minister at Eisleben, M. Coelius,
delivered an excellent sermon on Isaiah 57,
1. 2., after which the corpse was with great
solemnity removed from Fisleben. Hundreds
and thousands of people, princes, nobles, counts,
and lords accompanied it, weeping, and chant-
ing a low funeral dirge as they moved along.
On the way from Eisleben to Halle, the bells
were tolled in all the villages, and the people
came out and stood with tears and uncovered
heads as the corpse of their beloved Luther
was borne past them.

When the corpse, late in the evening, arrived
at the gates of Halle, it was received with great
honors and taken to the church while Luther’s
hymn: ‘‘From deep distress to Thee I cry’’,
was sung by the people with voices broken by
sobs and floods of tears. On the next day the
corpse was taken further on its way, was every-
where received with great solemnity, and at
last reached the city of Wittenberg on the
22d of February. And no one can describe the
grief shown by the people of Wittenberg when
the corpse reached that scene of his life-long
labors, where he was revered and loved so
dearly by all classes as a father. Amid singing
and the tolling of all the bells, the mournful
procession moved through the town to the
Castle Church in the following order: First
came the school choirs and the ministers, fol-
lowed by the commissaries of the Elector and
the Counts of Mansfeld with a train of 60 horse-
men. Next came the hearse, drawn by four
horses, covered with a large costly pall of black
velvet. Then followed Luther's widow and his
three children and other relatives; next the
Rector of the University in his official robe,
accompanied by princes and nobles. These
were followed by the professors, the city council,
the students and the citizens. When they
reached the Castle Church, the corpse was set
down before the pulpit, and the funeral services

Were conducted with great solemnity. A funeral
Sermon, in German, was preached by Dr.

Bugenhagen, who was frequently interrupted
by his own tears and those of his hearers.
Melanchthon then delivered a funeral oration
in Latin, after which the coffin was taken up
by several distinguished members of the Uni-
versity and let down into the grave that had
been opened near the pulpit where Luther,
during his life, preached those powerful sermons
that stirred the hearts of electors, princes and
people as they never were stirred before.
There his body found its last resting-place,
awaiting the day of the resurrection when it
will arise to eternal glory.

Luther’s monuments are the many blessings
of the glorious Reformation, and all that enjoy
those blessings will at all times honor the
memory of Martixs Lurner.—‘Remember
them which have the rule over you, who have
spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith
follow, considering the end of their conversa-
tion’”’, Hebr. 13, 7.

<I> o>

Thurlow Weed on Ingersoll.

Thurlow Weed, a citizen of high standing in
New York, says: ™

“Colonel Ingersoll, whom I do not know, has
the reputation of being a gentleman of educa-
tion, with a well stored mind, and attractive
personal manners, who speaks fluently and
eloquently. A man thus gifted can do much
good, but much more evil, according to the
principles espoused and the line of conduct
marked out for himself. Colonel Ingersoll, it
seems, upon his entrance into active life chose
the left instead of the right pathway, and be-
comes a reviler of, instead of a believer in, a
religion which has been making the world wiser,
better, and happier, for almost nineteen cen-
turies.... Isit not painful to see men richly
endowed perverting their gifts, misusing their
talents in presumpteous reviling and ribald
jesting against a Creator and a Saviour from
whom every earthly bounty and blessing ema-
nate?

“No act of the Saviour’s life and no word
He ever uttered has been or can be construed
or tortured into hostility to the welfare and
happiness of every member of the human fa-
mily. Human laws are founded upon the di-
vine law. All that concerns our happiness here
and our hopes of happiness hereafter is derived
from the Scriptures. On the other hand, what
has infidelity done for us? Who profits by its
teachings? After depriving its followers of
their belief in a future, how does it compensate
them? What does it offer in exchange for a
life of immortality? If, for example, Colonel
Ingersoll should be summoned to the bedside
of a dying friend or relative, what words of
comfort or of hope could he offer? Of what
service could he be to that stricken friend?
Would he aggravate the sufferings of one whose
last hours needed soothing by telling him there
was nothing but the cold, dark grave awaiting
him? The cruel theory is repelled not only by
revelation, but by the laws of nature. .. .

“Civilization and its beneficent institutions
abound by the religion which our Saviour in-
structed His apostles to preach to the heathen.
Geographical lines are not more distinctly
established than those that mark the progress
of missionaries; and, while religious light
brightens the Christian world, it rays down
upon the darkest portion of the earth. What
have the doctrines of Confucius, Mohammed
and other false teachers done for their followers
but to hold them for centuries in ignorance
and barbarism?

“‘T invite Mr. Ingersoll or any of his followers
to inform the public how and to what extent
they have profited by his own missionary labors
in this city, what salutary reforms he has in-
augurated or even suggested, or in what man-
ner and to what extent he has contributed to
the general welfare or happiness of his fellow
citizens.”

Don’t want to Grow up Bad.

Really, of all the spectacles of neglect and
want in a “cold world,’ none is more pitiful
than that of a child begging—not for charity,
but for Christian care and moral training.

A case of this kind was recently given by the
New York Times. <A bright little boy, twelve
years old, who said his name was Tommy
McEvoy, went alone into the Jefferson Market
Police Court last evening, and said to Justice
Morgan, “Judge, your honor, I want to give
myself up.’

“Why, my boy?” asked the court.

“Because,” replied the lad, ‘I haint got no
home, and I dont want to live in the streets
and become a bad boy.”’

‘*But where have you been living?”

“With my aunt. She lives in Fortyfirst
street. But she gets drunk and she won't let
me stay in doors. To-day she chased me out,
and said if I ever came back she would do
something awful to me. I’m afraid of her, and
so I’ve got no home. Father and mother are
both dead. Nobody will take me in because
I hain’t got nice clothes, and don’t look nice.
I can’t get any work, and I can’t get any thing
to eat unless I beg or steal it. Then the cops ll
take me in; I don’t want to get arrested. I
don’t want to steal or be a bad boy. Won't
you please send me somewhere where I can
learn something, and get to bea man? There
is places like that, ain’t there?’

The justice told the boy there were such
places for good boys, and taking the little fellow
under his protection, promised to find him a
home in some good institution. —Early Dew.

A wapy was asked why she always came
to church at the right time. ‘Because,’ she
said, ‘‘it is a part of my religion never to disturb
the religion of others.’

RELIGION is not an easy-fitting glove, to be
put on and off at pleasure, but its spririt must
underlie all our whole being and all our doings. _

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